Everything around Noah vanished as heavy blue tones enveloped him and the tower fell away from him, leaving him floating in space. Every part of his body felt like it was getting pulled in a different direction.

He gritted his teeth, instinctively trying to retract every part of himself. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. The feeling faded, leaving only churning blue energy flying around him. For a moment, it almost resembled what happened when Noah died.

Then the blue light vanished. Dry dirt pressed against Noah’s cheek. The ends of his fingers and toes tingled, but the feeling quickly faded away. He opened his eyes and rolled to his feet.

Scorched trees poked up all around him. A wave of panic rose in Noah’s chest, but he crushed it and pushed himself upright, grimacing at the cracking twigs beneath his feet.

I’ve got nothing to fear. Pain is temporary, and the cannon thing will bring me back by tomorrow. That means I’ve got twenty four hours to practice whatever I want to, without having to worry about someone showing up.

Noah turned in a circle to get his bearings, ready to throw himself to the side at the first sign of a monkey. All that greeted him were rows on rows of blackened, spindly trees. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine at the sight of them again.

He gritted his teeth and pushed the feeling away. Death held no power over him anymore. Even if his magical connection to the gourd wasn’t actually permanent, he’d seen the afterlife. Presuming that Renewal wasn’t the only goddess of reincarnation, there was always another chance.

No, it wasn’t death that scared Noah. It was inactivity. The mere idea of sitting around in line for hundreds or thousands of years again filled him with such distaste that he couldn’t put it into words.

I’m not going back there. Renewal was at least evenly matched against whatever that monster was. If I can get that strong, I’ll never have to worry about having to wait around forever again – and that starts with fixing this godawful foundation that Vermil slapped together.

Noah hopped up, grabbing a low hanging branch of a tree and pulling himself up with an undignified grunt and more than a little difficulty. He bounced a few times to make sure the branch would hold his weight, then leaned back against the trunk and turned his attention inward toward his mind and the Runes waiting for him within it.

A pool of black bloomed before his vision, swallowing him and taking his senses away from the faint breeze and the smell of ash in the forest. Seven glowing Runes shimmered to life around Noah, floating in the expanse of darkness like torchlights.

Pressure bore down on him, vibrating and warping the air like heatwaves around him. Instinctively, Noah knew that the force should have crushed him, but instead it caused nothing more than mild discomfort.

Noah focused on the least filled of his five Wind Runes. There was no doubt in Noah’s mind that he had to replace it – but with what, he wasn’t certain. Vermil’s book had had quite a few Runes in it, and many of them were Greater.

That made his decision to use five weak Runes rather than some of the better ones even more peculiar. Noah would have loved to ask Vermil what he’d been thinking, but that wasn’t a possibility. Aside from the vague memories that had been popping to the surface and helping him read, there didn’t seem to be much of Vermil left.

And, judging by what everyone thought of him, Noah got the feeling that might not have been a very bad thing. He extended his palm and the weakest of the Wind Runes floated through the air.

Static energy danced across Noah’s palm and tickled his fingertips as his hand came in contact with it. The Rune pulsed with a strange heartbeat that sent its magic rushing through Noah’s body and back into it.

He drew in a slow breath and let it out, focusing on the connection between the palm of his hand and the Rune. The book he’d taken from the library had been far from exhaustive, but even it had had enough information for this.

Noah felt the connection to the Rune in his mind. He could sense the power within it, waiting to be bent to his will. Noah pulled his hand back, and a shimmering strand of energy followed him back, affixed to his palm.

Raising his other hand, Noah swung it down through the strand. A clean note rang out through his mind. The strand fell away from his palm and cracks raced through the glowing Rune, covering its entire surface within seconds.

Small parts of it fell away, shattering as they hit the ground, and beams of light burst free from within it as the energy poured out. A large chunk of the Rune snapped off and crashed to the ground, exploding like a dropped Christmas ornament.

There was one final flash. A profound sense of loss flooded Noah’s body and the last of the light faded away. There was no trace of the Rune. Just an empty space where it had once been. All the energy that had been stored within it was nowhere to be seen.

According to the book, it had dissipated into the Ether. A complete waste. Noah let his hand drop.

That’s that. Better to start from scratch with something that’s actually useful. It might take a bit to catch up, but I’d rather be delayed than permanently set back.

The other four Wind Runes floated at the edges of Noah’s vision. He considered them with a small frown, then shook his head.

I’ll start with one for now. But… which one?

Noah let the darkness fade away and opened his eyes. Mercifully, he was still sitting in the tree. No monkeys had crept up on him while he’d been distracted, and after a few moments of squinting through the branches, Noah was confident that nothing was about to attack.

