Chapter 21

"Have you been here the entire time?" Eyrmysse asked.

"Yes. Well, not really. I stopped at my room for a short while."

"Has a day passed in the last week when you have not visited the Sanctum of Destruction?"

Uriel shook his head. "No, not since I learned about it."

Uriel had only been able to uncover vague meanings and abstract allusions to the Seven Runes of Power from the Sacred Scrolls and various histories. The Black Lodge did not shed any more light on the matter of their origin, but related, in theory, what could be done with them.

It was surmised that the Runes were created sometime previous to the beginning of the First Age, before Khaballe had been settled. They were thought to have been created by some aspect of divinity (or the demonic). A Rune was endowed with great magical power and esoteric knowledge specific to the theme of that particular Rune. Likewise, the possessor of such assimilated the properties of the Rune into their existing understanding of the craft. If one could ever secure all the Runes of Power, in theory, one would be elevated to the level of a god. Whether one could properly control the power and the knowledge was a different story, however.

When Uriel encountered a section in The Black Lodge about the Runes, they so intrigued him that he began to seek out other tomes that might divulge more information on the mysterious stones. When his relationship with Eyrmysse developed, he immediately questioned her concerning it. She in turn informed him that the witches possessed the Rune of Destruction and that it existed in a small adytum known as the Sanctum of Destruction at the topmost of the turret Khyaroh. She was unable to add much to his knowledge. She did know that three of the other Runes were under the protection of the King and that the locations of the remaining three were unknown. Of the missing Runes, at least one had been in the possession of the wizards at the Academy of the Stars in Kho Rhon'ah previous to the Great Mystical Wars.