The Return of the Titans (20 page)

“Very well then. As this
is our first class together, there will be no actual training
today. You may ask me some questions though, as long as they
pertain to self defense.”

Several hands went up.

“Yes, Mr. Woodward? Stand
please.”

A small dark boy with big eyes stood up and
looked shyly at Miss Takomo. “I wondered, Miss, if we would be any,
well any stronger as we get older.”

“Good question,” she said
as the boy sat down quickly. “The answer is, not
really.”

There were a few groans of
disappointment.

“As I said, you are not
super men. Yes, you will be somewhat stronger than an average human
for your size, but that is not your main advantage.”

Benson raised his hand.

“Mr. Benson?”

“Then what is our main
advantage, Miss?”

“It is your ability to
endure, Mr. Benson.” He looked as confused as Justin felt at the
answer. “Think about it, gentlemen,” the lady continued. “While you
may have seen long drawn-out fighting in movies, a real battle is
usually a very short affair. A human, no matter how strong, simply
can't sustain the energy for a long fight. They wear out. You will,
one day, be able to simply absorb anything they throw at you and
eventually win the battle by waiting them out.”

There were a few more questions and then
Miss Takomo dismissed the class. As they were following Jonathon,
who had met them outside the classroom, Justin couldn't help
grinning.

“What's so funny, Justin?”
Norm asked as he saw Justin's expression.

“Oh, I was just thinking
about this guy Chris back at school,” he said. “I can see him
spending ten minutes trying to kick my butt and then finally
falling over from exhaustion.”

His three friends laughed.

“Yeah, I may not be a
fighter, but I think I could manage to stand in one spot until
someone got tired of trying to beat me up,” Norm said
smiling.

They continued to joke around about the new
Titan fighting style, which Gerry named the 'kick my ass til you
fall down' art of combat. Meanwhile, Jonathon led them out into the
courtyard and through yet another doorway to their next class.

Chapter 14

They entered a much different room for their
runic studies class. It was small compared to most of the other
areas they had seen and here there were actual desks with two
chairs at each one and paper and pencils on each desk. The girls
had already arrived and found seats. Denise, whom he had talked to
earlier, smiled at Justin and Aaron as they walked in.

A tall young man, with very thin red hair
and a sallow complexion stood at a blackboard at the front of the
room, waiting for them.

Once everyone was seated, Justin and Aaron
sat together, as did Gerry and Norm, the man looked over the class
and smiled weakly.

“Good morning. My name is
Hunter. Marcus Hunter.” He hesitated then looked down at the floor.
“I am a last minute replacement for your original teacher.” He
looked back out over the room and seemed to catch each of their
eyes for a moment. “Her name was Virginia Mathers. She and I were
good friends.” He cleared his throat and seemed to be having
trouble speaking. “She...was killed, along with those under her
protection, two days ago while trying to get to
Sanctuary.”

There was a shocked stillness in the room,
then it seemed everyone began to whisper to their neighbors. Justin
looked at Aaron, who just shook his head, speechless.

“Please, give me your
attention,” Mr. Hunter said. The room grew quiet. “I'm sorry to
burden you with such news, but I thought you should know why I'm
going to seem a little...unpolished when teaching you.” He tried to
smile. “Out in the world, I'm actually a researcher; more used to
learning than teaching. But I will do my best. I hope you will be
patient with me.”

He turned abruptly to the blackboard behind
him. “To begin, I want to explain what this class is all about.
Then we will get into the history of the subject.”

He was writing on the board as he spoke,
Justin spelled out the words as Mr. Hunter wrote them down. Runes
And The Use of Power.

Aaron leaned over and whispered in Justin's
ear. “Runes? What runes? Like the ones on the Arena game?”

“You remember the symbols
on those round stones outside the doors? And on that rock you were
given before you fell into the water and arrived here?” he
muttered. Aaron nodded. “I'm pretty sure those are runes
too.”

A look of comprehension dawned on Aaron's
face.

