Realm of the Runes: Blood Right

Chapter XXV

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“Ah! You have arrived!” Chronos greeted them. “We were just about to begin your first history lesson.”

They had all gathered in the room with the maps, and Chronos held out his hand.

“Take my arm, each of you. Good. Now, I briefly explained the Sight when you first came to the Athenaeum, and I think you should all be ready for your first lesson.

“First of all, the Sight only occurs when you have contact with the aether. When you touch an artifact - such as these maps - you can see into the history of the object. With practice, you can choose exactly what moment in time you wish to see, or you can go straight to the beginning of the artifact's history.”

“Chronos?” Dennis interrupted. “Do people count as artifacts?”

“Only after their soul has left their body,” Chronos replied. 

Dennis grimaced.

“A telemancer, or mind mage, can search a person or an animal’s mind for memories whilst they are still alive,” their teacher explained. “But the Sight only applies to inanimate objects, or those without a soul.”

“That makes sense.”

“Good. Shall we begin?”

The group shuffled a little closer and each of them touched his arm.

“When I touch the map, we will all enter the Sight as a group. You will be able to talk to each other, but I would encourage you to just watch for the time being. Good?”

They nodded.

“Excellent. I am taking you back to the beginning…”

He placed his finger firmly in the centre of the map, and everything blacked out.

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Ryaki blinked, jumping as a hand protruded through her belly. She whirled around, ready to strike, and found herself looking down at Bobby’s laughing face. She reached down to pat his head, but found her hand slipped straight through his own forehead, as if they were ghosts.

“Cool!” Bobby crowed, and then clapped a hand to his mouth as he remembered Chronos’s orders. His hand passed right through his head, and he giggled. Ryaki smiled a little.

He’s so cute. Where are we?

She glanced around, seeing the others a few metres away, looking into the distance. They were standing on a rock of some kind. The sky was very dark, and the air very cold. She beckoned Bobby to follow her as she approached the others. The little boy tried to grab her hand, but his fingers went straight through her, so he settled to walking close by.

Rich glanced over at them as they approached, but Ryaki’s attention was held by what she observed  below.

They were standing on a rock that protruded from a sheer cliff, overhanging a valley that lay several thousand feet below. The sky was flecked with shards of orange, and a green wave of light was creeping toward the horizon, stretching forward into nothingness and leaving crumbled brown dirt in its wake.

“This is Gaia, creating the Earth,” Chronos explained in a loud voice. He had to speak quite loudly to be heard over the cracking and groaning sounds emanating from the earth as it settled below. 

The orange shards of light in the dark sky were coming together as if drawn by a magnet, and when the last shard joined the others, a muted boom sounded. The ball glowed for a moment and then exploded in a brilliant light. Ryaki shielded her eyes from the brightness.