Father and mother had not even noticed the two men as they nervously approached.
This early in the day most customers were still sleeping as the two did something I had not expected. Both of them deeply bowed in front of the stall yelling “MASTER!” in unison. All of us were dumbfounded, even Lunarsk looked like he had seen a dragon on a bicycle.
The two men held this posture obviously waiting for a response from my totally flabbergasted father. Totally taken by surprise, mother had to poke him to get his act together. “Good morning brave adventurers, how may our humble shop assist you?” Relief was all over the face of the two men as they introduced themselves as Aisi and Dotra, C- and B-Rank adventurers. The two of them expressed their intent on purchasing a full set of equipment each. Father looked really troubled, as he told them that it was impossible.
POV Dotra
It took us the entire night to work up enough courage to approach the towering master, the imposing green furred beast-man with the scar in his face looked so menacing we were totally shocked as he politely greeted us offering the service of his shop.
The budding hope of new equipment was shot down instantly, he told us that the caravan would leave in a few hours and all his materials had sold out. He offered us to repair some minor things and explained that the treatment of his raw material was a long process that could not be rushed. He outright refused to produce anything of lower quality emphasizing the importance of reliable gear to adventurers.
Unable to convince the large beast-man and unwilling to overdraft his patience we retreated back to the inn. I could not refrain from cursing, we had placed so much hope into this encounter but I could understand the masters reasoning. We were just too unlucky to notice his tiny shop far too late, the villagers had already drained his stock of all prepared materials.
“I guess we need to go to your blasted dungeon after all.” “Yeah would have been just too good to just follow him until his stock has replenished.” “That's it! Aisi you are a genius!” The look on my friends face had turned from surprise to shock, accumulating in utter disbelief “Who are you? What have you done with my poor Dotra?”
The urge to facepalm growing again I grabbed his ear, dragging the protesting swordsman towards the red big tent that housed the mysterious owner of the caravan Samuel.
We still had a chance but it would require more risk that we had originally planned.
POV Kai
Samuel had worked her magic again, the caravan departing without a hitch the guards were even crying as we passed them! As if reading my mind Samuel turned around grinning in my direction, a cold shiver making my barbs stand out. If not by level that woman was still dangerous!
Guiding my thoughts back to more mundane topics proved not very easy so I joined Gale in one of the frequent lessons designed by her master. This time he showed different methods of linking single runes into larger arrays and spell circles. While he did not know about layered or multi-runes the method of fusing runes he had developed opened whole new areas for me to ponder about. It could greatly reduce the strain on the physical material allowing far more complex layered runes to apply to even lower quality items.
Just a few hours later we had finished and Gale took me to her favorite place on the wagon.
She had strapped a large wooden basket to the roof and filled it with a self-crafted blanket of scrap fur that always started to accumulate with fathers work. “Kai, do you think it will stay this peaceful?” I was quite unprepared trying to come up with an answer.
”To be honest I don't think so, Gale. There can never be a true peace, as long as the ability to harm exists there will be those that will resort to rely on it. We can only become so strong that nothing has the ability to harm us anymore that would grant ourselves peace but never the world.”
She seemed to ponder a bit about my statement, her reply made my heart hurt “But the more strength you amass, the more I lose you sister! I see you fighting the urges, the pain and the horror. I feel you shiver in your dreams! Don't bear all this alone we are your family let us share your load!”
She hugged my tiny form locking me in place, hot tears rolling down her face as she buried her face in my fur. We stayed this way for a time I could not tell, all my time left me unable to deal with the crying girl I called my sister.
“I cannot bear to see you hurt!” giving her nose a lick made her giggle. “But seeing you torment yourself hurts us too. Mother told me you have an old soul, that you may have retained fragments of an older life, she made me promise never to talk to you about it. But this is important, if you cannot speak about this with even your family it will break you eventually!” Those words hit me like a hammer, “When has mother told you of this?!” I may have been too loud or released some aura but I saw a tiny hint of fear flash through Gales eyes. That made me flinch back, trying to get out of her grip she only held me tighter. “Don't leave Kai, she made us swear a blood-oath to never reveal this outside the family! Don't shut us out.” My body went limp, a single tear rolling down my face, “i cannot burden you with the horror locked inside my soul, it would crush you, I could not bear to lose you!” A triumphant smile on her muzzle “try me!”
And as foolish as it was I dragged her conscious into myself. We ended up on a craggy rock in the middle of red ocean, cold winds barraging the lone black rock. In this eerie landscape Gale appeared next to me. Her form a mirror of her physical self.
She looked frightened, even as a mage she had never visited nor erected her own mind-space yet.
Her eyes darting around coming to rest on the twisted form my own thoughts forced me into here.
