The Thirty-Day Trial

Chapter Three: Ancient Runes

They left the manor early to reach the location of the ruins King Rankin mentioned. It was near a mountain and surrounded by lush forests. Gaige and Nyx reached the place before lunchtime and they were greeted by the head runemaster.

“Welcome Captain Gaige and Lady Nyx. I’m Venica, the head Rune Master for this project,” Venica said.

Venica was a tall woman with long wavy brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had a stern-looking face and fair skin.

“Greetings,” Gaige said.

“Thanks for welcoming us,” Nyx said and surveyed the area. She could see a lot of workers excavating a large portion of the forest. “This seems to be a large-scale project.”

“It unexpectedly turned into one,” Venica said with a faint smile and gestured for them to follow her. “We are not expecting to stumble on a large magic facility buried in the ground.”

“I see,” Nyx said as she and Gaige followed Venica to one of the tents in the area. “What led you to this place by the way?”

“We have uncovered some old documents in the palace detailing a Sage tower located here. In the documents, a volcanic eruption was recorded that buried a tower. The eruption is dated to have taken place at least three-hundred years ago,” Venica explained.

Venica led them inside the tent and offered them seats. Gaige and Nyx took the offered seats and waited for Venica to settle herself on her seat.

“And you only uncovered this document now?” Gaige asked.

“It was so old, other documents piled on it,” Venica said. “Besides, at face value, it only seems to mention a recorded volcanic eruption. With how other more important events in history happened, I think it got set aside in terms of importance.”

“And yet, that document is enough to lead you here,” Nyx stated.

“Well, the one who uncovered this document is a scholar and historian in the palace,” Venica said. “From what I have gathered, there is an ongoing debate between the scholars on whether the mountain here is actually a volcano or not.”

Nyx c****d her head to the side. She vaguely remembered hearing that argument before she and Gaige got married. Something about security concerns and natural disaster response initiated that. Since there was no eruption for the past centuries nor signs of it, the debate on whether it was a volcano or not started.

“There are some accounts supporting the theory of the mountain being a volcano but nothing conclusive. If the information on that document is accurate, this can be easily proven true if the remains of the tower can be located. The document stated that it was buried after the eruption and gave the distance and the location,” Venica explained.

“Hence the excavation is happening in this area now,” Gaige said.

“Yes,” Venica agreed. “It started as a small project. A group of historians and archeologists tried to locate a buried tower. What they did not expect is to find more than just a tower. It seems to be that the tower is just a feature of an entire magic facility. The reason Rune Masters are summoned in this place is that everything is covered in runes that remain active after all this time.”

“Now, I get it,” Nyx nodded her head in understanding. “It’s amazing that the magic imbued in the runes remained intact. How much of the place are you able to uncover?”

“We think that it should be at least fifty percent of the entire place. It’s just an estimate though. So far we have uncovered a large area underground that seemed to be dedicated to summoning or ritual magic. The runes around the place are not all familiar. Some of them are even unrecorded symbols. The historians and archeologists are asked to withdraw in the meantime since one of them accidentally activated one spell in that area,” Venica replied.

Gaige and Nyx stared at each other upon hearing that.

“That’s unfortunate,” Nyx said after a few moments’ pause.

“Well, on the bright side, they now have proof that the mountain is indeed a volcano,” Gaige said with a wry smile. “Though the active ancient runes are now a rather concerning problem.”

“Unfortunately,” Venica gave her a small smile. “ That’s why we requested Lady Nyx’s help.”

“Well, I’ll try my best,” Nyx awkwardly touched the back of her neck. She gets inexplicably shy every time her skills in runes were hinted at. “My father is also interested in these runes. He said it’s been a while since he translated some.”

“It would be greatly appreciated if Lord Zane joined us,” Venica said. “Another great runemaster can help us sort these runes faster.”

They had lunch first before Nyx joined Venica at the ruins. Gaige, on the other hand, went on to check on the security of the area. Venica told Nyx that they were able to translate some of the runes. The runes in the tower were more defensive spells. They deactivated it to help prevent any more accidents from happening.

“The remains of the mages we have recovered here showed that their deaths were more likely not from the lava but from suffocation. The runes protected the tower from the initial impact and lava flow, but it inadvertently trapped them inside, thus suffocating them,” Venica explained as they explored the Sage tower. Then she handed Nyx a copy of the document that started all this.

“What a terrible way to go,” Nyx said sincerely as she scanned the document given to her. “I feel sorry for them.”

Then they went to the part of the site that looked like it was specifically designed for ritual and summons. It was underground and indeed large with a circular shape. The bricks used on the floor were also arranged in a circular formation coalescing at the center that had a large disk embedded on the floor and the same pattern could be observed on the ceiling. Impressively, the ceiling had no visible damage even after being buried for who knew how long by lava, earth, and mud.

“This area is now restricted after the incident with the historian. Only authorized personnel are allowed here. We usually just stick at the entrance to avoid disturbing any runes that may get activated,” Venica said.

Nyx nodded her head and carefully walked around as she investigated the floor.

Each brick seemed to have a rune inscribed on it. Some looked vaguely familiar to Nyx while some were totally alien. Then she approached the center and found more runes inscribed on the large disk.

“Careful,” Venica said as she approached Nyx. “This is where one of the historians accidentally activated a spell.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to them?” Nyx asked.

“Well,” Venica took a deep sigh. “His name is Logan Manx, the one who discovered that document. From what we know, it seems that he activated a memory-altering spell. He was unconscious for a few hours and when he woke up he was panicking and was surprised to find some members of his team to be well and alive despite being with them the whole time.”

“Wow. What did the healers say about it?” Nyx asked.

