Five Whippers waited for them in the next room, along with more rats than Tibs cared to count.

“You guys mind if I take that on by myself?” Jackal asked.

“Yes,” Tibs replied, glaring at the fighter.

“The rats can’t hurt me,” Jackal said. “And I’m pretty sure I can take the Whippers on without trouble. You guys can jump in if you decide I’m in over my head.”

“Then we might as well go in with you,” Mez said. “We already know you’re in way over your head.”

“I believe it could be good for him to test his limits here,” the cleric said, “rather than against the boss.”

“I’m with Khumdar,” Carina said.

Jackal looked at Tibs.

“Fine,” Tibs replied with a sigh. “But if you die here, I am going to hurt you.”

* * * * *

“I think,” Sto said, “that I need to find a way to keep anyone as strong as Jackal off this floor.” The fighter moved rubble with a foot, bent down, and straightened, holding a silver coin.

Jackal had turned to stone as he stepped into the room and then ignored the rats biting at his ankles. When a whip hit him, he caught it and pulled the Whipper off its feet. A few punches and kicks, and there were only broken stones left. The other four went as easily, and stepping on the rats took care of them.

“You can just make them stronger,” Tibs replied.

“I’d rather not kill everyone else who reaches this floor.”

“It might be time to look for a way to let those strong enough to unlock the doorway to the third floor without going through these,” Ganny said.

“Not sure how to do that. I haven’t seen anyone approaching Jackal’s level demonstrate anything I could use as a key.”

“How many are close to his level?” Tibs asked. He hadn’t realized Sto could sense that, and having someone to compare what he felt with could help him get better at it.

“A few. You, Don, Arcam, Sallice, Arruh—”

“Who are Arcam and Sallice?” Tibs didn’t think he’d ever heard the names before.

“Two of the nobles.”

“Oh.” That would be why.

“Tibs?” Jackal called, “let’s move on.”

The fighter handed him four silvers, a dozen coppers, and one amulet, which the guild gave them twenty for.

“You know, dungeon,” Jackal said, “this room is worth more than that.”

Tibs rolled his eyes at Jackal’s acted disappointment.

“Tell him he can get a lot more on the next floor,” Ganny said, sounding amused.

“This is plenty,” Tibs said as they walked. “Four silver covers the room for the month, along with the repairs from this run.”

“Unless you destroy your armor, again,” Mez commented.

“Which I use my coins for,” Tibs snapped, and the archer rolled his eyes. Mez hadn’t found that, yet again, Sto used one of his ideas, amusing. Or appreciated Tibs’s laughter. Tibs was certain he was no longer imagining the sharpness in Mez’s tone anymore.

“So,” Mez said as they stopped at the entrance of the Ratling encampment. “We’re letting Tibs go off on his own while the rest of us do all the fighting?”

“How about I,” Tibs replied, fighting the urge to grind his teeth, “try something?”

He figured this place was the safest one to do it in, and that would help them at the same time; the walls, floor, and ceiling would survive. The one problem he could see, and possibly turn that into an exercise, was how angry Mez was making him. If that became what he focused on, he wasn’t sure the archer could count on his element to survive.

“What do you have in mind?” Jackal asked, unbothered, while Carina studied Tibs.

“Something to impress Sto.” And nothing more, hopefully. He let Water calm him and wished he could keep that once he switched elements. “You should step back. It’s about to get really hot.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Carina asked before Tibs stepped into the room.

“It’ll be fine,” he replied. He was calm. He was mildly concerned about the pain he’d inflict on the Ratlings in the room, but reminded himself they were there to test him and make him stronger. Was he doing this because he hated the Ratlings? Was it a good reason?

“Just let him do his thing,” Mez said, then muttered something Tibs didn’t catch as he focused on remaining calm.

“Mez. You’ll want to step further back. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt…by accident.”

“I’m not—”

“Let’s back up to the other room,” Jackal said. “Call when it’s done, Tibs.”

Tibs stepped into the room and the fighter let off a curse, then they hurried away. Mez the only one protesting.

He let Water go with reluctance and fought to keep his anger on the Ratlings instead of Mez. He and Mez could resolve this, he hoped. The Ratlings, on the other hand.

As soon as the fire licked his finger, it blossomed into an expanding ball.

Tibs laughed along with the roaring fire. He loved this. The rawness of the destruction. Who cared for plans or being careful when he could simply remove everything that ever bothered him.

Mez.

