Dwindle strutted the whole way home with his arms swinging wide, whistling a tune while a bag of coins on his belt jingled. He sounded like a holiday was coming soon. But no seasonal celebrations were in store—just a happy dwarf that just received his pay.
The dwarf could practically feel the financial burden flying off his petite shoulders.
Poly was in the back of his home, planting seeds in a patch of land only a few feet wide. Dwindle doubted her skill, but she mentioned that elves didn’t need magic to grow plants. Nature loved them from the moment they were born. She guaranteed that something would grow.
“Dwindle,” Poly shouted as the dwarf stepped inside his home.
"Yes, lady elf," Dwindle called back in the overly nice way some humans speak. The bag of coins had made the dwarf jovial.
“Two young men came to see you earlier.”
“Who were they?”
“They didn’t say. One had teeth like a rat, and the other couldn’t wipe the grin off his face—though he was quite likeable."
“They must’ve been swindlers. Pay them no heed.” Dwindle placed a stack of coins on a table built like miniature tower and called out, “I’m going to the guild bank, then to the upper district to buy vegetables for the champ. I left something for you on my table!”
“Alright.”
Poly wiped off the dirt of her gardening activities and stepped inside. When she saw the coins, she smiled with watery eyes.
She sniffed, "Thanks, Dwindle. Thanks, Red."
Dwindle made a trip to the upper districts to purchase vegetables.
He still had licenses that allowed entry into the upper districts from his mercantile and blacksmithing days. Because of his cousins who worked in those districts, his credentials were never revoked during his stay in Soalde. They weren’t on speaking terms (unsurprisingly, due to an argument), but they helped each other in the small ways they could.
Dwarven familial bonds were not easily broken.
Taking a trip into the wild, Poly used her songs to draw beasts into traps and stocked a meat supply. Dwindle brought home a sage symbol box used to preserve the gathered food, which consumed most of the coin the troll quest had paid. After everything was gathered, Red then spent one month training until he began to see a body composition that satisfied him.
By the end of the training, Dwindle was more than impressed with the sight of Red. The young brawler had almost doubled in muscle mass. Red’s body seemed sculpted, and when his muscles contracted in movement, there was an almost discernible distortion in the air.
“Mana exertion,” Dwindle noted one day as he and Poly sat in grass watching the champ train. The dwarf’s stubby finger pointed out almost indiscernible dots of what looked like air popping around Red's muscles.
The way a physical fighter used mana was through their physical capabilities.
Some weapon wielders focused their mana on their weapons while others, such as Red, used it on their bodies. Dwindle guessed that Red must be intentionally exuding mana as a form of training. It was a spectacle to witness.
“That’s not it,” Poly said, her eyes squinting against the sun. She pointed at the specks of bursting air around Red. “Mana exertion is a constant flow around the body like sage symbols. The mana around Red is too chaotic.”
Dwindle’s button eyes also squinted as he murmured, “Then what is it?”
“That’s it,” Poly nearly shouted.
“Hmm?” Dwindle murmured.
“That’s how Red killed the jungle spirit! He’s beginning to use what we elves call ‘Mana Force’. The jungle spirit couldn’t escape the mana Red’s muscles naturally exerts. Much like our planet, beasts begin to produce mana that is expelled from their body when they move. Red is doing the same.”
“Can elves do this also?”
“We aren’t beasts,” Poly replied, a bit annoyed.
“But how is Red using this ‘Mana Force’?” Dwindle asked.
Poly turned back to the young brawling champion, who was dancing while kicking, and sighed. She didn’t know. Red was a mystery, and those who lived inside his head were an even greater mystery.
Gazing upon the champion fighter, the dwarf leaned back in his hands and cocked his square head curiously. The champion was beginning to appear quite formidable. Dwindle couldn’t help but be reminded of the statues strewn about the upper districts, sculpted to reflect honored heroes of old who helped defend the city from the demonic menace a millennia ago.
In those times, a demon race had been plaguing Eronia.
The abhorrent creatures were not like any other that roamed the planet. They did not have instincts of self-preservation nor any regard for other life forms. Such treacherous monsters were made wholly of malcontent and malice. The demons devoured all that was around them, including their own.
