2011 - Chapter 1: Katherine

Sunny Hills. Sounds more like a retirement home than the estate of a billionaire shipping magnate, Katherine thought to herself, as the car passed through the large gates. The path began to wind around multiple hills, which explained the "Hills" part of the name, but there was nothing sunny about this place at all. Though the fact that it was well into Winter might have something to do with it. Most of the drive to the Sunny Hills estate had been in silence. Katherine couldn't even remember the last time she had been in a car that didn't clank as she drove it, much less being driven by a chauffeur, but here she was, in the best clothes she could find at such short notice.

If she was perfectly honest with herself, she hadn't expected them to pick her. She didn't even know why she filled in the damn form in the first place. She refused to admit to herself that her situation was beyond her control. Sure, she had just managed to cover last month's credit card bill, but at least she only had one credit card left, down from five. She could probably afford to quit her second job soon, if she kept up her current frugal state. Though what fun was that?

As they approached Sunny Hills Manor, she noticed a few other cars were already there. Some people were carrying bags inside the front door.  She was the fourth to arrive, damn that driver. She wanted to be the first, so that she would be able to suss out the place before anybody else arrived. Time to make a good impression, Katherine psyched herself up, as she quickly tidied up her hair and prepared to step out of the car.

"Ah, Mr Munroe, I presume! Welcome to Sunny Hills." Katherine turned to her left and noticed a short, bald man standing next to a door on the side of the mansion. "Your driver will take your bags inside. We are currently serving refreshments in the drawing room, just this way." Katherine followed him into the side door, which lead into a spacious room decorated with oriental ornaments. In the middle of the room stood a large, oak table where three people were already seated. The man gestured for Katherine to sit. "Would you like a drink? Coffee? Tea?"

"Uh, I'll just have some water, thanks."

"Very well. If you require additional assistance, just ring the bell and a member of staff will be there to serve you shortly." The man left the room.

"Hi, I'm Hayley." Katherine turned to her right and was greeted by a large pair of boobs. Which weren't covered very well. In fact, not very much of Hayley was covered very well. She looked like she was barely eighteen, but she had a very sensual look about her. Wavy, brown hair that went past her shoulders. And long, skinny legs that proved that her boobs must be fake as there was no way someone would be able to have boobs that big and legs that skinny.

Double damn, well, there goes the slutty woman card, Katherine sighed internally. She was hoping to use that to her advantage when she met Mr Neilson - after all, he was a soon to be divorced old man, if the tabloids were to be believed.

"Hi Hayley, I'm Katherine, but please call me Kat." Kat, that's good. Like cat, which is like pussy. That should be enough to make him think of sex. Maybe she was a little more desperate than she wanted to admit, but being here, in Sunny Hills Manor, was making her wonder if maybe it wasn't all some far-fetched dream after all. Could this entire thing be for real?

"Hi Kat, I'm Connor. Pleased to meet you." Seated opposite her was Connor, who was covered up very nicely. His suit jacket probably cost more than her car. His sandy hair was messy from the wind, giving him a casual, friendly look.

"Oh, you're very polite! Please to meet you, too, Connor."

"Hello Katherine, I hope you don't mind if I call you Katherine. I once dated a Kat and I have to say, she wasn't nearly as enchanting as you are." As he spoke to her, he looked up with a large smile plastered on his face.

"Oh!" Katherine feigned a giggle, while she made a mental note to stay away. Every part of him screamed used-car salesman. He was starting to bald and had slicked back what remained of his hair to try to hide it. "And you are...?"

"My apologies. My name is Quentin."

"We were just discussing the decor," Connor explained. "A lot of the decorations around the place seem Asian, but this table seems far too chunky and plain to fit with the delicate and detailed designs on everything else in this room."

"It's almost like Mr Neilson gave someone some money to fill this room up, but they spent it all before they remembered to buy a table!" Hayley gave a hearty laugh, which caused her breasts to bounce up and down. Katherine felt, with a heavy heart, that this would be a recurring theme. Her drink arrived, and she felt this would be a good time to change the subject. "So, what does everyone do?"

"I own a newsagency." Quentin replied. "Things haven't been doing too well lately, though. Everyone reads the news on the Internet now, so sales have gone down quite a lot."

"Have you tried expanding the business into a different area? Maybe add a cafe or rent out movies." Connor suggested.

"We don't really have the money to do that right now. Both of my kids are about to start university."

"Oh, you have twins? How adorable!" Hayley cooed.

Urgh, you can have Slimy McSleaze, Katherine thought. So far, we have the bimbo queen, a middle-aged man who thinks he's God's gift to women, and Connor. What do I think about Connor? Katherine couldn't think anything bad about Connor. Which wasn't a bad thing, he would at least make this whole experience bearable. Now if only she could make it until everyone else arrived without trying to see whether Hayley's boobs would pop if she stabbed them with the butter knife.

1041 / 50000 words. 2% done!

7

Jarrod woke up in an unfamiliar bed. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, and tried to work out where he was. There was a lot of white, was he in the hospital? His recollection of the past day was fuzzy, he had a vague impression of a fire in his mind, but he couldn't recall anything specific happening. Trying to focus on the fire caused his head to hurt, so he stopped and instead went in search of somebody.

As he entered the hall outside his room, he saw a middle-aged woman seated next to his door. "Hi, are you the nurse?" he asked.

"Nurse?! Nurse?!" The woman walked off in a huff.

"Maybe you should be a bit more observant next time, Jarrod," a bemused voice said. "She's the reason you're here."

"Dad? What are you doing here? Who is she? Where am I?" Jarrod asked, in quick succession.

"When they found you in the academy, they weren't sure what to do with you. According to Lars, you've been in a coma for six months. As you hadn't accepted any research offers, as soon as you turned 18, the academy was forced to discharge you to a public hospital. Lars wrote to me telling me what he thought had happened. What were you thinking?""

