Chapter 24: Chapter 23

The archery field was empty in the middle of the night. Tibs and Jackal encountered a few late-night wanderers on the way there. Jackal had pushed for the fighter’s training field, which was closer, but it didn’t offer the bales of hay where the targets hung to block the view of yet more late-night walkers, more precisely, adventurers.

With only Torus and Claria looking down on them from on high, Jackal placed a hand on the ground and the earth moved. Tibs stepped back as the hole formed, with the earth rising on three sides.

“How do you do it?” he asked, awed.

“I push my essence into the ground and use that to move it. Don’t you do it with water?”

“Not enough essence to do much,” Tibs reminded the fighter. “Why do they teach you that?” He looked unto the hole; it was deep enough that with only Claria for light, he couldn’t see the bottom.

“It’s part of how I can anchor myself while fighting. Wait, didn’t you know I could do this? You’re the one who said I’d have to dig a hole.”

“I figured I could tell you how to do it, you know with that essence is everywhere thing, but I didn’t realize you already knew.”

“So you were going to tell me how; even though you aren’t supposed to tell me anything about that essence is everywhere thing?”

Tibs grinned. “I’m a Rogue. Rules are…flexible around me.”

The fighter snorted. “So, now what?”

Tibs dropped into the hole and looked up. Even stretching, he couldn’t reach the top. “You said Earth is slow, right? So give me an hour.”

“Tibs, you can’t breathe the ground, you won’t survive that long.”

“Then if I don’t dig myself out before that, don’t bother doing it for me.”

“I don’t think you’re taking this as seriously as you should, Tibs. When I bring the ground down on you, I’m going to try to leave a gap so there’s air for you to breathe.”

Tibs looked up, Jackal’s head and shoulders a silhouette against the stars. “I’m about to do something I’ve been told can’t be done, by someone who knows a lot more about this than I do. Earth might kill me just because I’ve already told Water yes. If I think about it too seriously, I’m going to go crawl under a bed in terror.”

“On the plus side,” Jackal said with a chuckle, “you’re the one who paid for the room. If I end up having to find another team, it’s not my silver that’s gone. You ready?”

Of course not. He nodded, then realizing Jackal might not see. “Yes.” He laid down.

The ground shook, and the stupidity of what Tibs was about to do flashed through his mind. The sides of the hole collapsed in on themselves, and Tibs took a breath and held it as the weight of the earth increased over him. He didn’t think Jackal had managed to leave him a gap, and even if he had, the weight pressed down on him so hard he couldn’t move, not even to take in that breath.

And how was he going to get out of this if it worked? Jackal had dug himself out, but he hadn’t told Tibs how he’d done that. He opened his mouth to yell at Jackal to stop, and earth fell in. He was going to drown in earth. He fought against it. It couldn’t be packed so tight that he couldn’t make his way out.

He didn’t want to die. He pushed harder, but anytime he relaxed, the ground pushed back; was heavier, unmoving. In seconds he found he couldn’t move at all, not even to close his mouth, which had filled with earth too, and was pressing down his throat.

He thought he cried.

I’m sorry Mama, I didn’t mean for it to end like this.

* * * * *

“And how.” The voice was deep, slow, as ponderous as Tibs imagined Earth would be. “Did you.” Before him was a form that was vast, dense. “Think it would end?” He was all the earth around Tibs pushed into the most solid aspect of themselves. “Speak up. Thing of humans.”

“Hello?” Tibs wasn’t sure how the words formed; he still couldn’t move his mouth.

“Water was.” Tibs felt a gaze focus on him. “Right. You are. Small.”

“You spoke with Water?” Tibs wondered if he should slow down his speech to match that of Earth.

“Water spoke.” Tibs was about to ask, when Earth continued. “With me.”

“So you know why I’m here?” he asked excitedly. “What I need?”

“I do.”

The silence stretched and Tibs wondered if Earth was done talking or he was just taking his time again.

“Will you give it to me?”

“Why. Should. I?” the ground Trembled around Tibs.

“Because I need it!” he yelled back. This time he was the one trembling, in anger. “I need the power to avenge Mama!”

The gaze slammed him in place. “I do not. Avenge. Talk. To. Fire.”

“I will, but I’m here now. You have to give it to me!”

“I! Do! Not! Give!”

