The morning frost was at its height (or low, I guess). I shoved my hands in my hoodie pouch to keep them warmish. I say warm-ish because compared to Wol who looked perfectly content to lounge in the sun, I was freezing.

  It was still better than being inside at the moment.

  “You told me there was one more.”

  “Mina Baek.” I said, remembering the pretty girl. “She had this blue leopard dog thingie.”

  “Draw it for me.”

  “The dog or Mina Baek?”

  “Don't waste our time, Jain.”

  I begrudgingly took one hand out into the cold again to draw Mina’s familiar.

  Wol looked at the drawing then up at my face. “I said it is not the time for jests.”

  “I wasn’t. This is how I draw.”

  Wol grumbled something and went back to studying the drawing. “I think it's a Haetae. Your drawing makes it hard to tell.”

  I ignored the second part of his comment. “You’re going to have to elaborate.”

  “They’re descended from Chinese mythical guardians called the Xiezhi. As more and more Korean practitioners contracted with them, some tribes settled down there and eventually changed enough to become something else entirely.”

  “Ok, what do they do?”

  “What most guardians do. Discern right from wrong, punish evil. Their antlers react to dark entities. They're also skilled at hydromancy.”

  "So they control water." One of the first things I researched when I got to the safe house was the Yin-Yang Five Elements and Empodocles’ four elements that Emyrith had mentioned. “When you say they can punish evil, do you mean…”

  “The powers that a Hallow or a Shin utilize falls under that umbrella.” Wol picked up on what I was saying. “And water counteracts fire.”

  I realized what all that meant. “Victor uses fire too, you said it can purify. These guys were chosen to counter me."

  “Yes, it looks that way.” Wol stopped lounging around and stood. “That’s why it’s all the more important that we move onto the next stage of preparation. Your practice.”

  “Conjuration and Abjuration. I’m still not clear on what Abjuration does.”

  “Protection from harm. Banishing or sealing otherworldly beings. Construction and nullification of boundaries; counterspells.” Wol finally sat up and his eyes searched the courtyard. “There. Bring me those rocks.”

  I walked over and kicked the thin layer of frost away, revealing more of the pebbles. They were smooth and round, the kind of riverbed pebbles that actually costs money to have in your garden.

  Wol waited until I came back. “You will learn how to make Wards.”

  “Wards?”

  “Barriers and thresholds that will protect you from spells, energies, curses, and even entry. Maybe not all of them right away.” Wol took out his claw again and dragged it over the table, drawing strange shapes. “I learned these basic ones over the years. We're going to need to get a book about runes. Try copying these.”

  I scoffed. They were simple lines and shapes. The kind you give to kindergarteners to practice their fine motor skills. "Easy peasy."

  Turns out, they weren’t.

  The moment I put pen to paper, it was as if my brain stopped recognizing them. There was an immediate disconnect between what I was seeing, what my brain thought I was seeing, and what my hand thought it was supposed to draw. The lines that Wol drew had been clean but mine came out jagged or crooked.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Again.” Wol repeated.

  I put my pen to paper and redid it. It came out worse. The symbols radiated alien strangeness, giving me a headache.

  “How come I could draw the ritualistic runes just fine?”

  “Summoning runes are different from warding runes. Also, your talent lies mainly in Conjuration, Practitioner. Again.” Wol repeated but placed a paw on my hand. “With your Third Eye this time.”

  He let go once I nodded in understanding.

  I grit my teeth and focus. A twisting sensation that was a mixture of drifting away to sleep and waking up from a fever dream –the world separated into two as I opened my Third Eye.

  “Don't stop.” Wol ordered, “And as you draw, I'll talk. Keep focus.” He pointed out a rune with his claw.

  The first rune came out better, but still not up to Wol’s standard.

  “By placing runes on something,” He tipped one and rolled it towards my hand, breaking my focus. “You imbue it with power. How much power and for how long depends on you and the material used.”

  I continued, ignoring the growing headache.

  “These stones may last a few hours, at best, and will not hold much power. Even shorter, if your runes look like that.”

  He knocked another rock into my hand, messing up one of the runes that had been near right.

  My patience ran thin. “You going to keep doing that?”

  “Yes. Because your enemies won't be rolling pebbles at you.”

  I shut my mouth and went to work.

  “This one is for protection.” Another rock. “This one for pain.” Then another, and then the last one. “This one for passage.”

  As he spoke, I understood the runes a little better. When I did, they seemed to grow less blurry, more malleable. The fuzzy image of the rune went from 8-bit to 32-bit.

  I frowned at the protection rune I finally created in my notebook. It was near perfect and pulsed with a small amount of power.

  Wol looked over. “Not bad. You will be an excellent abjurer one day.” His eyes glittered playfully, "One day."

  But the power faded immediately after he said that.

  “It’s gone already.”

  “It's paper.” He shrugged one feline shoulder.

  “And paper doesn’t make for good protection.” I ran my fingertips over the rune. There was a bit of fading warmth. “Do other practitioners use runes?”

  “Some. It's one of the first things they learn.”

  “Then the Valentines and Baeks know it too.” They felt significantly less special now.

  Wol showed his teeth. “They will know basic runes. Making enchantments or evocations stronger. Typically, it's conjurers and abjurers who use them.”

  “So if these are basic,” I picked up a rock and white out marker, ready to try on the rock. “There are advanced runes?”

  “Most are lost. What remains are probably guarded. Old families. Recluses.” Wol shook his head, “Practice a few more times before you try.”

  I practiced for the rest of first and second period –which I also didn’t go to. I’m not in the habit of cutting classes, but the initial nervousness died down as I became absorbed in the craft.

  Wol let me work in silence and Hwari came over to watch, finding more interest in the pages full of failed runes. She went back and forth.

  By the end of the second period, my fingers were permanently jawlocked into a pencil grip. The tips tingled with numbness. There was snot dripping from my nose and I was shivering. I wasn’t too sure when I started doing that.

  But I had three rocks covered in runes of white-out, thrumming with low power.

  “Hm. Excellent, considering that we did not get to engrave the rocks.” Wol approved.

  I held the rock, feeling the subtle heat emanating from them. “How long do you think they’ll last?”

  “Few hours. Less when it's working.”

  “You're sure they work?”

  “They’ll work.” Wol said smugly.

  I couldn’t stop looking at the rocks. There was a sense of accomplishment that I felt when looking at them. I’d made them. It felt like the first time I learned how to ride a bicycle, or when the summoning circle for Yeounui had worked. But the ward stones felt special because it had been so difficult to manage.

  Perhaps I had a small bit of fear that I was only good at one thing and not at anything else. It’s not that I doubted my magic, but rather my talent.

  ‘Wol, Jain,” Hwari emerged from the shadows near my book. ‘Over there.’

  I looked to where she was pointing and saw two very recognizable teens being let in through security and by one of the guidance counselors.

  Speak of the devil. It was Mina Baek and Victor Valentine.

  Heron's Hearth In Another World

  TweekZ