Runic Language

Chapter 5

Runic Language

Two demon soldiers donning black metallic armor dragged along bloodied teenager, unceremoniously. The dying boy struggled to breathe, slipping in and out of consciousness. At the end of the hallway, stood a tall, pale woman with horns. She wore a red dress and a menacing smile. With a thought, she opened a portal to a destroyed world

"Baron Gale, you listed your son as collateral should you fail to acquire Count Storm's spear, 'Bolt'", laughing as she licked her lips, "and you failed"

"Lord Envy is disappointed. He will wait till torturing your son stops being fun", as the boy was thrown at her feet, she bent down and carved a symbol on his forehead with her long, black nails

A fat man behind her fell to the ground, dropping himself at her feet, "Count Storm killed himself and destroyed his spear as his last act of living", his voice trembled

"Illa --- the Angel of Concealment was nearly killed. But THAT CUNNING BITCH", the demoness screamed and the soldiers dropped to their knees, unable to move, "she escaped her physical body. We have a soulless body and only by stabbing its heart with 'Bolt', will the spear's guiding light help us locate her spirit"

Massaging her forehead, she stood silent, "hopefully she doesn't find a dead body to possess. Her divinity is fucking annoying"

Looking at the fat man with disgust, she stomped his head with her heel, "you have a high-standing position at the Department of Defense. Search for the location of the Negative Prison. You've got 60 days"

As she placed one foot through the portal, she warned, "The Lord can only be so generous"

At the Maxwell Mansion

Duke Maxwell was entertaining a guest at his office. A short man with a wrinkled face. His hair was red and flowing. Taking out a piece of paper from his storage ring, the guest handed it to the duke

"Abel, tell me what it says?", the man said

"Well, it's a diary entry written by a native of the ancient tribe Zocva. He recounts his days hunting in the swamps of Kastu and making love to his wife. Why? what's this about?", Abel Maxwell asked, passing the diary entry to the guest

"The Order was investigating caves located in Kastu and we came across a rather disturbing image", the short man took out a blue stone, knocking it on the table in front of him. A holographic projection appeared

The image showed an intricate painting of five angelic beings eating a corpse. They ravaged the meat mouthful. Their hands held onto more slabs of raw meat as blood dripped. Under the painting were symbols

"The angels devour the God they betray. THE CURSED SUPPER", translated Abel as his face twisted

"What the hell is this?", the guest rocked back and forth in his seat. He then proceeded to write something in a small notebook, before taking away the blue stone

"We weren't able to convince Countess Silvi to rejoin us", the man informed

Countess Silvi was respected by her colleagues. She was called 'Mother Fate' because of her precognition divinity and operated in secret. Staying at a location, no one knew of, she would occasionally send letters warning people of their future. Every time she would be right about what was to come

Sadly, she cut all contact after the disappearance of her baby daughter --- something she knew of before her birth but was still unable to prevent.

"She contacted?", Abel asked

"Yeah. Her letter gave us a warning", the man took out a napkin and wiped his forehead, "tides of change arrive. The children of destiny gather"

"Children of Destiny?", the duke was confused

"Yeah, that's why The Order is paying special attention to children with promising talents. Your son, how's he doing?", the short redhead asked

"Well, he trains with Sir Arnold from dawn to dusk, but he hasn't opened his mana channels yet", Abel recounted, "he is not a child of destiny, is he?"

"Probably not, you don't have to worry", the man replied

"Billy, what of William?", Abel asked

"We offered him a seat at the table but he refused. Duke William is loyal to the crown and no one else", Billy explained

Just then a knock was heard at the door and the head butler Jerome escorted a beautiful, slender elf with long, silver hair into the room. She greeted the men inside before helping herself to a cup of tea

"How's Ella?", the elf asked

"Five months pregnant and quite temperamental"

"May the Spirits bless her with the strength to see it through", the elf raised her cup of tea

Both Abel and Bill raised their cups and recited a prayer. A bright sphere of light illuminated the room for eight seconds before disappearing

Just then, Abel Maxwell took out a document detailing ownership of a small wooden house by Lake Shefa, "Corrie, what have you been up to?", he handed the document to her

"I've been tasked with finding the children of destiny and Paul Storm is one of the top prospects", she examined the document, "we've taken him to Black Castle cause Count Storm was just murdered a few hours ago"

Bill spilled his tea, "Storm died?"

"Yes, he was killed by demons at the Hawsaw bridge. We have no idea what he was doing there", she explained, "Abel, I was recently gifted a mansion by Ocean Hibsi. I have no need for this house anymore"

"Make me go through all that trouble, just to demean it", Abel whispered, not quietly enough as both the guests heard it

"All you did was order Jerome to arrange for the place. What're you complaining about?", Corrie huffed, throwing the document at him

"Then why are you here?", Abel rolled up it up and placed it under his arm

"I require Ella's assistance"

Opening the doors to his office, Duke Maxwell made his way to Ajax's bedroom, and his guests followed

By a large study table sat AJ, drawing magic circles and reciting in runic language simultaneously. On his bed lay his mother with a book in hand

"So, for the past week, you've been preparing your body to open up your mana channels", his mother asked

"Yes, mom. My master says I've got to. Otherwise, it'll be quite painful", AJ said

"Why's that?"

"Well, I won't be developing a mana core. Instead, I'll have mana points throughout my body. My mana efficiency will increase at an extraordinary level, making the amount I use to cast magic almost negligible", he explained

"And Sarah doesn't have to go through this?"

"Well, she doesn't need to. Something about being able to directly use mana in her immediate surrounding", AJ turned around, quickly dismissing the topic, "Mom, am I drawing this right?"

