When the owner of an ensouled artifact dies, the item can be Bound only by someone who has a kinship of some type with the creator. Famously the Sword of Igan has been passed down by the Chosen of Waas.

-Deckard’s Compendium of Ensouled Artifacts

—

Over the next week, the white-out conditions became so bad, that they could hardly tell if it were night or day, only the innkeeper’s clock letting them know the true passage of time. The inn, they discovered in their first ten days, was a marvel that would have fascinated Amara. Runes served to provide lighting, along with heating, throughout the whole place. Alchemically treated metal runes were inlaid in the ceilings and floors to provide this, and a large central gem powered the whole thing. The gem was massive, the size of Kole’s fist, but Rakin seemed as impressed as Kole when he saw it.

“You should see what the dwarves use,” he’d said when shown it in its place behind the bar.

The innkeeper and its staff pushed their excess Will into the reservoir each night, and there was a standard rate guests could sell their Will for, though the meager coins were not as valuable to Kole as the potential training time the Will represented—not that the money was real. If this had been outside the dungeon and his life depended on affording a room, he’d have to reconsider.

Kole fell back into his tunnel vision state of the weekends, only Zale was there to make him go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times. Each morning after breakfast he’d retire to his room and get to work on repairing the next version of Shield. So far he’d created two new versions of Magic Missile of the initial ten he’d discovered, but in the process had ruled out another two as being viable. He was on his second version of Shield, and had not yet ruled out any as potential improvements.

He started each morning with an attempt to path Thunderwave, expending a small amount of Will, before moving on to Zale’s group training and then breakfast. He spent the rest of the morning performing the lower Will intensity task of combing through his spellforms for pieces he could transfer over to the new version of magic missile. After lunch, he’d move on to Magic Missile until dinner, after which he’d devote his night fully to pathing Thunderwave.

This neat schedule was, of course, constantly disrupted by life. Zale got into the habit of meditating next to him, in her own odd mental vault, when he worked on Thunderwave, in an attempt to sense the Font he was reaching for. Her mentality, however, was not suited for this task and she’d often distract Kole with questions, or get up randomly and start exercising.

Doug spent all his free time in the greenhouses, becoming quite popular amongst the locals for his abilities with the plants. They themselves had their own Assuine Blessed, but their Blessing was not as strong as Doug’s.

Rakin… was irritable.

“I thought monks were supposed to be patient,” Kole whispered to Zale after Rakin had walked off in a huff after complaining about Doug’s body odor—which in Rakin’s defense, Kole agreed was pretty bad by then.

“Not everyone excels at everything,” Zale said, but then added. “There is a reason he isn’t actually training at the monastery anymore. He couldn’t handle the isolation. Once he’d learned some control, he was allowed to continue his training here under Master Ahm.”

When Doug wasn’t on watch, or in the greenhouse, he was diligent in his own training. His uncontrolled primal magic manifested in spontaneous transportation, typically occurring during times of stress. Kole had yet to witness it until their second week in the dungeon, when while sparring in the large ice chamber, Doug vanished as he was about to block a blow from Rakin’s fist. The demonkin boy reappeared on the other side of the room, facing the icy wall.

“That could be useful in battle,” Kole observed, seeing how it had saved him from the strike.

Doug let out a heavy sigh.

“It’s occasionally useful, but I think that’s more luck than anything deliberate. I can’t sense anything happening until it’s too late to do anything about it.”

The task Mage Tallen—Tal, which Kole was still trying to wrap his head around—had given Doug was to create a soul stone. Doug had researched the Assuine Blessed method and spent a few hours each day meditating on the process.

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Rakin too had been tasked to create a soul stone. And since the monk Oas—founding member and Enlightened Master of the Order of the Resounding Silence—was also the first person to create a soul stone and discover the practice, Rakin had his own path to the same objective. A path that also included meditating for hours a day.

Kole had interrogated the two separately, and while he hadn’t understood any of the things they’d said they were doing, he was fairly certain both processes were wholly unique, even if both utilized Assuine’s energy to produce results.

Zale spent most of her time training, and having not actually brought any study materials, found her own ways to keep up with her schoolwork. She’d occasionally accompany Doug to the greenhouses to practice her harvesting technique—something Kole kept telling himself he’d join, but never seemed to get around to. She also would discuss the recent coursework for the alchemy and history classes to not forget it all by the time they left.

