Rune Seeker

“I won’t let that happen,” Hiral finally said. “I won’t let everything we’ve done – that we’re going to do – be forgotten.”

“Your Rune of Eclipse?” Seena asked.

“If I have to,” Hiral said.

“So, what, do we rush to complete the Cradle then?” Wule asked. “Then, what? That quest you shared with us talks about three Black Gates we need to close. We don’t even know where they are.”

“We know one is in Tomorrow’s Vigil,” Left pointed out. “And, if I had to guess, it’s somewhere near that mountain with the crescent peak we saw in the other dungeons from Ascender’s Tower.”

“Can you figure out where that is, Left?” Seena asked the double.

“Probably,” Left said. “If we find another Asylum with a working map. It shouldn’t be that difficult, though it may be time consuming to scour different areas for that particular mountain.”

“It’s got to be near a coast,” Seeyela said. “We had that boat dungeon, after all.”

“As well as the farmland,” Nivian added.

“Should we go do that… now?” Seeyela asked. “Skip the rest of the Cradle and focus on that?”

“Gauto?” Ilrolik cut in. “What do the other Academics think of your theory?”

“I’ve only shared it with Melitor,” Gauto said, referring to his mentor-slash-supervisor. “He believes it has merit, but we need to discuss it with others. Given the… implications of it, we haven’t shared it widely yet.”

“So, you could be incorrect,” Ilrolik said slowly. “Or, be missing a key piece of information…”

“Oh, I could be missing all kinds of key pieces of information,” Gauto admitted. “This is all a theory. One almost as wild as anything Hiral comes up with. And I’d love to be wrong.”

“It explains too much for you to be wrong,” Hiral said. “Or, for you to be very wrong. If you’re not completely correct, I’m sure there’s at least some truth in what you’re saying.”

“Then you’ll leave?” Ilrolik asked.

“You wouldn’t come with us?” Seena asked right back. There wasn’t anger in her voice, more a touch of disappointment and resignation. Then, her head turned to Nivian and Wule.

“We’ll go with you,” Nivian said without missing a beat. Wule, right next to him, nodded his agreement.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Hiral finally said. “We need to finish things here. For our sakes, and for theirs.” He gestured to the small groups still chatting around them. “They aren’t prepared to deal with Vorinal.”

“Then they’re definitely not prepared to deal with the Raze,” Seeyela said. As soon as she did, though, she shook her head. “Neither are we, I don’t think. We need trial rewards as much as they do.”

“There’s that,” Hiral said. “And, really, even if Gauto is completely right, we don’t know how long we have until our behaviors change. We could have minutes, or we could have years.”

“More likely somewhere in between,” Gauto said.

“What’s the plan, Mr. Raid Leader?” Seena asked him.

Hiral blew out a breath before he answered. “First, I want each of you to know, I will find a way to stop this memory thing from happening. Even if I have to rewrite what Amin Thett did to set up the PIM – I will find a way.”

“You think you can replicate – or change – what one of the greatest of our kind did?” Li’l Ur asked. “Something he sacrificed his immortal like to accomplish.”

“If I have to,” Hiral said. “Yes.”

Li’l Ur crossed his little, lich arms across his tiny chest. “That’s the kind of confidence and ambition I like to see in my would-be apprentices. Godlike power, as if it’s any normal day of the week. World-shaping desire, like it’s putty in your hands. Planetary domination in my Mistress’s name. I’m sorry, hungry one,” he looked at Gauto. “Apprenticeship applications are closed.”

“Not sure I was talking about planetary domination,” Hiral said, at the same time Gauto mouthed, ‘Hungry one?Really?’.

“You get used to it,” Seena said.

“It kind of worries me if that’s true,” her older sister said from beside her.

“You still didn’t tell us the plan,” Loan pointed out. “If we’re staying here, you must have a reason why.”

“You sound like you would’ve gone with him…” Ilrolik said, turning her head to look at the Shaper beside her.

“I wasn’t there when Hiral needed me before,” Loan said. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Ugh, he was a bad influence on you,” Ilrolik said. “You didn’t used to be so stubborn. Or put points into dexterity!”

“Times change,” Loan said. “We need to change with them. Or, considering the topic, maybe that’s not as true as I believed…”

“It will be,” Hiral said. “This time. We’ll make it true. As for the plan,” he continued before anybody asked about it again. “It hasn’t really changed. We still need to get our hands on Vorinal to see if he can give us any information about the Raze, or tell us where the other Black Gates are. That means we need to clear the Cradle. It also means we need all of us to be A-Rank, and soon.”

