Lee woke gently and slowly from a pleasant slumber until he heard a distant child’s scream.

His eyes shot open and he sat up abruptly. Or at least tried to. Instead he only flopped over and fell on the floor. “Ow…”

The scream sounded again and as Lee tried to catch his breath he realized that it didn’t sound like a terrified child. It sounded like children playing. A lot of them. Plus it was coming from the interior courtyard of the building.

He managed to get back onto the neighbors' couch to the background noises of a playground. In doing so his eyes fell on the wheelchair sitting near the end of the couch. It was a simple, barebones wheelchair and Lee sat and stared at it unhappily.

Meanwhile he slowly realized that he could ‘see’ people in the building around him. “Right… Mana Mind.” He closed his eyes to better focus on what he was feeling. “Awesome…” He couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth as he once again bathed in the glow of Mana all around him.

There was no one in the apartment with him and no one in his own apartment next door, at least not that he could sense. There was someone standing on the roof above a nearby apartment. “Maybe a lookout?” He thought. And another person was pacing directly below him.

Each person stood out like a glowing hotspot, a concentration of Mana in his mind's eye.

Further away he could see two people very close together and making rapid repetitive… “Oops.” He directed his attention towards the courtyard three stories below and saw a few small people run through his perception and fade out as they got farther away. “Children.” An adult was walking after them and they also faded as they walked away. “Is that the twenty meter range?” He mused as he tried to gauge the distance. It wasn’t a hard line where his skill ended, instead it was more of a steady blurring and loss of focus. Past that was just a vague ‘Mana is out there’ sense. But considering that Mana was everywhere now… that wasn’t much use.

He sighed and opened his eyes as his body started reminding him of all the things he was ignoring. Lee looked at the wheelchair. “Fuck it.” He said aloud to the empty room. “Why walk when you can ride.”

There was some cursing and a near fall before he found the wheel locks but in the end he was seated and rolling towards the front door. As he approached and was trying to figure out the best way to handle the door, it opened up.

Lee paused in surprise when there was nobody on the other side. He focused on his new [Mana Mind] Skill but it also revealed that the balcony was empty.

“Three? Is that you?” He thought at the building. No response. He thought about the door closing and it slowly swung shut. “Huh.” Another thought and the door opened back up.

“You’re the best Three,” he said aloud, as he rolled through the doorway and over to the rail where he could look down at the courtyard below. “I was right.”

Lee felt a small knot of tension ease up in his stomach when he looked down at the small gathering of children running around or simply sitting and playing with toys. Some older children stood around watching and he saw Maria on one side.

She had been watching her two children like a hawk as they played with the others but her gaze snapped up to him as he arrived at the railing and he saw one hand dive into a pocket and start withdrawing something metallic before she froze and her knife disappeared back into the pocket. She stared at him for a few heartbeats before she nodded at him and went back to watching the kids.

Lee turned away and his own apartment door opened itself for him. He rolled inside and the door shut behind him with a click. Lee looked around at the recently moved into chaos that was his apartment and closed his eyes as he sank back into his [Mana Mind] to distract himself from the wave of melancholy that swept over him.

After everything he’d been through and now his only home didn’t feel like home. It didn’t have that ‘lived in, this is home’ feeling, at least not yet. “I miss you Stan.”

He soaked his mind in the glowing Runes that covered every inch of the building and let the beauty, and somehow familiar feeling of the Runes sink deep into him. “This is my home now,” he told himself. “Literally. I made it my home and I will keep it until you get back, Stan.”

His mind touched the Mana Well and he flinched away. "Not ready for that." It didn't hurt, not like the day before, but it wasn’t easy to look at. Like staring into a fourth dimensional hole and feeling it start to make sense. Like seeing through into… "Nope."

Lee opened his eyes and looked around again. It wasn’t ‘that’ bad. Someone must have cleaned up while he slept. For one thing there wasn’t a giant snake head on his floor. Also the sliding glass doors were whole again, though that was likely the building’s doing.

