Drugs are often treated like a taboo: Everyone tries to understand them from a perspective they feel should not be spoken. Understanding doesn’t work well like that and too often leads to misunderstanding. To understand is to speak, share, and be open with the knowledge that is—including all its good and bad. Granted, maybe you don’t need to be a great partaker of the substances either, but partaking sure helps improve the unspoken perspective. However, Aaron’s mind digresses as it tries to figure out if he’s moving slower or faster than time itself—or maybe time is moving faster than him? That is an exciting contemplation… Yelling? Wait, focus. Aaron, tell me what happened one more time, but try to do it quickly because someone is calling your name…

“What the fuck?” Yolo’s dark, oily voice was genuinely surprised.

The troll’s surprise prompted Tommy to glance over his shoulder. He caught sight of Aaron, inhaling the last glowing speck of purple dust through his nose. The elf and dwarf met each other’s eyes. Aaron’s lip quivered as the empty vial fell from his hand; his voice trembled as he spoke, “I’m sorry.”

Deep laughter and a rush of feet. Tommy snapped back to the charging troll and swung with his fire-emblazoned fist. The troll and elf roared against each other as they renewed their pugilistic combat with raging intensity.

Aaron knelt on the floor, staring at the ground. His heart was empty, and his mind hollow. The heavy thuds and blows from the fight between Yolo and Tommy echoed somewhere distantly in the dwarf’s mind. Inhaling was one of the fastest ways to get a drug to the brain, but sometimes, even the most rapid methods of administration take time. It felt like time stretched as Aaron waited for the hit to kick in. He wasn’t sure what to expect from taking this kind of dust; he only hoped it would bring him closer to Molly. The dwarf waited, and as he waited, he heard the strum of an electric vihuela. It was strange, yet comforting to hear the sound. The strumming turned to notes from a song, which accompanied the bass strumming of a guitarrón. Through the purple haze that glittered Aaron’s vision, the two instruments sang the notes of something beautiful and sad. There was a trumpet that brought melody to the sad beauty of the song, and it was accompanied by an electro-disco beat. With a sudden awareness, Aaron realized the music wasn’t coming from his head but from the stage ahead. The dwarf looked up to see the three gnomes standing on crates and boxes—they had gotten their band back together.

“Hey, enano!” The guitarrón player called out. It was the same gnome who had been the spokes-gnome for the band this whole time. “We found our instruments!”

Aaron waved back his response. For some reason, he was smiling—the dwarf could not figure out why he was smiling. Thin purple trails of dust seemed to course about his movements, and Aaron waved more vigorously, watching the dust spread in a shimmering arc.

The gnome laughed at Aaron’s excitement. “We got your inspiration, enano. You go stop the puta stomping your hermano!”

+1 Modifier to all fans and friends of the Mariachi Bard Brothers

Aaron wasn’t sure if those were the actual words the gnome was saying, but it sounded good enough. And it was great to see the system agreed with the incredibly unique blend of electro-mariachi-punk. Maybe they should call it El Macho Punk!

The dwarf caught sight of his arms, fascinated by how the purple dust emanated from every movement. He twirled and turned, enjoying the glimmering shower of purple that followed. Drugs can be something incredible and dangerous. They’re treated like a taboo all too often—oh, wait, this is where we started.

“Aaron!”

The dwarf snapped away from the fourth wall and turned to the person calling his name. It was… where was that voice… Jackie!

“Aaron!”

“Oh, brittle snaps!” Aaron exclaimed as he realized Jackie was behind the bar, and three bad Alpha Numeros converged on her spot. Aaron wasn’t sure he could get there in time; the street elf was on the other side of the club. And yet, she wasn’t; she was somewhere else. Also, the three gangers were still beating up on another ganger. Shades and shadows of purple moved through the haze as the figures at play slowly caught up to what was to be—or, more appropriately, what could be. Aaron watched the shadows of past movements stretch across what was currently happening and extend into the possible future. A genius idea struck the dwarf!

Yolo landed two solid punches into Tommy and lunged for a bite. The island elf stumbled under the blows but dodged the bite attack. Aaron bellowed a warcry as he charged at the troll. With bare-knuckled fury, the dwarf punched into the troll’s thigh.

Yolo flinched in surprise at the dwarf’s attack. The troll snatched up Aaron, raising the dwarf high into the air. This was the plan. Aaron could see himself being thrown through the air, hurtling into the group of Alpha Numero gangsters who… were not there yet. The stretched shadows of what was to be shifted into alternatives of what else could be. Instead of being thrown, Aaron’s world spun about as the troll violently slammed the dwarf into the floor.