If not for the heroes of yore, such vile beings would have overrun all life, casting everything into chaos and darkness.
During such a dark age, heroes of all races banded together to fight back the demons. Because humans outnumbered most sentient races on the planet, they sacrificed more than others. A number of them rose to prominence as a result of their achievements. Such people not only helped the planet defeat the demons but also killed the leader who controlled them.
The leader was deemed by all as the Demon King because all that was wicked bowed to him, but his name in prophecy was Lighteater.
It took nearly a century for the struggle against the demons to conclude. When all was said and done, the world was rewarded with a millennium of peace. Aside from the conflicts that humans were known to wage against one another, there was never a threat that matched that of the demons.
With their funds once again running low, Dwindle went to the Hunter's Guild one day and returned with a few parchments in his plump dwarf palm.
Red saw his manager and cook approach him near the Fruitless Woods and put down some weights he was lifting.
“What are those?” Red asked, curious to what the dwarf was holding.
“Quests,” Dwindle answered simply, then splayed the parchments out on the ground for Red to look at. He pointed with a pudgy finger at one then guided the finger across the parchments while explaining, “We’ll start out with this one then move across Soalde’s territory finishing the others in one fell swoop.”
Red nodded dumbly, unable to grasp what the plan was.
"That’s quite a bit," Poly murmured, her golden eyes wiggling as she read the parchments.
Dwindle explained all the potential risks to Red and would let him know when they would be departing. Red meekly acknowledged that he wouldn't be able to understand anything and decided to wait until Dwindle returned to take him to fight something.
A day later, they were traveling once again with Dwindle’s old dwarf friend down a bumpy dirt road in the aged dwarf’s wagon. Poly shared Dwindles' sentiments on the old dwarf’s lack of skill driving the wagon but said nothing after receiving dwarven sweets from the old dwarf.
It only took them half a day in a region west of Soalde known as the Childless Woods, named after the amount of children lost in the forest over the years.
Poly stayed with the old dwarf as Dwindle guided Red deep into the dark woodland. The two navigated around the shadowed forest until they heard the sound of the maniacal cackling of old crones. The two Hunters hid behind the trunk of a dense tree and looked beyond it to find two witches around a boiling cauldron laughing crazily. A small child was asleep tied with rope at their feet.
Behind the witches and cauldron was a small unassuming cabin.
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“That’s our targets, Red,” Dwindle whispered. His eyes then focused on the child the witches had with them. “We’re going to have to take this one with a little more care than usual…”
Dwindle stopped speaking when he found Red had disappeared. He searched frantically around the area but could not find him.
The witches had suddenly stopped laughing.
Dwindle peered past the tree again and saw one of the witches had a hole in her chest. His beady eyes dashed to see Red a few yards away from the witches tossing a rock up and down in his hand playfully.
The witch with the hole in her body dropped lifeless onto the ground.
How…? Dwindle thought with confusion.
The remaining witch looked on in shock as her sister witch fell to the floor, she then hissed in Red’s direction like a wild cat. Her liver spotted fingers began to wiggle in front of her while she chanted words in an unfamiliar language.
“Red,” Dwindle started to shout, “She’s going to use magic!”
A rock sped across the air, hitting the witch directly in a veiny red eye. The witch did not realize what had happened before she fell to the floor next to her sister witch and died.
Red walked leisurely to the witches’ cabin still tossing a rock up and down in his hand. He stared into the cauldron out front and made a disgusted face smelling what was in it.
Dwindle caught up to him hollering and cheering.
“You did it again, champ!” Dwindle yelped in glee while clicking his heels in the air. His tiny eyes examined Red’s muscles as they exerted “Mana Force”. The training and mana enriched foods had done wonders for the brawling champion.
The dwarf proceeded to hack off a finger off each witch and pocketed them before searching the witches' cabin with Red for any treasures. The only item worth stealing was a book of evil magic, but Dwindle refused to sell it and threw it into the flames outside. They then picked up the sleeping infant and returned to where their old dwarf companion would return to pick them up. Their hired driver had fallen asleep, and they found Poly driving up to them instead.
