The following morning, Saria walked back down to the medical ward to go and check on the condition of Prince Maxwell, wondering if the notes of her mother's’ research had successfully brought the young man back to normal health. She walked into the room quietly just in case he was still asleep and looked at the bed against the wall, lying there was still the wolf prince, the mixture gone from his face due to following the remaining steps of the mixture, which was to have him drink it. Saria saw he looked a bit more alive and his face had some color to it compared to the pale dying look it had once carried. She sighed with relief as it was a good sign for him, but was still curious if the wounds would fully heal or if he’d even wake up from his coma state. She walked over and fixed his blanket and lightly fluffed the pillow to make it more comfortable for him before nodding and silently leaving the room. She quietly and carefully shut the door, but was surprised when she had bumped into Nomad, and quickly bowed after gaining her composure.
“Ah, Insightful Lady Nomad, a bit early to be up an about wouldn’t you say?” Saria asked her, as it was a very early hour of the day. Nomad was given the title “Insightful” By the royal guards and advisors of the king for her powers as a seer and the ability to see theoretical situations unfold, with the potential to avert them from happening if they were disastrous, which was usually all she would see, worrying her as she was unable to tell why her kingdom always had a bad fate in her visions. Nomad never brought these concerns up to anyone else, as she didn’t want to send the kingdom into a panic, but if she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it herself, she would bring it up to Drax, but he was the only one who ever knew.
“I could say the same about you Saria, you’re up and wide awake so early. Still Concerned about Maxwell?” She could easily read people and knew what was going on, but wasn’t worried that Maxwell might die, she had faith in her child. “No need to keep worrying, you used your mothers notes well, and I am sure what she had written will work and wake up Maxwell very soon, for now just wait and relax.” She smiled gently at Saria, who sighed but nodded as she looked towards the feline queen, who dismissed Saria and strode off down the hall.
Saria watched her leave with a curious look, She trusted Nomad on a lot of things but sometimes the lack of worry and the odd tendency to always know what was going on would freak her out. Saria decided it best to just take her queens’ advice and walked off, going to her room to start working on some new enchantments, grabbing her dagger from her desk and started working on it. While working on it, Draga was walking by and heard the noise, and glanced into the room curiously. He saw Saria working on the dagger, a few sparks coming from in front of her, but it was impossible to see what was going on from where he stood and so he walked over. Upon his approach, he could see Saria gently carving a couple of runes into the daggers blade, and causing the blade to emit a small blue energy, which Draga could feel just by being near it.
“What are you doing Saria?” He asked her out of curiosity, Saria stopping and looking over at the kid smiling, seeming happy to share her knowledge as she set the dagger and her carver down.
“Well Draga, I am working on runes and enchantments on the dagger I have. Runes are easily the most useful type of fighting material, as it gives the specifically engraved weapon a boost in power or even an elemental boost to make the weapon benefit a non magic user, so if you ever come across a mage, you can be on similar grounds because the runes make it so.” She smiled as she gave the simplistic explanation of what a Rune did.
In reality, Runes were only usable by someone with the powers of an enchanter, which was someone like Saria, and Runes would change the affinity of the weapon the rune is planted upon. If the rune for Fire is engraved onto the blade, despite not being on fire, the blade will still cut and leave a burn as if it was on fire. And if it had ice, a single touche could freeze the part of the body that the blade touched. While magic users have the powers to have any affinity with any spell, this gives any non magic user the chance to have an edge in battle, especially since magic all have counteracting traits, how fire and ice counter one another, and water is nullified by electricity. That is only the basics of magic, there are many more complex rules and knowledges that one would need to know to be an efficient mage, but that is for another time.
