Steadying my nerves I opened my eyes and took a look at the mirror.

“Nope, still a Dwarf” I said bitterly and kept pacing around the room as I’d been doing for the last couple of minutes.

In retrospective, it should have been obvious that something was different with me, but the whole ‘being in an unknown place’ situation took precedence and it swept all other minor concerns under the metaphorical rug.

The thought made me let out a humourless snort because only in an impossible circumstance like this one could result in having a Racial-change be the least of my worries. Fortunately, it didn’t look like I was going to suffer from body dysphoria, which was a really nice thing as I was not looking forward to feeling like a stranger in my own skin.

Shaking my head to erase that grim image I went to leave the mirror on the table before walking back to the bed and sitting down; though I frowned when I had to help myself with a hand and a hop, making me grumble under my breath. At home I wasn’t one of the tallest persons around; in fact, I would say that my height was around high-average and even then, it always made me feel a little insecure.

And here I was now, shorter than before; as if I wasn’t self-conscious enough. Couldn’t whatever brought me here be so kind as to at least let me be the same height?

‘Still,⎯’ I looked down to my arms, resting on my knees, and the bandages wrapped over part of them ‘⎯it could’ve been worse’ At least I wasn’t missing a limb or anything; and if Oshanna’s enquires were anything to go by I was found wounded in some way and then healed, probably by her.

“So, I guess I can add waking up on a safe place as part of my blessings⎯” My voice stopped dead on its tracks while every other thought took a screeching halt.

Blessings.

How could I have forgotten one of the most common troupes when it comes to reincarnation, transmigration and the like? Every instance someone is sent to another world they are always given a ‘Cheat’; a One-of-a-Kind powerful supernatural ability that would ensure not only their survival, but success.

The form these ‘Cheats’ could take, vary from person to person and place to place, but the most usual were Gamer-themed. Metaphysical systems that converted all that a person, their user, was into numbers and allowed their upgrade, making them more than what they could ever be. And that was without mentioning the many other possible inclusions that a system could bring.

By this point my whole body was trembling with excitement as I felt hope and desire sing through my veins. I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears while a smile spread across my face; and as I looked up, took a breath and said in a voice brimming with confidence…

“System”

Nothing happened.

“Status… Menu… Stats… Perks... Quests…” I said in lower and lower tones “Help?” Until the words were no more than whispers as my face fell, the same as my excitement, with each failed attempt. Even so, I forced myself to remain optimistic.

Perhaps it was the other type of broken power where you received a special magic or capability. Things like being able to bring forth the flames of hell, or to stop time with a thought, or to manipulate gravity or something equally absurd. The point is that occasionally the ‘Cheat’ wouldn’t be as obvious at the beginning, but made apparent with a little effort on the part of the person.

I straightened my back and closed my eyes, and wiggled in place a couple of times to get comfortable, as I tried to look for something. The fantasy stories talked about finding a sensation or feeling deep inside oneself so that was what I decided to try.

I couldn’t say how much time passed while I searched. The sense of hope was already dulled and replaced by gloom resignation when I started to perceive a feeling in my gut. The best way I could describe it was like suddenly being aware of a ball inside my chest.

My mood improved greatly with its discovery; the smile coming back, albeit a little more restrained than before, and with renewed eagerness my focus zeroed on the sensation in an attempt to find more about it. To manipulate it in some form. For that I imagined hands reaching and grabbing, trying to sink my mental fingers on the ‘ball’ to get it to move, rotate, stretch, or anything really.

However, after what felt like a couple of minutes, my attempts found no success. I could sense no change whatsoever besides pressure growing slowly but steadily from the sensation in my chest, which made me frown in confusion and a little concern. Yet, I kept trying. Even when my mental efforts proved futile in the end, I just switched to trying by applying pressure via contracting the muscles of my torso.

This proved more successful as I could feel a vague rumbling while the ball felt as if it was finally moving. Though the pressure didn’t stop, but instead kept going up, which was starting to become worrisome. Still, there wasn’t much of anything that I could do as I had no idea of what I was doing and it suddenly dawned on me that maybe trying to find secret powers inside oneself without knowing a thing about anything mystical wasn’t such a great idea.

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’ I mused as I squared my shoulders. My utter focus on keeping the ‘ball’ in place to no avail as with a sudden rise it started to crawl up my chest, looking for what I guessed was a release; and I grimaced, prepared to face the consequences of my impatience and lack of forethought.

When a deep belch came out from my mouth, strong enough to reverberate a little around the room.

