A mental buzz stirred Arthur awake the next day, and he thought they were under attack. After orienting himself and looking around, he realized that it was the small runic device he had in his subspace activating.
He groaned as he took out the device, which looked like a small pocket watch, and answered the incoming call by infusing it with mana. A moment later, he could hear Julia's voice in his mind.
These communication devices were a novelty created by Runera and sold around the world. After the merge, the internet and cellular towers stopped working, as their infrastructure was torn apart. Even the satellites in the sky that they had once relied on were now thrown off orbit.
Arthur was the one to create the first runic communication device, publicly known as RCDs now. It used a unique encryption of runes that could only be deciphered by another device with the imprint, allowing people to add acquaintances to call. It was the most reliable communication method as of late.
