NOVEL WEB 6 Echoes of the Void
[The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.]— Roy T. Bennett
The small caravan sprang into action, well-rehearsed in emergency procedures. The horses and camels were swiftly gathered and secured. Mohul, Khaleb, and Lamuda worked quickly to erect a sand and stone barrier using their techniques to create a protected area. There was nowhere to run from a Void Storm, the only way to survive was to take shelter.
Everyone, except Azar and Araumir, found tasks to perform, including Hamsha.
As the storm approached, the air grew colder, an unnatural chill seeping into their bones. The sky above twisted into a vortex of black and purple, tendrils of darkness reaching down like fingers of doom.
Faira, eyes wide with fear and awe, huddled close to her sister, Kaira.
"What is it? What causes this?" she asked, never witnessing anything like it before.
Kaira, her face set in concentration, began drawing protective runes in the sand around their encampment. "The void storms are remnants of ancient power, disruptions in the fabric of reality itself. They bring chaos and destruction, tearing at the very essence of the world. But after they pass, the ground is filled with loot orbs ready to be collected like flowers."
After a rune was completed, a portion of Kaira's flux was absorbed by it, and when the four required runes were drawn into the four cardinal directions, a runic barrier was erected, enveloping the encampment in a white-brown cupola. Kaira drew eight runes in total, creating the strongest defensive barrier, excepting Mohul's artifact, that Mirha flux-weavers knew of.
The storm hit with a ferocious roar, the force of it shaking the ground beneath them. Winds howled, carrying particles of abyss energy that crackled and sparked. The Void Storm unleashed its fury above the runic barrier with terrifying intensity. The sky darkened into a roiling mass of black and purple clouds, swirling violently as if the heavens themselves were being torn apart.
Deafening roars echoed across the desert, mingling with the sharp crackle of void energy that arced through the air like malevolent lightning. The runic barrier held, but just barely, so Mohul took out his defensive artifact, adding another layer to the existing barrier. The people struggled to hold the animals down, covering their vision with clothes and whispering comforting words into their ears.
Azar watched the fury of the sky with a regretful expression. Sheltered by Araumir's body, he let a tear flow down his cheek. He and his companions used to hunt such storms, meditate inside them to better feel the spatial energy, then collect whatever items were generated after the storm passed. But now, he felt lonely, weak, and abandoned by the things and people he held dear.
He returned to this world intending to help his descendants, unaware that things had changed so much. It wasn't wrong to say that for some reason, he returned with the wishful expectation of meeting his old friends. Perhaps deciding to leave behind his family, friends, and home to climb the heavens on his own left a scar on his soul. A scar that he wasn't aware of.
In the Vestral world, Azar didn't have such thoughts, such emotions and pain. In the spirit world, he never felt alone or abandoned, never felt the tightness in his chest that almost stopped him from breathing. He was now sensing the loss of something important, a loss that wasn't present when he decided to leave the physical world in his early twenties.
Gale-force winds battered the double-layered barrier, causing it to shudder and crack under the relentless assault. Each gust of wind that entered through those cracks carried with it a chill so profound it felt as though the warmth was being sucked from the world, leaving only a numbing cold in its wake.
Looking at the raging storm beyond the barrier, Azar wasn't afraid of death; a part of him even desired that, to end it all and return to the embrace of the astral world.
Within the storm, shadows twisted and writhed, forming monstrous shapes that seemed almost sentient in their malevolence. These phantoms clawed at the barrier, their dark forms flickering in and out of existence, trying to shatter the faint protective runes Kaira was constantly redrawing.
Lamuda stood at the edge of the barrier, sword drawn, eyes scanning the storm for any immediate threat.
"We’ve faced worse," he muttered to himself, though his grip on the hilt was white-knuckled.
"Infuse the barrier with more flux if you don't want to die! We'll collect the orbs if we escape death here," Mohul shouted over the deafening noise.
The air became thick with the acrid smell of plumb and the metallic tang of otherworldly energy. Sparks of abyss energy sizzled as they struck the barrier, sending up flares of light that illuminated the terrified faces of those huddled beneath its tenuous protection. Azar motioned for Araumir to help in strengthening the barrier, and the servant immediately raised his hands to the sky and sent thick streams of flux that helped the barrier regenerate.
"Thank you," said a man to Araumir after witnessing the tremendous help he was giving.
"We're in the same situation," Araumir replied.
Every minute felt like an eternity as the storm raged on, the cacophony of its wrath a constant reminder of the thin line between safety and chaos. The very ground beneath them seemed to tremble in fear, as if the desert itself were aware of the unnatural forces tearing through its tranquility.
But despite the ferocity of the void storm, the barrier held, a fragile but steadfast shield against the storm's relentless fury. As the tempest gradually began to subside, the sky lightened, and the winds lessened, leaving the group shaken but unbroken. When the storm finally ended, almost as sudden as it started, the desert was eerily silent, loot orbs scattered on the ground. The sky cleared, revealing the sun once more, though its warmth now felt strange and distant.
Mohul took a deep breath, surveying their group. "Is everyone alright?"
Kaira nodded, though her face was pale.
