Lore Rune
Book 1 of the Rune Trilogy
By Catherine Beery
Copyright date:1/23/2019
Synopsis:
“You will discover, Kel, that there are plans and expectations… and then there is life.” ~Mary
Kel Plavea was born into the ruling mage clan of the Solzien mages; masters of elemental magic whose power was derived from the mighty sun. An avid bookworm and curious to boot, Kel longs to see the world beyond the Old Wood where his village stands watch. Normally, a mage has his or her gift awakened on the Summer Solstice when they are sixteen. Normally, they train for few years than go out into the world to help keep the balance between the mortal races and elementals. Normally, one had a fair idea of what life had in store for them.
But life isn’t normal.
And there are others who interfere. Others with plans of their own, and not necessarily well-meaning plans either…
Chapter 1
Espirato 36th, 502 AC
A baby’s cry woke him in the dark of the Abyss. He had been formless before. Nothing but a swirling cloud of possibility. But now… now? Now he was conscious. He was shadekin. The baby cried again. It drew him like blood draws sharks. The Abyss swirled out of his way as he found where the baby waited on a created world; a place of solid reality in the folds of possibility. Concrete instead of shifting randomly on a whim. How boring.
He was nothing other than a shadow hiding in a dark corner behind the door. He absorbed information like a sponge absorbed liquid. The human woman who had just given birth ached and was exhausted. But, oddly, she felt joy as she cradled a bundle in her arms. The bundle shifted, a soft cry emanated from it. That cry sent a jolt through him. Quickly he moved closer. A flash of shadow crawling up the walls to the darkened corners on the ceiling. From there he moved until he could look directly down at the woman and the blanket wrapped tyke.
The baby’s face came into view. The shadekin narrowed his eyes against the brightness of the gold-white light that rested against the human’s skin. It was like looking into the gates of the Creator’s personal realm. A realm of infernal light, love, and grace. It burned his skin, even though he was some distance from the babe. Though it hurt, he couldn’t stop looking. Someday, hopefully, sooner than later, he would wear that face…
“My Lady, what will you name the boy?” A woman asked from beside the bed. She and a few others had been puttering around, cleaning up after the birth.
The tired mother peered down into her baby’s face. She didn’t have to squint against the light. It made the shadekin jealous. She didn’t see the divine protection that swathed her baby better than the blankets did. After a moment of thought, she answered, “I think I will name him… Kel.”
Hello, little Kel. The shadekin thought. As the child was named, now he was also named. Lek stared down at his prey in anticipation, ignoring the bright light. In a few short years, the baby would be old enough for Lek to begin to influence. To turn away from the light of the Creator’s love to the darkness of fear and hatred. Lek just had to wait for the divine protection that kept babies safe from those like him to wane. Then… Lek smiled staring down at the doomed child below. Then his body will be mine.
As if aware of his greatest enemy’s presence and thoughts the baby began to wail in abject terror. It took his mother a long time to calm the babe. She and the others grew worried when Kel would accept neither nourishment nor comfort.
Eventually Lek had to creep to a distant corner, far beyond the newborn’s sphere of perception. While this would seem kind, it was entirely selfish on the shadekin’s part. If the baby died now, he wouldn’t have the body. He himself would fade away to nothing. Lek was just starting to enjoy having an awareness. He had no intension of becoming nothing.
Kel’s cries faded into whimpers. But now he accepted the comfort and food. It did not take long before the baby fell asleep.
Sleep well Kel. We’ll meet again soon. Lek promised. The bond had been made, names given. It would only be a matter of time now…
For the next eight years, Lek visited Kel whenever he could. Though that wasn’t nearly as often as he wanted. The divine protection the Creator gave the young of his Creation burned as bright as ever. It swathed the child constantly. But Lek could still feed on the child’s fear, which he discovered he could milk from the child. It didn’t take Lek long to realize that Kel could sense him. Must sense him. After all, Kel kept looking over his shoulder at Lek, though unseeing. Other than an awareness of his dark shadow what else could explain the delicious reaction of Kel’s?
All Lek had to do was creep close enough to Kel for the boy to sense him. Uneasiness would fill the child. And then fear. Better yet, no one could understand why Kel always seemed so afraid of ‘nothing.’
Lek snickered often to himself. The supposedly powerful elemental mages couldn’t sense him. Others of the Abyss, sure. But not him. Shadekin were an enemy of the Spirit, not the natural order, material, or energy. If they had a Spirit mage they would have known how much danger Kel was in. The spirit elementals could have told them, but they couldn’t be seen by elemental mages. Only the Espirmora might have been able to pick up Lek’s presence, but they didn’t have a reason to come here. Their tower was a fair distance away.
Family and friends just assumed Kel was a coward.
Which made him alone.
And vulnerable… If only he would stop going to church. Lek rolled his eyes. He couldn’t enter the church. The spirit of God truly resided there, it wasn’t just people going through the actions of religion. And it was Kel’s mother who took him all the time. I just have more work ahead of me.
Lek grinned. It was a game. He liked games. He liked the challenge. It would make the final victory all the sweeter.
