Raw Manipulation

  Runic Symbols

  Runic Phrases

  Runic Sentences

  Runic Paragraphs

  Runic Pages

  Runic Chapters

  Runic Volumes

  Runic Stories

  There must be something else beyond the ninth tier, right? Logically, there’s still room there. And there have been recorded anomalies in history. Tsk. Lucky bastards. I’d bet my wife’s delicious cooking they didn’t even know how they were doing anything!

  Siiiiiigh.

  -From the diary of Talin the Terrible.

  ***

  “Tell me what you know about magic,” the headmaster said, as Cade trailed behind him.

  “I mean… I know the basics fairly well? And a few basic spells like Gust,” he replied. Unsure what the headmaster was thinking. Of course, he knew the basics! He was at the 1st tier for both magic and body specialization!

  “Explain it to me anyway, like I’m a child.”

  Cade hesitated for a moment, but acquiesced. He’d show him.

  So he went on, explaining how magic had nine mapped-out tiers. How it was all about the will of the user. How runes were an integral part to the very foundations of their society—which was where he was stopped.

  “Runes, dear Cade, are not the end all, be all of magic. Though you’re right that they are the backbone upon which our society was built,” the headmaster said, while he struggled to keep up with the walking pace.

  He wasn’t exactly sure what the old man was talking about. His previous teacher—an advanced mage of the 6th tier in his own right—had never mentioned anything like this in all their lessons. Was it newly discovered by the Primus? Or maybe something only the most powerful were clued in on?

  Cade asked.

  “No, it’s not some ‘super-secret’ thing the adults are keeping from you. It’s just not something many believe in, and,” the headmaster continued. “It seems your previous teacher wasn’t much of a believer either.”

  Classes were over now and students were either filing out of their respective classrooms or directly being teleported to designated spots along the hallway. A few had even taken notice of them.

  “Have you heard of the Dreamwalkers, Cade?”

  Again, confused. Especially with the roundabout question that annoyed him to no end. Of course everyone knew what a Dreamwalker was. They were famous!

  Or infamous, I guess. Depends on who gets asked.

  He replied in the affirmative and waited for the inevitable answer.

  “The Dreamwalkers, you see, do not actually use runes for their magic,” the headmaster chuckled. “Want to take a guess at how they invade your dreams?”

  Cade rolled his eyes and replied flatly. “Magic.”

  “I know, headmaster!” some random student said from the side. In his mind, though, Cade had already insulted the child for being so… easy. “It’s because shaping mana itself is easier for them than us!”

  “Exactly, young Bella!”

  Well, that was confusing. Didn’t everyone already shape mana itself when casting a spell through runes and spell circles? Least that’s what Cade knew.

  “I can see your confusion, Cade, and everyone else too,” Cade looked around and, unbeknownst to him, a crowd had already gathered around them. He wasn’t exactly sure if walking lectures were a common thing in the academy, but it sure looked like it.

  “Yes, we do shape mana, but we do so by guiding it toward shapes it is already familiar with.”

  “Runes…” Cade mumbled under his breath, finally catching on.

  “Correct!” then his master snapped his fingers, and the surroundings suddenly shifted. They’d arrived in the practice hall. “Now, I will demonstrate.”

  Cade opened his eyes as wide as he could, the feeling of a massive amount of mana flowing in what he could only describe as a violent, yet controlled river. It rushed about, as he and else everyone around him felt the resistance from the mana, trying to disobey.

  Yet it couldn’t.

  They all watched as the mana formed into a tiny ball on the palm of the headmaster’s hand, which then, inexplicably—to him, at least—became red-hot. Everyone took a step back as a bonfire sprouted from his master’s palm.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Bigger than any of them.

  Then, it died down in the blink of an eye. Less, by Cade’s estimates. It had just disappeared without any warning. He tried feeling for the mana again, but everything had now grown still. Eerily so.

  “So, what did you all think?” the headmaster asked them, a wide grin on his face.

  Cade had noticed a few beginning to look uneasy, a few more beginning to sweat. He just wasn’t sure if it was solely because of the heat… or something else.

  That something having to do with his ‘task’.

  “Now, now,” the Primus said. “No need to feel guilt or pressure just yet,” then he nodded at the side, where shadows suddenly began to appear and rush to the students who’d looked anxious.

  “You should all know by now that you’ve all been abandoned, yes?” the Primus said, shackles snapping around each of their limbs. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill any of you. I have my own plans.”

  Then, the shadow… people just took off, with each of the students in tow. Like it was just a normal day for them.

  Cade looked at the headmaster, the notorious Primus, the man he’d just thought wasn’t all that bad, and his now master. “What… what was that, master?”

  “Well, if you must know, young Cade, they were like you,” he laughed as if he’d been stung by a laughing puffer. It was maniacal.

  All Cade could think of was his inevitable reunion with his fellow would-be spies and dissenters. Hoping that he’d be allowed to at least reach the afterlife, and not anywhere worse. Because as he thought of the much worse Depths, he couldn’t help but gulp down the rising vomit.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghoul,” his… master said, looking at him with an innocent look like he wasn’t about to—wait, what did he say?

