The significance of runes in our world cannot be overemphasized; they are the foundation of our power, skills, and abilities; even the system uses them. To casually dismiss them is foolishness, yet many do, disregarding the keys to ancient wisdom and the symbols that shape the reality that we manipulate. I daresay, there shall come a time when this blatant disregard for runes will come to bite us in the behind.
Professor Vyris Caldwell.
Sector 5, Ragnarok.
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Aodhán lay on the wooden floor after the torturous session ended, gasping for breath as his body twitched and spasmed. The training had lasted for almost five hours, and in all that time, Aodhán had failed to even scratch Eldrith’s robes.
Eldrith had fought without mercy, amplifying his pain every time he pushed through the former level, and the moment he couldn’t take it anymore, the pain magically disappeared, drained from his system, leaving him fresh and energized yet twitching as his muscles fought through their most recent memory.
Whenever Aodhán mustered enough willpower to withstand Eldrith’s assaults, Eldrith would shift to inflicting emotional pain, which was worse as it dredged up every painful memory and amplified it.
When the training finally ended, Eldrith smiled at him, his expression slightly sympathetic. He made no comment, though, and simply walked into a portal that appeared behind him, obviously the work of the principal.
Aodhán turned, searching for her, but he found no sign of her anywhere. Still, he felt her attention on him, urging him to stand, but he lacked the strength to do so.
It took him several minutes to regenerate enough willpower to stagger to his feet and another five to stumble into the portal. Fortunately for him, the portal led directly into his room, and without hesitation, he crawled into his bed and was asleep in seconds.
It was evening when he awoke next, but he still lacked the strength to even stand up. He wasn’t injured; in fact, there wasn’t a single mark on him. Whatever injuries he’d sustained during the battle had been taken care of by his regeneration, but his weariness was bone-deep, and his muscles still spasmed in remembrance of the torture they’d endured.
He turned his attention to his core and grimaced when he saw what was left of his willpower. Dying embers. He’d burned a massive amount of willpower in his battle against Eldrith, and for the first time in almost two months, his willpower had almost bottomed out. It would take days for it to regenerate.
The side effect had hit him harder than he’d anticipated, and if the session had continued for even a minute longer, he would have been completely drained, which, well, wasn’t good at all.
Unlike the times he’d bottomed out his willpower in a bid to increase it using meditation in the Warren, he’d been at the 4th tier, and the side effects of his actions had been negligible at best. Now, though, it was a struggle to even open his eyes. He tried to force them open, but when his efforts proved futile, he gave up and drifted off to sleep once more.
When he awoke next, it was an hour past midnight, and he’d finally regenerated enough willpower to carry out mundane activities like sitting up and replying to his messages. There were almost a dozen of them, all from Daruk, who kept asking if he was still alive or if he needed to start a protest against academy brutality. Aodhán chuckled, imagining a group of protesters all screaming at the academy gate with Daruk in front wearing a #SayNoToAcademyBrutality t-shirt.
He quickly responded, assuring Daruk that he was fine and just needed some rest. Daruk’s reply was immediate, stating that he was on his way, and Aodhán realized that beneath the funny and slightly sarcastic texts, Daruk was genuinely worried.
Aodhán tried to dissuade him from coming, but Daruk was adamant, and he eventually gave up. When Daruk arrived a few minutes later, his eyes scanned Aodhán’s body, searching for injuries, and when he found none, he exclaimed. “I thought you’d be half dead by now.”
“Trust me, I feel half dead.” Aodhán drawled as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. Daruk watched him comically as he took slow steps until he reached the foot of the bed and collapsed once more.
Daruk grabbed him before his face smashed against the rune-scripted floor, chuckling softly. “The training must have been serious if you can’t even walk on your own after several hours.”
“It wasn’t training.” Aodhán wheezed as Daruk laid him back on the bed. “I swear, they’re trying to kill me.”
“I seriously doubt that.” Daruk smirked, enjoying his misery for some reason. “I spoke to Rahim yesterday, and he mentioned something about you being the principal's pet project and how you are currently the most important first-year student to her.”
Aodhán scowled. “I didn’t ask for this; Eldrith Valerion is a mad man!”
Daruk laughed as he sat on the bed and folded his legs in a position that didn’t seem to be comfortable. “Tell me what happened.”
Aodhán did, narrating the entire ordeal in detail, and when he finished, he sighed. “I tried so hard, but I couldn’t even ruffle the edge of his robes. I was utterly and completely beaten even after he’d restricted his strength and speed to the 24th tier.”
Daruk nodded. “That is to be expected. Eldrith is a third-year student, which means he should be around the 50th tier, if not more, so it’s only natural that, even restricted, his control is leagues above yours.”
