The sun was high in the sky, and far below Val was brimming with energy. His wounds had almost completely healed in the span of a single night. Charred skin had sloughed off and seared flesh had mended without even leaving scars. The mysterious mark on his chest remained in a sort of resting state, in the hour he had been awake it caused him no pain. In fact, Val felt a power growing across his body as if his heart was pumping new strength to every limb. The mark remained a deep black, having an opacity more like a sticker rather than a tattoo.

Val noticed his senses were sharper, if he focused he could hear rustling of leaves beyond the trees bordering the stream. He felt a definite improvement in his muscles, he felt heavier, but it was a good feeling of weight. Suddenly he had a thought as he regarded the shackles binding his arms.

He gripped and began to wind the chains around his arms, pulling himself higher up the boulder. Taking a deep breath, he focused his mind on his core, lifting his legs completely out of the water and above his head. Feeling for the spike anchored into the top of the boulder with his feet, he hooked a leg around it and pulled himself up so he was now standing atop the boulder.

The spike was firmly anchored into the stone, pinning the chain with it. Val grinned, pleased with the strength he had gained. The chain and its anchor looked to be of the same material, whether the chain or the spike would break first, he did not care. Pulling with all of his might, in a few moments the link anchored by the spike snapped open, and Val leaped down from the boulder.

Effectively free from his prison, Val stretched his limbs and bathed in the stream, the weight of the chains dangling from his wrists did not bother him. The cold water no longer felt chilly, and his skin remained warm to the touch. He frowned as he inspected his hands, he had no scars or traces of the wounds he experienced when he was dreaming, but his palms and fingers now bore the rough calluses of someone who wielded swords. It had been half a decade already since he had last seen such calluses on his hands after he quit practicing for fencing competitions, but these were to a much more significant degree than even that.

*So, not all of it was a dream? Strange place, Karl better have a key for these shackles.* Val began to dress, but the shirt bothered him and clung too tightly to his shoulders, it had been a tight fit to begin with but now felt uncomfortable to wear. Thinking to borrow one from Karl, he left the stream to return to camp.

Stepping out of the woods and into the clearing, Val was greeting by the sight of Karl and the ravens standing up with some alarm and suspicion in their eyes.

Raising an eyebrow, an amused expression appeared on his face. "Seeing ghosts?" Val asked with a smirk.

"..Do you remember who we are?" Huginn asked with some uncertainty.

Val lifted his arm, and pointed to each of them in turn. "Asshole bird, dirty old man, peeping Jane." He said.

Worry and suspicion faded from their expressions.

"Hmph, ingrate." Huginn said, though he seemed relieved in his tone regardless.

"How do you feel?" Muninn asked.

"Honestly, a lot stronger, and a bit too warm." Lifting the chains dangling from his wrists, he looked at Karl. "Can you do something about these?"

A grin spread across Karl's face as he laughed, taking a key he walked over, removed the shackles, and clapped his hands on Val's shoulders.

"I knew you could survive the trial. Thank you." Karl's words seemed full of confidence, but his expression held relief and guilt.

Val thought back to the shadow he fought with. "What was that anyway? I dueled with someone who looked eerily similar to myself, he was much stronger than me, but after risking my life to win once, he let me go."

"He's a curious fellow, very powerful, but very particular. He is Valor itself, but a fragment of what he once was. A master of duels, not once has anyone been able to best him in single combat in his prime, but, with the conditions you fought under, that is beside the point. You also have it backward, you look like him, after all, you are of his blood." Karl explained.

"He's my ancestor then? The bastard tortured me for what felt like an eternity." Val frowned, wondering what kind of twisted minds his ancestors had.

"He trained you, in the only way he knows how, and gave you his blessing the end did he not?" Karl was staring at the mark on Val's chest, seeming to be satisfied with the result.

"How long was I out?" Concern began to color Val's face.

"It has been 9 days, any longer and we feared there would be nothing left of your mind or body." Muninn answered.

Concerned, Val looked to the East and asked. "What's the situation now?"

"Relax, the humans are fine, the goblins are up to the same business as usual, looting nearby towns, but not spreading very far." Huginn answered in an offhanded tone.

"I see, that's good." Concern faded from Val's face.

Smiling wryly, he looked to Karl and held up his shirt. "Do you uh, have any spare clothes? Mine seem to be a bit tight now."

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Karl erupted with laughter, and fetched a black shirt that fit Val much better.

"You must be hungry, it's about time for lunch, I'll heat up some of last night's leftovers." Karl set about lighting a fire and began to cook.

Val took a seat by the fire. "So, can I handle magic now? I certainly seem much stronger."

Karl leveled an eye as he looked Val up and down. "If you were able to break that chain, you have the strength of several grown men. Your body is suffused with mana, the mark feeds magic to your heart and it pumps power into every part of your body. You should be able to handle the runes with no problem, the mark will even help you."