One night, Lek slipped into the deep shadows of Kel’s little bedroom. And it was a small room. Barely large enough for a twin bed, a student’s desk, and a small bookcase. The bookcase and desk were full of books. Crammed full, but in an organized manner. Lek shook his head at that. Were not mortal children supposed to be mess makers? As unorganized as some would blame the Abyss of being? Maybe it was due to the small size. A size inconsistent with what one would expect.
The more important a mortal considered themselves to be or others considered them to be seemed to be reflected in the size of the room or home they occupied. The daughter of the Solzien High Zieneng had a very large room. One would expect the son of the High Zien of the Plant Mages would have something larger than the Solzien princess’s closet. But apparently Kel’s parents thought he should be treated just like all the young of the family once they started school at age five.
The boy lay sleeping, all snuggled in his bed. The divine glow of protection still glimmered from Kel’s skin, lighting up the room annoyingly bright to Lek’s eyes. But it had begun to fade once he could begin making decisions as to his beliefs. It was kind of like a mother holding herself back while her child took those first steps learning to walk. Lek rolled his eyes. Since when had he become poetic like that?
Lek shook the strange thought away before turning back to his prey. He was still greatly restricted in what he could do. The mother’s faith and Kel’s conscious decision to have a relationship with the Creator kept him from doing much. But if enough bad things kept happening to Kel, if he was isolated from others, surely then he would begin to lose that friendship with the Creator.
It was why he had come. That, and to refresh another flaw of mortality that drove a wedge between them and the Creator. Lek’s Maker knew the easiest way to sunder created things from the Creator, to control them. A way that worked better than lust and greed. Better than hate.
> Fear.
Lek watched the boy sleep for some time. He could afford to be patient. Eventually, the sleeping boy’s subconscious became aware of Lek’s presence. Kel shifted restlessly. As the moments passed Kel’s subconscious was surer of the danger in the room. “Oh yes, you are in danger. Immortal danger… and you are powerless. Defenseless… and such a coward. Everyone knows that you are.” Lek spoke softly. Kel whimpered in his sleep. Lek laughed.
He knew that to human ears his laugh would sound cold and menacing. Evil. Which, to be ironically honest, it was. The boy in the bed froze. Lek watched in growing amusement as Kel stared straight into the room. There was very little light in the small chamber. The sweet smell of fear built. Like a rabbit, the boy held still. As if the wolf wasn’t already aware of where he was…
Lek smiled as he leaned back against the wall. He tucked his hands into his robe and wondered what the human would do now. He wished Ennairada, a fellow shadekin, had been there to place bets with him. Which would the boy do? Would Kel stay where he was, his heart pounding like a frantic bird trying to escape its cage? Or would he flee? The boy was fast. Small and fast… And so very afraid.
Kel’s breathing was shallow. Lek had the feeling that if the boy could have stopped breathing, he would have. But being alive and mortal, breathing was a necessary thing. The pace of the shallow breaths changed. Some became those of a person sleeping. Others were shallow. And there were times when there should have been a breath.
That little heart pounded harder. Lek laughed when he caught the acrid scent of a mortal body losing control of itself due to fear. Suddenly Kel was moving. Lek blinked in surprise. He knew Kel was fast. Even admired the speed at times. But the kid had practically teleported from the bed and out the door.
Screaming.
Lek shook his head, his smile becoming a grin. The lad’s cousins would be merciless once they found out that he had wet his bed. At eight years old. Nor would any of them believe a word Kel said. You’re alone, Kel. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll be mine.
***
I fled through the halls with the monster’s hideous laugh echoing on my heels. My frightened mother met him at the door to my parent’s room. She had wrapped herself in a shawl to keep the chill of the dark hours at bay. She knelt to be on my level, almost falling over when I ran into her arms.
“What is it this time?” my father asked groggily.
“Kel, Kel sweetheart. Stop crying and tell me what’s wrong.” She said hugging me. I hugged her harder. All I wanted to do was melt into her comforting embrace. “Tell me what is wrong.” She told me again.
“Probably just a nightmare,” Father muttered. “Bad one, considering how he was screaming.”
I felt my mother move, her lips leaving my hair. I heard her hush him. I didn’t care what Father thought. I was safe in my mother’s arms… but I couldn’t stop shaking. My throat was sore, and I couldn’t stop shaking. “Please, son, tell me what’s wrong.”
“I’m in – danger – shadow man said – laughed! – scary! So scary! – help me!” I couldn’t stop sobbing.
“Let’s go see what has frightened you so.” Mother said. I pulled back to gape at her. Hadn’t she heard a word I said? Yes, it had been garbled, but surely, she could see that would be a very bad idea. Evil lurked in my room. We needed help. Not just a look in the room but help.
“No no! shadow man there!”
“Hush Kel. Come on. Let’s go face the monster.” She said, strongly pulling me back down the hall. Family members were peeking their heads out of their doors.
“What’s going on, Lady Celosia?”
“Just a nightmare. I’m sorry he woke you.” Mother replied various times in various ways.
I stared incredulously at her. It wasn’t a nightmare… Then I heard one of my cousins ask why my pants were wet… I glanced down. The front of my pants was indeed wet… I hadn’t noticed. Shame roasted my cheeks. I heard someone jeer that I had wet myself. Wet my bed.
