Rune Seeker

“Are you real?” Hiral asked Left and Right.

“That’s somewhat rude,” Left said.

“Ah, give him a break—this hasn’t been a normal day for him,” Right said. “But yeah, we’re real.” He poked Hiral in the bare chest.

“Hiral, your status window… It changed,” Seena said, and Hiral forced his eyes from Left and Right to look.

It was yellow again.

And his raceand class weren’t grayed out anymore! But all his tattoos were gone, instead replaced by a Runes category, which only listed three.

Runes:

• Rune of Separation – Primary

• Rune of Rejection – Right forearm

• Rune of Attraction – Left forearm

Hiral looked down at his arm, and yes—there, between the returned, glowing, double-helix pattern, was the strange yellow rune again.

So, these runes must be some kind of abilities.

“Level…?” Hiral asked, already really tired of feeling surprised every time somebody opened their mouth.

Vix was right, though. Apparently, he was a level 6 Runic Artificer—whatever that was—and even had 18 unspent attribute points to allocate.

How am I level six? Oh, it must be that experience in escrow I got from fighting the Troblins. Nice!

“Okay, this is all fun and creepy that the Islander is apparently multiplying, but we do need to get a move on if we want to get back to the dungeon before the rains reach us,” Seeyela said, though she also looked at the crystal monster. “We sure this thing isn’t going to start moving again?”

“Not sure at all,” Yanily said.

“And I don’t want to try my luck a second time,” Balyo said. “My strongest attack didn’t even scratch it, and it was a perfect setup for a kill shot. If this thing was trying, it could’ve ended all of us.”

“But it was after Hiral, wasn’t it?” Seena put the pieces together. “That’s how you knew it would come for you when we ran into those other Islanders.”

“I didn’t know,” Hiral said, “though I did suspect. It acted funny the first time we ran into it.”

“You’re all still talking, and we still aren’t moving,” Seeyela said. “We can talk about this all we want when we get to the dungeon. Come on, chop chop,” she said, clapping her hands together. “I assume you two are coming with us?” she asked Left and Right.

“We go where he goes, whether we want to or not,” Right said.

“Wonderful. What should we call you? Hiral Number Two and Hiral Number Three?”

They both pulled up and looked at their own status windows.

“Apparently, I’m Right,” Right said.

“And I’m Left,” Left added.

Then they both looked at Hiral and spoke in unison. “You actually named us Left and Right?”

“Uh…” Hiral said, but stopped when Seeyela scowled. “We can talk about it more later, like Seeyela was saying.”

“Lead on,” Right said, and held out his hand as if gesturing down the path.

“Thanks,” Hiral said. “You’re very polite.”

“And you aren’t?” Right asked. “We’re just you, you know. More or less.”

“What do you mean, more or less?” Hiral asked as the whole group warily kept an eye on the monster while they moved around and past it. They all even gave it one last look before they rounded a corner in the path, then picked their pace back up to a steady run.

“What Right is trying to say is that we aren’t copies of you,” Left explained. “Well, not exact copies. Right is your more physical aspects, while I am your more mental. For example, though we are both level six, as you are, and have unspent attribute points, I can only put mine into my mental stats.”

“And I can only put mine into strength, dexterity, or endurance,” Right said. “I am going to be so buff.”

“You have your own attribute points to spend?” Hiral asked, and quickly pulled up his own status window. It was tempting to allocate those 18 points he had, but maybe it would be better to hold off spending them until he knew what his class actually did.

“We do. Do you have any preference how you would like us to spend them?” Left asked.

“Can either of you use your tattoos?” Hiral asked immediately.

“Not me,” Right said. “Just the Meridian Line on my right arm… and only below the elbow.” He held out the aforementioned limb, and the Meridian Line up to his elbow glowed faintly, but everything above was completely dark.

“I can only use the Dagger of Sath,” Left said, touching the tattoo with his right hand and instantly shaping the liquid dagger into existence.

“You know,” Seena said from where she ran in front of Hiral, though she didn’t turn, “it’s really odd to hear you having a conversation with yourself. All your voices sound exactly the same, so without knowing there were three of you behind me, I’d just think you were completely crazy.”

“I’m not entirely sure that’s not the case,” Hiral said. “This is… wild.”

“Which… which one of you is the real Hiral?”

Hiral opened his mouth to answer, but the question kind of slapped him in the face as he thought about it.

What… what if I’m a copy too? Left and Right seem to have their own thoughts… but am I still me?

“Right and I are the copies,” Left answered, as if reading Hiral’s mind. “We are the results of his new ability—direct manifestations of his solar energy—given shape and form, much like how Shapers utilize their tattoos.”

