“I leave you alone for 10 minutes and look what happens! Overseer’s light, what did you do this time?” Riya snapped, a range of emotions leaking through her mask of anger as she flooded him with healing magic.
Glade simply gave her a weak smile and a half shrug. He knew better than to respond.
“I thought ye were dead for certain!” Krazzik laughed, a twinkle in his eye as he looked Glade up and down. “Never seen anybody take a hit from one o’ the earth kin like that and live to brag ‘bout it!”
“For the last time, it's not one o’ the earth kin,” Bragden scowled, gesturing to the Golem that was trying to worm its way toward the group. “That be a slagging Golem, made by humans or elves.”
“How can you tell they were made by humans or elves?” Glade asked, staring at the mostly limbless Golem as it struggled to move. The entire situation should have been a surreal moment in time. Instead, he took being attacked by an enormous rock killing machine as a matter of course, which didn’t exactly bode well for his mental well-being.
“Bah, no dwarf in his right mind would build somethin so tall and gangly,” Bragden huffed. “Everyone knows the best size for a proper war machine be low to the ground. Ye saw how easy it was to topple. Never would have happened if it were the proper size. Even gnomes wouldn't build somethin with such an obvious flaw.”
Glade chuckled at the not-so-subtle slight to anyone not a dwarf. He immediately regretted the action as the laughter brought with it an intense surge of pain.
“Vlakas!” Riya snapped, the golden light of healing magic reflected in her amber eyes. “Stop moving. This is much harder than it looks.”
“Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but it looks like you fought a Golem and lost,” Kedryn said with a smug smile as he conjured a small fire. The miniscule warmth it brought was more than welcome.
“Was that supposed to be a joke?” Glade asked.
“If it were, it fell flatter than Croon’s singin,” Krazzik chuckled. “And that be a right challenge to do.”
“Fine, I’ll stop trying to be funny,” Kedryn said with a roll of his eyes. “But seriously sir, you look terrible.”
“Never fought a Golem before,” he replied.
Riya smacked the back of his head, eliciting another yelp of pain.
“What were you thinking charging an unknown monster like that? I’m beginning to wonder which of us is the protector seeing as I’m the one who constantly brings you back from the brink of death.”
“Ye weren’t in a position to see, lass. If it weren’t for him, Kedryn here would have been nothin more than a red smear on the wall,” Bragden interjected before turning his attention back to Glade. “Course, when I saw ye charge the Golem like ye did I thought ye were a goner for certain! Instead, ye took off one o’ its slagging arms with yer first hit! Never saw anything like it in all me days.”
“Wish we could have used you these past few years!” Krazzik laughed. “Would have made huntin earth-kin that much easier!”
“Earth kin?” Glade asked.
“Your kind call ‘em earth elementals,” Bragden explained. “They fight a lot like Golems. Single minded brutes with naturally forming mana cores. We spent nearly 6 years huntin the beasties to raise the money for our clan charter. Their cores and bodies be worth a small fortune in gold, but they be hard to find and doubly hard to kill. One hit,” Bragden smacked his palms together, “and ye be sent to yer rebirth faster than a greased-up gnome in a fire spitting contest.”
Glade and Kedryn stared at the dwarf for an awkward moment.
“What’d I say that done confused ye?” Bragden asked.
“Never mind,” Glade said, trying to put an unwanted image out of his mind. “Though, I am curious why you haven’t destroyed the Golem yet.”
“Standard procedure,” Krazzik shrugged. “After ye take care o’ the limbs, ye rest up a bit and patch yer hurts. Best to recover as quickly as ye can in case there be other dangers about. Besides, it be pretty much harmless now. Doesn’t even have a mouth to try and bite ye like the earth-kin.”
“Which means we can get some o’ our boys up here who could use the experience,” Bragden explained as if it were the most common-sense thing to do. “That there be a level 23 Golem. Sure, we’d get a good deal o’ experience out o’ it ourselves, but the younger dwarves need the opportunity to grow.”
Glade’s estimation of the two dwarves went up. Anyone who put the needs of their people ahead of themselves were the kinds of leaders he wanted to associate with.
“So, what do we do now?” Kedryn asked, increasing the size of his fire.
