A dream:

You stand on cobbled streets, the air is full of sounds and smells all around you, commotion, conversation, interaction, a marketplace you reckon. Dozens if not hundreds of stalls line the walkways and everywhere you look items are changing hands, money being exchanged, people shouting and touting their wares. You can barely see the sky for the cloth coverings being extended out from all the buildings on either side. Through what small gaps there are you can see objects floating through the air, moving with purpose to their destinations. There is one building in the center, you aren’t sure what it is made of but it is painted plain white and atop that scenes like out of this very marketplace are painted on it.

There is a stall near you where a human merchant is holding up a sword and showing it off to passers by. He pulls it free of the scabbard and holds it out into the light while shouting to the crowds walking by, seemingly extolling the virtues of the blade. He holds it in the air a moment and the blade itself begins to shine with a white light. This gets the direct attention of several people walking by. He moves it slowly back and forth through the air, again turning and twisting it in the light to show it off to those standing around. He is approached by several men, the leader of which approaches and talks to the merchant when he does the light fades from the blade as it is resheathed. The potential customer pulls a leather sack from his side, it seems slack and nearly empty as it hands from his side. The man then reaches inside and pulls out a sword of similar shape and holds it out his hand wherein the merchant places his goods for examination in the man’s outstretched hand. Now pouring over every detail of the outside of the weapons seemingly comparing the one pulled from the sack with his now considered purchase. Pulling both free he holds them side by side and they both begin to glow with a similar white light. The customer’s existing blade being just a slightly less bit bright, the potential customer nods to himself for a moment while comparing them and then starts talking back and forth with the merchant.

The customer then reaches into the same sack from which he had retrieved the blade and he pulls out a staff, just slightly taller than he or the merchant are, it appears to be made of finely carved wood and has a crystal in a gold setting at one end. The merchant places his hand on it for a second and you recognize the gestures and light of magic from his hands for a moment. After a few seconds he starts talking rigorously back and forth with the customer again. Some sort of negotiation almost certainly. They place the staff on the table and the man once again reaches into the sack now pulling out a large tray several feet wide and long from the small sack. The tray appears to have many small compartments each latched closed. The customer runs his hand along them till he opens up a particular one and pulls from it a couple of small cut gems holding them out for the merchant to examine. Back and forth they go again holding out fingers to reinforce the number of these gems they think would make the trade fair.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Nearby you can see a small humanoid who is working feverishly behind the salescounter that it seems to be manning. It is very small the size of a child, however more than one thing betrays the true age of it. It has wrinkles forming at the corners of its eyes and bits of grey forming at the temples moving into a mass of styled hair. Its eyes seem large for the size of the creature and pointed ears also betray its inhumanity. After a few more seconds of work it turns and it places this metal contraption down on the table that seems to be at the height of all the surrounding tables only allowing the creature to reach it by the platform seemingly built behind it. It appears to be a metal sphere slightly oblong in shape. He calls out to several patrons of this market and seemingly invites them to come and see what it is. A small group gather round most especially near the front are children and young teens. The creature places his hand on top of the metal ball and it quickly unwraps, sprawling out into the shape of a creature. It appears as if a small dragon with metal wings and body, even its scales are made up of small plates like you see on scale metal armor. This thing is most certainly not flesh and blood as you can see places where light passes through gaps in the metal and looking at the face of it there is no expression only cast metal. It moves and appears to walk back and forth across the table, its little head whipping back and forth as it seemingly eyes those who have come to observe it. The salesperson holds out his hand to the metal creature and it quickly crawls up his arm and sits on his shoulder as it does the small creature flares out his arms in a victorious manner. Another second and the metal creature makes its way to the top of the small creature's head and seems to walk in a small circle before curling up in the mass of the creature's hair. The small salesman quickly picks it up and places it again on the table. It seems to stretch out for a moment before once again walking back and forth across the table. The salesman then takes out a small wooden stick from under the table, a bit of pitch on one end. He holds it up and says something and the small metal creature like thing and its eyes seem to catch on what he is holding out. After a few seconds you start to see a small bit of flame building inside the creature, the lapping flame and smoke escaping through the gaps in the creation’s metal skin. Then all at once a small burst of flame shoots out of the creature's mouth and hits the small ball of pitch igniting it. The salesman then waves it back and forth in front of his audience to make sure they all can see. He then places it in a small bowl of water set on the edge of the table where several other similar small now burnt wooden sticks rest. The audience then starts to clamor with several of the adults holding up small pouches and shouting to the salesman, who’s smile now grows quite wide. He seems to answer them back and several of his audience even seem to argue with each other for a few moments before one of them hands the pouch over. The salesman places his hand on the small creature and it once again curls up into a ball it’s metal wings wrapping around itself it the same egg shape that it had been at the start. After counting out the coinage the small salesperson hands it over to the young woman who seemingly has made a new acquisition. She turns to leave and two young boys follow quickly after her jumping up and down and talking excitedly to one another.

You wake.