Private Tales The Race for the Rune

[Kasim Areth]

"I suppose it makes sense." Kasim said with a slight frown.

The Lift had still worked, as had the magic that had closed the doors they had encountered so far. Runes, if properly scrawled and powered could last for thousands of years. Most would dissipate after a little while, but the craftsmanship of this place spoke volumes about the talent of those who had come before.

"It begs the question though." The Noble said with a frown. "What were they trying to protect?"

He glanced down the tunnel. "And is it worth uncovering?"

In his travels, Kasim had learned that digging up the past was not always the right thing to do. Some things were better left uncovered, hidden away in whatever depths they had been put into.

That fact, of course, was at odds with his natural curiosity. He wanted to know what lay within the ruins. He wanted to know what was being protected, but the question of whether he should know was a stark one that could not be ignored.

He chuckled.

"Ah, perhaps thats the philosopher in me." Kasim said, chiding himself.

They had come here to explore, after all.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"Nothing wrong with a little philosophy. There is a reason they made it."

Alistair dismissed the other man's chiding, while he began to hang a couple of wards around himself to protect again any more freshly discovered magical traps.

Of course, Alistair already had his own answer to that question. The thrill and excitement of new discoveries were what led Alistair to join in on so many of these expeditions. It came from the young confidence of a man whose experience had not led him to be more cautious, yet.

"Besides, if we make the discovery and find that it is too dangerous, then we can lock this place up tighter than the deepest prison of Vel Anir. Maybe place some illusion magics over it to make it difficult to find."

This way, they could also get any benefits, two more competent individuals, while leaving the less logical free from using whatever they discovered for nefarious means.

With that said, Alistair chose a direction that would prove to be just as good as any other and tentatively began to make his way down the hall.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

It was a true enough statement. If the two of them discovered something down here that needed to be sealed away, then they could do just that. Funding for this expedition came only from their own personal funds, as many back home did not even know the whole breadth of the venture.

Still, Kasim knew better than most that some things could not be put back in the box after they were taken out.

With a slight frown still pulling at his lips, the young Noble simply shook his head and followed after Alistair. Youth did not beget much caution, and in truth he could not blame the lad for lack of experience. After all, how many fires had he stoked over the last decade?

Lessons, sometimes, simply had to be learned as you went along.

As they walked, Kasim flicked a small piece of paper into the air. It burst into a globe of light, then floated behind the two men as they made their way. He let Alistair lead, burying his nose in the small notebook in his palm.

He scribbled away, creating an overlay of the runes they knew already, and the ones they had seen. He linked the languages, attempting to translate as fast as he could. "I think...I'm beginning to form an alphabet."

Kasim mused, only half paying attention to where they were going.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair was a man of responsibility and order. He did not shirk them often. When he took the front, he committed himself to be the watchful eyes of their journey forth. That was why he was being as careful as to activate his eyes so that he could be ever more vigilant.

Of course, Kasim wasn't making it easy, as soon as he brought up the next topic. Alistair had a jerking urge to turn around at the man, but he focused on looking for traps while starting to speak.

"Oh, really?" He questioned with excitement.

"How many runes so far?"

The average runic alphabet could range anywhere from 20 to about 42 runes, with the elven and northern runic alphabets being slightly larger given their age. The more runes they could start identifying, then the easiest it would be to crack the language. Once the base runes were understood, then it was just a matter of understanding how runes mixed and interacted to form more complicated runes.

"Given how old this place is. It stands to reason that it would be a large alphabet, maybe even 50 runes or more."

He would have continued his own thoughts when his eyes came to what looked like the first door in the hallway. A rather large door compared to the elevator, decorated with runes.

"I think you may have more to add soon."

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

"Only fourteen so far." He admitted, but it was just a start. There was no doubt that the language these builders had created was as complex as many as he had discovered over the years. By the time they were done Kasim would be lucky if he hadn't filled his entire notebook.

Though he supposed that was actually something to be happy about.

"It's the cross-referencing." Kasim mused, more to himself than Alistair. "Some are very similar to certain languages, while others are utterly different. It's almost as though half of them come from another language entirely."

Which was, of course, utterly fascinating. "The only time Ive seen something like this is on the Portal Stones."

He noted, though he saw no relations in the languages.

Kasim opened his mouth to say something else, nearly bumping into Alistair as he looked up and the both of them came to a stop. Another doorway standing in front of them. Dozens of runes decorating it's facet.

A frown tugged at his lips as he scanned the runes.