"We were lucky," Hamsha said.
Faira, still trembling slightly, asked, "Father, will we have to face more of these storms?"
Mohul placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Not for the moment, they aren't so frequent, but in our travels, it's possible. But now you’ve seen what we can do. We stick together, we prepare, and we endure."
"Now, let's go gather the orbs!" Lamuda shouted, jumping over the remains of the sand wall with such vigor that one couldn't describe him as a person who just escaped death.
"Haha, we're gonna be rich," Khaleb said, running to take as many orbs as he could. Even though younger, but still without Lamuda's energy.
"The old rules, you grab it, you take it?" asked another man, following after Khaleb.
Hamsha was prepared to dash out too, but Mohul's hand stopped him.
"If you're going to be greedy, I won't be able to stop my people from hurting you, alright?" he threatened.
"Y-yes," Hamsha responded, not having the same excitement after Mohul released him.
"Master?" Araumir asked.
"Collect as many valuables as possible, we'll share them after," Azar said with a demoralizing tone, not even the loot orbs could improve his disposition right now.
In just a few seconds, with the exception of Azar whose body was too weak to run, and the two sisters who were too frightened and tired to compete with the others, everyone left the small refuge to try their luck. Lamuda, like many others, collected the orbs in his robe without caring about their contents; there was no time for wasting on that now. Like hungry birds, the tribesmen ran to collect as many orbs as they could before someone came to steal them.
Unfortunately for them, their speed couldn't compare to Araumir's, who, with flawless, lightning-like movements, was everywhere on the field, almost stealing the orbs from the people's hands when he passed by. His actions weren't welcomed with a smile by the people of the Mirha tribe. However, none of them had the guts to voice a complaint, not even Mohul.
"Who taught you to draw runic seals?" Azar asked, his absent eyes gazing unfocused at a carriage on the other part of the refuge. His stomach ached, he was hungry.
After taking a moment to realize that she was the one he was talking to, Kaira responded. "I was trained by my father."
Azar nodded in approval to her words.
"You have to place your will into the runic seals, not just infuse them with flux," he said, trying to make conversation to escape the prison of his own thoughts. "Runes are symbols already possessing an informational structure, but having a predetermined purpose doesn't mean they can't be influenced. When drawing them, you have to use mental power, flux, and will for the process to be complete. To give them a reason for using their power and establish a connection with them. If you do that, the power of your runic seals will increase more than you can imagine."
"To infuse them with my will?" Kaira asked. "And how do I do that?"
"First, you have to clear your mind, be focused on your desire. Then, as you draw them, you create them with the sole purpose of following your desire. Their power will increase depending on your capability to infuse them with strong emotions and desires," Azar replied.
Kaira jumped to her feet, gaze fixed on Azar as she asked, "But aren't I already doing that? When I draw the seals in the sand for creating a runic barrier, isn't that their purpose?"
"Yes and no. You are indeed creating them for something, but as they lack desire and emotion, you have to infuse them with that. You have to go deeper inside yourself. Why do you want a protective barrier?"
"Because I want to not die?" Kaira said.
"Alright, and why don't you want to die?" Azar asked.
"Why don't I want to die?" Kaira repeated. "I don't know, because I'm still young?"
"That can translate into the fear of losing what you currently have: family, life, opportunity to explore your physicality. You're afraid to lose them, you're afraid to lose you," Azar explained. "You can infuse your runic seals with that fear, giving them a stronger reason to do what they were created for. Or even better, you can infuse them with your desire to live if you can train a strong one."
"Train a strong desire to live?" Kaira asked.
"Yes."
"How? Is that even possible? Is the desire to live something that can be categorized as weak or strong?" Kaira asked, but then she reached a realization. "...I guess it is."
People are different, and some struggle to live harder than others, so it must be true, she thought.
"Almost everything can be trained, Kaira, including your wants and desires," Azar said.
"Can the desire to live or an emotion be infused into any type of runic seal?"
"Yes, of course. They are your creation, so you can infuse them with whatever you want," Azar replied.
"If I can ask, syed, what are you infusing your runic seals with?"
"Depends on whatever emotion or desire I feel the strongest at that moment," Azar replied. "I have infused them with the desire to survive, with the desire to kill or punish, with love, anger, and even gratefulness."
Kaira studied him for a little.
"I see. Then can I ask Azar Syed to train me in the use of runic seals?" she asked.
Azar kept silent for a while. "If I decide to remain in this world, I will train you," he said.
"Is syed planning to leave so soon after returning?" Kaira asked.
"This era seems empty and painful for me," Azar replied.
"But I think this era also has things that you didn't back in your time. I believe that each era has beautiful things of its own," Kaira said, subtly trying to convince him to remain.
"Maybe. New things and new people," Azar added with a sigh.
"Syed, I have one more question," Kaira said, and Azar motioned for her to talk. "How many runic seals are there? I currently know only fourteen."
"There isn't an exact number of them," Azar said. "Before I left this world, I knew more than a hundred, but as I currently am just a fragment of my soul, I can't remember them all. However, runic seals can be created with the right methods, and I do believe that their number can be infinite."