Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 41

Again, he produced nothing more than broken metal held in place by his will.

Alright. Since it was his will, he was going to will this thing the way he wanted it. He willed the pieces to move, to align, to give him a sword. Instead, they stretched in all directions, piercing other pieces, breaking them so that he ended up with a larger mess of broken pieces.

With snarl he sent the pieces flying. Maybe there had been something wrong with the essence. Maybe he'd pulls some of another element without meaning to. Metal wouldn't look like that by itself.

The essence pulled before him, and he grasped a smooth hilt as the rest of the sword form and he smil—

The rest was a mess of broken pieces.

"Tibs?" Jackal called.

"I'll get this." Jackal stood before Kroseph, with metal shards embedded in the wall around him. But his clothing was undamaged.

The fighter chuckled nervously. "Maybe you aren't ready for swords just yet? Why don't you try something simpler? Like coins? Can you make copper, no, silver coins? How about—"

"I said—" Tibs replied through clenched teeth, swinging his hand in the fighter's direction. "That I'm going to get this."

The pieces of metal came undone and flew in the fighter's direction.

"Abyss," Tibs cursed and Jackal tensed. He hadn't will the metal to do that. It had just...slipped his control. How dare it do that! He controlled it.

He formed another 'sword', as Jackal hurriedly checked himself over for damage.

"You missed?"

Tibs rolled his eyes. He couldn't have missed, because he wasn't aiming. If he had aimed, there would have been nothing left of what he hit.

"I told you," Kroseph said. "He won't hurt us."

He glared at the wreck of metal that tried to pass itself off as a sword. "Why won't you do what I want?"

"What do you want?" Kroseph asked.

"Maybe you should stay behind me, Kro."

"A sword," Tibs told the approaching server. "What else do you think I'd want out of this?" He ground his teeth as this time, the broken pieces slid against each other, instead of assembling into a fucking sword!

"Why?" Kroseph was next to him now.

"Because it's what I want!"

"It might be easier to start with a knife."

"I want a sword!" he glared at Kroseph, and the pieces slipped out of his control, returning to looking like an even messier thing. With an exasperated scream, he threw the mess at the back of the warehouse and formed another sword. This time, he'd get it to behave.

"Not one word," he warned the server, as another mess of broken pieces formed.

"How do you feel about a few dozen of them?"

"So long as they aren't comments on what I'm doing."

"What are you doing?"

"Making a sword. Can't you see that?"

Kroseph nodded. "Because you want a sword."

"Yes, and Abyss take this thing. I will get one."

"Why do you think it looks like that?"

"Because I'm angry." That one was easy. "It's the same with ice. Alistair says that because deep down, I'm angry; it's reflected in what I make." Tibs snorted. "Like he has any idea how fucking angry I am. Him and his fucking guild. Any time I channel fire, it's a struggle not to use it on them. Even if I know it won't do anything with all the magic protecting the building."