Rune Seeker

Hiral left the training room with Yanily and his doubles close behind, making his way into the Asylum entryway at the same time Seena and her sister did.

“Crisis mode or whatever it’s called is finished?” Seena called over when she saw him.

“Looks that way,” Hiral said.

“Right as I was putting the stew on, of course,” Nivian said, coming out of the kitchen while he wiped his hands on his apron.

“Stew would’ve been ready hours ago if you didn’t try to cut every vegetable in the garden,” Wule said, coming out behind the sisters with another book in his hands.

“Figured you’d be hungry. You have been putting on weight,” Nivian shot back, and rolled his hands out and around his stomach.

“I have not! Take that back,” Wule said, only to glance down at his stomach and wince. “Okay, maybe I did overindulge a little in stress-eating those rations, but healing is hungry work.”

“Veggies,” Nivian said simply. Then he thumbed back over his shoulder and looked at the others as they all gathered around the Asylum interface, Dr. Benza smiling beside it.

“What are we waiting for?” Yanily asked. “Don’t you all need to evolve to D-Rank?”

“She’s still in her room,” Seeyela said. “Hasn’t come out once. Must still be asleep.”

“The beds are pretty comfy, considering what we’ve been sleeping on up till now,” Hiral agreed, thinking back on the small dorm rooms they’d each claimed. Simple, with a bed and desk, but with their own private bathrooms. Eighteen of them in total. Luxurious compared to the stone cave floors they’d been sleeping on—when they got to sleep at all—but with Cal, it was probably more than just that.

“She wouldn’t talk to me,” Wule said. “Seeyela, is she okay?”

Seeyela gently shook her head. “Not yet. Maybe not ever. You all know how she felt about Lonil—even if she never admitted it to herself.”

“Worst-kept secret, except to her,” Wule said, nodding.

“Yeah, and now that’s she realized it—I mean really realized it—she regrets not figuring it out sooner while she still had time,” Seeyela said.

“How about you?” Nivian asked softly, and the Growers all sort of looked at each other. They’d all given each other some space since they got to the Asylum, but it looked like the time for being alone was over.

They’re a party, after all. No, we’re a party.

“Talking helps,” Seeyela said, wrapping her arm around Seena’s shoulder. “It’s still tough, though. I can’t… I can’t believe they’re not going to come walking in any second now, you know? Balyo and her stupid laugh…”

“Like a cat dying,” Yanily said seriously. “A wonderful, badass cat,” he quickly amended. “Dying. Slowly.”

“Yeah, I swear she could’ve used it as an ability in a fight.” Seeyela chuckled. “Lonil even tried tickling her one time when we were up against some Troblins to see if it would work.”

“Did it?” Nivian asked, smirking.

“Heh, not exactly. Lonil ended up with a broken nose and Cal had to use her long cooldown to fix it. There was so much blood.” Seeyela laughed. “Like, gushing. Oh, I know I shouldn’t think that’s funny, but then the last Troblin jumped on Picoli while we were distracted. But… but… Lonil had knocked its teeth out earlier, so when it got her… it just sort of gummed her arm a bit.” She wrapped her lips over her teeth and gnawed on her own arm.

Everybody else just looked a little shocked, but once Hiral pictured the scene and failed to stop himself from giggling at it, the others quickly joined in.

“Did… did you just let it chew on Picoli?” Yanily asked between chuckles.

“Nah. Fitch bashed it over the head, then yelled at us for being careless,” Seeyela said, tilting her back so she could breathe through the laughter. But when her face came forward again, something inside her just seemed to… crack. “I’m going to miss them all… so much…” She clenched her jaw, trying to hold it together.

Seena got to her first, wrapping her arms around her sister, and the others quickly followed until it was only Hiral and his doubles standing to the side.

“What are you waiting for?” Seena asked him quietly, waving him over with small hand gestures. She made room for him when he arrived.

Hiral slipped in between Seena and Nivian, joining in the group hug until Seeyela’s shoulders finally stopped shaking several minutes later.

“Well, that’s embarrassing,” Seeyela said as they broke up, wiping her eyes and then her nose.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Nivian said, his voice cracking a little. “I didn’t see anything. Too busy hugging.”

