Moonlight Relic, Ch 14: Runes of Ice (Patreon)

“There are more curseborn?” Sam felt a sense of dark necessity settle around him as he listened to the report. The energy boost from the drum had worn off and he was only staying awake through willpower. His muscles felt like someone had driven a lightning bolt through them—half were twitching and the other half were numb. Repairing the relic and running both ways was a strain.

He was seated on the spare bed in Siwaha’s house as he accepted a cup of steaming tea from her with both hands. Krana and his mother were there, along with Raelia and Danir, who were both awake, and Siwasir, who was still unconscious. The news wasn’t good.

“Unfortunately so,” Siwaha agreed. “Another part of the hunting team went in search of their tracks after you returned, to look for their origin. The elemental could not have created them, even if they passed by it. They searched for another origin and located a pack some distance from here.” The elder frowned before she continued.

“I fear there is some artifact left behind that is exerting influence over them or even attracting new monsters and twisting them to its purpose. Curseborn are rare, and the number of them that we have seen is strange. Without a source to create them, it is difficult to explain their numbers.

“What is more, the wind tells me monsters are rising from their hibernation out of season and new ones are being pulled toward the ruins, of types not usually seen on our slopes. Whatever the light from the peak was, it has caused a great commotion. Perhaps it is the connection with Silvas. All living things could feel that pull, and monsters seek to consume new sources of power to grow more quickly. There is no doubt they will be attracted to it.”

“How many are there, and how close are they?” Sam’s expression turned grim and he clenched his hands around the teacup, but he stopped himself short of breaking it. He wanted to sleep, but it sounded as if there wasn’t much time. At the very least, they needed to arrange more defenses here, before the curseborn came again.

He was trying to focus, but his bones ached, changing between hot and cold pulses at random intervals, and it was scattering his attention. Fortunately, the healing enchantment was already at work, its energy a gentle rain. He was starting to get a better sense for the process now, including that there was something supportive that felt like the earth. It made him think of the drumbeat and he set one part of his mind to studying the connection while he focused most of his attention on the elder.

“For the regular monsters, hundreds, but there is no unity to their attacks,” Siwaha replied. “There are a few dozen curseborn, and they are currently staying within a small area, as if they are waiting for something. For the more dangerous things, there are only a handful, but they are each worth a small army. They will no doubt reach the peak in their own time, destroying everything that challenges them on the way.” She paused, tilting her head toward Sam with an enigmatic smile. “But I am curious how the light of Silvas reached the peak.”

It seemed she had already put everything together.

“I wasn’t planning on that,” Sam sighed, raising his hands in a frustrated gesture. He didn’t want to explain everything about the relic, but he had the feeling that he wasn’t hiding much from Siwaha. “The ruins reacted to the energy that Silvas left behind from the battle against the elemental.”

“There are always manifestations during an alignment,” Siwaha said gently, “but few are like that. I feel the ruins waking up, and it is hard to say what else will wake with them. Their origin is beyond even the memory of my people. Be careful of old enemies, Sam Hastern. They may come when least expected.”

A feeling of frustration hit Sam, since all he wanted to do was build a home, but he did his best to hide it behind a frown. It felt like there were more monsters out there than allies.

“Sam,” Raelia spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to her and Danir. The two of them were sitting up in their beds. They were pale and thin, but their eyes were alert. “The rest of the hunting team should be back soon, with more information on the curseborn. You need to eliminate them before they can attack again.”

“They sought us out last time,” Danir agreed with a growl. “It’s likely they’ll do it again, and it would be better to take the fight to them than to wait for them to reach the village. There are too many children here.”

Sam shared a long glance with both of them, and then another with his mother, who looked conflicted, but he didn’t hesitate to nod. “I won’t let them reach the village. I’ll leave in the morning with whoever from the hunting team is able to help.”

He needed at least that much time to try and heal. The farther he could keep the fight from his mother and sister, the better. Hopefully, whatever was attracting the curseborn would keep them there for one more night.

Raelia nodded, clenching her hands around the fur that was spread over her lap. It was easy to see that she wanted to come. She reached over and took Danir’s hand with hers, and then the two of them looked at him, their expressions firm.

“We may not be able to help much, but there is one thing we can do,” she said. “Your Initiate of Ice affinity needs more practice, and we have the time to help you with it.”

“We’ve already spoken with the elder about a training plan,” Danir agreed, nodding toward Siwaha. “If you’re ready, we can get started whenever. The first thing will be understanding the different types of Ice.”

“This is a record of some of the runes that our people learn,” Siwaha said as she held out a pale roll of parchment that was tied neatly with a strip of leather. “There are also diagrams for Ice and Life enchantments that we often use. We have not given these to anyone else in living memory, but your foundation in the basic principles of Ice needs to be deeper if you wish to advance your affinity. I think you will find that Ice and Life are not so far apart, much as the enchantments on this valley balance the weather.”

Sam accepted the scroll as his interest flared. Ribbons of crystal flame and moonlight began to circulate through his meridians, making his eyes glow. The allure of new runes was enough for him to shake off his fatigue. He looked between the three sylphs, as well as to Siwasir on the cot, as he let out a slow breath and centered himself. His hand tightened on the scroll.

