Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 52 (Patreon)

Tibs looked at them, Jackal, Carina, and Kroseph. He wanted to wash the worry off their face; offer them comfort. But he was the cause. He was who they worried about, why they had taken him to Kroseph’s room and try to resolve what they considered the problem to be. He wished telling them not to worry about him was enough.

“We should be out there,” he told them instead. “Helping them.”

“That doesn’t sound so different from the Tibs I know,” Kroseph said. He’s known about Tibs’s access to multiple essences, but it was the first he saw of the change the others said happened now when he used them.

“Tibs,” Jackal said. “How about we go out and kill the people who are threatening your town?”

He shook his head. “They need help as much as the other. We need to soothe their pain so they will understand there is a better way.” Tibs wanted to go out there right now, but he’d agreed to stay here until his friends, his family, were satisfied with his condition.

“Okay,” the server said, “that’s a little too friendly for Tibs. And every element is different?”

Carina nodded. “We’ve only seen water, earth, and fire, but he was ready to burn the entire town down to get make those men pay for what they’d done. It was like anger was all he was.”

“No, that’s not right,” Jackal said. “I asked a few of the Runners how their audience went since Tibs started accumulating them. Fire isn’t anger. One of them described it as ‘it runs hot’. It’s more emotional across all of them. Tibs was just understandably pissed at seeing those women and that boy being raped.”

“And that triggered the fire?”

“No,” Tibs said. “I called on the fire essence because all I had was a knife and they were armored. I needed something that would hurt them.” He paused. “I shouldn’t have wanted that. Causing pain only makes the situation worse. Once I called on fire, that is when I lost control.”

“Okay.” Kroseph looked at the others hesitantly. “Why are you in my room, then?”

“We need to figure out a way to get Tibs to use the essence without having his personality changed.”

“Tibs, back to yourself,” Jackal ordered.

“Why?” Tibs asked. “I can do much more good using my essence.”

“I’d settle for him being himself enough to let go of the essence when needed,” the fighter said. “We can’t have him lose control like he did with the fire. Just being able to stop using essence will help.”

“It’ll be more helpful if he can be himself while using essence,” Carina said.

“I know, but do you think that’s going to be easier than getting him to just stop?” Jackal snapped. “Maybe you weren’t paying attention, but we’re in the middle of a war here. I would love to have some extraordinary weapon to use against my father to protect the town, but I don’t see that happening safely right now. Do you?”

“Tibs isn’t a weapon,” Carina replied, stepping up to the fighter. “He’s our friend, and he needs help getting this under control.”

“Hey Tibs,” Kroseph said, crouching before him, taking his attention away from his arguing friends. “They’re just scared, that’s why they’re snapping. They’ll get over it.” Tibs nodded, comforted with that knowledge. “Tell me, why do you think you can help more with your essence than just being yourself?”

“Because I can soothe their pain away with it.” Tibs pressed a finger to Kroseph’s temple and let essence flow over him.

The server smiled. “I appreciate the effort, but I think you might need more training to do anything other than getting me wet.”

Tibs nodded. “I’m sorry. I have all this power, but I forget I don’t know what to do with it.”

“That’s come in time. But you don’t need it.”

“I need it to survive. To help the town.”

Kroseph shook his head. “The most helpful things you’ve done for the town, Tibs, you didn’t use essence for them. You convince Don to speak to Harry, which prevented needless death. You talked the merchants into accepting your help against Jackal’s father’s harassment. You’ve helped keep the Runners from only thinking about themselves, you help get them to train together, help one another, against guild rules too.” The server smiled. “You’ve talked sense into that thick skull my man calls his head. Your essence, it’s important, but it’s not why you’re strong. You were that before you got your first audience. You need to remember that. You make the essence stronger, not the reverse.”

Tibs was slow in nodding. “Thank you.”

“Now, let go of it.”

Tibs did, and his perception of his surroundings shifted. He hugged Kroseph, taking the man by surprise. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Tibs whispered, his eyes getting wet.

“I…” Kroseph chuckled, hugging him back. “Well, I’m glad too, but this is more about helping you.”

