Mau arrived early the next morning while X gathered the farmers’ family remains in a pile away from the farmhouse door.

“Ekk’s, what are you doing with those?” Mau gestured at the family’s corpses.

“I’m tired of seeing their remains every time I open the door.”

“You have some fucking strange sensibilities. Has anyone ever told you this?”

“No, it’s the first time someone actually says I’m sensible,” replied the elf, visibly confused.

“Huh... really?”

“Not even the smell bothers you?”

“Mmm...” Mau shook his head. “Come inside, see what I bought.”

The male gnome carried one bag on each shoulder, which he dropped inside the farmhouse before proceeding to take out their contents on the table.

“I bought my precursors,” the male gnome eyed three bottles filled with dusts, “several empty steel casings...”

X got a hold of one bottle. “Ah, the nutty dusts.”

“Careful... While these are not mixed yet, caution is necessary.” Mau took the bottle from X’s hand and carefully placed it back on the table. “I also bought a few scrolls. One never knows when those might come in handy, and a bag of bread.”

“Only one bag of bread?”

“Yeah...”

“It’ll only last us about one day.”

“So? We can just go and take whatever we need from whoever we want. That’s why I spent most of it on my precursors.”

“Sure... You brought what I told you?” X gazed into the gnome’s eyes.

“Now this,” Mau brought out a small bag, “was truly a waste of resources.” He handed the bag to X.

“It’s called an investment.” The elf opened it and observed its contents. “Good.”

The rest of the morning, X scouted more of their territory until he reached the riverbanks of Felpein River. Once again, he splashed in its shallow shore. After spending weeks deep under a thick coat of grime, he wouldn’t waste any more time and decided to bathe every day if possible.

Back at the farmhouse, he found Mau working in the kitchen on his nutty dusts. X joined him in his pursuit of knowledge.

“What are you doing?” inquired the elf.

“Alchemy.”

“Something like magic?”

“No. Quite the contrary. Alchemy is for those that lack magic.”

“Oh, yeah. Someone told me that once. But I’ve seen you cast.”

“The basics, that’s all I can do. For the rest, I dabble in the lost and unappreciated alchemical arts.”

X’s eyes shone, and his smile grew wide.

“Where do the dusts come from?” asked the redheaded elf.

“This light blue one is from an inkal’li, fearsome three-legged magical beasts. The violet dust is derived from a certain kind of flower, the tani. But this,” Mau pointed to the bottle nearest to him, “the one that gives a slight glow, is our catalyst, and it comes from pulverizing portents.”

“Interesting. And of course, depending on the portions and what you mix, you’ll get different results. Mmm... So what do you use the magical words for? On the glowing inscriptions.”

“That’s the trigger. Without them, I’d have to come up with another way of activating the final concoction.”

“Handy...”

Mau and X kept talking about alchemy while the elf dutifully observed him working. Like a kid in a candy shop, X wanted to taste every possible snack and its combinations. He pelted Mau with a barrage of questions. As dusk fell, tired from working and answering questions, the gnome halted his alchemical work. Mau lay on a bed while X’s eyes remained glued to those nutty dusts that had been mixed in different proportions, taking on new properties, colors, and glows, and now rested inside round steel shells.

[If I remember correctly, the last time you mixed shit, you burned your left arm]

Not every experiment can be a success.

The hallucination appeared beside him, gazing at the filled round casings.

[Are you talking about the Gods putting you here...? Oh, you weren’t. I do wonder. You know exactly where this path leads and still stubbornly walk it all over again.]

No. You’re wrong. Not stubbornly.

[Just don’t burn the other half of your face. I do like that one.]

Heh...

“Hey Mau!”

“What is it?”

“Nila’s coming back, right?”

“She is. You know how gals are these days. I’d be surprised if she didn’t spend everything on clothes, makeup, or a new haircut.”

X sighted. “Well... she did her part. She can do whatever she wants with her slice of the haul.”

Mau stared at him.

“I prefer us to be practical, you know. We’re just starting out... but it’s fine by me.”