Tibs used the shaking Earth created to free his arms, which left him panting. He wondered if the town felt the earth quake. Jackal hadn’t been kidding when he’d said it felt like the world was on top of him.

“Can you. Even see.” Earth stopped. Only the shaking of the ground telling Tibs he wasn’t alone. He waited, then opened his mouth, only for Earth to speak. “What. You. Want?”

Tibs thought Earth was purposely being slower than he had to, to spite him, then caught the mocking tone and focused on the words meaning. Where was it? He’d focused so hard on convincing Earth to give it to him, it hadn’t occurred to him he’d have to do the work.

Laughter rumbled around him, shaking everything. “Poor thing. Of man. Small thing. How can you. Think. You have. What. It. Takes?”

Tibs missed it twice because he looked for something darker, but it was pale. It was right there before him, on the front of what he thought as Earth’s form.

“You see.” So much surprise in two slow words, Tibs almost took his eyes off his prize. “I am. Impressed.” And he was. Tibs felt it in the resonance of the ground around him. “No one. Sees.” Sadness. “Not For. So long. A time.”

Tibs pushed toward it, but his arms barely moved. He’d never make it, it was useless.

“It. Is.” Earth echoed his thought and Tibs glared at him. How dare he judge him for wanting to be stronger? For wanting to make those who had hurt Mama pay. He screamed as he pushed forward.

“Anger will.” The pause made Tibs think Earth was considering something, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t be stopped, not by words. “Burn you.”

Tibs stopped. He wouldn’t succeed through force. Not against someone like Earth. He’d challenged him to win. He couldn’t force his way, that didn’t mean he had to lose.

“All things. Lose.”

Eventually. The Street had taught him that. But it had also taught him there were other methods than force to get what he wanted. He pushed the little essence he had over his hand, kept only as much of it as he could to avoid draining himself, and let the rest soften the earth.

Now he could move it easier. “I’m not losing today,” Tibs said through gritted teeth, feeling the water essence drain as his fingers finally closed over the pale shape.

“No. You are. Not.”

The shape melded into his hand, and he sensed the essence push its way through the water, make space for itself within the void as well as on the surface, where a new essence took residence.

He looked up into the eyes of the element before him. “I win,” he said smugly.

The gaze looked back at him. Tibs thought he saw pride there, and disappointment.

“Not. Yet.”

What had he missed? Tibs searched around. He had the second part of the element. He was one step closer, now all he had to—

What if Earth didn’t let him go?

“Not. What I. Mean.” The ground rumbled. “Leave.”

And the ground around him shifted. Tibs screamed and tried to grab onto anything to keep from being flung away.

* * * * *

A hand closed around his and pulled. His head cleared the ground, and he took a deep breath, only to hack up dirt. Jackal held him, gently hitting his back.

“Well, I’ve got to hand this to you,” the fighter said. “You’re not dead.”

“I kind of wish I was,” Tibs said between cough. “Dirt tastes horrible.”

* * * * *

“Have you had any success sensing water essence?” Alistair asked, sitting cross-legged before Tibs.

They were back in the cavern, with the humidity pushing down on him. This time, his teacher had warned him, so Tibs wore simple clothing, a new set he’d bought from the tailor. They were worn and ripped in places, but better than anything he had before, and the only thing he’d been able to afford. He kept on his Shoes of Silence. He didn’t care if the adventurers could tell what they were, or any of the Runners who’d graduated to Upsilon. They’d been the first thing he’d found in the dungeon, he wasn’t giving anyone the chance to steal them by leaving them anywhere unattended.

“It’s hard.” He closed his eyes and felt around him; here, the water essence was thick. “There isn’t a lot in the town. At first, I thought it was just because I couldn’t do it, but then I did it next to a rain barrel, and I could feel it there, but not in the air. Only once I looked carefully, I could feel there was water essence in the air, just not a lot of it.”

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Earth essence had been much easier to sense, the first thing he’d sense in the town; once he’d gotten over his audience. It had surprised him and scared him initially; until he realized he could shift from one element to the other. There wasn’t as much as he’d expected. After all, wouldn’t the ground be all earth? It was what had given him the idea to test sensing water essence next to the rain barrel.

“Yes. That’s why if you let it happen naturally, in a place like the town, or the dungeon, or even most places in the world, your reserves will recharge slowly. There isn’t a lot for you to absorb unless you put effort into it.”