“Now, runes were and are
the basis of the Titan's power,” Mr. Hunter continued. “With them,
they could manipulate energy, focus it and release that energy in
specific ways. For example,” he pointed to the iron baskets hanging
from the ceiling and lighting the room,” in those holders are small
stacks of stones, each inscribed with the rune for light. This
entire complex is heated, lit, supplied with air and water and so
on, using runes.”

“Sir?” One of the girls,
Justin thought her name was Tanya, was holding up her
hand.

“Yes?”

“How long do these runes
last? I mean, this place seems so old. Do they have to
be...recharged once in a while?”

Mr. Hunter smiled. “An excellent question!
Very good. The answer may surprise you. No, they don't.”

The girl did look surprised, thought Justin.
He heard several whispers as some of the others discussed the
answer.

“Now, pay attention
please.” Mr. Hunter waited for the room to quiet down again. “Good.
Thank you. It is in the nature of some runes, mostly the ones used
for tasks that require long term use, such as giving light, to last
almost indefinitely. Very useful, I'm sure you'd agree.
Unfortunately, as I said they cannot be recharged. Once a rune's
energy is expended, it fades and is gone. Runes may also be used
for short term, intense tasks, like the travel runes you've all had
experience with.”

“But where does this rune
energy come from?” Justin asked.

“Ah, that is a hard one to
explain.” Mr. Hunter tapped his mouth lightly with a forefinger.
“The historical documents stored in Sanctuary are fairly vague on
that point. I believe this was intentional, in case enemies got
hold of them. Personally, I believe that the same evolution that
gave Titans their dense body structure also intensified their
brains, making them denser and stronger and allowing this, I call
it cerebral energy, to be focused and harnessed for the Titan's
use.” He smiled. “But this is only my theory. However,” he held up
a finger, “this is not magic. It is the application of energy
focused through symbols to achieve a result. Please do not make the
mistake of thinking that runes can be used like spells you may have
read about in stories. Runes must be created first before use, and
depending on that use, can take some time to make.”

“So only Titans can use
runes?” Aaron asked.

Mr. Hunter shook his head. “No, there are
runes, the simple ones, that can be used by humans as well. But
only Titans can create the runes and focus them on the task they
will accomplish.”

Another boy held up his hand and Mr. Hunter
nodded at him.

“So who made those travel
runes we used to get here?”

“Excellent, you were
paying attention.” The boy beamed. “Here in Sanctuary are stored
many runes created by the ancients. They left many that we, the
humans here, cannot use. And in fact there are some that have uses
that we cannot fathom. But the travel runes, and certain others
that we can access, were stored here in abundance, specifically for
use by the Titan's human allies.”

Mr. Hunter reached up to his neck and pulled
a chain from beneath his shirt. There was a tear-shaped pendent
hanging from it. “But even humans must use something to properly
focus their thoughts on the runes. We use these.” All the teens
stared intently at the pendent. The ones in the back were leaning
forward to get a better look. The teacher smiled. “You can come up
and take a better look if you wish,” he said.

Most of the class stood up and walked to the
front of the room to examine the pendent. Justin and Aaron went up
as well. Justin looked closely at the shiny metal teardrop.

It had an irregular surface, with little
dents and pockmarks scattered over it. But etched deeply in the
surface was a rune shaped like three concentric circles with a dot
in the center.

“What's the symbol mean,
sir,” one of them asked, after everyone had had a look and sat back
down..

“Roughly translated, it
means conduit or passage. Basically it symbolizes a pathway for my
thoughts to focus through, to activate a rune.”

Mr. Hunter began to draw several symbols on
the blackboard. “These runes won't make any sense to you yet,
because they are written in Titanian.” He turned and smiled at the
class for a second. “That's the Titan's language. But once you
begin to learn to write and speak it yourselves, the runic symbols
will become obvious.”

“We're going to learn the
Titan's language?” Benson spoke up, sounding irritated. “What's the
point of learning a dead language?”

