Rune Seeker

The next few hours were spent catching up on everything that had happened since the group had parted ways with Nivian and Wule. The resolution of things with Picoli, the Rise and Fall of Fallen Reach dungeons – and the return of Fitch. The twins were understandably surprised by that, along with the release of the Fallen.

That inevitably led into the theory Vorinal may still be alive, and looking to get into the nearby raid zone – something both parties agreed they needed to check on. After Seena had her turn – with plenty of help from the others – it was passed over to Nivian and Wule to relay what they’d been up to.

And it had been bloody.

From the moment they’d separated from the others, they’d begun a brutal war against almost every other undead within the city. Consuming the blue flames of the defeated allowed the undead to expand what closely resembled a PIM within their bodies. Nivian’s roots were gone, completely destroyed by his undead state, and blue flames now replaced them to move his solar energy. The hunger, it turned out, was a manifestation of those flames eating away at his own body. Replenishing them with the life force – undead force? – of other undead was the only way to keep it at bay until it stabilized.

The other undead in the city had previously gone into a kind of hibernation to delay that – for millennia if needed – and had only awoken because of the party showing up. Turns out living life force was even better than undead life force. Or, whatever it was called. Though, only after the PIM had stabilized.

Nivian had needed to glut on undead energy to have enough purified energy in his body to create that stable PIM. With that now done, Nivian could grow stronger like his friends had – gaining experience and running dungeons.

Along the way, they’d picked up the other members of their party, finding common ground to beat back the hordes and prevent getting eaten themselves. A pair of dungeons in the city to redeem achievement rewards was the only ‘break’ they’d taken from the carnage.

It was a lot to process, and there was a haunted look in Wule’s eyes when he talked about it. He said he was okay – and none of the others pushed it – but they all saw it. That much bloodshed, along with the constant worry for his brother, had weighed heavily on the healer. At least now he’d have some other friendly faces to help him carry the load.

From there, the heaviness of the topic burning through the adrenaline of finding each other, the two parties broke into small groups.

Igwanda and Drahn had hit it off surprisingly well, continuing their discussions on all things bow-related. Likewise, Bash and Yanily grabbed a corner to talk about the best way to smash different kinds of enemies. Really, Bash’s only tactic was to keep hitting it until it stopped moving, but the two damage dealers became surprisingly quick friends.

Politet and Gran decided to keep to themselves for the time being, with Politet grumbling about not trusting the Breathers, while Gran just wanted to knit.

Hiral had watched the hooded woman for a few minutes longer – there was more to her than she let on. The fact she knew he was a Builder, along with a lot of her other insights… just how old was she? Some of what she said made it sound like she was one of the first vampires raised by Ur’Thul in the city, but nobody had a good answer as to when that had actually happened. Even Li’l Ur was fuzzy on the details.

But, staring at the woman wasn’t getting Hiral any answers – and it was kind of creepy – so he’d finally retreated to a quiet side of the room with his doubles. They had their own things to discuss, and it would give Seena and Seeyela some quiet time to talk to Nivian and Wule.

“So,” Left said as the three of them got comfortable, another helping of Nivian’s stew in their hands. “We need to talk about what Dr. PIMP said.”

“We do,” Hiral agreed.

“We’re all thinking the same thing?” Right asked.

“Probably,” Hiral chuckled. “We, or more specifically I am not the first one the PIMP tried to set up to use runes. If we’re right, and that initial golem we met on the surface was controlled by the PIMP, it’d tried it on others.”

“And it most likely didn’t always work,” Left said. “Which is undoubtedly what led to the stories around avoiding those things.”

“Running up and hitting people with its Rune of Separation wouldn’t make it any friends,” Right agreed.

“It honestly doesn’t seem like a great plan on the PIMP’s part,” Hiral mused. “Why would it ever think something like that would work?”

“Simple,” Left said. “Because it must’ve worked sometime in the past. At least once.”

“For the same reason it worked on you,” Right said to Hiral. “Instead of splitting you down the middle into a bloody mess.”

Hiral shuddered at the thought of what could’ve happened. “The ‘why’ of how the PIMP thought it would work – or how I ever ended up with Foundational Split – probably isn’t something we can figure out. But, let’s go ahead with the assumption my class was planned out. At least the Artificer one. It clearly led to me being able to repair the towers in Fallen Reach, but from the sounds of what the PIMP said in the dream, it has bigger plans.”

“Before that,” Left said. “There is another thing we may want to consider. Two things, actually.”

“And they are?” Right asked.