After particularly hard nights, the dwarf would often find the world spinning faster than it ought to. The floor was always an anchor of solitude he could crash into and hold tight until the world figured out how to right itself. The dwarf welcomed the floor with open arms as he felt Yolo throw him down.

The impact with the floor caused purple dust to explode from under Aaron, prompting a sneeze from the troll. The dust blew over Tommy’s fiery fists, and the fire erupted from the brass knuckles into two blazing scimitars of raging fire. The island elf stared in awe at the fiery swords held in each hand. “Brother, what magic is this?”

Aaron smiled as he nestled into the comfort of the floor. The floor was like a viscous pool of warmth that Aaron easily sunk into. The dwarf laughed as he saw Yolo raise a foot to stomp him into the ground—he laughed because he knew the floor would envelop him before the foot would come down. Sure enough, Aaron was steadily sinking into an abyss below the floor. But this warm, viscous embrace brought a pang of terror. The floor was no longer an anchor to hold onto—it was a bottomless pit from which the dwarf knew no escape. Aaron found that he was still falling uncontrollably downward. He reached, stretched, and tried to grab at something, but there was nothing to grab. Panic shattered any remnants of comfort that had previously come from the floor as Aaron thrashed about wildly, desperately looking for an exit.

A portal opened beside Aaron to reveal Castor in a half-kneel, holding his focus rod in his remaining hand. The half-elf and dwarf stared at each other in shock, unsure how either one had gotten to the other side of the portal they were staring through.

Castor quickly retracted the focus rod in an attempt to close the portal he opened, but the injured half-elf was not fast enough. Aaron snatched the metal rod and pulled hard. Castor tumbled into the void, rolling aimlessly past Aaron and losing the grip on his focus rod. With the portal barely out of reach, the dwarf kicked and waved furiously, trying to swim close enough to grasp the portal’s edge.

His fingertips grasped the floor, and a force grasped his ankles. Aaron looked down to see Castor; one eye was swollen shut, but the other was bloodshot red and full of rage. With the determination of a mad elf, Castor climbed up the dwarf with his one good hand and murderous intent. Aaron reacted reflexively. With both hands, the dwarf swung the metal focus rod and bonked Castor on the head.

The half-elf slowly tumbled backward, away from Aaron, with both hands covering his face. Aaron returned his focus to the portal but found he, too, was drifting away. Furious kicking and swimming did little to stop his drift, so the dwarf turned to his last resort. “Help!”

His voice felt muted in this place, and the air was thick enough to drown in. Still, Aaron kicked and tried to swim toward the portal while calling out, “Help!”

A long, skinny, green-skinned arm punched through the portal and stretched to reach Aaron. The dwarf stretched as well, extending his reach with the focus rod, which the green-skinned arm was able to clasp. The arm pulled hard, and Aaron was rapidly extricated through the portal.

Tumble and roll. Aaron collided with a couple folding chairs before his rolling stopped. Grateful to have a firm floor beneath him once again, Aaron kissed the floor and then looked up to thank the one who saved him. “Swift?”

The skinny, green-skinned orc swayed; his brain was still being hammered from the excessive alcohol he had consumed in the day. Swift signed something lazily before bracing the floor from falling up. Aaron cocked his head as it seemed like he could read what the orc was saying.

You rock, Aaron. Everything here totally rules! How do you like that I saved your life, huh? This is…

Aaron shook his head and waved away the words. “Swift, we need to get out there and help.”

The dwarf got up to approach the toasted orc but found his legs did not want to walk in a straight line, so Aaron did a sideways jig and collapsed on the floor next to Swift.

W-T-F-?

Aaron wiped away those letters, too. He got close to Swift’s face to ensure the orc was listening. “Listening! —I mean, listen, Swift. You and we need to help Jackie and Tommie.”

Swift focused on uncrossing his eyes as he tried to listen to Aaron. Seeing the orc’s struggle, Aaron got another great idea. The dwarf flapped his arms and waved his hands, creating large clouds of glittering purple dust. Aaron then grabbed handfuls of the purple dust and shoved it into the orc’s face, making sure to stuff his fingers of dust up the orc’s nose and rub the orc’s tusked gums.

Waving with wild panic, Swift rolled back and leaped to his feet, attempting to escape the strange assault the dwarf was doing to his face.