  “You’re not going to kill m—them?” Cade asked.

  “Of course not!” the dangerous archmage gripped at his chest in poorly acted offense. “Like I said, I have plans. After all, killing all of you would be such a waste!”

  Then he saw the man smile.

  The infamous smile of the man who’d killed his grandfather because of something as simple as the late duke stealing Primus-made artifacts from a few peasants. It was only for a collection but he’d been killed like he was nothing.

  “You also need not worry, young Cade, you’d be the biggest waste if I killed you. Though you might want to refrain from smiling too much in my presence,” the man winked. “It reminds me of annoying times. Understood?”

  Cade didn’t hesitate for even a second. “Yes, master!”

  ***

  An hour later, Cade sat in the headmaster’s office. Looking around, he was surprised to see a room that was fairly empty. Though as he examined what little furniture and decorations there were, he changed his mind.

  The desk itself was made of wholly, practically unobtainable, specially treated Ironwood from the elven forests. The same material used to make their famous bows. A material no one else should have outside of their clans.

  Next, the innocent-looking paintings and small desk trinkets actually turned out to be artifacts. All fifteen of them. Only the gods knew what their uses were and how they worked.

  This must cost a kingdom and a half outside!

  The curiosity was almost unbearable. And it only grew as he felt the pulsed of calming mana coming from his own chair.

  Not to mention the last thing that caught his eye—a crystal the size of his head. Mana swam and pulsed inside like it was somehow alive.

  “Pay attention,” the headmaster snapped his fingers at the massive crystal. Then, images of different practitioners of magic materialized in the air. “Now, can you tell me what these are?”

  Cade squinted in focus. Each one was a still of various mages caught mid-spell cast. And judging by the first one being him casting an air gust, and the last one being Arconidas, the headmaster’s own late master, and how there were a total of nine of them, he knew it had something to do with the tiers.

  “A… visualization? Is that the right word?” Cade’s voice softened. “Yeah, think so. A visualization of the Tiers of magic, right?”

  “Correct! Now, as I have somewhere to be, I’ll be brief,” the headmaster flatly said. “As I’ve made sure to spread to as many people as possible, there are nine tiers. Not many actually know this, but I, with the help of my master at the time, theorized a tenth tier. And even beyond!”

  A sudden fervor came upon the usually placid face of headmaster Talin.

  “But I digress. The nine tiers represent exponentially increasing difficulty in the possible spells. Tier 1 starts out at simple and forceful mana manipulation. As you know, at this tier you would need an external force to actually cast the simplest fireball or wind cutter.”

  Cade nodded.

  “And as I’ve said earlier, this can scale into the highest tiers of magic! With enough arcane will, of course. Otherwise, you shouldn’t even try this method because it carries the risk of overloading your mind.”

  Cade nodded again, confused at the intro most children of his age, and even younger, knew.

  “What you don’t know, is I know how much arcane will you have exactly.”

  What?

  “I can see your confusion! And I understand. It’s not supposed to be something quantifiable as it relates to the soul and is exceptionally difficult to feel. But,” the headmaster grinned. “I have come up with a way.”

  Cade waited with bated breath. If what the headmaster—his master—said was true, then this would be the biggest discovery of the last millennium!

  If he would just come out and say it.

  Cade’s brows furrowed in annoyance as the mighty Primus looked at him expectantly.

  Sighing and suppressing his urge to bang his forehead on the ironwood desk, he gave the man what he wanted.

  “What way, master?”

  “This way.”

  A familiar surge of mana washed through his body. This time, he had the luxury of actually having the capacity to feel it as it went on for far longer than before.

  It reached into the depths of his soul, uninvited. The feeling made his hair stand on end. He wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but whatever it was was fortunately not harmful. At most, it felt like the flow of mana had only done nothing but a short stopover and looked around every corner of his soul.

  He felt naked.

  Read.

  “What was that?” Cade let out a breath.

  “That was the tenth tier of magic,” his truly awe-inspiring master proudly smiled. “From the simplest Runic Symbols stage of tier 1, to the Runic Stories of tier 9, now, the tenth is no longer a theory nor a myth,” he bowed to a crowd that wasn’t there. “I present the Runic Script stage. The tier where you must make your own language!”

  “I can’t—” Cade’s voice cut off. Not because of a spell, but because he just had no words.

  He just couldn’t quite fathom the idea of it all. It made sense in hindsight, but his mind couldn’t comprehend how someone could even possibly do it.

  Then he remembered his mission. It looked bleaker and bleaker by the second. Memories of how the nobles tended to act like they owned the world. How the Primus and all the rebellious and powerful beings of the world were nothing but barbarians compared to them. How they laughed among themselves as they insulted them all and wagged the material rewards for quests in their faces like they were feeding wild animals.

  How did those nobles expect to fight against this.

  Cade’s mind blanked.

  But after a moment, only one thought dominated his mind. “Why?” he asked.

  “Why what?”

  “Why tell me all of this?”

  “Well,” the infamous smile returned, wider than ever. “I did say it was a waste to kill you.”