A Villain's Survival Guide

There were only ever two places a Rune Realm portal could take you. A ruined city or a ruined castle.

Each portal colour carried its own restrictions. Blue, white, red, dark — the deeper the shade, the wider the world beyond. A blue portal led to a Terror Rune Realm, and it was the stingiest of them all. Land in a city and you’d see a fraction of it at best. Step into a castle, and the gates may as well have been bolted shut behind you.

A white portal, a Malice Rune Realm, loosened things up a touch. The castle could be exited, at least, that much was permitted, though only a corner of the surrounding city came with it. Land straight in the city, and the ruined castle stayed shut to you, but most of the place was fair game.

The novel had seen to Leomaris’s education on that front. It hadn’t been touched on in class yet, and that nagged at him, whether anyone else had worked out the logic of the Rune Realms or whether he was the only one who’d cottoned on.

’Each portal is specifically designed to lead to an Endbringer and are made on their strengths. The portal adapts between blue, white, red, and black. The restrictions are designed for a favourable outcome and at the same time prevent humans from walking into another territory that isn’t within their portal’s boundaries and eventually encountering another Endbringer.’

’At the same time, since it is expected that those capable of entering a white portal can defeat an Endbringer within a blue portal, the limitations are lifted without regard for Terror Endbringers. Likewise, as dark portal raiders are strong enough to overcome other Endbringers, restrictions on Void Rune Realm raiders remain minimal to none.’

’So, wherever there is a barrier... it is highly likely that there are, or were, Endbringers that could give raiders of a certain realm trouble.’

They managed to find shelter not far from the ruined castle. The Malice Rune Realm afforded them more ground to cover, but it hadn’t done them any favours on the food front, just mushrooms pushing up through the rubble and a few potatoes between them.

Each minute that dragged by left Leomaris more unsettled than the last. Just as it had been in the Terror Rune Realm, nothing amiss, and nothing to grab hold of.

Everything proceeded as though this were an ordinary raid and not a quiet effort to put him in the ground.

It left him wondering if he’d been getting wound up over nothing. If all of it had just been in his own head.

He wasn’t blind to the possibility. It could all be a ruse to lull him into dropping his guard. But days passed, and still nothing.

He trained, observed the Malice Endbringer, ate, and planned. That was it. After enough of that, questioning his own sanity felt less like weakness and more like common sense.

What was Instructor Moon playing at? Two days and nothing. How long did he intend to string him along?

It meant he was only ever half present. He’d grown fond of Lucius in the time they’d had together, genuinely so, and watching him give everything while he himself was elsewhere in his head didn’t sit well.

He turned over strategies, one after another and hardly any of them were about the Malice Endbringer.

The third day brought a decision. He would ease up. If Instructor Moon wasn’t here to kill him, then worrying himself ragged over it was pointless. They’d deal with the Malice Endbringer and be out.

—

The fourth day announced itself with the reddish sun rising in the east. Leomaris woke to an unwelcome discovery: the blanket covering the hole in the roof had blown off.

The rays found his eyes immediately, vicious and direct. He threw up a hand, squinting against it, disgust written plainly across his face.

There was nothing worth looking at in the room. Blankets scrounged from elsewhere with only sheets by his side.

The plan to kill the Endbringer filled several pages, written out in detail, with sketches propping up the bits of words that couldn’t be covered. Leomaris reached for them and saw something new.

He frowned.

"Are you saying the Endbringer... won’t move unless someone is in sight?"

He kept his eyes on the sheet, patient, expecting something. But then it crept up on him, that nagging feeling. His head whipped round. Lucius was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh...?"

"This is strange."

Lucius never rose without waking him. Even back in the Terror Rune Realm, he’d always made a point of it.

That had been enough to let him sleep easily enough to stop having nightmares. He wouldn’t have admitted it readily, but after two weeks of the same treatment, he’d gotten used to it. More than used to it.

"Where must he be?"

He got to his feet and went to the corner. A few bits of charcoal sat there. He grabbed two and dropped them into his mouth. A small thing, but it kept his mouth from going foul.

He went looking immediately. The stream was the first place that came to mind. It was not far off and their only source of drinking water. They’d run dry on water, so Lucius being there made sense enough.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Something flickered in Leomaris. He’d only made a decision yesterday to lower his guard and stop reading into things, and here he was. Already wound up over nothing. Probably.

"Tch. Let me check the castle."

He headed for the castle. Specifically, their usual spot, the one where they’d spent days hugging the walls like cockroaches, stealing glances at the Endbringer’s every move. No sign of Lucius there either.

His mind ran through theory after theory. The Malice Rune Realm kept them hemmed in, there was only so far either of them could go. And that left one answer Leomaris didn’t much like. Instructor Moon was here. And Lucius was already dead.

Still, he knew Lucius. He was not the type to be taken out quietly. He was only a Magician in rank, but he was the protagonist, and that made him a different matter entirely.

That was enough to push him on. He wandered without direction and destination, hoping his worst thoughts were just that.

Then, not long after, something froze him where he stood.

Some distance ahead, in the middle of the street, a human carcass lay sprawled across the debris. He stood frozen. There weren’t supposed to be dead bodies anywhere but the castle.

His body shivered. ’That’s going on?’