Chapter 26
•Alex's P.O.V•
I sat in the school gardens, gently stroking my dragon's scaly back. Blaze sat in my lap, purring softly. I stared at all the elementals enjoying their afternoons with their friends or their pets. It was all smiles with them. I, however, still had a dark cloud looking over me.
It's been a day since Damian showed me the vision, since I learned the tale of The Corrupted King, since I realised that he was the one who appeared in my dream that night. Even after my friends helped me to my feet and eventually calmed me down, I still couldn't get over it. Seeing what he was capable of, drawing the connections between him and the volcano collapsing that day, the image in my mirror, the only thing I felt was a mix of confusion, fear, dread...
I let out a sigh before hearing a concerned yip from Blaze. He lifted his head to lick my cheek in an attempt to cheer me up.
"Blaze, stop, that tickles!" I giggled. The dragonling continued.
"Blaze!"
'Not until you're feeling better.' Blaze said. He finally stopped and looked at me with his adorable big eyes, and I couldn't help but smile.
'Alex. Al, can you hear me?'
I looked around confused and startled. That voice, it sounded like it came from nowhere and every direction at once. Blaze tilted his head, staring at me in confusion.
'Alex?'
"Wait, Damian?" I muttered.
'Oh good, you can hear me.' Damian said. I looked around for him, only to find him nowhere.
"How are you talking to me right now?" I asked.
'Telepathy.' Damian answered simply.
'Who are you talking to?' Blaze asked.
"My friend Damian." I told the dragon. "So, what's up?"
'I may have found something about... you know. Come to the library.'
My heart started to drop. I didn't want to think about that vision I saw. Knowing that what I saw actually happened put a bitter taste at the back of my throat and a sickening knot in my stomach.
"Oh, alright. I'll be there soon." I replied softly. I set Blaze on the grass next to me and got to my feet, looking at the school building.
'Where are you going?' The dragonling asked, sad at the fact that he was no longer resting in my lap. I looked down at him and bent down to pat his head.
"Damian needs me. I'll be back though, don't worry." I said.
'Can't I come with you?'
"I'm sorry, Blaze, but you know that the pets aren't allowed in the castle." I told him softly. Blaze whined in response.
"But don't worry, I'll come back." I reassured him. I planted a little kiss on his forehead before walking into the castle toward the library.
•••
"So, what did you find?" I asked. Damian turned to me, his eyes glowing their signature colour. The floating scrolls and books around him eminated the same purple glow.
"Well, after yesterday, I decided to do some research on the corrupted king. And..." He paused. "...well, let's just say that I've made some, interesting discoveries."
"Uh huh..." I muttered. He set one of the scrolls down on the table.
"What's that?" I asked.
"That's the thing, I don't know." He said. He opened the scroll, revealing an ancient sort of language of strange symbols. Symbols that seemed all to familiar.
"Is that...Runic?" I asked.
"Yup." Damian nodded. "The only problem is that this is a much older version of Runic. I can't read it."
I examined the scroll closely, trying to make out at least one symbol I understood before giving up.
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚲ︍ᛟᚱᚱᚢᛈᛏᛁᛟᚾ
ᚨᛊ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛊᚢᚱᚷᛖ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚲ︍ᚱᚨᚲ︍ᚲᛊ᛫ᚲ︍ᛟᚾᛏᛁᚾᚢᛖᛊ᛫
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚱᛖᚨᛚᛗ᛫,ᛁᚾ᛫ᚱᚢᛁᚾ᛫,ᛗᚨᚾᚢ︍᛫ᛚᛁᚹ︍ᛖᛊ᛫ᛚᛟᛊᛏ᛫
ᚨᛚᛚ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᛏᚱᚢ︍᛫ᛏᛟ᛫ᚱᛁᛞ᛫ᛟᚢᚱ᛫ᚹᛟᚱᛚᛞ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛈᛚᚨᚷᚢᛖ᛫ᚦ︍ᚨᛏ᛫ᚺᚨᛊ᛫ᚠᚨᛚᛚᛖᚾ᛫ᚢᛈᛟᚾ᛫ᚢᛊ᛫,ᛒᚢᛏ᛫ᚾᛟᚾᛖ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᛊᚢᚲ︍ᚲ︍ᛖᛖᛞ᛫
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚲᛖᛖᛈᛖᚱᛊ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛖᛚᛖᛗᛖᚾᛏᛊ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᚠᚨᛚᛚ᛫ᚨᛊ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚲ︍ᛟᚱᚱᚢᛈᛏᛖᛞ᛫ᛖᚾᛏᛁᛏᚢ︍'ᛊ᛫ᛒᚨᚾᛁᛊᚺᛗᛖᚾᛏ᛫ᛞᚱᚨᚹᛊ᛫ᛖᚹ︍ᛖᚱ᛫ᚲ︍ᛚᛟᛊᛖᚱ᛫
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚱᛖᛞ-ᚺᛖᚨᛞᛖᛞ᛫ᚺᛖᚱᛟ᛫ᛗᚨᚢ︍᛫ᛊᛏᚨᚾᛞ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚹ︍ᛁᚲ︍ᛏᛟᚱᚢ︍᛫ᛟᚹ︍ᛖᚱ᛫ᚺᛁᛊ᛫ᚠᚨᛚᛚᛖᚾ᛫ᛖᚾᛖᛗᚢ︍᛫ᚨᚾᛞ᛫ᛖᚲᛊᛁᛚᛖ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛞᛖᛊᛏᚱᚢᚲ︍ᛏᛁᚹ︍ᛖ᛫ᛖᚾᛏᛁᛏᚢ︍᛫
ᛒᚢᛏ᛫ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚲ︍ᚺᚨᛁᚾᛊ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛒᛁᚾᛞᛁᛜ︍᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᚾᛟᛏ᛫ᚺᛟᛚᛞ᛫
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᛖᚾᛏᛁᛏᚢ︍᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᚱᛁᛊᛖ᛫ᛟᚾᚲ︍ᛖ᛫ᛗᛟᚱᛖ᛫
ᛁᛏᛊ᛫ᛈᛚᚨᚷᚢᛖ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᛊᛈᚱᛖᚨᛞ᛫ᛟᚾᚲ︍ᛖ᛫ᛗᛟᚱᛖ᛫
ᚦ︍ᛖ᛫ᚱᛖᚨᛚᛗ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᛒᛖ᛫ᚦ︍ᚱᛟᚹᚾ᛫ᛁᚾᛏᛟ᛫ᚲ︍ᚺᚨᛟᛊ᛫ᛟᚾᚲ︍ᛖ᛫ᛗᛟᚱᛖ᛫
"So, we're pretty much at a dead end?" I asked. Damian shook his head, adjusting his glasses.
