Rune Seeker

While the lightshow that followed the chorus of evolutions bathed the Cradle in different colors and flavors of solar energy, it still wasn’t enough to take the crowd’s eyes off the Edict stretching across the sky. Or, maybe it was Hiral, floating underneath it, arms spread to his sides, Coat glowing with his pseudo-aspect, and twelve more Edicts circling him in a slow rotation. This was probably the first – and only – time most of the people below would ever see one of these primal forces, and the draw of them was unmistakable.

It was like meaning and intent and so much more wrapped up into symbols no bigger than Hiral. And, as he looked down at the people below, particularly at his sisters, he felt something in their solar energy shift. It wasn’t a connection to the Edicts – or anything external, really – but instead something within them that moved. Like it was falling into alignment, there was an almost audible click to his ears, and a new pulse of solar energy rushed out of his siblings.

As it did from their father next to them, as well.

One after another, like his sisters had started a chain reaction, more of the pulses fired off from within the crowd. In seconds, it had spread to the very edges, where even the stragglers finally pulsed themselves.

What is…?

Inspirations. Whatever the people were seeing in the Edicts – whatever connected with their concepts for themselves – it was triggering the new ability they’d just gotten. That was what Hiral was sensing below him. Inspired Evolutionary Inspiration was triggering in everybody. Including Grandmother.

The old woman’s eyes were bigger than Hiral had ever seen them, her hand stretching up toward one of his Edicts. Which one was…? Ah, of course. The Edict of Connection. Giver the nature of her abilities – and her desire to protect the next generation – the concept that sung to her the most was the one binding her to her charges.

Even as Hiral watched the older woman, a second pulse of energy washed through her body. It wasn’t a second inspiration, but more like a crystallization of that first concept within her. Whatever had inspired her – whatever it had done – was finishing at the same time the Rank evolutions were. Those second beats triggered in the others too, though interestingly not in the same order they’d gotten the first pulse.

They came and went, almost like flashes in the night to Hiral’s eyes, and within a minute, the final one finished. Below him, his raid party had also completed their evolutions, power radiating off them like an almost physical thing.

On the not-so-distant cliff, the sapling that had sprung from Grandmother’s ability during the Ex-General attack had more than tripled in size. Even it seemed to be resonating with a pull from the Edicts, or maybe it was responding somehow to Grandmother’s inspiration. Either way, it was more of passing interest than anything else, with something else coming to the forefront of Hiral’s mind.

He was more than a thousand feet up, and his grip on the Edict of Eclipse was fading along with the PIMP sealing the gap in reality. As soon as he lost it, well, he’d lose his solar energy too.

That’s a long way down…

“Need a hand?” Seeyela asked as she stepped out of a curtain of black. Pink butterflies swarmed beneath her feet to give her something to walk on, and she wasn’t wearing her eight-eyed helm. Instead, a contented smirk decorated her face.

“How did you know?” Hiral asked, using the last of his energy – and his hold on his runes – to float over to the woman and through the portal with her.

“Your solar energy started doing weird stuff in the party interface,” she explained as they exited with the solid ground beneath their feet.

“Yeah, and it’s about to… oh boy…” Hiral started, before his body basically gave out. Two pairs of familiar hands caught him, and lowered him gently to the ground.

“Just in case you were wondering,” Right said from where he looked down at Hiral. “We’re still B-Rank until you reabsorb us.”

“How come Foundational Split didn’t cancel when you exploded this time?” Yanily asked.

“He forced it to stay active,” Left said for Hiral, as others gathered around. “Used the Edicts, if I had to guess.”

“As soon as I can control my solar energy again,” Hiral said. “I’ll get you two to A-Rank. Sorry for the wait.”

“I don’t think you should be apologizing,” Seena said, kneeling on the ground and lifting him up so his head was on her lap. “How’s that?”

“It’s good. Thank you. What about the rest of you? Everybody get to A-Rank without any problems?”

