Scorched Kingdom

by Daniel Guevara

  Yes, this was the life of a Dwarf. Dig between rocks all day and then get drunk every night. But since it was hard to know the time of day when you couldn’t see the sun, some Dwarves just stuck to drinking all the time.

  Yet Stundroff knew there had to be more to life than this. He would say the same thing to Garim over and over, as they drank pints of ale every night.

  “Yes, yes, yes… believe it or not I am listening to you,” said Garim. “So are you going to tell me what else is there for a Dwarf? Or are you too drunk to finish your sentence? I don’t know why I keep listening to you?”

  “But I’m sure there has to be something more to life than this. I’d like to see the sun, feel the breeze on my face.”

  “And feel what it feels to be outside this cave. Yes, yes, yes… I’ve heard you say that a million times, and I don’t even know how to count past ten. But you know there’s no way out of these caves, and even if there was, you would be instantly killed by the monsters that now roam the earth.”

  “Yes, I know, the famous monsters that no one has seen in over two thousand years… they could all be dead for all we know, yet no one dares to dig up and find out.”

  “Then why don’t you dig up and shut up about it, let see if the monsters eat you,” said Garim. “I’m sick and tired of listening to you complain about how the Dwarves are too scared to go outside, yet you can’t seem to find the courage to stand up to your brother or even talk to the girl you like”.

  “Leave Ludmilla out of this!”

  “Why should I? For over eight years you have liked her, you know her last husband died and yet you can’t seem to talk to her. You have no backbone and I doubt you’ll ever dare to accomplish anything, so just shut up and let me finish my pint.”

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence, and then Garim said,

  “Look, I´m sorry. I know how much Ludmilla means to you. I think we’ve just had too much to drink for one night. Let’s go home and sleep it off.”

  Stundroff nodded.

  As they walked home, the uncomfortable silence remained. Then Stundroff said,

  “Look Garim, I know I’m not the strongest or bravest Dwarf.”

  “Or the smartest,” said Garim with a smile on his face.

  “Let me finish. Look, what I’m trying to say is that I know one day I’ll have to stand up for myself. And even when you’re not the most polite of friends when you say things, I do appreciate you bringing me down to earth.”

  Before Garim could reply a large stone out of nowhere hit Stundroff in the fore head.

  He felt to the ground, as intense pain flooded his brain. All he could hear was a loud beeping.

  “Are you ok? Stumpy… Are you ok?”

  The beeping noise slowly started to fade away.

  “Stumpy… are you ok?” Garim asked again.

  “Yes, yes…or at least I think so.”

  “You really scared me there for a second.”

  “What happened?” Stundroff asked. As he spoke, they heard laughter in the distance.

  “Three of your brother’s friends is what happened,” Garim replied as he helped Stundroff to get back on his feet.

  Stundroff was still dizzy and his vision was clouded by blood flowing from the wound on his forehead, but he stood anyway.

  “Do you think this is funny?” he called out.

  “Well, well, well, it seems Brolim´s little brother finally found his balls,” Said a dwarf.

  “It is funny to me,” said another.

  “Well, it isn’t funny assholes,” Stundroff replied.

  “Look,” said Garim, “I know we talked about standing up for yourself, but I don’t think this is the right time to do it.”

  “What did you just say?” said a third dwarf, as he walked towards the still dizzy Stundroff.

  “What….did….you…just…say?” He stared directly into Stundroff’s blood-covered face.

  “I said that this is not funny, asshole.”

  “And what are you going to do about it?”

  Stundroff was scared. No, he was terrified. But he knew that if he didn’t stood up for himself in that moment, he would have to put up with this for the rest of his life.

  He began to feel something he had never experienced before, a burning sensation throughout his entire body. Every muscle fiber began to tense up as he clenched his fist and got ready for the moment he knew would define the rest of his life. His brother’s friends began to laugh at him.

  But this only made him angrier and angrier. He filled his entire being with anger until he felt he was going to explode and it was in that moment, using the entire weight of his body and every last bit of strength in his muscles, he threw the hardest punch his body could create, straight into the face of the dwarf in front of him.

  There was silence as everyone realized that Stundroff’s punch had had absolutely no effect.

  Then the three dwarves began to pound Stundroff into the ground. They punched him and kicked him until their arms and legs grew tired, but even then they didn’t stop. They continue to kick him, punch him and spit on him until he was covered in bruises, cuts and blood. And as he lay on the ground one of the dwarves grabbed him by an ankle and dragged him to the edge of the quarry.

  “Please stop!” Garim pleaded.

  But the Dwarves just smiled and tossed Stundroff over the edge. Garim felt to his knees crying, as he knew he had lost his only true friend.

  “That will teach them next time they try to act tough.”

  It took Garim all night to reach the bottom of the quarry.

  There was no body to be found, only a hole a few feet wide that was completely pitch black inside.

  Garim took a small pebble and threw it inside the hole, to see how deep it was – but all he heard was “Ouch!”

