A cloaked figure walked on the sun-settled streets of Muse. The figure walked hastily with the hood covering the face completely.
The figure turned into a narrow alley strewn with old barrels and half empty crates of odds and ends. After arriving at a old wooden door on the side of an old brick tenement, the figure knocked at the door. The door opened after a while, and a stern-faced man in a rune master's gown stood there. "Ah, its you, good friend. Come on in, what you have asked for is ready..."
The man led the cloaked figure into a room waith appraising equipment, and then headed out into a hallway. They encountered a rune mistress in the hallway--the rune mistress just said "Good evening Master Lorentz..." and walked by the two. Lorentz just nodded and kept going.
After going down a flight of stairs, Huan was led to a chamber with a huge pentagram engaved onto the floor. As the cloaked figure removed his hood, Lorentz then said, "Doctor Huan, here is what you asked for..." and pointed towards an atler on the other side of the pentagram. Huan dashed towards the altar, stepping through the pentagram and picked up a rune crystal filled with green light, and vague shapes that looked like black spots.
"Does it do what I asked?" Huan asked as he gazed into the palm-sized
crystal.
Lorentz grinned an awkward grin--obviously he rarely smiles, "ofcourse Doctor Huan, do you take me for a fool? Ofcourse, it was not easy... infusing different runes to create a new one is a tecnique that only a few Rune Masters have acquired." Lorents emitted a small, annoyed chuckle.
Lorentz walked towards a bookshelf against the wall beside the altar and pried out a book, "Take a look at this, doctor," and placed the book on the altar, opening it to a page.
Huan took a look at the page that was titled "Merging Runes." The page went on about complex thories on the "Conjunctio Oppositorum"--a tendency of runes to be attracted to certain other runes. "You see doctor Huan, Rune Masterey is just like your profession... each rune is like a patient with a new disease, or a particularly comlicated sort of trauma." Lorentz let out a slight laugh, "excuse me for my vulgar comments, Doctor Huan... but you may understand, that when certain types of complications or diseases co-exist together, they end up becoming something more than twice potent than what the original was, and then again, sometimes they completely annihilate each other." Lorentz then held up the rune crystal.
"But this, this is a masterpiece... a combination of quite unpopular runes... Chimera, Venom and Draining runes. The three runes melded while producing little residual material--at an amazing 88% infusion efficiency--it is a complete mesh... the power of this rune is yet to be determined, but the power you requested of... that power will definately be within this rune's achievable limit." Lorentz then looked straight into Huan's eyes and said, "so now you own this... I will go ahead and attach it to you. Where do you prefer it?"
Huan said unemotionally, "On my left hand, please."
Lorentz started to concentrate as he held Huan's left hand with his left hand and the rune crystal in his right hand.
The rune crystal started to glow as Lorentz started to chant arcane words, "nobile corpus!" Lorentz yelled as he squeezed Huan's hands. Huan let out a yowl of pain.
Lorentz continued with his chants, "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Lorentz continued as he raised his voice, "...quod de domino ad dominum
movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
After a while, Huan started to feel a burning sensation in his left hand. "It... it burns!" He complained.
Lorentz continued, "Hoc est et sulphur rubeum, luminosum in tenebris et est hyacinthus rubeus et toxicum igneum et interficiens, et Leo victor et malefactor, et ensis scindens, et Tyriaca sanans omnem infirmitatem!"
The rune crystal disappeared. and turned into a glowing green light. It then arced towards Huan's hands. As it struck Huan's hands, Lorentz let Huan's hands go, and a green flame enveloped Huan's hands.
"It burns! Aaaaagh! The pain!!" Huan crouched in agony.
Lorentz looked at Huan with a worried look, "This should not have happened!" He grabbed Huan's left rist and quickly chanted "humiditas inexterminabilus!" The flame went out immediately as Lorentz's water rune provided the necessary humidity to extinguish the flame.
Huan lifted his left hand, and saw that it has been badly burned, muscle and sinew showing through burnt, bubbling, skin. However, a green glowing rune was present at the middle of his hand. "Please... take me to my house..." Huan said, as he fainted.
------------Next Day
Huan woke up on his bed, and realized that his left hand was bandaged, but keloid has alredy drenched the bandage.
"So that wan't a dream..." Huan thought. He rose and went down to the clinic to dress his burn.
As he removed the bandage from his left hand, Huan was unable to bear the pain, so he took out a anesthetic paste from a jar and dabbed a chunk of the paste on his hands. The cooling sensation chilled Huan's spines. Huan shivered as he removed all of the bandages.
