Meanwhile, Halfway Across Town (And also not in Alfhiem)

Knock knock knock knock

“Come in.”

Sune Trygveson slowly walked towards his commander’s office, his hands trembling in fear. He had heard of the fury his commander was in upon learning about a squad’s failed capture mission, mainly due to the fact that it was so close to the Order of the Golden Rose. Had the mission gone any worse, the entire guild could have been thrown under suspicion and possibly raided by the Order, and the blame for the incident would have been solely on the shoulders of the capture squad. Hell, only two of them had even returned. The third one, an ice mage, apparently had been killed.

Sune smoothed out his hair and looked at himself in the reflection of a nearby window. A young, male Ljósálfr stared back at him, his blue eyes filled with terror and his blonde hair slightly damp with sweat. He knew he had an advantage with the commander, as the commander would never harm a fellow Ljósálfr, especially since those who were in the guild were so far and few between. But still, the commander was known for a rage that could give Fenrir a run for his money.

Slowly Sune pushed open the doorway to his commander’s office, the old oaken doors almost screaming into the silence of both rooms. Inside the commander’s office stood two people, both looking a little worse for wear, and sitting at his desk was the commander himself, Lifthrasir. His ageless face barely contained his anger and fury, and it was clear from the way one of the members of the failed squad was trembling that Lifthrasir had just finished yelling at them.

“Sune. How kind of you to finally join us,” Lifthrasir said, his voice straining to stay quiet and calm to his fellow Ljósálfr. “Have you received any updates on the situation in Springfield? Will we be expecting the Order on our doorstep any time soon?”

“No sir,” Sune replied, his hands still trembling as he tried to hide the fear in his voice. “Our spies are reporting no change in activity, and while the Order did detect some form of magical barrier creation and destruction, they are attributing it to the witch and not to us. We are safe for now.”

“Good, good. Well, good in the sense that you two,” Lifthrasir turned his gaze back to the squad members, causing the young female to flinch as if she had been slapped, “have not ruined everything. So look on the bright side! You two will only be punished for being so disaterously incompetent that a fledgling mage managed to kill one of you! Hell, you are so lucky you may only get away with minor scarring when I am done with you!”

The young female spoke up, “But sir I told you we-”

“CALLIE, I SWEAR ON HEIMDALL’S NINE MOTHERS if you speak out again I will put you in the alleyway gutter I rescued your ass from four years ago! And this time you won’t just be cold and hungry, you’ll be without the ability to cast your magic ever again! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

Callie retreated into herself again, shaking in fear as she slowly nodded.

“Good. Now, as for the punishment, I think we will start wi-... Sune? What the hell are you still here for?”

“Sir?”

“I’m clearly done with you right now.” Lifthrasir made a small waving motion with his hand. “Go.”

“Ah, um… yes well… um… you see, sir… that is to say…”

Lifthrasir sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I swear to god, the most annoying thing about you is your fucking inability to finish a goddamn sentence. WHAT?!”

Sune took a deep breath before quickly spitting out “Sir, Crowly had asked his fellow seekers a question and they told me to tell him what their answer is.”

At the sound of this, Crowly finally opened his eyes and turned to look at Sune. Sune squirmed, the feeling of the Seeker’s gaze seeming to penetrate his very soul. “Ah, wonderful. I was hoping they would be able to answer me soon. Tell me, Mr. Trygveson, what is their answer.”

Sune turned to look at his commander, who just seemed annoyed at the whole situation. He gestured for Sune to answer Crowly, probably so he could get on with the punishment. “Well, um, they said your theory was… um… confirmed.”

“Confirmed?” Crowly’s face seemed to light up, a rare sight as most Seekers showed very little emotion. “Why, that’s wonderful and intriguing. Thank you, Mr. Trygveson.”

“Um, hello. Hi. Remember me?” Lifthrasir waved sarcastically at them. “Remember your commander? Would the two of you like to inform him of what is going on, or is this a secret too important to tell the guy literally in charge of your lives?”

Crowly turned to Lifthrasir, and unlike Sune, he clearly did not care about the Seeker’s gaze. “Ah, of course, sir. You see, when I looked at the fledgling mage’s mana form, I had noticed it was different than any other fledgling mage I had seen before. Even the most powerful of mages did not have a mana structure like him. I shared the vision with my fellow Seekers and asked them to look into it and see what they could tell me. I had a theory of what kind of magic it was, and thankfully it seems that I was correct.”

