"Not halfling. Not orck. Not lizardkin. Not beastmen. And certainly not a dwarf," The dwarf tilted his head, "And yet you possess everything that makes each race unique."
He was expecting an answer. I remained silent. I wanted to know where this was heading.
"Believe it or not, I am older than the elves I call my friends." Tov said as he looked in the direction of Gred and Dalinah. The two nodded, confirming his claim. "So I have seen a thing or two over the centuries I've been alive. And I've never seen... this."
Tov grabbed one of the chairs and rubbed his fingers over the wood. His eyes glanced over the simple design of the chair. There was nothing special about it, but the dwarves were expert craftsmen, which meant they found meaning in all crafts.
"This chair was made with care. Love is present in its texture, the nails, and the very joints that keep it standing," Tov explained.
"It's just a chair." I said.
"Yet it's old," He added, "Very old. Older than me."
I could see Gred and the others shuffling uncomfortably at the back. With dwarves like Tov, this was most likely a regular occurrence. Their obsession with crafts and their craftsmanship made it seem that they'd actually marry their own work.
From what I could remember, some actually did.
But Tov wasn't just appreciating the chair. No. He was using it to look back into the past. My past. He was trying to understand me.
A drunk dwarf was an honest dwarf. And Tov was drunk.
"Yes? So it's old. Does it matter?" I asked. I was growing more annoyed as the conversation dragged on. I just wanted it to end.
A part of me wanted to just turn my back and teleport away. But behind the annoyance I was feeling, there was this sense of nostalgia. There was something about this conversation that reminded me of older, more simpler times.
I couldn't remember exactly what those memories were, but the feeling was there, and it was strong.
"You're not from any of the races of this world," Tov said, "At least those that still exist."
"I'm not dragonkind, if that's what you're implying." I said. If I was about to get called a lesser dragon, I'd rather just make myself deaf.
The dwarf scoffed. He looked disappointed.
"Of course not. The dragons weren't cowards."
His friends gasped. Gred immediately moved to restrain his friend, with Dalinah and Redtail helping him.
Saving these adventurers was indeed a mistake. They were just a bunch of ungrateful fools. Especially this dwarf.
He should be made an example.
My blood boiled. The candlelights flickered. The winds outside howled. The cottage rumbled as the wards and the protection spell began to buckle under the strain of my impending rage.
Who did these trespassers think they were? I gave them everything I could. I saved them from those abominations. I tended their wounds, filled their stomachs, and all I asked for was their cooperation. I just wanted to be respected. To be left alone!
But as I was about to strike them down where they stood, Wheatley poked my mind.
He was calling for me from the city using one of the communication wards to signal me that they were ready.
I stopped. The rumbling ceased and the wind was silenced. The adventurers looked at me in confusion. The dwarf simply frowned.
Why did I even bother with these people? There was a simpler, less violent solution, and it involved a simple brainwashing spell. I should've just thought of that from the start.
My mind was slowing down. I could feel that. How long had I been this way?
I sighed.
Turning my back on the adventurers, I conjured another portal. Wheatley and a few other helpers waddled in from the other side. They brought with them the newly upgraded, and cleaned, equipment of the adventurers. They were a bit wet.
"Your things." I said. I watched as the helpers handed over the equipment back to their respective owners. The atmosphere of the room was calm, wholesome even as the adventurers thanked the little golems.
"Woah." Gred's longsword was of average make, made from simple steel and forged on a common anvil. Now it was anything but simple. The blade was now made of adamantine, one of the strongest materials in the world. The simple common leather grip was replaced with sturdy wyvern scale, making it easier to grip and handle.
"By the gods!" Danica Redtail was an archer with a keen eye. I remembered how she handled herself against the goblin horde. She was quick, accurate, and deadly. And she achieved that with just a simple composite bow made of normal wood. I gave her a new one, same design, but with better craftsmanship. It was now made of greenwood, the sturdiest kind of wood in existence. The string was also new, made from the webbing of the mother of the mountain spiders I had imprisoned a few centuries ago. It should, under normal circumstances, never break. She should also be able to use it the same way as before, albeit delivering more power than she's used to.
"Hmph." The dwarf was the only exception, as expected. He took the spear without even saying thanks and proceeded to swing it dangerously close to the helper that brought it. I was tempted to ask the helpers to instead make him an axe. But the dwarf may take offense, and the fact that he had short arms was also a problem.
Other than that, it looked like the tension that was about to swallow this cottage whole had been forgotten.
Last but not the least, Wheatley gave Dalinah her improved staff. Staffs, just like wands, were used by magic users as a medium to conduct their magic. Sure it was possible to use magic without the use of any medium, but that required significant skill and training, something most mages had trouble achieving. Her staff was once made of elvenwood, a material comparable to greenwood but a bit weaker in every way. It was a great magical conductor, but the gem encased in the tip of the staff held its user back from their full potential.
"Nothing has changed," Dalinah said, "And my gem is missing!"
"Your old gem held you back," I said as I pulled out the gem in question from my pocket, "This is a Tier 3 magicstone. A good gem for a staff, yes, but a terrible one for yours."
I held out my hand and she gave me her staff. The rest of her friends looked on.
"This," I conjured a small portal and reached in, pulling out a bigger and brighter magicstone from the pocket dimension, "Is a better fit. It's a tier 4 magicstone. It will allow you to reach new heights and break through any barriers to your ascension."
Dalinah's eyes widened in surprise. "I... I couldn't..."
I shook my head, "It's the least I can do. And besides, I believe you deserve it.""
I held the magicstone up, letting them see it as it glowed. To me it was just a trivial rock used by weaker mages to compensate for their lack of skill. I always detested these magical mediums. But of course that was just me. I wasn't everybody. If something like this could help someone like her, then it was indeed the least I could give.
"Thank you." She said softly. Her eyes never left the gem, "May I?"
I handed back the staff and the gemstone. As the mage, it was her honor to place the new magicstone in her staff. It was like a moving up ceremony, a graduation of sorts. I just made her skip a few steps.
The adventurers and I watched in anticipation. If things went well, then the staff should glow bright as it bonded once more with its user, thereby making the connection between staff and mage stronger.
To my horror, she began chanting. Time seemed to freeze around me as the realization dawned on my mind. She was praying.
"No!" I reached out as quickly as I could, but something slowed me down. And I was too late.
As soon as she placed the gemstone inside her staff, the world screamed.
And something terrible came.