(Jin's P.O.V)
'Magic is the force of imagination. It's the strangeness given form and the impossible made possible. It's the spark to a raging inferno of endless dreams. Magic makes… something mundane simply magical. Rune magic has always existed. No one knows who invented the first rune. All is known is that runes are one of the only ways for a divine being to interact with magic.
Divinity is both a curse and a gift. Its pretty much guaranteed that a divinity powered being has a higher base line of power when compared to beings of mortal origin. The balancing scale however, is that those affiliated with a divine domain, will find it almost impossible to gain access to another source of energy independent in the universe. Runes provide the answer to many magical dilemmas. The way of the gods is lost to us, but the few practices left to enable one to delve into runes are either the least effective or the most dangerous. Odin, the God king of the Norse gave up an eye to learn the mysteries of runes. So sacrifice is one thing used to gain an elementary connection to rune magic. The sacrifice has to be something precious. '
I'd read that excerpt in the introduction to rune magic tome found in the Acolyte section. The words had been captivating and pulsing in the gentle light provided in the library. The last part of it had caught my eye but when I had asked Grand Master Zoren what it had meant he'd only told me that the pain I was going to through would be sacrifice enough. I knew he was keeping something from me and I would eventually find out what it was. But, as for then, I was too pre-occupied with my new changes.
Zoren had said that the glowing fingernails were due to them changing them into cursive tips. In other words, I wouldn't need to use traditional tools when Inscribing runes. But this also presented a challenge because the human hand is hardly precise. I would need a detailed hand to construct a passable runic formation. Wait…the library also contained a section for combat skills developed by countless generations of warriors. I even saw a skill like seamless evasion but better.
The skills were awesome but I had decided to check them out after completing my study on runes. I still wanted to get back to the surface and finally put an end to Thawne. That bastard was crafty so I would need to pull a the stops to put him down for good. And because I didn't know what sort of nefarious plan he would come up with to deal with my powers I knew I needed countermeasures to his countermeasures.
So the plan was this. Build an awesome suit of armor that would enhance my powers and outfit it with multiple means of attack to help me out if my powers were restricted in any way. Not the best of plans, I know but it was also the only one available to me at my level. I had a feeling that inscribing advances rune formations would not be easy nor available to me at the Acolyte level. I still didn't know how sorcerers advanced to the next level and even if I did, I wasn't sure if it would work on me.
I got out of the bathroom after admiring myself and slightly panicking that I still couldn't turn off my awesome glowing tattoos. They way they crisscrossed my body, denoted to the pattern being created by a master artist. The time I had spent in admiration of my form was not for vanity but instead it was in awe of the pattern of the crest. I also noticed that I felt good. Like really good. Aches I hadn't noticed before were gone and I felt upbeat and high.
I settled on my bed, crossed my legs and tried to connect to Yuki in my mind space. 'That's a fluke, maybe I didn't do it right', I told myself after failing to do so. I tried again. This time forcefully. A stabbing pain shot through my head and I failed to contain the shout of pain.
"Uuughh!'
I closed my eyes and started rubbing my temple. What the hell was going on? Last thing I remember is the procedure to enable me to use rune magic. The ritual couldn't have been responsible for this so what was? I looked around. Now that I was focused a bit more…the dimensions of the walls was off. The room was bright but I couldn't see any source of light. My perception was skewed everytime I looked from the corner of my eye as things became warped.
The bed under me disappeared in a spray of pixelated effect and I huffed as I hit the ground. Cracks started appearing everywhere and with barely a sound everything turned into streams of a golden color swirling around me. I probably looked like a rock in a river. The difference being that the streams didn't come into any sort of contact with my body. They avoided me like the plague. I couldn't move away from where I was or maybe I did but because my perception in this place was zero, I didn't feel it.
This time I didn't even bother looking if I still had my powers or not. At this point, it was quickly turning into a joke. I stayed for a long time just watching the swirling streams of gold glide past me and flow off to somewhere. 'There had to be a purpose to this right?', I questioned myself without getting any answers. You know what? I was probably going to be here for a while so why not enjoy this peace and quiet. After all the stuff I had done or been through, I think I needed some time to myself to process things.
