All but inert, the “flying saucer”-like drop pod fell slowly towards the planet, waiting for energy. The background radiation and magnetic field were too insufficient.

As it began to rub against the outermost layers of the planet’s atmosphere, the friction provided kinetic energy and heat. Better.

When the air was thick enough to ignite, the unique outer skin of the pod activated.

Called a Power Absorbing Panel (aka “PA Panel”) it had the ability to convert almost ANY form of energy (heat, radiation, light, kinetic) into electricity. It completely revolutionized warfare, and to a lesser extent space travel when it first came out.

Well…

Actually…

Not when it first came out, but when it was first pulled apart, deciphered and finally understood enough to be put into mass-production. The scientist who created it was well-known for his unwillingness to document how his inventions worked… or how to maintain them… or even how to turn them on.

Charging with the influx of new energy, a number of electronics started awakening as the drop pod continued plummeting towards the surface.

Errik and Erissa Fjelstad ran slowly, panting, even though they were in a hurry. Their obvious excitement kept their spirits high and their long black beards waving like dog tails, just as it kept their stamina low.

They had no choice.

They had no chance.

They were dwarves, and minerals talk to dwarves.

But something above their heads was singing.

It was a Lorelei song of metals and crystals made to impossibly exact standards. Each new alloy revealed was a piece of lingerie made by master tailors to make even the most jaded eyes goggle. Each new circuit coming online was a lover describing over the phone in intimate detail what it was doing while the parents were away. Some elements were mixed with others in precisely specific amounts to make a far more interesting whole, like a busty next-door neighbor. Other elements were as pure as a young, innocent, virgin princess asking to be taught just what the big deal was about this sex thing anyways.

The drop pod was a body sculpted to obscene perfection, with not a single trace of wasted space and not a single atom out of place.

To a craftsman trained from birth, it was a slap in the face as to how much there was still to learn. Whoever possessed this work of near-erotic art could spend the rest of his life happily learning new techniques and skills from it. The world would suddenly become a far larger, warmer (and let’s be honest, richer) place than ever dreamed.

The future was literally falling from the heavens.

The poor dwarves never had a choice.

They never had a chance.

So they came, from their mountains, from their keeps, from their mines, from their holes.

First come, first served.

The race was on.

Errik and Erissa were in the lead compared to the rest of their clan, but that was mainly because of their Cheat.

Dwarves are formidable foes, not just because of their defensive tactics, but because of their ridiculous resistance to magic. Most dwarves can shrug off lethal spells that could normally slaughter a small group of other beings.

Unfortunately, that also means they have virtually no way to cast magic.

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

However, dwarves are also known for one other thing: their ability to craft. Be it wood, rocks, metal or crystal, give a dwarf enough raw materials and he’ll chisel out whatever he needs.

Give a dwarf enough time, and that tool becomes a weapon, or vice versa.

Give that dwarf enough descendants, and that weapon-tool becomes the ornate god of all Swiss Army Knives.

But if one of those dwarves should come across a friendly spirit who can cast magic, that Swiss Army Knife can get a lightsaber attachment.

That is what a Dwarven Cheat is. Dwarves can’t cast magic, but they can get a magic trick, one that can be done over and over and over again.

Naturally dwarves are very secretive about the number and quality of their Cheats, preferring to limit them to the very best and most durable equipment, which for a dwarf is usually a hammer.

Errik and Erissa had brought the family hammer and mace. Because of the siren call of the drop pod, the prospect of a horrible death never really had a chance to properly enter their heads. They were heading into Brown Leaf territory, and the elves there had quite enough problems dealing with the armies of goblins testing the borders north of them to let just anybody wander across their lands, least of all some hairy dwarves.

The coming rainstorm wasn’t going to help either.

Elves loved the rain. It watered the flowers and the trees, and washed the nasty dust and dirt away.

Dwarves thought water had its place: lubricating grinding wheels, sluicing unwanted materials away from the gold ore, cooling forged iron, and so on. If water was falling on you from above though, it meant the mine you were in was about to dissolve and collapse.

Also, the humidity made their beards frizz up something terrible.

The two siblings had just one advantage over their fellow dwarves. It was a good one though: a Cheat, created to help the agoraphobic dwarves get from Place A to Place B without having to deal with all that open sky that just goes on and on and on. They had developed it in secret, even to their own families, because the wonderful thing falling down wasn’t the only thing that had been calling them. There was also a small underground bunker on the plains. To be fair, the machines in the bunker weren’t nearly as nice, but the Work of Art was going to crash right next to it on the very same day they perfected their Cheat, so isn’t this like a Sign from the God of Dwarves?

Having caught their breaths yet again, the two siblings looked at each other and reached a conclusion. Running may save on mana, but constantly exhausting themselves due to their excitement only gave the rest of the clan time to catch up.

Errik pulled the huge war-hammer off his back and channeled power into it, making various crystals and glyphs along the haft light up. Then with a cry of “Dwarf Road!” he swung the hammer into the ground.

A large dark hole appeared, big enough to swallow a table, deep enough that the bottom couldn’t be seen.

Without hesitation the two dwarves jumped in…

And reappeared almost immediately more than ten miles away.

Up in orbit the sudden mass migration of dwarves towards the projected landing site of the drop pod did not go unnoticed.