“And that theory was….”

“Of course, sir. My theory was that this young mage was utilizing runic magic.”

There was a silence in the room, almost as uncomfortable as the one that Sune walked into. Crowly seemed pleased as punch, Callie seemed terrified and internally questioning what the hell was going on, Sune was still cowering, and Lifthrasir was equal parts confused and amused.

“Crowly. I know you Seekers are not known for your humor, but that one was really terrible. Runic magic? In fucking Springfield? I mean, I guess the mage may have used a Runestone, but I doubt a fledgling would find or know how to use a-”

“No sir. You misunderstand. He was not channeling through a runestone. He was casting a rune. As in what most experienced runic mages do as a final exam.”

“... Crowly. You are not making this story more funny or more believable. I would recommend either you add in an experienced mage you saw next to him or a funny anecdote about a rabbit because as of now your story is annoying and angering me.”

“Sir, that is not all nor the most unbelievable thing. The rune he was using, it was Norse in origin.”

Sune expected him to laugh. Sune expected him to lash out. Sune expected… well, anything. Instead, all the confusion and amusement drained from Lifthrasir’s face, till all that was left was just shock. Just pure, undeniable shock.

“Crowly… level with me. You're not joking, are you?”

“No sir. This mage revived a dead magic.”

“But are you SURE it was Norse runes? Are you absolutely sure of it?”

“Yes sir.”

Lifthrasir, at some point, had gotten up from his chair. Possibly while the emotions of the room were running high. Now, however, he slumped back down into his chair and let out a breath.

“Callie. Crowly. You two are dismissed. I will call you two back later to give me a full debriefing of this mage and what he did. For now, though, go relax.”

Callie then chose to speak up. “Um, sir? Are you… are you not-”

“Callie… Go. I will speak with you later.”

Both of them nodded and hightailed it out of there. Sune, meanwhile, did not know how to feel. After all, he was a younger elf and had been too young to remember a time when Norse runes were widely in use. But as a Ljósálfr, he knew he and his people had a special, deep connection to this runic language. For Lifthrasir, who he knew was old enough to have seen runes being used…

He turned to his commander. “Sir, if I may. If this mage really has revived the dead runic language… what shall we do? Should I get some scouts to find him or should we consider him a threat or-”

“It’s begun.”

“...Sir?”

“Don’t you see, Sune? It has begun.” A smile spread across Lifthrasir’s face as he hopped out of his chair and danced around. “FINALLY! It has begun! My waiting has finally paid off!”

“W… what has begun, sir? What are you talking about?”

Lifthrasir turned to Sune. “The prophecy! 100 years I have waited for it to begin and now it has! Oh, praise be to my patron, his words have finally come true!”

“SIR!” Sune screamed out, startling Lifthrasir enough to stop his dance. “With all due respect, sir, what prophecy?”

Lifthrasir laughed and slapped his forehead. “Of course! You didn’t get to hear it! How foolish of me.” He cleared his throat and stood up tall, trying to seem as regal as possible despite the shit eating grin on his face. “Many years ago I spoke with a Norse god in a dream. He promised me a great future and grand riches if I were to aid him. That is how I was able to raise this guild and make us so profitable. But, he told me one other thing. A prophecy of things to come. He said that, though the future was not his forte, he could see great things for me. He said that one day a mage shall revive the magic of old, one not seen for millenia. This mage, despite his youth, would bring about seeds for my future, one where I will become a king of a new world!”

“R-really sir? That’s… that’s wonderful!”

“It is! But he did warn me.” Lifthrasir’s face turned solemn. “He warned me of this mage. That they could come to oppose me and, if that were to happen, this mage would become the most deadly magic user known to man. The fact that this mage was able to revive a dead magic shows he is quite powerful. But if he were to become an enemy, would become as unstoppable as the wolves who chase Sol.” He quickly dashed to Lifthrasir and grabbed him. “Sune, my trusted fellow Ljósálfr, I need you to go out and find this mage. But be warned. If he has already figured out Norse runes… Well, the Abyss tempers you to become cold and deadly. Already he has killed. I fear what kind of monster he could have become by now.”

