The four were seated below a large tree, the mage with silky robe, the shabbily dressed barely adult boy, a great paladin and a woman dressed in rags. Their other companion, a demon who Marcus had come to know was a prince – although he questioned the legitimacy - seemed to be lying limply at the banks of a small river.

  “Why do we need to stop?” Marcus finally asked as an hour had passed. He looked towards the woman who was staring at the empty sky absently. He was sure that no thought was between her eyes with that gaze.

  “He is being called by the Abyss and we are waiting for him to resist the call.” The paladin answered almost instantly.

  Marcus looked at him. Millions of thoughts running through his mind but the prominent one was voiced a few seconds later. “What happens of he fails? If the Abyss truly claims him.” He asked with trepidation in his voice.

  Justine, the celestial swordsman, sported a small smile on his face. He looked at Marcus for a moment before he spoke, with some mirth. “Then you will just have to reach in to the Abyss and pull him out.”

  In front of the boy, a symbol made of crocked lines and glowing shades appeared. Mana filled it causing it to brighten before the boy felt the words become stuck in his throat. No voice came when he spoke.

  “It would be wise for you to remember that our positions aren’t equal.” Marcus warmed the boy as he looked at the demon. He could feel something trying to pry his rune’s influence from the boy and while it caused interest in the boy to grow, he had other issues.

  He had made the paladin make an oath as he couldn’t just take the book from him, his divine mana meant someone of great power, mostly a god, had blessed him. Now it seemed his greed for the book had lead him to take care of these three and may soon lead him to the Abyss.

  He wasn’t nearly as powerful as he should be for an excursion in that pit.

  Looking at his status once more, he found that his level hadn’t increased meaning the dragon had a way to survive the blade that had impaled it, or maybe someone saved it.

  “You, warlock. Do have a way to bind a being to this plane?” He asked her although he already knew the answer. It was never polite to assume. She could be incompetent and turn on him of her pride was slighted.

  The woman turned towards him and gave a slow nod after thinking. Reaching inside her rags she took out a small bag that looked like a witch’s hex bag. Dark mana flooded the surroundings when it was opened and from it she pulled out a purple chalk.

  “Will this work?” She asked her voice smooth and young. Marcus nodded before calling for he to follow Jim towards the river bank. When they stood above the twitching demon, with the other two following them, he turned to the woman. “Do you know rune craft?” He asked.

  Her brows furrowed for a moment before Marcus let out a small sigh. “Worry not. The ones I will instruct you are simple enough.” He said as he instructed the one he had placed on the boy to break, although something had damaged it extensively.

  A new symbol appeared floating above. Different from all others he had used. Unlike the combat and utility runes, that resembled whatever they called forth, this resembled a letter. Although barely.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Draw three of these around the body, one where his head is and two where his legs are. Then draw these some distance from his torso.” He explained as he called upon another. This one looking like a number although some lines branched from it like roots.

  “What exactly are these going to do?” The paladin asked with some concern causing the woman to look at him, waiting for an answer.

  “These runes will bind that demon to your warlock friend. Allowing him to use her as an anchor for this plane and she gets some power from him.” He paused as another rune came to mind. One that would make the warlock gain more power in the binding than the demon. However, he saw that it was too complicated and wasn’t sure if the young woman would be able to draw it.

  “She won’t gain a lot, maybe some affinity to whatever element he has but this will stop the Abyss from calling him.” That seemed to put the paladin to ease and the prospect of gaining the demon’s affinity seemed to have caused the warlock to beam with joy.

  “Why can’t she just use her skill? It’s worked well for the other demons she has under her belt.” The boy did t seem content as he continued asking.

  Marcus looked at him and while watching the warlock draw the runes he chose to give the group a small lesson about magic.

  “It would have worked, but with her level and him being a prince as you call him, the chances of her skill failing and even backfiring against her are great.” He saw that she had made a mistake and corrected her before continuing.

  “Runes are symbols of magic that allow all practitioners to control mana in a much more efficient way. With them we can twist the effects of magic to be anything we want as long as we know the way.” He stopped as he saw the warlock had completed the runes.

  “Now all you have to do is channel your mana slowly through them making sure not to overstuff them as that will cause an explosion.” He instructed her as she started. Her mana was slow as she seemed to be inexperienced with the new and heavier mana brought by an advancement in rank.

  “Good, now slowly connect the mana inside the runes to each other. Don’t force the process.” Thirty minutes is all it took for the warlock to get used to the act and after another hour she had completed the connections.

  Marcus took a step back and watched as a connection was created between the two and the demon shot up. They looked at each other, their whole beings open to each other as the terms of the contract were being made with the system as the arbiter.

  The process took a few seconds before they both crumbled down, but the demon seem to just be asleep while the woman now had a red fiery glow to her. Like her body was on fire but Marcus noted that it was just aura.

  “Seems the demon was a true prince.” He said to himself when he looked at the demon and saw that he had grown. Not in a physical way but somehow deeper. He now had that feeling of royalty the academy had said all royal bloods had.

  Justine watched this interaction and some ideas started flowing from his mind. “ Can anyone use runes or is it needed for you to be a mage?” He asked Marcus.

  “It isn’t necessary for you to be a mage to use runes, anyone with mana can use them but being a mage helps the process.” He answered absently. His mind was trying to make a path to Lehad.

  It would take them a few weeks or months depending on the path but seeing the wyvern that had been sent to them by whatever being was chasing this group he had a premonition that it wouldn’t be the last obstacle.

  “At least whatever is chasing them isn’t able to come directly.” He reassured himself as if it could then they would have never made it to his lair in the first place.

  “We will have to go through the dark woods to reach the silver city. I have a friend there who might be able to help us with the demon’s problem and then after that we go through Dreamer’s Eden to reach Lehad.” He explained to the two who were awake.

  “What do you mean Bael has a problem?” The paladin asked.

  “You aren’t very trusting are you?” The paladin just smiled, causing Marcus to notice that the toll that was showing due to the great divine mana inside him was nearly gone.

  “I am not a demon expert, but I am a spacial magic enthusiast. I am somewhat certain that the abyss isn’t calling your friend to it, but someone is trying to pull him back inside. That is what I want to be sure of.”

  Marcus explained as he went to the tree and laid down waiting for the bodies of the two to adapt to the new contract between them.