Return of the Runebound Professor

Wizen pressed his palm to the door.

It didn’t so much as budge.

He pushed harder, but to no avail. It was like trying to shove a solid wall open. His eyes narrowed. There was no handle to try and pull the door in the other direction. It was definitely meant to be pushed… which meant Sievan was playing games with him.

Wizen was tempted to reach for the key that hung at his side, but he dismissed the idea. He wasn’t playing with weak demons anymore. No matter what he thought of the rest of the flawed race, Sievan was different. This was a foe he couldn’t afford to face at anything less than full power. He also couldn’t help but feel Sticky’s gaze boring into his back as she waited for him to open the door.

Why do I care what the child thinks? It’s just a mildly useful stray that ended up taking shade from the sun in my shadow. She is irrelevant.

Wizen studied the cracks in the door, in search for anything that would signal a weakness. He highly doubted that Sievan was playing with him for no reason. This was just another test. Another way to see what he was capable of. There would be a trick somewhere.

His domain crawled through the hall. He probed every gap between the bricks and felt through the walls in search for the lead he needed to pull the puzzle apart without wasting so much as a drop of energy more than he had —

A quiet crunch echoed through the hall.

A trap?

Wizen stiffened. His senses exploded in forth in search of what had happened, only for him to realize who the target of his attention actually was a moment later.

Sticky swallowed, her cheeks reddening as Wizen turned toward her. She held a tiny dry biscuit in one hand and there were a few crumbs on her upper lip. Her tongue darted out and licked them clean.

“Sorry,” Sticky said. “It’s a few weeks old. I was saving it for when I got really hungry. I didn’t think it would be so loud. I can stop eating.”

Telling her to stop now would just be petty. Not an ideal look when I am attempting to impress my importance upon Sievan. The success of my plan relies on the Lord of Death meeting with me. I cannot be delayed any longer, or the key may run out of power.

Wizen just shook his head and turned his attention back to the door. “Do what you will. I do not care. I am not so weak-minded as to be distracted by a little noise.”

He sent his domain forth once more, scouring the walls. The world faded into the background as his focus sharpened. He had dealt with far greater opponents than a mere door. No mere child was going to be enough to —

Crunch.

Wizen’s knuckles tightened slightly around his staff. His domain pressed against a tiny malformation in the rock, so small that it was entirely invisible to the naked eye. He pressed his power through it, scouring over what laid beyond.

Disbelief lit behind Wizen’s eyes. Minuscule imbuements lined the inside of the stone door. They were so small that they may as well have been nonexistent, but their power remained all the same. The amount of skill it would have taken to do something like this was astronomical.

Even in spite of the situation, Wizen swallowed. He was frozen in sheer awe for nearly a second. Hidden within a mere door was possibly the most advanced imbuement that he’d ever seen. Something like this was a work of art unfit for mortal eyes. It —

Crunch.

Wizen pressed his hand to the door, snapped from his thoughts. He sent his will inward, following the tiny lines of energy until his mind was so deep within the stone’s depths that it was buried. The lines of the imbuements were so delicate that he had to move with immense caution. Even a tiny energy fluctuation had a chance of destroying something and ruining the puzzle.

Seconds ticked by and turned to minutes. He was mercifully spared of any further crunching noises. Wizen presumed that Sticky had finished her food and had opted to remain silent, for which he was appreciative. This was not a simple task. He needed his entire attention undisturbed.

Patterns complex enough to twist a younger mind into a knot unraveled before Wizen. He didn’t fully understand the full meaning behind the imbuements. But, fortunately, he didn’t have to.

It was far easier to break something than it was to make it.

He just had to make sure he broke it in the right —

A wet splat ripped through his delicate concentration like wet tissue paper. Wizen’s domain twitched. It was the faintest loss of control, so small that most mages wouldn’t have even realized it had happened.

The imbuement was crushed from existence with a tiny pop, disappearing as if it had never been there.

No!

Wizen spun toward Sticky in a blur, the fury welling in his chest not even having had a chance to make it to his features yet.

The chewed-up top half of the biscuit she’d been eating had broken off from the rest of its body and landed on the floor. It had somehow gotten completely soaked through — but before Wizen could so much as say or think anything, his eyes landed on the demon girl.

She was frozen in place, terror and shame playing across her features. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was licking the biscuit so it wouldn’t crunch so loud and distract you, but it jumped out of my hands! On its own! I don’t know what happened!”

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The anger tightening Wizen’s jaw ground to a halt. It felt like the air had been knocked straight from his lungs. Sticky continued to stammer apologies but Wizen barely even heard them.

She looks so similar to —

No. This is just a demon. I cling to straws when the field of grass lies in wait. I cannot allow myself to be distracted.

“Enough,” Wizen said, raising a hand.

Sticky’s mouth snapped shut with a click and she stiffened. She stared at him with wide, worried eyes.

Wizen’s hand twitched. He reached into the pouch at his side and drew forth a strip of jerky, tossing it to the demon. She grabbed it, staring at the meat in disbelief. “What is this?”

“Something you can eat without announcing your presence to the entirety of the Damned Plains.”

“I — I don’t think I’m hungry anymore. It’s okay. I won’t eat,” Sticky stammered.

“Eat the damn food. I already gave it to you, and to waste resources is a great crime. It is to spit on everyone who has given their lives in search of what you have,” Wizen snapped, turning back to the door and examining its plain surface.