“Trial running?” Seena asked.

“Trial running,” Hiral agreed. “We’ll stick around for the next beast wave, like Dad asked, but we’ll also tell him about Gauto’s theory at the same time. I hate to be selfish about this, but we need to be out there getting experience and trial rewards.”

“When push comes to shove,” Seeyela said. “The PIMP’s plan – as much as I don’t trust that thing – does seem to revolve around you and your runes, Hiral. If you’re going to be the center of attention, the rest of us need to be strong enough to keep you safe. Sure, having D-Rankers get more powerful will be great for later…”

“If we have a later,” Wule said. “Sounds like we could all lose our memories – sort of – or stop caring about the Raze long before some of these other people are capable of helping us.”

“It’s true,” Hiral admitted. “And they can keep running trials at the same time we are. We need them for the Cradle, after all. It’s when we finish the Cradle we have to think about too.”

“So, we get out there and run trials until the rest of us have enough experience to Rank-up,” Seena said.

“Mechanized?” Ilrolik asked.

“Not yet,” Hiral said. “I think we need to speed up, but be careful not to rush. Us dying to dumb mistakes because we were taking unneeded risks won’t be any better than losing our memories. We’ll ask Dad what B-Rank trials are out there, even if Burs and his team has already cleared them and gotten the schematic reward. If it’s good experience – and fast – we’ll check it off our own list quickly. It would be great if we could find the teleportation network schematic, but, since we can’t guarantee it, we won’t focus on it.”

“How long do you think before we go out again?” Nivian asked.

“Dad estimates we’ll see a beast wave in the next twenty hours, at the most,” Hiral said. “I’m hoping a lot sooner than that. In the meantime, I’ll use my clones to do some additional scouting, especially in those B-Rank zones. Maybe even in the very limited A-Rank territories as well. The more trials we have to choose from, the better.”

“What about the rest of us?” Ilrolik asked.

“Be ready,” Hiral said. “That’s the big thing. Maybe also check out the crafting building, see if any of what they offer there speaks to you. Ideally, we get you all advanced classes before we evolve to A-Rank, but…”

“But we can’t hold off on the hopes of it maybe happening,” Ilrolik said. “We already understand that. It’s too bad, but we understand.”

“At least we made out like bandits from The Playhouse,” Seeyela said. “As far as advanced classes. Nivian, your party got what… three? Ilrolik, was it two or three? We got Romin’s – his True-Bonded Onslaught – and Seena’s (Lost) Gloriosa of Rebirth.”

“Which is both impressive and terrifying,” Wule said. “I’ll never look at lilies the same way again.”

“I haven’t even had to go all-out yet,” Seena said, winking at Wule.

That, of course, made her sister sitting beside her give her a slap on the shoulder. She liked winking about as much as she liked the PIMP’s plans for them. Which just made everybody around her more inclined to do it to annoy her.

“As for your question,” Nivian said. “We got three advanced classes from the trial in The Playhouse.”

“Probably because Seena was right,” Wule added. “About doing the A-Rank trial while we were B-Rank. At least from the way Igwanda described the feeling.”

“I’m glad the risk turned out to be worth it,” Seena said. “Like me, in those two trials we did, I don’t think anybody really had to give it their all. How are the advanced classes you got?”

Nivian gave Wule a small nod to start.

“Igwanda got a class called One True Shot,” Wule said. “And, as you can expect from her usual bow-fetish, it revolves around the weapon. It’s kind of like Balyo’s original fighting style, with a focus on bigger, individual shots. I’m a little worried it makes our party a little too focused on single-target damage, but we’ll have to find a way to work around it.”

“We will,” Nivian said. “Finotol hasn’t gotten her advanced class yet, but she’s been actively working on how she can hit multiple targets at once. She knows it’s her weakness. As for Bash…”

Wule barked out a laugh at the same time the Troblin looked up from where he seemed to be shining his hammer. Since the Fist of the First looked like it was made from raw stone, the undead wasn’t making much progress. Didn’t seem to bother him, though.

“Bash’s new advanced class is Wrath of the Land,” Wule explained. “Seems like his new hammer is part of the inspiration, and he has a few abilities that make him an absolute terror as long as he stays on the ground most of the time.”