He stopped mid-turn. Mez was really getting on his nerve, but he was with the others and they hadn’t done anything to warrant being embraced by this wonderful heat. He’d deal with the archer later. When only he would be the recipient. Now, he had creatures he hoped would gain nightmares from this the way they had given him some.

He screamed, and the heat pushed against everything. Ratlings screamed in response. He smiled. He hadn’t known they could scream. That was great. Let them learn Tibs wasn’t a weakling. Let them be the ones to wake at night, stifling a scream so he couldn’t cause the others to worry.

Never again would he let something scare him. He would remove it before they ever got the chance.

He ignored his name being yelled. He was too busy sensing for more Ratlings to obliterate. Making plans for finding Sebastian and making sure this time, the man didn’t escape. He wouldn’t threaten his town, his family.

And the guild. Oh, he was going to burn that building down as soon as he was done with the run. Actually, why bother with the run, when he had—

Stars erupted along with pain at the back of his head. He spun, ready to remove who dared to—

Jackal was smoking before him, and the shock caused Tibs to let go of Fire. The heat diminished but didn’t go away. The walls glowed from it, and cursing, Tibs pulled that into him and the walls turned dark, then snapped loud enough Tibs didn’t hear Jackal’s angry shout.

“Ganny!” a fearful Sto yelled.

“That is it!” Jackal snapped, looking annoyed at having to repeat himself.

“I saw,” she replied, awe and fear in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Tibs said.

“Never again, Tibs,” Jackal snarled. “I don’t want you to ever use fire again.”

“I need—”

“No! There’s no controlling fire. All it does is destroy everything.”

That wasn’t true. Tibs hadn’t turned it against Mez, but Jackal was too angry to listen.

“I must disagree,” Khumdar said. “Tibs was most certainly in control of the element.”

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“Have you looked around?” Jackal snapped.

Tibs did so now. The large cavern was back to the normal brightness Sto maintained. The walls were broken and blackened. Mounds of melted stones, also cracked, littered the ground. By their positions, Tibs figured they were what was left of the tents and the Ratlings.

“I have.” The cleric pointed to the entrance, where the ground went from cracked and blackened to pristine.

“The dungeon keeps stuff in the rooms,” the fighter protested.

“The dungeon does not activate a room until we step into it. I do not believe it is capable of stopping us from affecting the hall from within it. This is because Tibs did not want us harmed.” He glanced at Mez. “Despite how he feels.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” the archer demanded.

“What he did here,” Khumdar indicated the room, “he did because he wanted to.”

“Why would he want to do something like that?” Jackal demanded.

“To punish them,” Tibs whispered.

“What?” Jackal asked, surprised.

Tibs turned to face his friends and was surprised Jackal’s armor had survived the fire. There was earth essence woven through it now. That hadn’t been there before Tibs destroyed the room.

“For scaring me.” He sorted through the intensity of the feelings. “For making you think I’m weak.”

“I don’t think that,” Jackal protested and motioned to the damage in the room.

“Don’t you? All I could do that first time was curl into a ball and let the rats bite me. I couldn’t control myself enough not to try to kill you right now.”

“That doesn’t make you weak,” Jackal replied. “It doesn’t make me think you’re weak.”

“I know,” Tibs said. “But it’s how I felt. It’s why I needed them to suffer.”

“I think we underestimated how complex the way Fire affects Tibs is,” Carina said. “It doesn’t just feed on his anger.”

“I don’t think that makes it any safer,” Jackal said.

Tibs nodded. “No more fire.”

“At least not until we come up with a way for you to practice control over it that won’t cause this kind of destruction,” Carina said.

“I don’t think—” Jackal began.

“He can control it,” she said. “He got hold of how Water makes him act. He can do the same with Fire.”

Jackal’s sigh was pained. “I’m leaving you to figure out the how of that one. How does the dungeon feel about what you did, Tibs?”

Tibs closed his eyes, scared Sto would use that as his excuse to yell at him.

That he didn’t say anything was scarier.

“Sto?”

“I’m… glad it’s you wielding this level of power.”

“Aren’t you angry?”

“Why would I be?”

“I killed all the Ratlings in here. I heard their pain as they burned.”

“They aren’t living people, Tibs. I make them knowing they’re going to die.”

Right. He knew that. But their cries, their pain had sounded so good to him. “I’m sorry for breaking your walls.”

“It’s okay. You showed me I’m not as ready to protect myself as I thought. Like I said. I’m glad it’s you with this power and not anyone else.”

