Jill and Jane were a very exemplary married couple, having met in childhood, they immediately decided that they would get married. Surprising or not it happened. What can I say? These gnomes are very purposeful people. That's right real gnomes.
And this happy couple lived on a small hill, more precisely inside it, in a valley called Sadorus.
In just two years, they managed to build an intricate system of tunnels similar to that made by moles, when they are looking for a way to potatoes, turnips or other vegetables in someone's summer house. Jill was always proud of his old pickaxe, affectionately calling her my "Tilly", although the old "Tilly" was rather worn out, since Jill's grandfather had been clobbling the earth, but she had not lost her magical properties. These properties were expressed in gradual self-cleaning and additional strength of the pickaxe. So you don't need to clean it and it serves for a long time - just a miner's dream.
Jill, as a hereditary digger, definitely knew a lot about manual labor, so when the question of housing began to emerge on the family horizon, he, holding his narrowed and enormous reserve of patience, began to dig passages in the ground, which later became real corridors. They were supported by carved columns made of a material similar to our marble, but much stronger.
The background of raw earth also disappeared, it was replaced by the color of concrete, or rather, it can be described as the color of the solution when it is in a liquid state. The walls also stood out in a similar color - Jill's wife coated them with a special substance. It turned out thanks to a mixture of hoya juice, willow and a couple of three earthen gifts.
It smelled, as she said, "fresh", but the question is rather controversial, given that they lived underground.
Jane was a little taller than her husband, strong, but with cute, even childish features. She knew how to cook well and knew when to help her husband in time, how to interfere with the solution and, of course, successfully design floor plans.
Without the basics of architecture, Jane, like any self-respecting gnome, would never have become an ATI (Applicant to the Technical Institute) and a respected citizen of Darida, the Great Gnome Empire.
There was a fourth dozen of their marriages, and the fuss and brave mood did not fade for a second. It is worth noting that the gnomes live 10 times longer than people, so by the standards of the gnomes, this couple were still children, unless, of course, a bearded man and a girl who can lift a bag weighing 150 kilograms can be called children...
Jane, as usual, combed her long thick hair with a light apricot hue and read a new book by Professor Derios Dist about the interference of clay minerals and mineral crystals. An in-depth publication on the emergence of rocks rich in ether. These light blue pebbles have enormous energy potential and help to provide not only domestic needs, but also whole gnome factories with the necessary energy.
These plants are rich in various motors and modern units created from minerals and metals and working on energy from the small blue crystals built into them.
By the way, the head of the family, Jill, also worked at one of these plants. He liked the work, there was nothing to go - about 3-4 kilometers to our estimates, so he was pleased with everything. Although the ambitiousness of this little creature for moments pulled him to distant places in search of adventure.
A large and brave soul lurked in his strong, short body and was waiting in the wings to prove himself.
Every day, this hairy stout man walked through the forest to his work, which he really liked and suited his analytical mind. It is also interesting that the forest was divided into two equal parts by a road passing through its middle and connecting its northern and southern parts.
Another trail was laid under the forest and connected its western and eastern parts, and also led from the village of Tanley to the factory where Jill worked. More precisely, it will be said that the whole village worked at that plant. It was the old and very famous stronghold of progress in the area, or the Mountain of "Magic Auxiliary Products" named after Torius, actually named after the first founder gnome and inventor of the "vanilla lamp".
Speaking of the lamp, it smelled of light vanilla aroma thanks to the magic oil with which it was made. To shine this miracle skillfully depending on the lighting or the desire of the owner - in order to make the light brighter or dimmer you just had to swipe your finger over the special symbols at the base and voila! The magic happened!
And now, day after day, the bearded gnome participated in the creation of various magic gizmos, in the production of miniature devices for irrigation of land, construction, various crafts, where magic merged with technological progress, thousands of gnomes worked unchecked. They built the future of their world...
It was an ordinary day on the 30th of the gloomy month of 231 of the fourth era. Peaceful time of inventions and new opportunities. A world without borders - that is how our little dwarf called it, walking in the early morning along the luminous path under the forest, moderately laden with torches on both sides of the earth corridor.
The light inside the tunnel is usually yellow with red flashes; such ethereal stones are best suited for consecration. Usually, the ethereal crystals are blue, but the dwarves have learned through special technical manipulations with the substance to change their color at their discretion. The only thing that did not change was their energy supply.
Strange, Jill thought, there wasn't this corridor before. Instead of the only right way forward, he was met by another turn to the right, and he appeared in a strange way suddenly, although he looked as if he had already stood here for hundreds of years. "Hah, that's for me," the gnome thought, "it's necessary to dilute the routine, even let me be late, a little adventure is worth it." And the young seeker of good luck went to the right.
The corridor here glowed pale blue. Walking a couple of hundred meters, the pep spirit of our discoverer began to flow away a little, like wine from a broken Ahead was a dead end. Yeah, as my grandfather said, "They swam great," the dwarf sarcastically muttered. "Well, that's what I thought ..." he creaked and decided to turn back already, when he suddenly turned and looked at the wall.
Not that our brave dwarf did not see walls before, and he did not like to burden himself with philosophical discussions about the benefits of walls and their significance in metaphysics. So the reason for his interest in this underground structure was of a different kind. Just what Jill was looking at was not a wall, or rather it was, but not quite ordinary. He hesitated a little, took a step forward, and appeared before her at arm's length. Raising his sturdy bear paw, he carefully pressed down on a surface that looked more like jelly. "Mm ..." - he muttered.
It is not clear... The land of this dead end was not land at all, there were no pieces of hard rock. A hand sank into it, Jill felt a slight coolness, as if you were lowering your hand into the night lake. He pulled out a hand. The wall fluttered like waves in the expanse of water and assumed its usual state. "What if ..." - Jill thought, while tucking his arm into the wall at the elbow.
"Ha ha, yes it's more fun than I thought," the gnome grinned, drawing out his hand. The hand was clean and hairy, as before diving into this incomprehensible wall. And the most interesting thing is that when the hand was "there", Jill did not feel it at all, as if there was no hand at all. "Well then, Tilly - Pa-ra-ram!" - Jill said, picking a pick from his working backpack. Let's see what's behind this incomprehensible wall...
They say the journey of a hundred leagues begins with one step, what can I say, and the journey of our friend began with him, a step beyond the wall, which changed not only his life, but also the life of the whole Gnome's World...