Jarrod remembered the biblioteca room, and his quest to replicate Cromwell's study, but he couldn't recall what had happened. Was he successful? He searched his body for runes. He was disappointed to find nothing. "What happened to me?"

"Your body wasn't doing too well for a while. We thought you were going to die at one point. Lucky for you, Reena was available to help out. She kept you alive for three months until you started to show signs of improvement. I'm glad you're alive, Jarrod. Although it is beyond me why you attempted such a foolish experiment. If you had bothered to finish reading Cromwell's paper, you would have realised that knowledge of the procedure to acquire runes taints your mind, and immediately makes it impossible for you to acquire one. I thought you were smarter than that."

His father's mixed feelings for him, compounded with the realisation that he would never gain a rune filled Jarrod with despair. He feigned fatigue and pretended to sleep so that his father wouldn't see him cry.

After a few days, they were willing to let him leave on his own, but he was told to check in at home as soon as possible because his mother wanted to know how he was doing. Without having to attend classes anymore, Jarrod felt a feeling of freedom, but also emptiness. He still didn't know what he was going to do. He boarded the train to his house and went home. After eleven years, nothing had changed. The house looked exactly as he had remembered it, a testament to his mother's ability to avoid change.

"Mother? Mother, are you home?" Jarrod called.

"Jarrod, is that you? I'm upstairs. Why don't you get yourself something to eat while I finish getting ready?"

Jarrod went into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and looked inside. There was a lot he wanted to eat, but it occurred to him that he didn't even know how to cook any of it. He decided to wait until his mother was done.

"Jarrod. Welcome home. How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad. Did Father go back to his platoon?"

"Yes, as soon as you woke up, he was required to head back."

"I'm quite hungry, can you make me something to eat?"

"I thought I told you to make something."

"Yes, but I don't know how to use any of this stuff. It feels weird not being able to-"

"Damn useless son." Jarrod's mother sighed and opened the fridge. She stuck something in the microwave and turned to him. "Don't expect me to do everything for you now that you're out of the academy. I have a busy day, and I don't have time to be picking up the pieces after you. Do you understand?"

This was the mother that Jarrod knew. It was one of the reasons he was so happy to be at the academy. His mother wasn't like any of the other mothers taking their sons to the academy. She didn't cry, she never sent him care packages, they only wrote on special occasions. But he was used to it, and as soon as he found a job, he would be independent.

11673 / 50000 words. 23% done!

6

Jarrod found himself in a bright room, filled with a calming essence. It reminded him of the room where he first found out that he was magic sensitive, but this room made him feel a lot better than that room did. There were no toys this time, but there was a chair that seemed like it was meant for him, so he sat down and waited. The door to the room opened, and a man dressed entirely in yellow entered the room. He walked silently across the room, and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Hello, Jarrod, my name is Vinfyr."

"Where am I?"

"This is where you come to be awarded your rune. Although these are unusual circumstances. Normally someone is invited here, but you seem to have invited yourself."

"So what happens now?"

"Well, I am simply the butler of the spirit world, I can't order any of the spirits around. Normally, a spirit would be waiting here to talk to you and give you your rune, but since you are uninvited, there is nobody here to greet you, I'm afraid."

"I can wait for one to be available."

"That's not how it works. A rune is more than a mark granting you the ability to use a certain type of magic. It's a contractual agreement between you and the spirit world. You see, every time someone performs magic in your world, they are not conjuring something out of thin air, they are borrowing the energy of the spirit world and turning it into something else. What that something else is depends on who the contract is made with."

"So why can't I just make a contract with someone?"

"Because nobody wants to make a contract with you."

"Why not?"

"Who knows?" Vinfyr shrugged. "You'd have to ask each of the spirits, but my guess would be it is because none of them like you."

"So how do I make them like me?"

"It's different for each spirit, but they seem to be particularly drawn to people who remind them of how they were when they were mortal."

Jarrod was reminded of Cromwell's list of personality traits. "So send me back, and I'll show them I can be different."

"You can't go back, not without a contract."

"Are you saying I'm stuck here?"

"Well, you could sign a contract now, with me, saying that you'll never use magic again."

"Is that what happens to kids who never get a rune?"

"No, they never come here and so no contract ever has to be signed. You, on the other hand, are already here, and you are not allowed to leave until you sign a contract."

"What will happen to the me in the other world? Will I die?"

"At the moment, your body is in a coma. How long your body lives depends entirely on the people taking care of it. But the moment your body dies, you will disappear from this world, too. So technically, you can stay in this world for as long as your body is alive, but there is a catch. Time passes a lot slower in here than it does out there, so it might only feel like you've been here for a few hours, but in your world, you will have been gone for a few days."

"So you're saying if I take too long to get a contract, I might die?"

"Well, eventually your body will wear out."

Jarrod took a moment to think about his choices. There was nothing for him to do here except wait for one of the spirits to grant him a contract, and if in the entire eighteen years of his life they never saw fit to choose him, then he figured it was unlikely that they would change their mind now. Still, he had come all the way here in order to get magic, and it would be a waste if he were to go home empty handed. If one hour in this world was one day in his world, then he would only have about two and a half years left in this world before his body wore out and he died. Plus, he didn't want to go back to an old, decrepit body even if he did manage to acquire magic somehow.

"OK, I'll sign the no-magic contract."

"Very well. Let me just get the papers, and get everything ready for your departure." Vinfyr left the room.

Jarrod felt as though his whole life up to now had all been for nothing. Almost eleven years at the magic school, and he was going to have to go back to being a nobody. What was he going to do with his life now? He didn't know how to do any of the things non-magical people did, like cook, clean, do something that involved going to an office five out of seven days a week. He would have to go back to living with his family, maybe look into finding some hard labour to help pay the bills.

"So you are the son of Tyrith Lightstorm." Jarrod looked up to see a being made of fire. It wore no clothes, and he couldn't see where it was speaking from, but somehow it was talking. It looked like it was going to set the entire room on fire just by standing there, but it singed nothing, and despite the large glow it gave off, Jarrod didn't feel it giving off any heat.

"Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"You would know me as the spirit of fire. Your father has done a great many deeds in my name. It is thanks to him that my worshippers have increased tenfold since he gained his fire rune."

"Oh... I didn't know."

"Yes, well, when you have eternity to live, these little things start to matter to you. Anyway, I'm here because I would like to make you an offer. Although this is unusual, as thanks to your father, I'd like to give you the chance to go back to your world, without taking your magic sensitivity away from you. You would remain there as one of those, what do you call them? Conduits. So you would be allowed to continue your magical study as you were before, but unfortunately, you will never be able to acquire a rune."

Though disappointed that he wasn't being offered a contract for a rune, Jarrod found this to be a much better alternative than going back without any magic at all. "So what's the catch?"

"The catch is, I need you to do something for me. We spirits have always been able to see down into the lives of humans for a very long time. For as long as your people remember having magic. But lately, there has been a bit of a disturbance, and for some reason, there is a small country that we are currently blocked from seeing. That's not to say anything bad is happening there, but we'd still like to know what's going on."

"And you want me to have a look?"

"Yes, and if possible, find the cause of the blockage."

"And at the end, if I find and remove it, would I be able to get a rune?"

"We will discuss this further once you've accomplished the task. Older bodies cannot handle runes, as it takes some getting used to, and once you're too old, you're too set in your ways to be able to properly control the rune. We have tried and failed too many times to want to risk it again, but if you show promise, young Jarrod, then perhaps we will see fit to try once more."

Jarrod's heart lifted at the thought of being able to get his own rune. It might be too late for him to become a great fire mage by the time it happened, but he would still be able to create his own magic rather than having to use borrowed magic from others, like at the academy.

"OK, fire spirit, you have a deal." As soon as the words were spoken, Jarrod felt himself spiraling down into darkness.

10922 / 50000 words. 22% done!

5

During his lunch break the next day, Jarrod told Harold he was going to get more study in, and made his way to the library. He figured that if he was caught, he would be kicked out of the academy, but that would happen anyway if he didn't find a way to get a rune in two days. Unless he wanted to become a research student, which he was still undecided about.

Jarrod began walking around the library. As it was lunchtime, there were many students hanging around the library, trying to finish homework, or get started on exam revision. He saw no way of getting to the biblioteca room without passing by the librarian, as his office was in the hall leading to the room. He walked around, trying to see if there was a different entrance, but there seemed to be no other doors leading into that room, and he didn't remember there being any other doors. His only hope, was waiting for the librarian to eat.

He went and found Harold at the cafeteria, and told him that he wasn't feeling well, so he wasn't planning to go to the earth and life classes. Then he returned to the library, picked a desk with view of the hall leading to the biblioteca room, and waited. While waiting, he managed to get through all of the things he missed in his classes for the day. He missed dinner. He was beginning to think the librarian wasn't even in his office, so he decided to risk it. He grabbed his things and ran for the biblioteca room and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed nobody had followed him in.

Jarrod brought up the index again, and scanned for the article he had missed. His heart was pounding so fast while he waited for it to appear, and he flipped through the pages getting to the part he had stopped at last time. He was so nervous that he began having trouble focusing. He had to force himself to calm down before he could start reading. Cromwell had done a series of experiments with children at the academy trying to find common elements in the children that managed to acquire runes.

He found evidence supporting his initial theories, but he also found a common link between children of various runic types. It seemed that there were certain character traits that seemed to lead to children getting runes of an element. Children who were passionate gained fire runes, children who were peaceful gained water runes. Cromwell had compiled a long list of personality traits and sorted them into the elements he believed they were associated with. He suggested that perhaps children who possessed those traits were better able to understand the element they were able to control. He then proposed a new theory, that rather than runes being genetically linked, they were linked to a person's personality. As people tended to end up being like their parents, it would lead to a lot of children gaining the same runes as their parents.

Cromwell went on to say that from his studies, he found that when children had parents of different runic elements, the disposition of the child was what determined the type of rune they would acquire. Although it wasn't part of his initial research, he gained approval from the magic board, and parental consent, in order to do further research into rune acquisition and personality types. His experiments showed that he was able to manipulate children into getting different runes, by slowly changing their personalities at an early age. He found that using a particular technique caused them to enter what he called a "runic development state" where they would enter a deep sleep, and awaken when they were ready for a rune.

Jarrod was partially horrified that such experiments were being performed on children, but at the same time, he wanted to know how to enter the "runic development state". It sounded like a risk, as Cromwell didn't describe what happened if someone entered the state and didn't manage to get a rune. Still, he needed a rune and time was running out, this might be his only hope. Jarrod knew that if he continued reading, there was no doubt he was going to attempt to replicate the state, so he had to decide now, was that what he really wanted to do?

He thought back to the day he found out he was going to go to the academy.

-----

He had just turned 7, and a man in a long robe came to collect him from his maths class, telling him that he wanted to have a talk. They sat in a small room with no windows for a very long time, and the man didn't say anything. Jarrod was unsure what he was meant to do. There were toys on the table in front of him, but he knew they weren't his, and it was bad to play with someone else's toys without permission so he didn't touch them. Plus, he was a big boy now, and big boys didn't play with toys, they did grown up things.

After while, the man took a rabbit out of his pocket and placed it on the table and held his hands above it. Jarrod was unsure whether it was a toy rabbit or a real one. It looked and moved like a toy rabbit, but when he looked closely, he could see the man holding four strings that connected to the rabbit. The strings made the rabbit look like a puppet, but it seemed to have a mind of its own, the strings weren't controlling it at all.

He noticed the rabbit looking intently at the other toys on the table, and momentarily forgetting his resolve not to play with the toys, he decided to bring them closer so that the rabbit could play with them. They played together for a while, but Jarrod noticed the rabbit kept trying to pull away from the man. It was constantly straining itself against the strings, but the man wouldn't let go.

