The Runic Artist

Nate adjusted his barrier to enclose him as the two-handed sword swung in from his right, sending him flying about five metres to the side. His opponent had impressive movement Skills. So impressive that he suspected one of them might even have evolved to Epic. He was convinced that it was a movement skill and not just a boosting Skill based on how he could sense how little pressure she put on the ground with every step as she followed him across the ground.

“Definitely doing something weird, Boss. Could it be Gravity?” whispered Frick in his mind.

He ignored Frick for the moment as he focused on Awareness of the Runic Artist. Thankfully it made it so he didn’t need to see her to know where she was, because after being launched away he was facing the wrong way. Without turning he linked his Earth, Flow and Air runes into a runic array. Imbue Intent shaped it into a storm of dirt and dust as he hid himself inside the swirl. He considered teleporting for the first time in the tournament. The woman had punted him twice like this already. She lacked the strength behind the swings to break his barrier so he wasn’t at risk, yet. He was beginning to suspect she had some Skill that let her alter the weight of her sword, maybe even her body. He glanced at the identification again quickly.

Cloudbound Blademaster (R) (37) / Relentless Ranger (U) (3)

“I doubt it’s the Relentles part. Cloudbound probably. Doesn’t sound directly Gravity related. Maybe partially? Like weight manipulation?” he sent back to Frick.

She hadn’t perfectly aligned her embodiment, but it was the first time he’d seen those two Embodiments which more than likely represented Concepts, and that alone impressed him. He might even try and ask her after the match. But now wasn’t the time for such thoughts as he felt her enter his rune-made dust storm. Creating another barrier, he aimed at ankle height as she came in and was rewarded with feeling her trip over the barrier. A moment later he had confirmation that she was altering her weight somehow as she floated through the fall far slower than she should have, using her momentum to spin into a somersault, aiming to bring her sword down on the spot in the middle of the dust storm. She was mistaken though, as he’d already moved to the left-most edge. As she landed, he had already lined up his earthen projectile runic array and launched a blunted spear of earth into the side of her head.

The dust settled to find the woman lying on the ground with blood leaking from her mouth. He was already moving towards her, worried he’d misjudged how durable she was, when golden light enveloped her head. As it did, the blood seeped back into her mouth and within seconds she looked fine. She glanced up at him as he was now basically standing over her.

“I lost, didn't I?” she asked.

He nodded slowly, not wanting to rub it in, as he offered her his hand. The fact was, she was good, but not nearly good enough. He’d been annoyed at being knocked about but he’d never really been threatened.

“Damn it. You’re good. You better make top eight or by the Gods I will find you and…and try and actually break that fucking barrier of yours!” she finished, taking his hand. She weighed as much as a small child as he pulled her up and she smirked at his surprise as he hadn’t expected to almost launch her over the top of him.

“Takes some getting used to. Like I said, you better win!”

Glancing over at the edge of the field Evindal gave him a small wave and that solved his question of where the golden light had come from. It also explained what he’d felt in it, if barely. The Concepts of Life and Time. A powerful combination, unsurprisingly, which explained the Prefect Raoult's words in his speech. People were unlikely to die with Evindal present. He gave the elf a small wave and headed off the field. Only one more match and he’d be in the top thirty two.

*************

Kiri danced back once, twice, thrice as her opponent kept trying to close with her. He didn’t have the speed to manage it in the armour he was wearing, but fuck her if he wasn’t an incredibly annoying opponent. He was like a lumbering metal drum. It was times like this she wished she had Nate’s awareness skill, or at least something similar. She danced to the left casually as he stomped after her.

“Come back here and fight me!” the warrior raged, brandishing his two-handed hammer at her.

“I am fighting you, dumbass. We’ll be together in a moment, just as soon as I figure out how to pry you out of that metal prison,” she quipped.

Better to keep him riled up and not thinking, though she doubted he had anything to threaten her with. If he did, he’d have used it by now. He definitely had some skill that affected his armour. Her rare dagger, imbued with soul energy should’ve been able to carve a hole in the metal after at least a couple of hits but that had been a no-go. Dancing around him she decided to test his footwork. Moving quickly, just out of range of his hammer, she side-stepped to force him to turn or give up his back. He followed, his footwork decent, she admitted, but maybe not decent enough.

