Chapter 8: God Rune

The room felt colder, and the air seemed to grow heavier as I stared at the dreadful tattoo in the mirror.

The imprint on my back was unlike anything I had ever seen. It sprawled across my skin with an intricate and dreadful pattern. The dark ink was etched deeply into my flesh, and the design seemed to writhe with an eerie life of its own.

The symbol consisted of interlocking curves and jagged lines, forming an unsettling pattern that resembled serpents coiling around a central eye. Each line seemed to pulse and throb, and the eye in the center appeared to blink with an otherworldly awareness.

I reached a trembling hand to touch the tattoo, and as my fingers made contact with the ink, I felt a searing pain shoot through my entire body. It was as if the tattoo itself rejected any attempt to tamper with it.

And at that moment, something crossed my mind. I immediately turned from the mirror, ran towards my bed, and grabbed the side of the bed. I tried to move the damn heavy thing, and it took me some effort, but I was able to drag it a bit so that I could see the small black leathered box.

I picked up the box and opened it. Inside were different kinds of stones and items. These were all different kinds of "Binders."

Binders are something that can connect you to mana, the main source of magic formation and magecraft.

I picked up a Ruby-like blood-red stone and ran back to the mirror, keeping the box on the side table near the mirror.

"Fuuu, hope it's just like those Seraph Runes," I faced my back to the mirror as I pressed the Ruby on the tattoo.

And... nothing. But weirdly, I felt a shudder from the coiling snake.

"Not this one," I threw it off to the floor, seemingly forgetting how much begging and stealing I had to do to get this from treasuries and other places.

I picked up a blue lustrous stone with an odd shape and pressed it on the rune, but there was no reaction.

The same with the green and a few other ones. These were all pure mineral mana binders, and some were even high class, but they all were useless.

Why isn't this activating?

Every time, it felt like the tattoo was rejecting the binders.

When a Seraph gives you a rune on your hand, you have to make contact with the mana binders and the rune, which activates whatever magic the Seraph has shared with the bond.

This is the true power of the seraphic bonds. Mostly, one in ten has a seraphic bond, and all of them actually go through the contract process with the help of the church.

...so they can choose the good ones and keep them to serve their god until the day they die in the name of faith and religion, which I never liked. But at least they opened a gate for commoners to get contracts.

".....Fuck it," I cursed. It's no use. How am I supposed to activate this rune?

And how weird it is. It's not on my hand and is ridiculously large at that. I know that Midoss said something like his powers are different from the normal seraph, but at least tell me something about them.

"Ha!" I grabbed onto my head.

There had to be something that made sense. I don't know why, but I was thinking of it as a challenge, like a bet, because Middos said to do it for the blood, the pride of my blood.

"As they say, the pride of the dead weighs heavier on the offspring," I muttered.

"My life has become a... circus," I exclaimed as realization struck.

Like a circus!

I dashed towards the box and pushed it upside down, and everything fell on the floor.

As I saw the bottom of the box, it had a velvety cloth. I pinched the cloth which was glued to the bottom. After tearing it up, I saw a hidden compartment inside.

This is where that is.

I grabbed the wooden stick inside, which was a bit curved at the tip.

It's the wand.

I don't know why, but when I thought about my mother, I was reminded of the poem she used to tell me when I was little.

Its last few verses went like this:

"In realms of joy, where secrets twine,

Seraphs dance in moonlit shine.

A masked god, his eyes aglow,

Watches o'er them, high and low.

Within this loop where time does play,

A riddle weaves in night and day.

Bound are they, in happiness pure,

Yet wounds unseen, their hearts endure.

A circus master, deft and sly,

Wields a stick, the days pass by.

Destiny's threads in his command,

Woven like silk upon the sand."

...and it was this wand I wondered about.

Like these days better binders are available, so people stopped using expensive high-quality wands like these, which are hard to carry around.

"Could it be... a wand?" I mused aloud.

The idea of a wand being the key to activating the tattoo seemed absurd, but at this point, I thought, "Fuck it."

I got to the mirror and pressed the wand directly on the forehead of one the snakes.

"Ugh," I felt something crawling under my skin, it was a very unpleasant feeling.

My eyes widened as I saw the snake moving even a little when I changed the tip of the wand to somewhere else.

"So this is... the binder for you?" I found myself growing more and more interested in this rune.

It's so different, but still, it's something a god gave.

I kept the wand pressed and moved the snake from my back to the upper right side of the shoulder and then down to my chest. Then, switching hands, I brought it towards my left wrist.

My skin wriggled and made a weird sound whenever the silent snake moved.

Just the moment I stopped at the wrist, the snake began moving on its own. Its head slowly turned and got on the back of my hand.

And...

*Ding*

System Notification: [GOD RUNE ACTIVATED]

I stared at the voice in my head, and the mysterious inscriptions etched onto my hand. They were neatly arranged as follows:

[Age: 16

Race: Human

Stats: Not determined, (wait until the trial)]

The letters and symbols swirled, captivating my attention. I couldn't help but wonder if these were my current strength analytics.

"Weird..." I mumbled under my breath, about to comment further, when the letters on my wrist shifted. They rearranged to form a new message, replacing the previous stats:

[Middos's First Ordeal (trial) available]

[Do you want to start the trial?]

I couldn't believe it; this seemed to be some form of communication with the inscription itself.

"What do I gain if I choose to undertake the trial?" I asked, intrigued by the prospect.

A response came:

[Control over the first Serpent.]

My curiosity piqued further. "And what, pray tell, is the 'first Serpent'?"

The reply appeared:

[The Vision. You'll receive the god's vision.]

These words made it all worth it for me. At least this seemed like a magical power.

"Yh, Proceed the First Ordeal." My whole body went numb and I fell unconscious.

...and wohoo I am excited for this trial,hope it's not bad.

***

In the midst of the eternal darkness, Midoss sat in a form that defied comprehension. His presence filled the void, a colossal entity that got further above ordinary boundaries....it was as if a Titan.

Unlike the previous encounters, he was now in a different form. This time, he had shed the skeletal mask that veiled his eyes, revealing a far more terrifying visage.

There was no conventional face, no recognizable features. Instead, his form was an enigmatic whirlwind of swirling, dark smoke that seemed to move with an otherworldly intelligence. It was an existence that both existed and didn't exist simultaneously, defying all conventional understanding.

Midoss's voice, which resonated through the unfathomable darkness, conveyed a sense of uncertainty.

[I am not sure if I am ready to lose my vision, but let's see if he can be the one.]