Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 776: Uncommon Runes ()

"This is..." Garron muttered to himself in bafflement, nose deep in a large, weathered tome. He turned a page, shook his head and then flipped back to the previous page, before setting down the tome and quickly scrawling on his notebook. He had traded the parchment for it a while back, seemingly in need of more volume to take his notes.

Menarx’s eyes came open. They were still in the forest, he realised. But a moment ago, it hadn’t seemed that way to him. Not for the first time, his mind had strayed...to a different place, with a different company, one he could now only relive in memories.

Inside his mind was an abyss of swirling darkness, and his heart seemed to have created an escape, a safe space where he would often be lost in, at any quiet moment.

It was only that, this manner of coping by deluding oneself was more harm than good. But what of it? There was nothing that could be more detrimental to him than what had already happened.

Facing reality once again...it was the worse part of it all. No one could see, nor understand just how his mind wandered... just how out of touch he felt.

"What?" Kirgan asked, sitting up on the branch. "Have you discovered something?"

It had been a little over an hour since Garron had begun his research, and with the tomes still spread out, it appeared it would take a long while more.

"Well, not the answers...yet." Garron said quickly. "But it is...something."

"Or at least, I think it is. I find it interesting, you two..." Garron trailed off, glancing between the two King’s guard. "...might not."

"Is that an indirect way of calling us brutes?" Kirgan asked with a scoff.

"Go on." Menarx urged before Kirgan could go further, now staring at Garron. He forced down his thoughts and the memories he had been lost in, memories of a smile he had once hated, and then loved, and now...lost.

’Focus!’ He thought.

"Well, these runes...are nothing like the common magic runes, they do not match with any commonly known runes." Garron explained.

"What does that mean?" Kirgan murmured. "I’ve not heard of a dark sorcerer creating his own runes. Well, it was rumoured the Dark Lord was capable of such feats...but he didn’t quite pull that trick when faced with certain death, so I would say it is safe to assume it was just a rumor."

"Not quite." Garron replied. "To be more accurate, High King Agardan destroyed his magic core before killing him. If he could have done it, he never had the chance to."

"Which was likely the whole point of destroying his magic core. His abilities were too volatile, if he was left with them, he would have found a way to escape death... like our roaming dark sorcerer." Garron said with a shrug.

"So, is it possible to create new runes?" Kirgan asked.

"I didn’t say that." Garron corrected. "How do you think runes come to be?"

"Great. Another trivia." Kirgan muttered. "Remind me to request a prize in dragon gold or rare gems. The shinier, the better."

"From other runes." Menarx replied instead. "Magic has existed from the beginning of time, and the practice of it by mortal bodies often require the use of conducting symbols. As the need grew, new runes for new purposes were built from already existing runes. Repeated by following generations, and so on."

Menarx stopped at this point. He was not well versed in runes and magic. But he knew enough, he had lived long enough to know enough.

"In the more recent decades, each race has a sufficient catalogue already. There’s a rune for almost anything, and in more complicated situations, runes can be combined." Kirgan finished.

"Right." Garron grumbled. "I forgot King’s guards excel at everything. You almost don’t need me."

"Do a better job of keeping that in mind." Kirgan replied with a scoff.

"Kirg... focus." Menarx warned.

"As you said, runes differ by race. While there are general magic runes, the more ancient, more original, and without a doubt, more powerful runes are passed down through generations within a race, never beyond."

"In early centuries, original runes were a closely guarded secret, enough to wipe out clans and armies for. Now...not so much, but every race is still protective about their ancient runes. It’s just not the kind of artifact they share with another race." Garron continued.

"So, how rare do you think it is to find runes that contain a blend of different original runes, from different races?" He asked.

"It’s almost like putting a dragon scale, and a Mer scale together to make an armour, and gifting it to a Fae royal guard for use. Both are scales, both have their qualities, Fae royal guards are renowned warriors...but it is just... wrong on all counts."

"That’s a disturbing analogy." Kirgan murmured. "Is that what we’re looking at? A blend of original runes?"

"It is unprecedented. Each rune here can be linked to at least three original runes from completely different races, put together to form something new...a hybrid rune, as it used to be called. Most likely, for an extremely nefarious purpose." He asserted.

"Are they unheard of? These hybrid runes?" Menarx asked with a frown.

"I fear, it is not. This is precisely the definition of sorcery... harnessing the dark side of magic. Hybrid runes are quite common in sorcery, utilizing a blend of runes from different races. What is not common is finding hybrid runes made from original runes, and I have never seen so many of them used in one place."

"It makes one wonder, what exactly would require such a potent magic spell if you’re not trying to bring the sky crashing down to earth." Garron said with a shake of his head. "Though, Verothrax already did that. He might have just been the reason they came up with such a bright idea."

"Can you tell what kind of spell it was? And why it is so similar to the void collapse?" Menarx asked.

A tugging sensation churned within him. It was not as intense as it used to be, but it was there. This meant two things.

First, Adrienne’s wisp of magic was on the move again.

Second, it would not be long till it finally dispersed.

"Theoretically, yes. First, I’ll have to narrow down all the original runes, isolate those used in creating each hybrid rune, and find their individual purposes. Putting everything together might give us an idea of what we’re looking at." Garron relayed.

"And how long will that take?" Menarx asked.

"Hard to say." Garron shrugged in response. "Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"Hunting down a sorcerer, and my guess? A few more sites like this." Kirgan replied, his tone dark.

"The volcano in Inferno is brimming with lava. Though it hasn’t erupted, the evidence of whatever spell was cast there is long gone." Kirgan added. "This is the only lead we have at present. Can you handle it alone?"

"There won’t be anyone venturing in here for at least the next few years. I’ll look into this and prepare a report. In the meantime, do what you have to do." Garron replied seriously.

_______________

"A third of it is a rune rumoured to have been used in the creation of shadow people..." Garron murmured to himself, "And the other parts of the rune..."

He trailed off as he picked up on a rustling sound not far away. Garron’s eyes narrowed, slowly placing his notebook down, he got up to his feet, eyes scanned his surroundings.

There was a presence out there. He had been too distracted to sense it in time, to assured that no one would venture into an infamous death forest to be concerned. But there were many things other than dragons unaffected by these toxins.

It took only a moment before Garron zeroed in on a particular location and just as he prepared to lunge, a wave of dizziness hit him.

The forest spun around him and he staggered backwards slightly, hand shooting up to cradle his head where a sudden ache had begun.

His vision shifted in and out of focus. But he could barely make out a silhouette emerging from the cover of trees, right where he had picked up on the rustling sound.

Garron groaned quietly, shaking his head to clear his vision, but that only served to tilt his surroundings further, the forest closing in on him from all sides. Losing his footing, Garron dropped to a knee. A snarl tore out of his throat as the silhouette grew closer, but for the life of him, he couldn’t make out a face.

But if there was one thing he knew for certain, any human would be long dead before getting this far into the forest. And this was no Fae...

"I think... I found their dark sorcerer..." Garron murmured inaudibly, as black spots danced across his vision.