X rested on a bed. During these calm days, the afternoons slowed down to a crawl, and he forced himself to slog through them. They both ate some more bread before going back to rest. The redheaded elf had grand plans for this life, just as he had before but were cut short before coming to fruition. Their supplies wouldn’t last long, and that forced him to act. In the end, it wasn’t a bad arrangement for him; he didn’t like to fall into a false sense of security, dull his senses, and fall victim to anything other than his own growing ambitions. X had also found a hobby, a career path not unlike in his last life where he experimented days on end. On this peaceful night, he dreamed of a possible future and a potential end for himself.

The next morning he woke up early, took the bag Mau had bought for him, and went towards the burnt part of the fields. He retrieved a fistful of seeds from it and spread them all over that patch of land. Diligently and with care, he laid a thin layer of ash over the seeds. He sweated thick drops, thinking she would appear but didn’t.

A pair of voices interrupted his morning activity.

“Ekk’s, you woke up early,” said the female gnome.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Nila, you’re finally—”

But she didn’t come alone. A hellish nightmare walked beside her.

With a flattened skull, four big eyes—two on each side—an elongated snout ending in two opposing tendrils that moved freely, and hiding a small row of teeth on a jaw that pressed down into an almost non-existing chin, the creature wobbled along its whole body. Covered in monotone gray modular scales that protruded from its flesh, enveloping its body, six distinctive limbs stood out from several others along its tender torso. It stood doubling Nila’s size.

“By the demon-gods, what is that?!” questioned X, disgusted by the being before him.

“An old acquaintance. I found her roaming near Grizale and stopped for a chat, and a drink...,” said Nila.

“That’s a she? I thought it was... nah, I don’t know what I thought. Uff...” X felt a pinch of regret having called those freaks back at Saint Jaulea monsters. But soon a chilly wind blew his regrets away.

“She’s a chit’t—”

“A dreg!” Mau interrupted Nila, shouting from the farmhouse door as he approached them starkly naked.

“Hey! Cover up, you asshole. We have guests,” complained Nila.

“Where?” Mau scanned their surroundings.

“And what the hell are you doing naked?” inquired the female gnome.

“I was changing.”

“Then finish changing before coming out,” Nila chastised him.

“I heard your ruckus!” retorted Mau. “And to my surprise, what do I find outside, a dreg. And, oh, by Ferrallias’ circlet. We did try to pacify them, bring them civilization, the best of gnomes. But no. It’s simply not possible. All dregs are truly the sub-races of sub-races.”

“We failed because you wanted to create your fucking kingdom right in the middle of a giant hive of theirs! Remember!? You even demanded to be given their queen!” exclaimed Nila.

“You did that?” inquired X.

“Of course I did! But mind you, it was.... what were they?” spoked Mau.

“H’reces,” interjected Nila.

“Yes! H’reces. But those are more like us, you get me?” Mau gazed at the elf.

“No, I don’t.” Observing the dreg before him, X’s imagination failed him as he tried to conjure what other nightmares lurked in this world.

“Those fuckers didn’t like that. They didn’t comprehend my dream: the mind of a gnome in the body of an h’rece. Truly mind-blowing! My own army.... Imagine!” Mau’s eyes shined, his chest inflated proudly before giving them a disappointed look. “What a shame that didn’t pan out...”

“So what is she?” asked X.

“A chit’tan,” asnwered Nila.

“Hmm... and does your friend have a name?” inquired the elf, studying the dreg.

“I... can’t pronounce it correctly,” replied Nila.

“No one can pronounce one of their damned names,” interjected Mau.

Ignoring his gnome partner in crime, Nila continued. “It’s something like... Klarttsxo.”

X notices the chit’tan shrug. “Let her say it,” he said.

The trio turned towards the female chit’tan.

“Khrtsczscsh!” At times, the dreg’s guttural enunciations sounded like words.

“Khlatksixa?” asked Mau.

The dreg shrugged.

“I told you, Klarttsxo,” Nila corrected him.

And the female dreg shrugged again.

“Ekk’s right, that’s not her name,” Mau stated and then asked again, “Kraltzacszi?”

She twisted her face in disgust.

“Khratzika?” guessed X.

That name didn’t make her shrug and what X thought was a smile formed on her nightmarish visage.

“Wait! You’re not Klarttsxo?” questioned Nila, surprised.

Khratzika hid her head inside her hunched back. Only her tendrils stood out.

“Oh, I didn’t need to see that.” X got a nasty gift imprinted on his retina.

