click here to read part one and click here to read part two
He drew in a shuddering breath. “I — I don’t want to live through that again.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Waited. Simon glanced at me, the look in his eyes burning a hole into mine.
“Anthony, you don’t understand.” He paced to the other wall. “They were slaughtered. The teachers, the members… the — the new recruits. Each and every one of them. I managed to get a few out safely, but by then it was too late.”
The tension in my chest expelled at once, a woozy feeling overtaking me. The floor below me spiraled. I hadn’t let myself admit this obvious truth. The Tower had lain in ruins with no trace of any Rune-crafter when I returned, yet there was still this small hope that perhaps everyone had relocated.
They couldn’t have all been gone, could they? The reality of this situation was one sucker punch after the other.
“I only learned later that the few escapees were slowly being picked off, one by one. Rune-crafters leave behind a signature aura. Hiding ourselves is futile, especially if a Rune-crafter hunts their own.”
My blood froze.
“Who?” I croaked out, bracing myself for a further revelation.
“There was a reason for our demise. You’ve noticed the war has reached a breaking point, haven’t you? The Contester and Alliance troops are at each other’s necks.”
I nodded. The violence had been getting steadily worse and the battles were long and hard. The front lines of the Alliance and Contesters constantly shifted, each side hoping to encroach on the other’s land. This war started on a difference of ideals and now neither side could picture themselves living under their enemies rule. Rune-crafters, at best, were treated with indifference during this war.
“A little while after you left, we received a new recruit.” Simon said, almost wistful in his delivery. “She was incredible. Smart. Funny. Capable.”
My stomach roiled at the thought of where this was going.
“I took her under my wing, taught her several useful Runes and our way of life.” Simon paused, his lips tightening. The fact that it was one of his students that led this massacre made my guts clench.
“That was the greatest mistake of my life. The tensions between the Alliance and Contester sides were growing, and I knew it was only a matter of time before one of them approached us with a proposition.”
I knew where this was headed. The Rune-crafting order remained neutral in all external affairs. They were dedicated to collecting information and observing others for historical purposes, from afar. It was forbidden for Rune-crafters to directly engage in conflicts. The thought was that if they joined every war or conflict, the power we wielded could easily end the world. There’s no telling how many people would abuse that power.
“The Contesters approached me, demanding I lend them Rune-crafters for their cause.” Simon said. “I refused. Perhaps it was hubris, some misplaced feeling of being untouchable, but I thought nothing of them when they left in a huff. We were well-defended and nobody had the gall to attack our order, I thought.
“I never expected them to send a double-agent. When I gathered everyone for the peace talks, the attack was quick and efficient. She knew the ins and outs of the Tower and knew to disable all defensive Runes.” Each word seemed to beat Simon down further. My former teacher had shrunken into a shell of his former self. “She knew the escape routes, the main exits, and any place that could be used to hide. Our greatest strengths were turned against us and we stood no chance in the chaos. We were quickly overwhelmed.”
“How did she breach the defenses?” I asked. “The defensive Runes embedded into the foundation of the Tower should’ve stopped any invaders meaning harm.”
“She’d been subtly inquiring about the types of Runes that protected the Tower. I thought it harmless at the time, just a young woman eager to learn.” He spits out. “I’ve never been so wrong.”
We said nothing for a moment, the magnitude of the situation slamming into me. I looked at him once more: the tired lines in his eyes, the wrinkled skin, his too pale face. The fight had gone from him long ago, leaving only a hollow husk. Whatever anger I’d felt for Simon when I first laid eyes on him soon vanished.
I stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened for only a moment before he relaxed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing it wouldn’t be enough.
“I know.” Simon said, and fresh tears sprung up as this man, someone I’d always looked up to and respected, was so defeated.
I hugged him then and he leaned into me. I patted his back. Simon cried. Simon Phillips, the Rune-master of the Rune-crafter order, cried on my shoulder. We stayed there for a few moments, neither saying a word. There was a comfort to that silence.
Eventually, we broke off, each rubbing our eyes of tears.
“How did you find me?” he asked then, peering at me.
“Oh, um.” The obligation to Alice had completely slipped my mind, yet now, upon further reflection, it didn’t make sense. Simon wouldn’t have taken a wife. “Do you have a wife?”
He looked as if waiting for the punchline to a joke.
“No.” Simon said slowly. “I never married. You know this.”
“Shit.” I said, “Some woman claiming to be your wife sent me.”
The color drained from Simon’s face. “Describe her.”
“Dark hair. Green eyes. Her name was Alice,” I replied, a feeling of coldness washing over me.
Simon let out a string of curses.
“How did you get here?” he asked suddenly.
“Travel Rune,” I replied, feeling stupid and used.
“With a placement Rune or without?” He questioned me urgently, grabbing onto my shoulders in a stern grip.
“I had to go without one.”
Simon squeezed, his knuckles turning white. I let out a surprised gasp and he quickly released me, staring at his hands.
“I — I can’t do this. Okay, Anthony, that leaves a pretty significant aura. She probably tracked you here.” His hands were a jittery mess.
