Brand came to understand the concept of runes quite easily. They were in a way simpler than learning his letters.

As Aleen explained it, hundreds of runes had been discovered over the millennia; some by gods and some by men. The two he was trying to utilize now had simple shapes and could be drawn by anyone with steady hands. The problem was that he had to form the runes inside the storm of mana that was the first gate he unlocked.

The collection of turbulent mana swirling around the first gate located somewhere in his head had gotten worse after being opened. If Brand tried runic magic a day ago, he was sure it would have been easy. But without a proper mana pool, the knowledge would go to waste.

Azmina told him this would happen. After Brand became aware of his focus, he was able to consciously make his mana visible with a thought. Aleen then saw that he had a paltry mana pool, one of the smallest she’d ever seen. She informed him that moving forward he’d need to open new gates which would double his mana capacity every time but would also worsen to storm within.

People like Azmina and Aleen with mana pools 30 times Brand’s own shallow reserves and five times Rohaan’s only opened one gate every decade or so if they even opened more than one at all.

Aleen smacked Brand over the head with her baculous. “You’re not doing it right. Send your mana through the tips of the first rune and then the top of the second. Then slam all you've got into it before it fills. Filling the runes any differently will give a different effect.”

Brand barely felt the blow, he just kept trying to control his now uncooperative mana. Before he tried utilizing runes within, he had to correctly use them externally so Aleen drew them on the floor making both Rohaan and Brand fill them with mana.

It was as if he needed to thread a needle after a long night of drinking. Rohaan was having an even harder time, his higher cultivation rank and mana pool, in general, stunting his control far more than Brand’s.

Hours later, Brand finally managed to power the rune equation correctly.

“It’s about time,” Aleen said.

She pulled out a ball of yarn and gently tossed it on the empowered runes. Right as the ball touched the runes, it shot out at incredible speeds. Brand dodged the projectile robbing Aleen of her fun.

“Damn, I missed,” she muttered. “Anyway, when you're able to power the runes perfectly every time, try creating them on the palm of your hand without a drawing to guide you. Then create it within your gate. The effect will be sent throughout your mana channels equally creating a shell of counterforce around you. With a little experimentation, you should be able to stop yourself from flying about like fools from every strong wind that passes by.”

“You're not going to show us how?” Brand asked, still having no clue how this force magic worked.

“No,” Aleen answered. “Just figure it out yourself.” With what lessons she wanted to give taught, Aleen left the room.

Long into the night, Brand was able to form the runes in his first gate. The spell washed over him like a second skin gifting protections as he’d never felt. Then what Aleen had been waiting for happened.

All of Brand’s clothing flew off in an explosion of fabric. Then his skin touched the ground. To his horror, he was sent into the air at a frighteningly fast speed just like the yarn had.

As he hit the roof, Brand was hurled back to the floor, then back to the ceiling, and back down into Rohaan sending him flying as well. Downstairs the loud collisions could be heard over Aleen’s laughter.

Azmina crossed her arms in irritation and glared at her governess. “You know that’s why Rohaan quit.”

****

Snakes of dreaded anticipation slithered in the depths of Tanya’s stomach as she walked up to her father's study. Unlike her human siblings, this was not a place of comfort. The one time she dared touch the handle to the sanctum, he ordered ten lashes to be given to not just her, but her mother as well. That was the day any fantasy of having a caring father left the young beast kin.

Lord Elbert, her father, had seemed to not even notice Tanya, not when she cleaned his dishes, swept his floors, or tended his gardens. She was sure he didn’t even know her name until the day she was found playing with a palm-sized lion cub made of mana that she herself created.

At the time, she didn’t know why the other maids were so shocked at the news. Many of Lord Elbert’s family did the same thing when they visited, that’s where she got the idea to try it. Her named brother had many such pets growing up, far more and far bigger than Tanya’s little lion. But to her surprise, Lord Elbert rushed outside to see what she'd made.

He picked up the lion reverently as if it were a precious newborn that could disappear at the slightest touch. Eyeing the diminutive beast’s color and form, Lord Elbert held an expression of astonishment Tanya had never seen.

Handing the lion back to Tanya, he looked directly at her for the first time and asked a question. “Did you create this?”

“Yes Lord,” she had answered in the way every maid had answered before her.

Lord Elbert smiled. “Then child, we are family.”

Ever since then, Tanya was made a full member of the Bryer noble family, last name and all. Her mother was given her own home and servants and Tanya immediately began training as a cultivator regardless of her massive wealth of mana.

Even now she wore the marks of her training as small cuts and reddened knuckles. Leo, her lion cub, was now almost as large as a horse with a hide so tough ordinary weapons couldn’t do him harm. Even so, her newly forged strength couldn’t fully repress the memories or the scars they left behind.

