Chapter 16

The bell rang right as they entered through the door of the lecture hall for their next class, basic runes. Jack suspected that this was on purpose because Virtus seemed to constantly find reasons to stop or slow down during the trek across the hall. During all that stalling, Jack had time to entertain himself by reading all the name plates of the novice hall and discovered that most of them were on his syllabus.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t get far from Virtus without some noble brat taking a shot at him. The only good thing about his new public enemy number one status was that the commoners and ‘have nots’ gave way, they were in a bubble of space amidst a stream of people.

Virtus had confirmed that the building they were in was the novice ward. There were several such buildings with progressively more advanced studies. They were the novice, apprentice, practitioner and finally the specialty wards. His one core class outside of the novice hall was basic Fire manipulation and that was in the Fire hall.

After the bell rang, they found that this hall was considerably more occupied than the last class. More than half the seats were full and everyone seemed to be a little older. The youngest person he saw was about fourteen. He wondered if this class was so advanced then why did they put Aster in it?

They sat down and a portly man in his forties stepped out of his faculty door in dramatic fashion. His hair was trimmed short and his beard had been oiled. This was a far cry from Professor Fabian's mad dash and sloppy exterior. He was clad in his faculty robes with a few exceptions. His robes were trimmed in various’ metal accents and accessories. He had never seen so many types of metal before. Jack couldn’t figure out what most of them were supposed to do, so tossed the thought into the ‘get an explanation later’ box in his mind and instead took the man in as a whole.

“My name is Professor Ferrum. I have been selected to take over this class for the semester since the current professor is on maternity leave.” He proceeded to write his name on the blackboard.

When he was done, he glided over to stand behind the lectern. That’s when it finally clicked. The same surname, the same strong features and the same need to be clad in metal told Jack who this was, Virtus’ father. That explains his strange behavior. In truth, Jack felt like an idiot for not putting it together when it was so blatantly obvious.

“Welcome to basic runes, this is the most important class you will ever take. It will be your foundation for everything that you do as a Magi. Whether you decide to become a scholar, enchanter, or…” His eyes flitted over to Virtus then. “... a war Magi. Everything we do uses runes. In a slot under your desks is a tome. Please remove it and open it to page four.”

Jack peered under his desk and found a large, leather book the length of his forearm. When he picked it up, the weight nearly made him hit his head on the edge of the desk in counterbalance. Aster couldn’t even pick it up. That did not matter though as Virtus moved from his position to assist her. He wore a kindly smile that Jack had not seen on the stoic man. She froze when Virtus came within three feet of her but relaxed when he merely pointed and asked if she would like assistance.

After a bit they all got settled and Jack finally read the title, Basic Runes - simplified edition. This is the simplified version? It’s half a foot thick! Sounds of page turning reminded him that he still had to open it. When the correct page came up he saw the inscription.

“Basic runes are the method used by humanity to shape and make use of magic. It is how a Magi connects to and manipulates their bonded sigils. Every rune has three components. They are function, source, and intensity. More advanced runes utilize more than the basic three components.”

About a minute after Jack finished reading the inscription, the professor called out. “Has everyone finished reading page four?” There were a variety of responses from the students but most of them seemed to be finished.

Professor Ferrum didn’t seem impressed that not everyone was done and started to speak. “During this class we will cover the most basic of runes. The first subject we will cover are basic runes. These are runes used in cantrips and novice level spells or enchantments. We will move on to runes separated by subject towards the end of the semester. Does anyone have any questions before we proceed?”

A student raised their hand. He gestured to her. “Yes you, the girl with the pigtails.”

Everyone’s eye followed the professors finger to the girl in question. She seemed flustered by all the attention she was getting. “Ugh… how many runes are there Professor?”

Ferrum just snorted at the question and replied. “There is an entire wing of the library devoted to nothing more than researching and recording runes. Thousands of books like the one you are holding exist. Not to mention all the private libraries of the nobility. My own family has quite a stockpile of runes known only to us. Anyone else have a question?”