“Would being in a lake make it go faster?”

“It could, but not in a meaningful way; remember, how much essence is there doesn’t necessarily correspond to the physical representation of it we see. It’s why we can, and are, always channeling some of it.”

“We are?”

“Yes. Every living being absorbs and channels essence. Even people who don’t train or graduate. They channel a very small amount of it. What happens with you and others who train through the dungeon is that, as you graduate, you make yourself aware of the essence, and you can make channeling it a conscious act. You can’t stop channeling, if you could, you’d die, but now that you know it’s happening, you can work with it. You can increase what you channel, or what that channeling accomplishes.”

Tibs considered asking what people who didn’t train channeled. If they didn’t pick one element, did they channel them all? Did picking one mean sacrificing the rest? He wasn’t sure how his teacher would react, so he went for a safer question.

“Isn’t manipulating essence what sorcerers do?”

Alistair tapped a finger on his leg for a few seconds before answering. “At this stage, yes. An Upsilon sorcerer is doing the same thing you are,” he paused and smiled, “were. They are repeating actions and mindset by rote until they get the results they’ve been described. For you, Fighters and Archers, that will be what the rest of your life will be, minus the ‘by rote’ part. We’re limited in what we can do because we prefer sticking to doing. Sorcerers are all about knowing things, it’s led to some incredible things, like how they can pull essence that isn’t theirs from objects containing it and meld it into their essence to produce incredible results.”

“Doesn’t that mean I should learn sorcery? I mean that I can learn sorcery even though I’m a Rogue. It’s just about studying essence, right?”

“It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?”

Tibs narrowed his eyes. This sounded like when his teacher was trying to get him to realize something on his own. “Is this something else the guild controls? They say I’m a Rogue, and that’s all I can be?”

“Ah, but did the guild tell you that?”

Tibs opened his mouth, then closed it. “When I got to the town, they said to go to the teachers.”

“But they didn’t tell which one to go to, did they?”

Tibs shook his head. “Well, one told me to go to the fighters if I didn’t know where I should be. But when I said I needed to be with the thieves, she didn’t argue.”

“One of the reasons the guild plucks many of its members from the criminal class; no, it isn’t only when a new dungeon opens, that just makes the triage something it handles, is that there’s something about having to survive to the point you will break laws that refines who people are. We’re too busy surviving to lie about what we are. I steal. I have no problem doing that. At my core. I’m a Rogue, or a thief, if you prefer the more criminal descriptive. Now that I’m no longer busy surviving, I can wrap it into something that can pass for the common folk.” He motioned to himself.

Tibs looked the man over. “Are your common folks, nobles?”

Alistair inclined his head. “True, the people I spend time with are higher than common folks, but underneath these clothes, I am a rogue. Some argue we’re born into our classes, others say we pick them. However it happens, I’ll die a rogue. As will you. You can try to set that aside, make a conscious decision to follow the path of the sorcerer, but even if you could, you’d be a step behind every other sorcerer because until now, you were a rogue while they’re already sorcerers. Then you’d have to find a way to unlearn what I taught you, because a sorcerer can’t think like a rogue. It’ll keep you from progressing.”

“Then how do the others do it? Not every adventurer starts as a criminal. What about the knights the kings have?”

“The nobles have their own way to triage. They have tests, of the body and the mind, that lets them determine what class someone belongs to. A soldier won’t last long if they can’t put all their beings into it. Same with the other classes. But keep one thing in mind, Tibs. Even without the dungeon, the adventurer who starts where you did will always surpass the noble, because you didn’t wait until it was proper to start that test and determine your class. Life gave you the test the moment your feet touched the street and has been training you every day of your life. Being born Low, Street, as your generation calls it, is not a pejorative, it’s a mark of pride. A sign you are ready for what the guild will put you through.”

Tibs nodded. It was easier to believe his teacher here, where the people treated him as something more than Street. Back home, back on his Street, he had trouble seeing any of that as something to be proud of.

Alistair sighed. “You did it again.”

“What?”

“You detoured your training. You have a knack for it.”

Tibs shrugged. “I don’t know much, so I want to know more.”

Alistair smiled. “A good attitude to have, no matter the class. Now, let’s focus on what we came here for. Drain your reserve.”

“All of it?” Tibs asked nervously. It wasn’t the physical exhaustion it used to be, but he still didn’t enjoy it.