“You did.” He let go. “But I don’t know how easy it’s going to be with the other essence. With fire, I couldn’t think. Just act. And with earth, it was so comfortable. I didn’t have to worry about anything. I knew that I just had to take my time and everything could be resolved.” He frowned. “But that’s not true. Just like I can’t protect the town by trying to help everyone, include Sebastian’s people.”

Jackal was with them. Squeezing Kroseph’s shoulder. “The elements seem to be a representation of part of us as well as the world, but each is too limited so they can’t work properly among us.”

“I don’t think that’s right,” Carina said. “The element existed before us, so we—”

“I don’t think now is the time for a lesson,” Tibs said.

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re usually the one asking questions regardless of the situation we were in.”

He nodded. “But I’ve never been at war before. We need to save the town, then we can learn about what the change in how I see things means.” He looked at Kroseph. “And that means getting me to switch back and forth between my element at my will.”

* * * * *

Tibs roared as he unleashed fire on the thugs trying to escape.

“Tibs, stop!” Jackal ordered, and Tibs let the fire go.

He looked around. “I’m calling on water to put the fires out.” He didn’t wait for the reply. He couldn’t let the fires spread. He wondered why he kept resorting to violence as he moved the water over the buildings. He knew there were better ways. That he could reason with them, soothe them with words until he found out how to do it with his essence.

He resisted letting go of the essence, wanting to do so much good. And he had to remember Kroseph’s words. He had done good without it. He could do good without it.

“You okay?” Jackal asked, looking into his eyes.

Tibs nodded. It was strange that water was harder to let go of than fire. He’d expected that because his emotions were so strong, he’d resist getting out of them, but it was so easy to go from rage to being ecstatic to being sorrowful that letting for was just another change in his mood.

Earth was the toughest, so he avoided using it at all. With earth, he craved the comfortable slowness; the lack of change it brought. Everything would always be the same, so why try to change it. And when it did change, it would do so on its own time.

He hadn’t attempted the other essences yet. He and Jackal were needed to patrol, just like the others. As soon as Tibs had shown he could switch between water and fire with sufficient ease, they’d set out. Once they were back, Tibs would see what air was like.

They’re drawn looks, going out only the two of them, but there were too few Runners available to anyone to object.

“You know,” Jackal said, going through the pockets of the burned corpse. “The one down side with fire like you use it is that we don’t get any equipment out of it.”

“I can try to soothe them into not running away next time if you think that will get you more loot.”

“I can live with less loot if it means my father doesn’t learn what you can do.”

“I don’t think it’s going to change anything. He already wants me dead.”

“If he finds out about your elements, he’s not going to want you dead anymore. He’s going to want you collared like an animal.”

Tibs shuddered. And extended his senses. “There’s a group huddled inside that house. No essence. It seems like they’re scared…”

“But my father’s people are cunning enough to make themselves look like ordinary townsfolk.” Jackal finished. “Let’s be careful.”

Tibs picked up the short sword he’d taken after the first fight. Swinging it a few times was all he could do, and he rarely hit, but he was done waiting for the right time to train. He’d get stronger as he used it. And he had fire to end a fight with until then.

Looking through the house’s windows only showed him empty rooms. The people had been smart and moved to a central one, with only an open door to see in, and they were huddled away so he’d have to be inside to see them. The windows and the one door leading into the house were latched, and Tibs didn’t have tools. He’d gotten too dependent on his water essence to make them. Something else he’d need to take care of.

He stopped Jackal from kicking the door in and pointed to the open window one floor up. The fighter nodded, grabbed Tibs by the collar, and threw him through the opening. Once Tibs got over the surprise and then off the floor, he stepped to the window and glared at the grinning fighter who made a shooing motion.

Silently fuming, Tibs step to the stairs and down them. The room the family was hiding in was a pantry, with the lower shelves ripped out to make space for them. A man, a woman, three children. All in simple clothing.