He dried his eyes and looked at Jackal. “I’m sorry for destroying all the loot.”

“Just stick to your promise not to use fire again,” Jackal said, “and I’ll consider it fine.”

Tibs studied his friend, worried he was holding back his anger, but concern was the only thing on his face. “I will.” He turned and headed for the exit.

“Tibs?” Sto called.

“Yes?” Now it was coming.

“Consider me impressed.”

Tibs would have preferred the reprimand he anticipated.

* * * * *

The Bunnyling room became Mez’s show of power.

He stepped into the room as they were still planning how to deal with it and shot the Bunnylings as they came at him. He fired methodically and precisely. Even when Tibs was certain the numbers were too many for the archer, he kept firing.

Some arrows explodedf on impact, taking out a group. Others pierced through the target to strike those behind it, but more were brought down by one burning arrow in their eye.

When they stopped coming, the closest pile of stone was half a dozen paces from the archer.

Tibs crawled through the warren and found three chests. One staff woven with an essence Tibs couldn’t identify, and normal pieces for leather armor.

Then they were in the maze hall and Tibs sighed in resignation.

“I have this,” Carina said, then looked at Khumdar. “Unless you’d like to do the honor?”

The cleric smiled. “I have no need to impress anyone with my gained prowesses.”

She nodded, then held her amulet in a hand and extended the other forward.

Tibs sensed the essence she sent ahead. It wasn’t the usual controlled torrent that made him think of storms, but a ribbon of tightly woven air essence. It slipped through the essence wall of the maze and beyond Tibs’s ability to sense it.

Carina’s smile dropped away as she concentrated. “Come on,” she whispered. “Almost there.” She took a step forward, then another. Tibs stepped before her, keeping her from taking the next one.

“You’re about to cross the triggers,” he told her.

“But I’m almost there,” she hissed, eyes closed.

“If you can’t reach it,” Jackal said, “it’s fine.”

“I can,” she snapped. “I just need a little more essence.”

“Can’t you just—” Tibs started

“I’m busy.”

Whatever the reason, doing this kept her from drawing from the essence around her. He looked at her amulet. It was the one she’d found on this floor. Still wrapped in leather, but she’d had that redone at some point. The crystal looked like any of the other Sto has as loot. Cloudy and gray, the size of his thumb. Setting many side by side, it would be impossible to tell which contained what essence unless they sensed it.

This one contained no essence anymore, which meant it could take in any of the essences someone put into it.

Could he?

“Jackal?”

“Oh, come on,” Mez said.

“Yes, Tibs?” the fighter replied, his tone cautious.

“I’m going to try something with Air. Make sure I don’t fly into the maze.”

Tibs ignored the archer’s muttering and channeled Air.

He protested at the hand keeping him in place. “I can do the maze,” he told Jackal. “I’ll be fast enough none of the spears will touch me.” He fought against the shoulder. “Come on, you big meany. Let me go.”

“Focus Tibs,” Jackal said. “You wanted to try something.”

Tibs rolled his eyes. “Where’s the fun in refilling a dumb amulet?”

“You do that, and then you can fly.”

He looked at the fighter suspiciously. The fighter had a habit of keeping him from having fun. “You promise?”

“I do.”

“Double promise? And if you break it, you’re not spending any time with Kroseph for… a year.” There, that would show him Tibs was serious.

“I promise,” Jackal said with a chuckle.

Tibs placed a finger on Carina’s amulet and gently pushed essence into it. As much as he wanted to get this done with. He couldn’t be too forceful. He had to get the essence to flow through the matrix and Carina’s hold on it.

“What are you doing?” Khumdar asked.

“Refilling it,” Tibs replied. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You cannot refill someone else’s amulet.”

“Of course, I can. Amulets are made to absorb essence. I’m just… helping.”

Carina sagged and smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“Yes.” He pulled against the hand. “Let go now.”

“I don’t—”

Tibs filled himself with air and pulled his tongue at Jackal as his shoulder slipped through the hand.

“It’s okay,” Carina said.

Tibs readied to launch himself into the wall and stopped, confused.

“Bring it back!”

“I’m sorry,” Sto said.

“Please,” Tibs whined. “I want to fly through the walls.”

“You’ll have to wait for your next run. I can’t reactivate it until you’ve left.”

He rounded on Jackal. “You knew this was going to happen! You broke your promise. You’re not doing anything with Kroseph for a year!”

“I didn’t, not that I’d bother keeping that promise.”