“Aw hell, you’re not her.... But it doesn’t matter, you all look and act the same anyway,” exclaimed Nila.

“Wait till you see the other dregs...” Mau turned to the disgusted elf. “You’ll get accustomed to them, Ekk’s.”

X understood then why everyone called them dregs.

Nila immediately passed to more pressing matters. “You see any difference?”

“Yes. Your hair, clothes, and makeup,” replied X.

“How’d you know?” exclaimed the female gnome.

“Just a lucky guess,” stated the elf.

“I look that prettier? You can say it, no need to be shy... I don’t bite,” spoke Nila.

“You look like you always do, great! An exemplary specimen of our race!” Mau began to pump themselves.

“Damn it! Of course I do!” seconded Nila.

“Wait, wait, before all this gets out of hand, did you bring something... useful?” questioned X.

“It’s like you don’t know me,” exclaimed Nila.

“I don’t see any bag,” said X.

“Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.” Nila gestured toward the house.

The group stepped inside the farmhouse. Khratzika moved into the center, near the table and bent forward. From inside her hunch, a bag dropped.

“Nice, ain’t it? She told she’d carry it for me,” smiled Nila.

“Not... bad,” commented X.

“For a dreg,” Mau chimed in.

Nila spilled the contents of the bag on the table. Those didn’t amount to much.

“Blades for my Sweeper Hand and some empty casings,” she reported.

“No dusts?” asked Mau.

“Why should I? I knew you’d get those.”

“Okay.”

“And food? You brought us no food?” questioned X.

“Wait, I haven’t finished,” uttered Nila.

Khratzika bent again. Two medium-sized pieces of meat dropped on the floor.

“Salted britinga meat. My favorite,” grinned Nila.

“Well thought of!” exclaimed Mau.

X didn’t complain anymore after the meat, which stayed logged inside the dreg for gods-know-how-long, finally got some fresh air. He decided to let himself go with the flow of this bizarre world.

“See, we’re reliable Ekk’s. You shouldn’t doubt your fellow gnomes,” spoke Nila.

“You being a gnome yourself!” added Mau, filled with confidence.

Khratzika interrupted them. “You. Fellow. Gnome?” She stared at the elf.

“Eh?” X’s expression showed confusion.

“She’s asking if you are a gnome... she’s a little slow,” stated Nila.

“All dregs are,” added Mau.

“Ahh...,” X shook his head. “No—”

“Of course he fucking is!” Mau raised his voice.

X shrugged at Khratzika, and she responded with what appeared to be giggling to him. Mau went towards the back to dress himself while Nila rested on a bed. “I walked too much!”

Khratzika addressed X. “Doing outside?”

“What?” asked X, still not habituated to her speech.

“She wants to know what you were doing outside,” explained Nila.

“Planting flower seeds,” replied the redheaded elf.

“What the fuck for?” Nila raised her head.

“See? I told you it was waste of money,” Mau chimed in.

“An investment...,” spoke X softly.

“Don’t know about that, Ekk’s, but I do know my stomach’s aching for some food,” Nila said upon standing up.

“Me too! We gnomes need to keep ourselves well-fed. Bring it!” Mau seconded her.

The meat wasn’t half bad as X had expected, a little too salty but otherwise fulfilling and edible. Khratzika didn’t accept their invitation to eat. Instead, she asked them for permission to eat what lay outside. After finishing their breakfast, they stepped onto the porch with her. The female chit’tan called them towards the family’s remains.

“I. Eat,” she pointed at the half-rotting remains.

“Eww...!” Nila expressed her disgust at her request.

“What the— Those are putrid and...” X noticed Khratzika’s eyes glazing, shining, expecting. “They are all yours. It’s on us. Your feast... don’t choke on... go ahead and splurge on those...”

Without waiting, Khratzika dropped down and crawled towards the family’s mutilated and rotting corpses. Like a vicious beast, she crunched bone and savored that foul meat.

“...pesky remains— Ah crap, I don’t need to see this either,” commented the redheaded elf.

“Yeah, me neither,” Mau seconded him.

“Then what are you two assholes waiting for?” Nila addressed her companions. “Leave a lady to eat in peace and come inside to—”

“Plan Del’vhario’s next hit!” X interrupted, taking the words out of her mouth.