Return of the Runebound Professor Chapter 1: Even in death

Noah Vines discovered that death fell far short of his expectations. Although he never saw himself as a devout person, he'd long believed some form of continuation awaited beyond.

Relief filled him upon realizing that something truly did await.

Disappointment struck, however, when he learned the wait involved an endless queue. An extraordinarily lengthy one at that. Adding to his frustration, he remained clueless about the purpose. No orientation had been offered. He'd even have welcomed a basic instructional clip.

Instead, Noah stood behind a fellow naked soul, shuffling forward like newborns, inching toward an unknown destination. Boredom dominated everything. Nothing surrounded them except endless rows of people twisting through vast emptiness on shimmering, see-through energy trails. Time dragged on—or so Noah sensed. No method existed to measure it precisely.

Multiple times, the urge to chat with others arose. Each instance, he held back. It simply felt inappropriate. Maybe death brought that sensation. Still, it allowed moments for introspection.

Regrettably, his reflections brought little comfort. He'd have preferred reaching the afterlife—whatever form it took—with greater accomplishments. Like countless thriving students or a devoted family.

Progress had fallen short. Noah boasted just four years of teaching experience, plus a barely useful degree that scarcely secured his position—the very role that compelled colleagues to sacrifice sick leave for his medical expenses.

The queue crept forward. Moments stretched endlessly. Time flowed, though its span evaded Noah's grasp. Centuries? Millennia? Uncertainty clouded it all. Only his inner thoughts provided solace, reverberating in his mind's quiet void.

He merely waited, advancing a step whenever the soul ahead progressed.

The realm shifted abruptly.

Noah couldn't pinpoint the exact moment. Yet suddenly, from hovering in boundless void amid the lines, his feet touched firm earth. All queues merged toward one spot, dominated by a towering woman looming over the masses. A vast lake of sparkling silver liquid stretched behind her.

Unlike the rest, elegant silk robes adorned her form, fluttering like banners. Yet none rivaled her flawless beauty, which inspired only terror in Noah. Clearly, no mortal stood before him.

Souls approached her sequentially. They halted briefly, as though exchanging wordless words. Then proceeded onward, immersing hands in the lake. Lifting the silvery fluid to drink, they dissolved into beams of pure white radiance.

The procession advanced relentlessly. Before Noah could fully comprehend, he faced the stunning goddess. Reality halted as their gazes met.

“Noah Vines,” she intoned, like reciting from an unseen script. “Died at the age of twenty-six. You were an influential figure for eighty-four of your pupils. Many prayers have been sent up for you. A life well lived.”

“I—are you God?” Noah blurted, his first words since death, immediately regretting them.

“I am Renewal, one of the many goddesses of Reincarnation,” she answered, appearing mildly disinterested. “You have been chosen to be reincarnated in a higher plane. Drink from this well of the Waters of Life and, in losing the memories of your current life, continue unto your next. A suitable body will soon be born for you.”

“Wait, I won’t remember anything? Nothing at all?”

Renewal parted her lips to reply. Then existence lurched forward. Myriads of dark streaks pierced the void like a meteor storm. Noah gaped upward in stunned wonder, jaw slack.

The initial meteor struck nearby, annihilating a line of souls and shattering the platform, hurling debris into the abyss.

Earth-shaking tremors erupted as additional meteors plummeted, shredding the peaceful vista to fragments. Renewal lifted her arms. A radiant pink blossom unfurled mid-air before her, just as a black energy bolt pierced it.

The blast demolished the flower, grazing past Renewal as she dodged nimbly. Further meteors bombarded everywhere around Noah, yet paralysis gripped him. He watched helplessly as they pulverized nearby souls, flinging remnants into oblivion.

A guttural, rasping wail reverberated everywhere. Renewal stumbled as a twisted black lance burst from her shoulder. Fractures spiderwebbed the air nearby, from which a viscous ooze bubbled forth, spilling onto the surface like thick muck.

Screaming visages emerged from within the bubbling sludge, as though desperately trying to break free. The gooey mass swelled upward, shaping itself into a humanoid blob. The figure tore the spear loose from Renewal.

“I finally found you, Renewal,” the man declared, his raspy voice dripping with mockery. “My beautiful flower.”

Renewal’s expression stayed firm. She shoved her hand out toward him. A dazzling beam of power exploded from her palm, scorching right into his body. A chorus of a thousand shrieks erupted in torment, and he gripped his chest tightly. Opaque black fluid streamed down his form and merged with the silver pool below, corrupting its purity.

