Bernt’s knees ached as he triple-checked the chalk markings oone behind his desk. It was already te in the evening – he'd spent most of the day p over Iria's history book. From the reading material alone, he could already tell that Iria was going to be a difficult task master. The book provided an ating of many disparate events that felt disected, though Bernt was sure that wasn't the case.
The text casually referred to other events, rulers, sects and traditions that he'd never heard of. The stupid book was written for schors, not someone like him. He didn't have the proper text to uand the rger picture that the book was trying to vey. It was frustrating, and he couldn't help but feel like Iria had told him to start there on purpose. She robably trying to nudge him into doing his own additional research at the library. That, or she just wao put him in his pce. Tomorrow, he'd try some of the other books – maybe they'd make more sense. But there was no way he’d go home to sleep before he tested this.
The rune circle in front of him wasn’t his own design – he’d copied it from a book – but that didn’t mean he could afford to be sloppy.
Familiar bonds didn’t create a direct e between the caster and the familiar the way most people imagihere was no mutual mind-linking or trol spell at work, no magical tether. ceptually, they were much simpler than that.
Souls were loud, magically speaking. They sent echoes of themselves vibrating through the ambient mana all around. Familiar bonds took advantage of that by keying the spirit of the caster to resoh that of the intended familiar. From there, the link was mutual airely passive. Both would, to aent, feel and sehe same things as their familiar, though obviously much less intensely.
In the mortal world, the iy of the transmission was rgely depe on proximity. In the hells… well, the fact that Bernt could still sense Jori at all was dumbfounding. He had no idea what to make of it, but at least it was w in his favor, for now. He had a e, so he didn’t need to uand everything to make it work for him.
The circle in front of him was desigo read the resonant frequency of his own spirit, and then to colled amplify all simir frequencies back at him. To try it, though, he had to get into the circle and open his spirit to influence from the circle. Eveively simple rune circles weren’t toys – if he’d messed up any of the markings, all kinds of terrible things could happen to him. Hence, why he was triple cheg the ehing.
He should have goo visit Therion and told him about the bond. Doing this alone was stupid. Besides, the e had a broader education tha did and might have some valuable input. But… he didn’t want to wait anymore. And the circle erfect, he was sure of it.
Taking a deep breath Bernt stepped forward into the circle and closed his eyes, trating on his e to Jori.
Rushing water filled his senses. Not real water, of course – it was the bond as it filled his mind with unintelligible was louder, for ck of a better description, but no clearer than before. He still couldn’t dis anything specifi it – just that Jori was alive and feeling something that might have been a sense of satisfa. Even that, though, was more of an intuitive guess than anything else. It was too… fuzzy.
Letting out a breath, Bernt stepped out of the circle again. It sort of worked, in the sehat it amplified the bond, but it didn’t do anything to crify what he was getting from it. He would have to try something else. That meant the time fuesswork was over. He o talk to someone who knew more about familiar bonds – and probably pnar theory. Someone who wasn’t a warlock.
Only one name came to mind, but could he trust him with this? He’d have to think about it.
***
Bernt spent the m skimming through the primers on the fods who spohe Invigition. He’d never bothered much with religion, outside the occasional at the Temple of Aedina before a big test day at the Academy. It was traditional for students t the goddess of knowledge and learning symbols of their ignorance, followed ter with proof of their intellectual growth.
Idly, Bernt wondered if he should submit a copy of his banefire spell to the temple. He might get a minor blessing out of it. But it wouldn’t work if he went there to procrastinate having to read all this crap.
Of course, Bernt already knew who the majods were – at least those worshiped by humans. But that didn’t mean he’d bothered to study theology or to memorize all their a mythology. Gods were extremely dangerous and sometimes capricious, but none of them would go after a normal person who was just minding their own business. That had always suited Bernt just fine.
The texts were easier to follow than the history text the day before, but they were terribly dry, pinly expining the role of each god and their retionships to all the ods, various peoples, pces and even abstract cepts. Barian, for example, was the patron of trade and the winds, and was most highly honored in Illuria. The text went on and on about the use of his priests on trading vessels in the Illurian Sea, his isnd temples, and a string of wars against the merpeople where he was supposed to have pyed a pivotal role.