“It wasn’t just his control, though; his movements were so fluid, so controlled, as if they were following a rhythm only he could hear; it was insidious.”
Daruk laughed. "Alright, I suppose I can finally forgive you."
"I thought you already did," Aodhán said, frowning. Daruk, still amused, nodded. "I was plotting brutal revenge, but how can I possibly go through with it when you're already enduring so much? So, I’ll content myself with watching your weekly torment instead.”
“Thank you, your heartless majesty, for being so gracious.” Aodhán muttered bitterly, and they both laughed. Daruk stayed until dawn, and by then, Aodhán had recovered enough willpower to moderately function, although he doubted he could complete the required laps for the gym.
Fortunately, when they got there, Coach Harvey glared at him and said, “You’ve been excluded from today and tomorrow’s gym activities, but be rest assured that this is the only time you’ll be granted an exception. Whatever extracurricular activities you have going on with the principal is your business, but I will not have it affect my class.”
“Yes sir.” Aodhán sighed in relief. Running laps on a normal day was extremely exhausting, but if he’d had to do it, running this low on willpower, he’d be dead before he could take more than a few steps.
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He took up a meditative pose at one corner of the gym and watched the other students as they raced by. After a while, he began a few stretching and light exercises, but in his current predicament, even breathing was hard work, and he collapsed to the ground five minutes later, gasping for breath.
Shadows landed on him, and he turned to see a trio of giggling girls standing over him. He managed to conjure a smile and gasped. “Hi Lupin, hi Scarlett, hi Gwendolyn.”
He’d finally learned the name of the third girl during their date. The girls waved, staring at him in a mixture of concern and amusement.
“Are you alright?” Lupin asked, and Scarlett smirked. “You look like a G’ytshi dunked in water.” Aodhán had no idea what a G’ytshi meant, but it took it to mean he looked terrible.
“I almost bottomed out on my willpower.” The explanation seemed to suffice, and the girl giggled.
“That must have been some intense training you had going on.” Gwendolyn shook her head in pity. “People really need to start learning their limits.”
Before he could respond—not that he had a suitable response anyway—Coach Harvey shouted. “Less talking misses, more running.”
The girls groaned and continued their laps, leaving him still gasping on the floor. When the laps finally ended, Yurin walked towards him and patted him on the back. “How are you doing, buddy?”
Aodhán stumbled and gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out in pain. It was just a gentle pat, but it had hit him like a hammer to the guts. He hadn’t quite appreciated the amount of strength he'd gained with each advancement, but if a single pat from Yurin had caused him to stumble, then what would a punch do?
“Whoa!” Yurin exclaimed and steadied him. “What just happened?”
“Willpower burnout.” Daruk replied, suddenly appearing beside them along with Andrew.
“Oh nasty.” Yurin scrunched his face in disgust. “I’ve experienced it once before, and it’s not something I want to repeat ever.”
“You should feel better after a few days of rest.” Andrew added. “Until then, you’re basically a sleeper in an awakened body, or is it the reverse?”
“I think it's the reverse, Andrew.” Daruk chuckled.
Aodhán sighed as the conversation flowed and they made their way to the cafeteria, after which they moved to the class on elemental affinities, where Valerie Potts discussed their assignments, touching upon the limitations each student had provided and offering possible counters.
In the process, she mentioned something Aodhán had noticed but hadn’t quite paid much attention to, and that was the effect of energy on the world. Back in the Warren, where the energy was thin, the reaction of energy with the world around him had been negligible, but in a place like the fifth sector, the dense amount of energy affected everything—the trees, the buildings, even the ground—passively strengthening them to match up to a particular tier.
He hadn’t realized it before, but it made perfect sense now that she mentioned it. He was much stronger than he had been back in the Warren, yet the effect he had on his surroundings was barely any different. This explained the Sigma battle zones and the reasons why Calamity class individuals were restricted to the kingdom capital, where the energy was densest.
Control training was the same as last week, and Aodhán soon settled into a rhythm, moving from the gym to class, then to the library or his training room, before moving to the hall for control training.
Things weren’t exactly boring, but nothing new was happening, and he only perked up when the class on Runic theory came around. As he walked to the lab alongside Yurin and Lupin, there was a spring in his step.
He had recovered all of his willpower, but more excitingly, his willpower had grown tremendously as more untamed flames poured in from the ‘dam’ into his dying embers. He had spent the last two days taming willpower and suspected that he was getting close to the silver rank, whatever unit of willpower that was.
They arrived at the lab a few minutes later, and when they got to their respective work benches, Aodhán took out the lab suit and put it on. It was as he was fastening the suit button that he realized that although they’d decreased in number, they’d also gained a few new students.