“They are still working on it. When he heard that the current king was his Royal Highness King Rankin, he refused to speak anymore. According to them, he seems to know everyone he is supposed to know but he remembers them differently,” Venica said.

“How did he activate it then? I can feel the magic here, being active but disconnected,” Nyx said as she roamed her eyes in the entire area.

“That is something that we are not sure about,” Venica said, and then she pointed at the altar at the opposite end of the room. “The archeologist that he was with was at that altar when it happened. According to her, Logan was sitting there on the floor, copying the runes to deliver to us while she went to the altar in an attempt to decipher some of the symbols that don’t look like runes.”

Venica and Nyx walked carefully toward the altar to get a better view of it.

“It feels like this is where the magic flow gets disrupted,” Nyx said. Her hand touched some of the symbols written at the borders of the altar.

“It does feel like that here. Anything you can interpret here?” Venica asked.

Nyx stared at the altar. At the center of the altar, there are three possibly ancient runes carved on it. The egg-like shaped symbol in the middle of it was something she was familiar with.

“This symbol is actually an ancient rune,” Nyx pointed at an elliptical-shaped rune. “On its own, this means a transfer of something.”

“I see,” Venica said as she scrutinized the said rune. “I noticed that some of the unknown runes are the simplest symbols.”

“Because back in the day, the understanding of magic was rudimentary and simple. These simple-looking runes are the foundation of the complicated table of runes that we have today,” Nyx said.

Venica nodded her head. “What’s this, then?” She pointed at the symbol before the transfer symbol.

Nyx stared at the circle with three short horizontal lines on each side. “I think this means soul or something to do with souls. The plain circle was usually associated with souls and these lines possibly represent hands holding it indicating ownership or possession.”

“How would you interpret that?”

“I’d say, ‘my soul’ or ‘possession of soul’, it’s a wild guess at this point,” Nyx replied.

“So, combined with the transfer symbol, it could mean ‘to transfer my soul’,” Venica said.

“Or, it could mean ‘to take possession of one’s soul’,” Nyx said slowly, realizing the possible indication of these symbols.

Venica gasped. “Don’t tell me that there’s a possibility that Logan got possessed? A demonic possession perhaps?”

Nyx could suddenly feel the magic flow getting agitated in the area. Venica also seemed to have felt it as she suddenly moved to survey their surroundings.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Nyx said. Then she took a look at the third symbol after the transfer rune.

It was a square that had three horizontal lines that overlapped on three vertical lines, creating nine small square spaces. The very first square had a circle with a small dot in the middle, the symbol of the sun. The next one was located at the very center of the pockets. A circle that was blackened the inside, the symbol of earth. Then, the last square had a circle with a vertical line cutting it into two portions. The first half was hollow and the other half was blackened, the symbol of the moon and its phases.

“I’m pretty sure the three horizontal lines represent the division of realms,” Nyx said. “The sun symbol is also the sign for the Celestials and the moon represents the underworld or, to be more specific, the demon realm. This one is the universal symbol of the earth and of the material plane.”

“What about these vertical lines?” Venica asked.

“I think it’s a representation of the division of time?” Nyx frowned with uncertainty. “The sun and the moon are on opposite sides of the earth.”

“What could this mean?”

“I’m not sure,” Nyx replied. “I need to check my father’s archive regarding this third symbol. But I have a feeling that it has something to do with the realms.”

“And combining these three? What is the possible meaning behind these?” Venica asked.

Nyx took a moment to analyze the signs. Then, with a great sense of dread, she replied to Venica.

“The transfer of one’s soul across the realms.”

They both stared at each other with wide eyes. The possibility of possession was getting higher.

“Logan,” Venica breathed. “But that’s not possible, right? You and your husband were at the campaign against celestials and demons. You, yourself, crafted the sword that sealed the portals connecting the material plane to the heavens and the demon realm.”

Nyx couldn’t respond. She was sure that all the portals were sealed. She made sure of it. But how could someone cross those sealed paths?

“I’m sure I did,” Nyx said, then she glanced back to the ritual site. “But perhaps this place could somehow open a space for a soul to leave its mortal bind and travel through realms.”

“Don’t tell me this site is for opening portals,” Venica said with dread.

“Perhaps,” she said. “The seals can only be undone in the material plane. So, if Logan is possessed by either a celestial or a demon…”

“They could unravel the seal and allow those monsters to come back on earth,” Venica completed for her.

The horrors of the past war against them resurfaced in Nyx’s mind. The demons, trying to overtake the earth. The celestial destroyed everything in their path in an attempt to stop the demons from expanding their territory into the earth. They would destroy the human realm if it meant defeating the demons. The humans had no other choice but to fight both of them to survive.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Nyx said, trying to rein in her rising fear. “We first must confirm what happened to Logan. For all, we know it could be just a memory-altering spell as you initially thought. As you have said, most of the spells here are defensive by nature.”

“But why would such a thing be here?” Venica wondered.

“Another question to add to our growing list of questions,” Nyx said. “But first, I want to check on how Logan could accidentally activate the runes here. I can feel that the magic should flow from this altar to the center of that floor, but it’s somehow disconnected.”

“Yes, I can feel the same,” Venica said.

“Give me a moment to check that disk again. I think I saw a familiar-looking rune earlier,” Nyx said, and walked back to the center of the floor while Venica remained beside the altar.

She approached the disk and saw a symbol of two diverging rivers.

“I think we can better interpret the symbols over there if we can also translate the ones on this disk. I think they are related,” Nyx called out to Venica without turning to her and crouched to get a better look at the disk.

“Probably,” Venica responded and turned to look once again at the symbols at the altar.

“It’s just a hunch though,” Nyx said. “I wonder if this thing can be turned around.”

She moved her hand to touch the disk.

As soon as her hand made contact with the floor, darkness engulfed her.