Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

"Dhu," Alistair said, "is the Arcanus representing Purity." The shape he formed over his hand didn't look like purity to Tibs. It was a mix of curves and lines; as if it couldn't decide which she preferred. Purity would know. Purity wouldn't settle for doing it partway. She wouldn't have anything until she'd worked the problem and had a solution.

Tibs recreated it. Making the Arcanus like this, using his essence, was simple. A shaping of water into the form. It was adding them to the etching, alone or as part of a filigree where the complications came. The placement needed to be exact, for the effect he wanted it to add. The more of the Arcanus, the harder it became. If he used more than one Arcanus, the difficulty increased again. Smaller errors caused ever growing differences to the expected result.

"When used alone," his teacher continued, "Dhu adds sharpness to an attack."

"Shouldn't that be metal?" Tibs asked. "Or crystal?" When fragile crystals broke into shards they could slice open skin. "Purity should be..." he trailed off, realizing he might reveal too much of what he knew of her personality. "I don't know. Removing impurities, or something." That made no sense. The Arcanus weren't the element they were associated with. But he was a kid, so Alistair would—

"You know better than that, Tibs," Alistair said in a reproachful tone. "And I can tell you aren't paying attention. What's distracting you?"

"Nothing." He just wanted thing to be straightforward. None of this confusing Arcanus that were linked to an element that had nothing to do with its effect. Or his supposed friends, intent on getting in his way, instead of supporting him.

Alistair studied him. "Then, if you don't mind. Let's continue with the lesson you insisted on getting. Etch a line. Place Dhu at three, seven, and nine. Once done, send it at the target."

The etching his teacher did with his knife was complex. So many of the Arcanus Tibs couldn't follow them as they formed. As if the knife's point wasn't actually tracing them, but just laying the lines where they went. Another show of how his teacher knew etching didn't need a point to be traced. Or was it part of something he would teach later, again believing it was the right way to do it? There was no light on the words when Alistair explained the need for the knife point, so he at least believed it was needed in some fashion.

On the other side of the training room, water formed into a pedestal, then a torso. That of a woman, as the water flowed and gave her chest curves, then the neck and a distinctive face.

Tibs raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you might want to let some of your anger out."

"I'm not angry at her." She was only the agent of the guild. Doing what she was ordered to. He formed a knife and showed Alistair it had no jagged edges to it. He quickly formed the etching as instructed, lines and spirals with the filigree, and sent it at Tirania's representation.

The water splashed over her face without visible effect. Stepping closer, he saw fine scratches in the hard water. That wasn't particularly impressive.

"Not bad for a first try," Alistair said. "But you misplaced Dhu."

Tibs frowned. He was confident he'd placed them where instructed. "How much more damage would it have done if I had placed it correctly?"

"More than this, but Dhu by itself isn't the deciding factor." Alistair walked back to where they'd been, and Tibs followed him. "How many lines you add to your etching will act to increase the damage, the spirals and how well they intersect with the lines will pull more essence, which also increases the damage." He faced the water bust. "You shouldn't worry about that at the moment. This isn't about causing damage, but having you get a sense for how to properly divide each section of the etching. But..." Alistair smiled as he quickly traced the same etching Tibs had. Even Dhu were in the positions he'd put them, as far as he could tell.