Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 17

The lake was barely four and zero paces away from where Kragle Rock currently ended, but the ground was already marked for where more buildings would be added. Cutting that distance in half. Tibs didn't know what would happen once the town grew to reach the lake. Would baths be set up, the way he'd seen in the cities he'd traveled to in his search for his city? Those also had clothes-washing shop on the shore, and the water had been gray around them.

He crouched, placed a hand in the cool water, and sensed it; sensed for a difference in it and the water from a well.

The adventurer Tibs had tried to hire to remove the corruption from the pool at the end of Merchant Row had said that something had to have happened there that connected the pool to the element and made removing it impossible. Other than the unleashing of the concentrated essence that had caused the destruction, the only thing to happen was the audience Tibs had with Corruption there.

And he had had an audience with Water in this lake.

He sensed nothing out of the ordinary. There was a lot of water essence, and hardly none of the other elements, but this was a lake, so wasn't that how it should be? What had Alistair told him that day in the cavern with the distant waterfall? The closer to the element and the easier refiling their reserve became?

But what did that mean? Tibs felt he already refilled his reserve quickly and easily, considering how much water there was. The same as with Sto's pool on the second floor.

He looked over his shoulder and gauge the distance. Alistair had said that close enough to the element they could refill their reserve as fast as they used it. Unfortunately, the town was too close now for him to make an etching and see how much he could pour into it without people noticing the explosion that would cause, and investigate. Even if he waited the few hours until the sun set, someone would hear.

And this wasn't why he was here.

He stepped into the clear water and walked until it was over his head. He continued to walk, keeping himself from floating up, and reached the center of the lake. It wasn't quite the lowest point. That was a few paces to his left; a hole through which water floated up and in. Water was all around him. He was as close to the element as he knew how to be.

Now, he needed a strong emotion.

He couldn't rely on his fear of dying. He understood now that he couldn't drown, so there was no way to trick himself. Water didn't hurt him. Even without creating air to breathe, he didn't suffocate.

But there were other emotions than fear of dying.

Tibs saw how powerful Jackal's love for Kroseph was in the way the fighter changed his outlook on life for him. He saw Mez's dedication to his ideals through the pain he endured to maintain them.

Tibs had neither of those.

But he had an emotion buried under the ice. All he needed to do was let it shatter, and Tibs would feel more than he'd ever wanted to. More than he thought he could endure.

At least here, when he exploded, the town would be safe.

Unless the explosion was such, the lake was sent into the air and fell down on it.

He stopped channeling water, and the thought made him chuckle.

How much destruction could the lake cause to Kragle Rock?

Water could cut mountains, given time; that was how powerful it was. That took ages of it carrying a little stone away as it flowed. Thrown at a mountain, water simply splashed.

He didn't remember why he'd asked, but Carina had laughed, and then explained how—

Tibs screamed as Sebastian's knife moved across Carina's throat. Blood gurgled over the blade. Tibs screamed as his essence didn't find purchase within Carina to save her. He screamed as he pulled his essence out of the water sorcerer, then did the same with the earth, fire, and all the others. He screamed as he shattered piece after piece of Sebastian.