The fact that there was a whole rune devoted to chaos was either a great sign or a terrible one. Considering Mark's Luck score, Angela was pretty sure she knew which was the case.

“Is…is that your Tome?” Naomi asked, staring at the slab of marble in Angela’s hand.

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“I’ve never seen one like it. Fascinating.” The woman’s fingers twitched as though she wanted to yank it out of Angela’s hands.

“Uhh…” Angela said, looking at Naomi. The woman was biting her lip and leering at the slab of marble. “Are we gonna keep going, or are you gonna start making out with my Tome?”

Naomi blinked and looked up at her. “Huh?”

“She’s sayin’ you look like you was filing away a mental image for later, if you catch my drift,” Leonard added.

Naomi shook her head. “Sorry, it’s just that I’ve never seen a Tome like that. I’d really like to study it at some point.”

Most of Angela’s interactions with her Tome so far had included some quantity of swearing, but the way Naomi was looking at it had her feeling unusually protective. Clearly, the woman had gone into the right field of magic.

“Uh, let’s table that for later,” Angela said, dismissing her Tome. “For now, could we talk about this Chaos Rune thing and why it’s so important?”

Naomi stared forlornly at the spot where Angela’s Tome had been before composing herself. “Yes, let’s continue,” she said, letting out a slight cough to clear her throat. “As I said before, in the early days, the Primal Creatures had magic, but they were alone in that distinction. Then came the discovery of Ennàd, and her early followers became druids. As a reward for their work, she blessed them with the first runes. So it was that magic was gifted to the mortals of Arenia.”

“I’m guessing it was the same deal for the other gods, each giving runes to their peeps?”

“Actually, no,” Naomi said. “While we don’t know where the gods get their power, we do know that the source of clerical magic is a fragment of the god’s divinity that has been gifted to their follower—even for the priests and clerics of Ennàd. I find it easier to think of clerical spells as little miracles performed by the gods themselves rather than as a ‘spell,’ per se.”

Angela thought about that for a moment. “So, it’s like mana users have to work for a living and spend their own money, whereas clerics have daddy’s credit card?”

Naomi blinked. “I…think so? I don’t quite follow the analogy, but the implication seems to make sense.”

“Okay,” Angela said. “I can follow that, but why do Ennàd’s druids and clerics have different spellcasting rules? It seems like they should be the same.”

“The goddess never explained that to you?” Naomi asked with surprise. “There are significant differences between the two classes. Most prominent of which is the fact that druids don’t worship Ennàd.”

“We don’t?” Angela asked. She had the sudden urge to giggle.

“No, you don’t,” Naomi said, looking at her askance. “Someday, you’ll have to tell me how you ended up a druid despite knowing absolutely nothing about the class.”

“It doesn’t put me in the best light,” Angela noted.

“Is that supposed to make me less interested in the story?”

“Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up,” Angela muttered. “So, if druids don’t worship Ennàd, who do they worship?”

“No one,” Naomi said. “That is the purview of her church. Clerics and priests worship who Ennàd is. Druids focus on what Ennàd is, as is in nature itself. You tend to nature on Ennàd’s behalf, and runes are the gift that makes that possible.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed as she steepled her fingers. Naomi’s words raised some interesting possibilities. They also went a long way to explaining how the Ennàd/Shev dichotomy could exist. “It sounds like druids have more flexibility than I thought.”

“They do, so long as they operate within their mandate of protecting nature,” Naomi said. “Runes are critical to those efforts, giving druids more flexibility than traditional clerical magic. I imagine that’s why Ennàd gifted the runes in the first place, and why the gods restricted themselves to clerical magic afterwards.”

“Why do you say that?

Naomi gave a sly smile. “Because I’m fairly certain Ennàd didn’t intend for the entire field of magecraft to be born out of reverse-engineering runic magic.”

“Plot twist!” Angela exclaimed. “How the hell did that happen?”

“Because of that,” Naomi said, pointing at the Chaos Rune.

