Noah brushed his fingers across the snake’s Runes with a delighted smile. All seven of them were identical. But, curiously, he didn’t understand what any of them were. It was the first time that Vermil’s ability to read Runes had failed him.

I wonder if these are Runes unique to monsters. It’s either that or just ones Vermil hasn’t seen before, but I’ve never had difficulty understanding Runes before, so it’s probably the first scenario. Lee said there were some Runes that only monsters have. I’m tempted to try to absorb one of them, but I don’t know what that would do to me. The important thing here is I know that I can Sunder the Runes out of a soul. I should be smart here. No point potentially injuring myself over a weak Rune.

Instead of trying to absorb any of the Runes, Noah just spent several moments memorizing their shape as best as he could. They weren’t too complicated, and he was soon pretty confident that he’d gotten it down fairly closely. Once he’d gotten it down, he quickly sketched the Rune on a sheaf of paper with his quill and ink. It wasn’t particularly neat, but it worked.

I’ll show Lee and Moxie when I get back to camp, and then they can tell me their thoughts. It’s not like there’s a lack of snakes to kill in the area. I bet Moxie will be proud that I didn’t just jump into things.

But there was one more thing Noah wanted to try. Much of Sunder’s function was still a mystery to him, but he’d been learning a lot about the Master Rune as of late, and there was still something important he hadn’t fully investigated.

When he died to a monster, his soul took damage but his Runes were unaffected. However, when he killed monsters, Noah drew their energy and filled all of his Runes. That led him to conclude that the soul’s energy itself was what filled Runes.

Furthermore, it looked like when something died, the energy from its Runes probably either merged or transferred into its departing soul, and some portion of that went to the killer. Either way, it was clear that not all the energy was transferred.

So, either the conversion from Rune to soul energy is really bad, or not all the energy is captured. When I Sunder something like this, though, I have access to all the Runes directly. I want to know if I can somehow force that transition and draw the energy straight out of the Runes. I already know I can take energy from two matching Runes and transfer it between them, but can I yank it out of a different Rune?

Noah reached out to the Runes with his mind, trying to pull on them. He prodded and poked, even going as far as to cut at them again with Sunder to try and split the Runes farther. To his disappointment, nothing worked. The Rune he re-Sundered simply shattered, its power fading away.

The rest of the Runes started to dissipate as well. Before long, they were gone. Noah scrunched his nose in annoyance. That had answered a few questions, even if it hadn’t quite been the answers he’d been hoping for.

Whatever process that turns the Runes into general energy isn’t replicable by me – not right now, at least. And, Sundering the soul completely halts that transfer. So I have to choose between yoinking something’s Runes or getting its power. First world problems, I guess.

In the end, I can’t complain. I’m not in a rush to get power. I’m much more interested in Runes. My goal is to build a big grimoire that I can use to put powerful Runes together, not just to speedrun getting to Rank 3. It’s about quality here, not quantity.

Noah turned back toward camp. It was pretty late. He’d spent more time out than he’d expected to, and the others would probably be starting to wonder where he was. Noah kept his Body Imbuements active as he walked. There was still a lot he could practice with picking up vibrations, and he didn’t want to waste –

Something rippled at the back of his mind’s eye. Noah missed a step. It had been so fast that he’d barely even picked up the vibration as it reached his feet. But, even as fast as it had been, it was unmistakable.

The hell was that?

Another ripple passed through the ground, this time on the other side of Noah’s mental circle. He spun toward it, but only found darkness lurking within the trees. Noah’s hair stood on end and he flexed his fingers, reaching for his Runes and turning in a slow circle.

It probably would have been smarter to pretend like I didn’t notice whatever that was, but it’s too late for that now. I already hesitated. But… where is it?

Another step rippled, this time just a few trees away to his side. Noah leapt back spinning to face it, but the ripples had vanished before he’d even finished moving.

“If you’re human, I suggest you stop,” Noah called, listening intently to the vibrations through his feet.

The image of a large, padded foot landing on the ground behind Noah formed in his mind. He spun, sending a churning bolt of wind scoring through the air. It slammed into a tree, tearing through the wood with a loud crack.

