Chapter 164: Sunderin time

A thick wall of vines filled the stone tent, blocking off the entrance and interweaving so tightly with each other that it was impossible to see through them. Moxie sat on the ground before them, Noah’s grimoire on her lap and Dayton’s scroll before her.

She’d erected the vines to make sure that there was no chance Revin could peek inside and watch what they were doing. Neither of them knew what manner of magic he used to obscure himself, but they didn’t want to take any chances.

“Okay. I’m going to do it,” Moxie warned. “This paper isn’t going to hold a Rank 3 Rune for long, though. You’ll have to move fast.”

Noah nodded his understanding. “I know. It’s unfortunate that I’m going to end up wasting a few Runes. I would have preferred to do things a bit slower, but I can’t risk staying at Rank 2 indefinitely. I need to make sure I’m strong enough to protect Isabel and Todd.”

“You really think they’re in that much danger?” Moxie asked.

“With Dayton still running around and all the other shit we’re caught up in?” Noah arched an eyebrow. “It’s a matter of when, not if. They’re headed toward trouble, and it’s my job to make sure that they’re protected until they’re prepared to face it head on.”

“It’s still ludicrous that you can even reach Rank 3 this quickly,” Moxie grumbled. “You better make sure Evergreen never finds out about the scroll you took. She’s not an opponent we can fight right now – even if you hit Rank 3.”

“Then I’ll just get stronger,” Noah said. “Let’s do this. Time’s slipping away.”

Moxie nodded. She pressed her hand to the Coursing Black Lightning Rune, closing her eyes in concentration and drawing in a slow breath. As she let it out, an arc of energy shot across her fingertips.

Moxie’s brow furrowed. Several seconds passed in silence. The Catchpaper crackled at her palm and, with a hissing pop, the Rune vanished from it. Moxie quickly moved her hand to Noah’s grimoire.

Her teeth gritted and the paper furled at the edges. An instant later, the Rank 3 Rune slammed into place on the paper, sparking with power. Lightning raced across the paper, hissing as the beige white started to blacken and burn.

Noah grabbed the book from Moxie as she opened her eyes. He drew on Sunder. The Master Rune’s energy coursed through his body, turning his veins black as it raced to fill him. Noah could feel Moxie’s gaze burning into him as she watched on, but now wasn’t the time to let himself get distracted.

He’d already told her what Sunder did. She was just seeing it. It wasn’t all that different. Noah sliced his hand through the air, carving through both the page in his grimoire and the Rune within it. A streak of black light followed his hands path.

The Coursing Black Lightning Rune shattered. Power swirled out of the severed paper, rising up into the air before Noah. Seven Runes spiraled out of the churning mist vortex, materializing. Moxie watched over Noah’s shoulder in awe.

Black Lightning

Black Lightning

Black Lightning

Black Lightning

Coursing Bolt

Coursing Bolt

Coursing Bolt

Noah scanned the Runes. The energy around them had already started to fade. It was clear that the Coursing Black Lightning Rune hadn’t been fully imbued but had only had a sliver of its strength, so Noah would only be able to harvest a single Rune properly from it.

I have no idea what the difference between Black Lightning and Coursing Bolt is when we’re talking about functionality, but Black Lightning certainly sounds a lot cooler. Am I going to make my decision purely based off that?

Yes. Yes, I am.

Noah committed every last flowing stroke and jagged arc of the nearest Black Lightning Rune to his mind. It was much more aggressively shaped than most of the other Runes he had, but the sharp lines were so distinct that they felt easier to remember.

After a few moments, Noah pressed his hand to the Rune and closed his eyes, sinking into his mindspace. He wasted no time in raising his hand and starting to draw. His finger traced through the air at a rapid pace as he recreated the Black Lighting Rune, drawing its power in through his physical body and pushing it into his soul.