  Could it be? Had his friend survived the fall? He dropped into the hole.

  “Ouch!” yelled Stundroff.

  “You are alive!”

  “No thanks to you.”

  “I can’t believe it, I thought I lost you.”

  “Yes, yes, I’m alive.” Stundroff replied. “But how are we going to get out of here? I can barely move and we have no idea where we are.”

  “Yes. That’s true,” replied Garim. “And it’s so dark in here.”

  “Help me up.”

  The moment they stood up, torches in the walls lit up.

  “Wow!” said Garim.

  “What?” Stundroff asked.

  “What do you mean? Can’t you see what just happened?”

  “Eh… no, I actually can’t. Between the punches to my face, the dirt and the blood, I can’t see anything right now.”

  “Oh right.” Garim replied. “All the torches in the wall just lit up and I don’t think there has been anyone down here in a very long time.”

  “Well, that is strange. I suggest we follow the light. Hopefully we’ll find some water to wash my eyes and, better yet, a way out of here.”

  “Agreed.”

  As they walked through the small cave the torches kept lighting up, as if they were showing them the way. And as fate would have it, they found a little crack in the wall, from which water was pouring out.

  “Can you see now?” Garim asked.

  “Yes, a little bit at least.”

  “Well, then… let’s keep going, because this place terrifies me.”

  They resumed their journey and walked a few hundred feet when they came across a circular room, filled with tall bookcases covered in thick layers of dust and spider webs; the place smelled like old dust and looked as though it had been uninhabited for thousands of years. And in the center of this room was a huge wooden desk. It had a design made from runes on the surface that neither of them had ever seen.

  But it was what was behind the desk what piqued their interest.

  A skeleton of a dwarf dressed in robes of fine silk held in its hands a big book with a green gem encrusted in the center of its cover.

  Garim tried
to take the book from the skeleton. But the grip the skeleton had on the book was too tight, almost as if it was refusing to give it up.

  “Nah… it’s useless. Let’s just keep going.”

  But Stundroff’s curiosity wouldn’t be satisfied that easily.

  “Wait, let me try.” As soon as he laid his hand on the book, the skeleton’s head turned directly towards him.

  They both jumped, but Stundroff again placed his hand on the book. And as soon as he touched it again, the skeleton opened his hand and relinquished the book.

  “I have a really bad feeling about all this,” Garim said.

  “Oh! Come on I’m the one supposed to be the coward here.”

  He opened the book.

  “Well, what does it say?” Garim asked.

  “How am I supposed to know? I’ve never read a book in my life.”

  “Oh yes. Right.” said Garim. “Well, let’s just keep going then; this is pointless.”

  “Wait just a second.” Stundroff glanced over the pages of the book - he had a weird sensation, as if a voice was speaking to him directly into his head.

  The voice became loud and clearer after a few moments, as it began to tell a tale.

  Once, at the beginning of all time, there was a stone, called simply Gaia as the world we live in. And from this stone, all of creation in this planet was conceived, the trees, bushes and animals; yes everything that is alive, is alive thanks to the power of the stone.

  Even the three races come from it.

  Unlike most believe, it took time for the different races to be organized, to develop cities and social structures. There was no way such limited beings could comprehend the powers of such an item, so it held no interest to them. They went their separate ways and started to form what would later be known as the world.

  Each race had their concept of religion and creation. Elves were eternal; they had no need for concepts like the afterlife or religion. So they became one with nature and the world.

  Human life was short and fragile and the idea of ceasing to exist terrified them, which is why they formed religions and created the idea of the gods, to give them comfort in their moment of passing.

  But Dwarves had no need for such silly things as gods, nature or religion, because they had the power of fire and iron to protect them.

  Once the world as we know it came to exist and cities were constructed and governments were implemented, curiosity for the stone reemerged.

  Humans and Elves began to study it and tried to understand it and harness its powers, but Dwarves showed no interest in it at all, every Dwarf except one… me.

  Yes, if you are hearing this it means that I have also passed away. But no matter, the research must go on. And it is you who will do this.

  You see, as the studies on the stone began, every race had its own idea of what the stone was supposed to do for them.

  Elves wanted it to increase their powers in nature, while Humans thought it would help them reach their gods and the afterlife.

  Yet none of them truly understood the simple fact that we come from the stone. And it is not what the stone can do for us, but it is us who serve the stone and its will.

  Every race took turns studying it, until one night someone tried to take the stone for himself and use it for his own purposes, but it was not the will of this stone for this to happen. So the stone fought back and burned the perpetrator to nothing more than a pile of ashes.

  It was then, when fear for the stone emerged, the Humans and Elves deemed it too dangerous to be used and decided to conceal it where it would never be found again. I was alone as a Dwarf and had no say against the royalty of Elves and men, so I accepted their decision and let the stone go, but my curiosity, just like yours, would not be so easily satisfied.

