Somewhat in shock, I took a step back, essentially mesmerized by the scale of what I was looking at.
“Wh-what…?” I mumbled, spinning slowly in a circle and noting that the immense beings were all around us. “How…?”
I felt more than saw Rune staring at me intently, although with my peripheral vision I observed him following my gaze.
“Wait,” he muttered, sounding a little surprised. “You can see that?”
Not quite able to find my tongue, I simply nodded emphatically.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rune make a vague gesture. Instantly, the images vanished, replaced by what could be described as normal sky.
The visual change seemed to bring me back to myself. I inhaled deeply, suddenly realizing that I had been holding my breath.
Rune gave me a once-over. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “Just caught a little off guard. What were those things?”
“Incarnates,” Rune answered.
I stared at him in surprise. “What — all of them?”
“Yeah — including the good-looking dude with the impeccable taste in clothes,” Rune said with a smile.
“Huh?” I muttered with a frown.
Rune traced an imaginary square in the air with his forefinger. Unexpectedly, something like a window appeared, and within it I saw the giants again. Like a camera, my companion’s window zoomed in on one of the behemoths. Much to my surprise (and ignoring its size), I noted that it did indeed appear to be Rune, and was even dressed as he was. Apparently I had been so startled by the titans that I hadn’t even noticed that he was among them, so to speak.
I turned to my companion, confusion evident on my face. “Why is there a colossal statue of you looming over this place?”
“It’s not a statue,” Rune declared flatly.
Bewildered, I looked back at the window and was surprised to see the image of Rune wink at me. A moment later, while I was still trying to process what I’d just observed, the window vanished. Brow creased, I simply stared at Rune, a million questions bubbling in my brain, with each jockeying for position in order to be the first out of my mouth.
“It all ties into why I brought you here,” he said, before I could ask anything. “Why I need your help.”
“Which is what?” I asked.
“We have a mystery on our hands that, truthfully, is unprecedented.”
“What type of mystery?”
“The impossible has happened,” Rune answered in a no-nonsense tone. “An Incarnate has been murdered.”
Chapter 2
“What do you mean, ‘murdered’?” I asked after getting over my surprise. “I thought Incarnates were all-powerful.”
“We’re not all-powerful, but we come pretty close,” Rune stated. “That said, being powerful doesn’t necessarily equate to being immortal, although you’re not that far off-base. As I mentioned, this has never happened before. Up until now, I don’t think any of us felt it could happen.”
“What — one of you getting killed?”
Rune nodded. “Yes, although, all things considered, we should have been aware of the possibility — especially in this place.”
“This place?” I repeated.
Rune spread his arms wide, making an all-encompassing gesture. “This realm is known as Permovren. Incarnates are required to come here occasionally, although doing so makes us vulnerable.”
I frowned. “You’re going to have to explain that.”
Rune appeared pensive for a moment, then said, “When we Incarnates come here, it is not with the incorporation of our full slate of powers. The effigies you saw…” He trailed off and pointed up toward the sky.
“You mean the titans?” I interjected.
“Yeah,” he acknowledged. “They’re a physical manifestation of the bulk of our powers. Their magnitude, as opposed to our apparent size when in Permovren, is a reflection of the potency we leave vested in them versus what we bring into this dimension with us.”
My brow furrowed as Rune’s words rolled around in my head. “So you’re saying this place has something akin to a mystical or metaphysical metal detector, with the end result being that you have to check your powers at the door.”
“Pretty much,” Rune said. “And pick them up on the way out.”
I spent a moment thinking about the sheer size of the “effigies,” as Rune referred to them, and juxtaposed that to his current appearance. “So does that mean you don’t have any of your powers here?”
Rune laughed and then clapped his hands together once. Instantly and simultaneously, a dozen bolts of lightning — accompanied by the earsplitting sound of thunder — struck the ground in a circle around us. I managed to avoid starting as the lightning flashed, but the proximity of the thunder made me wince. The entire episode was a testament to the fact that, even if the vast majority of his powers were inaccessible, my companion was still not someone to be trifled with.
“Any more questions?” Rune asked with a grin.
Chapter 3
I actually did have more questions — first and foremost among them being whether the Incarnates’ mystical metal detector had stripped me of any of my powers. I decided to do a quick sound check by dashing around the grain field at super speed, teleporting around it, and then flying into the air above it. Finding that those three abilities were still functioning (along with Rune’s solemn promise that the “metal detector” was only for Incarnates), I eschewed testing all of my powers and went on the assumption that everything was in working order.
That said, there were still a ton of things I needed to quiz Rune about. However, he asked that I hold off on any more questions for the nonce.
“Wait until we get inside and get settled,” he said.
Befuddled, I glanced around, still seeing nothing but stalks of blue grain.
“Inside where?” I finally asked.
Smiling, Rune pointed with his chin to a point over my shoulder. Turning around, I unexpectedly found myself at the bottom of a lengthy set of steps leading up to the double doors of a