“First, the children thrown from Fallen Reach,” Left said. “The ones who couldn’t use their solar energy.”

“The ones like me, before,” Hiral said. “You think the PIMP tried to do the same thing to them?”

“If any of them somehow survived the fall, yes,” Left said. “And there’s a chance it succeeded with them. Remember the doctor’s words – None before you have made it to this stage. That clearly implies there had been some success in creating more Builders.”

“You think they might still be out there,” Hiral said, and it wasn’t a question. “The blank areas in the Racial Scanner?”

“Exactly,” Left said. “They could be either raid zones like we considered before, or areas the PIMP purposely hid from us. It would explain why we didn’t see any other yellow dots.”

“If there are more Builders out there, we could certainly use their help after we meet up with the Bonders,” Hiral said.

“More party variety to run dungeons with,” Right said. “One thing is kind of bugging me, though. Several things, actually, but especially after the dungeon we just ran. Why do you have runes on your body? From everything we’ve seen – including Banst – Builders don’t. Most of them sound like they needed constructs to use their abilities. Like the Mediums Artists and Academics use.”

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“Or like this,” Hiral patted the RHCs on his thighs.

“Pretty sure Banst was just using the rune thanks to being Infested,” Right added.

“I have a theory,” Hiral said.

“How do I not know what it is?” Right asked.

“I just came up with it right now while we were talking. When Left mentioned the other kids from Fallen Reach,” Hiral said.

“Care to elaborate?” Left asked.

“Sure, but wouldn’t it be more fun if you guessed?”

“No,” both doubles said flatly at the same time.

“Yeah, probably a waste of time…” Hiral grumbled. “Okay, look. What is the biggest difference between me and the other kids who would’ve been thrown off the island?”

“Your age,” Left said immediately.

Hiral opened his mouth, then bit his lower lip. “Yeah, that’s true, but not what I was thinking.”

“Your tattoos,” Right said. “You had a full suite of them, while those kids would – at most – have a dagger and a few Meridian Lines.”

“Exactly,” Hiral said. “And not just any tattoos, but all S-Rank tattoos. Inked on my body by one of the best Artists on the island, with top-end materials, and nurtured almost from birth. I had full Meridian Lines before most kids get their first one.

“Even though I couldn’t use my solar energy, I think my body adapted to having a PIM – despite it being the wrong one – and the tattoos were part of that. So, when I got my correct PIM, my body was – I don’t know – primed? Ready to accept something in place of the tattoos.”

“And the runes did that,” Left mused. “It’s possible.”

“Anything is possible, and it’s just a guess,” Hiral said. “Maybe it was because of my age, like you said. Or how I was standing when the golem caught me.”

“Or your terrible haircut,” Right said.

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

“Never,” Right said. “And if you ever try to grow it again, we’re putting a stop to it.”

Hiral ran his hand over his still-perfectly-smooth scalp. “Don’t think we need to worry about that.”

“They’re right,” Nivian’s voice said, and Hiral looked up to find the tank coming over to the trio. “The new look suits you better.”

“You look more comfortable with what you’ve got going on as well,” Hiral said, looking the tank’s bone armor up and down. The man’s skin was much paler than it had been, almost as white as the bone, and his hair had taken on a grey tint as well. Only the blue of his eyes and down his cheek added a true hint of color to him.

“May I?” Nivian asked, gesturing to a space between the doubles and across from Hiral.

“Of course, Nivian,” Hiral said. “You’re always welcome anywhere we are. Always.”

“Thank you,” Nivian said, smoothly sitting down cross-legged. “I’m happy to see how much closer you’ve gotten with the others. I know you struggled accepting your place in our party.”

Hiral nodded, looking over at where the two sisters talked quietly with Wule. A glance at Yan with the Troblin, and he couldn’t stop a smile. “To say they’re important to me would be an understatement. You and your brother too, even though we didn’t have the same time together. The extra year in the Rise of Fallen Reach – even if most of it was only in our memories – was a surprisingly precious time to me.”

“They told me more about the time,” Nivian said. “And, if I understand correctly, you and Seena…”

Hiral suddenly had flashbacks of talking with his father about the same topic. And the look on Nivian’s face was oddly similar. Somewhat scarier, though. “We’re still trying to figure things out,” Hiral said, letting out a surprisingly deep sigh. “Every time we think we’ll have a chance to, though, something comes up. There’s something there – a spark, you know? – but it’s been one crisis after another.”

“It means a lot to me and Wule that you came looking for us so soon,” Nivian said. “About Seena, I can see it when she looks at you. She cares. A lot.”