Sievan’s puzzles could be damned. This was taking too long. The closer he got to his goal, the more he could feel his control start to give. It was like his subconscious could sense the end was near and had started to release the reigns early. No matter how hard he tried to draw them back, it was impossible. What was done was done. He didn’t have much time left.

It seems I have no choice. I will have to burn some resources. It is less than ideal, but no plan can be flawless.

“Are you trying to open that door?” Sticky asked, her words so soft that Wizen could barely even hear them. It didn’t help that she’d listened to Wizen’s command and was now speaking through a mouthful of food.

“It would appear that way,” Wizen replied, reaching for the key at his side.

“Are you sure you need to meet Sievan that bad?”

Wizen glanced back at Sticky. “Yes. I do.”

“Why? Can’t you just get what you want by getting stronger? You don’t need to use shortcuts if you’re strong. You can do things the right way.”

Feed a stray once and it suddenly thinks it can pry you with questions.

“This is the only way,” Wizen said, speaking before he’d even realized that his mouth was moving. “I have exhausted every other possibility. There is only one in recorded history who has demonstrated the power to break from this plane into the next.”

“The afterlife,” Sticky said, her eyes widening in realization. “You’re—”

“Trying to bring someone back,” Wizen said. “Yes. And I need Sievan’s power to do it.”

“You think you can beat him and take his Master Rune? You’re that powerful?”

“There is only one way to find out,” Wizen replied with a gruff laugh. His control over his body and emotions must have been slipping. He never would have been so open with an answer before today. “I cannot fail.”

“Why?” Sticky asked. “Nobody but Sievan can go to the afterlife and return.”

“I am aware of the rumors,” Wizen said. His hand returned to the key at his side and he pulled it free of his belt. An ocean of power dwelled within it, just waiting to be released. “Perhaps you will come to understand this one day, when you fix your heart. There are some things that must be done.”

Sticky blinked in surprise. “When? You think I will be able to repair it?”

“For those who have sufficient determination, all things are possible.” Wizen lifted the key and sent power into it, connecting to the immense magic dwelling beyond. “Today, I will demonstrate this to you. Giving in is impossible. Envision a future where you succeed and allow no other path to come into existence.”

Sticky stared up at Wizen for several long seconds. Her eyes flicked to the key in his hands. Then she took a step forward, stepping into Wizen’s path.

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“What?”

“The door. You’re trying to open it the wrong way,” Sticky said. She walked over to the door and ran her tongue along her palm. She smacked it to the side of the door with a small splat and gave her arm a small tug.

The door creaked open. Wizen stared at Sticky in disbelief, the key nearly falling from his fingers in surprise.

What?

Sticky braced her foot against the door and gave her hand a tug. Her hand squelched and she popped off the door, tripping over her own feet. Wizen’s cane shot out and hooked behind her shoulders, catching the girl before she could fall. He pushed her back upright before he even realized that he’d moved.

“How?” Wizen asked, aghast.

“It’s spongestone!” Sticky replied with a proud grin. “It’s super porous. You just gotta get a little wet and it’ll suck onto you really good. Haven’t you ever seen it before? It’s everywhere below the Wastes. A lot of demons set patches of it up near lakes and attack when you get stuck on it.”

Wizen looked from the open door to Sticky. Her face had gone slightly pale and she pressed the hand that she’d used to push the door open to her stomach. Sticky caught Wizen looking in her direction and sent him a sheepish grin.

“It’s a little painful. It sucks on your hand really hard.”

He slowly returned the key to his side, and the smallest of grins pulled at the corners of his lips. “I see. How curious. I was unaware. There is no spongestone where I am from. That is twice you have done for me what a Rank 7 demon could not. I am confident of it, now. You will find a way to succeed. Do not accept defeat in your fight.”

He stepped around Sticky and pulled the door open with the end of his staff.

The breath caught in Wizen’s chest.

Beyond the door was a sea of nothingness.

Sheer black emptiness stretched out as far as Wizen could see, no end in sight. A single river of obsidian stairs rose up through the room. It was trimmed on each side with plain golden caps and came to a stop far above at the edge of a large, circular platform.

Wizen couldn’t see the top of the platform from where he was, but there was only one thing this could have been.

Sievan’s throne room.

His gaze peeled down to Sticky for a moment. She was already looking up at him with expectant eyes.

“You’re going to beat Sievan, right?” Sticky asked. “You won’t lose?”

“After getting this far? I will not allow for it. All that stands in my path will fall. Come.”

Sticky pressed a hand to her chest and gave Wizen an excited nod. “I want to see it. A fight between gods. Nobody else in the Damned Plains has ever witnessed something like that.”

A smile tugged at Wizen’s lips.

I am certain of it now. My focus is unraveling faster than I thought it would for me to react like this. It should be fine. I am already at the final stretch.

“There are no gods, but you will bear witness nonetheless,” Wizen said. “Perhaps when it is done, you can take the heart of the defeated and replace your own with it. Do not forget. There is always a way to victory.”

“I won’t,” Sticky promised. “I figured out what you meant. You just have to pick the right battles, right?”

“Precisely,” Wizen said.

His staff rang out as it struck the bottom step of the staircase and he started up toward the platform. Sticky hurried after him, and Wizen’s eyes didn’t leave the platform looming far above them as the two of them ascended the steps.

I’ve made it — and because of this tiny demon rather than my own strength. How amusing. My dear Bella will not be able to believe it. Wait just a few more moments, my love. I am coming for you. There is only one more that must die.

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