After watching Jarrod and the rabbit play for a while, the man decided to speak. "Do you like this rabbit, Jarrod?"

"Yes, he's funny."

"Don't you think there's something weird about him?"

"Why are you holding those strings connected to him?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Mr Rabbit can't go anywhere if you hold him back like that."

"Well, I'm not allowed to let go of the strings, but..." he took a pair of scissors out of his pocket. The blades of the scissors were sparkling like diamonds, but seemed to give off a dark aura. "If you want, Jarrod, you can set him free. If you cut the strings, it'll be OK. I'll tell my boss that the strings broke. If I let go and told him they broke, he'd know I was lying, but if you cut the strings, then technically, they did break, so I can tell my boss without lying. Would you mind, Jarrod?" The man handed over the scissors.

Jarrod picked up the scissors. They were heavier than he expected. He positioned them next to one of the strings, and cut it with a loud snipping sound. The rabbit cried out in pain. "What's wrong with him?"

"You just cut one of his life cords."

Jarrod was suddenly filled with dread. "What is that?"

"It's too complicated to explain to you now. What I would like to know is, do you want Mr Rabbit to be free? There are three more strings."

"It hurts him though!"

"It only hurts for a little while. Then he'll be free and it won't hurt anymore."

"I don't want to hurt Mr Rabbit!"

"That's OK, Jarrod, you don't have to hurt him if you don't want to."

"What will happen to him?"

"Oh, I'm just going to take him back to my office."

"Will you look after him?"

"I'm a busy mage, I don't have time to take care of rabbits."

"Can I take him home?"

"You're only allowed to take him if you set him free."

"OK, I'll do it." Jarrod cut each of the strings, wincing in sympathetic pain as the rabbit screamed. At the same time, he started to feel as though he was being filled with a sense of power. It was a strange feeling, but not entirely unwelcome. As he cut the last string, the rabbit flopped down, inanimate. Jarrod screamed out in shock, "Mr Rabbit!"

"Well, that confirms it. You are magic sensitive, Jarrod. It will be interesting to see if you follow in your father's footsteps."

"What will happen to Mr Rabbit?"

"This rabbit is just for the test, there is nothing you can do now to change what has happened to it."

"Did I kill him?"

"Yes, you did. But he is free now, from a certain point of view. If you're destined to follow in your father's footsteps, you have to understand something, Jarrod. Fire is strong, it can create a great many things, and it is because we have fire that we have life, but fire is also destructive, and you might think that you're helping something, only to realise that you're destroying it."

Jarrod burst into tears. His mother later told him that he was too hysterical to return to class for the day, so they sent him home early. In a few months, he was shipped off to the academy to study magic, leaving behind all of his friends.

-----

Jarrod was hit by a sudden feeling of nostalgia. He was not allowed to leave the academy, and his parents weren't allowed to visit, so they hadn't seen each other in almost eleven years. School rules dictated that he would be notified if something serious happened to them, and they were allowed to us the air messaging system to send letters to each other, but his mother was never all that affectionate towards him, and his father was too busy fighting in wars all over the country, so the letters were few and far between.

Perhaps that was why he wanted to become a mage so desperately. If he became a fire mage, he'd be able to fight in the wars with his father. And, if he ended up in a coma for the rest of his life, then he wouldn't have to live with the disappointment everyone would have when they realise he wouldn't live up to his father's legacy. It seemed like the attempt would be a win-win situation, if he framed it like that. He decided that he was going to do it.

Jarrod flipped the page over, and began to read Cromwell's description into the method he used for inducing the runic development state. Following from his findings in relation to personality and runic types, Cromwell found that when a child was hit with a profound thought related to his or her personality type and element, they would fall into the runic development state as their body prepared itself for the change. Cromwell began listing the profound thoughts that he had managed to collect. Jarrod read them, thinking that he could have discovered those profound thoughts on his own if he had tried.

His head started to hurt from so much reading and study, and the list of thoughts began to swirl around in his mind. Jarrod bent over, suddenly feeling unwell. He rested his head on the top of the biblioteca, his vision suddenly growing blurry. The last thing he saw before his vision blanked out, was the librarian running towards him, looking at him in horror.

9561 / 50000 words. 19% done!

4

After dinner, Jarrod headed to the library. He figured any mention of runic research would be in the medical archives. Upon entering the first hall, Jarrod was overwhelmed by the number of volumes stacked on the shelves. He realised it would take years to get through all of the books, and that was just the books in this first hall.

"Would you like some help?" a middle-aged man appeared from the between two of the shelves.

"I'm looking for something about the development of runes."

"Let me just check the indices, wait right here." The librarian went into an office and returned ten minutes later. "It seems we only hold two papers discussing this area, would you like me to retrieve them for you?" Jarrod nodded his head. The librarian left again, and returned carrying two books. "I've bookmarked the two papers. Hopefully this is helpful."

"Thank you very much." Jarrod began reading the papers as soon as the librarian left. Both of the papers were very vague on the topic of rune acquisition. They discussed how children usually acquired runes in their sleep, and most of them reported dreaming about a particular element on that night, but they weren't convinced that the dreams were the cause of the runes, they were perhaps a precursor. Jarrod couldn't recall ever having a dream about any element in particular. He had had dreams where he was a fully qualified mage, but the dreams described in the paper were more along the lines of being visited by an elemental spirit, or feelings of being in an peaceful place, surrounded by water of a particular colour which related to the rune they gained.

He continued reading, but none of the information was very helpful. Most of the content was dedicated to describing any recollections people had during the process. Nothing was about how to make it happen. He began to get frustrated when he noticed that one name popped up over and over again. He checked the reference list at the end of both the papers, and a large portion of the papers referenced belonged to a person named Dieter Cromwell. The titles of his papers seemed a lot more relevant to what he was interested in.

Jarrod approached the librarian. "Excuse me, is there any chance I'd be able to get my hands on these papers?" He pointed to a list he had made of some of the more promising sounding titles.

"Let me see..." the librarian pondered the list. "We can send a request to some of the other libraries around Tahoe."

