Rune Magic

12: Serpentine Chaos

.^^ Apep Avatars ^^

— James —

I don't know what I expected, when I drew my weapon, but having it bulk itself up really wasn't it. The new weight made my swing go wide, and stab the riverbank, instead of the snake in front of me, who reared his head, and lunged at me with the speed of any venomous snake.

My forearm took the fangs of the beast, but to my surprise, my skin turned gold, and the fangs barely punctured. I grinned, and cut off the snake's head with one swing, letting my sword take it into itself, and absorb the Golden Water that represented Power in this realm.

It pulsed painfully in my hand, as if the lava was too much for it to take in, but I gritted my teeth, forcing it through like a carrot through a cheese grater. The resultant power made even more room than before, and all of the energy itself crystallized and condensed inside the blade, leaving more room for the physical stuff, such as the other snakes, all swarming towards me now.

I got an idea, and looked at Bast, directly to my left. "Hey, when you make this many Avatar's, doesn't it weaken your true form by a lot?"

She nodded. "Yes, it does. So?"

"So what's stopping us from locking Apep away into something?" I asked.

"We don't have the something to lock him into." She responded easily.

"Is that so? Interesting." I pulled my sword out of another corpse, ripping all the magic and power out of it, instead of taking the corpse itself. My portal responded to my mental Command, and I reached deep into the deepest reaches of this realm, far to the East, (opposite of the way most would look, the West being the Cursed Lands,) and found rolling, vibrant golden sand dunes, some as tall as literal mountains.

That didn't seem like enough, so I kept going, until I couldn't actually reach any further with my one portal, which was an interesting prospect, seeing as it could reach the end of the cosmos. Then, I stepped through the portal, and opened another. After several iterations, I couldn't sense the energy of my ancestors and family anymore, something that I could feel anywhere in the nine realms. I went a few more times, just for luck, and then decided I was far enough away.

I created a small pinprick Beacon/Portal in the Sky above, connected to the interior of my Bag, which would enable me to send things to this location no matter where I was, and without all the portals and nonsense, as well as alert me to any activity in this location, just like a security camera.

That finished, I began digging, until I was so deep that the sands would not uncover it for quite some time, in their shifting and shaking. I created a box of Egyptian Gold from thin air, and set it down in the hole, melting the sand into glass, and carving Runes of Holding and Concealing, in every language known and unknown.

I took a chance, and did something particularly dangerous, next. I carved my own true name, in a Cartouche, (the hieroglyphic way of writing your name, or showing possession and control of something,) filling it with my blood. That meant that the only way to even touch the other Runes was to kill me, and destroy my entire bloodline.

As long as a single person holding my blood existed, (or, I guess, if someone more powerful than my entire bloodline combined appeared,) this barrier would hold. I spilled blood into every single Rune, and finally picked up the box itself, deciding it wasn't good enough.

I used my own golden blood, and even pieces of my bone and the Crystals in my skin, to create a new box, then carved a single Rune into every side, the Jiahu Symbol for 'Prison'. The Oldest known Rune, in the Oldest Known Language, carved into the solid blood of a powerful being.