Rune Seeker

“So, what you’re saying,” Yanily said after Hiral had explained the entirety of his dream and what he thought it meant. “Is that the end of the world is all your fault? Way to go.”

“I wouldn’t put it exactly like that,” Hiral said. “Dr. Benza – the PIMP, if I’m right about that – said Vorinal waking up may already be enough to set the Enemy off.”

“Why do you think you are so connected to this?” Seena asked him.

“I don’t think it’s me in particular,” Hiral said. “It’s more about the runes. Look, the more I use them, the more I see how big they are. No, Yan, I don’t mean physically. There’s a depth to them – especially the Edicts – I’m only starting to grasp. I think it might be rank-related, but that doesn’t matter here. What does is that the more I use the concepts the runes represent, the more it creates a ripple through the Edicts.

“Think of it like this,” Hiral said, seeing the blank expressions on his friends’ faces. “The Edict of Gravity is a giant – perfectly still – body of water. A lake. Every time I use the Rune of Gravity, I’m taking a tiny bit of water from that lake. Just a bit at a time. When I started back at E-Rank, I was using a small cup to scoop water out. With each rank I get – as I grow stronger – I’m using a bigger and bigger cup.

“At the beginning, the ripples from the small cup were so tiny, they were barely there. Unnoticeable. Now, though, I’m getting to a point where each scoop of water I take is going to disturb the lake enough to send ripples out. Maybe when I get to A-Rank, or S-? Those ripples are going to be waves.”

“And squids don’t like waves in their little pond,” Seeyela said.

“Lake,” Yanily corrected.

“Whatever.”

“Either way, yes,” Hiral said. “Also, imagine the lake as stretching all across reality and through multiple realms.”

“Definitely not a pond,” Yanily said knowingly to Seeyela.

“That’s what you’re tapping into every time you use the runes?” Seena asked him.

“I think so?” Hiral said, though he looked at Li’l Ur on her shoulder.

“It was an adequate metaphor,” the lich said. “Though, I would not give it the same volume as all that. The runes are representations of some of the building blocks of reality. Of its rules. But they – on their own – are not power.

“Many of the Progenitors could not use these runes, but they still possessed the strength to shake this world to its foundations. As you grow into your sponsor’s power, Mistress, whether you can use runes or not won’t matter. You will simply be able to burn all opponents to ash as your armies march across the world to claim entire nations in your name.”

“Aaaaand we’re back to world domination,” Seena said. “Still pretty far down the to-do list, Ur.”

“But on the list,” the lich said with a flame-eyed wink.

Yup. Contagious.

“What do you all think?” Hiral asked. “Not about the metaphor or world domination. Should I stop using the runes? Stop getting stronger with them. It sounds like if I keep pushing it, the Enemy will start acting sooner. Maybe If I wait…”

“It would give others more time to also grow stronger,” Drahn finished. “From what you said, the PIMP has an endgame. A plan for what it wants us to do. You’re part of it, but not all of it, unless I miss my guess. So, whatever the PIMP is planning, it needs multiple people who are strong.”

“Which makes sense,” Seeyela said. “Considering what we know of the dungeon system. Other people are running them right now, and except for these Lost dungeons, they’re all repeatable.”

“Then there’s the raid zone we will need to talk about,” Left said.

“We’ll stick to the plan and talk about it when we connect with Nivian and Wule,” Seena said. “Sounds like we’ll need them for that anyway. And, maybe even for this discussion. That said – since we’re already talking about it – I have thoughts on this, but I want to hear from the rest of you. What are your opinions? Yan?”

“Don’t slow down,” Yanily said without pause, then held up a hand as Drahn opened his mouth. “I know, we want other people to have time to get strong too. But, jokes aside, Hiral is overpowered. If he keeps getting stronger, he will get more overpowered. Sounds to me that’s something we want if we’re facing the enemy.

“That’s not all, and maybe I’m being selfish here, but can you think – even for a second – any of us are going to sit on the sidelines for the next year? If we’re out there, or in dungeons like this, I want the strongest party I can have at my side.

“I know you all remember the people we’ve lost because we weren’t strong enough,” Yan said, turning to Seeyela first. “I see you sitting up at night when you think nobody is watching, beating yourself up over what you think you did wrong.”

Yanily looked at Seena. “You’re our party leader. Every choice you make puts our lives on the line, and you carry that weight on your shoulders. If us being even a tiny bit stronger lessens that load, I’m all for it.”

He looked at Hiral. “You’ve got all kinds of emotional baggage that I don’t even want to get into, and you’re finally, mostly, over it. About damn time considering how many times you’ve bailed us out of tough situations. You once told us you’d have our backs – before you even knew us. Now, after all we’ve been through, there isn’t anybody else I’d rather have watching over me. You’ve saved my life far too often for me to think otherwise.

“Yes, I want you to keep getting stronger so we don’t lose anybody else I care about. The PIMP said the Enemy might not wait anyway. Hurry up and become the boogeyman that chases them through the rain.

“Just don’t headbutt me again.”

“I’ll try,” Hiral said quietly, once again taken aback by Yanily’s serious side.