"How long would it take them to bring the papers here?"

"Usually they'd get merchants to bring them as they pass through, the next merchants are due in about a week."

"Is there a chance we could get the information any sooner?"

"Are you in a rush?"

"Well, my friend collapsed today, and I didn't know what was going on. When we took him to the infirmary, Lars told us that he was getting his first rune, but I've never heard of something like that happening when someone gets their first rune. I just want to see if there are records of it happening before." Jarrod explained. He felt that if he told the librarian that it was for him rather than for Pietro, he would be less inclined to help him out.

The librarian gave Jarrod a sympathetic look. "I see. Well, this is only meant to be used by research students, but I don't see why you couldn't use it as well, since you might become one soon. It's never too early to learn!" The librarian led Jarrod into another room filled with large boxes. Some of the boxes had students sitting in front of them, looking intently at the tops. "This is the real library. With the biblioteca, you can read anything that is currently located in the Farin Library of Magic."

He pressed a button on the side of the machine, and Jarrod heard a whirring sound begin. After a few seconds, a light appeared on the top panel of the box. The librarian fiddled with some knobs on the side and a panel slid out from the bottom. Then started sliding some panels. "In order to display something on the biblioteca, you need to enter that item's number. Pull this lever and it will display what you're looking for. If you enter 0000000001, it will display the current list of items the library holds." The librarian pulled the lever and the light on top of the box dimmed and words appeared. He gestured to the knobs on the other side of the lever. "Use this to turn the pages. I hope you find what you're looking for." He left.

Jarrod looked through the list. He found it sorted alphabetically author, and the pages would turn at a different speed depending on how fast he turned the knob. It didn't take him long to locate Dieter Cromwell. There were seven pages filled with his writings. Jarrod wrote down the numbers of all the articles he thought would be worth reading, and then went down his list, starting with his most recent publishings.

It appeared as though Cromwell was the leading researcher in the field of rune acquisition. He had many theories as to why some magi developed a second rune, and some did not. He had even found a village that contained magi with three runes. Jarrod had never heard anything about this from any of his classes. Dual-rune mages were fairly common, but three?! While he did find that fascinating, it wasn't helping with his current problem of finding one.

The very last paper on the list was titled "The First Rune". In retrospect, Jarrod wondered why he didn't start with this paper first, since it sounded like it was exactly what he was searching for. He entered the number, pulled the lever, and held his breath. The screen didn't change. He pulled the lever again, and the screen remained static. Not sure if he had broken something, he decided to ask one of the other students for help. He picked one who seemed least likely to get angry at him, and explained his problem.

"Oh yeah, they do that sometimes. When the library is updating their holdings the list gets cleared for a few minutes. It'll be back up soon."

"Ah, thanks." Jarrod decided to get something to drink while waiting. As he passed the librarian's office, he could hear two men arguing. He moved closer so that he could make out the words.

"I told you, the kid is desperate, he's not going to give up his search just because someone he barely knows tells him to. If I tell him to stop looking, he'll ask why, and I can't tell him. He seems intelligent and curious we would have to give him a plausible reason and I can't think of one, can you?" Jarrod regonised the librarian's voice.

"Then he will find what he is looking for, and you know the consequences of that." Jarrod nearly gasped in surprise. The other man was Lars. "I don't understand why you let him in there in the first place."

"I didn't realise that was what he was searching for."

"So that leaves us back where we started. How do we stop him? We have about five more minutes to come up with something, because he's so close. If we don't stop him now, then it will be too late."

"Maybe you don't need to stop him, just stall him. You said he only had three days until he turned 18? It's simple. I'll keep him out of the biblioteca room for that long. Then we don't have to worry about him finding out."

It finally dawned on Jarrod that they were talking about him. He tried to come up with ideas for why they wanted to stop him. Was it because of the magi with three runes? As far as he could tell, they weren't at war with them, so it was not like they could pose a threat to the safety of Istvar. He recalled the librarian's words, stating that he was close. That meant they were watching what he was doing, but it also meant that he hadn't found what they were concerned about. Whatever it was, it was in that last paper. All thoughts of a drink forgotten, he hurried back to the biblioteca.

The student he had asked for help earlier turned around and said, "Hey, the system is back up! Shouldn't be a problem to find what you were looking for now."

Jarrod thanked him and sat down at the biblioteca he had been using before. Entering the number again, he pulled the lever and started reading eagerly. Cromwell did appear to be researching rune acquisition. He had proposed a number of theories. Jarrod began to make some notes.

-Runes are inherited: a child of a fire mage is likely to attain a fire rune. A child of mixed parentage had a lower chance of acquiring a rune, however should the acquire one, they had a chance to acquire either rune with a high likelihood of acquiring a second rune of their other parent's element.

-Runes are more likely to appear in children with parents who were magic-sensitive (did not have to be a mage)

-Runes are affected by the environment: a child exposed to water for a majority of their childhood is likely to gain a water rune

(However, there have been cases of a child attaining a rune that belonged to neither of his parents, as well as cases of children of parents with no runes (but some magic sensitivity) attaining a rune. Theories are still unproven)

Jarrod had only finished half of the paper when he was interrupted by the librarian. "I'm sorry, but the higher ups found out that I let you in here, and since you're not a research student, they would like you to leave."

"But I'm almost done! Let me just finish reading this last paper? Please?" Jarrod begged.

"I'm afraid that I've already gotten into trouble for letting you in here, if my boss comes in and sees you in here, I might lose my job. I'm sorry."

"OK. Thank you very much for your help today." Jarrod realised there was no way he was going to get access to that paper through this librarian. He had to find someone who wasn't connected to Lars and convince them to help him. Once he returned to his room, he reviewed what he had learned from the paper so far.