“Me neither,” Yanily said, eyes red and snot running down his top lip.

Seeyela forced herself to smile at them, then turned to Dr. Benza, obviously ready to change the subject. “Want to see what he has to say?”

“I’m a little afraid to, actually,” Wule said. “But I guess we have to, don’t we?”

“Hey, we got to level twenty in the Troblin Throne since we had to keep killing the Lord.” Seena looked at Hiral and quietly asked, “How close are you?”

“I got twenty too,” Hiral said. “Solo experience and that rested bonus ability.”

“Over… powered…” Yanily enunciated specifically, meeting Hiral’s eyes.

“He had help,” Right spoke up.

“Only the first time,” Left clarified.

“Only the…?” Yanily balked. “Seriously overpowered.”

“Yeah, but just wait until you get to enjoy the passive party buff I got from the achievements,” Hiral said. “Then you’ll be overpowered too! Uh, you guys did get that Party Interface ability, right?”

“We did,” Seena said before Yanily could answer. “But…” She looked at the people around the interface.

“Parties can only have six people, and we have seven,” Nivian finished.

“We’re going to need to figure something out,” Seena conceded. “After we talk to Dr. Benza here and get our evolutions.” She looked directly at Hiral and added, “Also going to need to coordinate new abilities, from the sounds of things.”

Despite the slight glare Seena threw at him, Hiral couldn’t help but smile. She isn’t automatically leaving me out to fit Cal in.

“Happy to,” Hiral said. “And like I was telling Yanily earlier, I think I have some ideas on how I can help you guys out with those crystals we got.”

“That’s great,” Seena said, then shook her head. “How do we always get distracted from what we’re supposed to be doing?” She looked back at Dr. Benza.

“At least there isn’t a Troblin gnawing on your arm,” Wule said, stifling a laugh.

“There is that,” Seena said, rolling her eyes before swiping her hand over the interface crystal. Of course, since Dr. Benza’s image was already there, nothing happened. “Fine. Right. Whatever. Rank Evolution.”

As soon as she said the words, a streamer of glowing, smoke-like light extended out of the interface crystal and connected to the center of Seena’s chest. A pulse, and her entire body lit up from within, the dark shadows of roots growing insider her. Pulse after pulse of light, the roots spread further through her body, like they were stretching for the surface of her skin. Then it stopped, the light vanishing like it’d never been there.

“Woah,” she said, blinking and looking at her hands.

“It’s a rush, isn’t it?” Yanily said, gently elbowing her in the shoulder.

She looked at Yanily. “It is… and wow, we get four stat points right away?”

“Yup! I didn’t mention that?” he asked innocently. Too innocently.

Seena glared at him, but then her eyes went distant as she regarded her status window. “Same auto-distribution, but now I have an extra free point every level. Nice. I’ll just put one… here… and the other one? Um… there. There we go.” Her eyes refocused on the others. “My body feels lighter. More… I dunno… real. I can’t explain it. Who’s next?”

“Ladies first,” Hiral said, gesturing for Seeyela to go ahead, which she did.

Nivian and Wule quickly followed, and then it was Hiral’s turn. Even though he’d gotten to level 20 in his class, just like they had, the idea of a rank evolution had been nothing but a far, far away fantasy for most of his life. Part of him wondered for a second if this was all just a dream and he was about to wake up, but then two hands pushed gently on his shoulders from behind.

“What are you waiting for?” Right asked. “We can’t evolve until you do.”

“Uh… sorry,” Hiral said, stepping up closer to the interface crystal, at which point Nivian took an obvious step back. Then two more.

“What?” the tank asked. “You have a tendency to explode.”

“Oh sh…” Yanily said, quick-stepping back as well. “Is this far enough? Do you think this is far enough?” he asked rapid-fire to Seena… who’d also put a good ten feet between them.

“Something I should know?” Seeyela asked, seeing Wule also backing away.

“Yes—he explodes when he gets excited,” Nivian said.

Seeyela’s eyebrow went up.

“Just… trust us. Take a few steps back,” Wule said, waving her over.

Seeyela shrugged and walked over to join Wule. “Okay, let’s see the show.”