A phantom of pure darkness bleeding ink in its wake. Only Mouth and eyes shown as white emptiness. “Is that you Kai?” I could see her revulsion about my form. Just as I prepared to send us back she hugged me!
I could only utter “Why?” pure white tears running down my inky body that seemed to avoid the pure radiating white that ran down. “Silly, no matter which form you take, no matter which face you wear you stay my sister and alpha!”
I needed to digest that statement, after collecting myself a bit, I began to talk in a raspy voice, preparing to do the one thing I had promised myself to never do again: Open myself up to another.
“Mother is partly right, I still retain fragment of life that has been before my current form of existence. But she is only partly correct, while my memory is not perfect I remember ALL my lives!”
Gales eyes went wide but she did not interrupt me. “I have seen so much horror, DONE so much more, that it has stained me. Look at the ocean around us, the blood I have spilled over countless lives clinging to my very soul!”
I tried to look into her eyes after my outburst searching for the one thing I was so afraid of seeing in those pure untainted eyes: disgust. But no matter how deep I looked, the only things I found in her eyes were love and a firm will to see this to the end.
I gave up, words gushing out unbidden, I told her of the lives that had formed me into what I had become. She did not stop nor interrupt me, simply supporting me listening to what I had to tell.
Once exhaustion made me stop she pressed my head into her breasts petting my head “Don't worry sister, you are NOT alone anymore!” It felt good to finally tell someone of what I had bottled up far too long, even my soul had changed upon releasing part of the heavy load weighting me down, the rock had risen further out of the ocean of blood turning into a large hill.
“Thank you.” I said it to her, meaning every syllable that echoed through my soul. Like this we returned to the real world still firmly cuddling in the basket, someone had covered us with another fur blanket.
I looked into her eyes, she patted my head “Never shut us out again, we will carry the load together and perhaps we may really find peace.”
“It will be a stony road.” I agreed with her. This way we fell into a deep sleep still firmly locked together.
On the next day Gale excused herself from her master due to feeling ill as we returned to my mind-space. The visual representation had changed again, a small black castle now clung to the small mountain, the winds had become less severe. Gale followed me through the long halls inside the building that stretched further than its outside dimension.
Rows upon rows of doors passed by us as we reached our destination. The door glowed shortly before allowing us entry. “Mind magic-Archive, it allows people with too long a live to store and sort memories.” I answered the unspoken question on Gale's face.
“If you want to carry some of the burden we need to make you stronger! And stronger you will become, this room holds everything I have ever heard, known or studied regarding runes. This will be the first step on you path to become one of the greatest mages known to this world.”
“Today is an exception, from now on we will use the night to train you in here. Before we start, this is your last chance to back out what you learn here WILL change you and may even curse you the same as me.”
Gale just looked at me as if I had the stupidest thing she had ever heard, making me sight in defeat.
“Let us start with the basics. You may know of Mana and Qi but are you aware that this world contains a third type of energy? No? Well that was to be expected, the third type of energy is called
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“That means others could slay you like a beast and refine your core to gain experience?” “Yes and no, my own core is a bit special, it is the result of one of my own experiments.
While refining my core may be possible the likelihood of a massive explosion comparable to large scale magic is far more likely. Back on topic, runes are a unique existence, the number and form of runes stays the same on every world that at least contains one of the three energy types. While worlds without are possible most are dying worlds or incapable of sustaining any life. There are exactly 3141 runes, each holding their own meaning and place in the runic alphabet.”
“I only know a bit more than 200! Do you know where the runes come from?” “While I was not able to prove my theory I am fairly sure whatever created reality itself has created the runes, they form the rules of space itself. That is why even by carving a rune from wood, energy naturally gathers towards the rune. Runes itself attract energy, some more than others but all runes do to some extent.” “Wouldn't that mean that anyone could use magic by using runes?” “Again yes and no. While activating a prepared runic sequence,layered rune or a multi-rune can be achieved by anyone keyed into its structure, the creation of those formations requires precise control of energy and will. You see runes naturally repel each other unless locked in a tight array. If that was not the case runes would form naturally and invoke chaotic magic on pure chance. The world itself would destroy itself.” “Sounds scary.”
I nodded to her apt conclusion giving my best old master impression.
“Our first step will be for you to learn all 3141 runes by heart, there are two ways slow or fast, both with their own risk. Which one do you want?”
“Fast please, if I want to have any chance of helping you I need the speed.” My shoulders slumped down a bit.
“I was afraid you would choose this, prepare yourself the first step on this path WILL hurt more than you can imagine.”
“Sit straight, relax collect all your thoughts, it should be easy in here. Compress them, begin to slowly feed the ball of self the energy I am providing you with, do not hasten this step let it slowly flow into you!”