The hair on Noah’s arm stood on end, and the smell of ozone filled the air. With a flash, streaks of purplish-black light ripped through the air, manifesting into a new Rune. Pressure washed out of it, pressing back on Noah even as all his other Runes hummed to life, pushing back.

After a second, Noah’s mindspace calmed back down. He felt his soul shift as it expanded from the extra pressure pushing out on it, and a smile crossed Noah’s lips.

I’m starting to get pretty good at the whole Rune-forming thing.

He walked in a circle around the Rune, feeling out the pressure coming off it. The Rune was completely full, which was fantastic – but, to his disappointment – it had less pressure than the Weeping Storm and Howling Maelstrom Runes. Both of them were full Runes as well, which meant Black Lightning wasn’t a perfect Rune.

Fine with me. I don’t know what Black Lightning is anyway, but that’s not what I need. That leaves me with two Rank 2 Runes that I want to fiddle with. This one and Weeping Storm. All I need to do is find–

Noah paused as a thought struck him. A grin stretched across his face and he slipped out of his mindspace, grabbing his grimoire and flipping over to where Broken Gale sat. The Rune had been sitting there, useless, for quite a while. It was about time he did something with it.

Placing his hand on the Rune, Noah closed his eyes and sank back into his mindspace. It was a minor matter to pull the weak Rune back into his space, and within a few seconds, Broken Gale floated in the air before Noah, lighting with energy as if taking its first breath after years of being trapped within–

Noah cut it in half with Sunder.

A black line flashed through Broken Gale, carving the Rune straight down the center. It shattered, releasing seven Rank 1 Runes into the air around it. The rune had considerable amounts of energy within it, even though it had been far from well made, so all the Rank 1 Runes that took form were full, much to Noah’s delight.

Gale

Gale

Gale

Gale

Gale

Shadow

Shadow

Noah’s eye twitched slightly. No wonder the Rank 2 combination had been terrible. Had this been the Rune Dayton had formed as a child, while he was still in his edgy phase? The intent with the Rune’s formation had clearly been wrong, as Shadow hadn’t even popped up in the final combination.

Now that I think about it, is Black Lightning even any better?

There was no point wasting time worrying about that. Gale was perfect for what Noah needed. It only took him a moment to confirm that, even though the combination had been terrible, all of the Rank 1 Runes were actually Greater Runes.

Typical spoiled kid, then. Had everything he needed to succeed and still managed to stick his foot in his ass.

Gale would be perfect for his needs here. Wind still remained as Noah’s favorite element because of its incredible maneuverability, and both the Runes he wanted to fix could benefit from a little diversity in them.

All but one of the Rank 1 Runes faded into the darkness of Noah’s soul. There was enough room to house all of them, but the moment he split apart any of his other Rank 2 Runes, there was a good chance that he’d be out of space.

That’s odd. I’ve now got a Greater Wind Rune and seven other Rank 1 Runes sitting in the recesses of my mind. Can I hold more than 7 Rank 1 Runes passively? It must have something to do with the size of my soul.

Noah opened his eyes in the real world, turning to his grimoire and flipping to an open page. Moxie watched on as he spent a few moments Imbuing all but one Gale Rune and his original Wind Rune. Even if he could hold more Runes than he’d expected, he didn’t want to find out his limit was eight and then be unable to store the Runes he was about to form.

With that done, Noah closed his eyes and sank into his mindspace once again, though he kept his hand on his Grimoire in case he needed to grab another Rune. He wasted no time in pulling forth Black Lightning. Noah studied it for a moment.

If I cut it now, a good portion of the energy might be lost. The Rune was 50 percent efficient at worst, but it’s full now. That mean’s I’ve got at least 50 percent extra energy that’ll dissipate – but, if I’m fast enough in forming the new Rune, I might be able to harvest some of that energy since it’s going to be a similar type. Won’t know until I try, and refusing to get stronger because of a temporary setback is sunk cost fallacy.

Let’s do this.

