Over the next four days, Xain’s days all followed the same pattern. Bow would wake him up with a beer before the first sun had even risen, saying that beer was the best thing to open him to the rune, and then feed him a massive breakfast of eggs, bacon, bread, and various fruits.

  This was followed by five to six hours in the grove, where Xain would achieve varying success of summoning ice. When Bow was satisfied, they would have lunch which included two more beers, and then continue training for another 6 to 7 hours before calling it a day and having dinner.

  By the time Xain had taken his last bite, his eyes would already be closing, and he would promptly fall asleep on the couch. Xain had been so exhausted that for the first time in his life, the dreams that had plagued him since childhood were wonderfully absent.

  It was amazing how physically taxing the whole experience had been, especially since the life he led had shaped his body into that of a natural hunter. It wasn't rare for Xain to spend entire days in the woods, running miles, or hauling wood, or dragging back the kills for him and Bow.

  His 5 '10 frame was heavily muscled, and while he was a far cry from the bear-like physique of his father, Xain had never considered himself to be lacking in fitness.

  But using his rune was something entirely different. His long, black hair, which he wore loose and fell to the middle of his back, would be plastered to his face with sweat by the second hour of training, and by the time they finished, his whole body would ache in an entirely unfamiliar way.

  Bow said it would get better, that it would get easier, but Xain wasn't sure.

  It felt like he was going nowhere, and every day that went by he just got closer to an early death.

  How the fuck am I supposed to protect myself if all I can do is barely cool down a glass of water?

  That night, Xain went to sleep thinking about how there were only two more days before he was supposed to leave. It would take a day to get to the harbor, a trip Fen and Xain would take alone, and that would be it. He would be on his own. Outside the trips to their local town, he had never even traveled beyond the forest which surrounded their home. How was he expected to travel to an entirely new Realm, and then what? Find one of the ancient runic creatures, as old as the tree herself?

  Xain kept telling himself to take one step at a time, but it was getting harder and harder to believe he wasn't heading straight into the grave.

  …

  He didn't know when he had drifted off to sleep, but the moment he opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't awake. The only benefit of the nightly dreams was how accustomed he had become with identifying dreams from reality.

  Even without this, though, the massive rune made of blue ice that floated before him would have been a pretty big sign.

  Xain glanced around and, aside from the rune, saw nothing but snow stretching out in all directions atop a landscape so flat it felt artificial.

  “Umm,” Xain said, taking a step forward, the snow not making a sound under his feet.

  “Did you bring me here?” he asked, feeling a little weird for talking to the rune, which still hung unchanging before him.

  Bow did say they were alive.

  At that thought, Xain felt a faint, almost startled recognition from the rune, like it was as surprised as he was to find him here.

  “Right,” Xain said, taking the last few steps that separated them, until he was standing only an arm’s distance from the rune. It was so large he had to crane his neck all the way up to see its top, and the ice composing it was nearly as thick as the trunk of a tree.

  He was contemplating reaching out and running his hand against the ice, when he felt a question in his mind. It wasn't in any language he had heard before, he actually wasn't sure it was even a language at all, but still Xain understood.

  “Why are you here?” it asked.

  “I thought you knew,” Xain said honestly.

  “I… you should not be here. It should not be possible,” the rune said, and Xain almost chuckled as he realized that a rune could be incredulous.

  “So you didn't bring me?” Xain asked.

  “I cannot. Such a thing is not within my power,” the rune said.

  “Well, maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was…”

  Xain had promised not to talk about his true rune again, but he didn't know if that promise extended into a dream, or realm where runes lived, or whatever in Odin’s name this was. Still, he thought it may be better not to risk it. After seeing a fragment of Bow’s power, it didn't seem ridiculous to think others had the power to see into this place.

  Instead, he tried to think of the rune, projecting the image in his mind where the rune had been speaking.

  The rune was silent for long enough Xain was about to try something else, but just as he started to think of other options, it replied, “That would be… yes. It has been so long, but I feel it now. Its power. I had almost forgotten.”

  So he was right. Or the rune thought so anyway. This was the power of Dagaz. But what did it want?

  “Do you have any idea why it brought me here?” Xain asked, careful not to say the words aloud. He was used to Fen understanding him without speaking, so as long as he was cautious, this seemed the safer way to speak.

  “You have been drawing upon me,” Uruz said, and it was hard to tell, but Xain thought there was a hint of accusation in its tone.

  “Right,” Xain said. “Should I… I mean, I don't have a lot of options.”

  “We are not yet bound,” the rune said, as if this was obvious.