"What is this mark anyway?" Val had studied it earlier but aside from a variety of different runes arranged in two rings, he could not tell much from it, particularly why the one in the middle is larger.

"That is the Brand of Tyr at the center, the two rings around it comprise a complete set of the runes. You must still learn to use them, but through the mark I have carved their knowledge into your very flesh. Once you associate the intent and knowledge with the feeling, they will come easily to you." Karl explained as he handed Val a small leather-bound book, it was maybe half an inch thick, and looking through the pages, each depicted a rune and a couple pages about their affiliations, meanings, even historical references of their use.

"So I need to study these and I should be able to use them just fine?" Val asked.

"For the most part, yes. The knowledge within will teach you the individual meanings, forming more complex words of power from them will be up to you, in a bit I will teach you how to invoke a rune."

"What other kinds of magic are there?"

"Many. Every civilization, race, and culture had their own paths of study, you will find there are advantages and disadvantages to each. They are all tools meant for a purpose, they reflect the culture and desires of their creators. In the case of runes, they were a gift to men and dwarves by the gods, they do not require incantations, and their power is easy to use. The power unleashed by a rune will be proportional to the amount of magic infused into it. As you have personally attested to, they can even be used to forge enchantments." Karl demonstrated by holding out a palm, a faintly glowing pale blue rune identical to the letter 'I' carved into the space above it, and small frozen droplets began to fall into his palm. Dismissing the power, Karl repeated the action, but this time the rune shined brightly, like a neon blue light. In a couple seconds, a large solid mass of ice grew to the size of a baseball.

"I shouldn't even be surprised anymore, but there are dwarves? They wield the same magic?" Val asked, eyebrows raised.

"They exist, and while they do wield runes, they are not as capable of wielding them directly, preferring to use them as enchantments in their craft and construction." Karl explained as he served Val a large bowl of stew.

Val's hunger returned in force upon smelling the savory aroma. Forgetting his questions for the time being, he cleaned out three bowls with gusto before finally feeling content. He lounged pleasantly in the camping chair, casually skimming the contents of the small book, most of it was translated into English, but some passages were written entirely in the runic language. Asking Karl about this, it was explained that much of their contents were already translated, but Karl had transcribed original passages for Val to read when he grew more fluent with their meaning. Not all of the nuance would survive translation, as he grew more familiar with these runes, he would understand and appreciate the deeper meanings in the original text.

In the late afternoon, Karl beckoned for Val to follow him a few paces from the camp. In a clear area, he stood opposite Val to begin a lesson on invoking runes. Muninn sat to the side attentively while Huginn seemed bored, almost dozing off.

"Invoking runes are rather straightforward, you carve the rune with magic and pour your mana into it. The greater the intensity of magic used to carve will decide the capacity of mana you can expend on the rune, and consequently the intensity of its effects." As he explained, an intense point of blue light appeared above his palm and a crackling noise followed by what sounded like small popping noise assaulted Val's ears as the very air split to make way. The point moved upwards as it viciously carved a jagged 'S' shape like a lightning bolt, shining with a light that brightened the area despite the sun still being out.

"Sounds easier said than done." Val smirked.

"True, but the fundamental skill is to be able to use magic to construct the rune by carving its shape." Karl dismissed the rune and picked up a coarsely cut wood slab.

"Practice carving your magic into runes upon this slab, carving air will take a bit of practice. The harder and smoother the surface is, the easier it will be, the grain of the wood should provide a small challenge. Any of the basic runes will do." Karl smiled, handing the slab to Val.

"How about 'Feoh'? The young boy dreams himself a wizard, casting flames from his fingertips." Muninn suggested, seeming to suppress a giggle.

Val glared at her, mild embarrassment coloring his face as he realized she had watched him attempt to light a cigarette with magic.

"Peeping Jane.." He grumbled, taking the slab.

"Focus your will into a point, like the tip of a pen, magic in the air shall respond and subject itself to your will." Karl instructed.

Val focused his mind, staring intently at the slab, he held his hand over it, imagining 'Feoh', which had a shape reminiscent of an upside-down 'F'. A small point on the slab began to smolder, but stopped a moment later.

"You are focusing too much on the entire rune, construct it in parts, trace it with your finger if it helps."

A thought struck Val, like most people, writing letters was second nature, he did not think about the parts of the letter or even where he started when pen struck paper. He simply thought of the letter and wrote it without thinking. Focusing on his more recent memories learning complex Asian characters, Val thought of the rune in parts.

He narrowed his focus and tried again, to his surprise, a it was not a blue light that appeared, but a bright red-orange light like fire. Maintaining the feeling, he willed the point upwards, carving the first line, and repeated the action twice more, constructing a crude, but passable rune.

Delight at his success brightened Val's eyes, as Karl instructed. "Good, you have a rune, now to invoke its power."