Noah desperately tried to lean forward to get a better look at them, but he couldn't budge. The man examined the runes, then paused as something caught his attention. He raised a hand and one of the runes floated closer to him, giving Noah a glance at it.
Insectoid Armor.
Before Noah could even try to memorize it, the man flicked his hand. His spear carved through the rune, shattering it. Noah's disappointment died in his chest. His eyes widened as, from the fragments, seven new Runes formed, each pulling away from the wreckage of the original Rune – and every single one of them brimmed with energy.
That must have been a combined rune. Did he just split it apart without damaging any of the individual components?
The man reached out and plucked one of the runes from the air. He flicked his hand, and the other six shattered, blowing away in strands of dark smoke. Noah could have sworn at the man. He hadn't gotten a chance to memorize any of the runes.
Darkness crept into the edges of the white void. The man turned and walked toward it. With every step he took, control returned to Noah's limbs. Shadows swallowed the white and the endless white around him popped like a balloon and vanished, leaving him standing in his mental space.
Noah stared up at the Sunder in awe.
It showed me what it does. Sunder. To split. It split the monster apart into its components, but I guess only the parts that the user wanted? But… more importantly, it can split runes apart.
Doesn't that mean I can combine runes with any combination I want to test, then split them if the combination doesn't work? I don't have to worry about finding an existing combination or risking failure. I can test them infinitely.
Noah suppressed a maniacal laugh. If Moxie knew about this, she'd rip her hair out. What need did he have for his stuffy fake family's rune combinations when he could research them indefinitely on his own?
He had to test this. Noah extended a tendril of thought toward the Sunder rune. A brilliant blast of energy slammed into him, throwing him from his mental space and knocking him to the ground.
Every single part of his body trembled like he'd taken a dip into an electrical current. He tried to move, but it felt like every single one of his nerves had fried. For the second time, all Noah could do was lay there and stare. The ceiling swirled above him as his eyes unfocused. Time ticked by. If Noah hadn't been so used to sitting around and doing nothing from his stay in the afterlife, it would have been infuriating.
It was nearly an hour before any sensation returned to him. Noah's toes wiggled, followed by his fingers and the rest of his body. He slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head with a grimace. At least he didn't have a headache this time.
Okay, got it. No fiddling with the Master Rune yet. There's way too much power in it. I need to be way stronger to even try to handle it. Still, when it comes time to combine my runes – this is incredible. If I understood Moxie right, I need to keep this power completely secret. Combinations are the key to forming a unique form of magic, and I can test them as many times as I want.
But, for now, even if I can't mess with Sunder…
Noah summoned the Vibration Rune to his palm and studied it. The Wind Rune had been easy enough to use, but the Ash Rune still stubbornly refused to do just about anything.
He chewed his lower lip in thought, then touched a finger to his pillow. A faint tremble ran through it. Noah raised an eyebrow and drew on more of the Rune's power. The pillow flopped around as if someone were throttling it.
A few seconds later, the energy stored within the Rune dried up. It vanished and the pillow ceased its motion, falling back to his bed and lying still.
"Not the most intimidating thing I've ever done, but at least it works," Noah mused. "And I think I've had enough excitement for today anyway. So if the Wind and Vibration Runes both work perfectly, then I've got to be using the Ash Rune wrong somehow."
Noah called on the Ash energy and felt it rise up in response. He tried picturing a small cloud of ash rising up from his hand, but it once again stubbornly refused to respond. Noah pursed his lips and glanced around the room.
His eyes landed on a half-melted candle at the edge of his desk. He strode over to it, grabbing a firestarter beside it and lighting the candle. Noah took a paper from the pile of trash that Vermil had left behind and, after reading it to make sure it wasn't important, set the paper over the flame.
The fire quickly took hold, burning a small hole and blackening the paper around it. The flame continued to spread and the hole expanded, its edges glowing cherry red as more of the paper was consumed. Noah let a little over a quarter of it burn away before he smothered the smoldering paper out with his palm.
The flame stung for a moment and gave in, fading away and leaving him with the brittle results of his experiment. Noah shook his hand off and crushed the edge of the paper, letting the soot crumble into a small pile on his desk.
Straightening his back, Noah pushed the candle out of the way and called on his Ash Rune. He turned his attention to the pile on his desk. The ash shifted, swirling up into the air and forming into a swirling sphere.
A grin stretched across Noah's face and he splayed his fingers out. The ash twisted between them like a snake, slithering down his palm and forming into a small bird. It fluttered around Noah's head, then nosedived into the desk and exploded into a small puff of smokey ash.
"Aha," Noah said, unable to hide his pleasure as he rubbed his hands together. He directed the ash back into a small pile, then organized it into several lines. It responded to his thoughts without delay, forming the exact image he pictured in his head. "So that's how it works. I can't create Ash, but I can control it."
Noah flicked his fingers and the ash leapt from his desk, forming into a crescent moon and shooting into the candle. It pattered against the wax, failing to cut through it. Noah pulled the ash back into a pile and pursed his lips.
"So it's still just ash, even when I'm controlling it," Noah mused. "Why doesn't it cut like the wind did?"
He put the ash through a few more tests, but as far as he could tell, it was just ash. Noah sat in thought for a few moments, trying to figure out why his Wind Rune was able to cut and do real damage while what should have been a more powerful Ash Rune almost felt lackluster. The answer struck him a few moments later and he grimaced at the realization.
It's the amount of energy stored in them. That's why Vermil kept a bunch of weak Wind Runes around instead of using all the more powerful ones he had in his book. It was easier to just use the weak Wind Runes than building up to really using the powerful ones.
Noah rubbed his forehead, mentally thanking himself for not making the impulsive decision to get rid of all his Wind Runes at once. If he had, there wouldn't have been any way for him to reliably kill the monsters in the Scorched Acres.
"Well, at least I found out sooner rather than later," Noah said to himself. He released his hold on his magic and snuffed the candle out. The sun was already well into the sky, and if he recalled correctly, he still had a class to teach today, and he was pretty sure it wouldn't be too long until it started.
It would be nice to actually show up before it started this time around.