"This looks pretty bad," Huan thought as he calmly looked at his hand. His index and pinky finger's joints were showing, although still connected with tendons and muscle, it seemed like the membranes were badly damaged. Huan applied some antisceptic cream that he made from wild herbs and dressed his burn with clean bandages.
As he completed the dressing, someone knocked at his door. "Dr. Huan! Dr. Huan!! Are you in??"
Huan quickly opened the door, he saw a soldier of Muse standing there.
Huan got nervous, "How may I help you... officer?" The solider went on,
"Well, I had a bit too much to drink yesterday, and I have a very bad
hangover... I was told this morning that I am going to be given a combat skills exam!!! I will fail like this, I am barely standing now!
Do you have anything that could help me?"
Huan asked the soldier in, "Sure officer, I have something that will cure you right away. Just sit down over here and remove your armor and shirt. The soldier removed his breast plate and shirt while Huan made himself look busy.
"Now, I need you to close your eyes while I apply this medicine to your neck because the fumes from it sting your eyes." Huan applied some antisceptic cream on the neck of the solider, fully knowing that it will serve no purpose in removing the soldier's hangover. He then removed his bandage and started to concentrate on his hands... He then remembered the chant that Lorentz kept on repeating. "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..." Huan chanted under his voice.
Suddenly, the rune on his burnt hand glowed a bright green, making the black blots of the rune more apparent. The light disappeared as one of the black blots turned white. The soldier then said in a loud voice, "How did you do that!!! That felt great!!"
Huan immediatly hid his left hand in his robe. "W, well, it's just that this is such a good medicine, you know. Yes, this cream here, it is great in curing hangovers, yes."
After thanking Huan profusely, the soldier left happily. Huan then locked the door to his house and hurried to his studies.
He then recorded what has just happened. "...used newly acquired rune to cure patient of hangover..." He then looked at his hand. Then suddenly, he had a thought, and placed his left hand on his head, and started to chant. "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..." suddenly, Huan was hit with a severe hangover. "Ugh, this is terrible" Huan quickly chanted the words again as he tried to supress his body from trying to throw up. The feeling subsided as the rune glowed.
Huan smiled as he finished recording on his log book, which read "I shall call this rune, 'The Plague Rune.'"
The figure turned into a narrow alley strewn with old barrels and half empty crates of odds and ends. After arriving at a old wooden door on the side of an old brick tenement, the figure knocked at the door. The door opened after a while, and a stern-faced man in a rune master's gown stood there. "Ah, its you, good friend. Come on in, what you have asked for is ready..."
The man led the cloaked figure into a room waith appraising equipment, and then headed out into a hallway. They encountered a rune mistress in the hallway--the rune mistress just said "Good evening Master Lorentz..." and walked by the two. Lorentz just nodded and kept going.
After going down a flight of stairs, Huan was led to a chamber with a huge pentagram engaved onto the floor. As the cloaked figure removed his hood, Lorentz then said, "Doctor Huan, here is what you asked for..." and pointed towards an atler on the other side of the pentagram. Huan dashed towards the altar, stepping through the pentagram and picked up a rune crystal filled with green light, and vague shapes that looked like black spots.
"Does it do what I asked?" Huan asked as he gazed into the palm-sized
crystal.
Lorentz grinned an awkward grin--obviously he rarely smiles, "ofcourse Doctor Huan, do you take me for a fool? Ofcourse, it was not easy... infusing different runes to create a new one is a tecnique that only a few Rune Masters have acquired." Lorents emitted a small, annoyed chuckle.
Lorentz walked towards a bookshelf against the wall beside the altar and pried out a book, "Take a look at this, doctor," and placed the book on the altar, opening it to a page.
Huan took a look at the page that was titled "Merging Runes." The page went on about complex thories on the "Conjunctio Oppositorum"--a tendency of runes to be attracted to certain other runes. "You see doctor Huan, Rune Masterey is just like your profession... each rune is like a patient with a new disease, or a particularly comlicated sort of trauma." Lorentz let out a slight laugh, "excuse me for my vulgar comments, Doctor Huan... but you may understand, that when certain types of complications or diseases co-exist together, they end up becoming something more than twice potent than what the original was, and then again, sometimes they completely annihilate each other." Lorentz then held up the rune crystal.
