Fate: Grand Hero - Chapter 2.1

A rune chain He'd long since discovered was not as simple as just inscribing seven runes.

No, for one, depending on what meaning of a rune one was going for, the position of the rune would have to change, whether that be facing a completely different direction, or even completely upside down.

That was a problem because for the rune chain to work, the runes had to be connected properly. that was the standard way two runes were used by the Picts that Caelan had learned.

Simple on paper, hard in practice. But in the over all, quite straight forward. For Caelan though, his experiments to create the ultimate rune chain that would see his ambitions through meant that not only would he need to connect the runes, he would need to flow into the next.

For Caelan, he visualized two roads. Two runes to start that had path connecting them, and then flowed down two different roads, three on each side, each side interconnected, and then flowing and conjoining together in the end for a final parking spot so to say with the final rune.

But, the real problem came in not only did the runes need to be compatible with each other, they also needed to be able to flow and connect with each other and that was quite difficult depending on the shape and position of the rune.

And on top of that, Caelan had another problem.

See, he didn't simply want seven runic abilities bolstering him and his abilities. He wanted seven runic symbols that synergized together to empower each other and enhance their effects massively.

And it all came back with another problem in the end, that this type of rune, was self inflicted. The weight of the mystery and its effects were enhanced by the willing self inscribing by the user.

'Well, at least my people like mirrors.' Caelan snorted to himself as he settled down in front of his own.

It was a crude, small mirror with no border or anything like that to keep it safe or looking any better. The picts as a whole liked to admire themselves in the mirrors, and it was quite common to find members of his people stopping at any reflective surface to flex in front of it and admire themselves.

It was leaned against the wall beside his bed within his stone hut while he sat in front of it. His hut was a small circular space, little more than fifteen feet across on any side. There was a few central pillars holding the place together, while the walls were layered with with the thick fur of many a creature.

A thick bear pelt spread across the ground acting as carpeting, with a small fire pit in the middle of the hut to keep the place warm and for cooking. Beyond that, there were several boxes lining around the room used for storage and racks atop the walls themselves.

One of the racks held a few fishing poles, while the rest bore an assortment of weapons from swords, to spears and even a couple shields and a bow.

It was a bit weird to be honest. The main style of pictish style blades, tended to resemble the Roman Gladius more than anything else. And despite the massive builds most pict warriors had, they favoured small buckler shields they could attach to their wrists over larger shields.

As it was, when it came for times where the young were allowed to choose from spoils or for gifts on the likes of the winter solstice or Samhain, Caelan tended to always choose weapons.

There were many reasons for that, but one of them was simply for practicing his skills with runes.

…That was also why one of the boxes in his room was filled with long sturdy sticks.

Granted, he used them a lot of the time for firewood, but semantics!

Caelan shook his head, putting those thoughts out of mind for a moment and eyed himself in the crude mirror before him, "Alright, let's do this." he took a death breath.

The earlier he inscribed the runes upon himself, the more benefits he would gain. He would gain the best benefits from them, while he was still in his adolescence.

He lifted a single finger up, the index finger of his right hand and focused. The sound of screeching bus tires echoed within his mind, the last sound he heard in his old life before pain and darkness eclipsed all else and he died.

His magic circuits flipped on.

All thirty eight of them and his veins blazed with mana.

The tip of his index finger lit up with a sizzling orange light. And then, after taking another deep breath, Caelan brought the finger to his arm, starting at midway up his forearm.

The essence of inscribing runes like this, was not simply burning the runes into his skin or gouging them in. But, emblazing them upon the very essence of his soul, his very being.

Their meanings would become part of his very existence.

To start was the very first rune.

Uruz, the aspect of Strength representing the bull. This rune was the first of the foundations of the rune chain. Not only would it grant him the strength of a bull as a starting base, it would enhance the strength he would gain as he grew and matured.

After that, was the second rune in line with it and connected to it acting as the second foundation of his rune chain.

Uruz, representing the bull once more, but this time, he changed the direction and meaning of the rune, to symbolize the meaning of Untamed Potential. All humans, all creatures had a limit to how strong they could become, how fast they could become, how fast they could heal, how smart they could become.

This rune, would smash the initial ceiling of those limits and make it much higher.

Some with a general understanding of runes would say Untamed Potential would be better as a first foundation, and on a cursory glance that would be true. But, for Caelan, the first foundation had to be strength.

There was meaning in it being first. The aspect of strength would act as the first and central pillar. Going beyond merely enhancing strength and the growth of strength, the meaning of strength behind it, would be the strength that allowed the rune chain itself to stand.

Without a strong support foundation, even the grandest of buildings would fall after all.

But beyond that, was the first, it would feed into the second pillar of Untamed Potential and strengthen its effects.

"Fuck….!" Caelan hissed as he finished inscribing and connecting the first two runes. He hunched forward, sweat dripping from his brow from the sheer concentration he'd had to put in and panting deeply-

From the pain.

He stared down at his arm, smoke sizzling from the charcoal black burns he'd inscribed in his arm. At the end of the day after all, putting everything else aside, he was still melting markings into his very skin.

Tears budded in the corner of his eyes, but he grit his teeth and shook his head, banishing the urge to cry from the pain.