“And doesn’t wear any boots,” Nivian added. “Not that he ever has anyway.”

“Huh,” Seeyela said. “Won’t that be a problem if you run into another dungeon like The Plateau of Four Valleys?”

“Not with Dole in the party now,” Nivian said. “He’s also why I’m not too worried about our single-target damage. One of his abilities is called Chains of the Uninvited, and it…”

The tank trailed off as a slap echoed around the stew pot from Hiral’s hand hitting his own forehead.

“Of course,” he said, shaking his head. “How did I never see that before?”

“See… what?” Seena asked him, clearly worried about his sanity as she watched his free hand.

“That tattoo – Chains of the Uninvited – creates chains that magically double as they chase down their targets. They almost never give up, and with a strong enough Shaper, there could be dozens of them at any one time. Maybe more than a hundred.”

“So?” Seena asked.

“And, the uninvited. As in a guest who wasn’t supposed to be here…” Hiral said.

“The old goat!” Seeyela said, pointing at Hiral. “The same ability he used to toss you into the portal.”

“Exactly!” Hiral said. “Like Tomorrow said, our tattoos are based off old stories. That damn goat was the source of this one. It’s not exactly the same, but close enough I should’ve seen it. Either way, it’s a great tattoo.”

“It is,” Nivian agreed. “Dole can use it to bring targets down to the ground for Bash to…”

“SMASH!” the Troblin shouted.

“Yes, to smash,” Nivian agreed. “They can also be used to hold targets in place while the others cut down one target at a time if they need to.”

“Then there’s your advanced class,” Wule said. “And since the cat – your Aspect – is out of the bag, you don’t have to keep holding it in reserve.”

“True,” Nivian said. “Without Politet around anymore, we can finally trust our entire party.”

Despite Nivian’s words, there was some sadness in his voice. He’d really tried to give the other undead the benefit of the doubt. To give him a place to be welcome. Politet had never taken it. Worse, he’d tried to kill Hiral. That’d been the last straw, sending Nivian into a terrifying rage.

And unlocking his second advanced class – Ascendent of Death’s Door – which tapped into both his connection with his sponsor, Landbreaker, and his desire to protect. As he explained, his class decided who passed through that door, and who didn’t. By his own hand, if need be. After seeing how he’d dealt with Politet, Hiral had no doubt at all Nivian had the power to back up the claim.

“And your group, Ilrolik?” Seena asked. “It was Yully and Drahn who got advanced classes, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” the big Shaper said, though she and Loan were both chuckling and shaking their heads. “Yully’s new class is really quite good. Grove Keeper, it’s called.”

“Then why are you laughing?” Seeyela asked.

“Because it excels at regrowth and regeneration, especially of limbs,” Ilrolik explained. “In fact, her ability even gets bonuses specifically when she’s regrowing feet.”

“Oh, you’re kidding?” Seeyela groaned. “Because of Devison?”

“Exactly that,” Ilrolik said. “You should’ve seen her face when she got it. I’m still not sure if she was thankful or furious at Devison for it.”

“Knowing her, a little bit of both,” Seena said. “And Drahn’s has something to do with his Pollen Poison?”

“Yes, Wind of the South,” Ilrolik said. “The main thing is that most of his abilities naturally have the same effect as his Pollen Poison, so he doesn’t have to pick and choose as much. Also a few other abilities for direct damage against anything afflicted with the poison.”

“Why the weird name?” Seeyela asked, and everybody looked at her.

“Says the Malice of Greed,” Seena said.

“Yeah, but that one makes…” she cut herself off before she could completely admit the advanced class perfectly fit her tendency to take things that caught her fancy.

“It’s not so surprising, if you know the old story,” Loan said. “We have a tattoo, Breath of the Four Winds. An S-Rank tattoo, so most people can’t use it fully, but each of the cardinal directions has a wind with a different effect.”

“The south wind,” Hiral picked up. “It carries poison.”

“Huh, more connections between stories,” Seena said.

“I feel like we’re just getting started, and we’ll keep seeing more and more as we unlock advanced classes and new abilities,” Hiral said.

“It’s interesting only Growers got advanced classes in your group,” Seeyela pointed out.

“We think it’s because they’d spent more time on the surface,” Ilrolik said.

