Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 60

"Gur, used on its own," Alistair said, the Arcanus forming over his hand, "adds etherealness to your—"

"Ethera...?" Tibs couldn't work how to say the rest.

"Etherealness." Alistair enunciated slowly. "It's.... The ethereal is the...." He motioned with a hand. "Space in which essence is. It's what is between essence."

"Isn't that air?"

His teacher shook his head. "First, remember, I'm a rogue and not a scholar. This is what I remember being told, but it might be wrong. I expect I had that same confused expression. Air is an element. It, like the others, exists outside of what is real, but they are connected to the real, somehow. That somehow is the Ethereal. It is also around us, but we can't sense it. What I remember is that scholars think that—"

"I'm getting a headache." Tibs rubbed his temple. "I'll ask a scholar if I ever want to know about that."

"When," Alistair said, then chuckled as Tibs frowned at him. "When you want to know more. Your curiosity is never ending. It's just a question of time until you decide this is something you want to know more about."

"Not if my mind breaks."

"I'm confident it's strong enough to take in everything you feed it."

"This headache says that no, it isn't." He closed his eyes and let out a breath. "What does this etherealness do to water?"

"Have you seen mist, or fog?"

Tibs rolled his eyes. It wasn't as common here as it had been on his Street, but he was running the roofs when the sky brightened. "Some mornings, when there's a lot of water essence in the air, it does...something, and there's fog"

"Something?"

Tibs thought back, trying to remember what the essence had felt like. There hadn't been any Arcanus that he remembered, but the last time he'd paid attention was before he knew about them. He shaped the essence into what he remembers. Clumps of it, close together, suspended in the air. It didn't feel right, but mist still formed between him and Alistair.

"Sort of like this."

His teacher moved a hand through the mist, and wisp followed the currents of air. "This is like etherealness."

"Then why do I need to use Gur to make this?"

Alistair pulled the essence out of his control, and the mist became a ball of water, which he handed to Tibs. As he absorbed it, his teacher took a knife and etched between them. It was so fast Tibs couldn't follow. There was a filigree between the threats, and then water stood between them.

It was solid to the touch, not cold. "This doesn't feel like how you described etherealness." The filigree had Dur in it, along with other Arcanus.

Alistair grabbed Tibs's wrist through the water before he could react.

The essence hadn't parted around the hand. If Tibs had made the wall, the essence would have to have parted as his hand pushed through. he could have made it look like the water wasn't moving, but the essence would have. Here, the strands of essence, with their filigree, passed through Alistair's arm. When he pulled, Tibs's hand stopped at the water.

"Gur is used to set conditions for when, or what it will react to," his teacher said. "By itself, they have to be simple. To do what I'm doing, I added other Arcanus to define myself, and this is an etching, so I need to will it to remain. The more Arcanus are used, the more conditions can be added."

"Like making an enchantment ignore someone with the right key."

"Exactly. Most broad enchantments are created with such a key in mind, since it's often useful to have someone able to come and go without being affected.