Return of the Runebound Professor

The rest of the class went quite well. That was a relief, as things not going well likely meant that somebody would be blowing up.

Noah spent several hours with his students, guiding them through the steps of creating the guidelines of a Formation and answering any questions that he could. He’d been pretty confident he understood Formations fairly well, but it was remarkable how much teaching could reveal gaps in knowledge.

He’d had to dig through his thoughts in contemplation quite a few times to make sure he didn’t accidentally give anyone false information. But he managed to get through the rest of the class without running into significant issues or getting completely stumped by anything.

After he decided that everyone had gotten enough practice for the day, he dismissed them to go mingle with the demons. Both groups had a lot they could learn from each other — and interacting would definitely speed up the demons’ progress on their patterns. Getting new perspectives would help all of them.

Noah hung back, staying out of the conversation to avoid accidentally drawing too much of it to himself. He perched himself on top of a plump blue flower a few dozen paces away and settled in to watch.

Even though I was the one meant to be doing the teaching today, I feel like I’ve actually learned as much as I’ve taught. I’ve got so many new ideas to test. After what I saw Alexandra doing… there’s definitely more to Formations and patterns than what I’ve seen. I really need to look into seeing if I can bring patterns into my own fighting style more. Leaving them purely just for Formations seems like a mistake.

The flower squished beneath him as he sank into it, his fingers drumming against its plump, disturbingly comfortable surface. It struck him that he really shouldn’t have sat on the flower if he wanted to focus. The damn thing was far too distracting.

I should ask Moxie if she can grow one of these in her room as a replacement for her chair.

Noah shook his head to pull his focus back to the present. He was not about to lose all the inspiration he’d gotten from the past few hours by getting waylaid by a squishy blue flower. With no little amount of regret, he heaved himself up to his feet and abandoned his makeshift chair.

It shouldn’t even be too difficult. Maybe I’m patting myself on the back a bit too hard here, but I’d say I understand music fairly well. I’ve certainly had enough time to ruminate over it. Working in reverse shouldn’t be too hard. Worst case scenario, I just blow myself up a few times by accident.

A part of him was tempted to start practicing right now. He’d never been particularly good at the whole ‘waiting around’ thing. And, realistically speaking, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t blow himself up. This was working in reverse. He already had the pattern from his studies on Formations. All he had to do was figure out how to strip away the extra stuff and get back down to the core.

But he couldn’t do that yet. The lesson was still going and he didn’t know if someone would suddenly decide that now was a great time to start messing around with magic beyond them. For as long as class ran, he was responsible for everyone here.

I’ll fiddle around with things when the day is wrapped up. There isn’t that much time left in the class anyway.

Noah glanced back over to the mass of students. He couldn’t tell if he felt proud or a little overwhelmed. There were a whole lot of students here now. Between everyone from Arbitage and all the demons, he was starting to upgrade from tutor to full on teacher.

The class was getting big enough that he couldn’t possibly teach everyone on his own. Fortunately, he had Moxie to help out. The demons probably wouldn’t need much guidance on the more physical side of things, but Lee had that covered for the human side.

Still, I might need to start recruiting some more help at this rate, especially now that Jalen had to leave Arbitage. I had a lot riding on him. And I’ll never let him know it, but I did actually enjoy those dart games. I suppose I’ll get a chance to do those again once we leave Arbitage and this empire behind.

Given the way things are going… that might not be all that far away.

Thoughts continued to twist through Noah’s head as he looked out over his milling students. There were so many things that he wanted to do. So many that had to be done — but they could wait until class was over.

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***

Alexandra had a lot on her mind. She’d had a fair amount before class had even started that day. But now, as she walked back to her living quarters after the Transport Cannon had pulled them all back from the Windscorned Plateau, she found that her head was just as burdened as it had been in the morning.

She’d spent the entirety of the class completely focused on her pattern and working on her Formation. Even when the others had gathered to speak, she had continued to practice. She had no choice. They were not the same.

The others were strong. They had runes — many of them flawless. But Alexandra didn’t have any of that. Her Body Runes were gone. Noah had wiped the slate clean for her. Given her another chance… but that chance wasn’t free.