Noah swiped his hand down. Sunder’s energy sliced Black Lightning in twain, and seven Runes swirled out from within it as the energy ballooned to crackle all around Noah.

Lightning

Lightning

Lightning

Lightning

Lightning

Shadow

Shadow

“Dude, seriously?” Noah asked. “Dayton was literally just Revin, except Revin actually manages to pull off being edgy. These have to go.”

Noah was grateful he’d kept his hand on his grimoire. He moved quickly, pulling two more Gale Runes into his mind. His soul didn’t show any signs of being stressed about all the extra Runes in it at the moment, and he hoped to move fast enough to avoid any difficulties.

The Shadow Runes were both pushed to the side, and Noah gathered the five Lightning and two Gale Runes. He already had an idea of what he wanted to form. After all, you couldn’t have Lightning without thunder.

What’s Thunder but some movements in the air?

Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but storms have strong winds. Between Lightning and Gale, I think I can do this.

Noah’s will bore down on the seven Runes. They overlaid, and Noah focused his intent, making sure that the Runes had absolutely no doubt in what they would form. The air before him hissed and popped.

With a loud zap, they snapped together. Pressure washed out of the Rune, and Noah shuddered as he felt his soul expand slightly. The new combination wound its way deeper into him, taking root.

Deafening Thunderstorm. Ten percent full.

Noah didn’t even wait until the grin had finished forming on his face. He reached out to the excess energy that had been floating around from Black Lightning, trying to pull it into his new Rune.

He hadn’t had high hopes, but Noah was delighted to find that he was actually able to harvest a decent amount of it. A large portion of the success had likely been because of how many Lightning Runes both the former and new Rune had, but he was still able to fill it until it was a bit more than thirty percent full.

Energy pumped through Noah’s veins as the excess magic slipped away and into his body, but he barely even noticed it. Deafening Thunderstorm’s pressure was perfect. Even though it wasn’t full, the Rune felt right.

“Not done yet, though,” Noah murmured, pushing Deafening Thunderstorm back and calling Weeping Storm to him. “Can’t have two Runes with storm in their name, and I like the one I just made more than you. Sorry.”

Well, that and you could be way more interesting. Let’s dial up the disaster element, shall we?

Noah’s grin was almost maniacal as he carved Weeping Storm apart. He felt like a mad scientist, and all the power swirling around his body certainly didn’t help. As with all the other Runes, Weeping Storm fell apart into seven Rank 1s – all Greater.

Water

Water

Water

Water

Wind

Wind

Wind

His grin fell away. The combination was exactly what he would have tried to do. If anything, he might have taken a Wind Rune away in place of another Water. Then again, the combination had been perfect – Noah simply hadn’t liked the result.

This will be an interesting experiment to see just how much intent matters.

Noah gathered his thoughts and enveloped the Runes, pushing them together as he pressed his intent down on the seven. A mix between the wind and the sea would be useful. Something that could draw on both with perfect efficiency, rather than leaning heavily just toward water.

A cold ripple passed through his soul. The Runes snapped together, morphing and twisting as new lines slithered through the darkness and formed into a Rank 2 Rune. Almost instantly, Noah grimaced.

Churning Windswept Sea

Thirty-five percent full. This is even worse than the original Rune.

Noah carved it apart with Sunder, wanting to move quickly before any more energy managed to dissipate. His Runes trembled, starting to weaken from the constant usage of the Master Rune.

A wave of weakness passed over Noah and he staggered, cursing under his breath. Sunder’s pressure was going to overwhelm his other Runes if he used it again, and then all the energy floating around would be wasted.

Noah gritted his teeth, thinking furiously. He couldn’t even reform the original Weeping Storm Rune – he didn’t know what intent the jaguar had when it had made it.

And I don’t want to just rip off what it’s doing. Come on. Change the approach and try again. I was picturing the wind and the water as separate from each other. That’s where I went wrong. They should meld together. And that best happens when…

Raising his hands, Noah gathered the floating Runes together once more. Almost half of the leftover energy from the original Weeping Storm Rune had already seeped away, but his focus was entirely on his intent. There was no room for anything else.