By the nethers! Get your sausage fingers off my face!

“Jackie needs help!” The dwarf called out with raised hands. “Go help Jackie!”

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The orc shook his head a few times, and one eye convulsed in a rapid succession of winks. Then, when the dwarf’s words registered in his brain, Swift turned about and ran for the exit, first slamming into the wall before stumbling out a door that led to the stage.

Aaron sat for a moment, smiling, that Swift was back on track. There was a scratching to his side, and the dwarf saw Castor struggling to claw his way out of the portal. The dwarf yelped in surprise, grabbed the nearest folding chair, and swung it into the portal.

The chair collided into the half-elf, and both went tumbling into the portal’s abyss.

Shaking his head at Castor’s incredible resiliency, Aaron grabbed the focus rod and slashed wildly at the portal until it suddenly closed. With the portal closed, the dwarf dropped back into a folding chair and took a moment to appreciate the raw high of the purple dust as it surged through his brain and soul.

“Aaron!”

“The dwarf snapped away from the fourth wall when he heard the person calling his name. It was… where was that voice—” Aaron stopped narrating and stared at himself in confusion. “What in the blasted depths is this dust?”

“Aaron!”

“Fukalite!” Aaron halted his wonderment and charged out of the backstage, hoping he was not too late to help Jackie.

Upon bursting through the door, Aaron stood momentarily as he witnessed Chaos renewed in the club. There were more Alpha Numeros fighting, Corey and his gang of Boomers had arrived, and the last two yakuza were no longer fighting the troll alone and seemed to be on the Boomer’s side now; the three gnomes were playing behind some sort of magical energy shield that reverberated whenever a bullet impacted it, and Yolo and Tommy were still going toe-to-toe. Both looked worn to the point that only grit and determination fueled their fight.

“Aaron!” Jackie yelled from behind the bar. “Get over here, now!”

The three Alpha Numero gangers were closing in on Jackie. Aaron sprinted, knowing he wouldn’t get to Jackie before the trio of gangsters but hoping he could still help her.

Suddenly, Swift came flying from the side—Aaron had no clue where the orc had come from. The skinny orc collided with one of the gangers and began wailing on him. The victory was short-lived as the other two kicked the orc and quickly stomped Swift onto the floor. Jackie came out from behind the bar and swept the legs out from one attacker, then delivered a crushing stomp to the dropped ganger’s balls. The other one quit stomping Swift and turned to provide a punch to Jackie’s face, but Jackie easily dodged the punch and head-butted the A1 thug.

The thug stumbled back a few paces, holding his nose and cursing loudly. Before he could recover from the street elf’s headbutt, Aaron cracked the metal focus rod upside the thug’s head, sending the thug into some unknown dimension.

Jackie stared in amazement. “What did you just do?”

“Woooo!” Aaron cheered with both fists in the air. “Another score for our team!”

“Oh, Mother Nature,” Jackie growled. “You are fire-cracking high right now, aren’t you?”

Aaron cheesed. “Maybe, a little.”

The thug Swift had attacked started rising from the ground, and Jackie quickly kicked the thug’s face. The thug fell back to the floor unconscious. “How’d you get the focus rod from Castor?”

“Oh, this? He gave it to me.”

“He gave it…?” Jackie clearly did not believe the dwarf. “You know what, bury the roots! I’m glad you got it from him.”

“How did Castor get it back?”

“He found it in one of the trash heaps.”

“Wait… I thought you had stomped this focus rod into some oblivion portal.”

A couple of Boomers waved to Jackie. She acknowledged them with a nod of her head before continuing. “Yeah, I should have done that. But in the heat of the moment, I was just trying to get the rod away from him. I honestly didn’t think he was getting back up after that beatdown.”

“Yeah, that half-elf is huffing some mad coprolite.”

Jackie pursed her lips. “Look, Aaron, I’m down two hands, I can barely think through the pain, and I can’t help anyone if I need to look after you.”

“Look after me?” Aaron responded excitedly. “I saved you, Jackie!”

“You didn’t save me, you nut-tard!” Jackie motioned to Swift, who struggled to determine which way was up from the floor. “I needed help saving this drunk-ass orc from himself! Why did you have to wake him up?”

“I, uh…” Aaron stumbled for words he did not have. Were the shadowy premonitions wrong? Or were they right because of his actions? Maybe he just misunderstood them. If that was the case, then—

“Aaron!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Focus!”