Noruk was most closely associated with Madzhur and Eyeli with Besermark, and by the sound of it, each of them had spawned enough history and lore to fill a library on their own.
The only thing that truly surprised Bernt was that Kallrix, despite being a maritime power like Illuria, apparently revered Ruzinia above all others. She was a young goddess, retively speaking, only dating back to the early Imperial Age, where she apparently opposed the spread of human civilization – at least, acc to imperial records.
The early Madurian Empire had pressed ever southward from Mahat’Ur, driving orcs, humans and trolls down into the coastal lownds that had, until that point, been occupied by small warring tribes of seafaring goblins. That should have resulted in another chaotic war, but against all expectations, the goblins didn’t fight. They weled the fners with open arms, g the will of their “great spirit”, which they called Rixin. Acc to the temple itself, this was the first direct written refereo Ruzinia.
The result was the first Kallrixian Republic, which would go on to resist Madurian expansion for over a tury before its fall. O did, worship of the goddess spread throughout the empire, carried on a tide of desperate refugees as they fled from their ravaged homend.
Ruzinia was sidered a minoddess, despite her reputation for raising great heroes in times of need – Bernt had never sidered that she might be a bigger deal elsewhere. More surprisingly, though, this implied something potentially curious about the natural spirits that goblins worshiped. Were they all just minor deities of some kind? If that was true, where was the liween a shaman and a priest?
The priests he knew of mostly treated goblins and other shamanistic peoples as lesser heathens. But what was the difference, really? And why did no one ever talk about it? Bernt couldn’t imagihat the temples themselves wouldn’t have the answer. He would have to ask Torvald about it whe a ce.
Closing the book, Bernt got up and began to make his way down the hallway to the stairs. He was starving and it was well past lunch time. But first, he had aop to make. He needed help, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere if he didn’t take any risks. It was time to talk to Haln.
***
The librarian who opehe door was not Haln, but rather an older woman who looked pointedly down her him with narrowed eyes when she opehe door. Also unlike his former cssmate, she asked him to “sign in” using a broad, runed der of some kind, which he had to submit a sample of his mana to.
Bernt carefully made sure to use his left hand, so as not to destroy the heavily ented object.
Nothing happened, and the woman looked at him with a sour face.
“All set.” she said curtly. “Might I help you find something?”
Bernt cleared his throat. “Yes, actually. Do you know where I find Haln?”
She grunted and waved him off. “Try the medical texts. He was giving a sultatio I saw.”
Bernt made his way dowacks, looking for the appropriate se. They weren’t clearly beled as far as Bernt could see. Instead, each row was marked with a number, and smaller ses in each row were marked with runes. He assumed there was more to their anizational system, but from what he could see it was all very unclear.
Fortunately, he wasn’t looking for a book, so he just gnced down each row as he went.
He’d almost made it to the tablet library when he finally found someone – but it wasn’t Haln. Therion held a small stack of books in one arm as he awkwardly flipped through the one on top. He looked up at Bernt’s approad nodded a greeting.
“Hey Bernt! Doing some reading?”
“Yeah,” Bernt replied, “something like that. How’s your dad?” He'd been meaning to go and che Therion again sihe battle, but he hadn't had time. He felt a little guilty for it now.
“Better," Terion said. "He’s eating on his own, but he still won’t talk. I’m looking for possible therapies that might help. There’s really a lot more here than I expected.”
“That’s great! Good to hear. I didn’t realize they even had that kind of information here.” Bernt looked at the books around him. A treatise on ic fatigue, a text on the causes of halluations, an exhaustive pition of spells for first aid – all medical texts. “I hope he’s ba his feet soon. The Adventurer’s Guild is probably lost without him.”
Therion chuckled half-heartedly. “Probably. The Rangers certainly aren’t the same. A few of them e to che him every couple of days.”