“But I wanted to have fun.” He stomped a foot down and frowned at the lack of sound. He let go of Air as he stomped it again. It hit the floor solidly, but he felt stupid for the tantrum. “Did you know she’d be done so quickly?”

Jackal snorted. “Do I look that smart? I figured I’d hold you as long as I had to. I didn’t expect you to pull whatever it is you did. It’s not like you were going to stay angry at me once you let the element go.”

“How did you do that?” Carina asked.

Tibs shrugged. “When I channel an element, it’s like there’s stuff I just know how to do. But I don’t know how I do it.”

“Once you are in control, we can experiment with it.”

“Tibs,” Ganny said as they started down the hall. “What just happened?”

“I refilled Carina’s amulet.”

“That I know. But you weren’t acting like yourself. It’s the same as when you unleashed the fire. And your reserve changed. Now it’s back to being life.”

Right, he wasn’t channeling Water at the moment. “When I channel an element now, my reserve becomes that, and it changes how I think. It makes me think like the element. Air’s all about fun. Fire… I guess it makes all my emotions stronger.”

“But you were yourself while your reserve was all water,” Sto said.

“That’s because I’ve been training for weeks at staying myself while channeling it. It still affects me a little. I’ll get the other elements to be the same, but it’s going to take time, and a lot of them can cause destruction like Fire, so we need to be careful.”

“You aren’t fighting them alone,” Carina said, and Tibs realized they’d reached the entrance to the boss room.

“Just the boss. I—”

“No,” She said. “You showed us how great you are. We all had our turn, now we—”

“Khumdar didn’t,” Tibs said.

“As I have stated,” the cleric said. “I do not have a need to impress.”

“You sure?” Mez asked. “Taking all of that down with Darkness would impress me.”

“I fear disappointment is what you would get. Even if I had such desire, fighting them all is beyond what I am capable of.”

“Now that’s cleared,” Jackal said, “you guys deal with—”

“What did I just say?” Carina asked.

“I’m not going to take on the boss alone,” Jackal protested. “You’re going to be there to deal with everything else.” He looked up. “Dun…Sto, help me out here.”

“What exactly is he expecting from me?” Sto asked.

“He probably wants you to say you want your revenge for how he tricked you last time.”

The fighter nodded.

“Oh, that’s okay. Like Khumdar, I have nothing to prove here.” The smugness in Sto’s tone worried Tibs.

“He’s not helping.”

“Really?” Jackal said, surprised. “You don’t want a chance to kill me?”

“I didn’t say that,” Sto replied, and Tibs glared at the ceiling.

“What?” Jackal asked.

“I’m getting a bad feeling about the third floor.”

“You can always turn around now,” Ganny said, amused. “If you don’t think you’re ready for my floor.”

Tibs snorted. “There’s nothing I can say that’s going to keep Jackal from fighting the boss, and after Sto got me to promise not to get information on it from the other teams, I want to see your floor.”

“Now that’s settled,” Carina said. “We clear the rats and bunnies, the lings, and then we deal with brutes.”

“Fine,” Jackal said. “Tibs?”

“No fire.”

“Yes, but also, try to stick with Water. Air was a reminder all the elements are unpredictable in different ways.”

Tibs channeled Water and formed a sword. He’d finally get a chance to put into practice what Quigly had taught him. Jackal looked at Carina pleadingly, and when she shook her head, he sighed and motioned them into the room.

The instant they were in, the creatures started moving, rushing them.

Tibs jumped over rats and bunnies, slashing as he passed them. He wanted real opponents, armed ones. He cut a Ratling, then faced a Bunnyling wielding a spear. He parried the thrust, then slashed. Another took its place, the spear piercing Tibs’s side to the skin.

With a snarl, he pulled his essence to stop the blood, only to realize it was water. He iced it through the wound and went on the offensive.

His next Bunnyling was more adept at using the spear to keep Tibs at a distance. Tibs smiled and elongated his sword, and used the extra reach to cut its head off. Then he sliced two Ratlings, who tried to sneak up on him and sent three more flying back with a quick ‘x’ attack. Not having to worry about running out of essence made it a more practical attack now, and much stronger.

Another dead ratling, and when two Bunnylings attacked him, Tibs made a second sword and used it to impale one while he cut the other.

He needed to check with Quigly if fighting with two weapons was a thing.

He turned, looking for his next opponent, but the only creatures still standing were the three Brutes at the back of the room, waiting for them.

“So,” Jackal asked, “do we collect the coins now? Or after we’ve turned those three into rubble.”