“Are you hurt?” Tibs asked, and they huddled tighter together, away from him. “I’m Tibs, a Runner. I’m with the town. Jackal is waiting outside. We’ll take you somewhere safe.” He didn’t want to think how they’d survived undetected. It was too easy for him to imagine. The town was starting to feel like his Street, with the constant fighting, the uncertainty.

He led them to the door, where Jackal waited, alone. “That was not nice,” Tibs told him, then lead the family to the inn.

* * * * *

Tibs didn’t think having fun had ever resulted in this much chaos.

He looked at the room, the way the furniture was strewed about, how Kroseph was in Jackal’s arms, pressed against the wall, Carina next to him. The three of them looking scared.

“Sorry,” Tibs said, his face hot. Air hadn’t been easy to let go of. After a day of running after Sebastian’s thugs or rescuing people and getting his bracers, armor, and knives. Just letting go of the worry and enjoying himself had been so good. Of course, with that had come a lack of care for the consequences of the wind storm he’d caused in the room. Carina was the only reason his friends hadn’t been pulled into it and hurt by the flying furniture.

“I think any more training needs to take place elsewhere,” Kroseph said. “My father is going to kill me for this.”

“I’ll replace everything,” Jackal said.

“I’m the one who destroyed it,” Tibs countered.

“Then you steal it, and I carry it here. How does that sound?” the fighter asked happily.

“It sounds like I’m going to have people demanding what I’m doing with their furniture,” Kroseph replied.

“Only if you let them in your room,” Jackal said. “Any if you let those people in here, you and I will have to have a talk.”

* * * * *

“There’s four of them,” the woman said. She was older, a rogue with silvery eyes. She wouldn’t say what her element was, but she was only Upsilon. “On rooftops, looking at the platform.”

“Where does your father keep getting them?” Carina asked.

“Archers are easy to find,” the fighter replied. “The king’s always training them, but he isn’t good at paying them. A handful full of silver and my father has himself a regiment of them.”

“I mean like now. This started weeks ago,” she said, “and every day you’ve been removing the archers he has watching the platform. How hasn’t he run out of them yet?”

“My father knew he’d have to keep it under siege, and he isn’t one to underestimate his opponents.” Jackal looked at Tibs and grinned, “well, usually. He brought enough archer to last a long while.”

“How did Harry not notice?” Tibs asked.

“That is something you’re going to have to ask him when he gets out of that building.”

“I don’t understand why he isn’t helping,” Tibs said. “It’s his job to protect the town. He always did his job right. Did Sebastian convince him to stop?”

Jackal shook his head.

“Tibs,” Carina said. “Harry’s job isn’t protecting the town. It’s maintaining order.”

“It’s not even that,” Jackal said. “His job is doing what the guild tells him. And let’s be honest here. The guild doesn’t care what happens to the town. They are only going to get involved if the dungeon is under threat, and my father doesn’t have any interest in that at the moment. Speaking of which, Tibs?”

“The door is still closed.” Tibs has snuck out in the night and gone to Sto and tried to talk with him, but there at been no response. It could only mean he was still busy working on the third floor.

“Look,” the woman said. “Do we have the time for all these questions and discussions?”

“I’m a kid,” Tibs replied, grinning. “Asking questions is how I learn stuff.”

“Don’t,” Jackal warned as her expression darkened. “Unless you know that someone’s about to arrive, there is no rush here.”

“Maybe you’re slowing us down because you want your father to take over,” the accused Jackal.

The fighter burst out laughing. “Mayra, it’s Mayra right? I know no one’s been keeping track, and I really wish we had because I’m willing to bet a silver that I have killed more of my father’s thugs than anyone here since this started, not to say anything of those I killed went I first ran off. I will see that man out of here, if not outright dead, before I side with him.”

“Four archers,” Tibs said. “Where are they?”

The rogue and Jackal glared at one another for a few seconds, then the tension eased and they made plans.

* * * * *

“Are you sure?” Carina asked.

“No, but there are people there, there, and there.” He pointed to other roofs, further away from the platform, hidden from their sight, but not his senses. “They can’t see the street, so they have to be looking at the roof and walls leading to it to keep anyone from attacking the archer.”

