“You see, I’ve been scouring the Lower City, even outside, just to find someone who knew anything about Runes. Not even the special runes, just the ones Hunters use. It took me a hell of lot of time, but I’ve finally found someone – he’s called the Soulstealer.”

“That’s a peculiar name.” Seokjin is in a delirious craze, pacing around his large chamber in a spectacular fashion. He had walked me here in a similarly rushed manner, immediately grabbing me by the hand and dragging me across the entire back of the palace.

“They call him that because they think he’s learned how to steal souls after being so assimilated with mage culture. Some even think he’s become a mage after all this time.”

“But if he’s just a simple rune studier, he might not know anything about the castle runes. Not a lot of Hunter mages themselves do.”

“He’s our only lead. We’ve got to take it.”

“You treat this whole situation like we’ve absolutely got to figure it out.”

“I do. This power can help me in stopping Joohyun in her absolutely insane ideas.”

“Like what?”

He breathes a sigh of exasperation.

“Like burning the village of Yuna. For ‘agricultural purposes’.”

“But the spirits...”

“Exactly.”

Yuna is a small village in the eastern woodlands of Kurasaki, and is regarded as highly spiritual site. Especially because it has history as a site of holy deities and unholy monsters. It would be ignorant of someone to destroy the area – spirits would completely revolt and ruin the village, and the people within it.

“So, we go to the Soulstealer now?”

“Yes. I’ve already made arrangements. Do you need to bring anything? It’ll take us two days; it’s at Lapis.”

“A change of clothes. And some weapons.”

“That sounds fine. We’ll stop by your home on the way.”

-

The Lower City sounds like it would be a poor man’s place, but it is one of the richest cities in the kingdom, other than the Upper City and maybe Lapis. The city is primarily filled with upperclassmen, professionals like medics or knights, and they live quite luxuriously. My residence is at the fringes, a small two room apartment of sorts. My neighbors are high middle class merchants; not bad considering some mages used to live in hell holes. Compared to the palace that Seokjin lives in though, and it’s absolutely nothing. Either way, I step down from my white steed, and walk up the stairs leading up to the door of the apartment. I draw an unlocking rune with my finger, a rough outline of a key and a circle around it. The lock clicks and the door swings open.

Inside, it’s dark and musty. I haven’t been here in a few weeks, after living in the castle’s guest rooms. I use another rune, this one for light. The room illuminates, and I open my closet. I grab some simple robes, and a stack of runes already written. These are the runes that takes weeks, months, even years to create – yielding immense power that cannot be found in impromptu runes. Then, human weaponry – a dagger and a rapier. Then a piece of parchment and a pen to write a note.

Sehun,

I’m out for another few weeks. I know I promised I would be back here by tomorrow. But I’ve got another job. Sorry. Hope you’re doing well. I’ll explain when I get back. Don’t eat all of my chicken.

- Seolhyun

Then I scrawl a rune for darkness, and the room goes black. I step back outside and slam the door shut. One more rune for lock, and a protection rune for good measure.

Seokjin stands there, waiting patiently. He’s been watching me this whole time.

“How do mages get their powers anyways?”