Heat bloomed all over my face as the embarrassment hit with the ferocity of a raging inferno. I had to cover my face with my hands so the shame could be hidden and the manly grunt, that was definitely not a whimper, was muffled.

It should’ve been obvious that there wouldn’t be a ‘Cheat’ to help me, life wasn’t like that for it was never easy. Why would random troupes from fantasy novels even be real? I shouldn’t have expected for things to just fall over my feet. I knew why I did, though. The appeal to see myself as some kind of chosen or protagonist was too alluring to not give consideration; so, I could only blame myself for the heartache.

Taking a deep breath, and realizing just how many times I needed one in such a short span, followed by a slow and soft exhale let me get rid of the majority of the frustration, together with any other lingering feelings of anxiety, shame and worry that built up since waking and were lurking in the background.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

By that point I was feeling emotionally drained and wanted to curl under the bed sheet and sleep until the world made sense again.

A nearby click yanked my attention, making me look up while putting my hands down over my knees. The door leading to the outside opened and Oshanna entered the room before closing it.

For a time, no one said anything. She went around the place with quiet steps and a confident if neutral gait, checking the cauldron for a moment, looking along the shelves and pausing when she reached the table before she finally took a seat in the same chair close to the bed.

From my part I watched her going without knowing what I should do. I still had so many questions about the place I found myself, but I didn’t know how to broach the topic without sounding like some crazy person.

The silence stretched out to the point of becoming awkward when Oshanna decided to talk “You have questions, boy. Ask them away” My jaw fell in surprise, which made her elicit a soft huff “It’s written all over your face. If you want to know something, you should ask. Doubt will only hinder you and waste time”.

I pursed my lips, not knowing if I really was that transparent or if it was something else, but there was nothing I could do to address it at the moment beyond putting a pin on it. A search through her face revealed nothing aside from an expression of complete calm, showing that even if her words were a little harsh, she wasn’t bothered.

“I do” I said with a nod, taking a second to gather my thoughts and ask for one of the more pressing issues that could be safely tackled. “You said I was hurt before coming here, could you tell me how that happened?”

“We are not sure” She said “You were found unconscious on the road coming from the South, among the remnants of a caravan that suffered a most likely creature attack, so you were brought here to receive treatment, but besides some minor injuries there was nothing life threatening”.

“I see…” Her matter-of-fact tone was a little off-putting, but not more than her explanation. A chill ran down my back imagining the kind of beast that could lay waste to a group of people and the fact that it was common enough to not garner much of a reaction “Was there any other survivor?” I asked hopefully.

Sadly, Oshanna shook her head while adjusting her posture “None. You were the only one we could find” I let my shoulders drop, dejected that there was no one else alive.

On one hand it was sad to know that other people died, but like at home, when you read of others passing on the news, it was more in the general sense of empathizing with the situation. You felt bad, but not overtly because there was no deeper connection. On the other hand, that’s what I was hoping to find.

If I was found with the caravan it only made sense that I was part of it. Maybe I was travelling with them. Maybe I had a life in this world and people that could help me. Or maybe not as I had no memories of living as a dwarf and interacting with others you should be familiar with but didn't sound very stressful.

“There were also some belongings that weren’t destroyed” I perked up at that, surprised “Tomorrow we’ll go to the Hall of Law in Ederveil so you can retrieve them” I nodded, still in disbelief, but also happy to know that I wasn’t without means even if I didn’t know what those were.

Suddenly, the future didn’t seem as gloomy as before.

“You mentioned that we are close to Ederveil, right?” I asked with interest “Could you tell me more about it?” To which she acquiesced.

Over the course of the evening, I was told that Ederveil was on the northernmost part of the Un-Dôrh Kingdom⎯ a dwarven kingdom, what a coincidence ⎯, located on the border between a forest called The Loomingshade Forest and the Hollowed Mountains. Apparently, the town acted, to a greater extent, as a middle point among the communities living under the mountains and the city of Silvervale to the southwest, which according to Oshanna was very far away with the trek being fairly risky; and to a lesser extent, the town also fulfilled the role of being a gateway to and fro the territory of the Viulka Tribes in the north, which doesn’t really saw too much movement on the day to day.

All considered, Ederveil was a semi-isolated town in the far regions of the kingdom, which sounded great for someone trying to find their bearings like me, except for the part that the surroundings were very dangerous for the unaware. ‘Don’t stray too much from the paths or too deep into the forest if you don’t want to be a creature’s snack’, was her advice and considering how I was found I was keen on following it.