Someone else raised their hand and was selected. “What’s the difference between a sigil and rune?”

The professor seemed pleased at this question. “This is the question I was waiting for. Most laymen speak of sigils and runes interchangeably. This can not be more wrong. A sigil is a representation of primordial power. Each sigil is a source of a specific form of energy. This is why we Magi bind this power within ourselves and why magical species like the Djinn or the Fae can sustain their physical forms despite being composed partly of magic.”

“Runes on the other hand are a magical language of sorts. Only instead of building a prose with words and punctuation, runes interconnect to give purpose, intensity, and direction to the forces around us. When creating a spell, a Magi starts by summoning his bound sigil. Once that is connected, the Magi begins to attach the appropriate runes to the sigil in order to channel the power of the sigil into an effect.”

He went back to the chalkboard and drew a morning star, a rhombus with its four corners stretched out. “This is the sigil for Light. It by itself is merely the representation of all things that emanate light, but when you do this and this.” He drew two shapes onto the edges of the sigil. They resembled what Jack thought looked like elder futhark. Those runes that fortune tellers are always eager to throw around.

“This is the spell Fairy Lights, it makes an object glow faintly. It is the spell most Light attuned Magi learn first.” He demonstrated by drawing the symbols in the air with a finger that left a trail of light in its wake. Upon completion, the runes disappeared and floating motes of blue and yellow light took their place. The class was in awe. Everyone was eager to write down the spell on the board, for most it seemed to be the first spell they had ever seen.

Professor Ferrum was already back on the lectern by the time people started to look back down. “Everyone turn to page seven! We are going to cover twenty runes every day in class and another twenty for homework. We will go over the homework at the beginning of each class before the lecture portion. Now the first rune you need to know is…”

By the end of the class, everyone was thoroughly and completely bored. When professor Ferrum started, it seemed like they were going to learn a few runes and become master Magi as soon as they finished transcribing them all. Disillusionment quickly stepped in to take the place of ambition as the class progressed into a slogfest of magical minutia. Every single rune had half a dozen traits and requirements to use properly. Jack was starting to equate spell creation with creating a jigsaw puzzle by carving out the individual pieces before trying to fit them together. In other words, it was going to be hard.

It wasn’t unproductive for Jack though because one of the runes they had covered was a component rune of his Laying Down Burdens spell. It came as a shock to discover that each of the four corner geometries in the spell was multiple interlocking runes. Now that he knew what it did, casting the spell should be easier in the future.

Silently, he browsed through the glossary to find answers. Near the end was a section titled compound runes. His eyes checked to make sure his departure from the curriculum had gone unnoticed. Wait, why do I even care if someone sees me reading ahead in the book. Years of public school suppression had taught him bad habits. This was a university, responsibility was on him now.

After some skimming, he learned that compound runes were, as he thought, interlocked runes. They acted as a nexus in a spell or enchantment, allowing the caster to create complicated effects. Each rune diagram was made using an engineering diagram to show all the sides and dimensions, which caused each one to take up an entire page by itself. Even then the compound runes in the book only used two or three runes in conjunction, then again, this was a novice primer. If the runes got any more complicated He felt that each rune could easily take up an entire chapter. He needed a better book or another way to learn compound runes efficiently.

Class ended before he could finish reading the chapter, that was fine though. His next class was basic Fire manipulation. It was the class he most anticipated. After that class was lunchtime. Lillian had told him to just show up at the table they ate breakfast at and that she would take care of the food. That wasn’t a problem either. No, the problem was that Aster and he were going their separate ways and it didn’t seem she was ready.

Of course, Casper promptly walked into the basic runes classroom as Aster was starting to panic. He quickly approached the trio and gave Aster a brotherly hug. He whispered something in her ear and she responded in kind, shoulders relaxed.