Angela looked at the rune, then back up at Naomi. “How?”

Until then, Naomi had grown increasingly animated as she spoke about the workings of magic. Now, her face grew pinched. When she did speak, it was with visible discomfort. “To answer that question, it is important to remember what I said earlier: Mana is what separates our universe from Chaos. That fact is a double-edged sword.”

“Why?”

“Because any barrier must touch that which it seeks to keep out. Mana is in constant contact with Chaos, and as a result, it is contaminated by that ancient Primal Force.”

“That doesn’t seem good,” Angela said.

“It is not,” Naomi agreed, “which is why the Chaos Rune is so important. It filters the Chaos out of mana, turning it into something we can touch. Throughout history, any attempt to circumvent that rune has proven catastrophic.” She pointed to the base of her lattice where the three-dimensional representation of the Chaos Rune sat. “Even if you were looking at an archmage’s spell lattice, all mana would flow through that rune first.”

Angela nodded. “I’m following you so far, but if you can use the Chaos Rune, why can’t you use the other runes?”

“Because runic magic is ancient—so deep within the origins of mana that the runes themselves carry a patina of Chaos. But the Chaos Rune is different. Ironically, it is the only rune that doesn’t carry the taint of Chaos.”

“Why’s that?”

“We’re not entirely certain, but it is believed that while the other runes came into being with the birth of the universe, the Chaos Rune was created by Draoi, the Eternal god of Magic, and placed close enough to the physical world to be free of Chaos’ taint. You can almost think of the Chaos Rune as a filter attached to the side of mana through which mages can access its power safely.”

“Does druidic magic work the same way?” Angela asked.

“No, it functions differently,” Naomi said. “Mages create their soul lattice and then fill it with completely clean mana by—for lack of a better term—sucking it through the Chaos Rune. Druids, on the other hand, work directly with runes. Their lattices are tainted by definition. To get around this, a druid’s soul instinctively connects itself to the Chaos Rune and then envelopes their lattice, draining away the taint of Chaos. We call it a soulguard, though a Legend once referred to his as a ‘heat sink.’ I don’t know what a washbasin has to do with anything, but perhaps it means something to you.”

“Actually, that makes a lot of sense,” Angela said. The idea that her magic was like an overclocked PC with her soul acting as some kind of magical liquid cooling system was…kinda neat? It was different, that was for sure.

“Just so we’re clear, druids do need to use the Chaos Rune, right?” Angela asked. “I don’t see it at the base of the rune lattice you drew.”

“Of course they do,” Naomi said, pointing it out. To Angela’s surprise, it was several runes up, with the ones below it bearing a similar appearance to one another. “While mages pull mana through the Chaos Rune and into their lattice, druids utilize Power Runes to push mana through from the other side. This lets druids manage their mana consumption with perfect accuracy, something that is the envy of every mage.”

Angela nodded, thoughtful. “But mages can’t use Power Runes because they must be on the other side of the Chaos Rune, so sticking one in your lattice is basically like taking out your soul and waggling it around in a pool of hot Chaos.

“Exactly. No mage could use Power Runes without being driven mad or dissolving into a puddle of goo, while druids are protected.”

“But why is it any different? I’d still be using runes before they get purified, wouldn’t I?”

“It’s actually very different,” Naomi said. “A mage’s soul lattice is a one-way street, while your soulguard envelops the entire rune lattice.” Seeing the look on Angela’s face, Naomi continued. “Picture it this way: The Chaos Rune is in a valley between two hills. The Power Runes point down one hill while the rest of the lattice proceeds up the other. The Power Runes drive magic through the Chaos Rune and up into the lattice, and if any Chaos leaks out from either side, it still flows downhill to the Chaos Rune because of the bowl your soulguard has created.”

Angela nodded. “Yeah, I get that. I was just thinking that it’s like my soulguard allows the Chaos Rune to bend the dark matter/magic field in the same way mass bends space-time, creating a negative pressure that raw Chaos can’t escape but purified mana can. That’s pretty cool.”