Together, they went to a neighboring village that had hired the Hunter’s Guild and dropped off the child to a mother who was beyond relieved to see her son return to her. Villagers gathered around the brave heroes to offer gifts, but the hunters denied the coin presented to them, explaining that the guild already had their reward back in the city. No one accepted their refusal, and the money became forced into their hands, along with supplies.
Driving in the wagon past the village, they headed for a mountainous region north of it. During their ride, Red started to speak thoughts that were brewing inside him.
“I like that we were able to help those people,” Red commented seemingly out of nowhere.
“What was that champ?” Dwindle replied, unaware where Red’s head was at.
“I mean those villagers. I like that we made them happy.”
“Oh, that. You liked helping them?”
“Yea, it felt good,” Red said, bashfully.
Dwindle smiled at his friend and patted Red’s leg.
“Your one of a kind, champ,” Dwindle said appreciatively.
“What, why’s that?” Red asked.
“It’s nothing. Just keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll be able to help out more people.”
“Alright, I will.”
Poly was tired from driving the wagon, but the old dwarf wouldn’t wake up. He’d been as stiff as a brick, snoring since they had left the Childless Woods.
They rode up the slopes of a mountain on a rocky path that was created precariously on heights where they could no longer see the floor of the forest below it. Dwindle had to drive the wagon in the old dwarf’s stead in case the old codger fell asleep driving or his bad eyesight caused them to tip over and off the slopes. Poly got good rest lying at the back, snuggled in amongst the various packs.
Arriving near the area listed one of their quest parchments, Red and Dwindle got out of their wagon and made the last leg of the way there on foot, leaving the old dwarf to sleep in the wagon alongside the sleeping elf. After reaching near the top, they chose to hide behind boulders while watching the skies. It took half an hour for their quarry to show themselves.
Harpies, large birds with the face and upper body of women carried on the wind by wings and made lethal by sharp talons. Such creatures appeared above them, streaking across the blue sky. Their majestic spotted wings fluttered as they moved themselves through the air. Beautiful waves of hair blew franticly on their human like heads in their flight.
A rock appeared from below, hitting one of them square in the chest causing the harpy to crash toward the ground. The other harpies became alerted and scanned the ground for the aggressor. A lone young man stood defiantly below them on a path along the rocks with narrowed brown eyes and a crooked grin on his face.
Furious harpy screeches echoed across the rocky plain. They dove down toward the young man with bloodlust in their bird eyes, their sharp needle like teeth opened wide, poised to take chunks out of the hostile human.
More rocks were launched through the air as more harpies became hit, but only one other harpy was taken out of the skies. Red was an unarmed melee fighter and not much of a shot with projectiles. The witches from before died as a result of standing still, giving him an easy target to hit. The harpies were flying with speed like fish in water. It would take an actual sharpshooter to kill them while they maneuvered through their natural element.
Seeing as the harpies were getting closer, Red used a hand to push Dwindle into a crevice behind them on the rock face. Dwindle tried to argue, but he couldn’t fight against Red’s strength and found himself lodged into the rock. Red did not want his small manager to be picked up and carried off as food to feed harpy chicks.
The first harpy to close in on him, leapt onto Red, its bird claws spread, attempting to seize the human. It was a known strategy by harpies. They would grab their prey, raise them into the air, and then drop them, allowing gravity to kill for them.
Red moved easily away from the harpy while throwing a rock at it in response. The harpy moved its head to the side, away from the projectile’s path, causing the attack to miss. Its wings pumped up then down, ascending quickly away while another harpy was already atop Red with its claws.
Red saw his new bird foe and dodged again while throwing another rock but this time at a wider target, its body. The rock hit hard against the harpy’s feathery, female chest. But with no wind up like Red had used to down the two other harpies, the projectile could only leave an angry red mark without incapacitating the creature.
The harpy responded by flapping away, noticing that it had been hurt. Two more harpies flew past it like ballerinas in the sky, careening downward in spirals around each other toward Red, their colorful spotted feathers gleaming in the sun.
The brawling champion sidestepped away from one and then stepped back to evade another. A rock appeared in Red’s hand, which was then thrown against the harpy wing closest to him. It hit at the shoulder area of one of the harpies, causing it to flap in panic, but with one of its wings inoperative due to injury, it found itself on the ground soon enough.