Yet another shooting star crashed into the earth right next to Noah, jolting him from his daze. No other living person remained in sight. He’d stayed so near Renewal and that horrifying figure that he’d avoided the devastation until now, but anyone could see that lingering for a clash between divine beings was suicidal.

Noah’s gaze fixed on the Waters of Life. He peeked at the pair, but they ignored him completely. Noah leaped up and dove ahead. The man spun around, and in that fleeting moment, their eyes met.

Then Noah submerged into the silvery waters. He gulped it down without hesitation. The liquid flowed into his throat, thick and sugary sweet. A soothing calm wrapped around Noah, holding him in gentle embrace.

The fear that had clutched him moments before melted away. Safety enveloped him now. Nothing remained to dread. Only advancing to his next existence mattered. His previous life didn’t –

Noah jerked back as a sharp bitterness assaulted his tongue. It pierced the tranquility, coiling around him like barbed thorns. The crumbling remnants of his earthly memories halted their fade and surged back, crammed into his form alongside the foul flavor.

Suddenly, Noah vanished, transforming into a bolt of light racing through the stars.

Worlds blurred by in vibrant streaks against the void. He hurtled through boundless darkness, his thoughts in chaos as visions assaulted him. Time lost all meaning. For Noah, reality dissolved into the swirling forms and galaxies he flew past.

Yet, like everything, it ended. A sudden yank tugged at what should have been his torso, though he lacked a body. That vague ache marked the first sensation he’d felt in – Noah couldn’t recall. Some time.

Visions unfolded before him, shifting from fleeting realms and stars to vast emerald meadows and towering peaks. Inland seas masquerading as lakes and labyrinthine caverns buried deep underground. Wonder surged through him as he plummeted into this fresh world, his consciousness flickering back to life.

In a split second, Noah glimpsed enormous reptilian eyes peering down from the cosmos. Then he plunged onward, descending toward the planet’s surface. A subtle pull guided him into a village, where he phased through the floorboards of a humble dwelling.

A woman reclined in bed, cradling a newborn babe who wailed softly before her. Her face blended exhaustion and joy, but Noah had little time to study it. The attraction yanked him toward the infant’s form.

He sank down, grazing the sobbing child’s cheek briefly. Constricting bonds seized him, unleashing waves of torment across his essence. Mere moments passed before he was wrenched away, flung across the globe anew.

Again and again, Noah got dragged into birth scenes, his ethereal form attempting and failing to unite. The constriction intensified, nearly snuffing out the faint cognition he’d scraped together.

Noah spied the colossal walls of a city-sized fortress just before piercing through them. He slipped via fissures in the masonry and sped on, whipping by woodlands and expansive steppes.

He jolted to a stop in a tiny glade ringed by scorched, skeletal trees. Their branches clawed skyward like desperate skeletal fingers. Shockingly, no infant waited. Nor a mother. A man with slick black hair slumped by a fading campfire near a modest pond. His angular face twisted in agony. Crimson trailed from a grievous gash on his torso. Noah knew enough to recognize it as a fatal injury.

The remains of various shaggy beasts littered the ground nearby. They vaguely evoked apes, yet boasted oversized fangs and claws dwarfing Earth’s primates. Their pelts still smoked faintly, bodies punctured by coin-sized craters.

Gasping raggedly, the man groped at his waistband and drew a tiny gourd. He cracked its wax stopper and raised it shakily to his lips, guzzling its contents with desperate thirst.

Noah attempted to shift, but his body refused any command. He merely hovered, powerless to do more than observe. The gash across the man’s abdomen writhed and frothed. Tendrils of meat and guts extended outward, weaving themselves back into place.

The man raised the bottle for yet another gulp. Midway, he halted, eyes protruding wildly as his hands clawed at his neck. The vessel tumbled free, shattering on the dirt with its contents pouring out.

A violent pull seized Noah’s belly button. The man’s gaze flicked upward right as Noah plunged down into him. A glacial torrent flooded Noah’s veins, as if he’d been hurled into arctic seas.

A howl ripped through his mind, though only afterward did Noah grasp it wasn’t his own cry. He sucked in a harsh, frantic breath—and it filled his lungs.

Noah stiffened. Gradually, he lifted a hand to his cheek, fingers meeting firm skin rather than ethereal vapor. He explored his form with tentative pats, then vaulted upright. His sole hit slick, crimson sludge, sending him sprawling backward in a thunderous impact.

A jolt of hurt surged through, unnoticed amid the shock. Noah crawled frantically on hands and knees to the lake’s edge, staring into its mirror. The face gazing back belonged to the man, yet the injury had vanished completely.