“Okay, hopefully, that means he is running low on them if he can’t let them be taken out. But you weren’t exactly controlled when you use air. How can you be sure you’re going to go for him?”

“Air’s about having fun, letting go. Not caring anymore. There’s nothing more fun than running roofs, so getting up there is going to be easy. Once I’m there letting wind roar will throw him off. And there’s nothing more fun than the roaring wind. We found that out last night.”

“I’m still amazed no one questions it when Jackal said it was just him and Kroseph in the room.”

“Do we really want the detail of what they do during their ‘them’ time?” Tibs asked.

“No, no, we don’t.” She looked up. “Okay, everyone else should be far enough away. They won’t tell it’s you doing it and not me.” She grinned. “You’re about to give me quite the reputation as a destructive force.”

Tibs looked at her. “You don’t need me for that. How many of the training free-for-alls have you won?”

She blushed. “That’s… that’s not the same.”

He snorted and readied himself to call on air.

Essence shifted the edge of his senses. “Fuck.” He forgot the plan and ran. “Take him out,” he told Carina. The shifting was on the platform. Someone was arriving and they would have no idea the danger they were in.

The essence condensed in the center of the platform, and two people become visible. One in the golden robes of the attendants and one in a dark purple sorcerer’s robe.

No. That couldn’t be who he was about to save. He would never hear the end of this.

Someone from a small building to the side of the platform yelled something that drew the attendant’s attention. Tibs saw the archer stand. Don just looked at the attendant, annoyed. He saw Tibs and his face became angry, but before he could do or say anything, Tibs collided with him as the attendant screamed in pain.

“Get off of me!” Don ordered, trying to push Tibs.

“There’s an archer shooting anyone who arrives,” Tibs replied, move so the sorcerer couldn’t get a hold of him while keeping him down with his weight.

“Do you think I—”

Tibs looked up. Don was looking toward where the archer was, eyes wide. He raised a hand, then something splashed on Tibs’s back. Don smirked, looked at Tibs, then frown.

“I did not just save your life,” he cursed.

“I guess that makes us even. We need to get to safety, her too.” Tibs didn’t wait. He rushed to the attendant. The arrow was in her side. He wrapped his essence around the injury. “This is going to hurt, I’m sorry.” He dragged her, and she screamed. Something splashed on the platform. Rotting wood.

“I’m not saving you,” Don said. “I’m protecting her.”

Tibs nodded.

Once by the building, two attendants took her and hurried inside.

“Why Are you still here?” Tibs demanded of the four attendants. He looked at Don, who was by the door, keeping guard. “Don’t you realize how dangerous it is?”

“Someone has to be here to make sure arriving attendants aren’t killed.” One pulled the arrow out and another brought a bottle. Tibs removed his essence from the injury. The potion would take care of the injury.

“Shouldn’t you be more worried about the passenger?” Don demanded. “We’re the ones paying you after all.”

“You’re not paying us anything. And if we die, then our organization becomes weaker. So we rotate who waits to ensure there’s always someone fresh ready to act.”

“I didn’t see much action,” Don commented. “If not for me, she’d be dead.”

“What do you mean rotate?” Tibs asked.

“Do you think we all spend our time here?” the man asked. “We have houses, like the rest of you.”

“How do you move without being caught?” Tibs asked.

The man stared at him. “Do you think the only way we can travel is through the platform?”

“Then why is it there?” Don asked, rolling his eyes.

“Because that’s how it links us to the rest of the world. Moving about something the side of this town is just a question of thinking about it.”

“So, you go from here to your house the same way you take someone to another city?” Tibs asked. He didn’t like that no one had known about this, because it meant the attendants had done nothing to help, but he wasn’t surprised. The guild and anyone relating to them seemed to only think about themselves.

“Didn’t you listen? We don’t need the platform to—”

“Yes, I heard. What I want to know is if you can take someone with you when you do that, the same way you do it when you take us to another city?”

“Of course, you aren’t listening. The platform is — why are you grinning like that?”

“Because you’ve just saved my town,” Tibs replied.