The Rune Thief [Mana Cultivation, Progression Fantasy]

We trail behind Han Ke, our boots crunching over the dry grass of the plain, each step carrying us farther from the crooked roofs of the less favored quarter of town, and closer to a small forest in the distance.

The knight is dressed in some fancy armor. Etched vines curl along the breastplate, inlaid with faded filigree that glistens when it catches the weak morning light, throwing back flashes of dull silver as he moves on with the slow certainty of a man who has walked this road before. He carries a longsword on his waist and a massive tower shield slung over his back.

Even though his gear looks expensive, it isn't precisely new either. Time and battle have worked their own artistry over it. The shield bears a long dent, not polished out but etched deep into the metal, like a scar left behind by some massive claw. His left pauldron is slightly bent, and a lattice of faint scars covers his gauntlets, proof of many parried blows. The leather straps at his waist, from which his sword hangs, have lost their original color, darkened by sweat and rain, and there are faint flecks of rust on his greaves, where the polish no longer reaches. Yet the wear and tear only adds to the armor's grandeur, giving the boy the look of a fierce warrior.

Meanwhile, we three girls are barely more than shadows against his bulk. We look underdressed in our plain school robes, like amateurs, next to a professional fighter.

Kylo shifts inside my hood, his attention caught by some movement between the hills in the distance, bunnies, probably. I see him peek over my shoulder out of the corner of my eye. He tilts his head.

"Strange," I hear him mutter inside my mind. "Kylo see before."

"Is someone stalking us?" I ask him in a low whisper.

"Yes," he answers. "Six men, try sneaky. Think good hunter, but bad hunter, not sneaky, Kylo see. Kylo see before in town."

Well, they are sneaky. None of us would have noticed them if it weren't for the cat with its superior senses. But who could they be? Have I been found out?

I somehow doubt it. I have been careful not to use runes where I could get noticed or do anything else that could give me away. I glance at Han Ke. Being a scion from the region's top clan makes him an important figure. Maybe it's a shadow guard meant to protect him from dangers he can't face from a distance, while remaining unseen to give him the illusion that he can face any adversity himself. That would be something nobles would do, depending on how high he is on the succession line.

It could also be someone sent to spy on him, working for a different scion or faction inside the clan. I glance at the boy. Is he important enough to merit something like that, though? I know he isn't the clan's heir; that's Han Linea. But, how important is he exactly?

"Do you think we are strong enough to face this dungeon alone?" asks Enea, distracting me from my musings, a slight tremor hiding in her voice.

"Of course," answers Han Ke with a smile. "It may be an instanced dungeon, so we don't know what we are going to face exactly, but it's just high-copper ranked," he explains. "Each one of us could solo it with some care and time. It will be perfect to work on our teamwork before we face something more challenging."

"I see," mumbles Enea, not sounding very convinced.

"Do you want me to lend you a bow?" asks Han Ke. "Kenae told me that you are a good archer. That way, you don't even need to get into melee range. We could use some ranged damage to round up our team."

So, Kenae has told him about Enea, that little tattletale. I wonder what she has told him about me.

"Hmm, sure," mumbles Enea.

A longbow made out of bone and snake hide appears in Han Ke's hands. Of course, he has a spatial storage artifact. I should have expected it. Why is he carrying his armor so soon, then? It looks heavy. Maybe he does expect some trouble on the road that he hasn't told us about.

"Are the stalkers still there?" I ask Kylo, covering my lips with my hands as if to yawn, to hide the fact I'm speaking to Kenae, who is looking my way. She smiles at me, yawning herself. Then she looks ahead again.

"Stalker pack split, one go back town, one stay behind, six run forward."

"Interesting," I mumble, gnawing on a corner of my lower lip. I don't like it. It smells of an ambush. Should I tell the others? It doesn't make much sense to ambush someone here, though. We are still close to town, and this place is by no means deserted. Shepherds are guiding their flocks over the hills, searching for pasture. Caravans with armed mercenaries head toward town. There are too many witnesses.

Who are those guys stalking us, anyway? Where could Kylo have seen them? In the sewers? "Human or fake-human?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Normal human," he answers. "Kylo see in acamedy."

So, they could be Han Ke's shadow guard, or maybe other students. Why are they acting so suspiciously, though?

Han Ke hands the bow over to Enea. She gasps for some reason. Her pupils dilate as she strokes the smooth limbs with her hands, before checking the tension of the string.

"This is awesome!"

"You are welcome," says Han Ke, clapping the small girl on the shoulder, making her flinch and look at him in confusion. "Everything for my teammates. The stronger each teammate gets, the stronger the team as a whole becomes.

