This was too much. The Athens family prided itself on its adaptability in the face of adversity, but none of them had dealt with anything like this. Plus, it wasn’t like she was still a part of that family. She didn’t have to live up to their standards, not anymore. That didn’t make her feel much better when she failed to meet them, though.
How did it come to this? She had such a promising future ahead of her. All ruined because of a stupid broken Rune. Minor Copy? She didn’t even know what it did.
And her new one? It was Mythical and Demonic. It was the perfect one-two punch to make her the most wanted creature in both universes! Sure, she was probably ridiculously overpowered now, but at what cost?
Maybe she would have preferred staying a dud. It was painful, really painful, to be called that, but it still beat this.
Fuck, Joy still remembered it like she was yesterday. It was the dawn of her eighth birthday, and she was so, so excited for her Rune to finally evolve. No one, not even the latest of late bloomers, failed to make a Glyph by their eighth birthday. Hell, at that point she was already considered a disappointment, Joy just hadn’t realized it yet.
- 11 years ago -
“Mother?” Young Joy asked expectantly, “Do you really think that I’ll get my Glyphs today?”
Joy’s mother, Daphne, looked back at her with a frigid expression before quickly putting on a happy facade.
“Of course, Joy. The Athens family hasn’t produced a dud, ever. I doubt you'd be the first. Just believe in yourself, okay?” If it weren’t for her mother's earlier expression, maybe Joy would have.
“M-Mother. Um. I-If-” Joy started to stutter out.
“Get on with it young lady. I thought your etiquette teacher had gotten rid of your stutter. It’s unbecoming to speak with such anxiety. We are leaders, remember that. Or do you need a few more weeks in the Arena to improve your confidence?”
“No, mother, I understand.” She spat out quickly.
Joy gathered her courage before finally speaking, “If I don’t manifest a Glyph, will you still l- love me.” Joy finally spoke.
“Oh, of course, Joy. Was that all you were concerned about? You don’t ever have to worry about us abandoning you. Will you do me a favor, though?” Joy gave a small nod, “Don’t doubt your blood. It has the greatness of generations running through it.” Daphne spoke confidently, her tone full of false positivity, despite her true feelings.
“Of course, mother.” Joy responded cordially while holding back tears. She couldn’t let her own facade slip. Her combat teacher was unforgiving when Joy’s mother sent her to the Arena.
And truly, what did she have to be sad about? She had received her answer after all. Years of training with her ‘etiquette’ teacher had taught her to read expressions perfectly. Her mother knew that, and yet lied to her face. That was her true answer. No. She would be abandoned the moment she became a liability to their illustrious image. The Athens family did not produce failures.
Her eighth birthday was a somber occasion. It was the last time she was loved in her fourteen years at the Athens estate. If she ever was at all.
-Present-
Joy quickly tried to think of something else. That memory was one of her most painful, even though it involved the least amount of actual physical pain.
The Athens family was like that, though. Fuck, why did she look up to them? Why did she still want to be like them? Impress them? She had been in the Undercity for five years at this point, and Joy understood that most of what was taught to her was bigoted propaganda. She wasn’t stupid.
She knew that the Unmarked weren’t subhuman. In fact, they were probably more human than anyone else. Normal humans didn’t have magic in the Unawakened Age, and yet, now it was the norm. Why did the System forsake the Unmarked? Why did it forsake her, despite blessing her with a Rune?
It was all so unfair. Unfair that she had to live her whole life scorned for her ‘dud’ Rune, and when it finally decided to evolve, it became the one thing more hated than a dud. Demonic Runes were KOS. Machine help her, this was so fucking unfair.
Unfair that the Unmarked, despite obviously being just as human as anyone else, were considered filth to most of the Topsiders. Hell, even she looked down on them. Did not having a Rune that made fucking plants grow faster make them lesser than some random ass gardener? Sure, yeah, they would be worse in that specific field, but they could be better in any number of others. Was it a eugenics thing? Did they not want the Marked and Unmarked interbreeding?
Ostensibly, your genetics shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not the System blessed you or not. At least, that’s what was taught. Nothing made any sense, and at this point, Joy was tired of ignoring it. Tired of going along with it.
She thought that if she followed along with what the nobility was doing, stuck to her teachings, and tried to keep a noble bearing, she would eventually be redeemed. It was a hope she never bothered acknowledging, at the time she would have rathered not to think about her family at all.
But Joy was fucking done.
