Dungeon Runner (Book 1 and 2)

Stepping Up, Chapter 110

Tibs held Carina.

He'd been holding her for a while now.

The sun disappeared behind Sto to Sebastian still screaming for Tibs to stop, for Tibs to end it. For Tibs to kill him.

His screams drew thugs, and the bodies of those who tried to rescue their master littered the grounds. He didn't know how he killed them. He had no memory of doing so; they had been unimportant, mere annoyance trying to interrupt his important work.

Making Sebastian scream.

When Sebastian finally stopped being able to scream, he was spread over the grounds nearly as wide as the bodies of those who tried to save him.

Him, Tibs remembered how he hurt. He remembered icing one of the man's fingers, then snapping it off as Sebastian watched in horror, then started screaming as the part still attached thawed and the pain registered. Another finger he pooled fire in until it smoked, then blacked, and finally flames danced over it.

He melted a foot with corruption, used darkness on a hand until it was so weak the essence dissipated from it. He made him cough out sand, then water. He filled the man with so much light he was babbling all the things he never wanted others to know.

And Tibs used Purity.

Anytime he wasn't using another element on Sebastian, he filled him with Purity. It did nothing for the pieces he'd removed, but it kept the man alive for far longer than he what Tibs did to him should allow.

But in the end, it wasn't long enough for Tibs. Eventually, he removed one piece too many, and after flinging it away, no amount of Purity could keep the essence within Sebastian from dissipating entirely.

Tibs screamed then.

He screamed at being denied the entirety of his revenge. At Sebastian being let off far too easily. With all the power he had, he should have been able to prolong the justice he administered for days and weeks, not mere hours.

He filled himself with fire and let his rage burn.

It burned the wagons and their contents. It burned people running toward and away from him. But it didn't burn away the evidence of his work, or Carina.

He wanted his work to remain as a warning to any who would think to hurt those he cared for. He wanted them to know what Tibs was capable of and stay away. He never wanted to do this again. He never wanted to lose anyone again. He never wanted to have to rely on Water to keep the pain he allowed through him as he took Carina in harms.

He wailed as he cradled her.

He wailed until he couldn't wail anymore and simply cried.

He cried until he ran out of tears and simply held her.

He held her until he was back to himself enough to know this wasn't her in his arms. Carina was gone. She'd never get to chastise him for not taking his letters seriously. Laugh with him as Jackal looked baffled as something he said sent his man storming off.

The body wasn't her, but it was all Tibs had left of her, and he couldn't let go. If she wasn't there, Tibs wasn't sure he wanted to be there either. If he wasn't there anymore, he wouldn't feel this empty pain that had settled deep in his reserve.

* * * * *

When the soft voice registered, he knew it had been there for sometime. Tibs didn't care. If they were here to kill him, that was fine by him. It would take the pain away. He wouldn't have to think about how he failed his family. How he hadn't protected Carina.

"Tibs?" this time his name was called with insistence and pushed through his pain enough he recognized the voice.

He looked up at Jackal. "She's gone." The statement was hollow, the pain stealing any strength from it.