He pulled his book out and flipped through its pages. Vermil really had gotten quite the collection of Runes. There were dozens upon dozens, although the majority of them were low quality.

Those were dismissed immediately. They probably had some use, but they weren’t what he was looking for. The Flame Runes caught his eye, and a tiny chuckle slipped out of his lips.

“I guess I know why Todd and Isabel were so surprised when I showed them this. I don’t really see what the point of guarding Runes is, though. It’s not like I lose strength by showing them it. Bunch of greedy bastards in this world.”

Noah thumbed through the pages. Fire was interesting, but it felt like it didn’t have the versatility he wanted. Fire was good for destroying things and cooking food. In addition, something told him that the more unique his Runes were, the stronger he’d be.

Things didn’t get much more basic than a Fire Rune. Still, Noah kept them in mind. Even if he didn’t plan to specialize in it, Fire was a great catalyst. Maybe taking one of the Runes would be advantageous at one point.

Noah spent nearly an hour flipping through the Runes that Vermil had gathered, muttering to himself under his breath.

“The best way for me to get an advantage is to use knowledge from earth that people here don’t have, but it’s not like I know how to make a nuclear weapon or remember the combination to make complex chemicals. I was a music teacher. What the hell is that going to be useful for here?”

Noah thumbed a page. His eyes caught on the Rune on it. A Rank 1 Greater Vibration Rune. Vermil had jotted down several paragraphs of notes below it that boiled down to ‘this is useless, it just shakes things. Maybe useful for Rune combinations, but not worth the effort or risk.’

A small idea poked in the back of Noah’s head. He paused, then slowly started to grin as an idea bloomed.

“Sound is basically just vibrating particles, and it’s invisible to the naked eye. You can also do some pretty significant damage by vibrating things at really high rates,” Noah mused. “Either Vermil was an idiot that dismissed this too early, or they don’t know how sound waves work here. If I combine Vibration with better Wind Runes, I could probably make Sound. I’m not sure where the Ash Runes fit in, but they’re my strongest ones at the moment, so I should keep them around until everything else is completely full.”

He chuckled to himself. Vermil unfortunately didn’t have any Greater Wind Runes in his book, but Noah didn’t mind. He was certain he could either figure out how to make one or trade one of the other Runes Vermil had discovered for it. For now, the Vibration Runes were the way to go.

Vibration will be the primary part of how my magic works, so I think I should try to get three of those. Then I can upgrade two Wind Runes and keep the two Ash ones. That seems like a reasonable guess – or at least a starting point.

He studied the Rune on the book, then set it down and sank back into his mind space. The stark lack of his seventh Rune greeted him, an empty, unlit void waiting direction. Noah pictured the Vibration Rune from the book, pressing his lips together as he struggled to recall every single detail of the complex drawing.

Nothing happened.

Noah pursed his lips. He opened his eyes, then looked down at the book again. He picked it up, running a finger down the Rune. A faint tingle met his skin.

Ah. There’s magic in the actual Rune itself. Let’s try this again.

He closed his eyes once more and repeated the process. This time, glowing white lines traced through the darkness, slowly winding around each other and forming into the image that he’d envisioned. Noah waited until the lines stopped moving, then let his concentration drop.

The Rune melted away and disintegrated within moments. Noah ground his teeth and hopped back into the real world, scanning over the book again before returning to his mental space and giving it a second shot.

That attempt went largely the same. Noah gave it several more tries, returning to his spot in the tree to double check the Rune in the book. It was one thing to look at it, but perfectly recreating the Rune was surprisingly difficult.

Noah wasn’t sure what try he was on when something finally changed. The shimmering lights were sharper this time – more defined and confident. As he released his direction over the magic, the Rune thrummed.

Energy prickled along Noah’s skin, racing along his entire body. He shuddered in distaste as it zipped around his eyeballs and through his skull. It coursed down his spine and he gagged, but the sensation had already faded.

Noah scrunched his nose in distaste. His annoyance was quickly replaced with a smug smile. Floating in the air before him was the Vibration Rune. It was completely useless and empty at the moment, but he’d done it.

He’d made a Rune.

The dark expanse fell away and Noah opened his eyes to the scorched forest, laughing. He held his hand out, picturing the Rune. It appeared above his palm, so dull that he could barely see it in the daylight. Noah let the Rune fade away and tucked his book back into its holster.

“Only thing to do now is get some energy and figure out just what I can do.” Noah swung his leg over the branch and dropped to the ground. Dry wood cracked beneath the balls of his feet and he straightened up, brushing his clothes off.

Now, to find some monkeys. It’s time to get a little revenge.