“That’s a bit of an understatement,” Nivian said.

“Hiral! Hiral?” Elezad came over, squeezing his way between the rest of the raid group, Nat and Milly close behind. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Hiral said. “Just some backlash – like before – for using my rune without my body being ready for it.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure, I’ll be back up in no time. And, Nivian, what did you mean?” Hiral said, looking toward the Death Knight standing nearby.

“Not only did we get to A-Rank,” Nivian explained. “But we all got a notification our evolutions had been enhanced by atmospheric conditions – one guess what that is referring to – and we also got inspirations. Not just the attribute boost, but actual, new abilities.”

“Straight to the plus-version too, for me,” Yanily said.

“Me too,” Seeyela said.

“We got inspirations too!” Nat said from where she and Milly stood near their father.

“I think everybody did,” Hiral said, then quickly explained what he’d seen from above.

“Even Grandmother?” Wule asked quietly. “I don’t think she’s gotten a new ability in forever. Nothing from the dungeons since they were all so much lower than her.”

“We’ll have to take stock of all these gains,” Elezad said. “They might help turn the tide in our favor for the upcoming battles. I have to say, son, I’m not even mad at you anymore for the dessert fiasco.”

“That was, actually, kind of impressive,” Wule said.

“Overpowered, you mean,” Yanily said. “Which I’m one-hundred-percent fine with, since we keep getting goodies from it. And because you’re on our side.”

“Do you think the other side saw or felt all that?” Seena asked. “Could they have benefitted from it?”

Hiral shook his head on her lap. “They may’ve seen or felt it, but I made sure all the power of the Edicts was directed down. No inspirations for them.”

“Good,” Seena said. “No need to give them any more advantages. How long until you think you’re back on your feet? Really.”

“Uh…” Hiral started, not really in a hurry to move. He was kind of comfortable, after all. “A few more minutes,” he finally said. “The solar jumble this created this time was pretty bad. I’ll have it under control soon, though.”

“And you said you wanted to finish your little project before we leave?”

“It’ll help protect everybody here,” Hiral said. “I don’t think it will even take thirty minutes. Wanted to get to A-Rank to finish it, since that should make it more powerful as well.”

“Project?” Nivian asked.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Something I picked up in a dungeon that might be useful,” Hiral said. “It’s definitely easier to show you than explain.”

“I look forward to seeing it,” Nivian said.

“Then, I guess I should get back to work,” Elezad said, a general hum rising behind him as the crowd began coming out of their collective daze and discussing their new abilities. “We’ve got to finish planning which group will go where…”

“You better not be keeping us here,” Milly interrupted. “We’re going out to fight too.”

Elezad’s mouth became a tight line.

“Just because our raid group is young doesn’t mean we can’t…!” Nat started.

“Let your father speak,” Sera interrupted in a distinctive mom-voice that closed Nat’s mouth up on reflex.

The two young girls turned unmistakably defiant looks in their father’s direction, as if daring him to say they couldn’t go.

“Your group is young,” Elezad finally said. “And you are my girls. We don’t know what you’re going to be up against, other than we suspect they will be strong. And dangerous. Definitely dangerous.”

“We…!” Nat started.

“Nat.” Sera’s one word, not even spoken loudly, stopped the tirade before it could get going.

“I worry about sending you out into that,” Elezad continued. “About asking you to go. Or worse, telling you to. If something were to happen to you out there – and I was the one who made you go – I don’t think I could handle it. You saw me when we thought we’d lost your brother.”

Sera put her arm around her husband’s shoulders, but didn’t say anything. She also made sure to look at Nat and Milly, so they didn’t interrupt.

“However,” Elezad said. “Not only is your raid group young, it’s also strong. Keeping you here for my selfish reasons – while it might protect you – wouldn’t be fair to anybody else. Not to you. Not to the others here in the Cradle. We need everybody who came here, out there contributing.