  “I know,” Xain said. Is this why the rune had been resisting? Because Dagaz was just using Uruz as a mask?

  “I'm sorry,” Xain tried, unsure what else to say, but quickly thought of his situation, trying to show the rune it was not by choice.

  “The Norns,” Uruz said after a moment, its voice cold.

  “Yeah,” Xain said, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I… have no idea what I'm doing.”

  “I have one rune. One fucking rune. And I'm about to venture into the Nine Realms. How… Most have at least five or six, and even then the Path is a risk. What in Hel’s Realm am I supposed to do with one that isn't even mine?”

  “You doubt my strength?” the rune replied, sounding offended.

  Right… know the rune. Uruz is stubborn. Difficult to work with. But proud too. It's one of the two runes whose power formed the World Tree.

  Suddenly Xain had an idea.

  “No, no. Not at all. It's just, how could one rune be enough?”

  “Do you mock me? Only though my power was the primordial fire tamed. I am woven into the very creation of the Tree. You have not drawn even a drop of my true strength. Who are you to question such things?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “No one,” Xain said honestly. “But I do hold Dagaz.”

  He had no idea what that actually meant, but there had been something when the rune recognized the power. Xain was running out of options, so it felt like by leaning on his rune’s reputation he was at least doing something.

  A sense of approval bubbled up inside him, which didn't come from Uruz, but still emanated from where the rune rested on his back.

  Dagaz? Xain wondered. This was the first time he had felt the rune directly, and while the sensation was similar to when he drew on the power while training, this was deeper.

  “You do,” Uruz said, and Xain felt like the rune was conceding something to him.

  “Alright,” the rune continued. “You have succeeded in gaining my interest. Dagaz has been long absent from the Realms. If it has chosen you, there must be a reason. I am willing to… provide you aid,” the rune said, as if this was a great gift it was bestowing upon Xain.

  He felt his own rune do something much like scoff, but Xain did his best to ignore it as he lowered his head, trying to convey a sense of respectful acceptance. Nothing he had ever read or been taught had prepared him to come face to face with a rune, so he could only guess at what he was supposed to do.

  “Thank you,” Xain said, unsure what to do next.

  “You may lay your hand upon me. I will grant you the ability to fully access my power, under one condition. I will be the first rune you seek.”

  “Agreed,” Xain said without thinking. He knew Uruz was held within Niflheim, where he was already planning to go. How he was supposed to find the rune when he got there was a problem for later. Walking the Path of Discovery and seeking out the runes were one in the same. He could figure it out.

  “The pact is made,” Uruz said, the voice ringing in Xain's head sounding oddly satisfied.

  Xain hid his smile as he reached out, ice running up his arm as he did, but it didn't feel cold. It felt like a part of him. As natural as his skin. An extension of himself. When his palm met the smooth ice that was the rune, the power that he had struggled so hard to grasp poured into him, and spread throughout his body.

  “Now, let's see if you are truly fit to hold the rune of change,” Uruz said in his mind, the power surging. What had been a gentle stream turned into a torrent, and Xain realized too late there was nothing he could do.

  The rune had him in its grasp, thick layers of ice binding his hand in place with such strength no amount of struggling would be enough to free it.

  Fuck.

  Xain vaguely understood this was a test, but as the power continued to flow, his skin quickly turning blue as ice began to form on every part of his body, his mind lost all pretense of rationality. He was trapped, and if he didn't do something soon, this frozen realm would be his tomb.

  His mind was spinning so fast, eyes darting over his bare skin and watching in horror as the ice condensed into solid layers, that he barely felt the burning on his back until it flared so brightly, had he not been bound to the rune, he would have fallen to his knees.

  I… I know this pain.

  It was the same as when he had first come in contact with Bow’s power, the branches of frozen flames spreading out, wrapping around him.

  This… this is Dagaz.

  Xain didn't know how exactly he knew this, but he didn't have time to question it. Instead he focused on the pain and tried to understand what it was telling him. It was responding to the power of Uruz, but more than that, it was… absorbing it. Wherever the branches reached, Xain could feel the ice melting, the power being hungrily drawn in, feeding its pattern as it grew.

  Before, it had come on so suddenly and with such force, it took everything he had just to endure it. But against the backdrop of becoming a frozen statue, Xain found himself able to sense the intention that lay beneath the agony. The rune, his rune, was protecting him. Or trying to.

  With the revelation, Xain stopped trying to fight it, instead adding his own will to his rune’s, as he imagined it expanding, covering him in intertwining branches of power.

  The pain didn't stop, not exactly, but it did change. If this is what it took, he could endure it.

