Chosen apparently at random by unknown method. The Runeholders brought a calmness across the solar system. Where there was chaos they brought order, intelligence where there was stupidity, valor where there was cowardice, strength where there was weakness. Delsus’s antics make it seem churlish to tell the valiant stories of courage which had shaped Mystor until this moment, when a planets history and a trillion stories disappeared in an ironically beautiful blue flash of light.

Stories about great characters such as Belthra the Fisherman, who once caught a thousand fish in one afternoon, but, was really famed for defending his village against all odds for 3 days, using his great skill of confusion and trickery, sometimes tricking and confusing even himself.

Or Rith, who, up until five minutes ago when Delsus touched the orb, had been the greatest Runeholder of all time. A brave genius who lived to look after the people, not himself.A man who’d travelled far, and sometimes wide, to solve mysteries, battle enemies and fix sticking hinges on doors.

It hardly seems worth putting fingers to plastic squares, to tell you about the Valley of Rune and the Golden Sea of Tela, where Bacculus Fish floated like huge bloated airships in their migratory passage across Tela to their mating grounds. The Runeholders would gather here once a year or during times of stress to debate, drink, and save the world from danger.

Only six months past, on Mystor’s equivalent of a Wednesday, they’d met to discuss the disappearance of a Runeholder, Derruge, who had not been seen for over a toren

Although Runeholders lived longer than the other residents of Mystor, they were not immortal. When a Runeholder ‘passed’, another resident of Mystor would wake on the morning after the full moons, to find he or she had been ‘chosen’. There was no letter, email or golden light at the bottom of the bed, but, the person chosen knew they were now somehow different and would now follow a great path from that moment on.

Relatives, on finding one of their brethren had been given ‘the Gift’, would celebrate for three days, drinking copious amounts, after which the new Runeholder would travel to the Valley of Rune to learn their gift, and be doused in the Golden Sea of Tela, which served no purpose except to continue the old dictum of ‘well, that’s what we’ve always done………so…’

So, there’s probably no point in telling you Mystor consisted of several different Ikar. Some were humanlike in their appearance, some were really scary looking. If sofas were something the Ikar of Mystor had, they’d have hid behind them.

All Runeholders were chosen from each Ikar apart from one. Every story has to have an evil Ikar and the Bratten were just such an entity. Luckily, despite being the main reason for blood, death and gore over the centuries, the Bratten kept themselves to themselves these days except during the period of Mosun when they became idiots again, killing, pillaging and planting flags. Thinking about it, despite Delsus ruining the whole story for all of us, it is probably is worth summarising how we ended up at this end game.

Let’s start with Eltra and Tarsum. Eltra of the Talek Ilka had become Istar in the third premium of the Age of Haren. They stood in the main hall of their house in Achar, a little village north of Din. All the houses in the village were the same. Each part of the house was built like a blue igloo connected by walkways. As families grew, pods or igloos were added as required, sometimes outward, sometimes upward. The most common set up was to have 5 pods centred round a communal space where family and friends would meet to light fires and stare at the moons

‘I feel a darkness around us Tarsum’

‘I have another candle my love…..just give me a second’

‘No……no……you know what i mean………a ‘darkness’ is amongst us here on Mystor and the planets within our system’

‘I have more candles if that’ll help’

‘You’re such a buffoon Tarsum. I’m being serious. Something is not right. I can feel it. A twelfth sense* , a notion, a feeling, a sensation, a consciousness………a darkness is within us

• The inhabitants of Mystor had soon realised that having a sixth sense wasn’t quite the resolution they required.

‘that’s a bit stereotypical is it not. History has many descriptions of many ‘darknesses’ coming upon us, which turned out to be generally just village arguments about Ikar robbing grobeks from other Ikar’

‘I know i love you Tarsum but you’re so stupid sometimes. Something is not right. Something is wrong. I know it’

The next day Eltra discovered Boll of the Hark Ilya was found murdered……………. ‘

‘We must herald a meeting of the Consternium. Immediately’

But, Eltra, this has not happened in two Ages’ ‘I do not care how long it is. We are close to the time when i will step down and someone new will take over. Only one Runeholder has passed in all the time I have been Istar. Now one is missing and, I feel it, something is wrong!.

On a planet far away…..

‘Once the Runeholders and their stupid planet is out of the way, we will take the other planets in the system, 🌎 kill the primitive inhabitants and take over the whole system.

‘Krystar, there is still hope we can retrieve the situation on our planet. Worst case we have another thousand years before we need to leave’

‘We cannot wait Bara. We have the means to travel to the other planets. The only barrier to a new life for our desperate people are the Runeholders. If we stay here, whether it be a thousand years or ten thousand years, we and our people will die. Let’s make sure our contact on Mystor carries out his instructions………

Delsus had been promised riches beyond his wildest dreams to destroy his home planet, with the promise of untold wealth on Meros, the 5th planet of the system. He would live out his days in peace, solitude. A price he was willing to pay for the loss of his family, friends, his species.

He reached out to touch the orb……………….nothing happened………….he touched the orb again………… .Mystor did not explode into stardust………he hit it twice more……..

‘Keros’s mind sat in a pool of concentration. If he lost concentration for one second Mystor would be gone…..sweat dripped not only from his forehead, his armpits and several other orifices…..he had to prevent the explosion…….only he could hold it off ….until Rith arrived………

‘Episode 1 ‘The Runes of Mystor ’ was brought to you by David Linden and Dodo Productions © 2020 you can follow me on Twitter @qosfc1919