  I came to the conclusion that even though all magic power and life comes from the stone, there are relics of power that hold aspects of creation in them. These relics must have been empowered by coming in contact with the stone, although I was never able to verify this theory.

  I explored as much of the world as I could over my many years of life, always searching and chasing rumors of artifacts of great power, anything that would bring me closer to one of these relics, but it was not until I was an old dwarf that I finally came across one. And you are holding it in your hands.

  Yes, the green gem embedded in this book is one of such artifacts of great power. As soon as I got my hands on it, I returned home to Nel Badhur to study it.

  Sadly, I was not well received by my people.

  A dwarf that would not work metal and cared for silly things like magic had no place in their stronghold, so I was given two choices, abandon my dream or abandon my people. I chose the latter.

  Sadly if you are hearing this, it means my days have come to an end. And for all my efforts I was never able to unfold the relic’s secrets, but I have faith that you will prevail where I did not.

  “Stumpy! Stumpy! Stumpy!”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. Your eyes turned white and you drifted off for a few minutes.”

  “A few minutes? It felt like so much longer.”

  “What felt like so much longer?” Garim asked.

  “I don’t know, or at least I’m not sure.” Stundroff closed the book in his hands.

  He took one final look at the cover and saw the gem. He decided to touch it, but as soon as he came in contact with the gem, he felt a burning sensation in his hand.

  The gem was burning him, yet he couldn’t take his hand away. He started screaming – it felt as if the gem was burning through his skin.

  “What’s going on?” Garim asked.

  The pain was too intense and before Garim could do anything to help, a brilliant white light flashed from the stone. It burned their eyes and knocked them unconscious.

  ◆◆◆

  Stundroff woke up on his bed, the next morning, with no idea of how he got there and not a single wound on his body from the night before.

  He heard a knock on his door. Garim.

  “What the hell happened last night?” Garim asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Oh no… you are going to have to do better than that because the last time I saw you, you were covered in bruises and cuts and the next thing I know, I wake on my bed with no idea how I got there. Now, I see you completely healed standing in front of me… I mean, I know I drank a lot last night, but I don’t think that’s the explanation for all of this.”

  “I’m just as confused as you are right now, but panic won’t solve a thing. Let’s just go to the quarry and work. I’ll figure this out later.”

  Stundroff worked extra hard that day. At the end of their shift, Garim asked, “Are you done mate?”

  “Yes!” Stundroff looked at his friend. “I don’t know what happened, but I don’t feel tired at all and I’m stronger than ever.”

  “Yes, I can see that.” “Let’s just go to the tavern and see if we can use that energy of yours to get us a free round of ale”.

  At the tavern Garim immediately went to the bar and suggested an arm wrestling contest as he pointed to his friend Stundroff.

  This was a tradition between dwarves; anyone who couldn’t beat you in arm wrestling had to buy you a pint of ale.

  “You must be insane if you’re putting your money in Stumpy,” a dwarf said.

  “Well, maybe I am insane. But I don’t see you walking to the bar to wrestle him, or are you afraid you’ll lose?”

  And just like that the match was on, but to everyone’s surprise. Stundroff won with ease.

  Again and again Stundroff beat everyone in the tavern. And Garim was overjoyed by the huge amounts of free ale they were getting.

  But his smile turned to concern as the tavern’s doors opened and he saw Brolim come in.

  “Well, well, well,” Brolim said. “It seems my little brother has finally found his nerve. Let’s put that strength of yours to the test.”

&nbs
p; “No, there’s no need for that,” Garim said. “I think it’s time to go home now,” He whispered to Stundroff.

  “What happened? One look at the real deal and you go running home,” Brolim said. “Now that doesn’t sound like a sibling of mine… but then again, I never saw you as family. What do you say? One little arm wrestling match between us to see who’s the strongest?”

  And again Garim whispered in Stundroff’s ear.

  “Look, this is a bad idea, let’s just go home.”

  Stundroff had no idea about what had happened the night before, but for some reason, he knew he could take his brother now.

  “I accept.”

  It seemed as if the entire dwarf population had gathered to watch; no one had challenged Brolim to a match in years.

  It began evenly – neither of them lost an inch. But as the minutes went by people started mumbling; no one had ever lasted this long against Brolim in a match.

  “Ok, little brother,” said Brolim, “it’s time to stop playing games and end this.”

  Then the muscles in Brolim’s arm tightened as he used every last bit of strength to humiliate his brother, but to his surprise Stundroff’s arm did not budge an inch.

  “Well, very impressive. It looks like I haven’t been taking you seriously, little brother.”

  “No, it is me who hasn’t been taking this match seriously.” Stundroff slammed his brother’s arm into the table with such force it dented the wood.

  Immediately the dwarves began to cheer - someone had defeated Brolim and they had a new champion.

  Brolim felt humiliated and his humiliation soon turned to rage.

  “You think you can beat me, Stumpy? Let’s see how tough you are in a real fight.”

  “I don’t think I have to prove myself to you anymore, big brother, and my name is Stundroff... Remember that.”