The Runne of The Bird

= The Runnes = The Runnes are a collection of stories tied to Runnism. They detail the stories of the Gods and their interactions with life on earth.

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The Runne of The Bird
A beautiful retelling of important events by (yours truly) Lióthe

“W-wait a minute, who is that?”

“Not a who, a what. Look at that thing.”

“Oh, shush Myrokki,” Lióthe said, slapping his arm.

Normally the banter didn’t catch her attention, but this could be interesting. Vindur sat up, looking over. “What’s going down over here?”

“There’s some animal crossing into our lands.” Myrokki sneered.

“So? Hundreds, thousands of animals pass through our city’s boundaries. Why’s this one special?”

Lióthe shot another look at Myrokki, before speaking. “This one is special. It has a conscience, like a human or a dwarf. But they’ve… they’ve lost their mind a little, scattered, covered in sea water…”

“Ah, Lióthe, always the poet,” Galdur chimed in. Vindur was getting more curious as they spoke, and finally looked over at the reflection.

In the water, stood… well, what could only be described as a monster. It was a bipedal, but had bird feet. Instead of hair there were feathers. Lots and lots of feathers. It could’ve passed as human, if it’s head wasn’t so… okay, it had a bird head. It was a disturbing creature.

Vindur turned to Lióthe. “Lióthe? What ya got on this one?”

“Ah, just give me a moment…” She picked up her book, scanning the pages. She examined each one, before finding their character. She raised her eyebrows. “Ooh, this one is interesting. Paku Crowwe, from… huh, nothing listed here. Wasn’t always a beast, though. Maybe some type of dwarf mix, or something avian.”

Galdur scoffed. “I know every dwarf that’s ever left these lands. That’s no dwarf mix.”

“Alright, so not a dwarf mix…” Lióthe summoned a quill, scratching something else. “Well, they weren’t human to begin with. Certainly aren’t human now.”

Vindur leaned on her hands. “I don’t know. I like it’s fashion. It’s a nice scarf, and I like that sweater. Where’d it get it from, though?”

“From their precious lifetime, I assume,” Lióthe sighed, closing their book. “Well, what are our thoughts?”

“I think it’s disgusting,” Myrokki said. Vindur shot him a look, and glanced back at the water. It reached land, and shook the water from its feathers. That didn’t make a lot of sense, because it’s clothes were still soggy. It had a book, which was now wet too. It checked the pages, only finding they were dry.

“Hey, hey guys, it knows how to do magic,” Vindur said, punching Galdur’s shoulder.

They glanced over, raising their eyebrows. “…interesting. Should we ask Jördun about it?”

Myrokki scoffed. “If it’s passed through the ocean, then Vlad already knows.”

“God, it’s been like a millennia, and you still can’t pronounce his god name?”

“Shush, you have no right to speak,” he muttered, patting her on the head. She was not happy, so she walked away.

“Ah, I believe the mages are calling. Myrokki, are you going to come?”

He sighed. “No, not unless I have to.”

“Or what? Are you going to chase after Lióthe?”

He took a moment to think about it. He sighed, getting up. “I believe I will. It’s not like I have anything better to do, and they’re better conversation than her.”

Vindur lowered her lids. Ever since she was gifted immortality and dubbed a god, he hadn’t laid off. “Right. But guess who’s Lióthe’s favorite?”

“Me.”

“Go away.”

He groaned, as if she was being the problem. With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared into black smoke. Galdur nodded to Vindur, and vanished shortly after.

She sighed, leaning against the rim of the bowl. Silly little Paku. So lost in a strange new country. She wasn’t far from Dhurmi’s keep, so she would find friends there. Hell, maybe one of the gods might take her as a prophet. Ha, that would be funny. How would the dwarfs react to that? She chuckled to herself, disturbing the water. Oh well. There were other matters to tend to. Guiding the winds, taking them where they needed to be.

“So? How is our little bird friend adjusting?” Galdur asked, leaning against the edge of the bowl.

“Oh, wonderfully. Look at all the little friends she made!” Vindur pointed to the water. Paku was trying a loaded potato, with little success. Birds tended to swallow things whole, but she appeared to enjoy it.

“Who is she talking to?”

“One of the locals, I believe. You’d have to ask Lióthe. At this point, they all look the same.”

Galdur hissed through their teeth, and Vindur snorted.

“Do you like this one?”

“Hmm, a bit. I’m the goddess of the skies, of course I like the local bird freak. She has a good conscience, at the very least.”

“So…?”

“Ugh, you’re always asking about disciples. ‘Are we gonna have a new prophet?’ ‘What about a new disciple, Vindur?’ Like honestly, you’re all awful.”