Cromwell had proposed the idea that runes were genetic. Jarrod had pretty much guessed the same himself, that's why people expected Jasmine to end up in water school, because water runes had run in her family for generations. With two fire magi as his parents, he was likely to become a fire mage. Again, something he had pretty much guessed. Since he wasn't of mixed heritage, he saw no reason why he was less likely to get a rune. Though they were still just probabilities, just because he had two fire parents didn't mean he would become a fire mage.

His environment had been fairly fire-based. Family trips were to various volcanoes around Istvar. As far as he knew, the fireplace at his house was always kept going, and when he was little, dinners were always eaten at the fire. Most of his childhood memories involved doing various things around fires. All of the evidence was pointing towards him being a fire mage, but he still lacked the facial markings that all fire magi bore. Everything was in his favour, yet he still lacked any runes, was he destined to be simply another magic sensitive citizen?

There was a knock at Jarrod's door. "Who is it?"

"It's me!" Hearing Pietro's voice, Jarrod immediately ran to the door.

"What happened to you?"

"Oh nothing much... Just this!" Pietro held up his hands and Jarrod saw the light blue markings that covered them. Air runes. "And that's not all. Guess who passed their test and is going to air school?"

"Wow, Pietro, congratulations." He was happy for Pietro, he truly was, but at the same time, he felt like the world was spinning out of control.

"It's so strange. Just before he left, Professor Avir said to me, 'Sometimes you don't need to fly to fly.' I couldn't work out what it meant. I thought he was giving me some kind of code, telling me why he had to leave all of a sudden. Then I remembered our last air lesson, where he wanted us to fly, and then I solved it. Professor Avir is a huge fan of bobbleball. Bobbleball is famous for players getting injured due to flying tackles. He didn't want us to fly to get his bag. He wanted us to tackle him.

Yeah, it sounds pretty crazy tackling a professor," Pietro continued, "but you have to admit, it would have worked. He would never have been able to maintain his concentration on our bags, as well as sharing his magic with us, if we had tackled him. All we needed was some sort of net to catch our bags in at the bottom of the spire. The next thing I knew, I was in the infirmary and Lars was asking if I felt ready to take my air test."

"Are either of your parents air magi?" Jarrod asked.

"Nope. They're not even magi at all, though I think they were tested as being magic sensitive - never went to the academy though, as their reading was lower than the cut-off that year. They run a cleaning business now, which is pretty hard work, so they were both pretty excited when I was tested and told I was magic-sensitive. I wouldn't have minded doing that though."

"Have you told them your news yet?"

"Nope. About to do that now, but I thought I'd check in on you first. Lars told me you were pretty worried about me. You even went to the library to do some research on my condition! You didn't need to do that. You know me, Jarrod. Whatever problem comes along, I'll find a way to solve it. Anyway, I'd better head over to the air mail room before they close. Seeya!"

"Bye, Pietro."

Jarrod was left alone with his own thoughts again. Pietro had solved some strange riddle from the air professor and woken up with an air rune, were the two events related? Was there some sort of magic password to gaining a rune? All he had really learned was that Pietro really had gone to do his test, that wasn't a lie fabricated by Lars. Which still left him with the burning question of what was Lars afraid of him finding out? All he had was a long list of questions, and there was only one solution. He had to break into the biblioteca room.

7612 / 50000 words. 15% done!

3

"You seem to be having a lot of meetings with professors today, Jarrod. What's up?" Pietro asked as Jarrod sat down at their usual table after grabbing his lunch.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jarrod grumbled.

"OK... Well, anyway, guess what we heard? Jasmine passed her water test. She'll be leaving the academy in a couple of days, once they find a place for her at one of the water schools. Rumour is that they're pushing really hard to get her into Gerolo temple."

"Gerolo?! But students there usually head straight for the military, I thought her family needed her on their farm."

"They do, but things are pretty bad down South right now, I think they're looking to recruit as many people as possible. She'll get top training, and if she survives, she'll go back home and be a better water mage than if she had gone to any other school."

"Does she want to go?" Jarrod asked.

"Does it matter? If she wants to continue her water study, she'll have to go where they send her." Harold said.

Jarrod looked around the cafeteria and spotted Jasmine surrounded by people congratulating her. She looked happy. Jealousy surged through Jarrod.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Pietro pointed out the window over towards the air spire. Jarrod glanced outside the window and noticed a group of people dressed in black clothes heading towards the spire. "Do you think this has anything to do with how Professor Avir was acting earlier?"

"You think they're finally taking him away to a mental institution?" Harold asked.

"After what he tried to get us to do today, maybe it is time for it." Jarrod added.

"No, I think there's something more to this. I'm going to check it out." Pietro said. He finished the last of his lunch and got up to leave.

"I'm curious, too. Want to come, Harold?"

"Sure, let's go."

The three boys left the cafeteria and headed towards the spire. As they reached the top of the stairs, they heard some voices.

"Sumir, you must understand that you are needed," a voice yelled. "Things are worsening. The riots in Runveld haven't helped things at all. You hold a lot of respect there, and I'm sure that if you came with us, we would be able to settle things down quickly."

"The students need me here. I have left many things unfinished. I can't just leave now. The exam period starts in two months, and my cat wasn't born to live on the ground, she wants to fly!"

"This is more important than exams or cats, our country is in trouble! If Runveld isn't dealt with then the people of Farin will starve! Your students will starve! They're starting to cut off shipments already."

"If I leave, my cat will starve!"

Jarrod, Pietro and Harold peeked into the room. They saw four black clothed men stood around Professor Avir's desk, surrounding him so that he couldn't escape. Pietro turned to the other two and whispered quietly. "What's going on in Runveld? I haven't heard anything about this in the news."

Both Jarrod and Harold shrugged.

The voices continued arguing. "I'm sorry to have to do this, Professor, but you leave us no choice." The man standing immediately in front of the Professor Avir's desk pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "By the order of High Council Wizard Johnathan Boleran, you, Professor Avir, are recalled to your position of War Mage. You will be stationed at Runveld encampment, you are required to report to General Benjamin Smith in three weeks." He replaced the piece of paper into his pocket.

