Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 124: Cosmos

Noah died.

Even though that was exactly what he’d been planning on, he couldn’t help but feel slightly exasperated. This was the second time he’d died inside his own bathroom, and twice was already the beginnings of a habit.

Of all the things one could make a habit of, Noah was pretty sure that this was just about as close to the bottom of the list as possible. His soul peeled out of his body as the life left it and he rose to float in the air above his corpse.

Noah didn’t waste a second. As soon as he was in his soul form, he closed his eyes and concentrated. If his Runes were tied directly to his soul rather than his body, then logically it would be easier than ever to access them – and, more importantly, to access the energy that had built up around him.

A grin tugged at his lips as he felt the world around him turn colder and his soul was plunged into a flowing stream of energy. He’d been correct. The energy was far stronger and easier to access once he was dead.

Bindings started to form around Noah’s neck, pulling him back toward the gourd, but he pressed back against them and focused all of his attention on the mysterious energy. It flooded his soul, swirling within him.

To Noah’s surprise, motes of gentle light started to drift within his ghostly form. The shock cost him a precious second, and he quickly gathered himself once more. Sunder would only permit his resistance for so long, and he wasn’t going to kill himself twice in the same day if he could avoid it.

Come on. This should trigger the magic, right? It’s got something to flow into. This state should be the perfect scenario for it to form a Rune.

Noah pulled on the energy even harder. It continued to fill his soul, the glowing motes turning into streams and the streams into rushing rivers. The pull of Sunder grew stronger, tightening around his neck like a noose. Noah gritted his teeth and drank even deeper from the energy.

He was holding more than he ever had before. Whether he’d actually manage to find a way to form a Rune or not, Noah was unsure – but he did know one thing. He had far more of the glittering energy within him than he ever had before.

There were no signs of the energy draining up, so Noah continued to pull on it. Light poured into his soul, filling his ears with the sound of rushing water and making his teeth chatter with all the energy he was trapping within his body.

Noah’s throat tightened as the invisible rope of Sunder intensified. He started to choke, but he didn’t let go of the energy. He dragged more and more of it into himself, even as Sunder started to yank him away.

Glittering light flew from Noah’s soul as he shot through the air, still desperately sucking up magic even as he slammed back to the ground.

His eyes snapped open and Noah jerked upright. Every single ounce of the energy he’d gathered had vanished, but his curse died on his lips as he realized that he hadn’t woken back up in the real world.

Noah sat within his mindspace, white cracks running out all around him – but the cracks weren’t what had his attention. Noah’s eyes were fixed on the violently trembling mass of pink and white force that pulsated in the air before him.

Waves of pressure washed off it with enough to make all of his Runes aside from Sunder tremble in their wake, but they somehow passed through him without leaving even a single trace. Noah’s eyes widened in awe and a tingle ran down his back.

The energy continued to condense. Arcs of magic popped and arced off the tightening mass of light, and the sound of a furious ocean filled his ears. His teeth chattered and the dark ground shook beneath him.

And still the energy condensed. It continued to shrink until it was a single point, a hole of white and pink in the spiderweb of his soul. That single point twitched and dragged downward, leaving a stroke like that of a brush burning in the air before Noah.

Another stroke followed it. Noah hardly dared to breath as he saw a Rune start to take shape in the air before him. Each stroke was thick and deliberate, but far from perfect. They were the wide, blotchy ink strokes of a novice painter, not the precise lines of an expert.

But, despite that, they felt right. Noah couldn’t have explained why, but as every new line appeared in the Rune before him, he knew they were correct. The power washing off the Rune continued to intensify, and even Sunder started to tremble as it grew closer to completion.

Noah staggered to his feet, keeping his eyes on the new Rune as it took form. He refused to look away from it. He was witnessing a miracle. A –

A crack arced through the Rune. Noah blinked and squinted. Energy filled the crack as soon as it appeared, but a second one formed on a different stroke. Then another. And another. Even as the Rune filled itself with light, more and more cracks shot out within it.

“Oh, shit,” Noah muttered. He took a step back. More cracks shot out through the rune, and the rushing sea started to roar even louder.

Then the rune shattered.

A massive wave of force detonated in the center of Noah’s soul, and a wave of beautiful, terrifying pink energy rolled out from within it. Noah braced himself as it slammed into him, preparing to be launched across his mindspace at best.

Instead, it passed clean through him. Noah spun as it continued onward, racing through his runes as if nothing was there and washing over the invisible edges of his mind. It rolled upward, coating the entirety of his soul with its faint, glimmering sheen.

Beautiful snowflakes made of soft pink and white energy cascaded down all around Noah, blanketing him and his soul. He held a hand out, letting one of the crystals land on his upturned palm.

It melted away, filling his body with a faint, tingling sensation. Only a few seconds passed before the energy started to fade away, though Noah could still feel it on the edge of his mind, just waiting for him to call on it again.

He watched in a mixture of awe and disappointment as the last dredges of the snow vanished, leaving him standing in a perfectly serene sea of black.

“Damn it,” Noah said, his shoulders slumping. “I failed.”

Then he paused.

A perfectly serene sea of black. The cracks in his soul had vanished completely. There wasn’t a single trace of any soul damage anywhere to be seen. All of his Runes floated in their proper places, shimmering down on him as if amused at his delayed reaction.

Noah didn’t waste a second. His eyes snapped back open in the real world and he shot to his feet. He flexed a hand, then made a few experimental jumps. A huge grin stretched across his face and he started to laugh.

His energy was back. It didn’t feel like his entire body had been put through a trash compressor anymore.

No, it’s not just that. I don’t just feel right. I feel better.

Every ounce of Noah was full of calm, reserved power. It was like he’d just woken up from a long, perfect night of rest in the world’s most comfortable bed. His grin grew even wider as he stretched his arms above his head, reveling in the ability to move freely of his own volition once more.

“This feels incredible,” Noah breathed, stretching down and touching his toes. He bounced back to his feet, giggling like a schoolgirl as he strolled back into his room. “I even feel more flexible than I was before. And–”

Noah tilted his head to the side. There was no pain. He glanced over his shoulder. His corpse was still lying in his bathroom. It wasn’t a hallucination. He’d died and come back to life, but he didn’t have a headache.

“Oh, yeah,” Noah said, rubbing his hands together. “I think I might be onto something.”

***

Deep within the cosmos, beyond the reach of all mortal beings and suspended within a sea of infinite black broken only by brilliant pathways of glowing gold, stood the Goddess Renewal beside the Waters of Life.

An endless ocean of waiting souls covered the swirling golden paths, leading out into the great beyond. Not even Renewal knew how far they went or where they originated.

Renewal’s head tilted imperceptibly to the side as the gentle smile on her face faltered. She raised a hand, and all the motion surrounding the Waters of Life suddenly slammed to a halt. All the waiting souls froze as Renewal temporarily removed herself from the flow of time.

Her brow, beautiful and alien, furrowed. Something was… off. Something had brushed across her power. Its strength was so insignificant that it was barely worth mentioning – but worth mentioning it still was.

It was a very, very rare occurrence for something outside the endless oblivion to catch her attention. She was only willing to spend a few instants of her time upon a task like this, but those would be enough. Renewal cast her senses out across the cosmos, following the flow of the source that had established contact with her.

No matter how weak or unimportant the source of the disturbance had been, a spark of curiosity had been lit within Renewal.

For, when one called on the powers of the Divine, the Divine peered back.