Chapter 30: Runic Legacy - 2
As soon as Vali finished completing the chant, the runes all over the walls lit up, defending against the outburst of magic from the region around the throne. Odin stood in the same spot completely unaffected, as his robes danced and swayed a little.
Odin kept a 'close eye' over what was happening, to prevent any mishaps. He even had the time to casually summon a magical shield that covered Skarf and Frodi, who had trouble standing.
Soon Vali was covered in a white burst of light, and his body seemed to have frozen with his eyes closed, with no life. The guardian duo who saw this, nearly threw all caution to the wind and ran over, but stopped after they saw the Allfather scrutinizing Vali with no expression on his face.
Vali on the other, after closing his eyes found himself in the deepest oceans of the starry space. He looked around and felt nothing around him, as he felt stranded in the middle of nowhere. His range of motion was limited to turning his head, as his entire body remained in stasis.
He knew that whatever was happening was in his head at the moment, as Odin had asked him to lower the defenses of his mindscape before he started chanting. This encounter must be something Odin went through, so he went along with his instructions, even though he didn't lower his caution.
He couldn't hear or smell anything either, and even his senses seemed to have failed him. Thankfully he had full control over his eyesight, and they were his most potent weapon in this place. They gave him something akin to an extra sensory perception, by forming an invisible domain around him.
He soon calmed his mind and waited, knowing that it was the only thing he could do at the moment. He examined his body and confirmed that, this wasn't his astral form or his true body either, even though it looked like it.
As he waited, he soon felt a foreign will wash over him for a second, as if it was judging his worth. It soon returned, this time the space around seemed to exude a will that fell upon him, with the intent to remove him from here.
He sure that he'd wake up and miss his opportunity if he couldn't hold on, so he reinforced his mind and resisted the foreign will with ease. But he knew this couldn't be all of it, and he was right when he felt the power behind the will increase exponentially at a slow pace.
But he didn't have to time to worry about that, as he felt ancient symbols come into existence around him. He took one look at them and he felt himself going back in time, and soon he was a baby back in his previous life.
He barely felt anything, before he started reliving everything from the start of his previous life when he was in an orphanage. He couldn't do anything, and all he could do was spectate as he relived his life. He wasn't nostalgic about his past like most would, after all with his memory he remembered every second of it without a problem.
This entire 'slideshow' fast-forwarded, as he 'relived' his previous and present life in a split second if that made any sense. As soon as his thoughts returned to the present, whilst resisting the will that increased constantly, he saw the symbols around him which were seemingly transformed from the stars and constellations.
After this 'universe' went through his experiences, he felt a few of the symbols appear a lot closer to him. The rest were further off, and most wouldn't waste time on them as the closest ones were the rune's that suited an individual the most. Not that it would stop him, but he decided to take a look at his 'runes' first.
As he looked at his closest rune intently which looked like a funky-shaped cross, he soon found himself being blessed with the knowledge about it. He felt his mind undergo a different kind of sublimation, as he felt his mindscape strengthen as a whole in terms of quality.
He didn't have the time to analyze his mindscape, since he had to go through the knowledge he had received. He was surprised to find that all these symbols were primordial runes, depicting the language of the universe itself.
The rune that he had first chosen was called Naudiz (ᚾ), it represented survival and the overcoming of adversity. It could be used in spells and magic related to the 'subject'. This rune being the one that was the closest to him, resonated with him the most, vaguely depicting his life in one symbol.
He felt the will exerted by the universe get a lot stronger, as he absorbed the knowledge about the rune, and this let him understand that it would only get stronger as he went further. And person would have difficulty observing the runes from further away, so they'd have to take what they can observe.
This also let him understand what Odin went through, as at one point regardless of how strong one's will was, they couldn't see it all. The difficulty of observing runes unrelated to the person, was absurd as they seemed to be covered by some veil, and wasting time on them before absorbing the ones that were visible was a fool's endeavour.
So, Vali observed his next rune ᚢ, which represented his strength and vitality. Following which, he went on a streak as he absorbed several runes that decently suited him, ranging from raw primal power, to stability and knowledge.
