It was one of those days where I was busy reading a bunch of books that I stumbled on something that seemed… kinda strange.

  Let me explain.

  The general belief was that Rune Magic was simple, yet brutally effective. Who wouldn’t want to triple their strength with a few characters, right? Who wouldn’t want to quadruple their mana intake with a few brush strokes? That was a no-brainer. Any Runemage or Runeknight could sweep the floor with their runeless counterparts. So then, the obsession of the nations with them was well justified.

  It was just that soul energy was infinitely more complex to be just about that, which was why I’d always thought there had to be more to it.

  This particular paragraph that I chanced across in an old tome—namely, a historic record of some battle that happened centuries ago that Belfray forced me to read—seemed to support that inkling of suspicion.

  Here, we had a Runemaster named Orlath. Now, Orlath wasn’t a famous guy, nor was he the most established Runemaster who took part in this battle. There were a couple of others watching thousands of men battle it out in a wide valley. They dined and drank under the shade of fancy tents, accompanied by groups of maids who ensured the quality of their visit stayed the same throughout.

  Meanwhile, Orlath was out there in the ranks.

  He wasn’t just a Runemaster. He was a Diamond Knight as well.

  Nothing strange about a Diamond Knight joining a grand battle, right?

  Wrong.

  Because this paragraph didn’t actually exist.

  This whole page about Orlath was completely hidden from the eyes.

  My soul energy slipped through the tip of my fingers, pouring down into the page, changing what initially seemed like a normal account of an army of knights taking on the enemy into a whole other adventure. I was surprised that nearly half of my whole reserve went into just… unfolding this mysterious lock, but I managed it.

  Meanwhile, on the page, Orlath charged on, his entire person gleaming with violet lights, splattering about the men surrounding him, giving them more than strength. Nine men in total, they cleaved a straight line through the enemy ranks, butchering them senseless under the sun, sending them all scattering with their bodies crumbling and their souls screaming.

  A circle of Runemages took notice of this little group’s sudden advance. They were grand mages of the Diamond rank who could take down a Herald by the unification of their spellforms. Only, they stood watching Orlath’s brave charge like mummified corpses too far gone to actually do anything.

  One by one, they fell as Orlath crept his way to the den of the Runemages, through their circles, into the heart of the enemy’s camp where those Runemasters awaited with their glasses half-full and their faces completely frozen.

  I blinked.

  The page changed.

  It now mentioned a grand assault made with thousands of men who sacrificed half of their brothers to win the war. Not a single Runemaster of the enemy side had been killed. They all fled once the tides turned against them. There was no mention of anyone named Orlath.

  The cruel battle was just that, a senseless confrontation between two powers.

  I spent the entire day leafing through other books, trying to catch that strange poking of soul energy being present in between the pages.

  There was nothing else.

  Strange, wasn’t it?

  It almost seemed like that singular soul-coded page was put there for a purpose. It was like a hook, caught me by the neck and threatened to drag me out into a place I couldn’t see, nor could I feel.

  There was no way a Diamond Knight could kill those Runemages with a look. No way he could just waltz in and take the whole army by himself even if he had all the runes in the world.

  Some magic was involved.

  I sighed out a long breath.

  For a second, I thought I might as well ask Belfray about it, but for some reason, I didn’t think he would be willing to entertain my questions.

  Good thing I had another option. Not everyone was the Grand Marshall’s obedient, dutiful soldier.

  …..

  I found Radek sitting before one of our many ponds, under a mulberry tree with a warm cup of tea in his hands. Gazing out into the distance, there was a certain peacefulness to his picture, but a sense of loneliness as well. As he’d said before, he’d much preferred the comfort of shadows to being in a crowd.

  On that front, we were kind of similar.

  “A fickle thing, but I can hear the spring in your step, Young Master,” he said as I climbed down toward him with my boots crunching loudly on the withered leaves. “The fire in your heart, as well. That look doesn’t bode well for me, does it?”

  “I might have some questions for you,” I said, making my way under the tree and staring down at him. “If you have the time to hear them, of course.”

  “My time and attention are ever at your service.” Radek smiled, scratching at his gray beard. “As long as I suffer from the sheer torture of being alive, that is.”

  Man… Could you stop being so relatable for once?

  My cup was ready by the time I sat beside him and made myself comfortable. There was little else that could rival a warm cup of tea on a breezy morning. From here, we could see the reaches of our land, stretching ever so steeply toward the distance, thick lines of trees broken only by occasional peaceful ponds like this one.

  There were even fish floating about their surface.

  “Go ahead, ask them,” Radek said.

  I looked at him.

  As an eight-year-old kid, my only friend was an old Heart Mage who happened to be a Celestial.

  That wouldn’t mess with my future, right?

  This was fine.

  Yes.

  “I was busy with my usual morning reading after training. You know, the books Belfray keeps giving me to cure my ignorance,” I said.