Looking at the drawing and flipping through the pages, she studied the magic circle, "Yup it's exactly the same"

"Your teacher gifted you a fascinating book. Most of the runic spells in the book are unknown to me too. This book is a treasure trove", Ella remarked, handing back AJ's work

"Well, that book is a collection of his knowledge. But what I don't understand is why can't I learn fancy stuff like 'Storm Creation'", he complained

"It would take me a week to recite a spell that big, you'll take at least two months to cast it", closing the book and lifting herself off her son's bed, she placed her hands on his head and ruffled his hair, "plus, your teacher asked you to learn ten spells: 'Truth', 'Shield', 'Halt', 'Grease', 'Water Breathing', 'Translate', 'Poison Detection', 'Float', 'Thought acceleration', and 'Flame'", she recalled

"The offensive spells are useless. 'Shield', is a barrier slightly larger than my hand, 'Float' allows me to make objects one kilogram or less float, 'Halt' is a spell that will only affect its user, 'Truth' will only let me see through lies or illusions, and 'Flame' is literally a flame, the size of my pinky finger", AJ complained, "and why can't he teach me the runic language himself? He asked me to look for a teacher instead"

"My silly boy, be creative! Also, you'll get your own set of spells as you manifest your wand", she stored the book in her dimensional ring and hugged him, "You have your mother. One of the best runemasters on the continent. Why do you want him to teach you?"

"I just don't understand why though?"

"You see it's a runic law: you can only teach two apprentices to recite the godly language: The Runic Language, otherwise, you'll forget the words to it yourself. Maybe he already had two other apprentices before"

Nodding, AJ wrapped his arms around his mother, kissing her belly, "so your second apprentice will be my baby sister?"

"The path to learning this form of magic is atrocious, so I'll only teach my daughter, if she agrees to it"

Seeing the confused look on her son's face she continued, "learning the runic language is forbidden, and throughout history, divinity has always taken precedence. The Temple of Life hate runemasters and four hundred years ago, with the help of the Royal Family, they slaughtered the Swaa, the only tribe that openly practiced the runic form of magic. The late emperor, saw the Swaa as a threat to his rule and much of the Runic Language was lost with their demise, as Runic language is spread not through texts but with the word of mouth", Ella dipped her head, "in the village I grew up in, there still lives a Swaa survivor. A bitter, old yet funny lady. She loved a motherless child like me and taught her"

Forcing a smile, Ella remarked, "AJ, my son, the path of runemaster is filled with danger, but I have no doubt in your skills to face them wisely"

Smiling back, AJ excitedly proclaimed, "With your help I'll quickly become an S-ranked runemaster"

"Silly boy, the ranks to a runemaster are: Apprentice, Junior, Middle, Senior, Named, Legend, Primordial Number, and Demi-God. The ladder each runemaster climbs to increase their ranks is determined by the wand they manifest"

"What about you mom?"

"Well, I'm a senior runemaster. I use Gravity magic, and for me to rise a rank, I must raise a floating island"

"How do you know that?"

"My wand told me"

Thinking back to the conversation, AJ politely asked, "Mom, will I get to meet your master?"

Ella happily stated, "In two weeks' time. She'll help me conduct your Consent of Arcana. A ritual to manifest a wand"

Watching him work attentively again, Ella grew proud, "I like the fact that you're driven but why not tell your dad about your mana training?"

"Mom I can't. Master wishes to stay low and I respect his wishes. I begged for his permission to tell you about him. He only agreed to it after I assured him that you can definitely keep a secret. I would appreciate it if you could not tell Dad about it as well", AJ stopped drawing to review his work

Ella bent over to bring her face closer to her son, "then why tell me?"

They stared at each other for a few seconds before AJ turned around, "It felt like the right thing to do. Like I needed you to know"

She gave him a kiss on the cheek

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Son. Dear. I'm coming in with guests", Abel announced before entering the room with the others, giving AJ the time, he needed to hide his drawings

Upon their entrance, AJ raced to hug the elf, "Aunt Corrie"

Squeezing him tight, Corrie swung the boy around. Both Bill and Corrie would frequently visit the Maxwells, to meet their old adventuring partner, Eleanor

Staring at the pregnant woman, Corrie put Ajax down and rushed to give her friend a peck. Bill watched all this, feeling nostalgic

Ella turned to Bill and grinned, "How Princess Mave?"

Bill blushed, "Lovely, really. We're even trying to have children of our own"

Everyone in the room gasped

"WHAT AM I TOO OLD TO HAVE KIDS?", he stomped and marched towards the door, only to stay after being pleaded to do so. After the initial hustle and bustle had settled, Corrie explained what had happened to Count Storm

"Poor child. Lost both his parents to demon attacks", Ella shook her head. The room grew silent for a few minutes and during that time AJ thought of where he was on the timeline.

Paul Storm: the main character of the novel. He has already been blessed with an upgraded version of the status window and would grow up to be the strongest human in History. He would also lead the resistance against the Tyrannical Demon Lord.

'My goal is survival, not battle, but should I establish a connection with the main character of the novel? This connection might keep me and my family safe', Ajax pondered

"The boy is strong and I've observed his monstrous growth", Corrie tried to ease the tension in the room and surprisingly it worked

Taking out a bag from her storage ring, she pulled out Count Storm's head. Duchess Eleanor held it in her hands and then proceeded to stare at his eyes. Her Divinity 'Memories of the Dead' activated and her eyes glowed

After a minute, Eleanor spoke in panted breaths

"Killed by Lord Envy. They have big plans involving the destruction of the Northern Border"