Runeblade: You shall not pass, Wanderer!

Kaius sat on the branch of a massive oak tree. Yellow leaves adorned its reaching branches, nearly scraping the ceiling of the cavern in which it grew. All over its bark, shifting geometrics glowed with a pulsing light. Now that he found him so close he couldn't help but squint through the distracting light.

He leaned over the branch, peering down at the swirling red and yellow orb that held his attention so closely. This close, the waves of palpable magic that wafted from the fruit were almost overwhelming. He could smell it, the alchemical power.

He’d first encountered the strange effect when he had been young, shortly after first acquiring Herbalism. Stumbling across a deep red toadstool deep in his forest home, he’d been attracted by its bizarre smell. That of a cliff crumbling with time. A tree ageing into deadfall as the years ground away at its prodigious vitality. Impossible smells, almost closer to dreams than sensory inputs.

His curiosity, not for the first time, had nearly gotten him killed. Father had yanked him back, smacking him upside the head with a sharp rap that had made his eyes sting with tears. Magic, he had said, something that young boys shouldn't trifle with.

Grandchild's Lament he had called it, storming away from the mushroom with a tense back and a too-firm grip on his arm. a reagent prized by certain alchemists for the poisonous tonics that it could be used to produce.

After that little stunt Father had them pack up camp, dragging him on a hike that lasted weeks, refusing to pause no matter how much he felt like his legs were going to fall off. Each time they stopped, it was only to inspect another alchemical oddity, forcing Kaius to hone his understanding of their emanating magic until he could identify which ones were dangerous by scent alone.

It was imperfect, but until he had an observational skill it was enough to stop him from killing himself.

The fruit below him absolutely stank of new growth. Incomparable to anything he had seen before. If he was lucky it would be a natural treasure. That alone was enough to stoke his excitement to unbearable heights

Kaius pushed himself up, scooting his legs underneath him to lie across the top of the branch. Leaning over the edge he stretched out to grab the fruit. His hands touched its skin, glossy and almost slick. The size of two of his fists and slightly slippery, he had to use both hands to secure it. A tingle shot through his palms, magical potency enough to send a charge racing up his limbs.

The sudden jolt made him flinch, but he held his grip firm. He was not willing to damage the fruit by accidentally dropping it twice his height onto a cavern floor. He hauled himself up, grabbing the branch with his thighs to give himself leverage.

Swirling in his hands, the fruit popped free with ease, its stalk disconnecting from the slight indentation at its top. The stem shook slightly as the thin branch it was connected to sprung back into position.

Kaius eyed the fruit, before flicking back to the sheer trunk he had climbed. That wasn't going to work.

He looked over the branch to the hard rock below him. It was pretty far, but he should be alright. The worst that could happen is he would sprain his ankle.

He shrugged to himself, swinging one leg over the branch to sit on it side-saddle. Slipping off with a hop, he fell, the edges of his tunic fluttering in the breeze. He hit the ground, Hard. A painful stab of shock shooting up his heels as he fell into a low crouch, thighs burning as they worked to bleed off his momentum.

He winced, falling back onto his ass with a thud. He looked up at the branch he had jumped from.

No broken legs, strange magical fruit secured, everything went perfect.

Hugging the fruit under one arm, Kaius pushed himself to his feet. He headed to the back of the cavern, taking a seat against its rear wall so that the tree covered the entrance to the room, hopefully hiding his figure from any curious interlopers.

He’d yet to have that happen, the creatures in the depths seemed unnaturally incurious from what he had experienced so far, but it never hurt to be careful. Especially if he was going to be eating unknown fruit from a magical tree.

It might have been a risk, but it was a calculated one. He’d spent more than enough time around magically active ingredients to know that at the very least this one did not smell of danger.

He didn't stand on ceremony, bringing the fruit to his mouth and sinking his teeth into its shifting exterior. Thin skin parted beneath his bite, juice welling up to run down his chin. Its flavour exploded. Every facet of magic he had picked up from its scent was intensified, swirling around his mouth and down his throat.

Cramming more of the fruit into his mouth with abandon, Kaius barely chewed before he reached for more. The more he ate, the more the magic intensified within him.

Strange visions came to mind, carried on the verdant currents of power that coursed into him. A strange cat-like creature bounded across tree branches, eyes locked on a brown blur streaking across the ground far below. Pupils dilated, the creature pounced. Claws dug deep into thick hide. Strong jaws wrapped around the back of a neck. A snap. That same cat-like creature eating its fill. Muscles rippled, the creature growing larger with a yowl as its joints contorted.

A seed, dropping from a high borough to bounce on stone, rolling before it came to a rest in a small tributary. The stream washed away the seed, before it joined a river. The river merging to become a raging torrent, volatile water kicked up in a spray, catching the light. The same seed, flying free from a waterfall that raged over the edge of a cliff. Falling just right to be caught in a crack, suspended high above the nurturing soil below. Spraying water and roaring sun. A shoot, lancing out, striving to take hold. Roots burying themselves deep into stone, cracking them with persistence and time when they could not find the space required on their own. The tree growing, growing, ever growing. Jutting prominently from a cracked cliff, defiant in the rising sun.

A great fire, sweeping across an endless plain of yellow. Grasses and shrubs consumed in the face of a growing inferno, howling winds of smoke and fire driving a million million lives into a furor of terror. Heat, oh the heat. Consuming all in its path. A barren land, baked and ashen. A home of charcoal and scorched bone. The first rains, washing away the black. New life bursting free, soaking in a graveyard of fertile soil. Breaching the earth, striving, ever striving, to bring green back to the land.

