The Runic Artist

Nate sat between Kiri and Null, with Britt, Ameera, Karim and Flash in the row behind them. The rest of the classroom was divided into similar cliques as the merchants seemed to gather in small factions. The nobles seemed split into three main groups with a few stragglers arrayed around the room. He didn’t know what to make of it all, but was just thankful he wasn’t completely alone in the subject like Coralie was. This was to be their first class and Coralie was the only one who’d managed an Advanced grading for Concepts and Embodiment. Nate had to admit he was excited to start learning. For most of his stay on Galle, he’d been left to his own devices. That had its perks, as the act of discovery was in many ways its own reward, but there was definitely something to be said for a little direction and guidance. At the Royal University, he was finally going to get that, or so he hoped.

The entire room, bar a few nobles, glanced at the door as a stout woman wearing a robe entered.

“Sit down and be quiet,” she demanded, glancing at a few of the nobles who’d kept talking. “That means you as well. Otherwise you can get out of my classroom and good luck grading up.”

One of the young ladies frowned at the teacher, “You can’t talk to me like that. Do you know who I am?”

“Of course I do, Lady Lissette, and let me be the first to inform you that I do not care. While in my classroom you will abide by my rules or you will leave. Feel free to tell your Lady Mother that Professor Kandel says hello,” replied the grey-haired professor.

Lady Lissette went from haughty to pale-faced instantly and Nate could sense her jaw clamp shut. Apparently Professor Kandel was a known quantity.

“Good. Now, let us get the introductions out of the way. I am Professor Kandel and the Head of the Department for Concepts and Embodiments. For those of you who are somewhat dense, that means I have a Perfect Embodiment. A feat which less than a quarter of you are likely to manage. Some of you may think you know what an Embodiment is, and how to achieve a Perfect one, but if you’re in the Intermediate Grade for this subject, you’re almost certainly wrong. Why are you wrong? That’s what you’re here to learn. And I will teach you. I will help you to shape yourself, if you have the capacity to listen, to learn and to change. That last one is why most of you will fail.”

Picking up a small enchanted wooden stick the Professor began to write on the board at the front of the room. It reminded him a little of a whiteboard from back on Earth, but it was clearly using magic to alter the colours on the white backdrop.

“Let us make sure we are clear on the basics before I start detailing what we will be focusing on and how you can grade up in this subject. What are Concepts? If you got an Intermediate grade, you know that they are representations of the fundamental nature of reality.”

To illustrate her point she drew three different Sigils onto the board, each composed of wavy lines in different structures enclosed in different geometric shapes. While it was clear the Professor put effort into making sure they were perfect, they were still simplistic looking Sigils. Divine Translation agreed as Awareness of the Runic Artist told him what the sigils represented.

Water Sigil (Quality: Initiate)

Water Sigil (Quality: Initiate)

Water Sigil (Quality: Initiate)

“Can anyone tell me what these three Sigils represent?” asked the Professor.

Nate considered answering as he sensed the shuffling movements of the other students. He realised there was nothing to gain from showing his knowledge. At least not yet. Not until he knew how to grade up in the subject. So he remained silent, glancing around to see who would answer. It ended up being a young man from one of the merchant factions.

“The middle one is a Sigil for water.”

Professor Kandel nodded, looking around to see if anyone else would venture an attempt. When no one did she harrumphed.

“Always shy or secretive. They are all Water Sigils. Why is that? Why would the same Concept be represented three different ways?” she asked, glancing at the classroom before snorting. “That was rhetorical. I can see that most of you aren’t going to answer, regardless of the question, so rather than a discussion this is going to become a lecture. They are all Water Sigils because of what Sigils fundamentally represent. Sentient life’s interpretation of the laws of our reality. You heard me right. Each Sigil represents a portion of sentient life everywhere’s recognition of a fundamental concept. That means, for more prevalent elements of reality, that there are more interpretations, and therefore more Sigils. There could be over a hundred Sigils that represent Water or Fire or Sand. The same is true of things commonly experienced. Fear, Joy, Anger, Love. We understand them, and as a conglomerate, our interpretation gives rise to images that represent our experiences, which in turn allows us to influence them through mana.”

