Runekaster
When I was 16 I made the mistake of learning runes. After studying them for about a year I had a reasonable understanding of runic inscriptions and could write them myself.
When I was 17 I started going to the local city college for a History major. I wasn't doing too well in any of my classes because although I love reading History, I hate writing papers.
One day, about halfway through the semester, I was in the library to study for midterms but I had found an interesting book on the history of the runic characters and was reading that when a boy from my English class came over to me. Since the first day of the class I had thought he was rather strange. He had longish blonde hair and his ears were almost pointed, which I might not have noticed but for two tiny silver earrings which he wore in his left ear. He usually dozed off in class but somehow got straight A's anyway. The oddest thing about him though, was that he wore a necklace that exactly matched the one I wore, which I had gotten from a coin machine in a grocery store when I was much younger.
When I saw him approach, I put the book down and pretended I had been studying English. He stood next to my chair and introduced himself, "Hello," he said, offering his hand "I'm Runekaster. You're in the same English class as me but I don't think we've met before." I realized that I had never heard him speak before and was a bit surprised that he had a slight accent.
"Runekaster?" I rose and shook his hand, "That's interesting. Is it your real name?"
"It may as well be, most people call me Rune"'
"Good to meet you, Rune. I'm Maeghan." I sat back down and pretended to work on a paper.
"May I join you?" Rune asked. I acceded so he sat across from me at the table and started reading a homework assignment. I acted like I was giving all my attention to my paper but I was actually waiting for Rune to leave so I could read. I was just thinking how strange it was a that a fellow call'd Rune was keeping me from reading about runes when he said "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something but I noticed in class today that you have runes on the cover of your notebook and that you took some of your notes in runes."
"How did you know that? I thought you were asleep."
"Only part of the time, and you don't have to be fully awake to notice things like that" he said with a grin. He had an interesting grin , he was obviously smiling but his mouth was set in a firm line. Something about that smile made me think he was older than he looked, it was an elderly smile and not suited for a face hardly older than my own. After a long pause while Rune stared awkwardly at the floor and I absently scribbled some nonsense, Rune spoke again, "those things are pretty powerful. You'll want to be careful."
"Powerful?" I repeated "Maybe that's what the Vikings thought but I really don't think letters can do anything more than form words."
He ignored me and went on, " But they're much more likely to work if they are carved instead of written. Wood and stone are stronger than paper so you're probably safe." after a pause he added quietly "and that's not what the Vikings thought, it's just some puerile myth from some silly modern women", I don't think he intended me to hear this last.
He seemed so serious that I decided he probably wasn't joking. His voice sounded a little sad so I tried not to make him feel bad when I said "Rune, that stuff is awesome in fantasy novels and Norse mythology would be nothing without it but I really don't believe it could be true. Think about it, I mean, letters working magic? It just doesn't fit in with science."
With another odd smile, he said "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Maeghan, than are dreamt of in your philosophy, or your science. But come; Hamlet aside, watch this."
He took a silver buck-knife from inside his coat and began to carve runes on the table. "Dude, the librarians will kill you if they catch you doing that."
"They won't catch me, they haven't yet."
Rune continued to carve on the table and when he finished there was a swirling mass of green fog inside a circle of runes. He leaned over the table and asked me "What do you think?"
"Cool trick, how'd you do it?"
"You just watched me do it"
"Oh, come on, you didn't do that with runes"
"And if I did?"
"You did not"
"Do you even know what this is?"
"Yeah, it's a cool trick."
"The phrase you're looking for is "parlor trick". And it's a portal, anyway."
"Weirdo"
"Look", said Rune, "If you don't believe me just put your hand through it."
"Double weirdo." I said, folding my arms and trying to give him the message that I'd had enough of this silliness. He ignored this and told me "Turn around and look behind you."
"Not gonna happen."
"Then watch closely", he reached his hand into the fog and it seemed to go right through the table.
"Now what do you think?"
"You want the truth?"
"Nothing but."
"Then I think you're a really weird guy who knows some cool tricks and won't leave me alone."
Rune grinned again and reached further into his "portal".
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around. There was another disc of swirling fog in the air directly behind me and Rune's arm was reaching through it. I almost screamed but thought better of it and just stared blankly first at Rune's grinning face and then at his arm behind me. After a bit I got my voice back, but not my coherence and said "What? How? I mean..."
"I know what you're thinking." Rune said as he pulled his arm back, "Do you believe me now?"
"Maybe." I had gotten my reasoning back and wasn't sure what to think. "I guess I'll put my hand in there and see what happens." It was beyond strange to see my hand behind me but feel it in front of me. It didn't seem to be somewhere else even though it was. The portal felt like nothing at all. I reached further in and touched my own shoulder from behind. I slowly drew back my arm and then leaned forward and peered into the portal. I saw my back for the first time in my life. I suppose I looked as surprised as I was and Rune was silently smirking in a way that said "I told you so".
Suddenly, Rune snapped "Out! Quick!" and I saw myself bolt up in my chair. As soon as my face left the mist he swept his arm over the runes and they disappeared without leaving the tiniest scratch on the table. The Portal vanished as a librarian walked around the corner. As soon as she was gone Rune grinned and said, "I told you I never get caught." After a bit of a pause, he got up, "well, I should let you get back to your reading now. Could we meet here again after classes next week?"
"I suppose so."
"Well, I'll see you then. You can count on it", and he left.
"What a strange person." I mumbled as I picked up my book.
A note from the author:
The above was written in April of 2005 (and revised in July of 2009). I've the rest of the story all plotted out, but I'm not very certain how to go about writing it. I'll finish it some day, but I don't think that day will be any time before I'm thirty.
Another note from the author:
It's 2024 here as I import this story from Fictionpress to Neocities and I'm well past thirty. This didn't turn into the novel I thought it would, but I sign my internet correspondence as Runekaster now, so that's got to count for something. And I've published some stuff earlier this year! Not the fantasy epics I daydreamed about two decades ago, it turns out I'm better suited for short atmospheric works than plotty epics (as anyone looking through this archive has probably recognised. I made my past self proud.