“Sis?” Seena said, also quietly still processing Yanily’s words. “Your thoughts?”

“Unlike Yanily, part of me would love a year to spend with my daughter,” Seeyela said. “In a perfect world, that’s what I’d be doing now. Except, we don’t live in a perfect world. And if I’m sitting there with her, am I really protecting her? To me, this is the same conversation we had about fighting the Enemy at all.

“Sure, maybe this’ll change when we do it, or maybe it won’t. Dr. PIMP said the Fallen waking up already changed its calculations or whatever, so Hiral may not be learning the runes fast enough.”

“You agree with Yanily?” Seena prompted.

“Mostly, with one small change,” Seeyela said. “We all need to keep getting stronger. Sooner is better. We already knew we were going to be fighting the Enemy, so let’s be ready for it.”

Seena and Yanily both nodded at that.

“Drahn?” Seena asked.

“What does my opinion matter?” the tracker said. “You’ll do what you want anyway. Like always.” He chuckled after that last part to show he wasn’t upset by it. It was just how it was.

“We will,” Seena said. “Doesn’t mean I’m not curious about your thinking.”

Drahn took a breath while he considered. “I’m probably the worst person to be saying this, but if what Hiral’s dream said was true, we need to work closer with the Islanders. If the Enemy is going to start really coming after us again, we have to focus on increasing our collective strength. The exploratory plans we have for dungeon running isn’t enough.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“We need to… institutionalize this. Almost like a military, which in itself terrifies me.”

“It might be the only way we survive,” Seena said quietly.

“It doesn’t need to be everybody,” Drahn said. “We focus on the ones who are already strong, and make them stronger. Or the ones we see with potential for explosive growth – no pun intended,” he said, looking at Hiral. “And it needs to happen now.”

“We’re talking about big changes here,” Seena said. “Changes we have no authority to make.”

“Grandmother will see the need when we explain how things are going to happen,” Seeyela said.

“Dad is having trouble with the council,” Hiral admitted. “It might be harder to convince them to go along with it, but if we explain how important it is, I’m sure we can get it through their thick skulls.”

“You’re one to talk about thick skulls,” Yanily muttered, rubbing his forehead again.

“Ilrolik was at Vorinal’s tower too,” Hiral continued. “She saw the Enemy and the threat they pose. She’ll support this.”

The party leader nodded. “You’ve all made very good points. No, Hiral, you don’t get a turn. Like Drahn said, you’ll do what I say anyway. As for my thoughts? I agree with you all. We can’t slow down now. We won’t slow down now.

“The PIMP said the Enemy would come for us, well, that was going to happen anyway. I’d rather go into that fight knowing I’ve done everything I can to be ready for it. Sitting on the sidelines like Yan mentioned? No way. That’s not us.

“And, if you’re asking me truthfully, I don’t think the PIMP expects us to do that either. It’s watched us this whole time – supported us with gear and abilities – it knows what choice we’re going to make. Don’t you Dr. PIMP?” she shouted at the dungeon-room around them.

She chuckled when she didn’t get a response. “Thought it was worth a try. Anyway, any objections to getting strong enough to punch the squids right back to wherever the came from as soon as we can?”

“None here,” Yanily said.

“I’ll stab instead of punch, but, yeah,” Seeyela agreed.

“As long as we can let the people at home know what they need to do,” Drahn said.

“Once we have Nivian and Wule back, we’ll figure that out next,” Seena said, then looked at Left as the double held up his hand. “Yeah, Left?”

“I know we said we’d talk about it with the twins,” Left started. “But this seems like an appropriate time to mention something about the raid zone. From the notification we got, it’s not limited to three groups, or to any particular rank. It’s likely we’ll need people from Fallen Reach – and the Grower islands – to be successful within the zone.”

“Convenient…” Seena said slowly while she tapped her lips with her oversized gauntlets. “That means we need to get back there soon and get backup.”

“Or send somebody with one of the Recall Tokens,” Left suggested.

“Also an option.” Seena nodded. “Still, we’re tabling it until we have Nivian and Wule with us.”

“Understood,” Left said. “Just thought that particular detail was important at this juncture.”

“No, it’s good you brought it up. We’ll have to keep it in mind,” Seena said. “Anybody have anything else you need to discuss before we move on finish up this dungeon? Time is actually ticking down for once.”

“Just one thing,” Yanily said. “What’s up with the squiggly lines on Hiral’s head? Is that your new rune?”

Hiral ran his hand over his smooth head – it wasn’t like he could feel the rune there, though it was listed in his status window. “The Rune of Dreaming,” he said.

“You got a rune that does what?” Seeyela asked. “Puts you to sleep?”

A shake of his head was Hiral’s response, though he couldn’t blame the woman’s cynicism. The name didn’t do the rune justice at all. When he’d figured it out, even he didn’t entirely believe it.

Until he’d exploded – proving he was correct.

“It’s probably better to show you,” he said. “Seena, can you make just one fireball and hold on to it?”

“My fireballs weren’t what I thought your dreams about me would focus on,” she said with a quirk of her lips, but produced the ball of flame above her hand.

“No, mostly they’re about you and…” Right started, before Hiral’s free hand slapped over his double’s mouth.