"I see." Professor Avir replied. "I guess it can't be helped then! Pietro, Jarrod, Harold, would you like to help me pack?"

The three boys opened their mouths in surprise. They entered the room looking sheepish, and glanced at the other men, wondering what punishment they would receive for eavesdropping. However, the men had no interest in the three boys, they left without another word.

"What's going on, Professor?" Pietro asked.

The professor's face took on a sombre look. "I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to discuss anything with you, and I would like it if you were to keep everything you heard here to yourselves." His face suddenly changed to an expression of cheekiness. "When you get your new air teacher, then please tell him or her that we didn't manage to cover the air wall section of the syllabus, and as for the rest of the year, I've left notes for what I would like covered. The exam has already been prepared, but he or she is to look over it to ensure that at least all examinable topics are covered."

"I don't understand why they're making you leave. Why do they need you? There are hundreds of war magi in the army. There is no war, so surely they can spare a few of them to take care of matters in Runveld. No offense, Professor, but what's so special about you?" Harold asked.

"I was once the personal mage to Lord Wyndam of Runveld, before I was offered a teaching place at the academy."

"You were from Runveld? You don't seem like a farmer!"

Professor Avir laughed. "Not everyone from Runveld is a farmer. Anyway, I just need you to pack all of the books in my back room into the trunk, Pietro, if you could help me wrap the glass instruments in wool so they don't break during my trip."

With their lunch break coming to an end, the boys worked quickly to pack everything away. After their work was done, Professor Avir used his magic to lift his trunks towards the door. "Good luck with everything, boys!" and with that, he was gone.

They walked over to the rock quarry, discussing what had just happened. "He's.... gone." Pietro said.

"Is there something we don't know about? They're recalling Professor Avir because of riots in Runveld. Runveld has always been farmland, and from what I know, most of the farmers are there by choice. One of the girls from one of the other classes said that her family was offered land and a home to live in all in exchange for regular shipments of wool." Harold explained.

"Why wasn't any of this in the news?" Jarrod pondered. "I read the newspaper front to back every day. Nothing like this has ever been reported. It must be pretty serious if they're dragging an academy professor away. They have access to other magi, why drag Professor Avir away?"

Their discussion was interrupted when Pietro's fainted. "Pietro!" Jarrod caught him as he fell. "Harold, tell Professor Qiu what's going on. I'll stay with Pietro to keep an eye on him."

Harold ran off and Jarrod lay Pietro on the ground. When Harold returned, they carried Pietro towards the infirmiry. "Lars! Lars! Our friend fainted. Can you help?"

A short man with dreadlocks appeared. "What happened?" Lars demanded.

"We don't know. We were just walking along, and he fainted."

"Did he eat properly today? Was he feeling hot? Did he say anything?"

"No."

Lars entered the waiting room and looked over Pietro's body. "Ah, I see it's his time. Will you boys help me move him to this bed? Then you should go back to your class."

"His time? What do you mean his time?" Jarrod demanded.

"He's going to get a rune."

"What?! What do you mean he's going to get a rune? I thought you get runes while you're asleep."

"He's asleep now, isn't he?"

"But, but..."

"Look, he's fine, and I think there's a class you two boys should currently be attending? Exam time is closer than it seems, so it might be in your best interests to head on back to class."

Seeing as Lars was unwilling to talk to them, Harold and Jarrod returned to their earth class. The class was in the middle of learning to sculpt stone, so they grabbed a rock and began using Professor Qiu's power to shape it into a desired shape. But Jarrod couldn't focus on the task. He was more interested in what was happening with Pietro.

Everything he had read about runes told him that a person would gain their rune in their sleep. Nobody could explain it, but every student he had seen pass through the academy woke up one day with a rune. He had never heard of a student fainting and awakening with a rune. But he didn't think Lars was lying, he knew that all life magi were sworn to protect life, and if something was wrong with Pietro, Doctor Lars wouldn't just write it off as nothing.

Not just that, but Doctor Lars didn't spend very long looking at Pietro in order to diagnose him. How could he have worked out what was going on so quickly? Either he was lying in order to get the boys out of the infirmary, or it wasn't such an unusual occurrence, and so it was easy for him to diagnose.

The idea that it was a lie didn't make sense. If he were going to lie, surely he would have said something more plausible. But if it wasn't a lie, what did that mean? Why did Pietro get a rune in such a strange manner? Was there another way to acquire runes? Maybe they're contagious in some way. Or there was a way to take someone's rune?

Pietro wanted to discuss this with Harold, but at fourteen, he wouldn't understand how much he wanted a rune. He had so much time left. Pietro would understand, but Pietro was unconscious. That meant he had to figure it out for himself.

Earth and life magic classes went by so slowly. All Jarrod was thinking about was seeing if Pietro had regained consciousness, and heading to the library to do some research. As soon as he was done with classes for the day, he grabbed Harold and suggested they visit Pietro. Upon entering the infirmary, they were told Pietro had left.

"Where did he go?" Harold asked.

"He's taking his air test now." Lars replied. Jarrod's shoulders sagged.

"Will we get to speak to him?" asked Harold.

"After his test, of course."

"Thanks, Lars! We should head off and study now. Bye!" Jarrod was eager to get to the library. This meant that he was right, Pietro did get a rune under unusual circumstances, and it must have happened before, as there wasn't a big fuss going on at the moment. If it has happened before, then it must have been recorded. He was determined to find out if he could replicate the effect.

5102 / 50000 words. 10% done!

2

The bags continued to float outside the windows of the spire. A few of the younger students began to cry. Jarrod looked at his watch. Only 25 minutes remaining now. Next he had fire class, and it was the fire professor that he was hoping to impress the most, so that he might be able to fulfill everyone's expectations of him.

"Does he really expect us to be able to fly?" a student asked.

"I've only been here for a few months!" another student whined.

"This is bullshit!" Angry complaints flew around the room.

Pietro moved close to Jarrod. "I don't think we're meant to fly." Pietro whispered.

