Norbert looked at the paper that had been presented to him. Holding his hand above the piece of paper as it shook, something wanted the pen to write the signature and finish with the document. His hands shook as he sent energy around his body, trying to buy himself several seconds as he scanned through the document in front of him.
Their eyes went down, glazing over the words as he seemed to read them but did not comprehend the meaning behind them. A fog in his mind caused the gears in his head to seize up. As Norbert stared at the paper in front of him, the quill slipped from his fingers as it tumbled towards the table. A flick of his pinkie caused the quill not even to spill a drop on the page.
His fate unsealed as it fell to the table with a splatter, its ink dribbling on the table, tendrils trying to claw to the paper and leave a mark on it. Norbert wiped it away with his hand, the quill falling to the floor beside him. Staring up at the underground dweller in front of him, raising an eyebrow in ire that he knew the person sitting opposite him couldn’t hear. Silence filled the room, and Norbert started tapping his finger on the table, but the person opposite him was still not making a move.
Norbert is sitting there, the other fingers of his right hand joining in on the tapping with his index finger. After a minute of this and still nothing from the person in front of him, Norbert opened his mouth. “Your ploy with this”, waving his hand over the paper “, didn’t work, so just cut to the chase, and I might still agree with what you want,” Norbert spoke, watching the other person but getting nothing in return; when he opened his mouth, they seemed to freeze in place. “But clocks ticking”
Norbert continued to tick three times, thirteen times, and thirty-three times. After sixty tick-tocks, his mouth beginning to get sore from the repetitive motion, he pulled his chair out, and the room sprung into action.
The table was getting pushed into him, splintering against his body as energy rushed inside it, ready to send him crashing out of the room if Norbert so-wed it. A metal projectile was being launched from somewhere. Just a slight turn of his head as it scratched off the side of his helmet, clattering to the wall behind him, the slight ringing in his helmet from the impact.
Leaning back, his head brushed against the wall behind him as he kicked the table, splitting the wood in two. The person who had previously tried to persuade him to sign was now winded and falling to the ground from the retaliation.
Hearing the metal projectile clatter to the floor as he gazed over it, the tiny needle-like object spinning on the floor. His eyes scrunched up as he imagined if he hadn’t moved his head, going into his eye and likely to his brain.
“You tried to kill me?” Norbert spoke, scanning the two others on the other side of the room in the corners, one holding a spear, while the other had no obvious weapon other than the needle-shaped daggers around their waist.
Staring at the Hidden Elf across from him, he saw that there was still no reply. Turning his head to the left and right, the one on each side behind him still in their corners, their pose no longer relaxed, hands
“Can we please be civil now? We both know I can escape here. But I don’t want to bother with that hassle of being chased around another city.” Norbert spoke, breaking the silence, looking down at the broken chair beneath his feet. Finding the leg with most of the chair intact as he sat down on it, positioning it so he could properly balance.
Pulling the broken table back towards him, hands clasped, he waited for the other side to react. Staying perfectly still, he did not tap his fingers, feet, or tongue to make a noise. He changed his vision to magic and began to look around the room, staring at the quill out of the corner of his eyes.
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The magic within it had a pink hue, the lightest pink somehow coming off the hair of the writing device. Turning his gaze to the contract, which was still sitting on the desk in the same spot as before despite the kerfuffle the room had experienced, he looked over the paper. His head was swimming with the runes underneath, the words that previously made no sense, as he could see the inner workings of the letters turning by themselves.
The language was still indecipherable to him. As he stared at it, his mind tranced, locking it in place. Out of the corner of his eye, a pink line came from the quill and the paper, coming towards his mind. The energy within his body speeded up, soothing his mind and dispelling the magic that the items tried to influence him to use.
"That is really nasty. Can you please disable it?" Norbert asked, finally making a noise as he peeled it off the table, his fingers trying to get it out from underneath it as it half ripped off. The spell within it fizzled out, finally going dark and turning towards the three on the other side, confirming that they had no spells brewing and waiting to be unleashed. With a nod of his head, he said that nothing else was happening to him then.
"Can you please just talk?" Norbert pleaded, his hand falling off the table and hanging beside him. All life had been lost as it continued to sway back and forth.
"You are unlike any of the others."
"Well, you're not going to get many members of an embassy going through your halls." Norbert raised his arms on both sides and into the air of the incredible cavern he had just experienced. "Due to your ... slight pest problem."
"Most would have broken by now, and we can send them off on their way." The Under Elf spoke to him from the middle, and Norbert was thankful that somewhat of a strange conversation was happening.
"And where is that?"
"That's for you to find out."
Norbert nodded, "So ... what now? You can't send me off from your attacks before; you don't want people coming down here. And I didn't see you at the championship that just passed and sparked a bunch of stuff I have no clue about."
Norbert felt the thunder crackling behind their eyes as he continued to stare at him.
"How sure are you?"
"Well, I was one of the champions in the tournament after the Northerners declared war, and my general annoyance with the Kreevss and calling them lizards, so they have a vendetta against me. War will likely happen if it hasn't already started to knock on people's doorsteps.
"So, what are you doing here?"
"A spell, or more likely a curse is forcing me to continue in a direction, followed it down the mountain. Fell through a hole where I departed from my companions. Followed a river, and now, I'm here."
"Hmmm, the old traps are still in effect."
Norbert raised an eyebrow “Old traps?”
“Yes, the old traps to stop those above from venturing too far below into our territory.”
Norbert nodded in approval of the conversation’s direction. “And what is deeper within your territory?”
“Places that even we do not go down into.”
Norbert nodded his head, leaning as he precariously balanced on what little remained of his chair. “Well, that sounds exactly where I need to go. Don’t you agree, feet?” Norbert asked, picking one of his feet up and placing it on the table, wiggling it back and forth as he nodded.
“Yes, they seem to agree. Now, is there anything else that’s needed?” Norbert asked, looking at the three Under Elves in front of him, all three staring at him, shoulders dropped at his decree.
“What, I’m not that crazy?” Norbert asked, looking to the side and at the guard on either side. Turning back to the front, he saw the guard that threw the needle, no longer holding their hand and hovering over their weapons.
“So, what was in the document anyway, now that you're shocked?”
“To clear out the tunnels underneath us”
“And what does Morenas get in return?”
The elf sitting at the table, Norbert, watched as the corner of their lips went up. “Absolutely nothing.”
Norbert is just shaking his head at his current turn of events. “Well, it looks like that duplicitous action won’t be required. I will likely need some assistance and resources to clear these tunnels out.”
Norbert got off what remained of the chair, hearing it clutter the ground. “Say, wont you shake my hand on this?” Norbert asked, feeling the mask pulse its harsh red light and watching the reflection in the eyes of the elves in front of him.