Waiting a moment she did it again, moving around him, this time expending some of her soul energy on Soul Imbuement, the lumbering giant failing to keep up as he tried to pivot on the spot. She could’ve used more, really shown off her speed, especially after what Nate had done for her last night, but she wasn’t ready to show off just how strong she was. Even if every single part of her wanted nothing more than to cut loose and revel in the power she could feel in her soul. She couldn’t believe he’d created a rune specifically for her. Specifically to enhance her Soul skills. The effects were unbelievable, and would grow with her.

Shifting again she saw her opportunity and lunged in low, at the last second maximising her Soul Imbuement for the bonus Endurance and Constitution. Slamming into the back of the giant's metal encased legs stung a little, but it had the desired effect as the metal-can excuse for a warrior fell down into the sand. Before he could react she was on top of him, dagger in his eye-slot almost grazing his eye as she waited. He tensed beneath her before collapsing back into the dirt.

“I surrender,” he grunted.

Getting up, she nodded to the Gold badge referee. A female this time. Little too buff to be her type though. She liked them a bit more petite, and smart. Definitely smart. That made her glance around the competitor gathering area to see if she could spot Coralie as she exited the field. That girl was going to be a handful, but what was life without a challenge, and as a mage she should hopefully fall into the ‘smart’ category. Time would tell. She was definitely going to get that date! She just hoped she wouldn’t have to use her trump card too early.

Joining Nate she waggled her eyebrows at him. In response he pointed over his right shoulder. Glancing where he pointed, she quickly found Coralie with the dagger user, Flash, standing at her side like a loyal guard dog. She hoped she would get to fight him too. This Tournament was awesome! Draping an arm over Nate, she got a laugh out of him. It was good to get to compete, but it was better getting to do it with him.

*************

Nate tried to look contrite. He wasn’t, but he was trying to give the appearance of it. It was hard, given that Luc and Kiri were laughing so hard. They sat in the private dining room in Aisling and Evindal’s inn. The table was made to seat twelve, he guessed, so there was plenty of room with the six of them. Evindal, Aisling and Deverell sat on one side of the table. On his side was Kiri and Luc, with him in the middle.

“Why would you do something so reckless?” Aisling asked pleadingly. “I heard about it from no less than five people today. The Phantom Artist of the slums, who magics up mana from nowhere. It’s going to draw the attention of the Nobility, if it hasn’t already.”

Luc slapped the table, “The Phantom Artist. Ha! That’s such a bad name. I’m impressed, kid. If that isn’t spitting in the faces of the Nobles, I don’t know what is. And I am all for that. I owe you a drink next time we go out.”

Aisling shot a glare at his mentor and he had to wonder if she was regretting bringing the Platinum on to train him. He hadn’t been certain that Luc was a Platinum Badge, though his level had always indicated he should be, if nothing else. But after seeing how he’d tossed Hamish around so casually at their Silver badge assessment, and suffered no repercussions for it, he had confirmed the man was a Platinum Badge. Apparently one of around two dozen in Etrua. The numbers fluctuated regularly.

“That’s beside the point, Luc,” Aisling said, pointing her finger at Luc. He could swear he sensed her finger crackling as she did so. It was apparently enough for Luc as he threw his hands up, capitulating.

“Nate, you’ve got to be more careful. You can’t be gallivanting all over the city,” Aisling pleaded, her eyes softening as she stared at him.

He looked from Aisling, to Evindal, then Luc as he thought about a response. He never got to respond though as Evindal spoke first.

“He won’t stop, dearest. It’s his Path,” Evindal supplied, actually smiling at Nate as he said it.

Kiri gave him a small fistbump below the table.

“What? No. His Classes clearly say Wandering is his Embodiment. He’s already got two out of three. He’s one step away from a Perfect Embodiment, like you,” Aisling replied, glancing at Evindal. Nate could sense her squeezing his hand tightly beneath the table.

