Inspecting the work, he could only see its natural Essence, and was impressed by the control the Mage who made this had used. Normally, there was overflow which had a ‘flavor’ to it known as the ‘Mages signature’. The smaller the ‘signature’, the better control the Mage had, the more the work was worth, because it would interfere less with Runes added on later. Looking closer, he saw beautiful Runescripted patterns cut inside the stone itself.
“That is so cool! I need to get this guy to teach me!” He thought, very excited to meet this master Mage when he returned. About to turn away, he saw what almost looked like earth Essence starting to follow the loops and whirls of the internal pattern. Entranced, he watched as the slow moving substance filled the pattern.
When it reached the last open spot, the stone suddenly pulsed, seeming to tighten and grow darker. Some loose sand shook off, and he was showered with dirt. The rock was suddenly opaque to him, the beautiful pattern no longer visible. It looked exactly like the slab of stone over the entrance had, as a matter of fact.
Now nervous, Dale turned to run and tell someone about this when Father Richard walked up with a “Morning lad!”
“Would you look at that?!” He whistled. “Is this whole piece a single slab of granite?”
“Father, this is, if I am correct, cursed earth.” Dale released in a rush.
“Hmm, I think you are indeed correct.” Richard frowned a bit. “It looks a lot like that blockage did, over the entrance to the dungeon. Come look at the quartz with me over here, it came awfully close to it. I hope it didn’t do any damage.” The look of nervousness on his face convinced Dale to help before informing the Guild.
They moved to check for any damage to the quartz, Father Richard frowned as he saw scratches along the bottom of the slab with the sparse pre-dawn light. Just before the sun crested the ridge to signal the start of a new day, the entire slab shone brilliantly, as if it - and not the sun - was the herald of the morning.
“Ahh!” Both of them yelled, clutching at their eyes. Blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear the spots dancing in their vision, they stumbled about in pain, Father Richard swearing in a very non-priestly way.
Silence followed by a gasp escaped Father Richard, Dale looked over with swimming vision to see him looking down with wonder in his expression. True sunrise had arrived, Dale looked directly down to see the Boss room he had fought in yesterday, as if it were only a few feet below.
“What?!” Dale joined in the gasping.
“That’s the Silverwood tree?” Father Richard pointed.
“Looks like it. But how can we see this? It has to be so far underground!” Dale exclaimed.
Father Richard didn’t answer, instead looking at the quartz again, looking for the scratches that had been there. After a few moments, he flopped down into a kneeling position.
“It’s a miracle.” He murmured, touching the smooth surface.
“Father?”
“Dale, the entire… The whole thing. It’s been enchanted. No, those are Runes, it’s been inscribed!” Tears of joy sprang to Father Richard’s eyes as he read the Inscription that Dale could not even see.
“It’s the church's best Essence level Rune! Protection, increased celestial energy, and dissolving of infernal bonds.” He was freely weeping now. “It’s a miracle.”
“I can’t see the Rune, the Essence in the way is too thick.” Dale ashamedly mentioned, disappointed in his ability. A flash of insight crossed his mind, “Father, is it the same Inscription as… this?” He pulled out the pendant he was wearing which was filled with Essence of no particular elemental affiliation.
The Father’s eyes locked onto it and his expression changed to almost anger, “Where did you get this?”
“It was a drop in the dungeon, from the Boss of the first floor and the Mobs beyond.” Dale informed him nervously.
“Ah, sorry I didn’t mean to worry you. This is indeed the same Rune, but as I said it is one of the most powerful Essence level Inscriptions we have. I was just surprised to see it out of the hands of a cleric. Would you let me see it?” Richard politely asked.
“Of course, Father.” Dale handed it over, glad he wasn’t in trouble with this powerful man.
“Yes, it is the same.” Richard spoke, almost to himself. “Useless though.”
“Useless?” Dale was rather disappointed to hear that. Several people around the area had them for good luck.
“Yes, though filled with Essence, only celestial type is able to activate the full Inscription. Other types may be able to use the other parts, like this physical protection... I haven’t looked into it.” Father Richard muttered, tracing the pattern. He looked at it again, frowning. “Can I try something on this?”
“Sure.” Dale shrugged. It was useless anyway.
Father Richard smiled, held the pendant and started saying a short prayer. The first words had barely left his mouth when the pendant glowed with light, obviously activating.
“Wondrous!” Richard exclaimed, eyes shining. “You say this is a drop that is fairly common in the dungeon?”
“Yes, the first Boss sometimes does drop it, but we got three yesterday on the second level.” Dale bragged.
“I can activate them! Look,” Father Richard held up the pendant, “The Essence it contained has taken on celestial affinity!”
“Great!” Dale was enthusiastic yet still somewhat confused.
“Here, lad. Would you like me to bind this to you? You are its rightful owner, after all.” Father Richard offered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean, Father.” Dale stalled, nervous for an unknown reason.
“Oh, it isn’t dangerous. If you place a small thread of Essence to a certain place on your items Rune, it will only activate for you if you are the first to do so. Many don’t, because then the resale value drops quite a bit, and you can still activate the Rune like normal. But, someone else could get ahold of it and bind it, rendering it useless to you.” Father Richard explained.
“Well it wouldn’t hurt to learn how, right?” Dale grinned. He loved learning new things.
“Right.” Father Richard assured.
“Ok, let’s do it!” Dale affirmed, excited for the new knowledge.
“Since you still use Essence, your power does not extend far past your physical body. Basically, you need to have contact with the place you want to put Essence into. Like your armor, since it is enchanted, has the power deposit placement on the inside against your skin, and your weapon has it on the grip, you can see it if you just look.” Dale didn’t inform him that he didn’t know how to activate his gear, he now planned to practice though.
Continuing his lecture, “Look here, every place you input energy is the same glyph, or a variant of it. That is the standard activation site. Here,” he pointed to another spot, “is the binding glyph of the Rune. Again, it looks similar across all the Runes I have ever seen. Try to put a tiny, tiny amount of Essence into it.”
Taking the pendant back, Dale concentrated on pulling Essence to his fingertip. Having done this for his eyes often now, it was easy to do only on his little finger, close to the meridian. Getting a mirthful look from Father Richard when he poked the glyph with his pinky, he felt a tiny tug from the pendant and it glowed softly for a moment.
“Good job, you did it on your first try!” Father Richard praised, “You are the first non-cleric I know to have this particular active protection. Now, can you feel where it is?” He took and moved the pendant back and forth, and Dale felt as though he was being pulled in the same direction. “You’ll always be able to find it, if it doesn’t break.”
“Very cool.” Dale enthused, eyes shining.