So fucking what, she had a Demonic Rune, did that automatically make her a monster that deserved death? Really? Was her whole life predestined? Did she really, truly, deserve what had happened to her? Did anyone?
No
Maybe the System was tired of the current era as well. It was common knowledge that the Marked wouldn’t get a Rune that they were unsuited for. Joy thought about her life up until this point. Was she envious? All the time. Was she prideful? To a fault. Wrathful? Absolutely.
Yes, it was no mistake that she received a Demonic Rune.
Really, Joy just had to shift her thinking. This wasn’t her problem. It was everyone else’s.
----------------------------------------
After that motivational speech to herself, Joy still had to check something. She still hadn’t actually observed what her Rune did yet, and that blinking at the corner of her vision had yet to fully go away.
Might as well address it.
Stellar work Joy, Your Rune, Envy, Has Stolen the Rune:
Rune of Interface - M.P.G (Magical - Profession - Good Aligned)
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Rune: Allows user to interface with System terminals and the System itself.
Glyphs:
Glyph of System Sight: By the grace of the System, The user can share their vision of the System with a willing participant
Glyph of Mystical Sight: By the grace of the System, The user can see mana and essence
Glyph of Hidden Sight: By the grace of the System, The user can see hidden downsides of a Rune.
Glyph of Query: By the grace of the System, The user can ask the System one question a week.
Mana: 120/120
Regen: 24 an hour
Drawbacks: Migraines, Low Growth Ceiling
Keep up the good work, Joy. You’ll show them how wrong they were. -System
Ah, Joy had heard that those with blessed or cursed Runes got personalized System messages. Well, no one knew if those with Mythical blessings did, as there was only one other being blessed with one, and it was currently in deep space eating stars. Why the System thought to bless a fucking worm of all things with near infinite power, she would never know, the System worked in mysterious ways.
Back on topic, Joy looked at her own rune once again.
Demonic rune of Mythical Envy
Rune: Envy Takes. Everything that is and shall be will be yours. Grasp it.
Drawbacks:
Limited Power - You are only as powerful as the strongest Runes in your possession SO TAKE MORE
That… couldn’t be it. Sure, that was one nasty downside, no infinite power for Joy just yet, but all Runes had more than one. Unless it was like, mega weak, but that was beside the point, [Envy] clearly wasn’t.
She did have a whole bunch of new Glyphs to try out. Might as well use ‘em.
[Glyph of Hidden Sight]
Demonic rune of Mythical Envy
Rune: Envy Takes. Everything that is and shall be will be yours. Grasp it.
Drawbacks:
Limited Power - You are only as powerful as the strongest rune in your possession SO TAKE MORE
Hidden Downsides:
Ego - feelings of arrogance and superiority increase with each use.
Psychopathy - Decrease empathy and increase violent tendencies with each use.
The calling of Sin - Decreased ability to resist the use of your Rune
Demonic Aura - Anyone near you is intimidated, scales with the use of your Rune
Limited Power - You are only as powerful as the strongest rune in your possession. If multiple are at the same level, strength stacks. Additive, not multiplied
Hidden - Hidden
Joy sucked in a breath through her teeth. Oh, fuck. That was really bad. Maybe there was a reason that Demonic Runes were kill on sight after all. Runes altered your mental state, that couldn’t be avoided, but to this extent? Normally it would just change your demeanor or habits, not your whole personality.
Granted, Joy could… maybe acknowledge that she had never been the most empathetic.
She winced as she thought of earlier today, thinking the guy getting beat in the alley was a moron for not knowing his own worth. Yikes.
People didn’t change in a day either. Sure, she had known for a while that Unmarked weren’t actually insects, but that didn’t mean that she cared for them. She still didn’t really feel that bad for the aforementioned alley guy.
Okay, so what, she had some sociopathic tendencies. Sue her. It wasn’t like empathy was encouraged in her household. Her mother had her literally thrown in a cage match every time Joy pissed her off, all with the same empty smile.
Maybe she didn’t have the healthiest childhood.
Wow, today is a day just chock full of discoveries. She thought sarcastically.
Okay, so that psychopathic downside wasn’t the worst, it would certainly exacerbate some of her own tendencies, but she already knew how to interact with people that she wanted to murder on a daily basis. No big change.
On to Ego. Yeah, okay, maybe she was a little prideful. She was born in a family that had statues of all the ‘Heroes’ they had ever produced right at their estate's entrance. The Athens family wasn’t exactly humble, and she had inherited their pride fully and completely. Despite being the victim of it more often than not.
