The Runic Alchemist

The wind was flapping every piece of clothing they had worn with vengeance, making it hard to see forward for more than a few seconds. Damian had never in his life missed goggles as much as he did today. It was a very simple thing, yet not simple enough to make.

He could technically make a very small invisible box covering just his face, staying just inches in front of it, but that was a waste of mana. It was a cool idea for making goggles though, if he someday learned Runesmithing and managed to imbue his runic circle into the metal.

It wasn't needed though. Valoris and the other soldiers already knew where they were supposed to go and were navigating with no problem. Damian just hid behind the skinny soldier's back on the horse, not facing the winds, and just focusing hard on his runic spell practicing.

The dark blue frost breath runic circle was really powerful and useful, yet no matter how hard Damian tried, he could only remember 60% of the circle and its various sections. The other 40% he just could not remember. He tried all kinds of runes that he had seen and successfully drawn over the months, yet nothing worked. Maybe he shouldn't have killed that thing so fast.

The distant mountain range were barely getting any closer as they now walked for more than eight hours in the heavy wind. The Ashenvale people could not cross these mountains with so many troops easily, so they should be coming from the gap between the two mountain ranges. It looked from here like a little alleyway, but in comparison to those mountains, it should stretch for tens of kilometers.

The Eldoris forces most likely should be there forming a defense perimeter. Then they should be heading towards the gap, but why were they going far from it then..?

Damian wanted to ask Valoris, but the wind was just making too much noise for a casual conversation, so he just accepted the wait-and-see approach. They had seen the way, so there should be something... Maybe Valoris was just thinking to rest at a small outpost before leaving for the main camp tomorrow..? But they were so close...

Little by little, they struggled through, and at last, the tents and a wooden and dirt structure standing tall in the cold wind were revealed to Damian's eyes. It was indeed a small guard post-like place. They must be here in a line at certain distances parallel to the mountain range to keep an eye on any aerial unit or special teams coming over the mountain to surprise them.

Unless they had a way to contact the main army, this would be meaningless. Damian could not understand what they were thinking. Did they really have a spell or a runic tool for talking at a long distance..? Or do they still send a human messenger..?

When they reached there and stopped, Damian's eyes fell on one of the weird structures. It looked metal. Why would anyone make anything out of metal in a temporary base..? It looked strange and was made like a ring but in a hexagonal shape, the corners rounded off.

Each side was heavy steel like a pillar of some bridge, completely made out of pieces of big chunks of same-sized rectangular steel welded together. The visibility was too low to examine it fully, but Damian did notice a few runic engravings on it.

A Runic device.

Two men came running from inside the dirt and wooden structures, wearing animal furs and clothes so thick it was hard to even find their faces. Valoris stepped up and waved at them. One of them came closer to Valoris, and they talked about something amongst themselves. It was hard to hear them with the wind.

Soon they were escorted to one of the dirt structures by one of them and were once again in the presence of warmth, protected from the annoyingly blowing wind. It looked like they were indeed staying here.

They could have made it to the main camp if they had gone straight from where they came out of the forest, but instead, they had crossed the huge empty field in a cross line and reached this place. Maybe it was nearest to their forest position without facing the wind directly head-on. Maybe it was a good decision.

"Okay, Men... Rest for an hour and then we leave for the camp," Valoris ordered and sat in one corner near the fire with a dirt wall behind him and a floor that had some mats and wood. Damian found a place closer to the fire burning fire in the middle. He rested for a few minutes to ease the soreness from riding the horse.

But then, getting bored, Damian continued his blue runic circle memorization process with constant drawings. It had been a lot of time, and he doubted any new memory of the spell would resurface, but he continued the effort.

The two men who had come to greet them had also left without asking them anything else at all. It seemed a bit weird to Damian that they were not with their guests, but maybe they were busy keeping an eye on their posts. But there should be at least someone off duty here... No one had come here to meet them except the guy who had led them here and then left.

The hour went by quickly, and everyone got up once again to face the cold wind and continue the last stretch of the tiring journey. However, what awaited outside the comfortable warm walls for them was nothing short of magnificent.

The large metal construction Damian had seen an hour ago was humming with a crackling dark purple energy inside it. The runes on its surface were glowing, and it made a stark contrast with the grey clouds and white snow behind it. The two guys from before and another two were standing on each side, performing some weird gestures.

Damian couldn't see their mana being used, but he did feel mana around their hands going into the purple gate that looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movies.

"What in the..." one of the younger soldiers was surprised by the sight, same as Damian.

"Hell is that...?" Another young one joined him in finishing the sentence.

Captain Valoris just smiled and looked away from their surprised faces to the wormhole spell-resembling teleportation gate.

"That is a Waygate. Every few checkpoints in this whole defense line at the foot of the two mountain ranges has one of these for easy traveling from the main camp settled at the entrance of The Wraith's Passage."

'The Wraith's Passage...? The gap between the two mountain ranges is called freaking Wraith's Passage..? What abomination had created this godforsaken place..?'

Where everyone could see the metal hexagonal ring creating a dark purple Waygate, Damian, with his Eyes of Truth, could see more. A giant black runic circle was hovering right in front, parallel to the metal ring, facing the direction they were supposed to go.

It was similar to the wormhole spell Damian had learned through the basic spell book, just a little more complex and with a bit of modification. One by one, everyone lined up near it, while Damian just took out his spell book and stood at the entrance of the place they were resting, shielded from the fast unnatural cold winds, and peacefully drew the modified version of the wormhole runic circle.

Valoris and the rest were looking at him as if he had lost his mind, but they didn't question him and let him do it. Valoris asked if he was coming or not, and Damian begged him for few minutes, which the captain, not being in a hurry, allowed him.

Though it was tough for the four mages at the gate to continuously send their mana threads into the spell, Damian hurried it up and finished the drawing in just few minutes. It wasn't that difficult—almost 80% of the runic circle was the same as the wormhole spell. The rest Damian guessed were modified to not let just any random mage use it.

There was some lock-and-key or password-type function added to it. They also first sent only a known person with a message through the gate, and only after confirmation did they allow entry into the main camp. The security was indeed tight.

Damian wondered if all five kingdoms had such technology or was it just Eldoris. That shouldn't be, though, otherwise, Eldoris would not have as many problems on its borders as it did.

At last, it was Damian's turn to go through it. However, before that, Valoris took out a familiar piece of iron chain from his horse's satchel and brought it in front of Damian. They were the chains his hands were tied up with at the beginning of their journey. Valoris looked conflicted while getting it on him, and so did many other soldiers who looked away, but Damian understood why he did it.

It was a sign that it did not matter who Damian was and what good things he had done—in the eyes of Eldoris law, he was still just a criminal accused of killing one of their lords.

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