"Actually, there's a way to decipher this ancient text." Damian snapped his fingers and held out his hand, before a black and purple leather-bound book appeared in his hand with similar runes on the cover.
"Whoa...what's that?"
"This is the Runic Tome of Translation."
"Let me guess, it translates ancient runes to a la gauge that we can actually read?"
"Yup." He opened the book and lay it down next to the scroll. The pages were blank. "Whatever we write down on the left page, the translation will appear on the right."
"Cool." I muttered. Damian snapped his fingers again, a silver quill appearing in his hands a second later. I was about to ask him when he started writing down the runes. The ink from the quill glowed a bright silver as Damian wrote on, and on the opposite page, letters of the english alphabet appeared, the black ink seemingly bleeding onto the page. I stared in amazement.
"Whoa..." I muttered. As Damian wrote down the last rune, a fully translated version of the scroll appeared on the right page. Damian and I read together.
'The End of Corruption
As the surge of cracks continues
The realm in ruin, many lives lost
All will try to rid our world of the plague that has fallen upon us, but none will succeed
The keepers of the elements will fall as the corrupted entity's banishment draws ever closer
The red-headed hero may stand in victory over his fallen enemy and exile of the destructive entity
But the chains of binding will not hold
The entity will rise once more
Its plague will spread once more
The realm will be thrown into chaos once more'
We looked at each other, dumbfounded. I tried to process what I read, which led to more questions than answers. As usual...
"Is this... no, probably not. But maybe..." Damian muttered, scratching his chin, examining the writing on the scroll very closely.
"Aha! It is!" He said suddenly.
"What? I don't have telepathy, Damian. You might have to explain this one to me." I joked, arms crossed.
"This isn't any normal ancient text." He turned to me. "This is a prophecy."
"A prophecy?" I repeated, my arms falling to my side.
"Yeah. I mean, only a handful of mind elementals know how to write and read Runic, me being one of them. And while it's possible to learn it, some mind elementals just have the ability to read and write it naturally. These ink strokes, the elemental who made them knew the language well-"
"Damian, my mind can't keep up, can you slow down?" I said, cutting him rambling off. Damian looked at me before adjusting his glasses.
"Right, right." He took a breath before turning to the scroll. "Mind elementals can see into the future, which led to quite a bit of them being prophets for a lot ofkingdoms and villages. And since this was written in Runic, it must've been written by a super powerful mind elemental." Damian explained.
"Yeah, but that doesn't really prove how this could be a prophecy though." I said.
"Yeah, well look at a few of the lines. The realm in ruin, many lives lost, the keepers of the elements, those things already happened." Damian said.
"They did?"
"Yeah. At one point, almost the entire realm became corrupted, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, the elemental guardians ended up losing their lives as well." Damian explained.
"Wow...I have a lot of history about this realm to learn." I said. "What about the second part of it? Did that happen yet?"
Damian read through the scroll again, and a grim expression spread across his face.
"No..." Damian muttered. "I-It can't be possible. The guardian of fire sealed him away."
"Sealed him away-? Damian, what are you saying?" I asked. Seeing Damian's expression made me nervous. It always did.
"If what I'm thinking is correct, then the second part of that scroll means..." He shook his head. "...no, no, it can't be. It can't be possible, right?"
"Damian. What's wrong? Tell me!" I urged. He took a deep, shaky breath.
"If that second part means what I think it means, then we're all doomed." Damian started. After reading his expression for a bit, and going over what the scroll said in my mind, I finally understood why Damian was so nervous.
"You don't mean..." I asked. Damian nodded his head slowly.
"The Corrupted King is coming back."
~~~~~
Author's Notes
I was waiting so long to finally do this one, and God am I happy. I've been wanting to work with Runic ever since I learned how to write it (which, btw, is the language the prophecy is translated from) and this chapter was the perfect excuse. I also imagine Alex and Damian becoming two of the closest characters in this story, purely because of how much they've discovered together. Definitely gonna incorporate that in more and flesh it out later.
-BlueBoyHalo14