"Thanks," mumbles Enea, blushing.

For some reason, Kenae casts her a dark look. Then she grabs Han Ke's arm and drags him onward as if he were some wayward puppy. "We should hurry if we want to finish the dungeon before classes start again!"

Yeah, I'm totally buying that excuse. I share a look with Enea behind their backs. She giggles, then clears her throat before hurrying up to follow them. Are Kenae and Han Ke dating? That could explain how she convinced him to join us out of all the options he must have had.

I hurry up not to be left behind.

"So, what exactly is an instanced dungeon?" I ask.

Kenae and Han Ke share a look.

"Well, you know normal dungeons, right?" asks the boy. "Well, you must have been to at least one. You girls did your entrance exam in one."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Sure," I nod.

"Well, how should I explain?" he mutters. "Instanced dungeons are a bit different." He turns toward me, his shield clattering against the back of his breastplate. "While fixed dungeons remain always the same and are open to an unlimited number of challengers, replenishing themselves at a steady rate, instanced dungeons are different. They change their environment each time a group challenges them, and the number of total challengers who can enter at the same time is limited," he explains. "Ah, and once a group enters, the dungeon closes until the group either kills the dungeon boss or gets wiped out. So, you have to be careful to only challenge dungeons within your power to clear, if you don't want to die or get stuck there."

"I see," I say. "And how does a dungeon decide who is or isn't part of a group that enters?"

"They are called parties," explains Kenae. "It doesn't decide, it depends on when you entered. Once the first of your group enters, you have a limited window of time for the rest of your group to follow before the dungeon seals itself."

"Interesting. And how many people can there be in a party?"

"It depends on the dungeon," answers Han Ke. "I think the limit in this one is ten. But that doesn't mean you can't challenge it with less. Actually, the bigger your party's size is, the more monsters you will encounter; dungeons have some margin to adjust their difficulty."

"Hmm," I mutter. Six of our stalkers went ahead. Are they planning to enter with us and ambush us inside? "What happens if someone dies and gets left behind?"

Enea whips her head toward me, mouth half-open. Her pupils dilate.

"The dungeon converts everything left behind into mana," explains Han Ke. "But you don't have to worry, we are completely safe in any copper-ranked dungeon. We would be safe even if it were a peak one," he tries to reassure us, glancing at Enea.

"Okay," mutters the girl.

I'm not so sure about that. We may be safe from the monsters, but would we be safe from our stalkers? An instanced dungeon seems like the perfect place to make someone disappear.

"We should talk about our party formation before we enter. Ninety percent of the time, this dungeon is either a sparse forest or hilly grassland. If we are unlucky, it can be a swamp, too. That would suck." He scratches the back of his neck before readjusting his helmet as if remembering the bite of a pesky mosquito. "I think we should use a diamond formation in any case. I should be the anchor, the one that stands in front, intercepting incoming enemies and tying them down. Kenae and Minae could be mobile flankers, protecting our sides and dispatching the tied-down monster. Enea, with the bow, can stand behind as our ranged support." He takes a stick to scratch the formation he is explaining into the dirt of the road. "If we get attacked from multiple sides at once, the ranged fighter supports the flanker who is closest to getting overwhelmed, while the anchor ties down the main threat until the flankers have wiped out the rest and can assist him. Whoever finishes first on their side switches over to help on the other flank, before clearing out the front. If we get attacked from behind, both flankers fall back to protect the ranged damage dealer, until I, the anchor, can switch my position with her. You see?" he asks, adding even more scratches into the dirt. It resembles some ancient secret script, but I think I get the idea.

"Sure," I say. Enea nods.

Han Ke straightens his back, looking toward the now a bit closer forest we are approaching. "Well, those are the basics. Anyways, we could practice moving in formation until we arrive, to get a feeling for the distance to keep and how to move in step before we encounter opposition," he proposes.

"Now?" asks Enea.

"Sure, why not? It won't be much practice because we are almost there. But at least you will get the idea."

We arrive at a stone arch right on the forest's edge, after leaving the road behind and traipsing over the meadow for a few hundred steps. Beneath the grey and weathered granite blocks, I see it, the dungeon portal, a scar carved into the world itself. Its surface shimmers faintly as if breathing, as if waiting. With each step closer, the air thickens. I can feel the mana-density rise, making the hairs on my arms stand up as if under the effect of static electricity. My tongue feels heavy, the air tastes of iron and ash. None of us speaks. Kenae's and Enea's gazes hang on Han Ke's armored back. He unfastens the tower shield from his back, swinging it around his right side, before strapping it tightly around his left arm.

