( I have finished editing chapters 1 through 8 and updated it on here. Chapter 16 has also been changed from saying no chapter this week to the actual chapter. I dislike breaks in the story, so I will always go back and change chapters that I miss for whatever reason. I also placed this note here because I know people do not always read the notes at the end.)
Deep in the mountains, the dwarven king sighed deeply. The demon hoards were normally no threat to his people. They had long used the mountain as a natural defence. It wasn't just the stone and dirt that prevented the entry of those demonic monsters, it was also the snow and cold. His dwarven ancestors would purposefully cause avalanches to reduce the onslaught of the land based demons. This always worked before. Now the front gates were being attacked by flying monstrosities. He was unwilling to kill his own people and thus did not give the order to release the snow.
" I really do not understand your thinking, my king."
" The flying beast would simply fly into the air if I ordered an avalanche now. Therefore, only our people would suffer."
" Do not fret. The clan of Stonefist has an answer for this problem. Just give us a few days and we can rid ourselves of these flies."
Another dwarf snorted, " By the time your clan has finished, My clan would have already slaughtered the beasts. There is no need to worry."
Many different voices rang out to the king, each claiming the glory of their own clans. This was the biggest reason for the king to sigh. For days the clan heads debated on how to handle the problem and meanwhile his people were dying on the front lines. Dwarven births were rare enough as is. Thankfully, they were also a long lived race. As long as they didn't foolishly rush off to their deaths, the dwarven culture could continue on despite the low birth rate. The problem now was that the death rate had skyrocketed. There would be some clans who would completely die out because of the demons. This would greatly affect the future of dwarves.
Why couldn't these fools see the bigger picture? Sure, it is a great honor to die for the dwarven people. However, this was simply too much death. The dwarves will face great troubles after the demons leave. What troubled him the most was the fact that only flying demons were attacking this time. Was there a demon intelligent and fierce enough to command so many demons? They had never been smart enough to attack in such a manner before. This means that something has changed within the demon realms.
While the elders of each clan debated with each other and the king, chaos existed outside. Different colored and feathered females with sharp bird talons swooped down and tried to rip apart the dwarven soldiers. Giant floating eyes would shoot different color rays from their ugly orb, inflicting tons of damage. Huge bats with red bodies would crash down upon those suffering from various wounds and would quickly feast on the blood.
As for the dwarves, those who prefered close combat suffered the most, while barely being able to hit their targets. The gunners, however, were a different story. They fired at and took down as many of the magic using demons as they could. The long distance attacks from both parties were completely lethal. Bodies of demons and dwarves littered the mountain. Every once in a while the gunshots being fired caused mini avalanches. Luckily, none of the dwarven forces had been in those areas at the time.
Stonefist grumbled as he threw yet another stone away from him. He reached for a black stone. His eyes clouded over as he began reading the stone in his hand. This stone showed a dwarf wielding a giant axe. Stonefist stopped watching and instantly got rid of that stone by tossing it into the pile of rejected stones.
" What are you looking for, my heart?"
" When I was a child, I found a stone in here that taught an interesting stone shaping skill. This skill allowed a stonesmith to make flying creatures from stone. Our forefathers used to keep these creatures in order to fight the dragons that would raid the mountains."
" I see…. Why didn't you learn the skill when you found it?"
" I wanted to, however father said it was a useless skill to have and convinced me to learn different skills."
" Ah, I understand. Your father can be as immovable as the mountain at times."
Stonefist snorted and nodded his head in agreement while reaching for another stone. So far he had only been through one eighth of his clan's personal library. Dwarves stored their lessons in stone instead of paper books like other races. These stones played like a movie, showing one lesson only. Some of the skills required more than one stone in order to master the skill. Stonefist was hoping that the one he was looking for, was not part of a series. It was difficult enough as it was.
" Ummmm…. I will leave you to work while I handle rune crafting."
Stonfist threw the stone he just looked at. He paused in his search, walked over to his wife, and gave her a gentle hug and kiss.
" Ok….. I will probably still be here when you are done."
" Alright, I will bring you food later." She left after giving him another kiss.
Stonefist rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her leave. If the demon attacks were not a threat right now, he would be spending more time with her.
" I am starting to believe I am cursed."
He gave a solemn look at the stones he still had to go through. The rest of his clan was either fighting outside on the mountain or fighting in the counsel chambers, which left only him to search these stones. Stonefist grudgingly went back to work. It took him another two hours to find the stone he was looking for. Unfortunately, it was in a series and it was the second part out of six parts. He placed it in his pocket and continued looking, only stopping for food and other necessities. He found all the pieces by noon the next day.