"This is the open Rune here." He said, taking half a step forward and pointed to the familiar rune. It was there, but bisected with another. "But, I suspect this is some sort of lock."

He reached out, touching his finger to the rune. It flared for a brief second, and then the glow died. The door staying closed. Proving Kasim's theory correct.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Portal Stones? One of the few magical devices in the world that disregards one of the fundamental rules of magic. If that were true, then what potential powers could they discover here?

Alistair moved closer along with Kasim, and was not surprised to see that it would not be that easy this time around. He watched the magic lock settle back in before he started analyzing other runes that surrounded the lock.

He held out his hand, and his own notebook floated over to him so he could look at some notes. There were several runes, from what he could see, that held aspect of the open rune that they had grown accustomed to. However, many of them felt off when Alistair looked at them. They were like decoy runes that possibly even held traps if they activated them.

Alistair ignored those and continued looking. His eyes fell on one rune that looked something like a whirlpool trapped inside of a triangle.

"Kasim, what do you think of this one?"

He wasn't sure exactly what was making him focus on it, but it was sticking in his mind. It was right next to one of the suspected fake runes that he had looked at earlier.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim's eyes narrowed for a moment, his lips thinning as he inspected the rune that Alistair had pointed to in particular. "It looks familiar."

He said with a slight frown, though he couldn't pin point exactly why he felt that way.

His pencil tapped against the notebook in his hand as he considered the markings. After a moment he flipped the page a few times, beginning to sketch a small rune of his own. "We may be going at this the wrong way."

Kasim suddenly remarked.

"Instead of trying to figure out each rune individually, perhaps..." He sketched a bit more, clearly forming a rune of his own. "We have them simply tell us their meaning."

Even the most distant types of Rune Magics were capable of reacting with one another, though the outcome was not always entirely predictable. Kasim finished sketching the rune, and Alistair would be able to put together the base rune language as well as the combination of runes they had already found. Quite simply, when translated the rune read 'Translate'.

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "Should work."

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair watched the runes intermingle as he quickly read over several of the runes trying to determine what they all meant. It was as he expected, some of the runes had other traps laid beneath them. Messing with those would have only ended badly.

The one that most excited Alistair was the symbol he had been looking at. It seemed to be reading as a symbol for 'flow'. It was far more complicated than any flow rune that he had ever seen.

The whole door was locked on this premise. It was a flow lock, so he just had to find the route.

Kasim's spell was showing him various routes, some hit dead ends and caused traps. Others were meant to double back and send the door into a full lockdown. It was quite an intricate lock, but nothing that he couldn't solve.

Alistair slowly stepped up to the rune and instilled just a little bit of magic. It wasn't about just simply powering the rune, one also had to manipulate the flow to direct the route that the magical energy moved through.

He felt the last click as the lock gave a slight pulse of magic and the door opened up. Alistair smiled with satisfaction as he looked back to Kasim.

"Not so hard. Nice spell."

The door had opened to reveal a long tunnel that was about 50 yards long before opening up to something ahead, but he could not get a good look.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

"Simple enough." Kasim contended, though frowned for just a brief moment.

His tutors had always taught him that having magic do all of the work was never good. If used too much, magic was a crutch. His father had always said the same in regards to the Virak families powers, which was why he and his siblings had been brought up never to wield it until they were well into their teens.

Power and understanding had to come from within first, only then would you truly ascend.

Of course, none of lessons really applied here. His father had thought he would conquer nations, not explore ancient ruins. "Lets tread carefully."

Kasim said as he flicked a hand and sent the globe of light slowly floating forwards.

The tunnel ahead seemed safe enough, though with the propensity for traps they had already ran into Kasim knew better than to just walk ahead. Instead he flashed yet another piece of paper through the air, this time sending a pulse through the tunnel.

After a moment, the air seemed to ripple just ahead of them, another trap set off. Kasim glanced at his companion, shrugged, and then quickly began to walk down the hall towards the opening.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair nodded along to Kasim's advice enthusiastically, still feeling the high of solving the lock. In principle, the lock had not been difficult, and why would it be? When this place was populated, many people probably had to use that door. However, the challenge was simply the fact that they had no idea what the language was. It was like they were children trying to figure out puzzles in school. The more they learned this language, then the easier this all would be.

"Of course. Well said."

He took one step forward and immediately felt the ground shift as the floor gave way only an inch. There was no magic involved, nothing for a spell to pick up on, completely mechanical in design.

