"...wake up...hey Aethel..wake up."
Blinking away the blood like storm in his vision, Aethelstan slowly returned to the space of existence.
It wasn't the words that entered his ears that woke him up from the trance but the urging and worrisome feelings transmitted through the bond.
"I'm fine. Do..Don't worry."
Noticing the worried undertone in the atmosphere made Aethelstan completely wake up, something was wrong.
"Is everything alright? Are you alright?"
"I..'' Adrian carefully considered his words and after one look around the room he spoke up. 'I"m fine however Dawn has...had a panic attack.'
Aethel listened closely to Adrian's words as he went from laying to sitting.
''..was hectic, said he felt something familiar. It was weird, I don't know exactly what.
I wasn't allowed to go and find out what was making him that way.
What are we going to do, Aethelstan?
He was so distraught, I barely calmed him down.''
''Where is he now?
Is he safe and did you calm him down successfully?"
Pale hands placed themselves on the vampire's shoulders, stern eyes urging him on.
''Just outside the mansion...no even before that.
He was tense, tenser than most of the time, I barely distracted him with drawings and speaking to him softly.''
''Focus! Is he alright?''
Realisation brightened the already sky blue eyes. ''There was this woman, who introduced herself as the rune master. She used a rune or something to calm him down.
It was quite magical, Dawn was in a really bad state when this glowing thing just went through the carriage, hit Dawn and he just went down."
Sighing in relief, Aethelstan released the broad shoulders. "Do you know where she is now?''
Confusion crossed the too young features of Adrian. "Don't...don't you want to know where Dawn is?"
"I'm sure he will be perfectly fine in your care but I need to know if she said something to you.''
''I-i guess so?
She told me to tell you she is waiting in the dining room.
A-are you sure you can't help?"
"Trust yourself, Adrian.
You handled it perfectly in the carriage by distracting him.
Just being next to him will relieve him."
Adrian thoroughly watched as Aethelstan left, left in a direction that didn't go to the dining room before concentrating on different matters entirely.
He had felt worried when Dawn's bout happened yet the notification from the system that appeared vanished that, until just a little brewed underneath the surface.
Whatever reason Dawn had to go with them to the human Kingdom would be upon them soon.
He was getting greedy, greedy to figure out the system, the bond and even this world. That left the slight feeling that screamed inside him that whatever happened to the vampire would be his fault, drowning when compared.
Even when he remembered the way Dawn flinched by any sudden movement and got scared because of them. Even now, so many many many years later, the distrust was visible.
He didn't speak, so almost no one knew what happened to him, bare from the fact that he got caught and tortured.
Adrian had heard from some quards that Dawn had been all but adopted by the royal family. They nourished him after the demon invasion, made him strong and allowed him to explore the world.
The person that left wasn't the one who returned.
Adrian left the room consisting of a king's size bed, drawers, chest and gorgeous velvet tapestries.
Hidden behind those tapestries were runes carefully crafted in the wall.
It shone a bright light, confined behind the tapestry, signifying that the rune was powered and working just fine.
If runes worked correctly, then they were powerful. Almost without a doubt making all places that had them a stronghold.
So why was the light that shone so bright dimming, black spots slowly taking the light's place and curroding it?
# Uncovering the mysteries of runes.
Runes.
A part of magic only a select few can dabble in.
An art so mysterious and dangerous that it's best left to the professionals.
One of the most abstract things in the existence of magic, no one looks at it with an urge to learn it, control it or carve it.
Because one mishap and death awaits you.
Yet that wasn't the worse part or the part that scared potential talents away.
It was the inflictions runes could cause.
A countless number of brave and energetic youngsters have experimented with runes in the past.
Runes that caused the death of their family, wife, husband and children.
Castors were more likely to live through it as the rune of protection was one of the first etched upon their skins.
The caster had to be strong to fully embrace the power of runes as they siphoned on their magic to keep functioning.
If there is no magic then they went for the next best thing.
Life force.
Nothing except destruction could stop them then.
Itw as a double edged sword as they protect you yet when in case if dire need they killed you.
Depending on the resourcefulness of the runes master they usually protect the stones with a protection rune waived through it, which made it all the more difficult to destroy them.
It was why only a few truly mastered it and others barely scraped the surface for the easiest and most useful runes they would possibly need in life.
In a desperate way to advertise the power of runes a sentence flew from kingdom to kingdom.
Runes, while difficult, will give the caster a life worth living.
The fools who believed that all died upon touching a very small portion of the power runes or the vast amounts of knowledge they contained.
Others lived yet only lived a life without accomplishments.
Those accomplishments were expected of a rune master, without those they weren't even worthy of being an apprentice.
Because even apprentices bottled fame, long before they even were apprentices.
The moment they actually managed to get things done with their runes, was the moment that every rune master went on a frenzy.
And the ones who failed were forgotten, merely one of thousands of thousands who foolishly thought they had talent.
Other cases were those ,in the dangerous adventure of runes, who used the power in the wrong way. They used it incorrectly leading to insanity and the loss of their mind.
Countless cases yet no one batted an eye or helped.
Everyone should have known the danger and more often than not they were warned the firsts moments of their training in said subject
They were well aware of the risks, so the consequences are theirs to deal with!
Luck played a part because if you could even carve two essential runes you would be set for life.
Rune masters could make or destroy an entire country.
They could heal the deadliest of woundor illnesses yet in the same way they could cause it.
Everything about them was a double edged sword.
Beside the fact that they take your magic or your life force, they only come alive based on your intelligence and understanding of them.
And their power always has a prize, always.
It was either the castor or others that must pay.
To heal one would cause another pain.
Save one from the brink of death would cause another to die.
In this case you couldn't even choose.
It could be a beggar, living on the streets, unaware that he would breathe his last.
Or even the king who breathes and cares for his people, his citizens.
A dangerous game, a forbidden game.
A truly good rune master would never sacrifice others for their own desires, even as loved ones withered away with words of cowardice that they weren't saving them when they could.
For someone you don't even know, a rat living on the streets.
No one could tell who would be faced with the consequences.
An unfair trick of fate.
Good men and women turndark for the desire of power and gleaming piles of gold.
If the only thing they needed to do was save a life (and sacrifice one), then why not?
Easy peasy.
It was just so tempting, making the decision all the more easy.
Saving a life made another die yet it was carving runes into all sorts of materials that was considered the more dangerous part.
Because the thing that made it stay there was the castor's magic, the moment they cast it, is the moment their soul and mana core link to the rune.
Just a few wouldn't matter, a hundred probably neither yet a mansion full could.
Destruction of one was noted, dozens painful and a mansion fatal in some cases.
Which was why as soon as black spots appeared over every rune in the mansion, the backlash on Amari was too much as it sent her flying backwards.
Pain flooded her system as she groggily tried to make sense of the rune links seemingly breaking off out of nowhere.
The impact was anything but pleasant as the newfound intruders suddenly appeared in her broken vision.
Briefly she wondered where the guards were before it became too much, more and more links broke off and eyes closed as swords pointed at her.