Elara opened her eyes, meeting Logos' approving gaze. "Good," he said. She looked at her projection and noticed the Sigil's increased size. "When triggered, your Primal Rune expands as you see it now. Your body and soul are now connected to StreamBreath and reality," Logos explained.
"It feels amazing!" Elara exclaimed, examining her right hand. She had never felt so strong. "I feel like I could bend metal with my bare hands."
Logos chuckled. "I know. If you want to deactivate your Sigil, just imagine the hole in your chest closing. At least, that's how you should think about it at your current level of understanding."
"That's it?"
"All Runes require is conscious and rational thought about the Transcendent Objects sealed within them. So yes, that's it."
"Tell me more!" she urged, her eyes shining with curiosity.
"Now that you have access to StreamBreath, you've fulfilled another condition for triggering Runes," Logos said. "Also, the powers you gain are limited by your absolute perceptual threshold, what Riders call 'reach'. You can use them freely within your reach, but not beyond it."
Elara's left eyebrow rose in question. "How vast is my reach?" she wondered.
"It varies from Rider to Rider, so it depends on you," Logos replied. "To expedite your understanding, I'll relay information about each Rune."
"Huh! How?" she asked, intrigued.
"Via the Mnemonic-Transfer Rune," he answered, the symbol glowing golden yellow. "This Rune allows Riders to extract memories from their minds and send them to others who can then experience them as their own. It's a way of sharing information without losing the memories themselves."
Elara was confused. Why would Logos do that instead of using the Akashic Records' method of directly inserting information into her mind? A thought struck her – a way to circumvent the limitations of Mnemonic-Trade. If she could store her memories in someone else's mind, she could make a trade with the Akashic Records and then retrieve the relinquished memories later.
"It doesn't work that way," Logos said, reading her thoughts. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized he could access her mind. He continued, "Once traded, the memories you relinquish will also be erased from the minds of those you shared them with, even if they're stored in any form of archive. They will vanish and exist only within the layers of the Akashic Records." Information about the Riders' cautious approach to sharing information, valuing it above all else, flooded her mind. "Wait!" Elara gasped. If what he said was true, then Renegades should not exist. They could simply trade memories of their transgressions and whereabouts after rebelling, erasing their existence, and evading capture!
Logos chuckled. "Little one, your innocent way of thinking is quite refreshing," he said. "Riders have measures in place to prevent certain memories from being traded. These measures will cause the trade to fail, preserving the memories and ensuring the information endures. Besides, some Renegades choose not to do this because of their pride, fear of losing parts of themselves, or other personal reasons."
Elara's suspicions were confirmed, but her focus remained on the immediate problem. "What measures?" she inquired.
"That 'what' is Azimuth classified," Logos replied, leaving Elara frustrated.
"Now, back to Mnemonic-Transfer," Logos said, refocusing the conversation. "To use this Rune, we first need to establish a telepathic link via the Mind-Lace Rune," he explained as the symbol glowed golden yellow. "It's faster to show you. Now that you know what it does, just think about the Rune I showed you, and you'll understand." The Mind-Lace Rune, appeared on the right side of his face, between his eye and ear.
Elara followed his instructions, focusing on the Mind-Lace Rune while looking at the spiral on the back of her second projection. The Rune vanished from the spiral, briefly occupying one of the empty slots before appearing on the right side of her face, mirroring Logos'. Yet, she still felt no connection.
"It's not working!" she said aloud.
Logos' voice echoed in her head. "After triggering the Mind-Lace Rune, you need to consciously want to communicate with me for the link to be established. If you don't want it, it won't work," he explained telepathically.
"How did you do that?" Elara gasped.
"I simply wanted to communicate with you and thought about what I wanted to convey," he replied telepathically.
She nodded and focused on her desire to speak with him without voicing it aloud. "Amazing!" she responded telepathically.
"Well done. Now I can hear your thoughts, and you can hear mine," Logos said, his lips curving into a smile.
However, you could already hear my thoughts without this, Elara thought. "I can hear you," she transmitted, "but I can't see or hear the rest of your thoughts."
"The thoughts you send to another Rider are limited to what you choose to convey, and vice versa. You control what others know," he explained.
"But you..."
"I'm different," Logos smirked, cutting her off.
"Then tell me this," Elara said via Mind-Lace. "I noticed the Mind-Lace Rune moving from its position to an empty slot and then to my projection's face. Is that how all Runes are triggered?"
"Yes," Logos confirmed. "All twenty-six Runes you see are triggered the same way."
Elara paused, examining the spiral. "Wait! There are thirteen empty slots. Does that mean..." She trailed off, meeting Logos' knowing smirk.
"It's as you think," he said through the Mind-Lace. "You can only trigger thirteen Runes at once."
"But what if I'm using thirteen Runes and want to trigger another one?"
"You'll need to deactivate some to free up a slot or more."
"I see," she sighed, understanding the limitations.
"Now, I'll use Mnemonic-Transfer."
"What do I need to do?"