Now it was Naomi’s turn to look confused. “Space-time?”

“It’s a thing,” Angela said. “But you people have magic, so I’m guessing relativistic physics never took off on Arenia the way it did on Earth.”

Naomi chuckled, one corner of her mouth quirking up. “Remember: ‘You people’ now includes yourself.”

“Touché,” Angela said, though her quip came off flat. The unfortunate reality was that Naomi’s description of the interaction between Chaos and mana didn’t bode well for her brother.

“Just to be absolutely clear, there are no forms of magic that avoid the Chaos Rune, right?” she asked tentatively.

Naomi shook her head, dashing Angela’s hopes. “No. If they don’t use the Chaos Rune, they use something that invokes it. For instance, bardic magic has something called the Chaos Note. It is outside the range of human hearing, but they have to play or sing it for the entire duration of a spellsong or they’ll introduce Chaos into their spellcraft.

“Honestly, it is safe to say that the Chaos Rune is the one truly inviolable rule of magic.” Naomi brightened and snapped her fingers. “That would be a great starting point for our investigation of your brother’s magic! Once we determine where the Chaos Rune is incorporated into his spellcasting, we can build from there.”

Angela struggled to keep a straight face. Not as many as it would raise.

A pebble appeared, but Angela was ready for it, grabbing it out of the air and reading it as it morphed into a page of slate.

Class Quest: “Learn Rune Magic!” Part 2 Completed!

Saw that coming, did you? Hmm…I’m going to have to get more creative. Regardless, here are your rewards. Not gonna lie; they’re pretty darn important.

Reward for Success: 1,000 XP, Unlock the Rune Lattice Skill and Ability

NEW CLASS SKILL LEARNED!

Rune Lattices – Skill Level 1 (Tier-0)

For the record, you’re awfully lucky to have stumbled across Naomi. Who knows how long you’d have fumbled around before realizing that you needed an actual Skill to make spells? Sure, you could have just asked a druid, but…honestly, why didn’t you ask a druid?

Tier-0 Bonus: Unlock the Rune Lattice Ability.

50 XP Earned

Luck +1

See above.

ABILITY: CONSTRUCT RUNE LATTICE

You are now able to construct Rune Lattices. The scope and size of your lattices is limited by your Rune Lattice Skill and available runes. New runes are granted by accomplishing quest goals, hitting hidden benchmarks, or discovery of the form, shape, and function of an undiscovered rune (rare).

Class Quest: “Learn Rune Magic!” Part 3

Last step in the quest chain. This is the big one. The make-or-break. Can you cast a spell? I know a lot of people think you won’t be able to, but I disagree. I fully believe in your ability to create something that backfires catastrophically.

Quest Completion Criteria: Construct a spell.

Reward for success: Magic!

Penalty for failure: Your class basically amounts to “casual hiker.”

QUEST AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 12 Achieved

XP: 27,825

XP to next Renown: 6,375

“Class Quest?” Naomi asked, gesturing at the piece of slate.

“Yup,” Angela answered. She looked at the mage across from her. “Is there anything else you can tell me about rune magic?”

The woman shook her head. “Not really. Although there is a ritual I’d like to try that I would need your help with, assuming you can get the fundamentals of runic spellcasting down. I would like to do it sooner rather than later, so perhaps you could experiment with runes for the rest of the day? I’ll come back tomorrow evening when I am done at the Mage’s College.”

Angela gave her a cautious look. “This ritual. What’s it for?”

Naomi hesitated. “I can’t promise it will work, but if it does, I might be able to locate your great-grandfather.”

Angela’s eyes grew wide. “Holy shit. You can do that?”

“Possibly,” Naomi cautioned, giving her a stern look. “Nothing is for certain, but there is a chance. Not without your help, though. The ritual needs a druid to activate the rune construct.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Angela said with a grin. “By the time you come back, I am going to magic the shit out of that thing.”