Return of the Runebound Professor

Pink light flooded through the void, and Noah didn’t dare turn back to see what the source was. He accelerated toward the white gateway floating in wait before him, hurling himself through it.

The world warped. White stretched to cover the skies and wrapped around Noah like an all-consuming blanket. He squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his body to protect Sticky. His stomach lurched, and then he shifted.

Cold stone slammed into Noah’s back and knocked the breath from his lungs.

He drew in a sharp breath and his eyes snapped open. A void stretched out above him, black and devoid of stars. A replica of the afterlife — but not the afterlife. Exhaustion gripped at Noah’s head as he turned it to the side, letting glistening obsidian press against his cheek.

Golden lines trimmed the platform he laid on, and powerful imbuements covered every inch of the ground around him.

He was back in Sievan’s domain. Back in the Damned Plains.

With a groan, Noah pushed himself upright. Sticky laid in his lap, her body frail but chest rising and falling with every breath.

She was alive.

Somehow, he and Wizen had literally stolen a life straight from the afterlife. Noah swallowed. There were different levels to slighting the gods, and he didn’t know where this one landed.

Maybe it’s not too bad. They’ve got a whole bunch of souls wandering around. Maybe they won’t miss one.

Nobody had shown up to smite him on the spot, after all. Perhaps Renewal had just been busy doing something else. Noah wasn’t about to complain. He was, however, probably going to have to make his fruit basket a little bit bigger.

Something about the size of a small continent should probably do the trick.

Noah studied Sticky for a moment. He was far from a doctor, but she looked… healthy. It didn’t seem that she was about to die at any point soon. Thin grey veins still pulsed beneath her skin, but her body was settling down.

Who would have thought that Wizen had a power like this. Not even Sunder or the Fragment of Renewal could have pulled another soul back from the dead.

Noah was silent for several long moments. He wasn’t actually sure how he was supposed to feel. Emotion and logic twisted and fought for supremacy, only to both realize they were equally as confused and give up the fight altogether.

It’s almost ironic. The ultimate sacrifice; the power to give one’s life for someone else, in the hands of the most evil man I’ve ever met. And he used it to save a child he barely knew. He didn’t have to. He could have saved the strength and gone to walk with his daughter anyway.

Why?

There was no answer. Perhaps not every action could be described by logic. Perhaps not every man was completely good or evil. When Noah had been a teacher on Earth, he would have said that he’d had a pretty good understanding of life. That some things were inherently good, and some were evil. That was that.

But the more he witnessed, the harder it became to understand. Wizen had not been a good man. He had stolen people’s minds with his runes. Only the gods knew how many people he had killed, and he had done irreparable damage to countless families, not to mention countless other crimes.

And, in saving Sticky, Wizen might have saved more than just a child. He might have saved the demons as a race. Even if there were others that were like her, she was the one that Noah had to work with.

How are good and bad weighed? Can you right past wrongs through good deeds? Is there some sort of cosmic scale for good and bad?

A small smile pulled across Noah’s lips.

Eh. Fuck it. I don’t know, and it’s not my job to know. That’s a problem for the gods to deal with. Maybe I’ll find an answer one day, but right now, there’s only one thing I care about. Keeping the people I care about safe.

Noah pulled his jacket off and folded it into a makeshift pillow. He slipped it under Sticky’s head and let her rest on the obsidian as he rose to his feet. She was asleep, so there was no point connecting to her mind yet — and Empty Proliferation needed some time to regenerate its power.

Only once he had stood did Noah realize that the white light was gone. His eyes snapped over to Sievan. The Lord of Death stood exactly where he had been stabbed, arms crossed behind his back and eyes closed.

In the center of his chest was a gaping hole.

He held it until Sticky and I came back through.

Noah swallowed. He approached the plain-looking demon, stopping several feet away from him. There was a faint, content smile on Sievan’s face. He stood proud in death.

For several long seconds, Noah stood in silence. Then he bowed his head in respect.