"But this, this is a masterpiece... a combination of quite unpopular runes... Chimera, Venom and Draining runes. The three runes melded while producing little residual material--at an amazing 88% infusion efficiency--it is a complete mesh... the power of this rune is yet to be determined, but the power you requested of... that power will definately be within this rune's achievable limit." Lorentz then looked straight into Huan's eyes and said, "so now you own this... I will go ahead and attach it to you. Where do you prefer it?"
Huan said unemotionally, "On my left hand, please."
Lorentz started to concentrate as he held Huan's left hand with his left hand and the rune crystal in his right hand.
The rune crystal started to glow as Lorentz started to chant arcane words, "nobile corpus!" Lorentz yelled as he squeezed Huan's hands. Huan let out a yowl of pain.
Lorentz continued with his chants, "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Lorentz continued as he raised his voice, "...quod de domino ad dominum
movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
After a while, Huan started to feel a burning sensation in his left hand. "It... it burns!" He complained.
Lorentz continued, "Hoc est et sulphur rubeum, luminosum in tenebris et est hyacinthus rubeus et toxicum igneum et interficiens, et Leo victor et malefactor, et ensis scindens, et Tyriaca sanans omnem infirmitatem!"
The rune crystal disappeared. and turned into a glowing green light. It then arced towards Huan's hands. As it struck Huan's hands, Lorentz let Huan's hands go, and a green flame enveloped Huan's hands.
"It burns! Aaaaagh! The pain!!" Huan crouched in agony.
Lorentz looked at Huan with a worried look, "This should not have happened!" He grabbed Huan's left rist and quickly chanted "humiditas inexterminabilus!" The flame went out immediately as Lorentz's water rune provided the necessary humidity to extinguish the flame.
Huan lifted his left hand, and saw that it has been badly burned, muscle and sinew showing through burnt, bubbling, skin. However, a green glowing rune was present at the middle of his hand. "Please... take me to my house..." Huan said, as he fainted.
------------Next Day
Huan woke up on his bed, and realized that his left hand was bandaged, but keloid has alredy drenched the bandage.
"So that wan't a dream..." Huan thought. He rose and went down to the clinic to dress his burn.
As he removed the bandage from his left hand, Huan was unable to bear the pain, so he took out a anesthetic paste from a jar and dabbed a chunk of the paste on his hands. The cooling sensation chilled Huan's spines. Huan shivered as he removed all of the bandages.
"This looks pretty bad," Huan thought as he calmly looked at his hand. His index and pinky finger's joints were showing, although still connected with tendons and muscle, it seemed like the membranes were badly damaged. Huan applied some antisceptic cream that he made from wild herbs and dressed his burn with clean bandages.
As he completed the dressing, someone knocked at his door. "Dr. Huan! Dr. Huan!! Are you in??"
Huan quickly opened the door, he saw a soldier of Muse standing there.
Huan got nervous, "How may I help you... officer?" The solider went on,
"Well, I had a bit too much to drink yesterday, and I have a very bad
hangover... I was told this morning that I am going to be given a combat skills exam!!! I will fail like this, I am barely standing now!
Do you have anything that could help me?"
Huan asked the soldier in, "Sure officer, I have something that will cure you right away. Just sit down over here and remove your armor and shirt. The soldier removed his breast plate and shirt while Huan made himself look busy.
"Now, I need you to close your eyes while I apply this medicine to your neck because the fumes from it sting your eyes." Huan applied some antisceptic cream on the neck of the solider, fully knowing that it will serve no purpose in removing the soldier's hangover. He then removed his bandage and started to concentrate on his hands... He then remembered the chant that Lorentz kept on repeating. "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..." Huan chanted under his voice.
Suddenly, the rune on his burnt hand glowed a bright green, making the black blots of the rune more apparent. The light disappeared as one of the black blots turned white. The soldier then said in a loud voice, "How did you do that!!! That felt great!!"
Huan immediatly hid his left hand in his robe. "W, well, it's just that this is such a good medicine, you know. Yes, this cream here, it is great in curing hangovers, yes."
After thanking Huan profusely, the soldier left happily. Huan then locked the door to his house and hurried to his studies.
He then recorded what has just happened. "...used newly acquired rune to cure patient of hangover..." He then looked at his hand. Then suddenly, he had a thought, and placed his left hand on his head, and started to chant. "...quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..." suddenly, Huan was hit with a severe hangover. "Ugh, this is terrible" Huan quickly chanted the words again as he tried to supress his body from trying to throw up. The feeling subsided as the rune glowed.
Huan smiled as he finished recording on his log book, which read "I shall call this rune, 'The Plague Rune.'"