His bladder reminded him that he was taking too long and he quickly rolled into the bathroom where he was surprised to find that his light Rune was still glowing. In fact it looked like it hadn’t faded at all. He knew it should have faded by now… at least based on his Runic knowledge. “Must be Three keeping it going…”

He put it out of his mind and after a very arduous struggle which left him sweating and vowing to get his strength up, he finished up in there and rolled himself back out to the sliding glass doors and immediately cracked them open to let in some fresh air. “I need some plumbing…”

He did have some ideas on that front but it would require him to place enough Runes to create water out of the air and he wasn’t ready to experiment with that yet. The only other things he could think of involved fire and the thought of burning sewage was enough of a deterrent.

He looked out the window and over what he could see of the city. It looked calm. Mostly. A few trails of smoke stretched into the sky here and there but otherwise it looked like a normal day, though maybe a bit quieter without the usual hum of traffic.

His mind summoned up unbidden the memory of a giant snake’s head filling the gap he was staring out of and he shivered. Lee never wanted to be staring death in the eyes like the day before and he intended to turn this room into a deathtrap for anything that tried to get at him again.

He took a deep calming breath, closed his eyes and focused on the Runes all around him. The glass did already have Runes running through it though not quite at the level of the walls. And he still couldn’t actually remember what he had done to make all this but he was guessing that maybe the glass couldn’t hold as much magic. Though that was just a guess since he was rather new to all of this.

To start, he began to draw out the Rune he'd used on that first night to keep the elf from breaking his front windows. As the Mana started to fill in the shape Lee noticed something in his [Mana Mind]. All throughout the glass he started to see tiny copies of what he was trying to draw. As he filled in more of the Rune the copies glowed brighter and his own Rune started vibrating or resonating with the copies. Lee tried to finish it but the vibration in his mind was too distracting and he lost focus.

“Damn,” he thought, as the Rune distorted and faded. “What the hell?”

Lee narrowed his focus onto one of the tiny copies that had been resonating. He followed the glow as it faded back into the fabric of Runes on the glass until he finally saw what it really was.

“Wow.” The simple little pattern he had been trying to draw was already in the glass. And it was only a tiny, microscopic little piece of the woven tapestry of Runes that permeated the window. He traced the lines and saw where it was connected to other shapes on all sides, shapes that he didn’t know what they did.

His head started to hurt and he pulled his focus back and gasped for breath. “What the hell…” He clutched at his head and felt sweat on his brow. “So the Rune was already in there…” he murmured to himself. It was in the glass, just tiny and in some much larger and much more complex pattern. “So why was the snake able to…" He paused. “Fuck me but that was a big snake.” Lee shook his head and tried to think if he even could do anything better than what was already here.

“The snake didn’t actually break the window… I did.” He thought. “Though I think it would have.” He remembered the railing that had stabbed the snake on its first attack. A glance showed it back in place now and a peek at the Mana showed another pattern of Runes covering it. “Those have gotta be RuneScapes.” He realized, and shivered. “I’ve got a long way to go.”

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The unknown question was whether the railing had attacked the snake because of the Runescape or… something else had triggered it. Lee remembered that feeling when the snake was diving at him. Something had reacted. Something… either the building had actively reacted to protect him or he himself had done something. Maybe an instinctive reaction or knowledge left over from the creation of the building. Though it had felt like 'something' had taken notice. “Maybe I put in a ‘protect me from being eaten’ mode.”

He turned his mind back to the Runes he’d used to kill the snake. “Maybe if… I could create an 'in case of emergency' break glass type deal.” Lee took a few minutes thinking and digging through his Rune knowledge before he put his hand on the glass again.

The Mana flowed through him easily and into the glass. He watched with interest as the Mana moved from his Core and flowed down the channel through his arm and into the growing Rune on the glass. It was a much different experience now that he had [Mana Mind].

All around him Lee could 'see' Mana pushing in from every direction and as he narrowed his focus he could see it flowing into microscopic lines that led it from his skin down into his Core.

"Cool... Is that the building sending me Mana from the Well?" The growing Rune under his hand deformed and the gathered Mana dissipated into the air. "Oops."

He refocused and restarted the Rune and once again he saw the Mana start flowing into him as he sent his own out. This time he kept his focus and was able to complete the Rune.

In the center of the window, a symbol took shape. It was all sharp points and jagged lines, jagged lines that then spread out across the door like spider webbing cracks before the glow dimmed and started fading into the glass. “There’s the ‘in case of’ done.”

