| Marc Pelzer | Reyjnal Juliandy
Gemon had been back at the court in Varnas for three days. The Duke, very satisfied with the results of his journey, had finally overcome his grudge against him and spoke to him more often and openly again. In this morning's meeting, he had approved Gemon's suggestion to subject the bodyguard to a new drill to reach the level that had so impressed both of them in Daanre Var. Additionally, the runes for the Dan Vara were to be recreated, as they had remained lost despite great efforts by the duchy and the trading city. The unfortunate part was that Gemon had to speak with Yaena to pass on this task. Due to the extraordinary events of the past few days, he had completely pushed his tense situation with the court mage to the background. Now, this troubled him. The two had not spoken a word to each other for almost a week. This was about to change today. After the otherwise usual meeting, he made his way to the west wing.
There in the west wing, Yaena was busy in her study. She had needed to distract herself in the first few days after the conflict with the Duke and Gemon. She had tried to create hundreds of light runes. These were always a good way to illuminate the court and were also used in the army to provide light at night. To make it more complex and challenging, she had started integrating the magic so that it spread in very specific forms around the rune. This had been successful at first, but for the past two days, every rune seemed to shatter before materializing. She couldn't understand why this was happening. At least she had a task to occupy herself with. To her great frustration, neither stabilization circles nor more precise rune shaping or magic control worked. She had just tried to cast a strong and potent stabilization spell on the paper on which she later wanted to materialize the rune. However, when the door knocker suddenly disturbed the calm of the workspace, her highly complex spell burst into glittering light shards that floated down the table and dissolved. "Come in!" she called so that her voice could be heard even outside in the corridor. Gemon opened the door and stepped into the room. He said nothing, and she avoided eye contact with him. "What do you want?" she asked curtly. There was immediate tension in the air. He remained silent for a while longer, then replied, "Listen, I was an idiot... I still find you an amazing woman. But I can't go against my fate and duty. I understand that now." She raised her gaze and looked directly at him but said nothing. "I should have told you. I should have been more foresighted. I'm sorry." He also looked her deeply in the eyes. It was pure torture. She was just as beautiful as that evening. His head screamed no, but his heart had a different opinion. It was unbearable to know the woman of his dreams was so close and yet infinitely distant. He broke eye contact and forced himself to look at the runes on the table. Yaena found it somewhat attractive that he could finally admit his mistakes, but at the same time, she was still angry. "So you should be," she said, more aggressively than intended. Then she quickly added, "You're a sweet idiot." He took that as a peace offering and got to his actual concern by explaining to her that she needed to recreate the protection runes.
"I almost expected that," she admitted. "However, protection runes are difficult to create because they consist of many layers of absorption spells, like wood reinforcement, that connect over the wall in the runes as nodal points." Gemon hadn't understood a word of what she was telling him but didn't want to ask and therefore confirmed with a yes. "These types of runes are complex, and unfortunately, something seems to be destabilizing all my spells. I can't create them." Although he hadn't understood, it seemed strange to him, and he suggested a solution: "Then let's find the source of the disturbance and remove it; this is very important to the Duke." She didn't think this suggestion was entirely wrong. Since her stabilizations had no effect, she could rule out herself and the material for the runes. Therefore, there had to be another source of disturbance at the court. They finally agreed to search for the problem together. Gemon had access to all rooms, and Yaena had the sensory abilities to find the source of the disturbance. They first combed through the west wing but found nothing. Yaena could feel a slight magical presence, but it was too far away to effectively locate. Initially, they did not speak to each other, but Gemon eventually began talking about the visit to Daanre Var to fill the otherwise awkward silence. As he talked and they walked towards the east wing, Yaena could feel the presence getting stronger. She actually no longer listened to Gemon, as it quickly intensified to the point where her hair stood on end. It had to be a powerful activated rune or a mage gathering immense potential. Both didn't make sense to her, as she herself couldn't create runes with such strong magic, and only fire mages used such strong potentials, none of whom were at the court.