“You fucking monster. You absolute moral degenerate. You… you…”

“Cut it out, Talia. Playing Blue Black Control does not make me that bad.”

“YOU KNOW IT IS, JOHN NEWMAN! THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST THE GENEVA CONVENTION!”

A silent moment passed as they both tried to hold their composure, until Talia and John burst out into laughter. After a quick call to his mother explaining he was to stay the night at a friend’s house (something so rare his mother actually congratulated him on it like he had won some major award), he and Talia discovered they had an equal interest in the art of playing Magic: The Gathering. The problem was that both of them seemed to be having trouble focusing on winning the game. John could defend himself on this point, as he was sorta distracted by the enchantingly beautiful girl who was playing his favorite card game with him. What she was distracted by was anyone’s guess, but he at least had an excuse as to why he was missing timing to counter spells and forgetting half his cards could be played at certain times.

Talia slowly sat back down and released a sigh of relief. “Ah, but seriously, dude, you’re pretty good at this game. You play tournaments at all?”

John shook his head. “Nah. Well, I used to play back when Mom and I lived in another town. It’s actually where I learned to play MTG. But after the move… I dunno. It seemed too hard to go out and make new friends who also played magic.”

Talia nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I know what you mean. A lot of my friends don’t really see the point of the game in general. See it as beneath the concerns of the Ljósálfr. Plus it doesn’t help that my family isn’t well liked by some of the other elves.”

‘Interesting… Maybe that's why she was out practicing swords in the woods?’ John patted the floor next to him, asking softly, “Why is that?”

Talia got up and sat down next to him, hugging her knees as she talked. “Well… I mean… I guess you are gonna learn this eventually. Might as well tell you now.”

She took in a deep breath before softly saying, “My dad… isn’t full Ljósálfr. His mother was Ljósálfr. His dad was a human. Because of this… well… Our family is kinda looked down upon. See, the Ljósálfr are big on perfection. A lot of them are like “Tradition shall last forever, and the people who follow tradition shall also last forever.” So human culture… well we like the inventions you guys put out. But that's about it. Most other things don’t carry over well. Especially genetics if they are polluting our pure blood lines.”

“Oh… That explains why your dad-”

“Is so tan. And muscular. I mean, the forge helps with that, but most elves wouldn’t even consider that a job that should be taken. We would normally just ask the dwarves to make anything we need. Dad is the first Ljósálfr blacksmith we’ve had in centuries.”

“Wait, dwarves are real too?”

Talia gave him a bemused look. “If Ljósálfr, gods, giants, and magic are real, why would dwarves not be? Hell, don’t you humans have dwarves in your world too?”

“... That’s besides the point.”

Talia laughed and leaned into John’s side, resting her head on his shoulder. “You know, for being the person who has brought rune magic back, you are kinda dumb sometimes. You’re lucky I find it cute.”

“Well thank yo- wait. You think I’m cute?”

Talia’s eyes went wide and she lifted her head from his shoulder, shaking it. “What? N-no, I don’t! I mean, I do but… You aren’t supposed to know that yet! I mean at all! You aren’t supposed to know that at all! Unless you think- Wait, just… just…”

John blushed, and would have normally been an equally stuttering mess, when suddenly a voice in the back of his mind said something. It was soft, barely more than a whisper, and yet it’s message was so powerful to John it was like the voice was screaming.

‘Kiss her.’

Now, John knew he had never kissed a girl before (excluding his mother), so the idea of just grabbing Talia and going to town on her was kind of terrifying in every regard. And yet, seeing her sitting there, Magic cards around her, a blush on her face as she stammered on about her accidental confession, all John could think of was to kiss her.

So he did.

It was a near miss, as she was still talking endlessly. Had he not moved in while she was looking down, there was a very real possibility she could have moved and messed up everything. Thankfully, she did not, and soon they found themselves kissing each other gently. Her lips were soft as velvet and tasted a touch like pine. After a moment he backed away, breaking off the kiss to just stare at her. Both of them were blushing madly, but neither made a move to shift away from one another.

“I… I think you are cute too, Talia. In fact I think you’re beau-”

He didn’t get to finish that statement, as by the time he got to the second sentence she was busy wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again and again and again.