"Uh oh."

From down the hall in the direction they came. Alistair watched as the ceiling opened up to reveal a large metallic ball rolling down an incline. It was clear from the speed that the ball was rather heavy, enough to flatten both of them.

"Um...run."

Alistair exclaimed before dashing down the hallway.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

"Huh." Kasim said as he heard the mechanism trigger, his eyes darting down towards the floor which had descended ever so slightly beneath Alistair's foot.

In the split second it took for the trap to spring, Kasim couldn't help but laugh.

It seemed rather obvious that there would be traps of this sort, pretty much every ruin and tomb had them, but that wasn't the funny part. The funny part was two self-proclaimed semi-geniuses had now walked into not one, but two fairly simplistic tricks.

So much for raw intelligence. "Well when you're right, you r-"

The heavy ball of stone clattered into the hall, and Kasim turned on his heel almost immediately. He sprinted as fast as he could, rushing in front of the ball and and letting his boots thunder against the stone.

Behind them the rolling bolder thundered, each time it overturned. Threatening to turn both of the Anirians into nothing but a thin paste. Kasim half turned his head, noting the ball didn't slow down even a little as it traveled further and further.

In fact, it only seemed to be getting faster.

Panic rushed through his chest, and quickly he began to fumble for his satchel.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair furiously sprinted down the hall, at this point, just praying that he did not run into another trap while he ran for his life. He did take the time to glance back and make sure Kasim was ok. However, when he turned back, he could not help but notice something else.

The boulder was definitely speeding up, and the sphere was perfectly smooth, fitting within the hallway with mere inches to spare. Was it ok to be impressed with your impending death?

At first, he attempted a few spells that would make earthen spikes pop from the ground and slow the incoming boulder, but the spikes were not capable of piercing through the strange material that the ruins were made of.

With his first plan failing, Alistair settled on activating a rune for increased speed and then just ran a little harder. However, if his own speed had jumped to another level. He did not want to completely leave Kasim, if he did not have too.

"You better not be digging for a sandwich in there."

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

"No!" Kasim called incredulously.

Fingers quickly fluttered through his pouch, pushing aside different vials as he felt for the unique sequence of dots that marked them all. His legs kicked out beneath him as he searched, spurn on by no magic save for base adrenaline.

Panic flickered through his heart as he jerked out a small vial.

"Fuck." He cursed, dropping the container and reaching back into his satchel. "Wrong one."

Kasim let out another cry to some distant god, searching through his bag as quickly as he could. Then, finally, he found it. With a half buried gasp the noble bit open the cork of the vial, letting some of the liquid drop into his palm. With a quick swipe of his finger he took it like ink, and with a burst of speed ran forward.

A heel kicked upward, and three quick swipes saw a drawing upon the wall.

Seconds later a crack rang out, and the strange material of the wall shifted. In an instant the wall rent itself, crashing against the tumbling boulder like a cascading mountain. A clattering racket echoed out, kicking up dust and debris.

Kasim coughed loudly through the dust cloud. "Well, an inelegant solution."

He contended. "But effective."

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair was thrown slightly to the side as the tunnel seemed to shake and dust filled the air along with the grinding sound of stone. A moment of silence hung in the air, before Alistair realized that he wasn't dead. He chuckled as he rested his back again the wall and looked back to see Kasim.

"I will take effective over elegant any day."

He shot a glance at Kasim's satchel and the material on the walls. It must have been some specialty creation for instant rune writings. Alistair often just used carvings and then overwhelming magical power, but maybe he should start carrying around something like this.

"Quick thinking, the materials that the walls are made of were too hard for normal spells to manipulate it."

Even more important for them at the moment, the boulder may have been stopped but it effectively blocked the pathway back to the lift, meaning they needed to more forward and find another route.

"I guess this makes what direction to choose a bit easier now."

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

The Noble shook his head ever so slightly, taking deep gasping breaths. "Kress, I need to exercise more."

He complained, saying so more to himself than to Alistair.

Unfortunately for Kasim, spending the last few months cooped up in the Virak Winter Estate had been absolutely terrible for his cardio. Before going on this venture he should have spent some weeks getting back into shape.

At least he wouldn't be half keeled over then. Shaking his head Kasim too in a deep breath, gathering himself up once more as he looked towards Alistair. "I'm wondering what they're made of, the walls."

Kasim mused.

"Magic works, just not...easily." Which made it like no stone he had ever encountered before. "Whoever built this place..."