They were offering him everything they could, including the secrets of their people, and they had no hesitation in defending his family like they were their own. He couldn’t do anything less for them, and he needed their help to plan for the alignment.

"That isn't the only thing that has changed with the ruins," he said slowly, as he considered how to explain the most recent changes. "The light on the peak was connected to me."

"I thought it might be," Siwaha said as she shared a private smile with Aemilia, who just looked even more concerned. "Tell us what happened, and we will face it together."

Some of the day had passed on his way back, and the conversation around the relic took into the evening. He expanded on what he'd told them before, and then moved on to the Light of Silvas and his new access, which led to a discussion about the approaching alignment and what needed to be done. With monsters being drawn to the peak, there was danger pressing down on the valley and the sylvan village, as well as on the unsuspecting city.

Highfold might think it was in charge of the area, but it was the sylphs who truly held the safety of the valley in mind. Despite all the years that had passed and the size of the city, they were still tenants to be protected.

From there, the evening stretched into night. Above, he could feel the moons moving closer to alignment, bringing with them a bright pressure that fell on the land below.

---

“This is the most basic rune for Ice.” Raelia was sitting up on her cot, leaning against a pile of furs, as she drew the rune in the air. A trail of sparkling ice crystals followed her fingers, giving shape to the lines.

Sam had managed a few hours of sleep before they started their practice and it was near midnight now. The sylphs didn’t mind the hour, since they didn’t have much else to do while they were healing, and they had both joined in to teach him.

The shape of the rune was simple. It looked something like a triangle with the bottom left open, except there was a slanted crossline on one corner. The crystals that formed it glowed in the light of the fire, shimmering with orange and red hues. It made it look almost like his crystal flame.

“The elder gave you the scroll,” she continued as she added another rune next to it, “but there is something unique about runes in that they are easier to learn in person. They need to be imbued with a bit of life to make them real. This is why all sylphs are taught by their elders, like Elder Siwaha is teaching your sister. The form cannot be truly real without the life that shapes it.”

She continued to add more lines until seven different runes for Ice were hanging in the air between them. Together, he felt like they made a complete form, although there wasn’t any overt indication.

“This is called the First Snow,” she said as she set her hand back down. “It is the series of Ice runes that everyone studies before moving on to more complex areas. Together, these seven runes form the basis for all other Ice runes that we use. There are dozens or even hundreds more, but these seven can be found in everything else.”

Sam nodded as his eyes flowed along the lines, committing the sequence to memory. Almost as soon as she’d finished it, it was outlined with crystal flame as it floated in his mind. A sense of life came from the runes that Raelia had created, and he could feel that she’d imbued them with a touch of her aura. Perhaps that was what let them exist on their own.

After another moment, he raised his hand and began to draw the same sequence, first one rune and then another until all seven hung in the air. Unlike hers, his runes burned with sapphire flames that slowly hardened, changing to deep blue ice that let off a sizzling crackle. As they cooled, he could feel the essence of them changing, taking on the properties of ice. Small, frozen chimes and soft pops echoed through the room as they hardened. When they were fully formed, a crystalline dust of snow began to gather around them and they sprang into his senses as if they had somehow become more real.

His inborn Elemental Manipulation began to resonate with them, telling him that this was Ice in an essential form. These seven runes held the potential to change into many things.

Raelia watched him, her eyes widening, but she didn’t interrupt. When he was done, she shook her head slightly and then pushed her questions away. Her hand rose into the air and slowly, this time outlined with a light green energy, nine new runes took shape.

The first was a slender, curving rune like a blade of grass, followed by a second that was thorny like a bramble. The others were each different in their own way, as liquid as a rippling brook, solid as a bone, furled like a leaf, and interconnected like a web of veins.

The final three were more complex than the others. The first was a line with a bulge that somehow represented the concept of birth. The second was a branching point that stood for growth, and the third was a curve that bent back on itself for resilience. When she was finished drawing them, she let out a breath and slowly set her hand down, as if it had taken something out of her to finish them.

“These are the nine runes for Life that we call the First Spring,” she said when she was finished. “Few of the sylphs are able to draw the entire sequence, but it is best to see them all at once, so that you understand how they are connected. Together with the First Snow, they make a complete cycle and are the foundation of most of our magic.” She smiled then, bringing a sense of flowering things to the room. “The ice bramble spell that I use, as well as my attempts at alchemy and brewing, are all variations of these two sequences and a few other runes. There are more complex subsets, but these are the most important foundation. Now you try.”

The runes were once again outlined in his mind as he committed them to memory, and he could feel the unique aura of Life that imbued them, but it was a bit harder to understand than the one for Ice, like a foreign voice speaking as it tried to get his attention. He had some experience with healing runes, but these were in a category of their own.

As he tried to draw them in the air, he could feel his crystal flame fighting back, lashing out chaotically in surges that caused the runes to crumble, and he struggled to get through even the first three.

“Good!” Raelia let out a soft laugh and pretended to wipe sweat off of her forehead. “If you’d drawn that sequence as easily as the last, I would have questioned what I’d been doing with my life. Getting through the first three is already impressive.”