“That’s good, I’m sure seeing people he knows has got to help.” Bernt paused awkwardly, unsure of what to say. “Uh, I actually came looking for Haln. Did you know he works here? The librarian up front told me he was doing a sultation in the medical se.”
“Yeah, sure.” Therion said, sounding relieved at the ge of topic. “He’s helped me out a few times. I don’t know where he wandered off to, but he’ll be around here somewhere. What do you need him for?”
Just as he asked, Bernt caught sight of the librarian as he turned dowad headed toward them. He waved when he saw them and grinned.
“Bernt! What’s going on?”
“I wao see if you know anything about pnar theory,” Bernt said, deg not to dance around the issue. “It’s about that thing with the familiar bonds I was looking into.”
Haln stared at him, suddenly looking armed. “You didn’t! No, no you couldn’t. What’s going on? You better not be doing what it sounds like you’re doing!”
“No, I’m n to summon and bond aal.” Bernt said patiently. “I already have a familiar, and she’s trapped on another pne, but the bond didn’t break.”
“She? Okay, so, not aal, then.” Haln threw a g Therion, who gave him mischievous grin that reminded Bernt eerily of his father, Garius.
He looked back at Bernt suspiciously. “ne?”
***
“You bonded a demon?” Haln said incredulously. Bernt had pulled his friends off into one of the small reading rooms, away from potential prying ears, expining to Haln about Jori as he went. “Are you pletely insane?”
“It’s fine!” Bernt protested, trying not to sound too defensive. “Holy, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. She’s more intelligent than an animal, friendly, and she throw balls of fire. What’s not to like?”
“Maybe that linking your mind to a demon could easily drive you insane in minutes?” Haln hissed. “Do you have any idea how alien arapy’s mind be?”
“I don’t know,” Therion interjected. “I thought she was nice. She really saved our asses in the dungeon. Besides, she’s a hero! Haven’t you heard?”
Haln’s mouth dropped open a bit, and his gaze flicked from Therion back to Bernt. They could practically see the gears turn in Haln’s brain as he realized exactly which demon they were talking about.
“Look, I know demons are dangerous.” Bernt expined. “But Jori… well, she retty much like a cat when I found her. Or, what I imagine a cat’s mind would be like. I imagi helps to bond them early. The point is, I want to reestablish unication with her. She’s trapped in the hells, and she’s pretty much reliant on the Solicitors for all outside tact. I don’t like that, and I think I should be able to fix it at least that st bit, assuming that I figure out exactly what the problem is.”
“Wait, hold on.” Haln said, holding up both hands. “Doesn’t this make you a warlock, at least in every practical sense? How are you even a guild member? And wouldn’t the Solicitors take issue with something like this?”
“I have an arra with all the relevant parties. You’re wele to ask archmage Iria about it. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave out the part about the familiar bond still w, though. I’d like to keep that quiet if I . I definitely don’t want it getting back to the Solicitors, assuming they don’t already know.”
“Yeah… it is strahat it’s still w.” Haln ceded, scratg at his head. “Familiar bonds are spatial, but you’re not in the same space. At least not in the ventional sense of the word. There shouldn’t really be any way for you to still sense her.”
And just like that, Bernt knew he’d won him over. He’d piqued the librarian’s curiosity, and he khe man well enough to know he would have to scratch that itch.
“I tried simple amplification, and that doesn’t work. I o figure out how the e is reag me in the mortal world. I know how the elemental pnes ect, but I think the hells are fually different. There aren’t any hell fluences, so what is the e?”
Haln gave him a strange look, but it was Therion who answered.
“Souls transit freely into the hells, right? Do you really need a tangible e for that? I mean, familiar bonds are transmitted through ambient mana. As long as there’s maween here and where Jori is, your e should work, right?”
Bernt blihat was a good point.
“So… the better question might be why it’s so stant, now. The e doesn’t get weaker depending on where I go anymore, and it’s still pretty strong – just very indistinct.” Bernt paused and fixed his gaze on Haln. “Want to help me figure it out?”
Haln looked flicted for a moment and made a frustrated noise, but then he nodded. “Fine, I’ll help. But you owe me for this. Holy – bonding a demon!”
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