“And, Hiral, you believe one of the crafting professions…” Loan said. “I think that’s what they’re calling them now – professions. Anyway, you think one of them might lead to an advanced class for us?”

“My base class as a Builder was Runic Artificer,” Hiral said. “Sure sounds like it was meant to be a crafting class.”

“Then you became an adrenaline junkie,” Seena said.

“He always was,” Loan said. “Had to be to live on the edge like he was with a dexterity build.”

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“That was mainly my sister challenging Shapers on my behalf,” Hiral deadpanned. “Which, since you’re sitting right here and I’m not quite as afraid of you as I used to be… you never did anything about that!”

“Meh, built character,” Loan shrugged.

“It could’ve split my character in two,” Hiral pointed out.

“So? You split yourself into three, and it seems to have worked out pretty well for you. You should practically be thanking me. And, speaking of duels, you still owe me a practice spar.”

“You can play with Right,” Hiral said, thumbing towards his punchy-double. “I’ve got too much on my plate right now.”

“We can invite Yanily along,” Right said. “You’ll love it.”

“Hrm,” Loan said, rubbing his chin. “Not quite the same, but we’ll give it a try.”

“Good,” Hiral said. “Then, fill your parties in on what the plan is. Get some rest while you can, cause once we go out, we’re going to go hard. Soon as that beast wave is taken care of.”

“We have any idea what the reward is for completing three beast waves?” Wule asked. “Anybody gotten it yet?”

“Maybe after this next wave,” Hiral said. “I don’t think anybody has it yet. Or… you know what, I’m not sure. I’ll ask Dad when I got talk to him.”

“You think he’ll let us go?” Seena said.

“Hate to say it, but he won’t have a choice,” Hiral said.

“Going rogue doesn’t set a good example,” Nivian said quietly.

“Then I really hope we get his permission,” Hiral said. The ‘good son’ in him didn’t want to go against his father’s wishes, regardless of his status as a member of the Trust or not. But, waiting, with the potential risk of the behavior wipe – or whatever they were going to call it – really trumped that feeling.

There was the question of ‘What makes my judgement better than Grandmother and her council or experienced advisors?’. Did he and the others ‘know better’? They just might, and his gut was telling him that taking his time wasn’t the right call.

Well, again, I hope Dad and the others agree with us when we tell them. They should, right? It makes sense.

“I’m getting a pair of new tattoos within the hour,” he continued after the inner dialogue. From the looks on the faces of the others, he wasn’t the only one considering the implications of their decision. “I’ll talk to Dad then.”

“I’d ask if you’ll recover quickly enough,” Loan started. “But, I’ve seen how that regeneration of yours works. Not to mention your solar attributes.”

“They’re almost as crazy as his theories,” Gauto said, somehow with another full bowl of stew in his hands since he wasn’t the center of attention any longer.

“Don’t think you aren’t coming with me,” Hiral said to his friend. “Need to lay it out for them like you did for us.”

“What about the rest of the Trust?” Seena asked. “Might save time if we try to get them all to listen at the same time.”

“Not a bad idea,” Hiral said.

“We’ll get Grandmother,” Seeyela said. “She’ll make Aunt and Uncle join when we tell her its important.”

“We can probably ask Romin to talk to Fyre and Ceelia,” Seena added.

“Then we should probably get to it,” Hiral said. “The more warning they have, the more likely they are to be able to attend. Why don’t we go find Romin,” Hiral said to Seena.

“I’ll go find Grandmother, then,” Seeyela said.

“I’ll go with you,” Wule said, slipping the rain-rejecting ‘bookmark’ between the pages of his book. The next second, it had vanished into his Interspatial Ring, and he stood, dusting himself off. “Why don’t you stay here and keep handing out lunch?” he told his brother.

“Makes me think you’re planning to get up to no good while I’m busy,” Nivian replied.

“Don’t be silly,” Wule replied. “Besides, I’ll have Seeyela keeping me out of trouble.”

“Now I’m doubly worried,” the twin said.

Just about two hours after parting from around the stew pot, Hiral sat in a makeshift tattoo-chair, his father and mother on either side of him. Each had their heads down and their full attention on the work they were doing on the palms of his hands.

