The Soul Runes

[RuneDragoon]

The sun was only dimming to night, and deep in the lair on the outskirts of Lerena, the one with the little tree out front, a large blue dragon laid down and closed her eyes to prepare for a good night's rest, runic markings etched into her hide glowing softly in the dim light. Runos' namesake, these markings, had been carved into her thick, scaly hide by some unknown being long before she had hatched. Their purpose still remained a mystery after many seasons, and all Runos knew is they held no purpose in her skills as a warrior of the Lunus way.

It was just a normal night, with a sigh of relief at a little rest after a long day of attempted lairshaping (which never seemed to go anywhere in the lair) having left her tired. She closed her eyes, and the sun finished sinking down for the night. It was then, that it occurred. Runos' felt a strong sensation and opened her eyes to find the hide-carved markings glowing brightly. She could do little about it, she was unsure of how this occurred in the first place. Her vision faded, and she felt as if her very essence suddenly ceased to exist in Istaria.

Somewhere far away, in a place outside the world of Istaria, Runos woke up again. Feeling confused, she looked around the room she woke in. The walls were light beige, there was a cage with two strange feathered creatures chirping noisily from within, and a glass box with another odd long creature in it. This room was full of clutter and many odd unusual things Runos had never seen. And this place she was lying in was clearly not her lair.

"Where am I?" she wondered to herself, sitting up again on the bed in the middle of the room. "I feel strangely like a khutit..." she muttered to herself, only to have the truth sink in as she stood up and began opening closet doors to inspect a way out. Behind one door she was met with a mirror. Whatever had happened, had turned Runos into a naka duskael!

"No.. no.. no... ... this cannot be! What has happened?!" She yelled to herself. One of the doors opened up, it was the one she had not checked yet. A human was looking at her strangely.

"What is wrong, dear? Birds driving you nuts again?" the lady asked.

"No..." Runos tripped over her words and couldn't gather more to say.

"Well I will leave you to sort out whatever may be your issue, dear." the lady shrugged and closed the door behind her.

Odd memories filled Runos' mind like she had lived here for eons. She quickly calmed as she read through them all. But then flew into a panic again when she realized that all of her knowledge of Istaria was being overwritten forcibly. Dashing to the computer at the table, she grabbed a pen and paper and began to write down everything she remembered, no detail too insignificant or great to be missed. It felt like a race to record everything before it vanished from thought. And the writing ended with the most important fact of all: "I am Dragon."

... The thoughts she knew were gone. Looking at the page, she questioned herself. "Am I Sane? What is this incoherent chicken scratch I have written?" she muttered. Only one memory remained etched in mind, the last written thing.

"I am Dragon..." Runos muttered to herself. Although she couldn't remember her true name now, she remembered who she really is (for now).

A voice yelled from upstairs: "By the way, you are bound to be late for class if you dawdle like this, dear."

With the new memory, Runos only could know this was doom, and rushed out to the place she was to go study at. The day was long and she learned much to return home, and was urged by memory to go have some fun on the little computer. She however, had forgotten the page left on the keyboard. The old memory read on the page.

"I am Dragon..." she whispered to herself. Closing her eyes, she had but one thought. She had to find out what happened, why she was a lowly human, and where she was. But most importantly, she only had this odd feeling she should become a dragon again, and go back to this... 'istaria' place on the written page. She didn't know how or where she could accomplish these feats... but it would eventually be done, and she would ensure to work on it whenever possible.

[Silithus Zerr]

An interesting take, I like it. *grins*

[RuneDragoon]

(( thank you. ))

Days passed by and Runos endured a lot of things, learning about the world, meeting people, and dealing with the little feathered chirpy things (Apparently they are called 'birds'.) and the long scaly creature (Its also apparently called a snake.) which sat around in its little glass box doing nothing. She sat on her bed watching television, a movie of knights, dragons, and magic.

"Magic... It feels so familiar to speak words and wave hands around." she thought to herself, raising her hands and moving them in a familiar pattern to no end result.

"It is sad I cannot just wave a hand and everything is as I believe it should be."

She flopped back on the bed and sighed. It was late (or early, if you may) in the night and it felt like time to rest. With a wave of the remote, the television flicked off. It seemed this was the only thing close to magic in this world, electric devices and mechanical objects ruled the people as if it were blight. But the biggest blight on this world was the people themselves, who refused to care for their planet as they grew to consume its entire surface. Runos closed her eyes and fell into a sleep.

In her dream, she began to see lines converge into a pattern. A voice in the dream told her every rune's name, but not how to use them.

"These are your soul's runes." the voice said. "Do not awaken yet... or you cannot return. I want to help you." it continued, summoning a set of spectral shackles.

"Embrace these and you will be able to return in time..." it continued.

Runos stepped into the shackles, her vision faded. She awoke again feeling no different than usual. Although, it was the weekend, and she apparently had overslept to about three in the afternoon, which was peculiar. Standing up with a stretch, she set to go about the morning pet food duties.

Arriving in the kitchen with a bird food dish and a water dish, the lady she knew she lived with turned and paused with a shocked look upon her face.

"My! Did you have fun last night?" She asked.

"What?"

"You appear as if you went a little crazy with a magic marker." the lady grinned.

Now Runos was really quite confused, so she shrugged, did what she came for, and went back to her living space. Looking at the mirror in the closet, it was true! It looked as if the same hidecarved marks as her old dragon form had been tattooed onto her own delicate skin by some entity, without leaving a mark.

She remembered the dream, running a finger along every rune and speaking its name. Although it produced no result, it felt comforting, at least.

She continued to watch the movie from before, flicking it off in distaste when the knight slays a dragon. And although she had woken not long ago, her mind felt a force pulling her to sleep again, and it had no choice but to obey (Humans in this world seem to have such weak wills).

"I am glad you had allowed it to happen, it was difficult to weave from so far away." The disembodied voice said. "Now, the next part is hard, and you will have to work on it. I doubt you remember your rite of passage? In this world, magic and the elements are weakened and polluted by the arrogance of the humans. You will have to do much work to create yourself again. I can guide you... but you cannot forget. Do you accept the task?" it continued.

Runos nodded, unable to speak in the dream.

"Your first task is to create the phylactery. The base... you may attempt to use the quartz crystal of the one you live with. It is a one of a kind crystal, although quartz is common. This one... it has a pocket within it, which contains pure water. Pure water is rare, for all water here is contaminated by the humans with too many things. This shall be the essence of your phylactery. I will have to study the world to find a way to imbue it with magic." the voice trailed off.

"Your body... you remember it well. You crafted it from obsidian stone. You will need to craft one here from another material, for stone in this world is polluted, poisoned, blighted, corrupted and dead. The only pure substance that may hold up is steel. Hardened and purified iron, the work of the men. Go now..." the voice spoke.

Runos woke with only determination on the mind, standing ready for the tasks and trials to come.

((to be continued later on...))