Aaron snapped to attention and saluted. “Yes, ma’am!”

“By the Mother, I swear…” Jackie glared between Swift and Aaron before issuing her instructions. “Get Swift to safety, will you? Then, stay out of trouble. I don’t need to babysit a drunk orc and a sky-high dwarf in the middle of a gang war.”

“Wilco, Ma’am!”

Jackie muttered words that smoldered like hot coals as she trotted away from Aaron and Swift. The dwarf saw Swift struggling to get off the floor and gave the orc a hand. With a few waves of his arms, Aaron took a handful of dust and patted it on Swift’s face. “We need to figure out how to help everyone.”

A bullet flew past the duo, prompting them both to quickly find cover behind the bar. With his back pressed against the bar, Swift quickly signed, What are we going to do?

Aaron stared at the dusty words that floated from Swift’s moving fingers. “How are you doing that?”

Doing what?

“Making words.”

Swift drunkenly stared at the dwarf with careful scrutiny. Is that a joke?

A loud crashing noise followed by an explosion prompted the dwarf and orc to pop their heads over the bar for a peek. The large grey troll had crashed into the stage and destroyed the El Macho Punk music of the tres hermanos gnomos. The gnomes were nowhere to be seen, and the troll seemed more intent on trampling a group of Boomers fighting with some of the Alpha Numeros.

Aaron frowned as he watched the troll charge away. “He’s so angry…”

The three gnomes suddenly rushed behind the bar, breathing hard from their rapido escape. They looked over, saw Aaron and Swift, and happily waved their greetings. The lead gnome spoke in his thick, rolling accent, “It is good to see you, señor enano.”

“It is good to see you, too, tequila gnome’s brother! We are trying to figure out how we can help from here.”

The brother nodded, frowning slightly. “You don’t look so good, enano.”

Aaron brushed away the gnome’s concern. “I’m fine!”

“Okay…” The gnomes carefully increased their distance from the dwarf.

“Think,” Aaron muttered as he gently tapped the focus rod on his head. “What to do?”

Swift nudged Aaron and pointed.

Looking up, Aaron saw that tapping the focus rod on his head had opened little portals around him. Looking inside, the closest portal revealed the goblin cabbie they had brought with them from the fight at the mansion. The goblin was still unconscious, maybe dead. Aaron reached in and pulled the goblin out.

“What was his name?” Aaron thought aloud as he laid the goblin on the floor like a crunchy bag of meat. “His name was something round…”

Swift signed a question, but Aaron did not look at the words. Instead, he flapped and waved his arms, generating a large cloud of purple dust. He then gathered the arcane dust cloud and shoved it into the goblin’s face, massaging it into the crevices, up the goblin’s nose, and across the goblin’s jagged teeth. The nasal massage caused the goblin’s eyes to snap open, and the goblin suddenly jumped up, swatting at Aaron.

“Khaar shaat’maz draguus!” The goblin cursed and swung as he rolled and stumbled about. “What youz doin’?”

“You’re alive!” Aaron exclaimed.

“Marrhu orr! Of course mez alive!”

“We need help.” Aaron pointed over the bar.

The dwarf, goblin, orc, and three gnomes all peeked over the bar and observed the bloody fight that ensued throughout the club. They sat back beneath the bar. The goblin contemplated their surroundings.

“Can you help us, Wheels?”

“Wheelz!? Mez namez Tirez!”

Aaron snapped his frustration. “Thought I remembered. Tirez, right. Can you help us, Tirez?”

“Iz therez drinkz? Alchie? Rumz? Whiskiez?”

“We have tequila, trasgo.” The gnome said while pointing to his brother wearing the cursed sombrero.

The goblin’s face became split with a broad, jagged tooth smile. “Wez makin’ cocktailz, boyz!”

Aaron heard a cry of pain and knew the person who was hurt. The dwarf jumped on the bar and searched the chaos to confirm what he knew. There, further away, Yolo’s snout was firmly snapped on Tommy’s forearm. The troll twisted and pulled as if he intended to rip Tommy’s arm away. The island elf fought back fiercely, punching, slashing, and stabbing at the troll. “I need to go.”

“What?” Tirez asked.

“I need to go.” Aaron looked down at the others. “I’m sorry, but you’ll need to make those cocktails without me. My brother needs help.”