He started the next Rune and immediately found a problem. It wouldn’t connect with the first Rune.

It took him a few minutes and a few more attempts before he realized what was wrong.

He was technically trying to create a RuneScape, a tiny one sure but still a RuneScape, and as such it had to be done all at once instead of piecemeal.

Lee paused his attempts at a thought. “Maybe the RuneScape on the glass already has something like this and I’m only going to fuck it up with an inferior effect…” He had created in the building something impossible for him to replicate after all and with no way to actually know what he had done… “The trigger didn’t react like the strengthening one…” Lee pulled the Rune from the window and back into himself, using the knowledge from his Class it felt like second nature.

"It's worth a shot, if only for practice," he decided. Also he figured that he was very likely not nearly powerful enough to damage the building with his tiny RuneScape.

He started again, this time with focus on all three Runes that he needed. The first went up smoothly and Lee took a deep breath before the glow faded completely he started the next Rune in the small space inside the first. More glowing lines grew and spread until his sweat slickened hand slid off the glass and he slumped forward in his wheelchair.

Lee gasped for breath and tried to dry his hand on his pants. “Just a bit more.” He touched the window again but it was too late. "Damn it." The RuneScape distorted and faded.

Then he had another thought. “If the railing attacked the snake, maybe the glass…”

He sighed and looked at the metal railing. “I can control the door with a thought… I wonder.” He mentally told the building to raise the railing higher and add some spikes back on top.

Nothing happened as he sat and watched in his quiet apartment.

The front door burst open with a bang and Lee jumped at the sudden sound.

"Brother!" Alejandro exclaimed. "You're awake!"

Lee sighed at the exuberant man. "Morning Alejandro." He wheeled himself across the living room as he glanced at the car door that Alejandro was carrying. "What's that for?"

"This," Alejandro hefted the door, "will be my new shield." He held it out towards Lee proudly. "Assuming you can make it tough…"

Lee contemplated the idea and smiled. It looked like the rear door from a delivery van, mostly flat and taller than it was wide with no window on the upper half. Lee could see the potential and he reached for it. "I think I can. Give it here."

Alejandro handed the door to him and it promptly fell onto the floor. Lee looked at his hands accusingly. “Damnit.” He rolled next to the couch. “Just set it here.”

Once it was within reach he laid a hand on it. “I’ll start simple since I don’t know how much the metal can take.” He thought of the dinner plate that had shattered. Then he thought of the windows that hadn’t. “Hmm…” He decided to just put the same one from the window onto the door.

He closed his eyes and focused on the Rune that he wanted, refusing to be distracted by the glow of Mana that seemed to get much more intrusive once his eyes were closed. He opened his eyes instead and just stared at the door.

Mana flowed and lines spread, flared and faded into the metal. To his open eyes it looked like nothing changed but if he closed his eyes then the picture became much different.

Mana still flowed all around but on the door the Mana was now locked into and flowing in a pattern that seemed to be touching every part of the metal at the same time while still sitting firmly where he placed it at the center.

Lee opened his eyes and looked away. “That’s disconcerting.” He looked up at Alejandro. “It’s done. Try hitting it with something.” He was curious about why the Rune looked so different now that he had his [Mana Sight] but his head already hurt a bit and he didn’t want to push his luck today.

Alejandro didn’t wait. He leaned over the couch and punched the door hard. “Ouch!” He cradled his hand as he hopped around a bit.

“While you're at it,” Lee said dryly, “go punch the window.” He jerked a thumb towards the glass door to the porch. “I wanna see how strong it is.”

“No thanks.” Alejandro replied, laughing. He scooped up his new shield. “And thanks for this.” He smiled at Lee. “Need anything before I go?” He gestured towards the bathroom. “Like…”

“I handled it.” Lee stated flatly before his expression softened. “Thanks for the wheelchair.” He looked away. “It definitely helps me get around.”

“Of course.” Alejandro said happily. “I’m surprised you haven’t covered it in glowing lines yet. I expected to find you flying around the building already.”

“That’s… not a bad idea.” Lee said, kicking himself for not thinking of it already. “I don’t know about flying though. Not yet.”

“Bah. Don’t worry about it too much.” Alejandro replied as he turned to leave. “We’ll get your strength up in no time and then it won’t matter.” He walked out the door and as it swung shut called out, “See you later!”