Power swirled at Noah’s fingertips, and what felt like a cold river coursed through him. His intent flowed out, enveloping the Rank 1 Runes and pulling them together once again. For the second time, the Rune took form in the air before him with long, flowing strokes.

Noah’s soul shifted. He felt it grow, and a smile crossed his lips as the light faded and the result of his work took form.

Trilling Monsoon

“Ten percent full,” Noah said to himself, unable to hide the smug pride in his voice. Even as he spoke, he swept up what energy he could still gather from the remains of Weeping Storm and pushed it into Trilling Monsoon. “That’s the trick. Can’t have the elements inside my own Runes clashing. They’ve got to meld together.”

Trilling Monsoon shimmered, growing in strength until it was around twenty percent full. Noah finally let his hands drop, weariness starting to set in heavily on him. His whole body felt like it had gotten run over by a steam roller.

There were still two Shadow Runes and a Greater Wind Rune sitting around in his mind, waiting their turn patiently, but it wouldn’t come today. With a weary smile, Noah cast his eyes around his mindspace to take everything in.

Pyroclastic Resonance isn’t too far from being full. A few really big monsters or a bunch more small ones and it should be there. I wonder if I can kill enough monsters in the Red Barrens to fill it – and the new Runes – up. I do also need just one more Rune to hit the final one.

Noah’s eyes flicked to Pyroclastic Resonance. He knew the Rune was perfect, and he’d yet to figure out if there was another Rune that would properly fit into his Natural Disaster plan. It wasn’t a bad idea to just duplicate Pyroclastic Resonance and use it as the final Rune.

I’m exhausted, but I might as well finish things up while I’m here. If I find a more fitting final Rune, I can swap it out.

Noah called Pyroclastic Resonance forth, pushing himself to go just a little farther. He pressed a hand to the energy churning within the Rune, then raised his other hand and started to draw. Instead of Imbuing it into a piece of Catchpaper and then drawing it back into himself, Noah drew directly from the Rune as he drew with his other hand.

He drew a little under twenty percent of the energy stored within Pyroclastic Resonance out, letting the familiar power travel through his body and burn at his fingertip. Noah was so familiar with his Rune that the process felt like second nature.

A seventh – and, for the time being, final – Rune shimmered to life in Noah’s mindspace. Noah’s soul expanded once more, but the amount it shifted by was far less than it had when he’d formed the Deafening Thunderstorm Rune.

That must be because I didn’t add in a new type of energy. I’ve already got one Pyroclastic Resonance Rune, so my soul isn’t as affected by the formation of a new one. Fascinating. I bet that’s a big part of the reason that people only forming a single type of Rune have difficulty progressing past a certain point. Even if we ignore the fact that the Runes don’t press against each other since their energy is of the same type, that lack of unique energy in their soul doesn’t push it to get big enough.

Noah took a few steps back and released his hold on both Pyroclastic Resonance Runes.

A burning excitement lit within Noah’s chest as he watched the Rank 2 Runes circle him.

Moxie’s been waiting a while. Shouldn’t keep her for too long.

Noah let his eyes open back in the real world. Moxie still sat where he’d left her, watching him with a pensive expression.

“Did it work?” Moxie asked.

In response, Noah held one of his hands palm up. He called Deafening Thunderstorm, then paused for a moment. He needed something to actually generate the lightning in the first place. Noah dug through the old lessons he’d gotten in school – there weren’t exactly any balloons around, but he only needed an initial spark.

Noah’s eyes lit up and he started to aggressively rub his hair. Moxie stared at him, baffled and more than a little concerned.

“Noah? Are you–”

An arc of bright yellow lightning crackled to life at Noah’s fingertips, nearly zapping him in the head before he pulled his hand away. Noah grinned as he lowered his hand, a tiny bolt zipping from side to side in his palm.