“So, yes, you will be going as well. And it won’t be to somewhere safe so I can protect you. You will be in a direct line of approach from the other side, and a very important part of our defense. Because of the number of approaches for your Rank, there won’t even be a backup group behind you, so it will be entirely up to your party to ensure nothing gets by. We’ll be counting on you and your entire group to protect this place.

“And I know you can do it.”

The two girls stood a little straighter at their father’s words, though neither spoke. Nat looked at Sera, and her mother gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Thank you,” Nat said with the permission. “We won’t let you down.”

“No, you won’t,” Elezad said. “You’ll make me proud, and you’ll come home.”

“We will,” Milly said. “I pro…”

“Stooooooop!” Yanily interrupted. “Don’t use the P-word. It’s a major death-flag and a jinx. If you say it, something bad will definitely happen.”

“He’s the expert on it,” Seeyela said. “Listen to him on this one.”

“O…kay,” Milly finally said. “We should go tell our group to get ready.”

“Yes, please,” Elezad said.

“Hiral?” Nat said, looking from her father to her brother. “You’re going after the enemy fortress, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” Hiral said.

“You be careful too.”

“Of course,” Hiral said. “You’ve seen who I’ve got looking out for me.”

“It’s what you do when they’re not looking or too busy that worries me,” Nat said, gesturing to him sprawled out on the ground with his head on Seena’s lap.

“Yeah, it’s not monsters that concern us,” Nat said. “Just you.”

“You know your brother so well,” Seena chuckled.

“If you’re not out of here by the time I can stand up again…” Hiral vainly threatened his sisters, though he was smiling at them.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nat said with a dismissive wave of her hand, though it only lasted a second. “And, Hiral, thanks for what you did up there.” She pointed at the sky. “We got some good abilities from that inspiration. I think everybody did. You helped us out a lot.”

“Just supporting the people who’ve supported me,” Hiral said.

“Good part of this crowd spent most of your life ridiculing you,” Right said.

“Which just made me more determined to succeed,” Hiral said. “Support… even if they didn’t realize it.”

“Keep succeeding, then,” Milly said. “We’ll be waiting for the raid-zone notification when you clear the fortress. Don’t take too long.”

“We won’t,” Hiral said.

With that, the two sisters squeezed back through the raid group around Hiral, and he looked up at Seena. “As much as I like this, I think I can stand up now.”

“Too bad,” she said. “But, I guess we have things we need to do.”

“We do,” Hiral agreed, his solar energy finally going where he told it to. As control – and strength – flowed back into his limbs, Hiral pushed himself to his feet. There was a brief second of unsteadiness, like it was somebody else’s legs under him, but it was just his new senses catching up to his new physique. “You two ready?” he asked his doubles.

“Oh yeah,” Right said. “Give me the good stuff.”

“I’m not your shady, pastry dealer…” Hiral mumbled, but took Left and Right’s hands. A thought cancelled Foundational Split, and his tattoos and Meridian lines emerged to replace his runes and double-helix. The connection with the runes and Edicts faded from his mind, as did his sensory domain telling him everything going on around him.

In a way, it was almost peaceful. Like a reset back to where – who – he was before all this started. Yes, with the added boosts of having his doubles merged with him, he was infinitely stronger than before, but it was refreshing like a swim in a crystal-clear lake.

His fingers clenched into fists, squeezing, while he took a deep breath. Pulling his doubles back in had removed any of the lingering solar chaos from using his Rune of Eclipse, and when he brought them out, it would be the first time he’d feel his body at its new level.

Heart beating a little faster at the anticipation of it, Hiral activated Foundational Split.

Solar smoke whomped off him, with a physical pressure that pushed those closest to him a step away like they’d been caught in a sudden gust of wind. Infernal and Entropic flames swirled on either side of him, forming into lines, not bodies. On his right, the unmistakable Meridian Lines seared themselves into the air, while familiar tattoos etched themselves in rapid succession. As they finished drawing themselves, then the doubles began to grow from them.