Professor Kandel paused for a moment, smirking at their rapt attention, “Questions?”

Nate’s hand shot up, like he was still in school, which caused a smattering of laughter from the nobility, but only a raised eyebrow followed by a nod from Professor Kandel.

“Does that mean Sigils can change over time, as enough people's interpretation of a Concept shifts? And how does that work with Subconcepts?”

Professor Kandel went from mild amusement to a glorious smile as she pointed a finger at him, “What’s your name?”

“Nathaniel Weber,” he answered.

“Ah, the Adventurer with a Platinum Spatial Mage for a mentor. I heard about how your Master grabbed you from the Guild’s Tournament. A shame. I hear you were the favourite to win,” said the Professor, glancing around at the class. Nate got the sense that she’d added all of that extra information for his benefit as the looks from his classmates had gone from amused and snide to considering or impressed.

“To answer your excellent questions, I will start with, can a Sigil change over time. The answer is yes. The Sigil, and by that, I mean the appearance, the representation, as a whole, does not change. However, as that particular view of sentient life changes, parts of the Sigil will become less or more, pieces vanishing or being added, the size of parts shrinking or growing. Alongside these changes, the power it wields, which is intrinsically linked to the level of belief and understanding, will change. The result is that a Sigil may become a higher tier, or a lower one, depending on the level of belief that sentient life has in that particular view or aspect of reality.

“In case that didn’t make it clear, that means that the higher the Tier of a Sigil, the more complex its interpretation. I’ll give a grade point to anyone who can tell me why. Write your answers down with your name at the top. I’ll collect them at the end of class. There will be two more questions in this Class, giving you a possible three grade points. This will be the same for every class I hold. Once you reach thirty grade points, I will consider your understanding sufficient and you will be able to move up to the Advanced grade at the beginning of the next term. If you want to know about Subconcepts, you’ll need to get into the Advanced grade. Get to writing. You have five minutes before I continue.”

Nate listened intently as he wrote down what he suspected the reason was behind the more complex interpretation of Concepts at higher tiers giving rise to more complicated Sigils. Following the logic, if a Sigil was the representation of sentient life’s belief, and that belief, both in strength and in volume was what drove the Sigil imagery, then a higher tier Sigil was more complex because it was the belief of more people. Even if everyone believed water was wet, for example, they might have different interpretations of what wet meant, how it felt, what it made them feel, what it meant for their lives. Wet for a farmer meant water for his crops. Wet for a sailor was a fact of life. Wet for a sea creature was potentially all they’d ever known, while wet for a city like Etrua meant drinking water. The interpretations were endless but they all amounted to the culmination of an aspect of water. Writing down his thoughts, he grinned from ear to ear. The Royal University was already awesome.

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

Nate entered the Den of Desire with Kiri and Coralie. He’d intended to go alone when he’d gotten the message from Luc to meet him here in the early evening, but Kiri had balked at letting him wander around alone. Then Coralie had decided she wanted to come as well, if only to see what a brothel was like from the inside. It meant the girl was a little more sheltered than he’d suspected, but he still appreciated the company. It was unlikely that he was going to be blatantly attacked on the streets, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

He left Kiri and Coralie at the bar, being led by one of the courtesans upstairs. Entering the comfortable room, he found Luc standing by the bed and noticed that the courtesan didn’t follow him into the room.

“This feels awfully clandestine,” he joked, thankful that Frick wasn’t with him to say anything worse. He’d left his Familiar back at the Royal University. With their first haul of mana, the Familiar was implementing some of the planned security runes he had for his dormitory room.

“Welcome to the shallows, kid. You’ve finally left the beach and are dipping your toes in the waters of intrigue, or in our case, smuggling. Don’t worry about what you say. I’m using an Epic anti-scrying item. Should keep us from being listened to, viewed or anything else. Anyway, I found a group willing to buy that manerium. Are you still going to be able to manage a bar a week?” asked his mentor.

If he’d asked two days ago, Nate would’ve been uncertain if he could manage it, given the mana requirements. But with his syphoning of mana from one of the city's mana veins, he was confident one a week was doable. He let Luc know his answer with a nod.

