Will wandered around the crater. Looking for the height difference duo. He noticed that despite there being around fifty slaves around yesterday.Today? Not a footprint.
Besides Grandma, Coal, and himself, there was no sign that there was little to no signs of any of them anywhere. They had seemingly disappeared as if they never existed. He was visualizing some of the runes he would ask Gramps about when he finally arrived at the cave.
"She said she would be around here somewhere…" Will muttered to himself looking for any signs of them. There was plenty of raised ground and things to hide behind surrounding the clearing around the cave entrance. If something wanted to it could close the gap up until around 20 feet before the open space of the clearing would expose them. Those thoughts suddenly entered his mind and he realized how vulnerable he was on his own. He had little to no experience defending himself, his one and only fight was so heavily in his favor. It could be barely considered to count towards any type of experience. Maybe someone like Coal could teach him some things. If he was from the same background as the man Will fought, there had to be things that he could show and teach him to. On the other hand, he was fighting against something like a force of nature in this instance so how much would that really help.
"What's going on in that big boulder of yours?" A voice says behind him.
"Oh nothing I was just-" Will whips around face to face with Grandma. He could see nearly every wrinkle in her face with how close she was. "What the hell!" He nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. Why the fuck are you so close to me? Nevermind that! How did you even sneak up on me like that? He thought to himself.
"Oh, that was easy" She said cheerfully with a huge smile on her face. "You're not the most perceptive sediment, and unfortunately, your face doesn't make up for it." She says with a sigh, her face morphing into one of sadness. What the hell was she sad about? He was hairless and dirty. Of course he didn't look good!
"Oh whatever. What was it that you needed to do today that you couldn't help me with the Salamander? It was actually quite injured. I don't know how much longer it will last without healing." He says looking around for her plus 1. But Coal was nowhere to be found. "Where is the big guy?"
"Oh, he's rounding up something for us right now. Don't fret about that right now. Tell me what was on your mind?" She bats at him gently, as if the smack would shoo away the thoughts she wanted to get rid of.
"Ah, I was just thinking that I'll need to learn some ways to defend myself. Even if we're planning on using the Salamander to fight that insane Abomination. It lost last time. It's much weaker now, so we'll have to step in and help it if we want to end up living after." His gaze focuses on the looming Furnace where the Golem was last spotted, preparing his weapon. "He's also armed with something terrifying now. Whatever that is, I don't want to come anywhere near it". Grandma stands there and ponders about his questions. Will waits for more than a dozen moments because he didn't want to be rude and push her for answers.
"Are you getting cold feet thinking about it?" He finally looks away from the furnace in the distance.
"ZZZzzzZZ".....
She was sleeping… Standing next to him. In the middle of a conversation. He gently taps her shoulder.
"AHH!" She screamed and held her hand up as if to hit him. "Oh. It's just you. When you get so sneaky?" She asked quizzically with her head tilted. Oh god. Was she going senile in real time?
"We were talking about how we're gonna be able to fight with the Salamander to defeat the Golem. It's not strong enough to beat the Tyrant on its own, nevermind those Fairy things." He shivered at the thought of red death piranhas.
"Yeah, that's what Coal is preparing. We've been planning for a way of incapacitating it. Long enough for us to escape. The only issue is the Fairies and the Golem are two separate things. They live inside the thing, but they don't feed off of anything from it. Almost like the Abomination is a house for the smaller Abominations, if you will." She puts her hands behind her like she's some old grandmaster teaching a young irresponsible student. "What is it that this senior can teach her junior?"
Will ponders to himself. There were plenty of ways of getting stronger. With her healing abilities, he might be able to build muscle quickly. If she or Coal knew any fighting techniques to teach him, would that help against the Abomination's incredible might? After a few more moments of thought, Will came to a conclusion.
He was hopelessly weak.
The only thing he could really do was try to expand his knowledge and gain more tools. Sure having read and know much of the ins and outs of the novel was probably his most powerful weapon. Right now, besides it helping him understand how dire his situation was, it was useless. He decided on his first lesson.
"What do you know about runes? I was able to remember a few decently well, but I have no understanding of what I'm writing." His hand subconsciously scratched his head.
Grandma's eyes widened just a bit in surprise that he would ask about actual lessons instead of some ancient sword techniques or something.
"That's actually something I could help with. You might have figured but my blessing makes my body particularly frail. So when I grew up, I needed other ways to make myself useful." She stared up at the sun. Blocked by the smog, you could still see it was barely past midday.
"Was that all you were curious about?" She said with a raised eyebrow. Will pauses his thinking… Was she? They didn't have any hair there so it was hard to tell really.
"Well, I guess. What do you know about the Golem? Maybe if I knew some stuff about where it came from or who it was built by, maybe we can figure out some weakness?"
Grandma's expression darkens for just a moment.
"Bah! Don't you worry about that right now. There isn't much to know besides it's a damned and terrifying beast." She shuffled over to a small rock, using it as a chair she continued.
"For now, as for your first lesson in runes, what do you actually know?"
Will took a few moments to gather his thoughts before replying.
"Well, runes are like a language I guess. They hold more power than most other kinds. They're written usually with some kind of conduit to help them express what they represent." Will drew some of the runes that made up his name. Copying what the spell had for it down on the ground. "One thing I can't tell is if each individual rune stands on its own or if they have to be written together to flow better?"
A brief gentle smile graces Grandma's face while Will attempts to put his thoughts together, unnoticed by him. When he finishes and looks at her, Grandma's smile is replaced by her usual mischievous grin. The kind before she talks about his boulder.
"Well that's impressive. Who knew you were hiding some traces of precious metal inside your boulder? I, for one, am shocked."
Will could feel a tick of annoyance on his temple but he held it in and thought.
'She's just a snarky old lady. If you can't deal with her, how will you deal with Effie? Or anyone else who is actually witty?'
"Yeah, well, I'm too weak to get by with only my strength. Not everyone can be as stupidly big and strong as your friend"
Grandma smiles almost.. Sadly?
"Yeah, he is truly remarkable. For someone of his level, he is exceptional. But as for your statement. You are right, but also wrong." No sign of her previous melancholy. She was back to her mischievous self. Seemingly satisfied by his need for her help.
"Runes are indeed a language, that is, until they're filled with intention. They only hold more power than others because it's designed to express it easily. But runes are almost like living things. Lets say for example you write out your name," She points to the ground, waiting for him to write. After Will writes out his name, she nods.
"Hmm, interesting. Since your name is so short and is something quite important for most living things, it's hard to have some variance in what it means. But my name." She stops and writes it out. "What does that look like to you?"
Will wracks his brain. Trying to compare characters to some he has in his own spell interface.
"B-Bloom? I think? Sorry, I'm just not sure." He scratches his head nervously.
"It means 'Volcano Queen', but yes there are some references to a flower that blooms in a volcano. That's the thing. To understand complex runes, you must also understand the intention they were written with. Do you understand?"
If Will was honest, he was confused how so few runes could possibly mean all those things at once. When he expresses that Grandma just laughs.
"Don't worry, we have a few lessons before the big day. For now, show me the runes you were trying to decipher. Maybe I can help you"
Will nods, writing down the set of 4 runes that he remembered from the bottom of the bowl.
As he writes, her eyes slowly widen in surprise before stomping on the dirt and his finger.
"Where the hell did you learn to write like that!" She screams in fear, panic, or both.