Gauto and most of the Trust had already left, the conversation going surprisingly well, with the group of advisors – and Grandmother – agreeing the Academic’s theory had to much potential to ignore. If they acted – and let Hiral’s group focus on leveling – and Gauto was wrong, the ‘worst’ that could happen was they’d end up with a stronger A-Rank raid group. On the other hand, if they did nothing and Gauto turned out to be right, well, then they were facing extinction at the hands of the Raze when they forgot they were even fighting them.

Fyre had even suggested they skip waiting for the beast wave, and ‘just get out there already’. The others talked her down from that extreme, and that left Hiral there with his parents tattooing his palms. Seena sat nearby with his sisters – who were on a short break from trial running to recuperate – while the rest of their raid group likewise recovered.

“You know,” Sera started, and Hiral damn-near clamped his hand closed at the sound of her voice. He’d been dreading this moment the entire time. Knowing she could talk, and he couldn’t’ leave. Not with the tattoos half-done. “I think the last time we did this, you were five.”

“Daggers of En and Sath?” Elezad said without looking up from where he worked on Bond of the Hidden Prince. The man’s hand moved methodically and sure, the needle barely even biting as he worked. Then again, part of that may’ve been Hiral’s B-Rank body, and his growing familiarity with pain.

“Exactly,” Sera replied to her husband. “Those were the only ones we did simultaneously like this.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Elezad countered… carefully? “The Wings of Anella, we did those at the same time too. To improve their synchronicity.”

“Hiral was lying down on the table for those,” Sera said without missing a bit, though Hiral caught her eyebrow rising, even though she didn’t look up. It was a gesture he recognized all too well from dealing with Nat and Milly.

The I-dare-you-to-contradict-me eyebrow. The results of it never went well for Hiral, and he doubted his father would fare much better.

“That’s true,” his father said smoothly. “Hard to believe the daggers were our first joint project.”

“None of our other clients deserved both our attention,” Sera said. “Despite what they may’ve claimed. It requires a significant amount of extra energy to do two tattoos at the same time.”

“It does?” Hiral asked his mother before he could stop his mouth.

And, it wasn’t his imagination her quill stopped for a fraction of a second at him talking to her. Even Elezad’s had slowed, but the two were both far too professional for that to last more than a heartbeat.

“It does,” Sera said, her voice taking on a tone he only vaguely remembered from his toddler years. The one she used when she explained something to him, usually after he’d asked ‘why’ seventeen-thousand times.

Why is the sky blue? Why do clouds move? Why is the sun always above them? Why doesn’t the sun make the clouds or sky yellow? Why doesn’t the sun sleep? Why is up, up?

… why don’t you love me?

Hiral clenched his teeth at that last one. He’d asked that question more than any other, but never out loud. He couldn’t bring himself to face the truth he thought he’d known – that he was too broken to love.

That… didn’t turn out to be what it was, but the sting of growing up like that still hadn’t quite faded.

“You know that solar energy comes from both the Artist and the recipient of the new tattoo,” his mother continued in that voice she hadn’t used with him in over a decade. “That doesn’t changewhen two Artists are working on the same person. In fact, if we let it – we’re purposely not – the strain would likely make you pass out.”

“Maybe not Hiral with his stats,” Elezad said. “Most others would definitely be unconscious before we were halfway finished.”

“You could have a point,” Sera admitted. “It’s not worth risking.”

“Bad consequences?” Hiral asked. He’d already broken his unspoken rule not to talk to her, so he might as well get as much information as he could.

“Usually temporary ones,” Sera said, another brief pause of her quill. “Aside from unconsciousness, we see can see reduced solar energy control, slowdown of thought and reaction speed, sensitivity to light, and severe headaches.”

“A lot like a hangover after getting blackout drunk,” Elezad said with a chuckle. “Definitely don’t recommend it.”

“To prevent that in a normal client,” Sera picked up. “Your father and I use an additional amount of our own solar energy to bridge the gap. On the plus side, it better allows us to guide the process, since it’s our own energy instead of yours.”

“Downside is it takes longer for the tattoo to settle,” Elezad said.

“Then why are you doing it for me, now?” Hiral asked. “Wouldn’t it be faster to see if my body can handle the extra drain?”

“There is an additional benefit,” Sera said. “By using my own solar energy as the primary source, I’m better able to connect with your father’s energy – which I am very familiar with – to make sure the two tattoos have near one-hundred-percent compatibility. Additionally, as I have inked a number of your other tattoos, I can also connect them.

