Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 15

"I'm going to the lake," Tibs told the guard as a way of announcing himself before he was within the circle of light her lantern created. Harry had put back the guards at the town's periphery to keep the new Runners from running off.

"You can't—" she immediately protested, then stopped as the light revealed his features. "Oh, it's you. I guess it's fine then."

He didn't ask why she was unhappy about it as he walked by her. He might not care for being treated special, but now was the time to take advantage of it.

Claria was the only moon visible through the clouds, slowly emptying herself. In a few weeks, she would be Torus's twin, before eating again and regaining her full figure. Or so one of the bard's stories claimed. Another was that she was in love with Torus, but he didn't know, so she was cursed with always trailing after him, turning herself into a copy in an attempt to catch his attention, before giving up and slowly returning to herself.

He used to think the stories were silly. No one would let themselves waste away to be with another, and the two were only objects in the sky, not people. But now, he knew about Sto, a dungeon who wasn't only alive, but able to think. He'd seen how Jackal looked at Kroseph, Pyan at Geoff, how Mez had used to look at Tandy. And he knew magic was real, that the elements were... Well, that they could talk and think, just like Sto did.

So maybe Torus and Claria were more than objects in the sky? Maybe they were in love but kept apart by curses, or never being fast enough, or one of them being inattentive to the other. Jackal proved it didn't matter how much someone loved another; sometimes, they just didn't pay attention, anyway.

He didn't need light to find his way. He could sense the water in the distance, and he was adept at moving in darkness.

Jackal had suggested he talk to Corruption—it had been a Jackal thing to say. The same way getting into fights was a Jackal thing, or saying the wrong thing to Kroseph. He didn't mean it to be wrong, it just turned out that way, but there was usually something smart in it.

There was no way Tibs was stepping into that pool of corruption, or even getting close to it anymore. Maybe he'd believed Corruption was just another element at one point, but now he knew it to be bad. Don demonstrated that, and the fact that it had seeped into his essence and made his life difficult was further evidence. Corruption would probably laugh at him and increase the damage the essence was causing him just because he'd asked it to stop.

But he could talk with other elements; and one of them would understand his situation. It was what Water did. She offered support, understanding. She helped people get better.

So long as he could get an audience with her.

His foot stepped into the water and he continued. The coldness of the water surprised him again. His clothing didn't offer protection as the cold water seeped through the fabric. He'd worn an older set and only a normal knife for protection.

He didn't expect this audience to cost him what he wore, but Fire had burned him and everything he'd worn. It had only been Sto's intervention that had allowed Tibs to survive. It had taught him to be cautious about audiences.

And water could destroy. Not as quickly, or as eagerly, as fire. No elements were benign, he'd come to realize. Air could shred skin, earth could pound bones into dust, metal could be sharp, darkness could hide deadly enemies. And water could cut as well as a knife. It might not be what his graduating test was about, but it was what he had picked up from his practices in gaining control of the flow.

Uncontrolled, water simply blasted someone away and left him drained. But a narrower jet not only used less of his reserve but sliced the training crystal ball, instead of shattering it.