"Now that the Mind-Lace is established, you need to trigger Mnemonic-Transfer," Logos instructed as the Mnemonic-Transfer Rune, appeared on the left side of his face. "I'll take care of the rest," he added.
Elara nodded and triggered Mnemonic-Transfer, utilizing two Runes simultaneously. Instantly, information about every Rune she was looking at flooded her mind. Logos was transferring his knowledge of all the Runes, their functions, and related details. Elara felt increasingly dizzy as the information overload continued. After a while, the Mnemonic-Transfer was complete. Elara collapsed to her knees, struggling to process the influx of knowledge. Her body felt heavy, as if gravity had increased tenfold, and she experienced extremes of hot and cold simultaneously. Her heart raced, and her breath quickened, leaving her gasping for air.
"What happened?" she panted through the Mind-Lace.
"Using Runes is strenuous for first-timers. With time and practice, you'll build up your tolerance," Logos explained. "However, you shouldn't be experiencing this here, as you're not physically present. It's your soul and mind that instinctively know the strain of using Runes, causing you to feel drained."
Elara realized that she needed to convince her mind that her body was not physically present and that her use of Runes was not real. As she focused on this, her body felt lighter, her breathing slowed, and her heartbeat returned to normal. She stood up, feeling as if nothing had happened. She deactivated the Mnemonic-Transfer Rune, which returned to its original slot in the spiral.
She then triggered the Accelerate-Mind Rune, its symbol appearing on the left side of her face. Thanks to the Mnemonic-Transfer, she now understood its function – the clear knowing ability that accelerated her thought processes and perception. Accelerate-Mind allowed her to assimilate, classify, identify, and understand vast amounts of information in mere moments. She used it to organize and expedite her comprehension of the knowledge she had received from Logos. She now knew that the Phantasm Rune, would appear on her left forearm, and the Akashic-Key Rune, would appear on her forehead upon activation.
She also discovered that Akashic-Key could not be triggered while Riding within the Nexus. However, she learned that it was possible to connect to the Akashic Records without making a trade by willingly offering information without demanding anything in return. This allowed Riders to utilize the Akashic Records for long-range communication within Exoklein, regardless of distance. Elara deduced that she could store messages in the Akashic Records, specifying the time, signing with her CallSign, and designating the recipient by their CallSign. To access the message, the recipient would need to request it using both CallSigns and make a trade, relinquishing memories in return. They could then send a reply using the same method, reversing the roles. This process ensured secure and instantaneous communication, as no matter how long they remained connected to the Akashic Records, only a fleeting moment would pass in the real world. Upon receiving a message, the recipient would hear a distinct ringing in their right ear.
A few seconds later, she deactivated Accelerate-Mind and looked at Logos. "Now I know everything," she declared confidently.
"Everything, eh?" Logos replied, his voice laced with amusement. "Show me," he challenged, conjuring an earring in his hand. He slowly extended it towards her, and she took it. Opening her palm, she examined the beautiful black gem that glittered within the silver kite-shaped frame. Logos remained silent, but she understood his request. What he wants me to do is impossible with Convert-created objects! She thought.
"I can't do it. Not with this!" she said, looking at him. "And you know it!"
"This isn't a Convert-made object," Logos countered. "It's as real as your clothes."
"How can this be real?" she wondered, perplexed.
"How can I use Runes even though I'm not a Rider?" Logos responded, his words sparking a revelation in Elara's mind. She noticed something she had previously overlooked – Logos was not breathing! He neither inhaled nor exhaled, yet he could use Runes. "In this domain, if you can make your thoughts real, so can I," he explained with a smirk.
Elara imagined him breathing, and at that moment, Logos began to breathe just like her. "So, this is a BlackStone!" she gasped, looking at the black stone at the center of the earring with a mix of surprise and understanding.
Logos nodded slightly. "If you think of it that way, it will be."
She closed her hand and triggered her Kin Rune, which appeared on the back of her neck. A black haze enveloped her Primal Rune and her right fist as she imagined the StreamBreath flowing into her body like water and then into the BlackStone, which she visualized as a cup. She continued pouring the StreamBreath into the "cup" until she felt it was about to overflow. She stopped, deactivating her Kin Rune.
"This is your KinRight," Logos said with a smile. "Be proud of it."
She nodded, knowing that the LastBorn's Kin Rune ability was unique. Unlike the Primal Runes, which varied in shape but shared the same function, the Kin Rune had the same shape but granted access to different abilities depending on the Rider's origin. Some Riders considered the Kin Rune a catalyst that unlocked a race's inherent ability, giving a secondary function to the Primal Rune. The effects of the Kin Rune on reality remained even after deactivation and even after the Rider's death. The only way to reverse the effects was to intentionally undo them, which was why a charged BlackStone would remain so until depleted.
Logos, still smiling, announced, "This space will now become a Null-Field."
Elara understood the implications, and a thought formed in her mind. "I understand," she said, attaching the earring to her left ear. "Show me the way home."