“Wine and cheese,” Hiral said. “About you and wine and cheese.”

“I don’t think that’s what he was about to say,” Yanily pointed out. “Unless wine and cheese is a euphemism for something these days? Maybe it should be something about picnics instead.” He looked at Seeyela. “Should I put it in the guide?”

“No, Yan,” Seeyela said. “Hiral. Dream rune?”

“Thank you,” Hiral mouthed at Seeyela, then glared briefly at Right. That done, he turned his attention again to the fireball in Seena’s hand, and activated his Rune of Dreaming. “The rune has two main functions, and both of them sound either very simple or…” he looked at Yanily. “Very overpowered. I suspect they’ll be somewhere in the middle.”

“Still haven’t explained what either of those functions are,” Seeyela pointed out.

“Fine,” Hiral said. “Though I want to say one more thing before I show you – the name is a bit of a misnomer.” With that, Hiral threaded his solar energy into the rune scribed across almost the entirety of his scalp – the lines spreading from the central mass glowing with power – and focused on the fireball. Immediately, the fireball became fuzzy. Indistinct. Almost clear.

Seena’s brow furrowed as she looked at the flames, and even her hand clenched a bit like she was struggling to hold the fireball. “What are you doing?”

“The first function of the Rune of Dreaming is to make things… less real,” Hiral said. “It can’t completely remove things, just sort of reduce them. In a way, it’s similar to the Rune of Decrease, but on a more fundamental level. If you were to throw this fireball at somebody, it would probably do a lot less damage. Well, actually, I have to test how long the effect lasts after I stop concentrating on it. That’s a later thing.”

“Can you do it for fireballs flying at us?” Seeyela asked.

“I think so,” Hiral said. “Protecting everybody from the FiendishTree was really good practice for that kind of thing. Also, in case you were wondering, that was how the tree was throwing all those elements at us.”

“How does making something less real spew fire and lightning?” Yanily asked.

“The whole area is unstable, because of the experiments that were done here, I think. Because of that, the original researchers put up barriers to hold back the connections to those other realms. The kill-switches we saw for the plants were just those barriers being lifted, like a flood gate.”

“That’s why the portals felt so different than usual,” Seeyela said, slapping a fist into her other palm. “I get it now!”

“Yeah, and the tree was just using that to its advantage,” Hiral said.

“Can you do that?” Seena asked.

“In this very limited area, with practice, maybe,” Hiral said. “Anywhere outside here? Maybe with a lot of practice, but it’s not a soon thing.”

“Can you make people less real?” Yanily asked.

“Not sure on that. I’ll have to test the limits, but I suspect it’ll be a lot harder if not impossible. Anything that has a will will be able to resist the effect. Even Seena was able to unconsciously keep her fireball from fading too much.”

“I can throw some at you later to test,” Seena said.

“… thank you?” Hiral offered. Maybe he needed a Rune of Fire Resistance to take her up on the offer.

“If the rune has two functions,” Seeyela interrupted his thoughts. “And the first is making things less real, is the other making things more real?”

“Exactly,” Hiral said, flipping the power of the rune around, and suddenly intensifying the fireball. Colors sharpened. The crackling of the flames increased to almost a roar, and enough heat rolled off the flames Hiral even had to lean back.

“Wow,” Seena said, staring into the spinning flames. “I don’t know if I’d call it more real, or just more fiery.”

“That could be part of it,” Hiral admitted. “More real could translate to more true to it’s nature. Or, opposite that, less true to its nature. That might actually be a better way to describe it. Thanks Seena.”

“Do I get more than a footnote?”

“For you, absolutely.”

“Very sweet you two,” Seeyela said. “You think you can do this too? During a fight? Make her fire more fiery? My venom more venomy?”

“My lightning more…” Yanily trailed off. “More sparky? Make Drahn more flowery?”

“I do more than… ah never mind,” the tracker said.

Hiral had to shrug. “Maybe not right away, but it’s something I’ll work on. Using my runes – and especially the Rune of Connection – to create a channel for buffs is still new to me.”

“You’ve done pretty well so far,” Seena said. “Just keep doing that. The rest will come naturally.”

“I sure hope so,” Hiral said.

“Great, I think that gets us ready to… yes, Yanily?”

“What tattoo does Left have now?” the spearman asked.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Seena said. “Anything good?”

“Very good,” Left said for Hiral. “It’s the Herald of Peace, a tattoo that bestows several, powerful defensive abilities. It won’t make any of us into an outright tank, but it will make us significantly tougher.”

“Great!” Seena said. “Right got new gauntlets to hit things harder, and you’re going to make us tankier. Good combination.”

“We still haven’t looked behind door number two,” Yanily said. “If Right got something in the last room, how much do you want to bet this will be something for Left?”

“Only one way to find out,” Seena said, standing up. “Uh, Hiral…?” She pointed at the still roiling fireball.

“Sorry,” he said, cutting off the thread of Dreaming. Just holding the effect had been good practice for him.

“Thanks,” she said, the fireball snuffing out. “Let’s see if there are some Solar Cores in there, then go find us a Boss. Nivian and Wule are – hopefully – waiting.”