“It looks to be ‘bout 3, maybe 4, hours till sunset,” Krazzik chimed in as he looked through the gaping hole in the roof. “It will be getting colder and I for one don’t think it be the wisest o’ ideas to sleep out in the open. I’ll run back and get some o’ the boys so they can get the experience and do some scoutin around. Mayhap we’ll find a building intact, but I wouldn’t stake a claim to it. Judging by the state o’ this here hall I don’t think there be much o’ anything around that be safe enough to make into a camp. At the very least we can get some fuel to keep us warm before movin back into the tunnels for the night.”
Glade nodded along, agreeing with Krazzik’s suggestion. The cold was already beyond the point of being bearable. Of course, sitting on the ground while leaning against the base of an oversized stone chair didn’t exactly help his situation. Then again, the cold was the only thing that helped numb the pain.
Glade’s brow creased in confusion at the thought, glancing down at Riya as she continued to work on his arm. Every time he had received healing before, Riya’s magic had quickly dealt with any and all pain. Why wasn’t it working now?
“Riya, is everything ok?” he asked.
She ignored the question, focusing entirely on his arm.
Now that he was paying attention, he could see her rigid posture, especially around the eyes. They were tight and focused, all sense of emotion gone as she kept pouring healing energies into him.
The group watched intently, patiently waiting until the golden glow finally faded.
“I don’t think I can save the arm,” Riya finally whispered, her head bowed. “I only know the most rudimentary of healing magic. I..” her voice faltered. “I can’t mend the bones or the internal bleeding. I’m sorry. If we were home, then our alchemist could brew something…”
He patted her arm with his good hand in thanks, mustering a smile to hide the panic that was rising in his gut. If he hadn’t been so cold and tired, he might have had more of a physical reaction.
“You’ve done everything you can,” he said, projecting a false sense of peace.
Glade knew he had been on borrowed time the moment he stepped through the portal back on earth. That his group had been able to get by until now had been nothing short of a miracle. Something like this was bound to happen.
Of course, that didn’t help his thoughts calm any as every history lesson on medieval battlefield medicine came straight to the forefront of his mind.
He was not looking forward to what came next.
“Bah, yer both being dramatic,” Krazzik said with a roll of his eyes. “This is why dwarves be the superior species amongst sentients. We don’t get all misty eyed when somethin small like losing an arm happens. Do ye hear me complainin that I lost me arm to the thrice damned slime? No. So stop yer complainin.”
Bragden snorted, crossing his arms as he nodded along with his chief.
“We’ll just have to get ye a potion o’ regrowth once we get to a decent sized city. They be slaggin expensive, but yer pouch o’ mana shards should cover the cost no problem. They might even throw in a discount since we be needin two.”
“Or,” Krazzik shrugged, “we could just send ye for an early rebirth if’n ye can’t handle a few months without yer arm. Ye got 8 o’ the slagging things to play with. Would bring ye back whole and even heal up yer mana channels, that it would.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kedryn balked. “Purposefully giving up a rebirth? They’re priceless!”
“That’s why we’re suggesting to stop acting all weepy like a scared little gnome and get on with it,” Bragden shrugged. “No sense waitin. I’ll just get me…”
The dwarf paused mid-sentence, glancing at Krazzik.
“Just remembered, I don’t have me axe handy. Do we have anything that could cut through his arm in one go?”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Krazzik scrunched his brow in thought.
“Well, this be a bit o’ a rusty patch we be findin ourselves in. All we got that be sharp enough is that star silver dagger that Gird sharpened up. It’ll go through his muscle real smooth, but the bone…”
“Why don’t we table this discussion for later,” Glade said in an overly loud voice, his heart pounding. He knew the dwarves were tough, but they were talking like taking his arm off was nothing more than a minor inconvenience!
“Yer right,” Krazzik nodded. “Best see what we can come up with. Too bad we don’t have one o’ them slimes handy. It was plenty painful, but at least it was clean...”
Bragden smacked Krazzik in the arm.
“Yer makin him turn green,” he said with a chuckle, indicating Glade’s pursed lips. “The man faces down a Golem single handed with nothin but his swinging fists and guts, but gets squeamish at somethin like this? Must be his first time losin a limb.”
“You’re both mad,” Riya choked out.
They grinned at her like they’d just heard the funniest thing in the world.
“You two are the worst, you know that, right?” Glade sighed, a deep exhaustion settling over him. “Now I’d appreciate it if you could make yourselves useful and at least help me up off the ground.”