That could be a problem if she wanted to be a leader in the future. Only tyrants and morons didn’t take their subordinates' opinions seriously, and Joy would prefer to be neither. Ego was tough, but she could find a way to deal with it.
The next two were, thankfully, not just aspects of her personality. Though… Joy never did have the best impulse control. Was this all her Rune was good for? Giving her a wake-up call on her shitty personality? Honestly, that was just rude.
Okay, so Calling of Sin. That was bad, extremely bad. If she couldn’t control her impulse to steal a Rune around someone who was truly powerful, she would for sure be atomized. Without question. Envy seemed to be instant, sure, and maybe it even was, but that didn’t matter when the person you were stealing from could feel intent. It didn’t matter how instant it seemed when you could get turned to dust just for thinking negatively in their presence.
Still, it was workable. She would just have to avoid getting near one of those old monsters.
Demonic Aura. Thankfully, this one wasn’t actually that bad. Well, it wasn't that bad yet. Thanks to [Limited Power], Joy should technically still be at the Glyph stage. That was the second to lowest, and that meant that her aura wouldn’t be overpowering yet. It would just inspire a sense of unease to those who were near her for too long. Demonic Aura was actually a well-known drawback of Demonic Runes, they all had it.
Okay, so this is what she had to work with. Decreased impulse control, empathy, and ability to resist her Rune, plus increased violent tendencies and arrogance. Add in a splash of intimidation and it made for the perfect bloodthirsty, power-hungry tyrant.
What the fuck, System!
It was a fucking feedback loop! Take a Rune, feel superior and lose empathy, see a Rune she wants, can’t resist taking it, Take a Rune, and fucking so on and so forth. All the while becoming more and more violent!
There was nothing for it. It wasn’t like she could just… not use it. That wasn’t how Runes worked! They were a part of your very being, you couldn’t refuse them. The System made sure of that.
Joy swore, if she ever got the opportunity, she was going back in time and strangling those dipshit scientists that created their so called 'Machine Savior'.
Realizing that she had worked herself into a frenzy, Joy decided to take a short walk.
The cool, musty, air usually just made her angrier, but right now it was a welcome reprieve from the white-hot anger that was burning inside her. It wasn’t quite rage, not yet, but it was getting there.
This whole situation just seemed so hopeless. Joy had, like twenty minutes ago, just declared that she would prove everybody wrong about her, the Unmarked, and Demonic Runes, and had already hit her first roadblock. She couldn’t even make it an hour!
This isn’t helping. Just… take a look around, and distract yourself.
And look she did. She looked at the tall neon spires and the dilapidated sheet metal huts that were bathed in their light. It felt discordant that such bright and happy colors set such a dreary world alight.
Pale, gaunt, people were spotted wherever they could fall asleep. Whether that be an alleyway or a home, it didn’t matter to them. Joy noticed one sleeping right next to a corpse. When he had died, Joy had no idea. From the swelling, spots, and dried blood on his lips, it seemed a mix of scurvy and infection. Such a death was distressingly common down here. Vitamin C and D supplements were critical for survival in a place with no sun, and the Topsiders did not make them cheap.
Oh, they were unbelievably easy to make, technology had not regressed since magic made its appearance a few centuries ago, but why would the Topsiders sell them cheap? What did they have to gain? It was sickening. So many unneeded deaths.
It wasn’t like Joy was torn up about the deaths, but even as a noble, she wouldn’t have liked this. It was so unnecessary. These were human beings! And she didn’t say that to appeal to morality, Joy meant it in a very practical way. These were humans that could work, invent, and buy. These were resources being squandered! And for what? A misguided sense of superiority? Joy recognized that the sentiment was rich coming from her, but she would have at least used these people to their full extent! There were billions of Unmarked! Granted, they were spread across a few dozen worlds, but still! They were a full 5% of the total population! Wasted!
Hell, even as a tyrant, couldn’t she do better than that? Even if they were just being used, wouldn’t it be better than their current life? The best an Unmarked could accomplish down here was joining some gang, working their way up through the ranks, and becoming king of shit mountain. Was that really all they could achieve? All they could be used for?
And it wasn’t as if the Marked were being used to their fullest extent either. They were complacent and comfortable. Maybe… maybe the world needed a tyrant. It needed a shake-up. It needed her. And if Joy got to be the Empress for a little while to make that happen?
Well, she wouldn’t complain.