The bright lights all around Ridley were disorating at first. The pain in his leg worsened and he let out a grunt as sweat ran down the side of his face. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness he recognized a few things. One, that he was on a table and there were books scattered on the floor. Two, there was a tiny man staring at him and mumbling to himself in an unknown language. And three, that one of the black gems was embedded in the side of his leg and he was now bleeding on the table. The tiny man came up to him with a wet cloth and patted down his forehead.

“Human, eh? Interesting.” The tiny man said. Ridley blinked his eyes and shook his head. The words he heard didn’t make sense but as of now that didn’t bother him. For him the main concern was the gem jammed into his leg and the pain it was causing.

“Easy, tough guy. Just lean back and I’ll get to work on that leg of yours.” The tiny man said as he gently pushed Ridley back on the table. Ridley quickly shot back up with a grunt and tried to signal to the tiny man.

“Please don’t cut it off.” Ridley said desperately. The tiny man scoffed at Ridley’s words.

“I’m not a damn butcher.” He said as he shuffled off to the other side of the room in a huff. He started to rummage around in boxes. Ridley turned his attention away for a moment to notice more of the room he was in. The floor was made of large pieces of cobblestone. The walls were coated with schematics and equations. Chalkboards written in a strange dialect could be seen at the far end of the room and on another side of the room was a large red velvet curtain. The hole where he fell extended up into blackness and there was an odd yet familiar smell in the air. Ridley turned his head in the direction of the smell and saw a large metal boilior near him. It’s flames were slowly dying but still gave off an odor of sulphur.

The tiny man came back. On one hand he had a small bag with him with yellow fluff in it and some bottles filled with colorful liquids. In his other hand he held a large pair of pliers.

“Alright,” He said. “I’m going to need you to drink this potion first.” He reached into his bag and handed Ridley a grey colored liquid. “This will speed up the healing process. Might be a bit old but should still work.” Ridley looked at him with a queer expression.

“Just drink it. It’s medicine.” The tiny man said as he opened the large plier. “I need to remove the barrier shard embedded in your leg.”

Ridley still gave the tiny man a confused look but quickly decided to not question him. He drank the potion without further hesitation. The tiny man gingerly eased the pliers’s teeth around the black gem and carefully tightened its hold.

“Okay on the count of three I’m going to pull, alright?” The tiny man said. Ridley nodded. There was a sudden energetic rush flowing through his body. His vision suddenly became sharper, his mind cleared as the pain subsided. It was incredible.

“One-” With a swift pull the tiny man tore the gem from Ridley’s leg. Ridley let out a yelp of pain. Blood squirted into the air and landed on the floor. The pain came rushing back but only for a moment and then like a receding tide, the pain drifted away. He remained still and bewildered. The tiny man was wrapping his leg with the yellow fluff now, counting the wraps as he went along.

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“I reckon this is all very strange to you.” The tiny man said as he finished bandaging Ridley’s leg. Ridley looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

“Ah nah, I’ve had worse.” He said nonchalantly.

“Ha! Humor. Good.” The tiny man said as he came over to Ridley.

“I’m Gizmo. I am a gnome. And you fell into my workshop.”

“Ridley.” Ridley said as he continued to stare up at the hole in the ceiling. “Am I dead?” Ridley asked curiously. Gizmo only let out a bellowed laugh.

“Son, if you were dead you’d have a lot more things to worry about than a barrier shard in your leg. But I reckon you do have a bit to worry about.” Gizmo said as he helped Ridley up from the table. Ridley hesitantly sat up but noticed there was hardly any pain in his leg.

“The fuck happened?” Ridley said as he looked at his leg.

“Magical healing potion. Works wonders. Let that be a first lesson to you in magic 101.” Gizmo said. Ridley looked at the gnome with even more confusion.

“Alright, son.” Gizmo said as he walked over and pulled out a chair. “Just relax and let me ease you in. Assuming you’re not crazy or trying to pull a fast one.”

“Magic?” Ridley said skeptically. “You’re going to tell me about magic?” Gizmo let out a sigh.

“Let me fill you in.” Gizmo said. Ridley opened his mouth for a brief second before Gizmo cut him off. “And keep your mouth shut. I saved your life. The least you can do is owe me a bit of silence and gratitude.” Gizmo said.

“A very long time ago, magic, monsters, elves and humans all coexisted together...as best as we could at the time. I somewhat remember those days of the Empire. Heh, way before your time.” Gizmo said with a smile. “Then things got way too hot for everyone to handle. Wars and stuff. So the Gods, and yes that's ‘Gods’ plural, decided to block magic, monsters and mythical beings such as yours truly from humans by creating a magical barrier and banishing them inside it.” Gizmo said as he reached down and picked up one of Ridley’s black gems. “These are pieces of that magical barrier and you just crashed through it along with a big bag full of them. They contain within them an enormous amount of magical energy. Properly used they can either be used for spells or to fuel and power machines. And you happened to be holding a lot of them.” Gizmo said as he pocketed the shard he was holding. “Let’s call that one payment for your medical bill.” Gizmo said with an innocent smile.

Ridley looked at Gizmo and then glanced at the floor where his bag laid. In a lightning fast motion, faster than Gizmo can react, Ridley leaped down from the table and swiped the bag along with the loose shards on the floor, pivoted around and jumped over the table and swung his body to face Gizmo with the table between them. Gizmo was a few seconds behind in processing what had happened and as Ridley jumped over the table, he was already on the floor trying to grab at nothing. As he stood, Ridley already had one shard on the table with his hand covering it.

“Alright. Show me. Show me that what you said is true.” Ridley said in a confident tone. He almost forgot the fact that not too long ago he was limping and bleeding to make it five feet and now just leaped over the table.

“You’re quick, son. And crafty.” Gizmo said as he walked over to the large red velvet curtain. “You want proof of what I said I was true? Okay.” Gizmo said as he drew back the red velvet curtain revealing a large window.

The first thing that Ridley noticed and the first thing he made a quick note on in his head was how much large teeth he saw outside the large window. The second thing he noticed was the large orange reptilian eyes glaring back at him and the blue scales that covered the gigantic beast. Its large wings were extended longer than a utility pole. The monsterourse beast was in the air as if it was flying towards the window but it wasn’t moving. As Ridley pieced together the image he was viewing he soon realized what exactly was staring back at him.

“Is that a dragon?” He blurted out. Gizmo said nothing, only smiled and held out his palm. Ridley tossed him the shard he had under his hand.

“That is a fierce blue dragon. One of the many horrors that await you in this world.” Gizmo said as he walked over to the table.

“And it’s frozen...because?”

“Ha! When the barrier was created some things got stuck in place. Frozen in time on the very day. Not just dragons or other monsters but people and objects too. You’ll find them all over.”

Ridley reached into his bag and pulled out another shard and placed it on the table.

“How do I get home?” Ridley asked.