What a demon. He wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but after meeting him, I don’t know if I can imagine anyone more fitting to wield the title Lord of Death. I would have liked to—

“Are you done?”

Noah froze. His eyes snapped up and he took a step back, his lips parting in shock.

Sievan’s eyes were open.

“I — what?” Noah stammered. “You’re alive?”

Quiet laughter echoed through the void as Sievan’s lips curled up in a faint smile. “Can Death live? Perhaps nothing has changed.”

“But… you said—”

“I died,” Sievan said with a small shrug. “A minor inconvenience. A fresh one. It was an interesting experience. Quite a beneficial one. There are some things that one cannot truly understand while they still live.”

That, at least, is true.

“Did you really have to wait to come back to life until after I had already started doing a mental eulogy for you?” Noah asked through a laugh and a shake of his head. “You’re a bastard.”

“So I have heard.”

“Did you at least manage to fix the problem you had? Can you… ascend?”

Sievan looked down at the hole in his chest, then let out a sigh. “No. I discovered much, but the process was not sufficient. I am still bound at Rank 8 — and I suspect my soul damage will hinder me for quite some time. It seems that your own escapades were more fortunate.”

“Wizen is dead, and I’ve got the key,” Noah confirmed. “And Sticky as well. She lives.”

Damn. I was hoping he might be able to give me some more insight into demons and how their runes work. The more I know, the less guesswork I’ve got to make. It’s too bad I can’t fix his Runes, but I don’t think Sunder could even touch a Rank 8 rune. Sievan is just too powerful, and ripping his runes apart down to Rank 1 would probably kill even him.

A smile pulled across Sievan’s lips. “So she does. And the grip of death is lessened on her, though it hangs over her head all the same. Is it your power that binds her soul to this world?”

“No. It was Wizen,” Noah replied with a shake of his head. He looked from Sticky to Sievan, then tilted his head to the side. “What exactly did you try to do when you went to fix your Runes?”

“I sought to change the manner in which I viewed Death,” Sievan replied. “I had thought that, if I died, I could approach things in a new manner. Find an angle that I could not witness before then and attempt to wrest myself free from my maker’s influence. It was impossible. The connection is ingrained. I cannot change the core of my being.”

That is the issue, isn’t it? Demons are drinking from a well of poisoned water. You can’t fix the problem until you remove the poison — or get a whole new well. But there’s one thing I still don’t understand.

“Can you tell me something?” Noah asked. “What controls the emotion that a demon feeds on? You feed on death. I’ve met demons that feed on knowledge, slaughter, friendship, and everything — but why? Half the time, it’s got nothing to do with the runes. So what determines that?”

“An interesting question,” Sievan said. He scratched at the hole in his chest. “I did not determine what I fed on. My maker chose it for me.”

“Do you remember why?”

Sievan frowned. His head tilted to the side and he was silent for several long seconds. “I… remember little. My creation was a long time ago. A very long time ago. I believe… I believe my maker was deeply unhappy at the time he created me. He wanted someone who could give him a worthy fight. A legacy. One that could end him. But I failed in that. I could not become as powerful as him, and I do not believe his goals are the same as they once were.”

Noah’s brow furrowed. Sievan was the original demon. There had to be something in his creation that could explain how demons came to be.

I need to figure out where the energy to make a Fragment of Self comes from. If I can get that, I can help Sticky make hers.

But Sievan is a special case. He was made intentionally by Decras, while the other demons take form themselves. What’s the missing piece?

A mumble broke through Noah’s thoughts. He and Sievan both glanced over as the small demon’s eyes fluttered open. She sat up, wiping at her face.

“I — what happened?” Sticky asked. She looked around and confusion played across her features. “I… I was dead. In a line.”

“Wizen got what he wanted,” Noah replied softly. “He found his daughter again, and he saved your life in the process.”

Sticky blinked. She looked down at her body, then back up to Noah. Confusion still gripped her features as she struggled to piece memories back together. “I helped?”

“Yes,” Noah said with a small smile. “You did.”