“Simon… who is this woman?” Though I already had a feeling, Simon’s reaction was truth enough. There was only one person that could do that to him.
“Alice was the double-agent.” He breathed. “You need to get out of here now before —”
A knock at the door silenced him. Another knock. I glanced over to find him hunched before it.
I turned to reach for the handle. Before I could open it, a large blast ripped it off its hinges. The door flew and knocked me to the ground. My bag fell from my shoulder, spilling its contents onto the floor.
I struggled to my feet. Simon was crouched into a defensive position, facing the door. Alice stood before him.
“You have been a particularly difficult man to track, Simon.” Alice laughed. “I almost grew bored with how easy this one was to find. All I had to do was create some vague Runic aura and he came to me.”
She pointed over to me and an inhuman growl came out of Simon. I glanced at my bag slumped on the other side of the room. Loughty’s book peeked out from under the spilled contents.
“Fuck you,” I said with venom. I thought of all of the friends and family lost to me when the Tower fell. Did she feel no remorse for such destruction and death?
“All bark but no bite.” Alice sighed. “The order’s knowledge will die with you two. Shame it had to be a pair of fools. Rune-crafters are an outdated necessity.”
“Why — why would you do that?” I asked, voice growing louder with each word. “All those people! All of them dead. And for what? Some twisted ideal?”
“Oh, Anthony…” Alice said. “I didn’t want to kill them at first. But I realized something while living in the Tower. You all share this same outdated philosophy.”
“And what’s that?” I ground out. Simon was very carefully inching toward her. My best bet was to keep her talking.
“This damned forced neutrality.” Alice seethed. “Do you know how many conflicts would be solved, how many people we could save, if your order didn’t instill that rule?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she plowed on.
“And none of them listened! They wouldn’t even entertain the idea that we could’ve been so much more. That we could’ve helped so many more people, had we only tried.”Too blinded by hatred and anger, I almost rushed her. The more rational part of my brain held me back.
“There was only one way this could’ve ended,” Alice said, smirk returning. “In one fell swoop, I killed the Rune-crafter order.”
Simon didn’t give her any more time to gloat, instead lunging forward. She jumped backwards, extending her hand with a piece of Rune-aper. Shards of ice formed from her hands, slicing through the air. He jerked to the side, but not before a few of them glanced off his shoulder and arms.
“Simon!” I yelled, moving into action. I sprinted to my bag and withdrew a Rune of fire. Alice turned the ice shards on me as I activated the fire, creating a wall. The ice melted into water before it reached me.
The steam and smoke obscured my vision, so much so that I didn’t see the next Rune she withdrew. It was too late when I felt the ground shake from under me. My foot was snagged by a twisting vine that tripped my feet. I fell over with a thud. I looked up, seeing that she now had Simon cornered.
“Come on, Simon,” she cooed. “You were too weak to do what needed to be done in the Tower. You had the chance to kill me and you hesitated.”
Simon let out a wordless plea as she withdrew another Rune. He clutched his side, blood running down my side in ribbons. There was a distant ringing in my ear.
“Anthony,” he pleaded. “Use a travel Rune and leave this place.”
“Are you crazy?” I gaped at him. “I just found you. I’m not going to leave you to her. I can’t… I don’t want to be alone again.”
He looked past Alice to me and gave a loose smile. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you. I — I should have looked for you. I could have figured something out.”
She watched the exchange with some vague amusement. “It’s sweet that you think I’d let your little apprentice leave.”
Alice stepped back, preparing another Runic attack.
“Go!” Simon screamed, desperation plaguing his voice. Then he withdrew a single sheet of Rune-aper. I caught sight of the illustration and froze on the spot. On the paper there was a tombstone. On that tombstone, an eye. I knew what that meant.
“Simon, please!”
“You were one of my best.” This was a goodbye. Simon did not plan on leaving this room.
“Ah, you do always have some trick up your sleeve, don’t you?” There was an edge to her voice. Fear.
“GO!” Simon called out with the Rune in his hand. His eyes shined with life that had been absent earlier. This was Rune-master Simon, the most talented and respected leader of a generation.
He activated the death Rune. I felt it almost immediately. My skin grew more clammy, my head more faint. Alice appeared to be suffering similar effects. The worst was on Simon, whose skin became blotched and unnaturally pale, as if life was being sucked from him. Through it all, he stood firm, a bastion of light among her darkness.
I grabbed a travel Rune from my bag. In moments, I was transported into that blank abyss between locations. I appeared miles away from the prison and my legs immediately gave out.
Darkness threatened my vision in a blurred mess of tears and Runic magic. I collapsed onto the earth with a sob.When I had enough control to stand, I leaned against the lone oak tree on this hill. A breath in. A breath out.
Simon had sacrificed himself… for me. Tears flooded my eyes as the dam broke. I was alone, yet again, now burdened with the knowledge of the order’s fate. I unlatched the bag from my shoulders and took out Intermediate’s Guide to Runic Sigils and History by Bridget Loughty.
I lay the book against the tree, digging it into the mud. A tombstone for the order. My fellow Rune-crafters. For Simon.
I left the book there, a memory of the things that once were.