After a bit, he straightened and turned to face… Virtus? This caught them all by surprise as the two had avoided speaking to one another so far today. “Thank you for helping my sister with her studies.” His voice sounded as if he was being strangled to death as he said it. It was true, Aster had admitted that she couldn’t read. Virtus had been quietly reading out loud to her the entire class when she floundered enough for them to notice.

It seemed to be working in his favor because when his father noticed, all the dark glares suddenly went away and were replaced with ones filled with pride. Jack didn’t know what was going on exactly but if he had to guess, professor Ferrum wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.

Casper continued speaking, only he spoke to Jack now. “I am taking Aster to her next few classes. For the rest of the day, she is going to learn to read, write, and local geography. Thank you for staying with her up to this point. She tells me these last few hours completely changed her worldview but she was able to continue because of your presence.”

Aster piped up next. “The gift you gave me, the first one. It made me feel smarter, so I could sorta understand what the teachers were saying.” She gave him the same dazzling smile she had given when peering into the Flame aster that was now woven into her hair.

Jack shook his head. “I didn’t make you any better in any way. The spell I cast was designed to help people get free from restrictions and burdens so that they can live without restriction. You were always that smart, it’s just that you suffered significant mana pollution. It made you feel lethargic and slower.” He didn’t know for certain, but he thought that if she had just a bit more of that gunk in her system, then maybe he could have used it to make her stronger. That wasn’t important though, what mattered was that she was feeling better now.

Casper and Virtus both looked shocked at this statement. Virtus spoke up first. “Are you telling me that you can cure mana pollution inside of a human body?”

Their extreme reaction put Jack on high alert and he decided to play on the side of caution where this ability was concerned. He could see himself being forcefully used as a sanitation device to scrub all the noble brats in this place clean if someone powerful found out about it. “I can do it but, like I told you, just cleansing and healing Aster cost me all of the mana I had spent two days processing. If she had been a Magi, then I’m sure my spell would have barely tickled her.”

Casper seemed to get the underlying point before Virtus and responded timely. “Relax, we are not about to go telling the nobility about what you can do. We would prefer not to let them know anything about you at all.” Casper sighed wistfully. “Though that is not probable with how closely they spy on you.”

Jack smiled at those words, he knew Casper was a good guy. This act of discretion was the catalyst that took the two from mutual acquaintances to true friends.

Virtus on the other hand was torn. He had a duty to report everything to Laura but he was starting to both respect and admire this man whose life was in his hands. So he decided to compromise. “I promise not to say anything to anyone but princess Laura. She has your best interests in mind so I think that she will keep this secret to herself. Is this acceptable?”

“Yes, I think I can accept that. I was hoping to win over the princess as an ally anyways. My master told me to entrench myself into the Empire's political system so that any of the more powerful Magi can’t off me when I start making waves, and boy do I intend to make waves. In fact…” Jack broke off to ponder his immediate options. Classes ended at two, which meant that he had several hours to do his homework before nightfall. “ I can tell that the people in charge have me in a bubble to keep me in the dark. That’s why I would like to visit the orphan ward again at the soonest opportunity. This time I would like to meet your father Casper and get some real answers about what life in the Empire looks like. ”

Casper's smile could have been used to power a lighthouse, it was so dazzling. “I would greatly appreciate you coming to see my father. He is eagerly waiting to meet with you and told me that he has something special to give you. That is, if Pretty Boy here promises not to come along.” At this he hooked a thumb at Virtus, their apparent truce forgotten.

Virtus’ features darkened for a moment, but he was too much a soldier to reply in kind. “I know of your father and what he does, Casper, and he is one of the few people that I feel confident can protect Jack. So, I will compromise by escorting him to your little alehouse and stand guard outside of his office. That is the most I can bend on this.”

Casper mulled over the offer. After a minute he responded. “I accept your conditions. Jack, do you have any problems with this arrangement?”

Jack waved away the question. “No, i’m good. This sounds like a good plan.” Everyone nodded and started to pack up. Virtus turned back once more to stare at his father's door before turning away. After all, they still had a class to get to.