“Not all the sylphs have mastered the First Spring either,” Danir spoke up from the side, where he was watching with good humor. “Raelia has a gift for living things. I can only do half of that sequence. That you can already do three on your first try is impressive.”

“Danir is even better than I am with some forms of Ice,” Raelia shot back at her husband with a smile, shaking her head as she denied his compliment. “Don’t believe him when he acts all humble and simple. He’s very skilled.”

She turned her attention back to the runes, studying her sequence and then Sam’s for a moment, before she voiced her thoughts.

“What you need is to study the feeling of them more, the heart of it all. Life is different than Ice. It’s changing, vivid, and emotional. Ice has all of those things too, but...oh, it’s hard to explain. There’s more to it and it makes a unique concept that’s hard to put into words. If you can find what that is, then you’ll be able to form the runes and use them in other spells.”

“Sometimes, I think each person’s concept of Life and Ice are a little different,” Danir added. “My Ice is not the same as Raelia’s, but each is complete in its own way. Perhaps they are just different facets of some greater concept of Ice.” He paused then, before he added, “Are you familiar with the principle of natural laws in spells?”

Sam looked toward Danir and tilted his head in a question, but he held back what he was about to say. He wasn’t sure the concepts he had used for star and moon and the others like edge were what the sylph meant.

“Everything in the world has an element of spirit to it, of aura and life, and in their essence, runes represent those concepts,” Danir continued, speaking slowly as he composed his thoughts. “Our ability to use spells is based on our understanding of those concepts, how fluidly we can touch on them, and how much of our mana we can use to form them. The better a mage, the more flexible their spells.”
“Our Ice affinity is a great blessing,” Raelia joined in as Danir paused. “It is more flexible than any spell I have ever encountered, and it is woven into our spirits. That means we use it naturally, as easily as breathing, and it grows with us.”
“The concept is part of us,” Danir agreed. “For others, it might be harder to use Ice and the more subtle or complex parts would be beyond them. What you want is to find the concepts that work for you, and then to continue to build on them.”
“I think that’s all we have time for tonight, though,” Raelia concluded, as she leaned back tiredly. “Your creation of the First Snow is as fast as any talented Sylph already, and I’m sure the First Spring will come to you with more practice. What you want to do is experiment and to keep using them. Later on, after you have those down, I’ll show you the next sequences.”

“And I’ll show you how to combine the forms to create different types of Ice,” Danir added. “I specialize in forming Ice into arrows and spears. Raelia can teach you about combining Ice and Life, to make things like her brambles.”

Sam nodded, turning it into a small bow of thanks to both of them, and then he smiled. The runes were floating in his mind and as Raelia and Danir went back to sleep, he looked into the fire, letting them play across his vision.

His fingers flickered, forming the First Snow and then the first few runes of the First Spring, again and again, outlined in a bright, crystal blue. After the shapes became comfortable, he chose one and started to infuse it with intent, and then another. They hung there in the air, like frozen sculptures of crystal that slowly turned to solid ice. As long as his will held them together, they didn’t shatter. He’d been trying to form runes in the air for weeks, but until now it had never worked.

Now, he thought he finally understood why. He’d been using any random rune that he’d known, and that had been like trying to build the upper story of a house without giving it a foundation. He needed to start with more primal runes, ones that represented the world, like the First Snow.

He’d never had a complete foundation in rune magic, but piece by piece, he was slowly assembling something like an education in the subject. A lot of that had to do with the sylphs’ generosity.

In his free hand, he held the unfurled scroll that Siwaha had given him as he read through the runes on it, studying the patterns. The scroll was taken up by dozens of different runes for Ice and Life, including some enchantment diagrams and spell formations that could turn into bolt spells or shield structures, and others that were related to the weather and comfort.

Altogether, it was an incredible treasure, but he had the feeling that it was only a fragment of what Siwaha knew. Perhaps it was the first of several scrolls, and she would give him the others later if he learned this one.

Before long, the scroll was copied into his memory and he furled it again, storing it away in his dimensional pouch. He would keep studying it and then return it to her, when he felt like he had mastered it. After that, his fingers continued to flicker, tracing runes into the air as he began to add things to the First Snow, seeing what worked and what didn’t.

At the same time, he began trying to infuse his aura into the runes, focusing on the sense of each. He called to mind everything he knew about ice, and everything he’d felt about it, as well as from the different auras he’d gathered before, as he tried to match the concept that he felt should be in each rune.

A rippling glacier bed, deep below the surface. A silent cave full of ice that shimmered as the light touched it and reflected off its walls like an army of frozen spears pointing toward the sky. The brittle ice of the first frost covering stone, dissolving at a touch as the wind blew past it. And then the living force of a young shoot, springing upward through the winter snow.

He didn’t even notice as he slowly drifted off to sleep, his body slumped over by the fire as runes still danced in the air, nor how his mother slipped into the room, wrapped a cloak around his shoulders, and banked the fire. Her hand brushed across his shoulder as she let out a soft sigh, and then she slipped out again.

Above Sam’s shoulders, the runes that had been imbued with aura spiraled around one another like myriad stars in the dark until they gradually faded away.