I had reached the age of nine.
Over the past year, I began experimenting with ways to bind a rune to a concept and make the world interpret it.
It was not easy. I lost count of how many times I almost gave up.
The idea itself was not wrong—far from it. It was one hundred percent correct.
There was only one problem: who to teach. It may sound obvious—the world itself—but how to connect to it, and how to communicate with it?
These questions cost me about four months. Then inspiration struck. In the world of Harry Potter—whether it is canonical or not does not matter—it served as my reference.
The power of runes is attributed by the collective, as well as their ancestry. In other words, many people believed that a certain rune symbolized a certain thing, and the world began to accept it.
Then came the master stroke. Theoretically, in this world everything has a mind. They may not be rational in the way we understand, but they still understand the Ancient Language. So if I could convey that the image of a rune symbolized something, the world should begin to accept it—and it would spread, like a drop of ink in a glass of water.
I had my doubts, but it was the only idea that seemed plausible.
I started with the concept of rising, lifting. I spent six months trying to imprint the rune I created. In return, I greatly improved my ability to sense the minds around me. Unfortunately, I did not think to count how many minds I had to reach in order to establish the rune.
But I know it worked. When I drew the rune at the ends of a wooden plank and sent energy into it, the plank rose.
Yes, I can float on a plank.
Once I had proof that it worked, I began planning the structure of the runes: links, conductors, switches, aggregators, valves, combiners, loops, observers, and—most importantly—the concepts.
I spent the last two months creating a basic rune framework. Now that I have something ready, all that remains is to establish the runes in the world.
Now I have a basic system to work with.
First, I want to test its efficiency in creating barriers. I am thinking of using trees as anchors for the protections, as well as their energy source.
The conceptual runes I will use are Protect, Hide, and Deflect.
Protect is to guard against damage and intrusion.Hide is to conceal the location.Deflect is to divert attention or pursuit, and it can also be linked to Protect to redirect damage instead of merely absorbing it, thus saving energy.
I will also need observer runes, intention runes, and energy runes.
Intention is for the protection to judge whether someone has malicious intent. If so, it must act more aggressively in trying to deflect that person or animal; if not, it should act subtly, allowing for better energy efficiency.Energy runes are to observe the amount of energy required for the protection and the energy of those who approach, allowing it to recognize me so that I do not fall victim to my own protection, and also allowing me to add others to it.
Now that I have chosen the pillars, what remains is the form in which to write the runes.
I will begin using a circular form to inscribe the switch runes, valves, and energy observers. This shape will serve to stabilize the idea of circulation.
Inside the circle I place a hexagon, with its vertices connected to the circle so that I can use linking runes. This is where the protection runes will be placed—the shape conveys robustness and resistance.
Inside that, I place another circle, where the verification loops go. Within it, a triangle conveying the idea of choice, and inside that a square with the final instructions. Within the square, linking runes arranged in a unique pattern to bind all other parts together.
I will use seven segments to form a hexagon, using the segments as vertices. Each segment will be connected to one or more trees, depending on energy consumption.
With everything decided, it is time to get to work.
I searched for stones that, according to my senses, have better conductivity. I kept some aside for research to better understand them later.
And so it begins.
The engraving method will not be the usual one—I will not carve the stone. Instead, I will shape the stone itself so that the runes become part of it, not something merely engraved upon it.
From what I have observed, this world greatly respects the intention or idea behind something. By breaking the stone to carve it, I would be breaking the ideal of robustness.
With the seven stones ready, I begin placing them in their locations. I will start by binding them to a single tree, establishing energy consumption and increasing it as needed.
With everything in place, all that remains is to initiate the linking sequence. I keep my senses open so that I can close the connection and avoid killing the tree.
Linking.
And so it begins. From what I can feel, the energy usage is insignificant—almost imperceptible. Even so, I will connect more trees, because protection is never too much.