“Your father tells me Left has managed to combine both Heralds into one – the Herald of the Unending Cycle, I believe he called it – as well as the Way of Shadow and the Touch of the Primal. Tell me, has Left been able to merge the two Daggers of En and Sath into its staff form?”

“More of a two-bladed sword, really,” Hiral said.

“Ah, so I take it he did!” Sera said. At that, his parents paused, looked up to meet eyes with each other, then smiled. “It worked.”

“It did,” Elezad said. “Told you it would.”

“What worked?” Hiral asked.

“The two dagger tattoos are S-Rank,” Sera said, the parents resuming their tattooing while she spoke. “So, the number of people who get even one of them is quite small. As for those who have both, well, there aren’t any that came after you that we inked.”

“And,” Elezad picked up. “Even if they have both the Dagger of En and the Dagger of Sath, none of them have been able to combine them into its staff... uh… two-bladed-sword form. The two tattoos didn’t have enough compatibility.”

“It was your father’s idea for us to do both tattoos at the same time,” Sera continued. “To try and increase the likelihood you’d be able to combine the daggers. He believed that by doing them together – and linking our solar energy while we did them – it would build a natural connection into the pair. It seems it worked.”

“Could be his natural talent,” Elezad said.

“Left’s natural talent, you mean,” Hiral replied. “Still not me using the tattoos.”

“Left is you,” Sera said. “At least part of you. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Instead of arguing the point – despite modesty damn-near demanding it – Hiral instead thought more about what his parents were saying about his tattoos. And, it probably wasn’t his imagination Nat and Milly seemed to be listening closer again. Both were still Artists, and Nat especially had a real skill for it. Milly, on the other hand, had begun researching ways to use tattoos to create permanent solutions for otherwise untreatable conditions.

High-Rank magic could cure a lot of things, but there weren’t that many high-Rank healers. Instead, what could a permanent, lower-Rank tattoo achieve? Like a buff, in a lot of ways. That had been Milly’s goal – and it still was.

“When you were doing all my tattoos,” Hiral started. “Were you linking them up?”

“As we added them,” Elezad said. “Yes. It ended up taking a little longer for each, but we had a theory…”

“You had a theory,” Sera corrected. “You shouldn’t sell yourself short either.”

“Fine, I had a theory,” Elezad started. “And we refined it.”

“What was the theory?” Nat asked, the two sisters actually coming over to watch what their parents were doing.

As if that were the cue for a short break, both Sera and Elezad straightened up from where they’d been leaning intently over Hiral’s hands.

Then, before Elezad responded to his daughter, he instead gently turned Hiral’s arm over and pointed at the Meridian Line running up his outer forearm.

“How many parts are there in the Meridian Lines?” he asked Nat instead of answering her question.

“That’s a trick,” Nat said. “And you know it. The Meridian Lines – despite the name – are all one system. There are no parts to it. Even if you do it a little at a time, it all connects to itself. We start with the central sun where the Measure implants us, then branch out from there as people get older. It doesn’t matter if it takes a week – which is basically impossible – or five years, the Meridian Line system just keeps growing until it’s complete. There are no parts.” She repeated that last bit to make sure he didn’t miss how important it was.

“Correct,” Elezad said, unsurprisingly beaming pride at his daughter. “We call them lines – plural – but they’re really all just one large, complicated, single entity. As we ink the system – each line or node – we connect them to whatever was inked before.

“For more than ninety percent of the population, this isn’t even done by the same Artist through the life of the work. Most Shapers, for example, have anywhere from three to five Artists work on their Meridian Lines until they have the complete set. See, we even call it a set, though, like Nat explained, it’s just one system.”

“Really?” Hiral asked, thinking back. “But…”

“We did your complete Meridian Lines and tattoos,” Sera said, intuiting what Hiral was going to ask. “This was part of your father’s theory.”

“Which nobody has explained yet,” Milly pointed out.

“Haven’t I?” Elezad asked.

“No, all you talked about what how Meridian Lines are one…” she trailed off, eyes slowly widening. “Oh.”

“There’s my girl,” Elezad said. A glance in Nat’s direction showed she’d reached the same conclusion, her eyes darting left and right like she was considering the implications.

“Uh…” Seena held up a hand. “For those of us here who aren’t Artists – or who didn’t grow up in a family of them – what’s the theory?”

“Nat, why don’t you start?” Elezad directed the question to his oldest daughter.