“Good. Deliver it here, to the woman who brought you up to the room. She’ll act as the go-between while I am away,” replied Luc.

That made Nate’s brain grind to halt, “Wait, what? You’re going away?”

“Of course, kid. You’re in the Royal University now. They’ll keep you busy for months, if not years. I’ll be around, but I am a Guild Platinum. We’ve got other things to do. Specifically, a Dungeon run,” Luc answered, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows.

“Aisling and Evindal?” Nate asked.

“Them too. Scouting talent is rewarded by the Guild as well. Evindal got some rewards for all his healing during the competition. Aisling got some rewards for scouting you and Kiri. Your placements meant that the reward was sizable, plus I think she already had some coming from her work out in Helmfirth. All hush hush, but you know how it is. Or if you don’t, you will. So we’ve all gotten enough to get access to the Guild’s semi-local High-Epic Dungeon. We’ll be gone for a few months. Dev will be around the Guild if you need something, but otherwise, just focus on your subjects and deliver the manerium. We’ll use the takings as seed money to start a shop or something and build from there. You got this, kid.”

Nate wasn’t sure how to feel. He’d seen Aisling almost every day for the past four or so months. Suddenly having both his mentor and his…what was Aisling to him…protector? Guardian? Advocate? Whatever she was, he hadn’t considered the fact that she had her own life, her own responsibilities, at least not to the extent that they might take her away from him for a time. He was surprised at how morose and lost that made him feel.

Luc patted him on the shoulder, “Suck it up, kid. You’ll be fine. You’ll be so busy with your classes you’ll barely notice we’re gone. And when we get back, we’ll be that much closer to our next evolution.”

Luc paused to lean down and whisper, even with the anti-scrying item he was using, “Besides, how could I live with myself if I was mentoring a Mythic Spatial Mage without being a Legendary myself? At the rate you’re growing, you’ll outgrow me before I know it. I gotta do my best to keep up, even a little. I am sure Aisling feels the same way.”

Nate snorted.

“You’re going soft on me old man,” he quipped, getting a smile out of Luc followed by a slap on the back.

“There he is! Good. You’ll be fine. Want me to pay for a girl or two for you for the night? Or guy? Whatever gets you across the line, if you know what I mean,” replied Luc with a laugh.

Nate rolled his eyes and made to leave the room. He sensed when Luc vanished. He supposed he was on his own for a while, at least in terms of his Guild mentors. Like Luc said, he’d just need to focus on his studies.

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

Kiri stood in the corner of the room, watching as Coralie spoke with Florence about the painting on the wall. Nate’s painting. She had to admit, he was getting better with every painting he did. The one of Aisling on the plains had been good, but it was missing something. She wasn’t some art expert and couldn’t even articulate her feelings on the matter. But whatever that painting had been missing, the one of Florence had it, and had it in droves. It just drew you in. It certainly helped that Florence was gorgeous, but that wasn’t what made the painting so vivid. Either way, she liked it a lot. Apparently her girlfriend agreed. She just hoped Coralie didn’t get it in her head to ask Nate to do one of them. By the Gods that would be embarrassing.

“So, it’s just you watching over us?” she asked the shadow next to her.

“Yes,” came Dev’s almost silent reply. “But I will struggle to follow Nate if he gets out of the University grounds without me noticing. You know what I’m talking about. I need you to follow him if you can if he goes out on one of his forays. How you do it is up to you. Convince him to let you join him or follow him in secret. Just keep an eye on him. The burning of his room…I’ll look into it. Attacks on Guild members at the University are rare. Hopefully it’s nothing.”

Kiri grunted that she understood the assignment. If Nate left the University, so would she. If the Platinums weren’t around to keep her best friend safe, she would do it herself. Even if that meant she had to do it from the shadows. He would likely let her come if she asked, but it was better training for her to try and do it in secret. Evade his awareness skill while still protecting him from the shadows. After all, a Soul Slayer was a hunter. So she’d hunt the threats against Nate. Whoever or whatever they may be. She felt Deverell’s soul recede into the distance a moment later as she returned to her girlfriend’s side, a pleasant smile back on her face.