(Zoren's P.O.V)
The Grand Master. A title that held bittersweet memories to the sorcerer supreme of Atlantis. A magical and scientific hub of progress. Progress that he himself had contributed to. When Zoren was young, he had been fascinated with magic. The ability to produce wondrous flames and brilliant beams of light that danced gracefully and lazily in the air struck a cord with the young boy at that time. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary to see a child be fascinated with the arcane. Magic just had that effect on people.
That love for magic soon became an obsession after Zoren had seen a healer use magic to heal up Zoren's mother who had been struck by a terrible sickness that none of the mundane medications and science could heal. That obsession was a hunger and thirst for knowledge that had changed young Zoren's life. For the better and unfortunately for the worst. That obsession had led to him studying every branch of magic there was. His fellow acolytes had laughed at him. Jeered at him and called him a show off. For Zoren couldn't keep quiet when magic was the topic. That didn't translate well in class where most of the students participated less and the teachers teaching them had a firm grasp on the basics but were poor in the advanced courses. After all, mages walked the path of tireless advancement and the ones stuck teaching had most likely given up on ever advancing. They didn't take kindly to a mere acolyte questioning them and correcting them in their classes.
Zoren hadn't had an easy time in the conservatory. He had zero friends and the only ones who interacted with him were his fellow magic enthusiasts and even those were mere acquaintances. But then, things had changed when she had arrived. It was during Zoren's third year at the conservatory and Alina was the only one to ever manage to make him raise his head up from the translocation magic book he'd been reading. Her voice was the sweetest thing he'd ever heard and once he saw her face, his mind went totally blank. She was beautiful.
After that, the world had gotten shinier and new again. He had thought that the fates were rewarding him for all the loneliness he had endured at the start by sending Alina his way. She was his perfect match in every way. Talented in magic and sharing a thirst for knowledge just like he did. But for her, magic wasn't something you could learn everything about. Instead, it was a bridge to discover new things. She wasn't into the theory of the source of magic that the others and even Zoren himself touted. Instead she was more into the beauty of magic.
And then he had confessed his feelings to her and was over the moon when she accepted him. The two lovers of magic found something else to love more than magic itself. Each other. His life became lovelier and his magical studies became smoother. They tackled complex magical questions that had plagued scholars of magic for eons and became famous. The power couple, people called them. Soon after, Zoren became a master and Alina had followed closely behind her husband as well.
She had decided to take it slow after gifting him with the second most precious thing in the world to him. Children. Zoren had been ecstatic to be a dad and had vowed to do everything in his power to protect them. So, he had worked even harder and by the time he hit 50, he became the youngest Grand Master in the history of the conservatory.
But soon, fate decided to meddle in his life once more. For no particular reason or cause, Alina fell sick. Zoren had tried everything. His top tier magic was a marvel to even the smartest of sorcerers so it came as a shock to him when his efforts failed one after the other. He began to grow distant to his family and holed up in his tower trying to look for a remedy to his wife's ailment. Nothing he did worked and when his wife died, Zoren's heart changed. He became the downfall for his city. He became the doom that he had tried to save his children from. For it was by his own hubris, he had tried to find the source of magic, thinking he could attain incredible power. Power enough to bring back his soulmate. All he attained was the destruction of everyone, leaving him as an echo only due to his magical artifact.
Now as stood infront of the ritual ground his eyes were widened in shock for the first time in millenia. Why? The young man Infront of him who had been earlier howling in pain, was now embraced in a loose golden yarn of strings. Strings of runic letters swirling around his form. The magic pouring off his body was incredible. The ritual couldn't have been responsible for this and with centuries of knowledge at his disposal, he eventually settled on a terrifying conclusion. Grand Master Zoren finally wondered, was this why he was spared to live on as a shade? To be witness to this incredible moment that was only a legend in the oldest of texts? Jin, someone who couldn't use magic by himself, had unknowingly and unintentionally achieved a state of incredible potential, The Runic Trance.