Nadrina had lived in a rather small village, but they still had traders that would pass through from time to time. Her favorite wares to look at had always been the magic trinkets and talismans. None of them would be that impressive to the average mage; a charm for keeping you dry in a light rain, or a simple talisman that could start small fires. Every single one of them had fascinated Nadrina, however. Even with no one to teach her, she had always tried to memorize the patterns of the runes that were intricately carved into the devices.

The rune formation on the box in front of her made those runes look like chicken scratch. Countless runes, forming a complex linear pattern, ran along the entire length of the box’s front rim. Nadrina recognized a handful of them, but most were far more intricate than any she had ever seen before. They almost appeared to be one endless rune with no breaks...no, that was only half right. There were multiple layers of runes running on top of each other! Nadrina didn’t even know that was possible, but someone had carved them in such a way that one line flowed effortlessly into another, spiraling around the circumference of the box in a continuous braid of magical symbols.

Nadrina spent what could have been forever just studying the workmanship, tracing the line of runes with her finger over and over. Eventually, she could see what looked like a pattern to her. She couldn’t quite grasp it wholly, and every time she got distracted by more runes, she would lose it entirely, but she could swear there was a missing piece to the pattern. She stared at the blank piece, absently tracing what she thought should go there.

Suddenly, the blue line was back and brighter than ever, causing Nadrina to gasp and fall back painfully onto her butt. The entire front of the box detached itself from the back like a coffin, and the lid fell forward onto the hard ground with an earsplitting clatter. Nadrina’s ears were ringing and her rear end was throbbing in pain, but she paid them no mind. The contents of the box already had her spellbound.