“It worked.”

***

Brayden sighed.

The last few weeks had been miserable. He’d expected Father to be furious upon his return – it hadn’t been hard to figure out who had called in Inquisitors, after all. There was only one person that had known what Vermil’s task had been other than him, and it had been Father.

Brayden hadspent countless nights digging through his mind, trying to remember if he’d mistakenly slipped up and shared information that he shouldn’t have, but he’d taken even more care than normal to make sure he didn’t spill his brother’s secret.

No. It was Father. He turned against Vermil. I had my suspicions, but this is irrefutable proof. He tried to kill Vermil to tie up loose ends.

But, to Brayden’s surprise, Father had barely even had a reaction when Brayden had brought him the report of the Inquisitor’s death. The patriarch of their family branch had simply shrugged, then directed Brayden on to his next mission.

In the weeks that followed, Brayden had been waiting for a stiletto in his back. It never came. But, the further Brayden got along on his latest job, the more he wished that Father had just gotten everything over with.

He’d been running around, delivering messages in between dealing with the other Inquisitors and doing his best to keep them off Vermil’s back. Of all the messages that Brayden had delivered, there was no doubt in his mind that today’s would be the most aggravating.

It had been over three hours since he’d arrived at the mansion. It was just a few blocks away from Father’s, but the area couldn’t have been more different. The mansion was easily three times the size of Father’s, and it was positively teeming with guards.

Every single stone lining the ground was Imbued, and the doorman had closed the door in Brayden’s face the moment he’d started speaking.

Main branch pricks. Father is definitely torturing me on purpose. What a complete and utter waste of my –

The door swung open, revealing a young woman. Her sleek blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore purple leather armor covered with inscriptions. Brayden was pretty sure her armor cost as much as his entire outfit and then some.

A smile was plastered across her lips, but it didn’t even come close to reaching her ruby colored eyes.

“Brayden,” the woman said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face and pursing her lips in mock annoyance. “I got out of secluded meditation no more than a day ago. How is it that Father already knows?”

“He has his ways,” Brayden replied, holding the letter he’d been given out. “This is for you, Karina.”

Karina made no moves to take the letter. “Why’d he send you?”

“Is there something wrong with me?” Brayden tilted his head to the side.

“No, no. I was just wondering why Vermil wasn’t delivering it.” Karina’s smile widened. “He wouldn’t happen to be incapacitated, would he?”

Brayden kept his face flat. He wasn’t the best at lying, but he’d gotten pretty good at hiding his emotions when dealing with Father. It was a necessary trick of the trade if one wanted to avoid getting their throat slit.

“He’s doing quite well, last I spoke with him,” Brayden said. He waved the letter slightly. Karina just let out a huff.

“Unfortunate. I suppose you’re rather displeased about that. Father always did like him more than you. Well, come in.”

Brayden ground his teeth and dropped his arm. Vermil had perhaps been a little too thorough in his work to ensure his alienation, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Karina turned and headed into the house. She paused as Brayden stepped inside, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Did you meet Vermil recently?”

“Yes,” Brayden rumbled. The less he spoke, the less likely it was that he’d mistakenly let something slip.

“Do you happen to know if he got the little thank-you gift I sent him?”

“No. I don’t keep track of my brother’s activities. Ask him yourself.”

Karina shrugged a shoulder and turned back, beckoning for Brayden to follow her. “Ah. No matter, then. There’s always next time. You’ll have to fill me in on what’s been happening these past few months. You aren’t busy, are you?”

Brayden’s eye twitched. Refusing a main branch member wasn’t something one did if they wanted to keep their standing in the family – and it certainly wasn’t something that Father would be pleased about if and when word got to him. “No. I am not.”

“Lovely,” Karina said. She flicked her fingers and the mansion door slammed shut behind them. “We have so much to talk about.”