They laughed, moving Glade from the floor and onto the stone throne. Just before he sat down, Glade caught sight of a dull, three-pointed star emblem embedded in the back of the ornately carved stone.
“I’ll rest here for a bit while you grab those you want to share in the experience,” Glade said as he sat down. If he were being honest, the cold stone wasn’t that much more comfortable than the ground. “In the meantime, I’ll wait here…”
Glade’s voice trailed off as a notification forced itself open. That had only happened once or twice from what he remembered, which meant it was likely something important.
Attention! You have discovered an unbound Settlement Core! By incapacitating its guardian, the core is now available to bond with any who have a compatible soul. Would you like to determine compatibility between yourself and the Settlement Core?
Y/N
“Sir, what did you just do?” Kedryn called out. “And what’s a settlement core?”
Glade opened his mouth to respond, but Krazzik started yelling before he could speak.
“Yes!! Select yes, ye gnome brained idiot!!”
“Ye’ve got to be joking,” Bragden whispered, his eyes as big as saucers as he grabbed Krazzik’s stub of an arm. “Tell me this is one o’ yer slagging practical jokes and that the royal be in on it!”
“I’m seein his notification before me very eyes!” Krazzik cried, turning back to Glade. “And why haven’t ye selected yes yet!?!”
Glade was about to open his mouth to ask what everyone was so excited about when another prompt appeared.
Note: Krazzik Slaghammer, a bonded blood brother, has accepted on your behalf.
A warmth flooded through Glade from the throne, just before he turned his undivided attention to the clan chief.
“Why is it that everyone with a bond thinks they need to make my decisions for me?” Glade growled, glaring straight at Krazzik. “Do I really need to have a talk about boundaries with you as well?”
“Rookie,” Kedryn snorted.
“You’re not helping Corporal!” Glade snapped.
“What's happening?” Riya asked, her gaze darting from person to person.
“Somehow, Captain Glade triggered an opportunity to find out if he is compatible with something called a settlement core,” Kedryn explained. “He did his usual thing by staring at the prompt too long when confronted with unknown or questionable information and Krazzik, which we just learned can accept things on behalf of the good Captain because of their bond, couldn’t wait any longer and chose for him.”
“So, is he compatible?” Bragden demanded, still holding onto Krazzik’s arm.
“What does that even mean?” Glade asked.
Before anyone could answer, the warmth left him as another notification appeared.
Compatibility has been determined as acceptable. Would you like to bond with the Settlement Core?
Y/N
“Looks like you're compatible sir,” Kedryn said with a grin.
“You have got to be slagging kidding me!” Bragden cried, shaking Krazzik back and forth with a crazed look.
“I told ye he was a blessing sent by the Mother, brands and all,” Krazzik said with a smug look.
“By the Overseer’s light,” Riya whispered, grabbing hold of Kedryn for support.
“Nobody is going to accept anything until someone gives me an explanation!” Glade snapped, pointedly looking at Krazzik and Kedryn.
“Ye truly have no idea what this is?” Bragden asked in a voice that bordered on crazy.
“None whatsoever,” Glade said, then looked to Kedryn. “How about you?”
“I have a guess, but I’d prefer to hear it from someone with actual knowledge on the subject,” Kedryn said with a shrug.
Glade gave the Kid a nod of approval before turning back to the dwarves.
“I’ll tell ye what I know, but this,” Bragden took a deep breath. “This changes everything. A settlement core be a legendary grade item that can change a village into a world power.”
That raised Glade’s eyebrows.
Kedryn whistled in appreciation.
“The Crag, the dwarven kingdom’s capital has a two-pointed settlement core and is the real reason we dwarves be a force to be reckoned with throughout the lands. The core helps me people find rare resources, smith better arms and armor, create battle hardened warriors, and delve far deeper into the earth than would normally be possible. But most important, settlement cores can grow buildings.”
“Seriously?” Kedryn asked, his eyes alight with excitement. “That is so much better than I thought it would be!”
“Which is why ye need to bond the core!” Krazzik explained in a gruff voice. “This here be more than just chance, it be sent from the depths o’ the Mother herself!”
“You lost your chance to give me advice when you took advantage of the bond,” Glade said before turning back to Bragden. “What does the whole compatibility thing mean?”
“To bond a settlement core, one must first be determined to be compatible,” Riya shared. “From the little I’ve read, finding someone compatible is almost as impossible as finding an actual settlement core. Access has rarely, if ever, been granted to researchers so they can study settlement cores in detail. Because of that, no one really knows what the requirements are to be compatible.”