Mr. Hunter looked surprised. “Dead language?
Mr. Benson, Titanian is no more a dead language than the Titans are
a dead race. You yourselves are proof of that. All of us,” he
tapped his chest,” the Guardians, speak it. The scrolls in the
library are written in it and, to use the runes I will be teaching
you, you must invoke them by speaking Titanian.”

Justin watched the teacher continue to write
the runes on the board. He tried to guess what they might mean,
since each one looked more like a picture than an actual letter or
word. As Mr. Hunter finished and turned to the class again, Justin
held up his hand.

“Yes, Mr.
McLeod?”

“Sir, I was just wondering
something. Did the runes that you're showing us start off as
pictures? Because they almost look like little
drawings.”

The man beamed. “Good guess! And quite
correct. Like some eastern alphabets, Titanian began as pictograms,
symbols meant to convey their meaning in pictures.” He chuckled.
“You stole my thunder, Mr. McLeod. Now, I want you to try and guess
what each symbol means.” He looked around at the other teens. “So,
for the first rune on the left, who wants to take a guess as to its
meaning?”

The symbol was of a simple circle with a
line sticking out of the bottom and at the upper right and left.
There was a long pause and then Norm slowly raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Holden. What do
you think it means?”

“Well, it looks a bit like
the sun with three rays coming out. So, maybe it means
light?”

“Excellent!” Mr. Hunter
said approvingly. “That's exactly what it means. The stones in all
of the glowing baskets you see throughout Sanctuary are marked with
the rune for light. That was a bit of an easy one though. The next
one is a bit trickier. Anyone have a guess?”

The next rune looked like two horizontal
wavy lines. Justin was reminded of the symbol for male except that
one was vertical wavy lines. He also thought of water but he
couldn't understand what a rune for water would do if used. Summon
water? That doesn't make sense, he thought. Someone raised their
hand behind him and guessed at water.

“Good try,” Mr. Hunter
said. “And I can see why you would think that, but it's not water.
Anyone else?”

Two wavy lines. Justin thought hard. Two
wavy lines. Hey, wait a second! He raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr.
McLeod?”

“Is it heat,
sir?”

“Aha!” the teacher grinned
at him. “Exactly right! The rune stands for heat or warmth. And if
you add this,” he drew the same three lines that symbolized rays
that were in the first symbol, “it means fire. And that is the way
that the more complicated runes were created. You take a simple
symbol and add to it to change or enhance the rune to something
more powerful.”

Gerry raised his hand this time. “Sir,” he
said. “Would you use that rune to start a campfire or
whatever?”

“Indeed yes, Mr. Smithson.
And if you add a circle around the fire symbol, you intensify the
effect to create a weapon.”

“A weapon, sir?” Benson
spoke up eagerly. “What sort of weapon?”

Mr. Hunter suddenly looked embarrassed. “Oh
dear, I shouldn't have told you about that. It's too early. Well,
since I brought it up. You could take a stone with that rune etched
upon it, invoke it and throw it at an enemy, Mr. Benson.” He shook
his head and shuddered slightly. “A horrible thought really.
Throwing a ball of fire at someone. Horrible.”

The teens began to talk to each other
excitedly. Aaron looked at Justin. “Wow. An actual fireball! It may
not be magic, Justin, but it seems awfully close to me.”

Justin agreed. Again in his mind he pictured
the battles that must have taken place in Atlantis between the two
groups of Titans. Fireballs. Wow. What other weapons had they used
against each other?

“Settle down, class.” Mr.
Hunter looked a bit uncomfortable. “We will discuss offensive uses
for runes in the future. But for now, you need a grounding in the
basics. And.” he held up a finger, “not one of you could invoke
this rune if you had one anyway.”

“Why not?” Benson asked
impatiently.

“I already told you, Mr.
Benson. You need to be able to speak Titanian. And you need to
understand what you are saying when you do. You need to think in
the language. Simply saying the words to invoke a rune does
nothing, unless you know, deep down, what the words actually mean.
Understanding is the key.”