I glance around. There are our stalkers. Six men are dressing a deer hanging from the low branch of an acacia, acting as if they just came back from a hunt, not even looking at us. They are dressed in inconspicuous and tattered black leather, carrying spears, long knives, and hunting bows. I catch one of them eyeing Han Ke's armor, his eyes glinting with greed.

I tilt my head slightly. So, is it a robbery? Are they planning to sell our belongings? If so, they are fools. It would be hard to sell Han Ke's armor here without it getting recognized. It may be worn from use, but it's still too fancy. And now that the shield doesn't cover his back anymore, I can distinguish the Han clan coat of arms. No, they wouldn't be able to fence it here without raising questions about its origin. It would be useless to attack us for it unless they have connections with smugglers.

So, what is it? A family feud? What kind of trouble has this boy gotten us into? I may be wrong about my suspicions, though. Maybe they do are his shadow guard.

Han Ke steps through the portal and disappears, followed by Kenae and Enea. I hesitate for a second, casting the fake hunters one last glance, then step through.

The ground gives way under my feet. I feel the already familiar tug, a thousand unseen hands, plucking at my skin, my bones, my stomach, pulling me forward, somewhere else. Breath turns to fire for a brief instant, then I stumble through, not even winded this time.

A stench of rotten eggs assaults my nostrils, sharp, metallic, and suffocating. What is this? Heat presses down on me in waves, almost as if alive. It claws at my throat and coats my tongue with ash. Each breath tastes of smoke and charred stone. Ash drifts from the cloud-covered sky, like fake snowfall.

"Where are we?" shouts Enea, over the rumble of the slowly shifting floor, flicking away the drifting embers trying to catch on her clothes.

"We got a rare instance!" shouts back Han Ke. "It seems volcanic themed, maybe infernal. Let's get some cover behind that obsidian boulder and reassess our strategy. I don't like the look of those clouds. And watch out for imps and similar creatures. They are fragile, but have nasty fire magic.

"What this place? Kylo not like," grumbles the cat. I feel him channeling mana into the environmental temperature-regulating rune I gave him, before he glances over my shoulder. "Sister bestest," he purrs.

I start running, tailing behind my companions, trying to evade the drifting embers, hidden between the ash swirling like a mockery of mist, dry and hot.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the portal we entered through flash, then again, a total of five times.

Those men followed us. Disturbing. But why only five of them? Wait. I glance at the cat peeking over my shoulder. Does Kylo count as a party member toward the ten-person limit? I snort in amusement, even though I probably should still be concerned. That should startle our stalkers. Even so, I should tell the others to be alert and prepare themselves.

"Those men followed us here," I whisper toward Kylo.

He glances over my shoulder. "Yes, Kylo see, try sneaky, but not sneaky."

"Can you spy on them? Find out what they want?" I ask.

He tilts his head. "Kylo do. Kylo sneaky, sneaky."

"Be very careful, though, both not to be seen by them nor by other predators," I tell him, a bit worried because of the unfamiliar terrain.

"Kylo do, Kylo sneaky, sneaky. Kylo ghost." He reassures me before activating his invisibility rune. I feel his weight disappearing from my shoulder.

I feel a knot in my stomach. Why am I worried? With all the runes I gave him and his superior cultivation, he should be the top predator even in this place antagonistic to his nature.

I finally catch up to the others, who have taken shelter from the breeze behind a massive obsidian boulder.

"What took you so long?" asks Kenae.

"Don't look back, act natural," I say, catching my breath. "Five of those hunters followed us inside."

Their heads snap toward me.

"What?" gasps Enea.

"I see," says Han Ke. I catch him and Kenae glancing back at the entrance without turning their neck.

"I told you to act natural," I admonish them. "But be prepared, we will probably get ambushed at some point. I've sent Kylo to find out."

Han Ke blinks. "You have sent who? The cat?"

"Are you crazy?" whispers Enea. "They'll kill him if they catch him."

"Don't worry. Those guys won't even notice him." I answer with a dismissive gesture of my hand. "He can take care of himself."

Han Ke gives me a long stare, as if searching for something. "I see," he mutters. "They won't ambush us right now, probably. They'll probably stay hidden until we clear the dungeon for them, are tired, or engaged in fighting the boss. The fact that they don't know we know about them is an advantage. We need to keep it that way." He glances around. "Let's find some better shelter first and wait for your cat to come back before preparing an ambush."