He trailed off, shaking his head. Both of them already knew these ruins were magnificent.

Kasim waved to the tunnel behind them. "It's either that or we try to carve our way through the boulder."

His tone made it clear the prospect was a rather difficult one.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"Or we keep pushing forward and hope we find another one of those lifts...There is no way their can be only one right?"

Alistair asked hopefully as he turned his eyes to gaze down the dark, open hallway that wasn't blocked off. Although there was a small worry, the likelihood that there were no other ways back up seemed highly unlikely.

He turned his gaze back to the walls as Kasim voiced the same realization that Alistair had realized when they were running from the boulder. His hand reached out and gently touched the smooth surface, it felt similar to glass but far stronger. Once again, he tried to inject some magic into the wall. It worked, but it was harder than it needed to be, almost like the magic struggled to form a bond to the surface.

"The perfect materials to contain magical forces. Keeping everything in and letting nothing out." Alistair mused out loud.

It made it worth studying, but it also urged his curiosity even further with one simple question. What was this stuff keeping in?

"I say we push forward. Leave the others to try and break up that bolder apart."

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim nodded. "Agreed."

They could spend hours trying to cut their way through the obstruction, but there was no way of telling if they would actually succeed. He had few remaining catalysts for powerful runes, and it was always better to save those in case of a true emergency.

Besides, he had a bit of food and a water-skin on his belt.

The two of them would be alright for a day or two down in the depths. As along as they didn't do anything foolish...or pressed their luck, he and Alistair would most assuredly make it back to the surface.

Probably.

Turning on his heel, Kasim shifted so that the glowing light would cast into the tunnel. As the two Anirians set out once more, the noble began to hum a soft tune in his throat. A song of adventure, the tale of Jain Farstrider, said to have discovered the distance lands of Malakath in the age before they were forgotten.

"If you don't mind my asking, my young friend." Kasim mused. "What is it you're hoping we find down here?"

He asked, glancing over at Alistair as they made their way.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

They walked along for several minutes, this time, Alistair was far more attentive to traps in their magical and non-magical variety. From far in the distance, he could see that the hall opened up, hopefully meaning some room.

"Hmm, oh, just old forgotten runes really. Hopefully, some that will expand my own repertoire." That was the main reason, the second was far more superficial, he hesitated even to voice it.

"The past year I've been in a bit of a hurry to make a name for myself, whether that be from discovery, business dealings, or war achievements does not really matter to me...There is someone I need to impress."

That was as far as he was willing to go about that topic, as he had no plans to explain who he was trying to impress. Thankfully, their journey forward had finally brought them to the opening.

The room before them was off-putting to Alistair and he quickly realized why. It was perfectly spherical, and he meant PERFECT. It wasn't something that he could no just by looking, but something just felt...balanced. Their entirety of the room was covered in incredibly complicated rooms, far more than the ones they had seen since entering. Finally, sitting in the center of this room was a large hole that led straight down.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim nodded along, glancing over at Alistair with a slight smile as he mentioned impressing someone. "A girl?"

It was the natural assumption, and if it was the case he couldn't really blame the younger man.

In his youth, before he had met his now wife, most of his life had been spent trying to impress one woman or another. Half of being a bard had been about gathering tidbits of knowledge and rare scraps of information in stories and tales.

"If that's the case, I suspect that she would be mo..." Kasim's words slowly trailed off as they stepped out of the long hallway and moved into what appeared to an almost entirely spherical room. Carved so perfectly that it was reminiscent of a globe. The inside decorated with thousands upon thousands of intricate runes.

"This..." He said, forgetting entirely about their previous conversation. "This is amazing."

Kasim continued, letting his eyes draw over the room until they finally landed upon the pit within the center of the sphere.

Lips almost immediately thinned, and he remembered a room very much like this in another ruin in the Ixchel Wilds. Could it be for the same purpose? An eerie feeling thrummed through him.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"Well, kind of." Alistair answered, purposefully not looking over to Kasim in case he wasn't able to hide a blush.

"It's more I need to impress her dad."

He was glad he had a reason to switch subjects, as he focused back in on the room. The entire room would be considered an ancient wonder by most rune mages that existed in Vel Anir. Engraved runes that surrounded the sphere not only provided a wonderful view, but the atmosphere in the room was enough to make the hair on Alistair's arms stand on edge.

It was all heavily saturated in magical energy. He suspected that even non-magical sensitive individuals would be able to sense that something was different.