There was nothing there.

Noah gritted his teeth. He couldn’t head back to the camp if something was chasing after him. It would put the kids in danger. He’d have to take care of it here – but it was patient. A lot more patient than he was.

Gathering himself, Noah scoured the forest floor to try and spot where the creature had gone. His mental image of the world around him was blank. Seconds turned to minutes. Nothing happened.

Noah took a step toward camp, his guard not dropping in the slightest.

Did it give up because I wasn’t an easy target?

Moonlight filtered in through the leaves overhead, casting the forest in long shadows. The hair on the back of Noah’s neck and arms still stood stiff, but according to all of his senses, the area was clear.

There was only so long he could remain on guard. The monster had probably left. Noah’s stance shifted. Either way, it was probably smart to take a longer route back to camp rather than just heading straight there.

He took a single step. His senses exploded.

Ripples slammed into his mind from every direction, forming a cacophony of distorted images of paws and a huge, muscled body. Noah swore and launched himself straight into the air with a blast of wind.

He hadn’t been a moment too soon. A dark blur tore across the ground where he’d been standing, silver claws flashing as they carved through the air where Noah had been standing.

By the time Noah dropped to the ground again, the monster had vanished into the shadows and his senses found nothing once more. Noah ground his teeth and shifted his stance.

“So that’s how we’re going to do this? Fine. I’ll play.”

He lowered his hands and strode off into the forest. There were quite a few clearings scattered throughout it, and the monster would lose a lot of its advantage if it didn’t have so many trees to hide behind.

Either I force its hand now, or the fight gets significantly easier for me. Your move, whatever it is you are.

Noah’s senses screamed a warning. He threw himself to the side as a black blur carved through the air where he’d been standing. It skidded across the ground, spinning to face Noah and giving him his first look at the creature.

It was sleek and catlike, taller than him even standing on all fours. The jaguar’s fur was so dark that it seemed to drink in the darkness like a void, but Noah could still make out the thick, ropey muscle covering it. Two large, yellow eyes bore into him from the darkness, black slit pupils in their centers.

 Each of its paws had six long, jagged silver claws jutting out from within it. They glittered in the moonlight like blades. The monster bared a mouth full of at least six rows of long, pointed teeth, and let out a slow hiss.

Its claws sank back into the pads of its feet and it closed its mouth, blinking heavily and backing up into the darkness. Without the claws, teeth, or eyes, even though Noah knew exactly where it was through his Vibration Imbuements, it was completely invisible to his naked eye.

Then, abruptly, it vanished from his senses. Noah only had an instant to react as he felt it appear behind him, lunging from the shadows. There wasn’t even time to call on his Runes. He just threw himself to the ground.

The jaguar’s paw whistled overhead, silver claws flashing in the moonlight. Noah rolled to the side as it pounced on where he’d been standing. He sent a pulse of energy into the ground, shaking the ground violently to try to throw the monster off its feet.

The jaguar leapt back, vanishing into a tree as cracks tore through the earth where it had been standing. Noah used the brief reprise to scramble to his feet. He flexed his fingers, his heart thumping in his chest.

“Come on,” Noah murmured.

Once again, he was saved by his tremorsense. A vague blur appeared to Noah’s left side. He leapt into the air, just barely clearing a deadly paw, and spun. He thrust a hand, just barely managing to brush the jaguar’s fur. It was sleek and rough to the touch.

Noah unleashed a blast of Vibration into the monster’s body. It let out a yowl and leapt back, zipping into the shadows. Noah landed, breathing heavily as he rose to his feet again, tensed to react if the jaguar attacked.

He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, and his sweat was cold in the night air. Several seconds passed. Noah edged toward the direction of the clearing again. He didn’t have any plans of letting the jaguar sit around and wear him out any more. His attack hadn’t had enough power behind it to do serious damage, but it had hopefully at least set the monster on edge.

Noah accelerated his pace – and then threw himself to the ground as a blur sailed over his head. It slammed into a tree with a loud crack, shattering the wood and sending it pitching backward. Noah launched to his feet, sending two blades of churning wind flying for the jaguar, but it leapt over them and charged him.

