A guard stood behind Haerin as he stood behind the single worst man in the world. Aganheian, who called himself Haerin's father, sat before him cross-legged behind the steel bars of a jail cell. The air hung between the pair like a condemned body swinging limply on a rope. As Haerin locked his eyes with the man, he noticed what years behind stone walls did to a man. His skin was thinly stretched across a skeletal figure covered in dirty rags. His hair had grown long and wispy, his face was sallow and papery, and he could only be described as a shadow of his former self. But he still carried that eternal grin with him him, the one that made you realise he knew what you were thinking and was mocking you for it, that made Haerin want to punch him so badly.

"It's about time you showed up," the man rasped. Heiran clenched his jaw. Don't act as if we're best friends, old man.

"I'm not here to chat, Aganheian, I'm here to tell you that you've ruined my life and I hope you get fed to a Golem."

"You're not meant to call your own father by your first name."

"I have no father," Haerin shot back. "I've only got some pisshead who gambled away his wife, killed a man because he was bitter over losing and ended up in jail."

Aganheian shrugged. "I'm not dead, though. Do you know what happened to the rest of our family? They were all just as bad as me, but they all got caught doing heinous crimes against the Emperor's will and were executed immediately, while I still have a few months until that. So in a way, doesn't that mean I-"

Haerin, who was sick and tired of hearing excuses from this disgusting waste, suddenly shot his arm through the metal bars and grabbed Aganheian by his ragged shirt, yanking the skeleton of an elf closer. "Listen closely," Haerin whispered into his ears. "I found a dangerous book in our house. I came here because I need to flee to Perechain, or else I'm dead. You're helping me."

Aganheian replied with a voice softer than silk, but rougher than coal. "What's in it for me?"

Haerin began to smile. He took his hand off of Aganheian's rags and instead wrapped it around his throat. Aganheian chuckled. "You're not going to kill me, are you? I'm condemned to judgement by the Golems. Killing me means you'll be taking its meal, so you'll have to take my place instead. Can't have 'em going hungry, you know."

"That book," Haerin whispered again, "had forbidden knowledge. Dwarven knowledge. Are you feeling it yet?"

Aganheian's grin slowly began to vanish. "Haerin," he said shakily, "please don't do this."

"I can stop at any time I want, but I'm just waiting for you to..."

"Haerin, please don't take away my magic." Tears began welling up in his eyes.

Haerin tutted. "You know what happens to those who survive a Golem, don't you? They almost never have their magic anymore. Instead of dying quickly, they slowly succumb to attack by a thousand different diseases. Every heartbeat feels like needles are being pumped through your veins. You go mad from being unable to sleep because of the constant pain, and after a year of torment you finally turn into dust. I'd love to inflict that fate onto you, but there's something I asked for..."

"There's a halfling here who calls himself Temujin. He's a walking freak, you can't miss him. He got himself in jail but he's only got a month sentence for carrying a sword without a permit. He's a traveller, not especially smart, but if you bust him out no-one will notice. He can help you." He confessed with such fear in his trembling, wailing voice, than Haerin knew for certain that he was too scared to lie.

Haerin took away his hand. "There it is. I'll be merciful."

Aganheian rubbed his neck, sighing in relief as he did so. "Magic absorption, huh? Dwarves really are barbarians."

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"Haha," Haerin said loudly. "You're an illiterate piece of shit."

Aganheian had a look Haerin had never seen on him before. He looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"If you had spent any time in school, you would know that magic absorption is physically impossible. Magic only enters your body through food and water."

"Then how were you taking my-"

"I wasn't, idiot. Dwarves invented deception magic. That was what was in the book. I never hurt you, I merely tricked you."

"I still don't-"

"Of course you don't get it. I got my smarts from mother, not you. Let me make it clear." Haerin grabbed Aganheian's chin and turned his head towards him. He spoke like he was talking to a child. "I created a sensation in your neck that felt like magic was leaving you, when it never actually was. Do you get it now?"

Aganheian, who had been in shock and fear up until now, suddenly began to laugh to Haerin's surprise. "You really didn't get your smarts from me," he said. "But you know what you did get from me?"

Haerin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're an unbelievable asshole. I'm proud of you, kid."

Haerin shoved Aganheian away from him, causing him to crash into the wall behind him. "I'm no asshole compared to the man who got his wife in the whorehouse because he can't hide his tells for shit."

Aganheian simply rose up from the floor, smiling, and said once again, "I'm proud of you."

And so, to keep himself from killing his own father, Haerin turned his collar away from him and to the guard, who he saw had been sleeping against the wall the entire encounter between them. Haerin quietly crept past the guard, leaving his father behind him, and went for the one person who could help him. Temujin.

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Where the hell is he?

Haerin had been wandering around the prison for at least an hour at this point, ducking behind walls for cover from guards every other turn. He was sick and tired of it, and he still hadn't caught a glimpse of the halfling Aganheian was talking about, Temujin. To be honest, he hadn't even told him anything about the halfling apart from that he's a travelling freak who carries a sword. What kind of barbarian would you have to be to carry a sword around with you? He was about to give up, until-

Oh. So that's the freak.

Haerin had just caught the eye of a man, the size of a tall halfling (shorter than an elf, but taller than a dwarf), wearing strange clothes and a strange face. He wore short boots that only went up to the ankle, trousers with a red stripe that went down each leg, an odd red garment that looked thicker than a shirt and went all the way up to his neck with a white belt as fastening and a sharp, hard face that glared him right in the eye. His hair wasn't brown like a dwarf's or blond like an elf's, but a jet black colour Haerin had never imagined was possible on hair to begin with. His gaze was drilling into Haerin's resolve like a general drills his troops, and his large body only added to the feeling that Haerin was being judged. Halflings were meant to be half elf, half dwarf, but he didn't look like either. He looked like something else entirely, from a different place and a different time, but he had to be halfling - what else would he be? This was undoubtedly Temujin. Quite frankly, a freak.

Haerin carefully walked towards the man, trying not to offend him as he met his steely grey eyes. As he approached, Temujin raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" Temujin asked. He spoke with a rough and coarse voice, alongside an equally rough and coarse accent that Haerin had never heard of before.

Haerin leaned towards the bars. "I've got a proposition for you. I can bust you out of here, but in return I need you to help me out."

Temujin's hard face softened a little. "Alright, I'm interested, but what do you need?"

"I've recently gotten possession of a rather dangerous book. I don't want to destroy it and the only place I can dispose of it is on Perechain. I need you to help me get there, traveller."

Temujin's face went blank. "You're going to have to tell me a little more about Perechain."

"What do you need to know?" Haerin asked, perplexed.

"Where exactly is it and how far away is it?"

Oh. Oh. It seemed to Haerin that this Temujin was no ordinary traveller. He was a wanderer, a traveller without any real clue of where he was going. This might be a problem for navigation, however...

"Oh, it's an island that's not too far away from here." If you define not too far away as on the other side of the continent.

Temujin shrugged. "I don't see any reason as to not, I suppose. What's your name?"

"Call me Haerin."

"Well, Haerin," Temujin said, stretching out a palm to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Haerin raised an eyebrow. This freak seemed to be insane as well, handing his hand over to Haerin for no apparent reason. "What are you doing?"

"Um..." Temujin looked hard at his hand. "I don't actually know. I just did it." He pulled his hand back. "Anyways, what's the plan for getting me out?"

"You use a sword, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

Haerin grinned. "Then you might as well already be free."