Instead, he laughed, "Yes…!" he hissed out between his laughter. For one reason only.

He could feel it. The runes connecting to his magic circuits and passively drawing upon the mana within him. He could feel a strength beyond what he was capable of flowing through his muscles, his body as he became stronger by far.

It worked. The foundations and twin roads had been set.

Now, he just had to drive down them to his grand parking spot.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Caelan once again got back to business and got started on the second set of runes.

First was Thursiaz, representing the thorn and the aspect of Regeneration. It was a straight forward rune that did what it said. When used, it healed the target. It was the greatest of runes when it came to healing. It came second in the rune chain, so that the limit to what could be healed by the rune greater thanks to being bolstered by the aspect of Untamed Potential, and the potency and speed of its healing was enhanced by the aspect of Strength.

Following Thursiaz was Raidho, the representation of the wagon and the rune he'd just recently mastered to his specifics and needs. The aspect of Raidho inscribed was evolution.

This was an important rune in the rune chain. It would, like Untamed Potential allow for his body to evolve beyond its limits, and those limits were enhanced once again by the Aspect of Untamed Potential and the aspect of Strength.

But it came after after and was directly connected to the aspect of Regeneration, because that rune would go towards making sure the evolutions his body could go through when going beyond his limits, would not be detrimental to his health.

Caelan didn't stop as he connected the runes together or celebrate even as he felt them take root in his very being.

His concentration at its peak, and blocking out the pain as best he could, the young pictish boy moved on to the next rune.

The fifth rune and connected down the line of Strength and directly connected to the aspect of regeneration.

Tiwaz, the rune representing the god of war, Tyr. This was a rune that drew directly on the mystery of divinity. It was one of the strongest singular runes of all and when inscribed normally like this, would enhance the targets natural physical abilities and innate skill and learning abilities when it came to combat of all types, from weaponry to hand to hand combat. Directly in the line of strength would bolster the effects, while the regeneration rune would once again stop it from going beyond the limits of his body, and interconnected coming straight after the rune of evolution bolstered by the aspect of Untamed Potential, should in theory massively bolster the peak of his martial skills and in theory allow him to touch upon the domain of the very gods themselves in skill.

But that was not all, for that was just the basis of the rune itself. The aspect and meaning he drew upon with the way he inscribed the the Tiwaz rune of Tyr was drawing upon the aspect of Masculinity.

It was perhaps the simplest aspect of the rune representing Tyr. It enhanced the straits of all things masculine. It was a favoured rune by the Picts because of its natural abilities when inscribed to overall enhanced the growth towards being taller, having larger muscles-

Having a bigger cock.

While that was definitely a nice side benefit, Caelan chose the rune for the enhancement to his height and musculature in the future. Such a build with the strength he aimed for, would allow him to leverage it massively in the future and use it to better and overwhelm any he fought.

Just like the Herakles he remembered.

Many of the pictish warriors in his clan, were easily seven and a half feet, some even larger. The chief of the clan himself, was over eight feet tall, and an absolute mountain of a man.

The first time he'd joined in a hunt to learn from the warriors of the clan, the chief had joined. And Caelan had born witness to the man wrestle and easily overpower a massive bear and snap its neck with his bare hands.

'Right, next is…..' he continued on after that thought as he finished the rune and moved on to the next in line.

Nauthiz, the rune that represented Need.

Desire.

Once again, Caelan went with one of its simpler aspects. The aspect of Endurance.

The reason he chose the aspect of Endurance was fairly simple. The rune as a base would increase his stamina and ability to endure things such as pain and injuries. It came directly after the aspect of Masculinity and the rune of Tyr, because it would feed the aspect of that into the endurance.

Masculine endurance was all that needed to be said on that front. But on top of that, as the rune of Tyr was at its basis a rune of combat, the aspect of endurance enhanced by it and directly down the road of Untamed Potential and Evolution, should enhance his future endurance and stamina to something absolutely monstrous.

The ability to fight or fuck for days on end, or push on through debilitating injuries that would leave those lesser dead in a ditch within moments. That was why he chose this rune and chose the spot within the rune chain for it.

But not only for that, it and Tyr were the last in the roads before conjoining into the last and final rune. The rune that all the other runes would feed into, empower and then be passed back through the other runes to make all stronger as whole.

Inguz.

The rune representing a seed, the symbol of where all life started and where all life ended and began anew.

And the aspect Caelan chose for his final rune.

Was the aspect of Growth.

While the aspect of Strength was the first pillar the would hold the rune chain together, the aspect of Growth was the rune that would have all of them flow into it as the ceiling of the chain, take in all their effects, bolster them and then pass them back through the chain in a synergizing circle that would multiply all their enhancements to him massively.

And would allow many of their effects to massively enhance him day by day passively. It was the rune that would see him grow and flourish and see his ambitions come true.

…What those ambitions truly were, even Caelan didn't fully know. All he did know, was the he didn't want to spend his life where he was now. Toiling away at a simple life with very little entertainment, was not for him.

One day in the near future, he would set out and take his place in the world, spread his name far and wide and become a legend.

He would cement himself in history itself and see all that the world had to offer. Riches, adventure, women, power.

He wanted it all.