Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 93

The second office had shelves against the back wall with a lock box on the lower one. An easily defeated lock and Tibs had another healing potion in a crystal bottle, while the desk provided one unmarked coin.

The next four rooms were unremarkable and only had a single coin each.

The gong sounded as he exited the room.

"Don't let them touch you!" Jackal called as golem clerks returned from where they had gone to. Don's reply was cut short by the need to dance around them.

Tibs suffused himself with water while Khumdar did something with his essence that made him darker, and at times Tibs thought he saw through parts of the cleric. He was certain that he also saw an arm pass through him, while the golem clerks who got too close to Tibs simply slide aside.

Once they were all back within their offices and the doors closed, Jackal, Mez, and Don leaned against the wall, panting. Khumdar stumbled and slid down against the nearest one. As the darkness left him, his skin was pale.

Tibs was at his side.

"I will be fine," The cleric said, his voice strained. His essence was thin. As if most of it had leaked away. "I simply did not expect this to be quite so exhausting."

"What did you do?" Tibs gently let his essence flow into Khumdar and decided not to mention that what the cleric had done hadn't been tiring, it had nearly killed him.

"I pushed myself further than was wise."

"That's not what I mean." Tibs tried to keep his tone neutral. "I saw an arm pass through you."

"Merely the edge of me." Some of the color was returning to him. "Altering more than that was not possible, and simply this has left me in the state you see me in."

"But what did you do?"

Khumdar smiled and patted Tibs's shoulder. "I feel it is wiser I not explain. Should I do so, you will then attempt to recreate it without care for the consequences to yourself."

"I saw you do it," Tibs insisted.

The cleric's smile broadened. "But you do not know what the it is."

"I'll figure it out, so it's safer if you tell me how I should do it."

Khumdar laughed. "No, it is not."

Tibs considered stopping the flow of his essence.

"A threat will not make me more inclined to tell you."

"I'm not going to do it," Tibs muttered. "I'm not going to let you die doing this. How is your reserve?" Tibs could sense there was a lot there, but he didn't know how that compared with it being full. There was too much variation between his friends for him to keep track.

"Higher than I expected. Considering how exhausted it left me."

"What you did used up your life essence. That's what you feel lacking."

"I see." He closed his eyes. "As I have no way to judge how much of that essence I have, there is a danger I will kill myself if I attempt this too long."

Tibs nodded, then added. "Yeah."

"I thank you for the warning."

"If you tell me how to do it, I can work out how much it uses. I can sense my reserve and I have a lot of it, so I wouldn't be in danger."

Khumdar smiled. "You are certainly right. But I will still not risk your life on you miscalculating what cost the experiments would demand. Too many depend on you."