“I’m not a show. Tell them I’m not going to…” Hiral turned to his doubles, only to find even they’d backed far away from him. “You guys too?”

“Just safekeeping your solar energy,” Left said.

“Go, Hiral, you can do it, rah rah,” Right added, pumping his fist in the air.

“Sometimes I can’t believe we’re all part of the same person,” Hiral grumbled, then looked at Dr. Benza. “Rank Evolution.” The solar energy wafted up from the interface to connect with the Rune of Separation and the crystal embedded in his chest.

Energy exploded out of him, lifting him to hover five feet off the ground and ripping the double-helix script off his flesh. Lines and lines of glowing characters orbited around him in a sphere of radiant power, energy dancing across his skin like electricity, and then everything went completely dark. Before he even had a chance to wonder—or panic—more of the shimmering script burst through the darkness of his sight.

Words. Sentences. Stories. Lifetimes. Truths. Primal facts.

He saw them all, stretching across the land, the sky, the universe… and into another. A place like his own, but not. A place of power where…

The room appeared again in front of Hiral as he dropped straight down, collapsing to the floor in an instant while the glowing script tightened around his body again. The double helix pattern burned into his skin, filling him with the power of his PIM, and some of those truths he’d gleaned lingered in front of his eyes.

“Haaaaaa…” He let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, the air running up his throat and past his lips practically scalding hot. “Yeah… a rush…” he wheezed.

“See. Explodes,” Nivian said from somewhere out of Hiral’s line of sight.

“You weren’t kidding,” Seeyela said.

“Hiral, hey, you okay?” Seena said, coming over and kneeling down beside him. Then, more quietly, she asked, “You’re, uh… done exploding, right?”

“I think so,” he said, looking up to meet her eyes.

“Good…” Her eyebrows slowly climbed up her forehead before she leaned down very close to him. So close, in fact, their noses almost touched as she stared into his eyes.

“Uh… Seena?” Hiral asked softly, almost afraid to move.

“Seena?” Seeyela asked, a little more big-sister-protectively.

“Your eyes,” Seena said, finally pulling back to a more comfortable two feet from Hiral’s face.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” Hiral asked, a different kind of panic in his chest.

“Your irises—the colored part of your eyes—there’s… there’s writing in them. Like the stuff on your arms. Glowing. Too small to read, but it’s definitely there.”

“What? Let me see,” Yanily said, barging over and also getting far too close to Hiral. With the man’s bigger nose… well… they actually touched.

“Uhhhhh… personal space,” Hiral mumbled.

“She’s right,” Yanily said, leaning back like nothing had happened. “Totally glowing eyes. That better not be some other overpowered ability.”

“It’s not,” Hiral said.

“You sure? You checked your status window?” Yanily snapped back, crossing his arms.

“Well… no…” Hiral said, then did just that. “Nope. No new abilities. Happy?”

“Is exploding listed on your ability section?” Nivian asked.

“What? No,” Hiral said.

“Then we can’t rule out the eye thing,” Nivian said sagely.

“I didn’t explode.”

“Yes, you really did,” Seeyela said. “Just go with it.”

“I just… fine. Can somebody help me up?” Both Yanily and Seena took his hands, lifting him to his feet. “Thank you. Guys, shall we?” He reached out to Left and Right after Seena and Yanily let go.

“Bout time,” Right said, taking one hand while Left took the other.

“Everybody is such a critic today,” Hiral said, but he absorbed his doubles and immediately activated Foundational Split.

As usual, his tattoos and Meridian Lines didn’t even have a chance to fully rise again to the surface of his skin before they peeled off, smoke-like solar energy stretching out to his sides to solidify into Left and Right.

“Oh, yeah,” Right said, his Meridian Lines glowing softly. “That is a rush. I feel like I could run all the way back to the Troblin Keep and solo it.”

“Not that you’d be able to get in,” Left pointed out. “But I feel the same way.”

“Why do you guys get a rush and I feel like I got a bad sunburn?” Hiral asked, running his hands down his arms, the flesh still abnormally warm.

“Because you exploded,” Nivian said one more time, in case Hiral had somehow missed it.