Galdur raised their eyebrows. “Our people need a prophet. I gifted you future sight for a good reason.”

“Oh, please. You just couldn’t handle the stupid visions, so you handed it off to me. Really, you should’ve given it to Lióthe.”

“Liothe already has enough on their plate,” Galdur assured. “But that’s beside the point. At least give her a consultation. She’s been here for a week or so. She could be trusted.”

Vindur furrowed her eyebrows. She sighed, rolling her eyes. She swiped the water, and once the ripples formed again, it was the dead of night. All the locals had put her in a tree, either to mock her or because she was a bird person. Either way, she was enjoying it. Vindur assumed she wasn’t used to this luxury. How she climbed the mountain every night was a mystery, she had no idea. However, she crossed an entire ocean to get here, so Vindur stopped asking questions.

She took a deep breath, tensing her shoulders. “Alright, wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” Galdur waved, as Vindur vanished.

The first thing Vindur did once she got to Paku’s dream was change it. This was not a nice dream. There was a lot of fire, and blood, and cheering, and not a good environment for disciple consultation. She shifted it rather to a green plateau, with a singular tree off in the distance.

Paku looked surprised to find she wasn’t in a nightmare. She looked at her claws, and sighed in disappointment. She looked up at Vindur. She looked tired, even for a dream.

“Alright. So you’re Vindur, right? Just guessing off of physical description here.”

“Wow, my people know me well,” she chuckled. She tightened her ponytail, shifting her goggles around.

“Well, they told me you had cyan hair. The only other dude that could come close was Vatinir, and he has kelp hair.”

Vindur was surprised. “Wow, you’ve only been here for a week or so, and you’ve got most of us down. How about Eldris?”

“Fire hair. She runs the blacksmith. The dwarves tried to convince me Vatinir ran the blacksmith, but…”

“Yeah. Vatinir is the brains between them both, and even then that’s like, 3 brain cells,” Vindur shrugged. Paku made a croaking noise, assumably a laugh.

“So, is there any particular reason I’m here right now?”

“Oh, right! Okay, so first things first, you have been all over my visions. Like, besides seeing death and fire and disappointment, we’ve got our bird lady. Well, you now, and then whatever you were before that. I mean, I’m guessing that’s you—“

“You can take me back?”

Vindur put her hands together, pointing them toward herself. “Nnnnno, but that can go on our bucket list. Either way, thanks to your previous experiences, I think you’d work as a good prophet.”

Paku’s eyes widened, and her pupils got smaller. “Prophet?”

“Oh, don’t worry, we at Vindur Incorporated treat our disciples a lot better than your previous organization. Lióthe looked into you a bit more, and uh… sheesh.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“We, as in us gods, we know, but no civilians. That’ll be up to you. We only interfere if it’s important, or if you’re Myrokki.”

“Yeah, what’s with him?”

“No one knows. He just had issues,” Vindur shrugged. “So… are you my prophet now?”

Paku squinted in thought. “I mean, I guess so? I don’t see why not. And hey, if there’s a chance I can go back, that’s something I’d take.”

“Oh, fantastic! Ever since my last prophet died, I’ve been needing a new one—“

“Wait, what?”

“Besides the point. Now, over the course of a few years, your wings should start to grow in. I didn’t realize this the first time, so I’m warning you now. However, you're a bird, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Whelp, see you tomorrow night!”

“You have given me 0 explanations whatsoever—“

“So, how’d it go? Is she promising?”

“Oh, so promising. She’s so curious and relaxed. Apparently the dwarves tried to pull the blacksmith trick on her, and they failed.”

“Oh, the little salty bird? That’s your new prophet?” Vatinir chimed in. “She came through my ocean, wasn’t too sure what to do with her, so I sent her your way.”

“That was the first smart move you’ve made in a decade,” Vindur said, pointing toward him. “Because I have a new prophet now. Like, a fun one. Raika was great, but she took her job too seriously. Paku is just here because she can be.”

Vatinir glared at her. “I can make smart moves.”

“Smart compared to Eldris,” Galdur corrected.

A strand of kelp fell out of his bun, which slapped him in the face. He attempted to blow it out of the way, but that didn’t work, because it’s kelp. “Whatever. I’m going back to the ocean. If you need me… don’t need me.”

With that, his form turned into water, splashing all of Vindur’s feathers. She shook her wings, before sitting down next to Galdur.

“You really think Paku would make a good prophet?”

She leaned back, stretching her arms. “Hm, maybe. I don’t know, she just has the right vibes. Besides, we’re entering a new era, with new prophecies. We’ve gotta be prepared.”