Lee looked at the wheelchair thoughtfully before an image of the shattered plate popped into his head again. “Maybe later.” He looked around. “What do I need right now?” His eyes landed on the refrigerator. “Right.”

A few minutes later he was getting ready to try a Rune that he was pretty sure would create cold without freezing, when he felt something strange. Something was moving away from him. “What the hell is that?” He wondered as his gaze tried to peer through the walls and floors at whatever he was feeling. Lee closed his eyes and there it was.

It was the shield. Well the van door turned shield. He could see it moving away from the building through the fog of Mana. “What the hell…” It was clear as day in his mind.

He couldn’t see Alejandro or anything else for that matter but he could see the shield. Or more specifically he could see the Rune. It glowed brightly and clearly as it moved further and further away at a steady walking pace. Lee could even see it bouncing up and down slightly as it went. “Why…”

He suddenly remembered something from his Class description and pulled up his status.

Status

Name: Lee Cascade

Race: [Human](F Rank)

Titles:

[First Time?]

Traits:

[Adaptable] [Source-Touched] [Magic OverReach V] [This Is The Way]

Class: [Runic(Initiate VI)](Legendary)

Class Skills:

[Rune Creation(Initiate VI)](Rare)

[RuneScape Creation(Initiate VI)](Rare)

Attributes:

Strength: 1

Vitality: 1

Dexterity 2

Perception 9

Intelligence 17

Willpower 13

Twin-Soul ???

Non Class Skills:

[Source Regeneration](Passive)

[Venom Resistance I](Passive)

[Liquid Mana Blast(Initiate I)](UnCommon)

[Mana Mind(Initiate I)](Passive)(Epic)

Buffs:

[Three]

[Resting]

Debuffs:

[Feeble]

[Fragile]

[Hungry]

"Huh. Mana Burned is gone? When did that… nevermind." Lee looked at his Class description and found what he was looking for.

The Runic Enchantments utilize massive amounts of Mana stabilized by the Soul of the caster.

"My Soul…" He whispered. "That's a piece of my Soul that I can sense out there…" He thought about the building that he had filled with Runes. "Holy shit! Is my Soul all over the building?" He calmed slightly when he realized that he had no idea how much Soul each Rune required and for that matter he had no idea how much Soul he actually had.

"It did say the building was Soulbound, whatever that means." Lee wondered briefly if he could run out of Soul and what would happen if he did, but then he pushed the thought aside and concentrated back on the fridge. "Only way to learn now is by doing."

He placed the Rune and immediately the plastic inside the fridge where he had put it started melting. At the same time he felt cold radiating from the Rune. He closed his eyes and looked at it with his mind.

He could see the Rune glowing all over the fridge even as more of the interior lining melted away. He shut the door and waited. A few heartbeats later he felt cold begin to radiate from the closed refrigerator.

Lee sighed and pulled the Rune back out, watching curiously as the Mana flowed back to him and wondering if a bit of his Soul was in there somewhere.

"That's not gonna work,” he decided. “Apparently plastic and Mana don’t mix well… or maybe plastic and Runes?” The Rune seemed to have gone through the plastic liner and attached to the metal exterior instead.

“Don't want to turn my whole apartment into a fridge. Hmm… how can I… of course!" He spun his chair around and after nosing around the boxes still in his living room, he rolled to a stop in front of the fridge.

The stainless steel ladle in his hand glowed and frost started forming on it. Lee yelped and dropped it on the floor. "Ouch." He glared at it and his fingers before leaving and coming back with a shirt in his hand. Using the cloth he was able to place the ladle on a shelf inside the refrigerator and he shut the door in triumph. "Hah. Let's see what happens."

Nothing happened and he decided to do something else while he waited to see if his idea was viable. He turned to his apartment. “What else do I need… aside from a working toilet.” His nose wrinkled and a faint sound of a child's laughter echoed from the courtyard.

The light coming in from the porch illuminated the apartment fairly well but left the hallway rather dark. The front windows still had the blinds pulled and he wanted to keep it that way since otherwise anyone walking by could see right inside.

“I need lights,” he decided. “And I think I know how to do it…” He set to work his growling stomach forgotten as the thrill of working real Magic once again filled him with delight.