On and on the visions continued, washing over him as he continued to tear bites from the fruit's flesh, only half aware of his rote actions. Every mouthful suffused him with more magical energy, the power soaking deep into the well of his soul to condense as a cloudy gas. A final bite. The collection of power within him combusted, surging to the farthest reaches of his body and soul.

It shook him from his reverie, a gasp escaping him. The shock wave buffeted his metaphysical centre, ringing the light of his soul like a gong. If he had to put a name to the feeling, it was closest to the time he had snuck into the Stout Oaks stables. He’d wanted to pet the horse there. It had been friendly enough. Unfortunately, in his desire to not be caught, he had managed to sneak up on the beast and gotten a hoof to the chest for his troubles.

The pain had been bad enough, but the way it caused his heart to skip a beat had been terrifying.

Father had laughed at his misfortune, telling him he might know better now that he had gotten a knock to take the soul out of his body. Now that he knew what that actually felt like, he could confidently say this was much, much, worse.

His soul quaked and for a moment everything felt wrong. He switched rapidly from feeling like he was observing himself from a distance, to feeling like he was puppeting a stranger's body with an uncomfortable intimacy.

The roiling energy breached the shell that protected his soul. For a moment it stilled, and everything went muted. Then a roaring sensation of suction started, his innermost centre clawing at the energy, drawing it deep into the confines of his soul.

In seconds it was over, every scrap of the foreign influence was consumed. As the last trail of vapour entered his well of power, his soul snapped shut. At that very instant Kaius slammed back into full awareness of his body. Once damp clothes were soaked with sweat, fabric sticking to his skin with uncomfortable intimacy.

He felt hot, the glowing oak before him swaying in his vision while his heart hammered an uncomfortable rhythm in his chest.. His throat spasmed, and he forced down a heave.

“What the fuck was that!” He moaned softly, slumping over to press his face against the cold stone of the cavern floor. The pleasant pressure of the hard surface on his face helped to stabilise him, to slow the spinning of the room as he breathed deep.

Time passed, and his gorge slowly subsided as his nausea faded away. He pushed himself back up, turning his attention to the urgent prodding that accompanied a waiting system notification.

**Ding! Natural Treasure Consumed!**

**Ding! Unclassed Detected! Scanning for External Interference…**

**Ding! No External Interference Detected! Assisting with Absorption…**

**Ding! You have Consumed a Natural Treasure: Rune-Forced Apple of Change - 10 Stat Points Gained! **

**Achievement Noted - You Are Being Observed**

Kaius sat up like a rod of iron had been rammed into his spine. He ignored the confirmation that access to natural treasures was restricted to unclassed by the system. Glossed over the fact that he was monumentally lucky enough that the fruit even was a natural treasure. Even the fact that he had gained a prodigious ten stat points for the risk he had taken.

His entire attention zeroed in on his last notification. That was … impossible.

He thought back to some of the first lessons he’d had with his father. When he was still too young to travel regularly, when they broke camp only once or twice a season to avoid depleting their food supply. On one of their many evenings around a fire they had been laying on their backs, watching the distant stars.

He had been young then, young enough that the only thing his system displayed was his name and time until he unlocked partial access to the full interface. Like all children, the magical construct that hovered at the back of his mind had been fascinating. Many an hour had been filled with the simple entertainment of making his status blink in and out of his vision with a thought, getting the hang of only using intention to bring it to the forefront.

As they lay there, nestled behind a natural windbreak formed of loose boulders he had wandered at the strange magic. Wondered, and asked about its origin.

Father chuckled at the innocent question, before he was cut off by a wracking cough. He thumped his chest a few times, before taking a deep breath and leaning back against the stone behind him.

He stared up into the stars high above. “That’s a tricky question, that,” he answered with a deep, gravelly tone. “Nobody truly knows, not really.”

“What, how? Wouldn’t someone remember?”

Father smiled. “Not necessarily, It was a VERY long time ago. All we know is that mana density was far less stable. Smarter men than me have measured that. Whatever happened, it was enough that there are only a few scraps of shattered ruins left.”

Kaius rolled over on his bedroll to face his father, the fire warming his front.

“Mana density? Like what keeps us safe from the monsters?” he asked. Father turned his head to face him, shooting him a smile that hid something else.

“Yes, like that. Though there are some stories. More myths of myths than anything else…” Father raised an eyebrow in his direction.

Excitement surged through Kaius, he loved stories. “Really! Would you tell me?”

Father grinned, shuffling to lean closer to him, reaching out his hands to warm them by the fire.

“Well! Alright then. Waaay back when, when everything was still all higgledy-piggledy, there used to be wanderers. Hero’s who travelled the land, finding secrets in the Great Depths that no one had ever seen before. It is said that one and all were Observed by the system, destined to do great things…”

Kaius sat there, still staring at the notification.

It had been one of his favourite stories. One he had gotten his father to retell many, many times. They had been simpler times. Before Father’s condition got worse. Before Father had asked to prepare him to take on the mantle of Unterstern.

But it was just a children's tale, wasn’t it? As far as he knew, no one really understood what had happened in those days, beyond the shifting tides of magic. Hells, he had asked again barely a few years ago and Father had told him that all scholars had was a best guess! That the shifting mana density had caused unpredictable waves of migrating monsters that had overwhelmed whatever civilisation existed at the time.

Yet, despite his warring disbelief, he could not refute the evidence that was before his very eyes.

The Observed were real.

And he was one of them.