Return of the Runebound Professor

Lee watched from the treeline, staring up at the burning beam of light in horror. A thrum washed through the scorched clearing. A swirling disk of white energy carved itself into the air on the edge of the treeline.

She pressed her lips together and burst into motion, charging for the still-burning Hellreaver’s corpse. Somehow, Vermil had actually managed to kill the damn monster. She hadn’t thought he’d pull it off for a second, but now they had bigger problems.

Lee drove her shoulder into the Hellreaver’s body, shoving it up. Fire licked across her body, burning her skin. Vermil’s corpse laid beneath the monster, already burnt beyond recognition.

She didn’t have time to eat the body. The energy washing off the portal forming across from her was like a blaring signal to her mind. She grabbed Vermil’s jacket and ripped the nameplate out of the stitching, hissing in pain as the metal seared her fingers.

Lee let the Hellreaver crash back down and turned, sprinting for the treeline as quickly as she could. Behind her, the portal finished forming and opened with a sharp snap. As soon as Lee was back into the trees, she slammed to a stop and shoved the metal nameplate into the ground to let it cool.

She risked a glance over her shoulder, squinting through the trees.

A tall, bald man stepped out of the portal. He had a long scar that ran vertically along his face and through his right eye. He wore an Arbitage uniform – with five stripes.

Behind him, a second, older man stepped out of the portal as well. A white beard framed his face and he leaned heavily on a rugged stone staff with a yellow gem affixed at its top. Like the first man, his robes also marked him as Rank 5.

“What in damnation happened?” the bald man asked, striding toward the Hellreaver.

Lee swallowed heavily. The urge to bolt away filled her body, but she instead called on her Runes, slipping into the darkness and obscuring herself from detection. It was easy to be fast or stealthy, but not both.

Judging by the dangerously high ranks the two men had, Lee didn’t doubt for an instant that they could catch her if she ran. That left only one option, so all she could do was wait and watch while praying they didn’t look closely enough to spot her through her Rune.

The older man pointed his staff at the Hellreaver and it lifted into the air as if it weighed nothing, revealing the charred corpse beneath it. The two men walked up to it, deep frowns on their faces.

“Someone tried to kill the Hellreaver Ape,” the bald man said.

“Succeeded,” the older one put in. “And then got himself killed right after.”

“Then we’re fine. The Master Rune–”

“Isn’t here,” the old man finished, his eyes glinting in fury. “This one died, but he must have not been working alone. Someone has taken the Hellreaver’s Master Rune. Report back to the headmaster immediately.”

The bald man spun and strode back into the portal, leaving the other alone in the clearing.

Floating the corpse of the Hellreaver to the side, the older man studied Vermil’s body. His lips pressed thin, evidently noticing the lack of a nameplate on the robes. They’d been badly burnt, but still clearly were from Arbitage. Vermil had luckily been wearing his cheaper uniform during the fight, so at least they weren't clearly from a teacher.

“Infiltration,” the old mage growled. “Or perhaps stolen robes. Dead fools. Why would someone act against Arbitage? Troublesome indeed.”

He leaned heavily on his staff, rubbing his chin with a deep frown. Lee barely dared to even breathe. Then, finally, the man let the Hellreaver’s body thud to the ground. Vermil’s burnt corpse lifted into the air and floated over to the man, who turned and strode back into the portal.

It snapped shut behind him. Lee didn’t budge. She kept herself hidden in the darkness, not even risking so much as to move her eyes. Her efforts weren’t in vain. The portal whirred back to life and the old man emerged from behind it, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

“Damn. I was hoping some idiot would run for it. They couldn’t have gotten far by foot in this time, and I didn’t pick up any usage of magic while we were arriving,” the old man mused. “They must have already teleported away. A powerful opponent, then. Damn it all.”

He strode through the portal for a second time. There was a sharp pop and his body vanished. Lee remained still, watching as the portal slowly sealed itself shut. Then she waited fifteen more minutes.

Nothing changed. Lee finally let herself shift, peeling away from the darkness and carefully scooping the now-cooled nameplate from the ground with burnt fingers. She tucked it into the pocket of her pants and padded away.

***

Noah didn’t budge after coming back to life. Even as pain rocked his head, all he did was sit frozen. The Hellreaver had set some sort of beacon off the moment it had died, and that almost certainly meant that someone would be arriving much faster than he could get away.

The act of fleeing from the site would almost certainly be more suspicious than just sitting there looking like a moron – which was the exact strategy Noah took on. He remained in the tree. Some distant words reached his ears from where the Hellreaver had fallen, but nobody actually stepped out of the clearing.

Lee was right. I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I think about the Hellreaver being defended? I thought killing the monsters was good thing, but the Hellreaver was keeping the other monkeys in the area. The goddamn school brought it here on purpose.

Shit, shit, shit. I was too focused on getting rid of its visions.

Noah didn’t even dare to move enough to put his clothes on until he heard the sounds of whoever had arrived at the clearing fade away. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t gone around to check for what had happened, but he wasn’t about to question it.

Head still pounding with a headache, Noah pulled his clothes on. Then he sat still, waiting for the call of the transport cannon. There wasn’t anything else he dared to try.

***

Noah’s back thumped against cold metal and he slid out of the tube, landing on the ground of the tower with a grunt. He opened his eyes and straightened, expecting to see Tim. Instead, his eyes met the gaze of a tall, bald man with a scar running through his right eye.

