“All right, students! Today, we’re jumping into the deciphering of runes. Usually Professor Gildan would be teaching this course, but as you know, he’s not in a condition to teach. So, you’ll be stuck with me until Bloomsgarde.” Professor Kai’La grabbed a piece of chalk and walked toward the blackboard.

  Vera sighed, opening up her book to a blank page, and reached inside her bag, taking out a mana pen.

  “What’s the matter with you? You look stressed,” Yadani said.

  “I lost all my books like an idiot. I should’ve known better,” Vera said.

  “That’s unfortunate, but you’re not going to find those books. The institute is too big,” Yadani shrugs.

  “Yeah… I’ll have to buy new ones. All because I wanted to help some guy.” Vera sighed.

  “He was quite handsome. Are you sure you won’t be seeing him again?” Nymeria budded in.

  “We’re not going to make it look like that. I was only trying to help him,” Vera said.

  “Trying to help him? Mhm, I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Yadani smirked.

  “Yes, I was only trying to help. Yadani, do you have extra mana fluid?” She asked.

  “Did they take that too, or what?” Yadani reached into her bag and took out a small cylindrical tube with a blue liquid in it, handing it to Vera.

  Vera took the tube and untwisted the barrel of her pen. Inside was another small cylindrical tube that acted as the ink chamber. It had gone dry from constant use. Vera replaced it with the new one, then put the pen back together.

  “Thanks, Yadani,” she said.

  “Now you owe me,” Yadani’s tail poked at Vera’s shoulder.

  “Fine, tell me what you want after class,” Vera said.

  “Oh, you know I will,” Yadani grinned.

  “It’s not a good idea to do anything after classes. I’ve heard the warding runes are no longer functional,” Nymeria said.

  Yadani’s brow raised.

  “What? That doesn’t make sense—”

  “Girls, eyes down here, please!” Kai’La directed her voice toward them.

  “Apologies, Professor!” Nymeria said.

  Kai’La cleared her throat, then made her way back to the blackboard.

  “Rune deciphering is an important and high-paying job in all of Augus. If you show proficiency in this and remain intrigued, we have a three-month-long course that will equip you with all the knowledge you need to become a junior rune decipherer,” Kai’La said.

  “Moving on. Now, can anyone tell me what runes are?” She looked at the array of students.

  Lonan raised his hand.

  “Go on, Lonan,” she said.

  “They’re a special language that we use in our everyday life,” he said.

  “That is true, but that is not what they are. Does anyone else have another answer?” Kai’La looked around the room.

  Vera raised her hand.

  “Runes are incantations in the written form of an ancient language.”

  “Correct! Now, I want to ask another question, class. If I were to say the words of an incantation, would I evoke the effects of it right here?” She asked.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The class ruptured in a steady stream of no’s.

  “Exactly. For an incantation to respond to the words you chant, there must first be an object on which the runes of the incantation are written. Otherwise, you’ll be chanting to a ghost,” she said.

  “I have a question! What if someone else chants my incantation for me? Will it activate that way, too?” Lonan shouted out.

  “Incantations only activate through the wielder. Once you wear a ring, a necklace, or even a piece of clothing that is marked by runes, it becomes linked to your source of mana, which means you claim ownership over it as long as you’re wearing it. We’ll get into further details of that in another lesson.” Kai’La said.

  “For incantations to become runes, they must be written with a special pen. You all call it a mana pen, but some professionals prefer to call it Blue Rite. I am not one of those professionals—I also prefer to call it a mana pen. Mana gives life to everything. Even words. Many beasts, plants, and animals that live in the Silent Expanse, or Eyhelunian forests, feed off mana. But I’ll leave it at that for now,” she added.

  Kai’La pressed the chalk against the blackboard, drawing an example rune.

  “This rune is a basic one. Copy it down with your mana pens and see what it does.” Kai’La said.

  Yadani looked at the board, sketching a zig-zag line with two dots on each side. On the paper, it seemed like nothing was written, but soon after, the zig-zag line appeared, then came the dots ignited with blue energy. A small flicker of light flashed near the rune, and a bird made of azure spawned from the energy. It hopped around Yadani’s paper, head twitching in different directions.

  “Whoa, a bird?” Yadani’s eyes widened.

  The bird on Yadani’s desk flew off into the classroom, flying around in circles. The birds on everyone else’s desks followed suit. In the space of the class, it looked like a sparkling blitz of blue energy. Gazes of awe directed toward the birds. Neo stared at them with a vacant gaze, then focused his vision on the analog clock. His paper was empty, and his mana pen was untouched.

  “Hey, Neo, are you seeing this? It’s amazing. I had no idea mana could do things like this,” Lonan’s gaze was locked onto the birds.

  “That’s right,” he said.

  “Three-month-long course, huh? Do you think I should become a rune decipherer?” Lonan looked at him.

  “If it’s what you want, go ahead,” Neo said, staring off into space.

  “What if I don’t like it?” He said.

  “Then do something else. It’s easy to do that here,” Neo moved his hair from his eyes.

  “I never thought about that. I always thought I needed to know what I wanted to do,” Lonan said.

  “You don’t. Figuring out what you want takes time,” he said.

  “That’s true. It took my dad some time to rise through the ranks in Vislinia. What about you? You never say much about what you want,” Lonan said.

  “Leviara doesn’t have anything for me. But I’m holding off on that thought until Bloomsgarde. After that, I’m leaving.” Neo said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that?” Lonan said.

  “Because all of this is temporary. There are some things you don’t need to know about me. It’ll create problems in the future, and that future isn’t far from where we stand now,” Neo said.

  “What are you talking about?” Lonan said.

  “Sorry, I had only meant to say the first part. After that, I started thinking out loud,” Neo finally looked at Lonan.

  “You all right?” Lonan asked.

  “... I’m all right, don’t worry about me. If you want to be a rune decipherer, you should be worrying about this more than me,” Neo said, looking back toward Professor Kai’La.

  “I won’t worry as much then. I’ll worry a little, but I’m going to assume you don’t need it.” Lonan grinned.

  “No, that’s not something you need to do. I’ve gotten this far without anyone worrying about me, so I’ll be fine,” Neo pulled his gaze away, continuing to stare off into space.