The magic of Flicker

Below I wanted to roughly explain the magic of the world I am building in my novel.

Enjoy!

This magic receives its name from the flicker of color that flashes in a users eyes as they conjure the rune magic from within.

There are 6 types of Flicker, deriving from one of the 6 magical runes.

• Life Rune, healing magic. The flicker is white.
• Death Rune, life draining/deathtouch. The flicker is black.
• Tempest Rune, storm magic. The flicker is purple.
• Strength Rune, giant strength magic. The flicker is green.
• Fire Rune, fire magic. The flicker is red.
• Frost Rune, ice magic. The flicker is blue.

The only known way to gain a flicker is to be born the night of one of the 4 moon phenomenons.  Each moon also dictates the strength of the runic magic that courses within the user.

• Blind Moon, (Strongest) occurs once every 20 years.
• Blue Moon, every 2 years.
• Red Moon, once a year.
• Black Moon, (Weakest) once a month.

Most people are born with only one Flicker, in rare cases, someone could be born with 2 Flickers within them.

The magic is cast from the hands, with the exception of the death rune and strength rune, all others can be cast with range abilities (depending on rune strength).  The death and strength rune are strictly contact based.  Constant use of your Flicker will have negative side effects.

After some time of use, your body will begin to take on the signs properties of your rune.  Everytime the flicker is cast, the rune magic takes a portion of your body over, ie.  Fire rune carriers skin will become ashy and blackened, taking on a charred appearance.  Their skin my crack and glow with coursing flames at later stages, culminating in the rune magic taking them over.

At that point, when the rune magic takes you over, you become a walking husk of the magic.  Mindless and ferocious, Runewalkers only search to feed on Flicker.  If a runewalker is allowed to fester and feed on flicker while still conjuring their own flicker, they will become a Blight.

A blight is the purest form of living Rune magic.  Shedding any form/shape of once being a human, the magic takes on a form natural to its type.  Some say volcanoes erupt with fire blights, while others believe storms are tempest blights.