“I do too,” Hiral said. “Like I said, you’re all really important to me, but Seena… another level.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Nivian said, leaning forward with his piercing, glowing blue eyes. “And if you hurt her, I will bury you.”

“You’d have to beat Seeyela to him,” Right said.

“Not helping,” Hiral said flatly.

“It’s true though,” Right said.

“It really is,” Left agreed.

Hiral ignored his doubles, and met Nivian’s gaze – which hadn’t wandered in the least. “I won’t hurt her. And I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe.”

Nivian held Hiral’s eyes, then nodded. “Not just her,” he said, shoulder slumping slightly. “Take care of all three of them. Drahn too, though I’d be surprised if he stays with your party long.”

“You think he’ll leave?”

“Soon,” Nivian said. “Drahn is… a good man. But he's not good at being second best. You’ve all grown so much, he knows he’s behind.” Nivian looked in the tracker’s direction. “You’ll need to fill his spot soon enough – preferably with a tank.”

Hiral looked over at Drahn. They’d started out… rough. Almost as bad as with Fitch, but Drahn had come around. While he didn’t fit in perfectly, they were all trying. And strength would come from more gear and more dungeons. Then again, he’d seen the man’s face when Banst had basically ignored him. Just thinking about how it would feel, Hiral’s fist clenched at his side.

Then again, where that would drive Hiral to get stronger, Drahn didn’t seem to have the same impetus. And, if Hiral was really being honest, Drahn couldn’t keep up with them yet. If they got in a fight that required a full party of their level to go all out, the tracker would be the weak link.

Hiral scowled at himself for thinking like that. That was a terrible way to think about somebody who was kind of, almost, maaaaaybe, nearly his friend. At least a party member.

“I can see you know it too,” Nivian said.

“As much as I don’t like to admit it, I see what you’re talking about,” Hiral said. “You really think he’ll leave?”

“Seena and Seeyela do too,” Nivian said. “Probably when we get to the raid zone. Somebody needs to go back and warn our islands when we have more information. The sisters said something about a Recall Tokenyou all have?”

“Yeah.” Hiral nodded. “It’ll take him right back to Grandfather.”

“Which means right back to Grandmother,” Nivian said. “Nobody better to start getting people organized to come.”

“It’ll be a dangerous trip,” Hiral said. “And they’ll all have to clear enough dungeons to get through the Asylums. That’s not even including this B-Rank savanna zone we’re in. I wonder how many they’ll be able to bring.”

“That’ll be up to them to worry about,” Nivian said.

“You and your party are going to come with us, aren’t you?” Hiral asked. “Into the raid zone I mean. We’re going to need you.”

“We’ll come,” Nivian said. “But I won’t be able to protect everybody like I used to. Not if we’re in separate parties. That’s up to you now.”

“They can take pretty good care of themselves,” Hiral said. “You’ll be impressed when you see them in action. Proud.”

Nivian looked over at his brother talking to the two women, and another smile creased his face. “I already am proud of them. You too. You did it. You saved Fallen Reach. My friends and family when I couldn’t be there to do it. And then you came back for us.”

“Only because you saved us from the Urn,” Hiral said. “I can only imagine what it cost you…”

“Nothing,” Nivian said. “It didn’t cost me anything. Stop thinking like that. Maybe I saved you, or maybe you would’ve figured things out, but what’s important is that we’re all still here. And this?” He gestured down at his bone-clad body. “It’s not so bad.”

“You seem more like yourself than when we met you a few hours ago,” Right said. “I was kind of worried you’d become some kind of puppet for Wule.”

Nivian actually chuckled, though it had an eerie, otherworldly quality. “That’s horrible just thinking of. And, on the topic of horror, do not mention art in front of Bash. He’s a painter, but apparently all Troblins share the same taste in artwork.”

It took Hiral a second to understand, but when he did, a shudder of terror mixed with revulsion ran down his spine.

“I’m surprised Wule is willing to travel with him,” Left said.

“Let’s just say it wasn’t easy,” Nivian said. “As for my demeanor when you found us, I’d only just hit B-Rank in the dungeon. My newly evolved PIM was stabilizing, and it was only while talking to Seena and Seeyela I felt my mind become unfettered. I’m not quite back to how I was – or who I was – but it’s getting better.”

“And you’re really okay with being undead?” Hiral asked, searching Nivian’s face for the truth.

“Okay with it?” Nivian shrugged. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it has opened up doors I wouldn’t have had access to as a Grower.”

“Oh? Such as?”

Nivian smirked. “I got offered a second advanced class when I reached B-Rank.”