“Sure,” the girl said, though her mind was still obviously working a mile a minute. “Like Dad said, Meridian Lines, when complete, are just one large ‘whole’. If it’s done right – and it usually is – there’s no breaks or sections. It just… flows. Like the energy through it. With me so far?”

“Yeah,” Seena said. “Like our PIMs too, though they grow inside us. They’re just one plant from one seed.”

“Exactly,” Nat said. “Except, because most Makers have three-plus different Artists working on their Meridian Lines, we sometimes see some fluctuations in how well they work. Part of the job of the later Artists – especially near the completion of the Meridian Lines – is to smooth out these imperfections. Make it so everything flows evenly throughout the body.”

“Can I ask a question?” Seena stopped Nat. “Why do you need so many Artists to work on the Meridian Lines? Why doesn’t one Artist just do the whole thing?”

“One, it’s a lot of work,” Nat said. “Second, it’s usually done over the course of anywhere from five to fifteen years, depending on the class of the person getting inked, and their natural solar energy attributes. Asking one Artist to keep their schedule clear for fifteen years is a pretty big ask. It tends to be more convenient for everybody to work with multiple Artists.”

“I’ll add here,” Sera said. “Because you likely aren’t familiar with some of the things we take for granted. Inking is such a common part of our lives – especially Meridian Lines – we have a system in places where most people get inked by established groups of Artists who work together. These Artists become so familiar with each other’s energy signatures, it makes it much easier to smooth out those imperfections Nat mentioned.

“For example, if a young Shaper came to me for their Meridian Line inking, they’d actually be coming to me, Elezad, and three others we work closely with. That way, during the lifecycle of the Meridian Line inking, it could be any of us five doing the work, depending on our schedules.”

“The better the Artists know each other’s energy,” Elezad picked up. “The less imperfections you see when somebody new picks up the work, also. Sera and I, for example – and pardon my lack of modesty for the moment – are nearly flawless when we work with each other. There’s a little more effort needed when the other three are involved, though they are each excellent at their jobs. We just don’t work with them as much as we have with each other.”

“And this is where you got your idea from, isn’t it?” Nat asked her father. Then she tilted her head like something had just occurred to her. “Two ideas, I guess, if I’m right.”

“Sounds like you are,” Elezad said.

“And those theories are…?” Seena prompted.

“Sorry,” Nat said. “The first is probably that if the two of them – and only the two of them – did Hiral’s Meridian Lines themselves, there would be less imperfections. They’re so familiar with each other’s energy, it’s almost like one person doing the entire thing.”

“It’s more than that,” Milly interrupted. “Because they were doing it at the same time, they were increasing the synergy of the lines. Making the expansion of the lines symmetrical, easier for the body to handle.”

The younger girl looked at Seena before she continued. “If somebody gets their line on just one arm, then doesn’t get the other arm for a long time – over a year – we see their solar energy movement become sluggish later on. Like it doesn’t know it should be traveling into the paths in the other arm. There are treatments and practices to improve on it, but it can be really time consuming to correct.

“For Hiral, by doing both sides at the same time, his body didn’t get any of that… confusion. If our parents did it right, his solar energy would move naturally from the very beginning. It’s genius!”

“Then…” Seena started slowly. “Why didn’t you two know about it? Why isn’t everybody doing it?”

“Because,” Hiral spoke up, having already figured it out. And, nobody else would be willing to say it. “Because they didn’t think it worked. In fact, they thought it might be why I couldn’t use my solar energy. They worried they broke me by doing things differently. Or, at least that had been part of it.”

Elezad’s hand wrapped gently around Hiral’s wrist – the man was avoiding his in-process palm – and squeezed.

“It’s true,” his father said. “We suspected it was… you know,” he glanced toward his wife’s stomach where the glyph of fertility lay hidden beneath her clothes. “But, on the off chance it was how we inked you…? We didn’t want to risk anybody else.”

Seena gave them a moment of quiet before speaking again. “What’s the second theory, then? None of this explains how it connects to Left and the Daggers.”

“Milly?” Elezad prompted, hand still around Hiral’s wrist.

“It’s both simple and complicated,” Milly started. “But, look at it this way. While the Meridian Lines are all one ‘thing’, each of the tattoos is an individual entity. They’re loosely connected to the Meridian Lines, but that’s all it is – connected. They aren’t part of the Meridian Lines.”

