Chapter 180: Something's Wrong
Noah’s eyes snapped open to find Lee’s face about an inch away from his. He drew in a sharp breath, expecting to be greeted by a painful headache, but was pleasantly surprised to find that there was nothing.
The Rune had done the same thing the first time he’d tried to form it, but Noah had no idea if it would work a second time. His body didn’t feel nearly as energized as it had after his previous attempt, though.
Lee let out a relieved sigh, then poked Noah in the chest.
“Say something.”
“I’m alive,” Noah said. “Sorry to make you worry.”
Lee scrunched her nose, then leaned back. “Was it worth it? Is killing yourself the secret to making Runes?”
“I – yeah. I think it is. It worked.”
Lee blinked. “What? You’re serious?”
“Yes. I formed the Rune,” Noah said. He paused for a moment, then grimaced. “I think it might have been a bad idea, though.”
“What? Why! You formed a Rune! That’s incredible!” Lee exclaimed, grabbing Noah by the shoulders. “How’d you do it? I’ve never met someone that made their own Rune!”
“I kind of just did what Moxie told me to,” Noah admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “Actually, I did exactly that. Gather a bunch of energy, then give it a kick and focus on forming it into a Rune. It kind of did itself. I tried once at Rank 2, but it failed. Worked this time. Not totally sure why, but I’ll take it.”
Not sure I want to take the side-effect of what is almost certainly a pissed-off goddess, though. Renewal is at least a Rank 9. If that was her voice in my head... I think she could literally kill me with a thought.
I better put together a fruit platter and polish up my begging skills.
Or I could go find the shadow bloke that attacked her. That might work better.
“Noah?”
Noah blinked. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked what the Rune does. Is something wrong?”The initial posting of this chapter occurred via N0v3l.B11n.
“Yeah,” Noah muttered. “Something’s wrong.”
***
Renewal couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so excited. She’d restrained herself, of course, but the order to her agents on the world that the mortal had reincarnated into had gone out the very same day.
Someone who had the strength to actually begin comprehending her... even if they were just a mortal, it would be a fascinating conversation. It was an idle curiosity, but it would be a good way to break the tedium. There was no real concern, as a mortal that weak had no manner of actually forming comprehension on the true powers that bridged life and death.
The cycle could only be understood after one was steeped within it – when they had gone through death and rebirth over and over, coming to a true understanding of what it meant, not only to live, but also to die.
Renewal had taken on her name when she had reached Rank 10, after her soul had soaked within the Waters of Life for years. There were gods that had gathered their enlightenment far faster, but they were prodigies.
There were a variety of ways in which Divine Runes formed, and one of those ways was to take the power from another Divine Rune, then twist it into something entirely new. It was the exact way that Renewal had formed her own Rune.
It was simply impossible for a mortal, even one with a slight scrap of invaluable inspiration, to ever –
He figured it out in less than a year.
Renewal had nearly choked in surprise when she felt a tiny sliver of her power carve off from her. She’d followed it back into the mortal’s soul, of course. As interesting as he was, Renewal had absolutely no plans of letting him take a portion of her strength. There were ways things were meant to be done.
If he was a budding god, then it would have been another thing. Having another god in her debt would have been quite entertaining. But giving the power to a mortal was akin to giving a dog a mansion.
She’d had her fun, and that was that. Besides, the other gods would have never let Renewal live it down if they found out a mortal had quite literally stolen some power from her, miniscule amount or not.
But, somehow, she’d failed to stop the mortal.
Renewal stared at her left hand. A tiny cut ran along the tip of her finger. She’d gone to take the energy back – and she’d been surprised enough that her concentration had faltered and she’d lost track of the mortal.
It hadn’t just been Renewal that the mortal had earned an understanding of. He possessed Decras’ strength as well.
This is... not ideal. If I put more effort into finding him, then other gods will notice. We’re not meant to meddle with the small worlds too much. I wish I were alive back before all those rules were established and the universe was actually interesting.
Renewal let out a slow sigh and pursed her lips. She wanted to speak with the mortal even more now than she had before. It shouldn’t have been possible to learn this much about the concept of reincarnation in the few months he’d been alive.
No, by all means, something was strange. Renewal was missing a key piece that had let a mere mortal make so much progress that he’d actually stolen a portion of her Runic power.
Perhaps this mild distraction will actually serve as a way to push myself to grow further. The chances of a mortal actually discovering something that even the gods do not know of are so tiny that they may as well be nonexistent, but they aren’t actually zero.
And, if he did find something...
I’m going to need it. I just hope I find him before anyone else does.