Holy shit, this thing is fast.

Noah thrust his hands forward, sending a wall of violent, twisting wind toward the jaguar. Its yellow eyes flashed and it suddenly vanished, sinking into the ground and disappearing from Noah’s senses.

He spun, expecting it to attack from the back again. Instead, the Jaguar appeared exactly where it had been standing a moment before and lunged. It slammed into Noah, knocking him to the ground and lunging forward to rip at his throat.

Noah released a powerful vibration into the beast’s paws from his shoulders. It screamed in pain and leapt back instead of going for the kill. Noah rolled back to his feet, his eyes narrow. Its thick fur seemed to be doing a lot to keep the vibrations from penetrating deep into its body, but it clearly still felt them.

“How’d you like that?” Noah asked. “Come on. I can do a lot worse. Take a bite out of me and see what happens.”

To Noah’s surprise, it wasn’t the jaguar that made the next move. It wasn’t him, either. It was the trees.

Vines shot out from the darkness, reaching for the jaguar. Several of them wound around its limbs, jerking them taut. Moxie stepped out from the shade of a tree, her brow furrowed in concentration.

“What in the Damned Plains is this, Noah? What are you fighting so close to camp?”

“Moxie!” Noah exclaimed, even as he drew on a Howling Cyclone Rune and formed a spike of wind, launching it at the jaguar. “Kill it, now!”

The monster vanished, slipping through Moxie’s vines and slipping into the ground. The vines tightened on air and Noah’s spell passed harmlessly by where it had been caught, drilling into a tree.

Noah gathered more magic as his tremorsense picked up a footfall to his side. The jaguar appeared directly before him, swiping with a paw. For an instant, Noah locked eyes with the monster.

Then it vanished.

“Moxie!” Noah yelled. “Behind you!”

The jaguar rose from the shadows to Moxie’s side. She clapped her hands together and vines erupted in a thick sheet before her, crashing down over the jaguar. A flicker of relief shot through Noah, but it was short lived.

The vines split apart as a blade of dark water carved them apart and slammed into Moxie. She stumbled, her Shield flashing a brilliant green as it activated, and the Jaguar vanished. Noah lunged, but he wasn’t fast enough to reach her.

Reforming at Moxie’s side, the jaguar swiped a claw for Moxie’s back. She didn’t have the benefit of Noah’s tremorsense to warn her of its approach, but Moxie was still well trained. Her Shield solidified, a dense layer of vines forming between her and the monster’s claws a moment before they struck.

The jaguar’s claws slowed as they carved through the vines, and Moxie was thrown to the ground. She rolled with the blow, jumping to her feet as Noah launched a wind blade at the monster. It vanished, reforming several feet away and arching its back in a hiss. Noah rushed over to Moxie as she staggered, cursing under her breath.

“Are you okay?” Noah kept his eyes locked on the jaguar.

“It managed to get me. What the hell is that?” Moxie hissed.

“No damn idea. We should be able to take it together, though,” Noah said. “It can jump into shadows or something. Keep your back to mine. Are you badly injured?”

“In pain, but I’ll live,” Moxie replied. “Just watch the cat.”

The jaguar’s eyes remained on them for several seconds. Then, to Noah’s surprise, it turned and slunk away into the woods. Noah stared at it in shock. Moxie let out a pained grunt as she reached down to her travel bag, grabbing a potion and tipping it into her mouth.

They stood in silence for several minutes. The jaguar didn’t return.

“Did… it just realize the same thing that we did?” Noah asked, a chill running down his spine.

“Yeah. I think it did,” Moxie replied grimly. “This might be trouble. A lot of it.”

---

Hey guys, Actus here!
I've got well over 300 chapters of Runebound written, and since there's no bulk upload feature on scribblehub, it would honestly just take way too long for me to add more. 

If you want to continue reading the story, check it out on Royal Road at this link. 

I also have a Patreon that is 50 chapters ahead of the Royal Road Releases, but you can find that on Royal Road after you catch up to the released chapters.