“So, you’re saying…” Seena started slowly. “You two,” she spoke to Hiral’s parents, “did more than connect them to the Meridian Lines? You made them part of the larger system?”

“That was our goal, yes,” Elezad said.

“Which we succeeded at,” Sera pointed out.

“And that’s… better?” Seena asked.

“Think about it this way,” Elezad said. “If a Shaper had their Meridian Lines and two tattoos, they would basically have three separate entities in their body. Each would operate independently of each other. While it might not sound like much, this would create delays and detours for moving solar energy around the body. More than that, the tattoos would never truly interface with each other. Yes, they could be used at the same time, but they couldn’t be used together.”

“Like Left’s two Herald tattoos,” Seena reasoned out.

“Correct,” Elezad said. “Add in twenty more tattoos, and you’ll see even more delays and detours in energy movement – though, really, they’re rarely considered. It’s just part of the process.”

“But, what you did for Hiral,” Seena said. “Was create a single system to make it easier for him to move energy around his body.”

“Again, that had been our goal,” Elezad said. “Truth be told, we’re not exactly sure how well it worked, aside from Left being able to combine tattoos.”

“Which, alone, is still very impressive,” Sera said.

“It might be more impressive than either of you realize,” Hiral said. “The work you did – even though I couldn’t use the tattoos – I think it kind of primed my body. From what we’ve heard, Builders need to use constructs or devices to manipulate the runes.

“Me? They’re on my body, like tattoos. I’ve been trying to figure out why I was different. Why I could use runes directly. Now? After you explained all this, I think part of it might be because of what you did. You set up this closed, perfect system in me. When I got exposed to runes the first time, they flowed right into that system you’d built.

“Like Amin Thett had set up the framework for the PIMP to follow, the reverse held true inside me. I… don’t know if we could replicate it, since I had my full set of S-Rank tattoos and Meridian Lines since I was a kid, but, yeah, I think that’s what happened. Which means, maybe we can make more of me to…”

“No,” Li’l Ur interrupted from Seena’s shoulder.

“Ur?” Seena asked. “Is this an apprentice thing?”

“Not at all,” Li’l Ur said. “Though, my would-be apprentice is doing just the thing his mother told him not to.”

“Which is?” Hiral asked.

“Underestimating yourself,” Li’l Ur said. “Even if you had this advantage from what your parents did, your understanding of the runes – and the Edicts – is not something that can be gifted. Even Amin Thett did not have your grasp on these concepts. That is saying more than you can understand.

“Yes, if you are correct, what your parents did gave you an advantage. It, however, did not guarantee the result. Your natural curiosity, stubbornness, and choice to pursue the depths of the runes made full use of the advantages at your disposal, and allowed you to reach the heights you have. The further you go down this road, the more it is because of what you do, not what anybody else did for you.”

“Huh,” was all Hiral could say. Part of him was a little disappointed they couldn’t ‘create’ more people like him, using the glyph of fertility and the closed-system of runes and tattoos his parents talked about. Then, the other part of him he wouldn’t talk about publicly was also kind of… happy. That little voice in the back of his head that wanted him to be special.

And, maybe he was?

He couldn’t lie to himself or anybody else about the advantages he had. S-Rank solar attributes. Parents that’d inked this – apparently – amazing system of Meridian Lines and tattoos on his body. His ‘meeting’ with the crystal golem, and the opportunities the PIMP had provided along the way.

Likewise, though, he couldn’t argue he hadn’t put in his own work to make those most of those things.

All of it put together had resulted in him becoming as strong as he had.

And I’m not finished yet. A-Rank? S-Rank? Who says those have to be the limit for me?

He tilted his head back to look up at the false sky of the Cradle of Tomorrow, his mind going to the ‘space’ Tomorrow had taken them within The Playhouse. There were dozens, hundreds, thousands more worlds out there. Yes, his first priority was – of course – kicking the Enemy off Genesis, but, after that? Where would the next challenge take him?

“He’s got that look,” Seena said, standing directly in front of Hiral. “You’d better finish those tattoos before he runs off to do something reckless.”

Hiral lowered his head to look at his party leader. “And takes you with me,” he said.

“Well, of course,” she said. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere without me.”

Sitting on either side of him, his parents shared ‘a look’, then chuckled and got back to work. They had new tattoos too finish, and Hiral had places to be.