Her skin was tingling; the situation seemed to be getting dangerous. Gemon noticed this too and whispered quietly, "What's wrong?" Her gaze was fixed on the corridor. Someone had to be there! "Who’s there?!" she shouted into the seemingly empty corridor. No answer. He instinctively grasped the hilt of his sword. "In the name of the guard, come out!" Silence. Now even Gemon could feel something. It felt like the air was getting slightly cooler. Uncanny, he thought. Then he saw Yaena draw a flash of light into her hands and shoot it down the middle of the corridor. It shattered about ten steps ahead of them on an invisible barrier and broke into a thousand fine shards, revealing the silhouette of a person. "Show yourself!" she demanded in a commanding and agitated voice.
There in the west wing, Yaena was busy in her study. She had needed to distract herself in the first few days after the conflict with the Duke and Gemon. She had tried to create hundreds of light runes. These were always a good way to illuminate the court and were also used in the army to provide light at night. To make it more complex and challenging, she had started integrating the magic so that it spread in very specific forms around the rune. This had been successful at first, but for the past two days, every rune seemed to shatter before materializing. She couldn't understand why this was happening. At least she had a task to occupy herself with. To her great frustration, neither stabilization circles nor more precise rune shaping or magic control worked. She had just tried to cast a strong and potent stabilization spell on the paper on which she later wanted to materialize the rune. However, when the door knocker suddenly disturbed the calm of the workspace, her highly complex spell burst into glittering light shards that floated down the table and dissolved. "Come in!" she called so that her voice could be heard even outside in the corridor. Gemon opened the door and stepped into the room. He said nothing, and she avoided eye contact with him. "What do you want?" she asked curtly. There was immediate tension in the air. He remained silent for a while longer, then replied, "Listen, I was an idiot... I still find you an amazing woman. But I can't go against my fate and duty. I understand that now." She raised her gaze and looked directly at him but said nothing. "I should have told you. I should have been more foresighted. I'm sorry." He also looked her deeply in the eyes. It was pure torture. She was just as beautiful as that evening. His head screamed no, but his heart had a different opinion. It was unbearable to know the woman of his dreams was so close and yet infinitely distant. He broke eye contact and forced himself to look at the runes on the table. Yaena found it somewhat attractive that he could finally admit his mistakes, but at the same time, she was still angry. "So you should be," she said, more aggressively than intended. Then she quickly added, "You're a sweet idiot." He took that as a peace offering and got to his actual concern by explaining to her that she needed to recreate the protection runes.
"I almost expected that," she admitted. "However, protection runes are difficult to create because they consist of many layers of absorption spells, like wood reinforcement, that connect over the wall in the runes as nodal points." Gemon hadn't understood a word of what she was telling him but didn't want to ask and therefore confirmed with a yes. "These types of runes are complex, and unfortunately, something seems to be destabilizing all my spells. I can't create them." Although he hadn't understood, it seemed strange to him, and he suggested a solution: "Then let's find the source of the disturbance and remove it; this is very important to the Duke." She didn't think this suggestion was entirely wrong. Since her stabilizations had no effect, she could rule out herself and the material for the runes. Therefore, there had to be another source of disturbance at the court. They finally agreed to search for the problem together. Gemon had access to all rooms, and Yaena had the sensory abilities to find the source of the disturbance. They first combed through the west wing but found nothing. Yaena could feel a slight magical presence, but it was too far away to effectively locate. Initially, they did not speak to each other, but Gemon eventually began talking about the visit to Daanre Var to fill the otherwise awkward silence. As he talked and they walked towards the east wing, Yaena could feel the presence getting stronger. She actually no longer listened to Gemon, as it quickly intensified to the point where her hair stood on end. It had to be a powerful activated rune or a mage gathering immense potential. Both didn't make sense to her, as she herself couldn't create runes with such strong magic, and only fire mages used such strong potentials, none of whom were at the court.
Her skin was tingling; the situation seemed to be getting dangerous. Gemon noticed this too and whispered quietly, "What's wrong?" Her gaze was fixed on the corridor. Someone had to be there! "Who’s there?!" she shouted into the seemingly empty corridor. No answer. He instinctively grasped the hilt of his sword. "In the name of the guard, come out!" Silence. Now even Gemon could feel something. It felt like the air was getting slightly cooler. Uncanny, he thought. Then he saw Yaena draw a flash of light into her hands and shoot it down the middle of the corridor. It shattered about ten steps ahead of them on an invisible barrier and broke into a thousand fine shards, revealing the silhouette of a person. "Show yourself!" she demanded in a commanding and agitated voice.