“Gods above,” Noah whispered. His skull pounded relentlessly, contorting his features. He traced his limbs once more, verifying the touch. “I’m alive. I’m alive!”

Hysterical guffaws exploded from Noah as he smacked his own face, reveling in the sensation. A corporeal shell was his again. Collapsing into a huddled knot by the water, he kept laughing till salty trails carved his face.

He was alive.

The frenzy ebbed, dragging darker moods in its wake.

“I thought I was supposed to lose all of my memories and be reborn,” Noah murmured, fixating on a ghostly pale hand. The timbre escaping his lips was alien, if not vastly so. “Neither of those seem to have happened.”

A chill quake gripped him pondering the nightmarish beast that ravaged Renewal. He vowed never to glimpse it anew. Grimmer still, another soul had dwelled here prior to his… possession.

“Did I just murder someone? Or did I just watch them get murdered and take advantage of it?” Noah questioned aloud, throat bobbing in dread. He inched toward the gourd the man had swigged from and grasped it.

A scrap of parchment dangled from its spout, secured by coarse twine. Shockingly, Noah read its script with ease, fully aware it bore no resemblance to English.

Remnants of the man’s recollections evidently lingered within his skull. Such explained the savage migraine. A jab prodded his torso. Noah fished out a petite metal emblem, etched with text, from his coat’s pouch. With a scowl, he shoved it into his trouser pocket.

From the man’s dying contortions, Noah felt certain the elixir went beyond mere mending. It seemed chiefly responsible for his demise.

“Tough luck, man,” Noah grumbled. “The line isn’t too bad when you get used to it, though. Hope things go better for you next time around.”

He sniffed tentatively. Aromas of honey and cinnamon wafted forth. Noah placed the gourd down gingerly, ensuring no droplets touched him. Absence of current effects didn’t promise safety from further exposure.

“Well, this certainly isn’t anything like monkeys on Earth,” Noah observed, inspecting a slain primate. With true eyes at last, his conviction deepened. The corpse’s orbs glared crimson, its pelt clumped like plated hide. Monster defined it alone.

Shakily, Noah hauled himself erect. Oddly, terror evaded him. Endless vigil in the afterlife queue had reconciled him to fate.

Gods’ existence implied monsters’ too, an easy leap. Crucially, grave harm had befallen this body’s former tenant—and Noah wondered if the culprit lingered.

A vision of a colossal, shaggy behemoth flashed in Noah’s thoughts. He halted, straining to recapture it, but it slipped away—not his memory at all.

“What the hell was that?” Noah hissed, scrubbing his eyes. “Is that what gored this Vermil guy before I got around to him? I hope not. I don’t want to be anywhere near that thing.”

Darkness swept above Noah. He tracked its glide across him toward the camp’s depths. Lips compressed. “Ah. Of course. It’s behind me.”

Whirling, Noah confronted the plumpest, most grotesque ape imaginable. The beast loomed nearly double his stature, sporting elongated, spindly limbs tipped with oversized talons.

Tiny beady eyes peered from its face, fangs protruding wildly in all directions from its maw. Picture a rabid orangutan crammed with extra teeth and bashed face-first into a wall half a dozen times—that creature could have mothered this monstrosity.

“Hello there,” Noah greeted, averting his eyes while frantically rummaging through his Earth memories for advice on facing predators. No smiling. Avoid eye contact. Extend a firm handshake and speak with assurance.

The monkey let out a shrill screech. Its grating cry ripped into Noah’s ears like a jagged blade. He slapped his palms over his ears and whirled around, fleeing at top speed on trembling legs.

Pounding footsteps echoed behind him as the monkey barreled in pursuit, but Noah couldn’t spare a second to look back. He felt certain it was catching up, though the sharp-edged trees encircling the clearing might impede it a touch.

In his side vision, Noah glimpsed a huge, spindly claw lunging at his head, its serrated talons gleaming under the fading sun. Sheer panic surged through him. His body reacted on instinct. Arms shot upward, and luminous white trails flickered before him, weaving into an eerie formation.

A fierce gust of wind exploded from his palms. It slashed across the monkey’s forelimb, gouging a severe wound and wrenching a tormented yelp from the beast. Noah staggered, vitality draining rapidly from him. He gawked at his hands in astonishment, frozen briefly in awe.

“I just did magic. I can do–”

Four enormous talons crashed into his skull as the monkey lashed out with its free paw, rending downward through his frame and snipping Noah’s words short—just like his life.

This became his inaugural death within this strange new world—yet it was merely the first of countless to come.