“Leave enough so you’ll be able to function.”

He made a small ball of ice and flicked it to the side, his breath catching as the essence vanished.

“Close your eyes and sense the essence around you. Once you have that, pull it into your reserve.”

Tibs needed a few attempts before he was able to take mental hold of it, make it his, and draw the essence in. He watched as his reserve filled. He stopped after a few seconds.

“Good,” Alistair said.

“What would happen if I kept pulling essence into my reserve once it’s full? Can I overfill it?”

“In your specific case, I don’t know. But as a concept, that is what graduating to Rho is about.”

“You shouldn’t be telling me that, should you?”

Alistair chuckled. “I made it clear to Tirania that I’ll use whatever method I see fit to ensure you survive. If that involves breaking a few of the guild’s precious rules, well, I am a Rogue.”

Tibs reached for the essence around him, mentally took hold of some, and pulled, only for it to fall apart and flow through his mental fingers. He tried again, this was what he’d done before, he should be able to again; unless his reserve being full was the cause? But that would mean the essence somehow knew what he intended, and all he was trying to do was practice reaching and pulling.

On the fifth attempt, he paid attention to how it slipped through his fingers and realized it was being pulled apart. He looked at his teacher, who had an overly innocent look on his face.

“You’re doing this.”

“I am. Something you can do when you are able to sense essence. If you’re skillful enough, you can steal it away from someone else.”

“But they have their reserves, so that doesn’t matter.”

“Until they try to replenish it. If you can force an opponent to remain drained, the fight is easier to win.”

“But that only works against the same essence I already control. It’s not going to do me any good against an earth or a fire fighter.” He noticed the neutral look on Alistair’s face. “Right?”

“You need to remember that at its core, essence isn’t the element. It’s just essence. Once you become skilled enough, you’ll be able to sense that baseness that is at the core. You’ll never be able to take it in to recharge your reserve or manipulate it the way the others can, but you can affect it enough that with training you can keep someone from drawing in their essence.”

“That’s not a Rho thing, is it?”

Alistair laughed. “Most certainly not. Some manage it at Epsilon, most need to reach Delta.” He settled down. “Now, I want you to empty half your reserve.” Tibs flicked an ice pebble away. “Fill your hand with the rest of your reserve.”

“It’s not going to drain it.”

“That’s fine. It isn’t the point of this exercise. Now, while shifting the water over your hand—move the essence, not the hand—I want you to reach for the essence around you and refill your reserve.”

“I can’t.” Tibs frowned. “If I’m focusing on the essence in my hand to move it, I can’t also reach for the essence around me.”

“Do you trust me as your teacher, Tibs?”

“Of course.”

“Then, I am telling you that it can be done.”

“How?”

Alistair sighed. “That I can’t tell you. Just like how you moved from feeling your reserve as a torrent of water to this static reserve, this is something only you can figure out. Even if I could find the words to explain how I did it, they’d be meaningless to you. And we both need to keep your age in mind. It’s possible you can’t do this just yet. Again, this is normally something taught to those that have Graduated to Rho.

Tibs nodded. If his age was a real problem, which Tibs didn’t think it was, he wouldn’t be able to do what he’d already learned. Alistair thought it was because of how little reserve Tibs had, but he only had a little because of that void that took most of it, and gaining a small reserve of earth essence hadn’t cost him anything of the water essence he had.

He focused on the water in his hand; that was simple. The act felt natural, like it was part of his hand, but when he did, he lost the sense of the essence around him. Try as he might, he couldn’t regain it without first letting go of the water in his hand.

“That’s going to be enough for today.”

Tibs looked at his teacher and realized he had a headache and he had trouble focusing his eyes. Alistair helped him to his feet.

“For the next few days we’ll focus on more rogue related skills, but I want you to work on this in your free time. We won’t be able to move onto the next exercise I have in mind until you’re able to draw in essence while manipulating some.”

“Can I come here?”

“I’m afraid not. No one is allowed here without supervision until rank Delta, and I will be busy myself.” He considered something. “Use a tankard of water as the source of essence. Learning to work with little is also something that’s going to be good.”

“Oh, that is so funny,” Tibs grumbled. “Work with little.”

Alistair chuckled. “It is, isn’t it?”

Tibs seriously considered seeing if he could plant a knife in his teacher’s back at that moment.

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