Which became very obvious upon entering my bedroom and uncovering the sunflower crystal lights. There was a large wet spot on my bed that smelled. Mother made a cursory look around. “See Kel? No monster. It must have been a very bad dream.” She gave me another hug before calling for one of my aunts who helped with the housework to please get new bedding and a mattress for me…
I thought about correcting her. I had been awake when I heard that laugh. But she won’t believe me. Now everyone just thinks I had a terrible nightmare and peed my bed… The next few weeks were going to be terrible…
Chapter 2
Espirato 17th, 513 AC
I walked through the halls of the Clan School long before many of the teachers. I found out a while ago that I enjoyed the hushed quiet of the school before all the chaos of learning/ training/ cousins finding some other way to pester me. What a nice way of saying putting me through hell… But before all that, it was peaceful, just like the Archives of the Clan Library. And like that other safe place, many whispered that it was haunted. I snorted softly at the thought. My cousins had no idea what real fear was. They got uneasy in an old place that didn’t care one iota if they were there or not, but they couldn’t sense… him.
I slammed that thought to a stop before it could call the terror of my existence. A cold chill shivered down my spine. My ever-helpful imagination called up a skeletal finger of ice with a ridiculously long nail trailing down my skin, just barely touching. Barely there. I paused in the Plavean wing of the school and waited for a moment. But the chill didn’t sink deeper into my bones. I sighed with relief. The chill had been a memory of the feeling. Not the actually feeling.
The Clan School was old. One of the oldest buildings right after the Town Hall. It had five sections. The central section housed an auditorium, the general classes all clans could participate in. Those classes had very little to do with magic. There were also study rooms. Of course, I barely used any of those. Too public and with people here my cousins were brave. I found the best place to study was the library and in the stacks. Resources and peace.
The four wings that extended from the central section were each dedicated and designed for each of the four families that made up the Solzien clan. The Ano family had a fortified, flame resistant hall, with plenty of windows so the next generation of Sunfire mages could bath in the sun’s light. The Bren family’s had protection against water damage… and plenty of fountains drawn directly from the aquifer below. The Sorin family had many openings so the wind could come and go as it pleased. There were also plenty of lockers and tiedown hooks to keep furniture and papers and whatnot from flying out the openings… Nothing like explaining to the teacher that the wind took one’s homework.
Meanwhile, the Plavea family had plenty of windows to allow in the sun, wood walls and furniture, and tons of plants in every room. So many that some of the rooms smelled and looked like gardens.
Each of these specialized wings had enough classrooms in them for each age group within the clan. The generalized classes started when a child reached age five to age eleven. Upon reaching age eleven, they would enter the first class of their family’s wing. For the Plavea family, the first five years of magic study was focused on the mundane uses of plants. There was so much a knowledgeable non-mage could use plants for that those years were put to good use. And knowing the plants so intimately helped to remind a mage what those same plants could be used for in magic. For five intensive years, the young of the Plavea learned how to find, grow/ care for, harvest, store, and prepare plants known throughout the world. A special focus was given to plants found in Eldin.
I wanted to learn about all of them. I read a lot, possibly more than I should. But because of that, I wanted to see those places I read about. I wanted to travel… A dream I kept very close to myself to avoid being laughed at. Once I was deemed sufficiently trained in magic and life to have a chance in the world, I wanted to leave this place.
There was nothing for me here�
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But the earliest magical training would begin was when I, or any of the Solzien Clan, turned sixteen (or seventeen if they were unlucky enough to have a birthday after the summer solstice). On the summer solstice, those who had come of age would stand before the High Zieneng of the Solzien Clan. He had the final say in whether or not they were fit to awaken their magical gift and train it. It was very rare for him to not do so, but it was something I worried might happen to me. That would be just my luck. I could even hear them, ‘a coward can’t take the rigors of magical training. It’s too dangerous!’ But I would show them all. I would study harder than anyone else these next few years.
Then I would get my gift awakened and then I would leave.
I found my classroom and sat down at my desk, which was in the far back corner. This way I could see everyone, and hopefully, they would forget I existed. I was also by the window. If need be, I could slip out the window. I pulled out an aged journal from my bag. I had found it in the depths of the stacks. A place that my cousins would never venture. Which was why it was safe for me.
The aged journal was a piece of history most of them were not interested in. It wasn’t flashy or full of ‘glory.’ It was just life. The life of a man who wasn’t a hero of legend, but I found his writings fascinating. General Travis Ketera had no magic to speak of, and yet he was in the thick of a conflict beyond him. And didn’t run.
I ran my hand over the worn leather. I could almost feel the man who had put his thoughts into its keeping. His fear. This was the only place he could admit to any of it… Maybe I should start one. I was about to dismiss the thought but paused. Even if it was found, no one would be able to make any real sense of it. Perhaps they would just think it was all imaginings, perhaps an interesting story? They wouldn’t realize it was real life. I would write it more like a story, rename myself. That would probably make it easier to write things down. A separation between me and the events.
Lore Rune (Rune Trilogy Book 1) Page 1