“Here, try this,” Kole said, handing her his spellbook.

“Try what?” She asked, examining the book, bemused.

“It’s full of the magic paper from the school,” Kole explained.

He watched Zale’s face grow serious, and her eyes lost focus briefly, then she examined the book again closer.

“This is not the paper the school uses,” she said, flipping through the pages and looking at each closely.

“How can you tell?”

“Most of the paper the school uses has the same aura as the Dahn itself—and my mom I suppose since she’s bound it. This paper has a blueish aura.” Zale explained, still looking at the book.

She brought it up to her face and closed her eyes smelling it.

“Hmm, it smells like a book.”

“It’s a book…”

“Sorry,” Zale said, darkening in embarrassment “I can get a sense for auras by smell as well, like Willsight shows colors. The presence of this book smells like a book. That’s odd.”

“What did you mean by most paper the school uses is the same aura as the Dahn?” Kole asked.

“Some of it has no aura,” she said, now holding the book up to the light and looking through the pages.

“How is that possible?”

“Beats me. Uncle Tal…len— she finished awkwardly, looking around the room to confirm if they were alone. “—can hide his and his ensouled artifact’s aura. Some of the paper the school uses must be his. The school can only produce magic paper because of some crazy enchanting nonsense Levar did with Tal’s spellbook.”

“Tal has a magic spellbook too!?” Kole asked in surprise. It seemed like they were far more common than he’d thought after his conversation with Theral.

“What do you mean too?” Zale asked, finally looking up at Kole, her eyes opening wide as soon as she saw him.

“You bonded this!” she shouted, thrusting the book at him. “It’s ensouled!”

“What!?” Kole asked, looking at the book as if something had changed.

“Your aura! It’s normally green, but it has lines of blue in it, the same blue as that book. Where did you find this?” She demanded.

“I… uh…” Kole fumbled, not wanting to explain anything that might expose Theral and risk her mother’s wrath, but also not wanting to lie. “I found a secret room in the library. It was in there.”

Zale chewed on her lower lip as she considered what he’d said.

“You found the room on your own?”

Kole nodded.

“Does the door move around the Dahn?”

Kole shook his head.

She thought a little longer before saying, “It’s… probably fine then—wait. Are you living in this room in the library!?”

Kole’s face grew red, and he looked away, answering the question for Zale, who then broke out into laughter.

“Don’t tell Rakin,” Kole pleaded, knowing the dwarf would find a way to tease him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. It explains a lot though.”

The pair talked about the topic of ensouled artifacts longer, Kole still trying to wrap his head around the idea that he had one, and Zale guessing what else it might do. He’d let her use some pages to recall some important notes for class, but the paper had been mundane for her.

They looked all over the book, but couldn’t find the soul stone that ought to have been set in it if it were an ensouled item. Despite that, Zale was confident in her assessment.

“I’ll ask my Uncle about it when I see him.” Zale suggested when they ran out of ideas.

Which reminded Kole he’d have to meet with the legendary mage soon—if they ever got out of this dungeon trial. He’d sort of forgotten about it during the last week of intensive study, but he was going to speak to Tal of Storms, one of his childhood heroes, the liberator of Illandrios.

Flood, I’ve already talked to him… and been frustrated with him. Oh no. Did he notice?

Kole tried to distract himself from the thought.

I have an ensouled artifact!

He’d always hoped to find one. What aspiring adventurer didn’t? But to find one now, so soon? It was beyond his wildest hopes and dreams. It only did a few tricks now, but they were extremely useful already.

What more could it do? Was Theral’s ensouled too?

Ensouled artifacts were items a crafter had somehow bound their soul stone too, granting the object incredible powers. The art of creating them was lost to the Flood, though the art of soul stone creation remained known. After the death of the original owner, ensouled artifacts become dormant, losing any outward appearance of power or magical adornment until they are found and wielded by one with a similar temperament, values, or goal as their creator. Each had the potential for amazing power and wars had been fought over them.

Kole stared at the book in his hands.

“Who made you?” he asked it. “And what else can you do?”