Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 54

"As with everything," the scholar said, "enchantments do fade over time."

"Everything fades?" Tibs asked before he could stop himself? "What about mountains? Haven't they always been there? The sky? Claria, Torus?"

"Everything," she stated. "Some will simply take longer, or require violent actions from the elements before it is their time. Consider the main element that makes the item in question when thinking of how long it will take. Mountains, for example, are made of stone, which is the element of Earth. Earth is slow to react to anything, which makes it resistant to change. So the effort on the part of the elements to bring them down will be much greater than, say, a tree, which is composed of the Wood element. Size also comes into play, since the more of an element something has, the more effort is required to affect it. A larger tree will resist its end longer than a smaller one."

"But metal's hard too, and that's always breaking."

"But under violence," she replied. "When left to itself, it too will last a long time. Most metal items end up breaking because people are involved." She considered something. "But keep in mind that Metal isn't a core element, and is in opposition to Air. As such, when the element of Air is used against Metal, it deteriorates faster. Have you seen how metal items will have a reddish dust or flakes on them?"

"Rust."

She gave him an indulgent smile. "Yes, they call it that." The implication she included him in that 'they' was strong. "What it actually is, is another element. When a core element interacts with any of the others, weakening it, a new element is created." She said a word he didn't quite understand; it, along with most of those before that, had a faint glow to them. Not an outright lie, he'd learned over time, but a lack of certainty in what she said.

"Po-tin-cia?" he tried.

"Close enough." She smiled. "It's an old Arcanus word. It is the name of the element of change. It is the one that is always created when a core element weakens another." That had the same faint glow, so it was what she wasn't certain about, despite her seeming confidence.

"And that Po-tin-cia element is always there when a core element acts on one of those that isn't core?"

"Yes." The light was brighter, so she knew it wasn't always the case. He tried to think of a way to prod the truth out of her, but he couldn't think of how a bard might sing about something like that.

And his curiosity was leading away from what he was important. "So, because enchantments have many essences in them, they also get weaker? Does it only happen if there are both core and the others? What if the enchantment only has core elements?"

Her chuckle sounded strained. "Yes. Interaction between element causes enchantment to weaken, but the skill of the sorcerer who created it has an effect on how... sturdy, the enchantment will be."

He ignored the faint glow. Her uncertainty didn't mean what she said wasn't right. And she sat here, answering his questions, while anyone else he might ask could simply kick him out. "How about essences outside the enchantment? Can they cause it to get weaker too? And you said the Potincia element comes when core and other essences act on each other. Wouldn't that get in the way of the enchantment working?"

Her smile was bright, and that stuck to the words as she spoke. "Exactly. You are quite bright. I can see you have a strong career within the scholarly academies ahead of you. Potentia is part of what breaks enchantment down over time. And it's why skill is important when crafting them. The sorcerer has to account for that if they don't want their work to fail prematurely."

Tibs rubbed his temple. He didn't get most of what she said, but why would she bother lying to him? She couldn't know why he was asking. Was she trying to make him feel smarter so he would... what, join a university? He was too young, and she had to be smart enough to know that her lies would unravel when he brought up her stories about part of what made him want to join.