  “He does love his books.” Radek shook his head. “See him with a sword, though, you’d think you’re watching a barbarian out for fresh blood.”

  Really? Belfray? It was hard to imagine him as anything but a butler.

  Anyway, that wasn’t important now.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  We had other matters to discuss.

  “There was a battle between Hayar and Luven Kingdoms,” I said, and I even surprised myself that I managed to fork out their names. Considering the sheer number of kingdoms present in the Planar System, it was by all means no small feat. “Thousands of Runemages and Runeknights participated in the last battle that’d decide who’s going to get those big worlds.”

  “Hayar won,” Radek said right away, but there was a pause as he stole a glance at me. “It was a fairly straightforward war. Hayar had the numbers. Luven stretched itself too thin. Stubborn fools thought they could manage three different fronts, but there’s always a price to pay for being an arrogant ass.”

  I studied his expression, but on the outside, it did look like he was speaking the truth… except for that pause. I might not be a Heart Mage, but I spent my first two years watching every line on my mother’s face thanks to my people-pleasing abilities. Any sign of a frown or a scowl, then you’d find me whooping and laughing just to make her feel good.

  That wasn’t something I should be proud of, but when there wasn’t much to your personality, you held onto every little crumb you’d find.

  Simple stuff, really.

  That war, though, wasn’t simple at all.

  “There was a Runemaster named Orlath,” I said, straight to the point, my eyes nailed on Radek’s face. “He basically killed every Runemage and Runemaster of Luven Kingdom. Cleaved a line across their ranks. Butchered hundreds of men with his sword. I don’t think a slaughter carried out by a Runemaster who is just a Diamond Knight is something I’d call a fairly straightforward war.”

  “Orlath?” Radek’s face was as smooth as the pond’s surface. “I don’t seem to recall any particular Runemaster named Orlath. Then again, the Planar System is wide and practically endless. Could’ve slipped off my mind.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “What makes you think that?” Radek countered.

  “Because I know what I’ve read.”

  “We ought to be a touch suspicious when we’re dealing with historical records, Young Master. As they say, you can’t expect every winner to have the decency to tell a true tale.”

  “They actually say that?” I muttered. “Then, how often do you think they hide pages under a strictly coded soul energy lock? That can’t be a common practice, can it?”

  “Which record was it, again?”

  “The last battle between Hayar and Luven Kingdoms,” I kindly reminded him.

  “What was the name?”

  “Orlath.” I clasped the hem of my shirt with patience, trying to ignore the slowly growing smile on Radek’s face.

  “Hmm,” he mused loudly. “Is that with an ‘h’ or—”

  “Can you just… stop?” I couldn’t hold it anymore. “There was literally a page full of information hidden by the intricate use of soul energy. I only caught it because I was drooling on the page and tried to wipe the stains off. That guy, Orlath, was a menace on the battlefield. How?”

  Radek leaned back down on the ground, placing the now-emptied cup into his ring, crossing his hands behind his head, and smiling up at the foggy sky.

  I was just about to press him further when he turned toward me.

  “You’re really the Butcher’s son,” he said.

  “I… What?”

  “You see a page full of gore and blood, of a slaughter carried out by a single unit of knights who not only incapacitated the enemy’s Runemages but also did something many a nation could only dream of—killing the enemy Runemasters. Yet you want to learn more of it? Is that little nose of yours getting hungry for the scent of blood, Young Master? That’s not very nice of you.”

  “Hey, nobody said anything about blood!” I argued with growing distress, my heart thumping in my chest. “But then again, a little blood would be nice. I wouldn’t mind working myself into a powerhouse who could kill thousands if necessary—”

  I froze.

  Wow.

  I just said that?

  Did I just think about slaughtering thousands of enemies in cold blood? What enemies, damn it! The fish in the pond?

  I was not even ten!

  “You did that!” I shot to my feet, fingers of my right hand trembling, my heart thundering in my chest. There was something very wrong with me right now.

  “I most certainly… did,” Radek admitted with an annoying smile on his face. “Or did I just motivate you to be more honest with your thoughts?”

  I paused.

  What the hell was going on here?

  This was supposed to be a basic info-dump session. Why did this guy suddenly start acting like this?

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?” I decided to take a different approach rather than going on a reactive streak. I wouldn’t get worked up just because I was nudged by a Celestial Heart Mage. “You’re aware that I can always have Belfray—”

  “You think that brute would know what deciphering a soul-lock means for you?” Radek scoffed, then his eyes studied me like I had a giant mole on my face. “Centuries old it might be, Orlath’s personal lock should be more than strong enough to endure an eight-year-old’s soul energy. That guy was from a rare breed of Runemasters, unlike the rest of those clowns.”

  “Rare breed?”

  Radek nodded. “He was a true master of his craft, as you’d be in the future. This, however, is highly unexpected. You shouldn’t have been able to even sense it, let alone read it like a simple book. How vast is your soul energy?”

