It was wondrous. The appearance of a true name seemed to have added another dimension to the spell's growth, opening up an even broader domain for him.
When he and Ka Liu had parted, Ka Liu had offered a rough assessment: he might first encounter the invisible shackles of his Kobold curse upon advancing to a Two-Ring or Three-Ring Wizard. Now he was already a Two-Ring Wizard, and although everything had gone smoothly, smoother was naturally better. He had undoubtedly gained another key to freedom, though this key was still incomplete.
Ruger stood calmly on the surface of his mental power sea.
He wanted to see that river again. This time, the character had appeared first, and he had only seen the river a moment later. Yet after witnessing it, he somehow knew that only by seeing it again could he obtain more characters of his true name. He also had a strange feeling about that river.
A blood-red river.
Demons.
The Abyss, a place without end.
These three seemed connected, but to Ruger's senses, the river had conveyed nothing related to the Abyss. It did not even carry a demon's aura. Nor did its blood-red waters inspire revulsion or possess the qualities he would have expected of blood. Instead, they gave him a warm, comforting feeling.
Ruger was more inclined to call it the River of Life. He had not invented the name; the moment the thought occurred to him, that name had surfaced in his heart.
The blood-red waters inspired no disgust whatsoever. On the contrary, they stirred a longing in him.
Even longing was not quite the right word. It was a sense of reverence, as though simply seeing it, watching its ceaseless flow, would bring tears to his eyes.
The fact that he could see this