“Is Wizen coming back?”

“Those who pass from this realm unto the next are not meant to return,” Sievan said. “Wizen is, for better or for worse, at peace. He stole you from the gods themselves at the cost of his own life. A bold man.”

“Why?” Sticky asked, staring at them with wide, watery eyes. “Why would he do that? I’m just… me. I can’t do anything. Why would he waste a gift like that on me?”

“A gift isn’t something that has to be justified,” Noah said. “What matters is that you’re alive, and you’re wrong about not being able to do something. Life has inherent value. And if that isn’t enough — I need your help.”

“Me?” Sticky blinked.

“Yes. I think you’ve got the key to save every single demon,” Noah replied. “But I just have to figure something out first. I know you’re probably confused right now. Coming back from the afterlife is… difficult. I’ve been there. Just relax for a little.”

Sticky nodded slowly. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers as if suddenly recalling that she had them.

Noah chewed his lower lip. “I need to figure out what causes demons to determine what they consume. It can’t just be random.”

“I have never considered this,” Sievan said. “It is not something we can change, so it did not feel prudent.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“There has to be a pattern that determines what demons eat,” Noah muttered. “Aylin got Knowledge. Violet became a Hoarder. Maybe it’s something that happens before you reach Rank 3? Demons could be initially partial to some emotion that then becomes what they consumes.”

“I’m not Rank 3 yet,” Sticky volunteered. “But I don’t really feel like there’s anything I really lean toward. I’m fine with how things are.”

Noah blinked. “Seriously? You wouldn’t change anything? Not even—”

Sticky shook her head. “No. That’s just how life is. It’s okay. And I got to meet some really incredible demons because of how I am. Sievan only found me because I was broken. I even got to help Wizen. I wish I could do more, but I’m happy. I want to live, but I wouldn’t change anything about myself.”

I —

Wait.

Sievan’s words echoed through Noah’s head. Back when they had first spoken, while time had been frozen, the Lord of Death had said something that stuck in Noah’s mind.

Demons are the runes within them.

“You don’t want anything,” Noah muttered. “Holy shit. That’s it.”

“It is?” Sticky blinked. “Really?”

“Aylin wanted knowledge. Violet wanted to protect her family. Sievan was made of Decras’ desire to die. The feeling or power a demon ends up feeding on is the one that they lack the most. The reason Sticky’s soul doesn’t work properly is because she’s content. She doesn’t long for anything.”

“What does that mean?” Sticky asked.

“Demons and their runes are one and the same,” Noah said, starting to speak faster as excitement gripped him. “But demons are broken. They’re missing something. That’s why they consume emotions. They want what they don’t have. But you — you’re not broken at all, Sticky. You’re perfect. The perfect demon is literally right in front of us. You don’t want for anything, and so your soul doesn’t need to bring in a new emotion. I bet that’s why Demons can’t continuously advance either. Your souls are missing a core element. You can’t fully comprehend your runes when your soul is focused on bringing in something that isn’t you. I’ve been looking for a way to make something that already exists. Sticky is her rune.”

“What are you saying?” Sievan asked. “Sticky has no runes. That is her problem.”

“Wrong,” Noah said with a laugh. “You told me this yourself, Sievan. How could a Demon possibly exist without a Rune? The power we need is within Sticky. It just needs to be freed.”

Just like my Fragment of Self. I didn’t truly create it. It was a part of my soul that I cut out and re-bound to myself. Decras’ Fragments don’t work because his desires have corrupted every single demon and forcibly changed them into something they don’t truly want to be. But Sticky wants nothing. Her soul is pure — and that means the energy from her Runes is exactly what every demon would need to make their own Rune.

“Can such a thing even be done?” Sievan frowned. “How would you harness such a power?”

Noah smiled. “Leave that to me. Sticky, I’d like to take a quick trip into your soul.”

“Do you mean…”

“Yes,” Noah said. His smile grew wider. “I can help you become what you were always meant to be.”