As the giant opens the door, the first thing he sees is the reflection of his chest on the polished surface of the shield. Taking it in his hands, he traces his fingers through the runes, the sharp sides, and the leader padding in the inside.
“That’s really good. I’ll need a little practice to adapt to the shape, but it’s perfect.” he says, finally looking up from the shield.
“Thanks. I am pretty proud of it as well, it’s one of my best works." I say with a smile. “The materials cost me ten silver. The array usually is the same price, but I am thankful of the array you lend me, so five will do, and ten for the blacksmithing. So, twenty five silvers.”
Pulling the coins out of his pocket, he pays me with a smile and walks to the door in front to show the shield to his friends.
I go back to the main area of the inn, ask for a plate of food and start to rest from the work.
Amusingly the door opens, but instead of a giant opening it, I see a one meter tall humanoid. With a beard almost as long as his body, black clothes and a drum on his back.
He nods to the owner, and walks to a stage that only now I've noticed, in the corner.
It doesn't take long for me to hear the echoes of the drum. He sings and plays at the same time. His voice is deeper than most giants, but he controls it with a mastery that I've never seen in this world. The powerful beat of the drum penetrates my body, making me shiver.
In the shadows he walks, a man untamed,
A heart of darkness, a mind inflamed.
Ambition burning, like a wildfire,
Power rising, fueled by desire.
Whispers in the wind, secrets unfold,
A tale of a man, his story untold.
The path he treads, both power and pain,
A dance with madness, a dangerous game.
He's a king in the making, a crown on his mind,
But his heart's growing darker, his sanity blind.
In the realm of power, he's taking the lead,
Becoming a legend, sowing his seed.
As the drum intensifies, and my mind is completely captivated by his music, a light is created in front of the dwarf. Taking the shape of a man, in a white robe, with a magical presence to it, moving and gesturing as if he was the one singing.
Through the corridors of power, he strides,
A thirst for dominance, where darkness resides.
The world in his hands, like a puppeteer,
Strings of control, whispers of fear.
Whispers in the wind, secrets unfold,
A tale of a man, his story untold.
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The path he treads, both power and pain,
A dance with madness, a dangerous game.
He's a king in the making, a crown on his mind,
But his heart's growing darker, his sanity blind.
In the realm of power, he's taking the lead,
Becoming a legend, sowing his seed.
The hologram is changing to black, starting by his heart, his body starts to mutate to one of a beast, tentacles growing from dozens of places.
Madness creeping, like a silent storm,
His soul torn, his humanity worn.
The echo of power, a relentless drum,
In the pursuit of glory, he's becoming numb.
A throne of shadows, his kingdom of might,
Casting a spell, in the cold of the night.
But with every conquest, a piece of him fades,
Lost in the shadows, where darkness cascades.
Whispers in the wind, secrets unfold,
A tale of a man, his story untold.
The path he treads, both power and pain,
A dance with madness, a dangerous game.
He's a king in the making, a crown on his mind,
But his heart's growing darker, his sanity blind.
In the realm of power, he's taking the lead,
Becoming a legend, sowing his seed.
A cautionary tale, of power and pride,
In the quest for greatness, a soul divides.
For in the pursuit of power, one must beware,
As the line between sanity and madness, becomes rare.
As the drum grows to a storm of echoes, the man is seated in a throne of skulls. If not for the fact that I saw the transformation, I'd think he was just an eldritch monster, with tentacles covering his whole body. The arrogance and killing intent he exudes are almost palpable.
The drum stops and the vision slowly fades out of existence.
Thunderous clapping echoes, waking me up from the trance. All the tables are full, with the patrons that I saw earlier.
The dwarf only stops for a moment to drink, and goes back to singing about all the types of histories and tales.
After two hours he stops, thanks the applause and steps of the stage.
I follow him with my eyes as he takes one of the smaller tables, still too big for him, and orders some food.
Going to his table, I ask with a smile. “Excuse me sir, can I sit here?”
“It's not my chair, you shouldn't be asking me.” He answered.
Not quite understanding his meaning, I move the chair to the side and sit on my four knees anyway, and try to start a conversation.
“You are the greatest singer I've ever seen. That was awesome! What's your name?” I ask enthusiastically.
He gives me a side eye. Then look me up and down. Seeing the fire in my eyes, he gave up on making me leave, and, after taking a bite of his food, answered. “You can call me Mimir, the dwarf.”
“Can you teach me what was that? I've never seen something so magical. I loved it!” I ask enthusiastically.
“That was just a simple trick of light manipulation, kid. You shouldn't be so impressed.” He answered, finally a smile cracked his stone face. “Almost all the musicians can do that.”
“Really? I've never seen one. I just got out of my mom's house, so I haven't seen much.” i say.
“I've heard a little about your specie's culture. Bunch of weirdos. Don't let your children have friends for years, then suddenly drop them into the world to make a name for themselves. I bet that's why there's so few of y'all.” He says.
Stopping to think of it, he is right. I got lucky with my memories intact, but others probably suffer a lot more.
“Heh, nothing I can do about it. So, can you teach me how to do it?” I ask.
“It’s not that impressive. The technique is cheap, what is valuable is my skill in using it.” The dwarf says, and takes out an old booklet titled Light Manipulation. “This is the ki technique, I can sell this to you for a hundred silver. You want it?”
Without thinking twice I take out the coins, and take the booklet from his hand, almost forcefully, and start to read.
The book describes a way to create an array out of ki in the air, and by sending it continuous ki, make it shape light in the way you want. It also has the three runes: light manipulation rune, light creation rune, and ki conversion to light ki rune. With an example of array distribution to help learning. It’s a simple array with light creation and manipulation runes in the inside, and the rune that converts ki to light ki in a circle, holding the two inside.
Immediately trying to put it in practice, I draw a small portion of my ki out of my dantian, and start to mold it into shape right above my hand. At the start it was hard, given that I've never had to control my ki to such an extent. But i’ve been carving runes for years now, so it doesn't take long to finish the first rune,
Giving life to the runes and forming the array took me half an hour, but now I have a shapeless ball of light floating in my hand.
“I did it!” I yell, looking down to see the dwarf's face, but can't find him anywhere.
Looking back at the ball of light, I try controlling it to take the form of a cube but barely manage to make it vibrate. It shall be harder than I thought.