“What are you waiting for, kitten?” Elbert asked from beyond the precipice. “Come inside.”

Stomping down her unease, Tanya entered the room for the first time. At the farthest wall from the entrance sat Elbert over an old stone table with the bowl carved into the middle. The bowl was filled with a bubbling purple glowing liquid that provided most of the light in the windowless room.

The light gave Elbert a shadowy look where only his dark shoulder-length hair and sparsely bearded face could be seen. With his black robe, he seemed like a dark lord from a children’s fairytale.

Brandishing a flask, the ominous liquid raised out of the bowl and into the container without spilling a drop. Elbert then snapped his fingers creating mage lights around the room to extinguish the darkness.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized. “Light-sensitive project. Come in.”

“Yes father,” Tanya replied in a stiff tone trying not to be formal. She still wasn’t used to being considered an actual daughter of Bryer. At least she hadn't called him lord on accident like last time.

As Tanya reached her father, she lost all the confidence built up over the last year of training. She hid her clawed fingers behind her back while uselessly folding her toes in an attempt to conceal her clawed feet. Hiding her beast kin features was pointless thanks to how pronounced they were, but she couldn't help but try.

Most beast kin didn’t have such elongated canines or slit eyes. Her hair that should have been dark like her mother’s and father was marred by streaks of blonde like a lion's mane. Every morning she had to shave her chest, or a thin layer of fur would appear.

“Tanya, stop that,” Elbert said in annoyance. “You of all people can't afford to show weakness.” He walked up to his daughter cupping her cheek. “You’re beautiful, but even more than that, you're strong. No one will ever be able to reach the heights we are capable of. You may feel small now, mostly because you are,” he chuckled. “But in time, you will lead Vellia to greatness, whether anyone realizes it or not.”

Tanya did believe her father spoke the truth about their relationship to the rest of vellain nobility. Regardless of mage rank or cultivation, no one could defeat a summoned god. That is what made her family special.

Like all of her named relatives, gods could manifest through her summoning focus to walk Midgard as they pleased. That’s why even with a generous mana pool, Tanya was studying to be a cultivator. Complicated offensive spells were seen as useless to most Bryers. In battle, they simply summoned whatever creature they imagined with their mind to fight for them. Even without a god’s power, mana capacity took precedence over everything else making the years spent cultivating to open gates worth far more than spell forms and rune equations.

But Tanya, in her heart of hearts, didn’t believe any gods would grace her with their presence.

Magni was known to fly off in a berserker state to slay his people’s enemies. In every telling of his adventures, he'd slay the armies of some beast kin necromancer with a divine hammer raining thunder and lightning across the land and sky.

Modi, Magni’s brother, was no different. His stories told of great battles where fey kin that swore to aid their allies betrayed their obligations leading to the god of honor's wrath. By the end of his punishment, there were no more fey kin cities left to renege on oaths.

Vidar, god of roads and the most powerful of the Aesir, at least didn’t kill nonhumans as some form of policy like his nephews, but the king’s Road always went around human territories. For everyone else, he would manifest to destroy any protesting army that stood in opposition to their land being bisected.

Tanya knew the humanistic gods wouldn't want her and she wasn’t convinced she wanted them either. Partnering with any other god would also be pointless. The Bryers were meant to defend Vellia in place of an army. Summoning a farmer’s god-like Yule could no more impede an enemy than leaving picnic baskets. Amra may be capable, but she’d likely cause more harm than good to both sides of a conflict even if she decided to participate, which she most likely wouldn't.

“What if no god wants me?” Tanya asked hesitantly.

Elbert paused for a moment seemingly not knowing what to say. Tanya’s heart dropped as he did, her insecurities taking root and eroding any hope that he'd still care for her if she proved worthless. Then a feeling of foreboding washed over her like heavy rain.

It was as if her head was in the mouth of a hungry beast. She stepped away from her father in fright feeling that he was the source of her dread. His eyes glowed white and lightning crackled around him from the concentrated mana he was projecting. Then, in an instant, his power was snuffed out and his eyes returned to their normal brown color, but the pressure Tanya felt evaporated only to return a heartbeat later behind her.

“Well look at this pretty little thing you’ve made Elbert,” said a voice from behind Tanya. It sounded muffled as if its owner spoke from behind a wall but somehow vibrated Tanya's bones with every word.

Tanya was about to turn when her father embraced her tightly. “Don't look at it!” he said. “Keep your eyes closed!”

Despite the order, Tanya looked up in surprise and saw Elbert’s eye’s closed. Almost too late, she mirrored her father as whatever had appeared in the room moved over them. Cold suddenly rolled over her along with the smell of stale air as if she stood in an ancient crypt.