“You are?” Hiral said. “But I can’t use tattoos.”

“Because you are, apparently, not a Maker—you’re a Builder,” Left said. “Nevertheless, we are your solar energy. If you look at your status window, you should notice your current amount of energy is greatly reduced.”

“Huh, you’re right. It says I’ve only got about a third of my maximum,” Hiral said.

“Correct. We have the other two-thirds,” Left said. “However, we cannot absorb solar energy, so we are completely reliant on you for that. Our solar absorption rates are unavailable.”

“What’s your absorption rate, Hiral?” Seena asked.

“S-Rank,” Hiral said offhandedly while he looked at his status window. But, even with the glowing yellow screen in front of him, he couldn’t miss the eleven Grower heads snapping around in his direction.

“It’s what?” Seena asked.

“You’re kidding!” Yanily said, at the same time Vix cursed.

“Uh, yeah,” Hiral said. “But my solar output rate has always been unavailable. I’ve never been able to use my tattoos. Never.”

“What does it say now?” Seeyela asked. “Your output.”

“Let me check…” Hiral glanced down to find that line, and then even his eyes widened. “Also… S-Rank.”

“You’ve got S-Rank absorption and output?” Seena asked, her head constantly turning back to look at him as she ran. “Wait… your capacity, it’s not…”

“It is,” Hiral said quietly. “What’s yours?”

“I’ve got the highest capacity in the party—well, me and Wule—and we’re both only B-Rank in that,” Seena said.

“Same here,” Cal said.

“How is that even fair?” Yanily asked.

“Sorry?” Hiral half-apologized.

“What are you even doing working as Arty’s apprentice?” Seena asked, her eyes still wide. “With S-Rank anything, shouldn’t you be getting groomed to be… I don’t know… somebody special? There’s maybe one Elder who has an S-Rank ability, and other than that, A-Rank is the highest.”

“I had no output rate,” Hiral said. “None. I’m not kidding. Until a few minutes ago, my absorption and capacityrates didn’t mean anything, because I couldn’t use any of the solar energy I had.”

“But those tattoos—you had them all hidden under your clothes this whole time?” Seena asked, and there was a bit of an edge to the question.

“Well…” Hiral said.

“Hey, guys, the rest of the questions are going to have to wait,” Lonil called from the front of the group, slowing to a stop. “We’re not going to make it to the dungeon in time.”

Seeyela continued up to join her party’s tank, then stopped beside him. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good idea where we are now, and look.” He pointed through a break in the canopy at the roiling storm-wall flashing with barely contained lightning. “I think the rains are already there, and we’re still an hour away, even if we push.”

“Damnit, I thought we could make it,” Seeyela said.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Picoli said. “I slowed you down.”

“No, you didn’t. It was always a long shot.”

“So, what do we do now? We can’t just give up,” Hiral said.

“Nobody said anything about giving up,” Seeyela said.

“We figure the storm is most violent right at the edges, where the magic from Fallen Reach holds it at bay,” Seena explained. “If we can survive that part of it, we… hope… the rains beyond are less severe.”

“They have to be,” Wule said. “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any trees left standing. Or animals…”

“Seena, do you think you can manage something?” Seeyela asked.

“Maybe? But I don’t know if I can create anything sturdy enough.”

“If I may?” Left said. “You’re considering using your ability to quickly grow thick roots to create a shelter to attempt to blunt the worst of the weather?”

“Yeah,” Seena said.

“As Wule mentioned, the trees survive, so I suggest we use one or more of them as the storm-side wall of the shelter, to take the brunt when the storm reaches us. If we could find several trees close together, that would work even better.”

The Growers all looked at each other.

“It’s a good idea,” Seeyela said. “Split up, look for something like that, and let Seena know as soon as you find it. How long do you think we have until the storm reaches us, Lonil?”

“An hour or so,” he said.

“I’d like at least fifteen minutes to make sure I have time to build something strong enough,” Seena said. “The ability has a one-minute cooldown. This isn’t what it’s meant for.”

“You heard her, folks. Get to it,” Seeyela said, and the Growers all took one last look at the storm-wall, then split up and headed into the surrounding woods.

“And us?” Right asked Hiral.

“Same as them. Let’s find a big tree. Good idea, Left.”

“Thank you,” Left said. He and Right also headed into the woods.

That just left Hiral on the path looking up at the intimidating clouds. Even if they survived the storm-wall hitting them, they’d still have to travel at least an hour, probably two, through the dark and rain to reach the dungeon.

Two hours… and they still didn’t know what in the rains was so dangerous.

First, survive the storm-wall.

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