"What? How else can we get our bags back?" Jarrod asked.

"Well, flying is a pretty advanced air spell. I know Professor Avir seems to be missing a few marbles, but I doubt he would be asking academy students to attempt something like that. There must be another way to get the bags."

Jarrod stared out the window. The bags were well out of arm's reach. "Maybe we can make something to reach the bags!"

"Hey everyone! Let's try to make something long enough to reach the bags." Pietro yelled. Everyone turned to look at him. "Come on! We only have about 20 minutes before we have to get to our next class." There was a shuffle of movement as people looked around the classroom for long objects.

"OK, let's bind them all together." Using shoelaces, they began to tie everything together. Pietro turned to another student. "Harold, you hold this end, and I'll hold this one. Let's try to rake the bags in. Everyone else, try to grab the bags as we bring them closer." Getting the makeshift pole into place, Harold and Pietro bent the pole to try and drag the bags in, but as soon as the poles moved close to the bags, the bags shifted further away.

"What is this? As soon as we get close, the bags move away!" Harold exclaimed.

Looking at his watch, Jarrod realised they had only 4 minutes to retrieve their bags. "There must be something we can do."

"There is no way we can learn to fly." stated Harold. "It's impossible. It usually takes an air student 5 years to master flying. We can't do it in 5 minutes."

Jarrod heard a sigh from the other side of the room. "I guess you aren't ready yet." Professor Avir stood up, and Jarrod felt the air magic leave his body. The bags floated back into the room, as Professor Avir exited.

"Ready? Ready for what?" Jarrod demanded, but it was too late, Professor Avir was too far to hear.

"What was that about? I've never seen him like that before. He's always so cheerful." Pietro said, as they walked towards their next class.

"None of us could be ready for flying. We don't even have air runes. His magic could hardly sustain thirty people all flying at once, I don't know what he expected of us. He's insane." Jarrod reasoned.

But Pietro wouldn't give up. "There must be something more. Professor Avir's lessons are never as straightforward as you think. Remember that time we were asked to get twenty coats from the mountain villagers, and we tried so hard to create a strong wind to blow them off, but all we had to do was warm the air up?"

"I don't think there was anything more to that. He was either being incredibly hopeful that he'd fine the next air prodigy, or had just given up on us all. Anyway, it's fire time!" Jarrod grinned. They walked down the stairs into the tunnel. "I always feel so warm down here."

"That's because there's a river of lava!" Harold laughed. "I really don't understand why you like fire so much. It's my least favourite..."

"Good afternoon, Professor Ogon!" Jarrod said, eagerly, interrupting Harold.

"Jarrod, my favourite student! How are you doing?"

"Not bad, not bad. I have something I'd like to discuss with you after class, if that's OK."

"Sure." Professor Ogon turned to the class. "Hello everyone. Today we're going to continue what we were working on yesterday, so to your stations!" Jarrod felt a flare of warmth on his face that signaled the flow of fire energy entering his body.

Fire was always a comfort for Jarrod. He always felt as though it was in his blood, just like his father, so why didn't he have a fire rune yet? The reminder that he hadn't yet acquired rune depressed Jarrod, but after the air class, he realised he couldn't keep waiting for an opportunity to be offered. He was a good student, he studied hard and was a fast learner, he didn't belong here in the academy.

After the class, he said goodbye to Harold and Pietro and approached Professor Ogon. "I picked up Lohmer's Of Fire and Firestones like you suggested last time, it was a really interesting read. Especially the use of firestones as a catalyst for the birthing cycle."

"Ah, one of the lesser known uses. Probably not a very useful one, due to the high mortality rate of the children."

"Probably why its only mentioned very briefly towards the end, and there isn't much research in this area."

"I'm glad you have such an interest in fire, Jarrod. Following in your father's footsteps, I see."

Jarrod smiled. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I think I'm ready to go to fire school."

"I can see that you're quite talented, but there is just one problem. You don't have a fire rune. It means you aren't ready."

"But I am! I know more than anyone in this class, I know more than most second year fire students. I'm a fire mage, I can feel it!"

"I'm sorry, Jarrod, but you know what it means when you don't have a rune. You can't create your own fire magic. Do you think you can be as great as your father relying on the magic of others? I understand that it's frustrating, but just because you have the knowledge doesn't mean you have the capability."

"Maybe I'm just a late bloomer."

"Let me ask you this, Jarrod, how does it feel when you have fire magic in you?"

"Feel? It's the most amazing feeling. I feel so warm and relaxed. I feel in control. I feel like nothing in the world can go wrong."

"And that is why you aren't ready."

"I don't understand."

"What do you think of when you think of a fire? Fire is warm, and comforting, but it is also destructive. A real fire mage has to feel and understand both. The fact that you don't seem to realise the destructive power of fire means that you don't understand it. I am glad that you have a passion for knowledge, and I encourage it. Still, I can't send you to fire school until you have a rune."

"I only have 3 more days. Then I turn 18. Magic is my life. I don't know if I can live a normal life."

"Unfortunately, magic hasn't seen you fit to be granted a rune. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do to change that. We still don't understand why some people are sensitive to magic and some aren't, and we still don't understand why being sensitive to magic doesn't necessarily mean you will be able to create magical energy. Look, how about I offer you a place as a research student? You have an immense knowledge of the historic and current fire research, and you are a fast learner."

"I don't want to be a research student! I can do more than that! My father is a decorated war mage, he has done so much for our country. He single-handedly held out against the crow soldiers for 2 days until reinforcements arrived. He...."

"I am well aware of your father's military exploits, Jarrod, but the fact of the matter is, he has a fire rune and you do not. I don't want to discourage you, I really don't. You're a great student, and you would make a great mage. I just can't send you to fire school. Now you should head to the cafeteria. Need to keep that energy up!"

Jarrod opened his mouth to argue, but Professor Ogon held his hand up to silence him. Jarrod turned around and walked up the stairs.

3313 / 50000 words. 7% done!