Without waiting for a response, the dwarf leaped off the bar and ran through the battling gangs. Ducking, rolling, and sliding, Aaron managed to maneuver through the combative crowds. There was even the occasional whack of the focus rod that promptly spirited away a particularly nasty combatant. “Tommy!” the dwarf cried out as he ran. “I’m coming!”

The island elf delivered a crushing blow to the side of the Yolo’s head, and the troll released his bite on Tommy’s forearm. The two fighters stepped away a few paces, each taking a moment to recover from their wounds.

“Tommy!” Aaron yelled as he slid next to his brother. “Blasted depths, brother! You can’t let a troll bite you like that. You don’t know where that mouth has been.”

Tommy laughed. “Yeah, getting bit certainly wasn’t the plan.”

A loud, sickening snap prompted Aaron to turn and see Yolo’s jaw popping back into place. The large troll’s rapid healing was working hard to keep up with his injuries; burn marks streaked across the troll’s body as he breathed hard, eyeing Aaron and Tommy.

Aaron patted Tommy on the knee. “It’s okay, bro. I got this.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’m tapping in, bro. I got this!”

“Aaron, you’re higher than a tidal wave—"

The dwarf let out a warcry and charged for the troll. Yolo smiled as he waited for Aaron to meet him in combat. With a mighty swing of the metal focus rod, Aaron cracked the knee of the large troll.

Yolo grunted from the pain but made no other response.

Aaron stared at the troll, then at the rod. He was starting to feel woozy. The dwarf looked for the shadows of time stretching before and after Yolo, but the troll’s time shadows refused to move far from his body. Aaron took another whack at the troll’s knee—he could not understand why the troll was not disappearing like everyone else.

“A troll’s skin is resistant to most magic,” Yolo said lazily.

Aaron wondered if he was wondering aloud.

Yolo snatched up the dwarf and held him high. “I think eating you will give Tommy the proper motivation for a true fight. What do you think, little gravel eater?”

Aaron knocked the metal rod against the troll’s head.

Yolo sneered as he opened his gaping maw wide.

Tommy rushed forward and punched the troll’s mouth closed. Yolo tossed Aaron and resumed his fight with the island elf.

The dwarf hit the floor a few meters away and rolled several times before coming to a stop. He looked up at the ceiling and flashing light, wondering if this whole effort was really worth it. Then there was an explosion.

Aaron shot up and looked to the side, just in time to see Tirez throwing a bottle of goblin cocktail. The flaming bottle of alcohol exploded in a flash of brilliant red, orange, and blue flames that splashed over the gangsters caught in the middle of the flame’s beautiful chaos. Aaron stared at the gorgeous colors as they licked across skin and cloth, coloring all they touched with a contrasting charred blackness. The beauty was mesmerizing. The kick to his face broke the flames' spell, and Aaron rolled a few times to get away from the gangster's boot.

He rolled onto the metal focus rod, snatched it up, and returned to his feet. Tapping his head a few times with the rod, Aaron thought of the glorious flames and wondered how to bring more of those colors into the embattled nightclub. As before, several small portals opened and floated around the dwarf’s head. He peeked inside and found the perfect thing to help bring more color into the scene.

The gangster who had kicked Aaron had rushed after the dwarf to give him another kick but quickly skidded to a halt when he saw the dwarf pull a large bouquet of grenades out of his portal. The gangster turned around and ran away from Aaron as the dwarf happily stood with his arms full of lovely grenades. Aaron picked the first grenade from his bouquet, gave a final whiff, and tossed it into the nearest gaggle of fighting gangsters.

The explosion was more glorious than the goblin’s cocktails, and the fire even had a tint of purple weaving amongst the flames. Screams of gangsters poured from the explosion, and Aaron happily shared more of his bouquet with the surrounding gangs. The dwarf skipped along and threw grenade after grenade into the surrounding crowds. He was ecstatic that he could help bring so much life and color to the scene.

Aaron…

The dwarf paused in his skip and locked across the crowds of screaming, burning gangsters.

Aaron…

“Molly?” The dwarf quickly scanned for signs of his love, but none were seen. “Molly!”

Aaron…

The voice seemed to be coming from a portal. Dropping the bouquet of grenades, Aaron rushed to the portal, where he heard Molly’s voice. The portal looked like it led back to his office, but somehow it was different. Everything in the portal had a purple tint. Of greater concern was that his bookcase was open, uncovering the secret safe that held his carefully cultivated arcane mushroom.

Aaron…

“I’m coming!” Aaron called back, and he stepped through the portal.