He was like a homeless man at a buffet, leaving nothing behind as his eyes moved from rune to rune. Because of the focus with which he was absorbing knowledge, and constant need to fend off the increasing will, he failed to notice the changes happening to his body.
Only when he was done observing all he could, did he take a break and notice the changes. His mindscape was being reinforced at a maddening rate, as it underwent a qualitative change and its limit, which was previously stuck at the creation of a solar system, finally broke.
The limit was gradually improving, and he felt changes happening to his eyes in return, as runes covered them for a few seconds allowing him to unlock something known as 'runic vision'. Essentially, it allowed him to see through most enchantments and few other abilities which helped in the field of enchanting.
This would save a lot of his time, but what shocked him the most was what happened when he turned on his runic vision. The runes that were supposed to be covered with a veil, were now visible to his eyes.
He didn't waste a second before he started going through all the runes, considering that he could see all of them now, owing to his eyes. He spent a lot of time absorbing everything, as his mindscape's limit kept growing.
By this point in time, the will acting on him had gone bonkers, and Vali himself struggled quite a bit to push through it. When he was finally done with everything, he didn't hesitate and relaxed against the will, resulting in him being thrown out with a nasty headache.
The first thing he did when he could feel the throne underneath him, was check his inner world for Vespera. He found her asleep with runes flickering all over her, as she seemed to have gained something, however little.
He opened his eyes, and this time he found all the runes used for the ritual and the enchantments, quite familiar. That didn't mean that he was competent in the field of runes, as it was similar to learning the alphabets and not the language.
When he saw Odin standing in front of him in a stern manner, this time he understood what the symbols on his robe stood for. 'Quite fitting' he thought inwardly.
"My boy, how much did you gain?" asked Odin with eagerness hidden in his eyes, as the ritual came to an end.
"All of it." he replied with a stoic face, without hiding anything.
"All of it?" exclaimed Odin with clear shock in his face. He was stumped for the first time in years, because even he in his prime couldn't see through all of the runes. Before he could clarify how he did it, he saw Vali nodding as he pointed at his starry eyes that had runes circling them.
'Gungnir's pointed end, those eyes of his are as ridiculous as Loki in a tutu!' thought Odin inwardly as a bitter feeling washed over him. But at same time, he was happy since that meant he could ask his son to share the one's he hadn't seen.
The runes that the scholar's in the 'Archives' of Asgard use, are mere derivatives of the runes Odin had seen. Even if he had shared the form of the entire primordial rune, they wouldn't have been able to comprehend it as they weren't acknowledged by the universe.
That's what makes the runic legacy extremely significant, as it essentially allowed a person to come into direct contact with the most ancient runes that couldn't be taught, or passed on directly. But even with the derivatives Odin passed down, Asgard could stand out from the rest.
They could revolutionize the magic and technology of Asgard, with just the bare minimum they could decipher of what he had shared. The ones who had received basic knowledge on runes, were the ones that bore Odin's mark and were called the Runebearers.
There were a few who took those deciphered runes, and assembled them seeking to make something new and they were called the Runesages. All of them were scholars who sought to discover new types of runes, even though they couldn't see their original forms like the father and son duo did.
They were satisfied with studying the derivatives, and that by itself couldn't be studied completely within their lifetimes.
Vali understood Odin's thought process, as he also knew that with the knowledge he could share, the study of runes would progress heavily. Though it would never touch the level of a person who had directly seen the language of the universe, it would help Asgard stay on top.
He simply nodded at Odin, and the Allfather understood that his son had the same thoughts as him. Since they both placed the survival and advancement of the realm as priority, they looked at things from a similar standpoint.
Odin slammed his spear on the floor, as all the runes retracted to how they were before the ritual began. He then turned towards the guardian duo. "Escort him back to his chambers! His mind needs to rest."
They in turn remained silent, as they knelt and bowed in submission after receiving his orders. They then proceeded to help their Prince make his way out of the chamber.
Vali didn't retort, and simply stood up simply followed along.
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[A.N]: Am I stuffing a lot of info dumps into a chapter? Please let me know. Even though I wanted to include a few more conversations, it simply wasn't possible in this one. Sigh!
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