They were all familiar, and although he didn’t know all their names, he waved to them in greeting, and they responded in kind. A slight din filled the lab as the students murmured among themselves, and Yurin leaned over his workbench and whispered to Aodhán.
“My stomach is cramping. Why’s my stomach cramping?”
“How am I supposed to know why your stomach is cramping?” Aodhán whispered back, and Yurin frowned. “I don’t know, do you?”
“Of course not,” he glared at Yurin, but before he could say anything else, Professor Caldwell walked in, dressed in her lab suit and her hair held in place with a rune-scripted ribbon. Unfortunately, despite the many hours he’d allocated to runic practice in the last two days, he was yet to perfect the rune.
He’d drawn it thousands of times, and although a few had given him a sense of rightness, they were still far from perfect. However, he hoped to perfect it before the day ended, as he’d already spent too much time on it.
Professor Caldwell began her lecture with a recap of the last class, listing out the mistakes many of them had made and how to correct them. Most of the mistakes she mentioned were points he’d read about in the library, but she touched on a few important ones he hadn’t thought of, after which she asked them to begin practicing the rune.
She moved around the class, inspecting each person’s work, commenting positively on some, encouraging others, and, in Yurin’s case, commenting negatively. “The door is still open, Mr. Lahey. I suggest you use it rather than spend your time doodling and desecrating a language you’re obviously not capable of understanding.”
Aodhán winced in sympathy for his friend. He’d invited Lupin and Yurin to practice in his house yesterday, and he had seen the nonsense Yurin was drawing. He had asked Yurin if he was doing it on purpose, sure that it was impossible to be so utterly terrible at it, but apparently, Yurin was just that terrible, and after several hours of practice, he’d given up hope of the boy ever passing the class.
Still, Yurn had insisted on coming to class today again rather than drop the course, and Aodhán had gotten another glimpse at that inspiring tenacity Yurin was known and admired for.
“I’ll do better.” Yurin replied, but Professor Caldwell just sniffed and moved on. When she got to his bench, she hummed. “Impressive progress, Mr. Brystion, but still lacking.”
She frowned and turned to the entire class. “When you create a perfect rune for the first time, it glows with a sense of perfection that everyone can feel.” She moved to the front of the lab and said, “Runescripting is hard; I won’t sugarcoat it, and from your expressions, I can tell you that some of you are already contemplating dropping the course. If you’re someone like Mr. Lahey, I would advise you to do so, but if not, I urge you to stay. The runic alphabet gets easier the moment you perfect the first rune, and when you perfect the first eight, it gets even easier.
Petfecting the first rune is what matters most, and although I was hoping you would all get it on your own, there is a trick I could teach you to help you along.”
The entire class perked up, and Aodhán leaned forward, his eyes and ears focused on Professor Caldwell as she took out a blank sheet of paper and a silver pen. She placed the paper on the wall so everyone could see what she was doing.
“Runes are a magical language.” She began. “They aren’t just shapes, curves, or doodles; they are words of power that have the ability to affect the fabric of reality itself. So when you draw a rune, you’re making a command, portraying your intent to the world.” Her hands moved, and in one smooth motion, she drew the first runic alphabet. “When you’re drawing runes, think not of their individual lines and curves; instead, think of them as a whole, as a word of power, and focus your will on the function of that rune.”
When she finished, Aodhán turned his attention back to his note and asked himself. How does one will a rune into existence?
He focused his mind on his willpower and thought of Fehu, the first runic alphabet that represented strength and vitality. He focused on those two words as he placed his pen on his note.
Strength and vitality.
He moved his hands according to the image of the rune in his mind, repeating the words like a mantra, and when he opened his eyes, he smiled lightly. The rune was good, better than any he’d drawn so far, but it still wasn’t perfect, so he tried again and again and again, and it was only when he drew the 9th time that he felt something click in his mind.
All his efforts and practice merged into one, and in a fluid motion, his hands moved, drawing out a rune that emanated a sense and aura of perfection that drew the attention of the whole class.
Professor Caldwell walked towards his workbench and smiled. “Congratulations, Mr. Brystion. Ten points for being the first to draw a perfect rune.”. Before she even finished speaking, a gasp of excitement rang out from the edge of the lab, and Aodhán turned to see Ankaz’ Urdania, the older of the Calodan brothers, holding up his note, which displayed a perfect rune.
“And five points to Mr. Urdania for being the second.” Professor Caldwell finished. She returned to the front of the lab after that and said, “Let this be an encouragement to you all; you can do it, yes, even you, Mr. Lahey, although I doubt it’ll be anytime soon.”
She turned her gaze to Aodhán. “You spent ten minutes drawing that rune; how about you cut that time in half?”
Aodhán smiled broadly as he placed his pen on paper once more. How about he cut the time to a single second?