“Trust me, my love. I’ve seen his artwork. The speed at which he develops new enchantments. He sneaks out at night and what does he do?” responded Evindal, turning to stare at his wife. “He doesn’t return to the Den of Desire, like Luc would have. Doesn’t hunt the criminal elements of the City, like Deverell would. No, he sneaks. Sneaks into the slums. To do what? Paint an art piece and restore a fountain's enchantment, before vanishing. Creation for the sake of it. He’s not a Wanderer. His Path lies in a different direction, and we need to respect that, even if we don’t like the danger it puts him in.”

Aisling nodded slowly, which was the best he could hope for he guessed. She was unlikely to ever like him putting himself in needless danger, or risking his value to the Guild. The silence grew awkward for a few seconds before Luc interrupted it.

“I take offence to that Evindal. My Path is the arcane. Not brothels!” Luc said with a smirk, leaning back. “Though if they’d let me redo my Embodiment I could be convinced to go another way. Just saying.”

Evindal laughed and even Aisling started to smirk in amusement. Before he knew it the table, except for Deverell, had devolved into laughter again.

“Okay. Just, please be careful,” Aisling said after they’d finally stopped laughing, staring at him intently as she did so.

“I will, Aisling. I promise,” he replied sincerely.

“Don’t worry, Storm Lady. Next time I’ll make sure he goes straight to the brothel instead!” supplied Frick, who chose that moment to appear. The next thing he knew his Familiar was being swatted at by Kiri who seemed to be able to slap the Spirit even when he wasn’t corporeal by coating her hand in soul energy. That caused another round of laughter as Frick tried to escape her clutches, entirely unsuccessfully given her speed. After Kiri had gotten a promise of no more brothel talk out of the Spirit, she let him go. Frick floated down to sit on the table, pretending to sulk. Nate knew better. He could sense the Spirits amusement.

“Oh, I didn’t get to tell you earlier, before the matches today, but someone was on the roof of my inn last night trying to identify me,” he supplied, taking a drink from his glass of wine as he waited to see the reactions.

Five sets of eyes flicked to him and he knew he should’ve told them earlier before anyone had said anything. Only Frick didn’t bother glancing over, having already known.

“Are you sure?” asked Luc.

“Definitely. Didn’t sense them until they tried to identify me. Felt the pressure and resisted it so I am certain they got nothing. After that I was able to sense them, sort of. It was like they were a shadow. A shadow that moved on its own. I couldn’t feel a body in my awareness sphere,” he offered.

“Anything else?” asked Aisling, leaning forward.

He shook his head in response. He would’ve given more if he had more to give. He’d had plenty of identification attempts but most didn’t even require his attention. This one had. One of the few that had, besides his little contest with Evindal. He didn’t have a clue who it was.

Aisling glanced at Deverell who gave a small nod, “I’ll watch over their inn tonight.”

“Thank you, Deverell,” Aisling replied.

“I’ll take a turn as well,” offered Evindal, who got a kiss on his cheek from Aisling which made the elf smirk. Not a single sign of a blush which made Nate self-conscious about how easy he was to make blush.

Aisling glanced at Luc who held his arms up, “Would you really even want me to take a turn? What am I going to spot? Just call for me when it all turns to shit and I will do my bit. Alright?”

Aisling harrumphed in response but Luc seemed to take that as tacit agreement as he flashed a wink at Nate. Before he could respond, there was a knock at the door. Aisling called ‘come’ in response. A moment later the door opened and a number of staff entered carrying platters of food. The smells coming off it instantly had his mouth watering and he shot a quick glare at Deverell for not letting them stay in this inn. This was the kind of living he wanted to become accustomed to.

Luc stood, raising his glass, “To our students, they’ve made the top thirty-two, but with our tutelage and their talent, we know that is merely the start. To making top eight and gaining entrance to the Royal University. There isn’t a doubt in my mind. To Nate and Kiri, victories won and victories to come.”

Everyone raised their glasses, Nate mirroring the action and repeated, “Victories won and victories to come.”

Some days were just better than others he thought as he settled in to enjoy the celebratory dinners with his friends and mentors.