“Runes can usually only be engraved with the tool I am using right now, but if you’re in the middle of a battle and can’t use the tool, there is a simple version of this you can do for a small temporary use of magic. If you have any substance that can be traced onto the blade, just take some onto your finger, and just quickly draw the symbol you want. But again, that is temporary and will fade out after a small amount of time, so you have to know what you want and when, because to change the temporary seal you also need to erase the first to make the second. There are a lot of rules you need to follow with enchantments and these are just the basics.” Saria went on a rant, Draga listening intently as he was interested in what she was saying, his attention on everything she had said.
“But, what about people like Lynx and King Drax? His majesty alone can change his elemental status on command, but doesn’t ever seem to change any seals and runes. Is it different if someone is born with magic in them?” He asked her curiously, sitting down on the ground next to here and listening like a little kid listening to his teacher, Draga was eager to know how it all worked.
“Good eye, but King Drax is actually a special case, as is Lynx. They’re born with magic tendencies, Verius was born to a family of mages with one sword fighter father, and Drax was born as a mage but learned how to use a sword. If you pay attention enough to how they fight, their weapons are a special type of thing called a catalyst. A catalyst is a type of weapon or staff that has most of the runes engraved into it. I will just King Drax’s sword as an example, on the flat side of the sword and parts of the handle, you will see all the runes of basic magic on it, that is how a magic swordsman gets their abilities, and a catalyst is the method of using such spells. The thing with Catalyst types is also that anything can be a catalyst. When Prince Marz and Lynx showed up, we were attacked by a group of mages that were using magic without a catalyst and that was because they were using the deadliest type of catalyst, the body.” She kept going on.
Catalysts came in all forms, and it was always safer to use one like Saria mentioned, but the deadliest type of catalyst being the body was more deadly towards the host body. The method of using the body as a catalyst is to take a knife and engrave the symbols into your skin, piercing the skin and bleeding to form a wound that looked like the rune. The reason this is deadly is because it is how you also make a special kind of spell, a more deadly version of basic magic, the corrupted spells. A corrupted spell is formed when the rune of a basic magic type if formed, but then slightly altered, and because of blood and wounds, it is possible for the wound to heal some and lose parts of the rune. A corrupt spell can even potentially corrupt the use and make them go psychotic.
Draga nodded as he examined his own swords and smiled as he put it back on his back in its sheath. He was debating if runes would benefit him but decided against it. He stood up and smiled as he looked at Saria’s Dagger, nodding as he was intrigued. “Thank you for sharing that information with me Saria, you’re really smart and knowledgeable about what you do.” He smiled as he praised what she had told him, Saria smiling back as she felt some pride building up.
“You’re welcome Draga, and if you ever have any other questions about runes, feel free to ask me, I have a whole notebook full of information that I hope to one day pass onto a generation of heroes who can use it.” She smiled, that last part being a bit more of something she knew thanks to Nomad, but she wasn’t going to elaborate on it, as she wanted to watch the events unfold for themselves and watch as her knowledge might get used. She sent Draga off and went back to working with her dagger, wanting to finish it up before she went to do anything else for the day.
Listening from outside her room in the balcony window was a hooded figure, with a mask that covered their identity. This figure seemed to be eavesdropping for information and nodded as they leapt from the balcony and onto the castle walls, carefully walking down them to head towards the town. “So, the enchantress knows the secrets of magic, and possibly even the corruption spells. We can’t risk that information getting out, we need to take her out, her and anyone who knows about these runes. No one but the Scholars must know about corrupt spells and what power they hold, the Scholars will rule this world with them.” They laughed and leapt from the walls and into a small portal they summoned on command, taking them to parts unknown.
![Tale to the King [Arc: 1] [Chapter 11]](https://sf.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2337/2337707_YusukeNakamura_2284954_yusukenakamura_img_3244_noncustom.jpg "Tale to the King [Arc: 1] [Chapter 11]")
![Tale to the King [Arc: 1] [chapter: 13]](https://sf.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2385/2385643_YusukeNakamura_834dfcda-4a15-49d1-92d3-8d44fc668be3_noncustom.jpg "Tale to the King [Arc: 1] [chapter: 13]")