Yet, it was clear that the energy was gathering in the center towards that hole. Cautiously, still having the fresh memories of a boulder bearing down on them, Alistair made his way toward the center of the room.

"Have you ever seen anything like this? It feels like its sucking in so much magical energy...and its been doing it for centuries." Alistair said in wonder.

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

The room itself seemed to buzz as they stood there. The essence of magic practically radiating from every point within the sphere. Kasim quietly thanked Eliser for having severed his connection to the Well. Had that not been the case, he was not entirely sure that this place wouldn't have effected him in a far more...negative way.

He swallowed, and then nodded his head. "Something similar."

Kasim admitted.

"But different." He could not know if there was a connection, for he hadn't lingered within the ruins long enough to truly study them. It had been far too dangerous at the time, a sentiment which seemed to be true now as well. "It was in the Ixchel Wilds."

The Noble explained as he followed after Alistair. "An old ruin, Pyramid. The chamber was used for...sacrifices."

Those with magical talent specifically. Something he had learned rather quickly. "This seems more...ambient."

He commented.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Interesting. Similar, but halfway around the world. It had to just be a coincidence right? Well, they also sported different functions. This place couldn't be a sacrifice chamber. It did not have those vibes, and it definitely would sport more blood stains.

Alistair neared the hole, seeing that it was now rather large. It descended far enough that Alistair could not see the bottom.

The closer he came to the whole, the thicker the arcane energy was, but something seemed off. A ripple, like a single stone in a flowing riving that parted the perfect stream.

"Something is wrong...but I can't figure out exactly what it is...It just feels different. Come closer."

He wracked his mind for any spell he could cast that he could use to analyze the ambient magic. A few came to mind, but none were detailed enough to figure out exactly what he was looking for...What exactly was he looking for?

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim, though weary, couldn't help but feel the same innate sense of curiosity that drove Alistair.

Despite what would have been the smart choice, the older noble slowly followed in the footsteps of his counterpart. As he walked, his eyes flickered through the sphere around him, tracking if any of the runes lit up or moved as they drew closer to the pit.

"You're right." He said softly, frowning as he came up besides Alistair.

For a moment he lingered, then slowly once again reached into his pack.

"Have you ever been to the Bayou, Alistair?" Kasim asked, slowly pulling out what looked like a piece of rolled up parchment. Though the 'paper' seemed far thicker than any should be, almost leathery. "The magics they have there are...interesting."

Unfurling the parchment, Alistair would be able to see it was blank, a canvas almost. "This should...make an impression."

He said, slowly, and carefully, extending his hand to float the paper over the pit. Having no real idea what the ambient magic would draw upon the strange leather.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"The Bayou? No, not many military targets over there..."He never really finished the thoughts as he watched the thick scroll get unraveled by Kasim.

He watched in wonder as the scroll began to fill itself, Alistair got a sense it was sucking in a tiny sliver of the ambient magic and turning it into text for analysis. Impressive.

Alistair watched the scroll fill, but he felt it again. It wasn't just something wrong with the magic, it was almost like a hiccup. His eyebrows raised in understanding as he realized, the problem wasn't the magic. It was...

He began to look over the runes around the pit frantically. Where was it? There! A notch in one of the runes had likely damaged its function. There was another below it and another once. Why would someone destroy these runes?

A closer look revealed that the notches were...recent. At least within the last week, maybe even today. Someone else was here, and...the notches were used for...climbing.

By now, the scroll would have finished revealing that this room was one gigantic gathering formation that was directing all the energy into something further underground. The room was also shifting this ambient magic into something more uniform.

"Kasim, we might have a bigger problem. We aren't the only ones here. Someone climbed down this thing."

Kasim Areth

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim's eyes flickered over the parchment as lines began to form upon it. The runic writing was legible, but dense, far more so than it had any right to be. His lips thinned as he continued to read the resonance, opening his mouth to speak when suddenly Alistair noticed they were not alone.

In an instant the leather parchment snapped back, rolled quickly into a scroll and stuck back into the satchel.

They could take a better look later, but if what Alistair said was right...then something very dangerous was happening here. "How?"

Kasim demanded, more of himself than his companion.

"We were the first to open that door in centuries, maybe millenia." There had to be another entrance of course, that was really the only solution, but that in it of itself presented more than a dozen problems. "Kress."

He shook his head, then motioned towards the pit. "We have to follow."

Whatever this place was, whatever the magic was gathering for, they couldn't let anyone use it.