The downed harpy flipped to its back hearing footsteps stomping near but it was too late. Red was already upon the fallen monster and was holding one leg back up above the bird’s womanly face. His axe kick landed on the harpy’s chin and crushing it along with half its face. A swath of blood dashed across the surface of rock Red had kicked toward.
The harpies in the air screeched maddeningly at witnessing such a cruel end to one of their kind and circled overhead like vultures, ready to dive down for vengeance. Red threw more rocks into the air and managed to hit a wing, causing one harpy to spiral out of the air directly to the forest below.
Three harpies remained in the sky. They went in after Red at the same time.
Thrown rocks sped upward into the air but past their diving and twisting forms, missing them. One harpy attacked Red with its claws, missing and landing against the face of the mountain causing the creature to slow down as to not become squashed by its own momentum. Another harpy went for the same kind of attack only to end up slowing its descent the same way on the mountain rocks behind Red.
The last of the three copied the others as if it was coordinated to do so. Red was ready as he climbed up suddenly and kicked off the mountain, streaking across the air with a diving kick. His kick landed on the harpy’s head, killing it outright as its skull became mixed in with its brain.
The harpy fell to the ground dead. The other two harpies decided to confront Red on the ground.
The bird monsters waddled up to him, their heads bobbing like chickens as they started their onslaught. One harpy went forward with its long, feathery neck, trying to bite Red, but it was met with a jab that dazed it and caused it to stumble backward. The other harpy went forward with a clawed foot and snatched at Red, who was moving with boxing footwork, making the attack miss.
Red took an angle on the bird monster that stood almost four heads above him and threw a hook against its feathery stomach. Saliva and blood escaped the harpy’s mouth on impact. It keeled over not able to withstand the pain. While it was hunched over, Red raised his leg above his head and brought it down on the bent over harpy’s skull in a heavy stomp.
The harpy’s head became a pile of red goo on the rocky floor.
The harpy, dazed from the jab, stumbled about and tried to lift into the air, but it was still stunned, so it flew sideways and fell over. It managed to raise its head, noticing that something was coming toward it. It was Red’s shin, and when it collided with the bird monster’s head, its feminine features were flattened as its body jolted backward from the impact.
Recoiling violently against the rocks, it died. Red moved one arm up to the sky in victory.
Dwindle amazed at the scene from his cramped corners. He never expected to witness something so spectacular in his wildest dreams. A single man slew a whole flock of harpies. The dwarf's mind searched through the stories he'd heard in the past, but none of them featured someone like Red.
It was truly like a legend unfolding before his very eyes.
Before he could yell out his praises, he saw a shadow begin to descend on Red. Before he could warn his companion of the oncoming danger, a harpy collided with Red, kicking up dust in the process.
Red had already sensed the harpy by the way the thick air moved—mana which Dwindle and Poly called it. Sensing the encroaching foe gave him opportune time to plan a counter attack. The harpy’s claws snatched at him but Red twisted around dodging then squared up with the monster. He let go an upward kick that his memories named the “front kick” simply enough.
The kick was heavy enough to ground the harpy. Red appeared to have hit it in the genitalia. The pain of the blow caused the bird monster’s eyes to pop out. When its claws touched down, a kick against one of its clawed legs appeared. Its leg bent and made a sickening cracking sound. The harpy shrieked in agony, feeling its knee and leg become dislocated from one another.
Red smirked and grabbed a hold of the harpy before it could move away.
Frantic, the harpy dove off the edge of the cliff, flapping its wings rapidly to fly away. It became frightened as it looked down at its good leg to see that the human it had attacked was hanging on to it.
It screeched at Red in anger.
Dwindle could do nothing but watch the harpy carry off his friend up and into the air. He watched as Red and the harpy struggled against each other high up in the sky. Red was grabbing viciously at the harpy’s broken leg causing the harpy to scream. The monster in response flew around in circles trying to extricate the stowaway. The two combatants, man and monster, started to get tangled up in each other’s’ limbs before they began to lose altitude.
Dwindle watched in horror as both the harpy and Red crashed downwards into the forest below. His last sight of Red was the young man wiggling a hand with his thumb and pinky out as he fell.
“Champ!” Dwindle screamed in panic.