  As if Dagaz felt his acceptance, the rune flared again, pushing back against the ice in a single burst so strong, Xain saw shards rain to the ground, until all that remained was the ice which held his hand in place.

  It was still too difficult to do any more than watch, but Xain could clearly see the pattern of branches as they grew down his arm, twisting around his muscles as they reached for the point of connection.

  Before they could reach it though, the ice vanished, and he was free.

  Xain used the last bit of his strength to snatch his hand away before Uruz could change its mind, clutching it to his chest as he collapsed to the snow.

  “I see,” the rune said in his mind, but Xain barely noticed as he gulped in the cold air, wondering if he had just been on the verge of dissonance, or if this was something different entirely.

  “It seems to have chosen well,” Uruz continued, and as it spoke, the realm began to shift and fade, darkness closing in around Xain as he lay.

  “However, the others may not be so quick to agree.”

  Before Xain could puzzle out what the fuck the rune meant, the darkness wrapped around him, and all went black.

  …

  Bow had only been able to watch as Xain lay on the couch, jaw clenched, his muscles taught as he writhed in pain.

  “He will be fine,” Bow said to Fen, as he held the wolf, stroking his chest with one hand while keeping him from leaping onto Xain with the other.

  He had some idea of what was going on, but that knowledge did little good to calm his nerves, or quiet his heart as it threatened to burst out of his chest. The branches wrapping around Xain's arms and creeping up his neck made it clear that Dagaz was involved, and while he trusted the rune, it still tore at him to do nothing but hope his son could withstand its power.

  Bow had seen enough runic users go through dissonance to know the process. Whatever was happening to Xain shared many of the same traits, but it was clear to him that this was something altogether different.

  He suspected it had to do with Uruz, and how Xain had been drawing on its power while not actually holding the rune, a theory which gained merit as ice had crept up Xain’s arms, but there was no precedence Bow could lean on, no research he had ever seen to explain how this should all work.

  Runes, in their most basic form, were fragments of the World Tree. Long ago, when the Nine Realms were newly formed, Yggdrasil, the World Tree, had created the runes as a way for others to directly connect to her. There were many theories as to why she had done such a thing, but Bow had never paid them much mind. He understood that he was a part of her, as was every other being and Realm within her branches. It made sense to him that there would be a way to grow that connection, and that the runes were a way to bridge the gap between them.

  He had found some ancient text in one of Yid’s massive libraries when he was young that had referred to runic users as World Shapers, and described them as beings whose purpose was to aid the Tree in her growth.

  His teacher had called it nonsense, the ravings of primitive people who lacked the ability to understand the truth, but Bow had never accepted this. As his array had grown, the more the story had resonated with him, and eventually became the genesis of his search for the Realm hidden by the old gods.

  While he had never found the Realm, his journey had taught him how truly alive the runes were. They had a will of their own, and while many thought they were merely a way to access power, Bow knew how ignorant and dangerous this view was.

  He, like the other Ancients, had come to understand the power they held was not their own. They were conduits who, through building a runic array, opened themselves to a power so strange and so large it was beyond comprehension.

  However, even with this knowledge, there was little that could be done to dampen the peril that came with the acquisition of each new rune.

  But where all runes held some level of this risk, the power of Dagaz was something else entirely. Bow had no idea if the Norns truly understood what they were doing, and honestly he didn't care. All that mattered to him was ensuring Xain eventually grew strong enough he could decide for himself how to use the power it granted.

  .

  To do that though, he needed to survive.

  Lost in his thoughts, Bow nearly fell backwards when Xain’s eyes snapped open and he suddenly sat up.

  “Xain,” he barked, unable to hide his relief as he struggled with Fen to reach his son first.

  In the end the wolf won out, leaping over Bow and landing on Xain with his front paws outstretched, so Xain could do nothing but let the wolf push him back down and endure the flurry of licks.

  “I told you he would be fine,” Bow said, standing up and dusting himself off, before walking over so he could examine the boy's face.

  “You don't sound convinced,” Xain said between licks.

  “I never doubted you for a second,” Bow said, ignoring the quiver in his voice that told otherwise.

  “What happened?” he asked, quickly noticing how Xain tried to hide a wince of pain as he adjusted under the wolf's weight.

  “I thought you could tell me,” Xain said, giving him a half hearted smile.

  “Have you ever… met a rune?” Xain asked after a moment, pushing Fen's head away with one forearm so he could take a proper breath.

  “Met a rune?” Bow asked, confused.

  “No? Well, I wouldn't suggest it,” Xain said, eyes going distant for a moment before focusing on Bow once more.

  “And you were right about Uruz. It’s actually kind of a dick.”