A soft * plop * resounded inside the stuffy library of my mind-space. The imaginary sweat that had stained Gales face vanishing like it never existed.
“Kai what is this, there is something in my head!”
A bright smile plastered itself on my face. “That my cute sister is you very own mind-space, magic so ancient I am fairly sure only us two wield it on this world. Now concentrate on your mind-space and me, invite me inside.”
It took her a moment before I felt the familiar pull and followed it. We ended in a completely white space without anything inside. Only Gale and me standing in the endless blankness.
“Why is my mind-space empty? Yours has that rock and ocean.”
“This is the next step collect your thoughts and feel for a picture deep inside of your mind, everyone has it hidden in himself. It is called the
The empty white space warped as a whole world came into existence, flying islands framed by lush clouds, rainbows and an endless clear ocean formed. In the center of it a white marble palace stood with open doors.
An overly enthusiastic Gale dragged me inside the grand halls. Curiosity plastered on her face she nearly sped off to explore as I stopped her.
“Gale wait, you need to know more before you can storm around in here!” Her will to explore and reason to listen to me wrestled a short moment on her face before she kept still.
“This place is the embodiment of your very mind, only bring someone here that you trust unconditionally. Anything destroyed in here has dire repercussions on your physical self and soul. Anyone in here could greatly harm or kill you!”
This made her instantly return to full concentration.
“I have two gifts for you, two large leather-bound books materialized in my hands. This is an innate skill of those that own a mind-palace. I can grant you knowledge I possess myself to a certain degree.”
“That sounds too good to be true, wouldn't everyone be a grand-mage if they could just gift their knowledge?”
A big smile on my face I nodded.
“Yes there is a catch, gifting knowledge has a price. First you can only grant basic knowledge, no mastery is retained. For example I could gift you the skill
Gale had gone pale hearing my explanation.
“The first thing I want to gift you is
“If that is the price to stay by your side I will gladly pay the toll!” Shaking my head I gave her the first book preparing for what is to come. “Open it.” The book creaked ominously as the thick leather-cover opened. Black dust escaping between the pages the world began to spin.
The first thing that appeared was the unmistakable smell of rust, mountains of corpses following. Slowly the memory took shape, we found ourselves in the middle of a battlefield.
Mountains of inhuman corpses caking the hilly lands. “Is that you?” Gale and me were hovering as phantoms behind one of the inhuman soldiers. “Yes that is one of my earliest lives, I still believed to be in hell back then. What you see are a form of demons, prepare yourself the enemy is approaching.”
The very air trembled as the horizon filled with a golden sheen, an army of angels assembling for the next wave. The lone demon roared its hate into the world, the fallen demons rising again. The lands thundered as millions of demons clashed against millions of angelic beings, golden and black blood mixing in rivers that flowed through the land.
“Why are they fighting?” Gale asked me. “Because they have no other choice. This is the forgotten playground of a god, every demon and angel is a soul forced to battle forever for a reason long forgotten.”
“If it goes on forever and you were one of them, how did you get out?” my face twisted painfully as I replied “By winning.”
The scene faded back as the white marble palace took form again banishing the raging battle.
Gale was trembling slightly. “Do you want a break? The second one is worse.” She shook her head, “If I stop now I might never get the courage gain.” She practically ripped the book out of my hand, the world spinning black again.
This time we found us in a great cathedral full of golden and bright colors, a priest yelling in a foreign language. In front of him the floor was filled with peasants in their working clothes. The humans were standing shoulder by shoulder eyes glazed over by fanaticism as their ears were glued to the priests yelling.
“Are you the priest? Where are you in this memory?”
I only shook my head pointing behind the altar, a giant golden triangle had been erected there.
Gale's eyes went wide as she saw what had been worked into the massive icon. A human female with golden hair and white skin was secured to the metal with a golden crown welded to her very head. The crown itself was part of the icon locking the woman in place.
The priests yelling grew in intensity, doors on the side of the icon opened two armored men appearing from the darkness behind. Each one of them held a large scimitar their faces covered by a pure white mask without any features. In perfect unison they approached the hanging woman. Her golden eyes following their movement, showing she was in fact alive.
The men took position to each side of the woman, the peasants going quite. With but a blur the blades beheaded the woman. Her body slumping down spilling glowing golden blood on its fall.
Gale held her breath as the priest carried the headless body towards the people only to throw it into the crowd. The people went crazy, everyone tried to get hold of the body, glowing blood splashing everywhere as the frenzied mob tore the body to shreds consuming every last bit.
Behind the priest light spilled out of the head, the severed spine regrowing, organs taking shape as the memory collapsed.
We returned to Gale's mind-palace, she was sweating heavily her complexion deathly pale.
Gently I held her in a princess carry.”Let us go back, you were very brave.” The world spiraled as we returned to the real world.