The option of going to the south wasn’t even worth considering as I would have to brave the forest on my own, a death sentence; or join a caravan, which will cost a pretty coin, possibly high into the gold⎯ at this point I was not even surprised that they used precious metal coins as currency ⎯which I had none at the moment.

I was stuck.

“What am I going to do?” I asked myself as I took a seat over the table. Night had fallen some hours ago and Oshanna decided that it was time to prepare dinner. I, of course, offered to help with cooking, but one look was enough to disabuse that idea. Instead, I changed tracks and asked to help with preparing the table.

She wanted to refuse, but I made my new race proud by stubbornly insisting. I already felt bad for taking too much of her hospitality and mama didn’t raise an ungrateful brat. It still took some coaxing, but she ended up agreeing if for nothing else than for me to stop being a bother.

So, with some directions the table was cleared and dressed with a simple tablecloth and utensils for both.

“The town is a safe place” She said while stirring the cauldron with a soup spoon “The forest is dangerous enough that banditry is close to non-existent whereas the creatures inhabiting it maintain a wary distance” She poured the content into two bowls, after which she took one in each hand and came closer, leaving one in front of me before taking her place “There shouldn’t be a problem for a young dwarf to find work and save some coin. Now eat, boy. You need meat on your bones”.

The fragrant smell of herbs and meat coming from the stew flooded my senses and made my stomach release a loud grumble, reminding me that I hadn't had a single bite since who knows how long. Fortunately, I had enough presence of mind to not take the bowl between my hands and chug, no matter how tempting. I had my manners. Instead, I took a spoon and proceeded to vigorously transfer the contents to my belly as any civilized fellow would.

When the first mouthful touched my tongue, it brought out a muffled groan as I had to close my eyes for a moment to fully appreciate the intense flavour that even gave me goosebumps. The meat was tender to the point of coming undone with the least amount of effort between my teeth, exploding and merging perfectly with the earthy taste of the herbal broth. It was sublime.

It was also weird as all hells.

The flavour wasn’t too different from what I could remember from similar food; and yet it was. There was something that made it so much more to the point of being almost overwhelming.

With a sigh I opened my eyes in bliss⎯and felt my ears starting to burn along with my cheek at Oshanna’s wide-eyed incredulous face. I pulled my gaze down back to the food to keep going as if nothing happened, mustering all the shame I felt to force myself to not groan again with the next mouthful.

Of course, I successfully failed the attempt; but it was the thought that counted.

As I continued eating without acknowledging Oshanna’s inquisitive gaze my mind drifted to her previous words. It all came down to getting a job that would pay enough to cover basic expenses while allowing a few savings. As she said, it should be easy for a dwarf to find one; except that I was not a true dwarf. I lacked their most basic worldly knowledge, to not even talk about what would be expected of a man of my apparent age.

I sighed, putting the spoon down on the emptied bowl ‘I can only hope my home’s knowledge is enough’.

Hearing a chair being dragged I looked up and watched as Oshanna gathered her bowl and spoon, so I proceeded to do the same “If you let me, I can wash the dishes” I offered, to which she shook her head.

“That won’t be necessary” She said while taking the things I used, walked to one of the shelves and piled everything together with their clean counterparts. For my part I could only blink in baffled confusion and was about to ask when she extended a hand, made a gesture, whispered under her breath and the leftovers over the dishes peeled off as if it was a made of paper, after which it quickly broke apart like ashes until it completely disappeared, leaving them all spotless.

My eyes and mouth were wide open, incapable of comprehending what I had seen. On an intellectual level I already knew that this was a very likely possibility, but to have it thrown so blatantly to my face still felt shocking and surreal. There was no denying it, though.

I had witnessed real Magic.

“You should retire to sleep. Tomorrow, we wake at first light and it’ll be for the best for you to be rested” I was barely able to grunt a reply as she went through the second door and I to the bed once again.

However, as my back rested on the mattress, I found myself overflowing with a sense of wonder and giddiness. At home life wasn’t bad as I had a job, family that loved me and friends that I cherished; but as the days passed and things became repetitive it felt as if life turned into something mundane. I was self-aware enough to realize that part of the fault for the lack of excitement was my own doubt and fear, which always made me second-guess my decisions for improvement.

With Magic being real, thought, the mundane can become the extraordinary and I could sense an almost dead spark of childhood dreams regaining strength as images of throwing fireballs, summoning lightning and many other buzzed in my head as unending possibilities cast away, for the moment, the uncertainty that was my new life.

In the end it was with a hopeful smile that I closed my eyes as exhaustion finally took its toll, sending me to sleep and dreams of learning magic with flamboyant wizard hats, rattly brooms and colourful potions.