Two more heartbeats, and a second whomp sounded as Left and Right fully formed. The air around them sizzled as whisps of solar smoke wafted off them – even their Coats – like they’d just stepped out of a hot bath.

Right flexed his fingers, the Meridian Line along that arm flaring with red and purple flames, and the Auroran Conqueror glowing deeper than ever before. Looking more real.

Left – being Left – just nodded like everything was within expectations, and looked at Hiral.

Even though he’d separated from his doubles, Hiral had continued to hold his breath – and his solar energy – in. Now that they were out, their power radiating off them in waves, Hiral took the reins off his energy, and let it stretch for the Edicts.

Without even trying, his pseudo-aspect – and his doubles’ – ignited, powered by a dozen Edict connections, and the ground at his feet simply shattered under the pressure. Fifteen feet in every direction, the solid stone collapsed in on itself, dropping into a concave slope, while everybody above it – other than Hiral and his doubles – jumped in surprise.

At which point they realized he was holding them all with his scarves, floating in the air with him.

Words couldn’t describe the energy flowing through him, his Solar Heart beating in tune with his own, while his channels ran like raging rivers. Like dozens of raging rivers, with multiple streams running side-by-side so seamlessly, they might as well be one until he needed to split them.

His sensory domain bloomed around him, and everything was just… easier. He lifted his hand to look at the tips of his fingers, small swirls of energy dancing along them and up his hand. No, not just energy, runic script. Like an extension of his double-helix PIM, he was infusing the air around him with his runic concepts. Modifying it. Rewriting it to better serve his needs.

He wasn’t creating a full-on domain – yet – that would make everything obey his will, but it would create advantages that couldn’t be quantified on his status window. This was what he’d done to himself with the evolution.

Not more attributes or abilities – he was getting enough of those – but a more qualitative improvement to himself. Yes, his stats had gone up because of his Rank evolution. They wouldn’t show how he’d reforged himself, though.

No, those stats were all based off a baseline, and thanks to his brief connection with the Edicts and the PIMP, he understood them a bit better. Not all attributes were equal.

A point of Str for a Troblin wasn’t equal to a point of Str for a human or a dragon. The quantity could be the same – one – but the quality could be vastly different. A dragon’s point of Str translated into far more strength than it did for the Troblin. It was all based on the baseline.

Hiral was still a human, yes, but he’d changed the baseline – the quality – of his body, and, in turn, his attributes. What would this amount to?

No way to know without testing.

Would it change his limits?

No way to know without testing, but…

He flexed his fingers and pulled on the power of the Edicts. They came in an instant, eager to aid him, and more of those sparks of runic script flashed along his hand and arm.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Yanily asked from nearby.

“Really something else,” he agreed.

“Almost feel bad for Vorinal and his Infested when they realize how big a mistake it was to show their faces here,” the spearman said with a wink.

“You know it won’t be that easy,” Seena said.

Yanily just shrugged.

“Have you finished bullying the ground?” Loan asked. “Any chance you could put us down?”

“You sure you want that?” Hiral asked, a sly smile crossing his face.

“Why do I feel like that question is a trap?” Loan said, looking at Ilrolik.

“It definitely is, though I’m not sure how,” the other Shaper said. “But, yes, if we’re going soon, we have things to do.”

That… was true. Hiral himself had things he needed to do. Pressing things, in fact. It was just… he needed to do one, little test first.

So, as the Loan had asked, Hiral put the others down on the flat ground outside the small collapse he’d caused. Everybody other than Seena, who he pulled over into his arms.

“Oh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Thought you’d want to be part of this,” he said.

“Part of whaaaaaaaaaaa…?” her voice trailed behind them as the shot into the sky, runes and Edicts powering his flight at speeds he’d only seen when he fought the Ex-General. Soaring across the sky in that embrace, her question quickly turned to hoots of joy, and the two of them put aside all the things they had to do for just a minute.

Just a minute to share with each other and the absolute freedom of flight.