She’d lost the power that her Body Runes had granted her. They had been her greatest curse, but they’d also been what allowed her to compete with everyone else. And now that they were gone, she was weak.

And Alexandra refused to stay weak.

I still don’t even know what kind of runes I want. Rushing ahead would be the worst thing I can do. If I grab random runes and slap them together, then I’ll just be in a slightly better situation than the one I was with my Body Runes.

No. The path forward for me right now is patterns. Patterns and Formations. I don’t need powerful runes to get better at those. And, by the time I have them mastered, perhaps I’ll have figured out what kind of runes I actually want.

Her hands tightened at her sides as she stepped into the practice field where she trained every day. There hadn’t been a minute in recent times when her mind hadn’t been focused on her pattern.

She could feel it getting closer. To what, exactly, Alexandra wasn’t sure. She just knew that she was getting closer. Perhaps it was mastery. Perhaps it was just the first step of true understanding. In the end, she really didn’t care.

I just want to be strong. This is the only thing I can do right now, and so I’m going to do it.

Alexandra let out a slow breath. When she inhaled once more, she pulled her sword free from its sheath at her side and lowered into a fighting stance.

Then she dropped into her pattern.

It was nearly instinctive, now. Activating the pattern felt as natural as breathing. Her weapon danced through the air around her like a hummingbird as she let herself sink into the pattern.

The world faded away. All that remained was the scuff of her feet against the ground and the hum of the blade in her hand as she let it guide itself. The wind could not be controlled. It could not be guided. The best one could do was harness it.

That was the way of her sword. It was free. Limitless.

Everything that she had never been.

Everything she was determined to be.

Power prickled against her skin. It roiled within her chest like the wind itself attempting to burst free, and Alexandra granted its wish. She let it flow through her entire being, filling her motions and letting her very body turn into its vessel.

It wasn’t quite the same sensation as using a rune. The magic was still there, and she could feel her lone remaining rune burning with pressure in opposition to the power, but the energy did not come from the rune. It came from the wind in the wake of her blade and the rush of her movements. It came from the pattern itself.

Logically, Alexandra felt like the energy should have been chaotic like the wind it came from. But it wasn’t. She couldn’t say why, but it just felt… right. Peaceful. Like a summer breeze rather than the churning whirlwind that she was attempting to embody.

A wiser woman than she would have wondered as to why. Such a woman would have sought enlightenment and understanding. They would have researched the strange magic… but that woman was not Alexandra.

She didn’t care about understanding how magic worked. It was a tool. Some people — ones like Todd — loved researching and understanding it. That was their path, but it wasn’t hers.

I want to be strong. I want to be free. That’s it. I want nothing more from life.

Alexandra’s movements slammed to a halt as a sharp pain drove into the center of her chest. She staggered, nearly tripping over her own feet as she drew in a surprised breath and clutched at her heart. It felt like someone had driven a dagger straight into it.

Her lone remaining rune shuddered within her. Something was wrong with it. The power within the rune was weak. Far too weak.

What’s going on?

She staggered again as another spike of pain drove through her soul. Bands of agony wrapped around her throat and burned along every one of her veins. Alexandra dropped to her knees, burying her sword in the ground before her.

The grass at her feet was dead. So was the force of the wind that had been singing in her ears. Every trace of the breeze was gone. It was like the world had gone still.

Something is wrong. Really wrong.

Alexandra plunged into her Mindspace.

Did I mess up my pattern? That can’t be possible. I was perfectly in tune with it. I’ve never felt more in tune with it than I did today! What happened?

Alexandra’s eyes snapped open within her Mindspace — and they instantly went wide. Her one remaining Fire Rune was completely drained. Not of its current energy, but its total capacity. Power had been siphoned out of it until nothing remained but the original, freshly formed and nearly unfilled rune remained.

Hairline cracks ran throughout her mindspace. Something had left massive scars across her soul. Alexandra’s face paled. If Noah couldn’t repair such things, damage like this would have spelt the end for her career.

“What?” Alexandra breathed.

She turned to face the rest of her Mindspace to see how extensive the damage was — and then she froze. Shock turned to pure disbelief as she stared down into the floor in the very center of her Mindspace.

As she stared at the impossibly complex rune emblazed into the ground, one with her very soul itself.

Fragment of Self.