Chapter 24: A dangerous gambit
The hollow was patrolled by three teams of two guards, which wasn’t aot considering its size. Additionally, they remained near the temple in the middle at all times, so Isara was pretty much free to explore wherever she wanted.
There were five glowing green patches around the large space, which meant the array had asany separate parts.
’I’ll start from the left side and go around the wall.’
The first section of the array she saw was a familiar one - it was the part responsible for powering the barrier.
Still, there were a few notable things she could learn about the whole magic circle from just this little piece. For one, the enchament was positively ancient, the runes used here were archaic, and therefore more difficult to interpret than their moder counterparts.
As centuries went by the symbols used in magic got simplified, and no one knows for sure how it happened, but there are two competing theories.
The ’will strengthening’ theory postulates that with the humanity’s growing understanding of magic, mages could better exert their will, and could therefore utilise simpler runes to achieve the same results. It also explains why some of the older symbols require less power to activate.
An alternative explanation is the ’magic adaptation’ theory - according to that version of events the magic itself changed its language to better fit our needs, and be more understandable. It connects well with the fact that the oldest discovered runes don’t work anymore.
Isara personally believed that the truth was somewhere in the middle, that it was the collective will of the humans that changed the magic to be more to their liking.
As she quietly mused about various magic theories, she was diligently studying the the runes carved into the wood.
’They’re from around the same time as the ones in the temple of the old gods, that checks out with what Baor said on the first day.’
She was done with the first section, it provided her a few clues, but not much else.