Five stripes adorned his coat, indicating his rank. Noah fought to keep the fear from flickering across his features. He caught a glance of Tim over the man’s shoulder, sending Noah a concerned glance.

“Hello,” Noah said, rubbing the side of his head. “Can I help you?”

“Quite so. You were just in Scorched Acres, correct?” the man asked, his eye cold. “My name is Neir. I’m an enforcer for Arbitage, if you haven’t guessed.”

“I see. And yes, I was in Scorched Acres,” Noah replied, looking as confused as he could. “Why?”

“An attack has been launched against Arbitage, and all entities that were present within Scorched Acres over the course of the last day are suspects,” Neir replied. “Do not move. Any sudden motions or attempts to draw on your Runes will be treated as aggression and dealt with promptly.”

“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,” Noah stammered, but he raised his hands into the air to show he meant no harm. “What happened?”

“That is not your concern,” Neir replied. “I will not be sharing information about an investigation with – wait.”

Neir grabbed Noah’s shoulder and spun him to the side so he could see the single bar on his jacket. Neir’s cold expression twitched. He glanced back at Tim.

“You didn’t tell me that he was a Rank 1. Do you know this person, or has he stolen someone’s clothes?”

“Yes,” Tim replied with an empathetic nod. “A kind lad that comes through every few days to practice in Scorched Acres or Windscorned Plateau. He’s a professor. I’ve met his students and he was part of the group that took the exams with their students a little while ago.”

Neir let out a bark of laughter. “A Rank 1 professor? Is that even possible? How do you even teach your students?”

“By doing my best and a lot of practice,” Noah replied with an irritated frown. With the pain coming from his headache, it wasn’t too difficult to make. “That’s why I was in Scorched Acres. I train against Slashers every other day.”

“Put your hands down, Rank 1. You couldn’t have done this,” Neir said with a dismissive shake of his head. “Maybe a Rank 2 or 3, but not you – unless you were working with even more people.”

“Working with more people?” Noah didn’t even have to pretend to be confused this time. “I’m sorry, I really don’t understand what happened.”

“Never mind that. Were you in the forest with anyone?” Neir asked.

“Not today. I occasionally go in with my fellow professor, but we went separately today and I didn’t see her.”

“Who? Was that the woman that left before I could get here?” Neir asked, looking back at Tim. Tim nodded slightly.

“Who is she? What’s her Rank?”

“Her name is Lee. She’s helping teach my class physical combat, and she’s also a Rank 1. I brought her on myself.”

Neir sent a flat stare at Tim. “Two of them?”

Tim shrugged. “Their students like them.”

“I’m sure they do,” Neir said through a snort. His posture relaxed significantly and he rolled his eyes. “Right. And physical combat? Really? What, are you going to punch Rune magic away?”

“It’s good for your health,” Noah said meekly.

Neir let out a heavy sigh. “Get out of my face. You aren’t even old enough to be a professor, kid. Don’t go anywhere. You’re still a suspect, and we’ll be following up with you once the investigator arrives. Any attempts to flee the premises of Arbitage will be treated as an admission of guilt and dealt with accordingly.”

Noah started to nod and turned toward the lift. Neir clapped him on the shoulder before he could leave. Noah stiffened, turning to look back at him.

“One last thing,” Neir said. “You said you were training. Did you notice anything odd happening while you were practicing?”

There was a hidden edge to Neir’s words that nearly went unnoticed by Noah due to his headache. Luckily, he’d spent so much time berating himself in the past hours that he’d already thought of his answer to that question.

“Yeah,” Noah said, nodding and trying not to show how much the movement hurt. “The Slashers suddenly got harder to read. I nearly got myself killed twice. Had to use my healing potion. It was like they were going insane. Do you know what happened? Will I still be able to train here? I don’t know if my students can handle things if they stay like that.”

“No more questions,” Neir said. “Leave. I need my focus for anyone else that arrives.”

Noah didn’t make Neir say it twice. He silently stepped onto the lift and let it lower him to the ground, where he made a beeline to his room. Noah didn’t let himself relax until he was inside and had his door slammed shut behind him.

He flopped onto his bed, cursing under his breath.

“Damn it all. I’m a fool.”

“If you wanted someone to insult you, you could have just asked,” Lee said, slipping out from Noah’s bathroom and nearly making him jump a foot in the air. “I would have done it for free.”

“Lee!” Noah exclaimed. He winced as a spike of pain shot through his head. “Did you see?”

“What part?” Lee asked with a smirk. “The one where you got yourself squished by the Hellreaver? Or the part where it set off a massive alarm?”

Noah groaned and pulled at his hair as he sank back into his bed. “This is bad. They’re going to find my corpse.”

“They already did,” Lee said. “Burnt to a crisp.”

“It had my nametag on–”

A piece of metal clinked on the ground in front of Noah. He squinted down at it. His eyes widened and he glanced back up at Lee.

“How?”

“I’ve got my ways,” Lee replied with a shrug. “They aren’t going to be able to identify you from that, but they know the Master Rune is missing. It wasn’t on your body, so they think some big group worked together to kill the monster.”

Noah chewed his lower lip. “I stuck my dick in a beehive, didn’t I?”

“And swung it around,” Lee agreed with a nod. “This ought to be fun. Did you at least manage to get the Master Rune?”

Noah blinked. He hadn’t even had a chance to check yet, but his headache was severely interfering with his ability to think. He swallowed heavily. “I’ll check tomorrow morning. I need to sleep. Can you let me know if…”

“Something happens,” Lee finished. “Yeah. You owe me.”

“I know.”