“Oh, come on Elbert. Let her take a look,” pleaded the voice mockingly. “Don't you want to see what I'll become? It's not like I’ll be something nasty with the sun up or are you afraid of what you’ll see.” The voice circled them coming close to Tanya and occasionally blowing on her feline ears. “Ever wanted to know which of your guards could sweep your girl off her feet with a word? Bet that’s who she’ll turn me into. Oh, wait, her wants are more vague than that, but yours aren't.”

“Bitarr,” Tanya whispered, and the creature laughed at the mention of its name.

Bitarr's voice came so close it felt as if it were inside Tanya’s ears. “You’ve heard of me, perfect! That should make things easier.”

Bitarr was a creature of duality. It represented the day and night and the feelings that accompanied them. In the light of day, it took the form of your greatest desire. In the dark of night, it became your greatest fear. Many stories had it opposing gods and men as beast or long-dead enemies and lovers.

One story even had him take the form of the dead god Thor armed with his greatest weapon Mjolnir just after coming from his mother’s womb. Modi, thinking his newborn a mockery of some kind battled him and would have lost if the sun had not risen soon after.

Bitarr became more duplicitous as the sun rose. It was known to bed many unsuspecting victims in the form of lost loves or spouses resulting in it fathering and mothering many bastards.

No one in their right mind would summon Bitarr, not on purpose anyway. But the beast was known to enter people's minds and sometimes even their dreams. It seemed that power included forcing a summons.

“Here’s the thing girl,” Bitarr continued. “Most of your kind don't like calling on me, vellians I mean, not kin like yourself. I had to force my way through your papa to be here. If he had his way, I’d have to march my nonexistent ass to you myself only to have Modi waiting to put me down. Not quite fair, wouldn't you say, Kitten.”

Bitarr paused as if to savoring the anxiety it caused. “How do you think I should punish him? Maybe I should tell you what I’d become if he got a good look, it might surprise you.”

“Enough!” Elbert shouted. “What are you here for?”

“I’m here for this pretty little thing,” Bitarr said. “I’m here to tell her that even if the rest of my family are human-centric imbeciles, I’m not.”

Despite the circumstances, Tanya's interest peaked. “You want to incarnate through me?”

Bitarr made a chilling laugh. “That’s right, and before you get all, you can’t trust a trickster like me, how about we make a deal?”

“What deal?” Elbert and Tanya asked at the same time.

“On my father’s name, I shall always be known to you no matter the shape I wear, if you let me help you when you're in need.”

Tanya did think about the proposal. She didn’t want the other gods anywhere near her. They may kill her out of habit, but Bitarr never took sides. It never even started most of the battles it was known for. Even If it became a monster upon sight, it would not attack her, but the deal could use some work.

“I have conditions,” Tanya stated timidly.

“Tanya don’t talk to it,” Elbert ordered but she did anyway.

“Make yourself known to me no matter what.”

“HAHAHA,” Bitarr laughed, cracking a few glass bottles in the room with its high-pitched amusement. “You noticed that little detail. Too bad, would have been under your skirts within a week. Either way, you've got a deal. And if you’re wondering, no need to shake on it. I've got no limbs to shake with right now, so the deal is made once I agree to follow your terms, which I have. Looking forward to working together, kitten.”

Right as the last word was said, the deadly presents left the room taking with it the smell of stale air.

“Do you have any idea what you've done!” Elbert demanded. He shook Tanya after noticing her eyes were still closed. “Look at me, even if you know what that thing looks like there is still plenty it can do to you. It made no oath to not harm you, or me, or everyone that is not you.”

Tanya hugged Elbert again, her body still trembled from feeling Bitarr brushing against her skin. “I don't want to be chosen by the gods! I think most would kill me for being kin. At least Bitarr will want me to be around to move through Midgard. And it won't act out because the other gods will kill me to punish it.”

Elbert let out a frustrated sigh. “Couldn't it have been Yule, or hells, Vara if you're willing to stay a virgin?” He sat on a small stool in the room not bothering to return to his desk.

“What's done is sadly done,” he said as if the last few minutes were a battle he’d lost. “Let's have the discussion I asked you here for before sleeping off this stressful episode.”

Tanya stifled herself from facepalming. She’d forgotten Bitarr had interrupted what was most likely something important.

“Tanya,” Elbert continued. “You’ll be heading to Prometheus Hall tomorrow. I’d rather not pay the fees if you opened your second gate without being properly educated.”

The snakes of anticipation were back in Tanya’s stomach. She'd have to leave the manor. She'd have to face the rest of Vellian nobility. Worse, she might have to see her sister again.