  I… didn’t know how to answer that. All I knew was that I’d been working on my soul energy since the day Mother gave me a pen to inscribe runes in that little world. From then on, I’d never stopped practicing runes, pouring my soul energy into those little characters, growing enough to inscribe Grade 2 Runes at the age of eight.

  That was a big achievement, alright, but it wasn’t any secret to anyone in this mansion. Belfray kept a record of my progress, and I knew he was keeping my mother updated as well, which meant there was no way Radek wouldn’t be aware of my prowess.

  This reaction, though, showed a different reality.

  And that was, in part, my mistake.

  “You should’ve told Belfray that you’re not even using half of your soul energy in each Rune session. He doesn’t know, does he?”

  “I… I wasn’t trying to hide it.”

  “But you held yourself back because utilizing every drop of your soul energy would’ve killed you. Did Gerard write anything about this in that little book?”

  “Sort of. According to his words, using too much energy could be dangerous.”

  “Take this,” Radek said as he pulled out a golden bracelet from his ring, adorned with tiny diamonds sparkling under the foggy sky. “Don’t take it off, ever, do you understand?”

  Confused, I could only nod as Radek put the bracelet on my right hand, which was when I felt a sudden stab of cold around my wrist. That sinister streak of energy seeped silently underneath my skin, through my veins, and settled right around my heart, where I lost it.

  “That is a Soulbound Treasure. It will keep your mind and body safe in case you try something stupid.”

  “I won’t, but thanks.”

  There was no way I was going to try and kill myself in this second life, but having a life-saving treasure was always a plus.

  “So, we were saying,” I kindly reminded him that my main purpose of visit was still waiting for a real response. “How did Orlath do it?”

  Radek lingered on for a few seconds, but finally, he seemed to decide there was no escaping from it.

  “It was his Runes.”

  “His Runes?”

  That didn’t make sense. Even if he could practically inscribe Runes on every part of his body, that wouldn’t mean anything since there was a limit. You could only use a single Body Strengthening Rune, for example. The same was true with all the basic Rune types.

  “A single Rune, to be more accurate,” Radek said grimly. “It was said that he’d crafted a Celestial Rune after serving more than two centuries under Hayar’s royal family. I believe it was a Rune of Petrification. He could, with a glimpse, freeze anyone under the Celestial Rank.”

  I couldn’t even find the words to describe the sudden rush of emotions I felt in that exact moment. There was fear, and then there was excitement. There was the glee of finding that I wasn’t wrong and that Rune Magic was ultimately a far wider topic than Master Gerard’s introduction book.

  Petrification, though?

  Holy hell!

  You could do that?

  “He was a terrifying man, silently biding his time until he’d got all the parts in place. That battle you’ve read about was the first time he used that Rune. For many, those violet lights were the last thing they’d seen in their lives. Orlath didn’t spare Hayar’s army, either.”

  “Wait, did he kill his own side?” I scowled. “I don’t remember reading about—”

  “He couldn’t just let those people get away after seeing that grim show, could he? For him, that battle was just a test to see how viable his personally crafted Rune actually was, and he wanted to keep it a secret. It wasn’t until centuries later that it was made public he had a Celestial Rune under his hand, after which he was chased across the Planar System.”

  “Did he die?”

  Radek smiled. “Make as many enemies as he’s done, and you’d be surprised how quickly a Planar System could shrink into a little box. His death wasn’t pretty.”

  Damn.

  That guy was kinda nuts.

  Then it hit me.

  “Hold on, if Orlath killed Hayar’s army, then… Who wrote the book? Orlath? Did he plant that soul-locked page into it while at it?”

  Wasn’t that a bit too much?

  I guessed he wanted someone to know about that crazy performance.

  “What do you think?” Radek smiled widely, watching my reaction. “Runemasters like their hidden messages, but even if you tried, you couldn’t find a single one who would bother themselves to write a meaningless historical record. I suppose Orlath wanted to at least leave his mark on one of the copies. Good thing I only borrowed it from a friend.”

  “You?” I muttered. “You gave that book to Belfray?”

  Radek nodded. “And I thought I shouldn’t expect anything for at least half a decade, yet here we are. You, Young Master, might be a bigger freak than I once was.”

  “That’s—” I swallowed. “That’s not a bad thing, right?”

  “Depends on the particular freak,” Radek said with a wink. “But you’ve at least been granted a teacher experienced in the field. I wish I had a mentor like me. That could’ve changed things.”

  That actually didn’t sound too arrogant, even though Radek’s face seemed like how I imagined most villains looked in the books I’d read, but I couldn’t let him get away with it.

  “Maybe I should tell Mother about the games you’re playing on me,” I said with a shrug. “I’m sure she’ll be more than happy—”

  “Don’t.” Radek’s face changed. “You keep this conversation between us, and I’ll keep your night visits to the Runic Chamber a secret as well.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky, but if you want to strike a deal… then I want to learn more about crafting my own runes.”

  …..

  Here!