“The elf has the right o’ it,” Bragden said. “And ye are compatible! To not attempt bonding with the core would be idiotic in every sense o’ the word. Even beardless gnomes would attempt bonding a settlement core in your position!”
“I’ll think about it,” Glade sighed. “We’ll head back to camp and discuss it in more detail. We have time and I’m not in any condition to make a decision of this magnitude.”
“Don’t be daft!” Krazzik snorted. “This here be the only real option we have at surviving. But puttin that gold nugget o’ sound advice aside, no one simply leaves a treasure o’ this magnitude behind.”
Glade slumped on the throne. “Is this everyone’s opinion?”
“Yes!” they all said at once.
“Fine,” Glade sighed, selecting yes. “But if this goes sideways…”
Before Glade could fully articulate his concerns, an unseen force pulled him into the back of the throne, locking him in place as the world erupted into a bright light.
Whatever warmth Glade had remaining rushed out of him, his health bar dropping from a comfortable 104 to 70 in a blink.
Unseen bands of iron wrapped around his chest, stopping his lungs while squeezing the life from his already battered body.
His health dropped again to 40, then 15.
In a panic, Glade allocated his remaining attribute points into constitution, bringing his health up to 65. Whatever was siphoning his life away seemed to be waiting for that exact moment as another 60 points disappeared.
Muted shapes against the blinding light moved around Glade as his vision darkened, their voices barely registering as little more than buzzing shadows. And it was cold. So… very… cold...
Glade watched in resignation as his health continued to drop point by point until it reached 1, at which point his eyesight began to dim.
As Glade’s tentative grip on life began to fade, a blaze of warmth and fire embraced his mind, providing him with a surge of life that went beyond anything he had felt before.
His little ember had finally woken from its long slumber, and it appeared to be very unhappy that his one and only friend was quite literally on deaths door.
Glade’s HP miraculously shot up to 71, only to be siphoned back down to 10 by the core.
A new notification appeared.
The egg connected to you has volunteered its life force on to complete the bonding process with the Settlement Core.
Mana provided to the egg up to this point: 472 points.
Remaining mana: 472, 447, 422, 397…
Glade watched in horror as the mana he had meticulously fed to the innocent life disappeared.
347, 322, 297…
“NO!” Glade projected, trying in vain to keep the points from dropping further.
247, 222. 197…
The counter finally slowed to a stop, the egg weakly projecting a feeling of immense triumph before its weakened mind slipped back into a deep sleep.
Congratulations! You have bonded with the three-pointed Settlement Core of Storm’s Rest! Thanks to the prodigious amount of life and mana provided, all three sections of the core have been attuned.
New owner: Glade - Royally Bonded to Bei'Kedryn Ri'Serevilir, Sah’eld to Da'Riya Ki'Loshere, Blood Brother to Chief Krazzik Slaghammer of the Slaghammer Clan, and titled Strategist.
As owner of the core, its abilities, resources, and secrets are now yours! More can be discovered through your personal interface.
Congratulations! You have received a new title: Master of Storms, the owner and provincial lord of Storms Rest.
Glade dismissed the message, quickly pulling up the only prompt that mattered.
Egg’s anticipated life expectancy: 18 hours, 53 minutes, 08 seconds.
Required mana for -
Minimum Stabilization: 86/654 MP
Acceptable Stabilization: 86/981 MP
Optimal Stabilization: 86/1308 MP
Quietly, Glade closed the prompt and settled back into the throne with the kind of sigh that summarized the depth of frustration and anguish he truly felt.
A new icon appeared in the corner of his vision in the same shape as the three-pointed star.
Another notification appeared, which Glade ignored. Instead, he continued to stare in shock at the loss of mana that would have saved his little ember.
There was no doubt that bonding the settlement core was supposed to be momentous in every way. In fact, it would likely change the course of their entire future. But at that moment, he didn’t care.
“Stop keepin us in suspense!” Bragden barked, glancing between Krazzik, Kedryn, and Glade. “Did he bond the core or not?”
Glade ignored the question, though he was so spent he doubted he could have stringed two words together. Instead, he closed his eyes and let himself slip into sleep.
A single tear escaped the corner of his eye, freezing in place mid-way down his cheek.