The dwarven town Arn-Dul. In the language of their predecessors, it meant White Town, or… White Anus, but which respectful dwarf would call it like that.
The town sat below the mountain range Dars-Suful on the western side of the Nameless continent. The range had exquisitely sculpted peaks as if the god of mountains created them by himself. Also, it was known for its many deposits of different ores and high-quality stone. Sometimes even mana crystal deposits were found which often caused wars and conflict to erupt between the nearby Kingdoms.
The town itself was beautiful, like any town built by dwarfs, and made mostly from marble. Even roof tiles were carved from marble by world-class craftsmen.
As dwarfs hated heights, they built at most two-story large buildings that had humongous cellars underneath.
After hundreds of years of underground construction, underneath the town existed a complex labyrinth of tunnels, cellars and sewers populated with countless monsters, animals and even one or two sapient races. From time to time the dwarven council had to send a punitive force to control the situation down there.
The town was buzzing with activity; from sellers at the market squares calling out at passer-bys with their, most-certainly, inflated prices, through smoking smelteries, smithies and masonries, to runemasters and alchemy districts, always echoing with an explosion and screaming for help. Thankfully, the marble bricks were sturdy, especially when inscribed with magical runes.
The city was brimming with activity; the couriers ran from side to side, delivering goods and messages, citizens strolled around the city, priests of a whole pantheon of Paragons were preaching on their stands before the temples full of statues and extravagance.
In one of the many runemasters' workshops, a black raven landed on a window.
A robust dwarf came to her and took the message from her leg. As he turned around, the raven loudly squawked and poked the dwarf's shoulder.
"Ah, sorry. Here ya go," he handed her a few crumbs from his pocket. Raven gulped them with gusto and flew back outside.
"Runemae'str Baelgin! A message came!" The dwarf shouted, not noticing his master's hard concentration.
"Can't right now!" But the runemaster's concentration was already broken and the rune he was inscribing into his new robe hissed and disappeared.
"Dornus dammit!" Runemaster Baelgin swore and threw a glare promising violence at the poor worker.
The worker put his head down, "I'm real sorry, runemae'str.".
"Well… No matter, hand me the message," runemaster Baelgin shook his head to calm himself.
The worker passed him the letter and Baelgin read it with an occasional 'Hmpf!' and sighed.
"Hmm, some apprentice of mine can do it. Seems like a minor problem or classical dwarven superstition. The guild truly is annoying sometimes… Those miserable quotas," he again sighed to himself, muttering.
"Attention, apprentices! I have a mission for you!" He shouted over the workshop. When all of his apprentices looked up from their work, he continued, "you will be going to the new marble mine three days away to investigate. One miner died and the second caught deep craziness in a span of a few months. They halted their mining operation for the time being. Find out what is happening there, and upon return, you will be given three questions scot-free! At least a first rank apprentice is needed!"
"Runemae'str, runemae'str! I can go to the mine!" A thin, young dwarf immediately raised a hand to gain the attention of his master in the craft. He had dark brown hairs, bound in a ponytail, trimmed dark brown beard, clear brown eyes exuding intelligence and clothed in a brown robe, which had black runes inscribed all around.
"Oh? Are you sure you are ready, Dafur? It will be your first mission," the runemaster Baelgin said with a soft smile.
"Yea, runemae'str Baelgin! I have finished the first three runas!"
Dafur is excited. For the first time, he will leave the town and safety of the massive walls.
"Oooh, congratulation on ranking up! Be sure that after you return, come to talk to me! I have several books to give you! Of course, for the right price," Baelgin's smile broadened. "Fine, I agree, the mission is officially yours. Go pack up. In an hour, you are to set forth!"
☁☁☁☁☁☁
Stone was completely silent during the last two days, however, towards the end, he had a simple request, "Partner, teach me that technique for recording those pesky messages.".
"Aaah, sure," Partner agreed.
"Instruct the Universum that you want to have a journal, how it should look and exactly what you want to be recorded. If you do it right, you should see a little screen in your mind later that will always record voice messages. Be precise; otherwise, Universum won't react. I will lead you. Done this plenty of times."
"So, no longer loud voices?" Stone questioned with hope in his tone.
"Only when you directly communicate with Universum."
"Oh... So still loud voices," if Stone could, he would show the face of someone with crushed dreams.
"Yeah, better get used to it. The world is full of loud voices."
"Can we stay here?"
"NO!" Partner gets scared by this insane proposition.
"Loud!" Stone complains in return. After a while, announcements from the Universum again disturbed the 'peaceful' pebble.
[Your spell Stone Healing Bath gained a level 2 times]
[Your technique Ambient Mana Refinement gained a level 2 times]
[Your hardness increased by 0.05]
"Partner, my hardness increased," Stone stated.
"That's good, that's go… what?"
After two days of complete silence, except for the sessions where Partner taught him how to change the Universum settings, when Stone was regrowing, Partner got used to silence and thought of many things. Like why he ended up in this particular stupid pebble, why Universum hates him, why he is cut off from his source… Not like he was able to find any answers. And this time he was surprised. Again.
"What do you mean your hardness increased?"
"It said it right now, when I healed up completely."
"That means your lifeforce increased, right?"
"Lifeforce." 'Thud'
[Lifeforce: 105 / 105]
"Yes," Stone replied.
"Good. Now, carve into yourself. I will tell you exactly how and where."
"I wonder... This could be interesting. Maybe he can evolve like a monster. However, he just healed himself… Maybe a cultivation technique? Odd things around him are amassing more and more... What the hell is he?" Partner pondered for a while but was quickly distracted by his own thoughts as he precisely instructed the stupid Stone, otherwise, the stupid pebble would kill himself... It occurred to him that maybe it would be for the best... But who knew what would happen to him after that. Partner must always help his host. That was the first and foremost Rule!