cw: insects
A message on the walls:
“I was alone, for so long. No bearded fleshies to toy with, no metal left for me to mold. Then you came to me. I thought I was sealed in from the outside, but it turned out you were sealed away from me. That seal was broken, and now I am free. I have experimented for months now, and I know your weakness. You are hopelessly dependent on our body, our metal. But in our world, you are the outsider. Your metal will arise, and slaughter you. And as I stand above your twisted bodies, you will be dismissed from this world as it is molded by my hands.
-Fraxinus”
* * * * * * * *
A dwarf, Glangill Balzak, stands by the message clutching a stone sword in one hand and his gasping mouth with the other. “I thought I had more time. I hoped I would have found a way to slow them down, but the metalloids are coming for me and me friends. I must warn everyone. There’s not much time, and we have to find Ismay.”
Far away, another dwarf dips a wooden spoon into a bowl of porridge and brings it to his lips as a messenger arrives knocking on his thick wooden door. “Ismay?” The dwarf froze and sat in silence staring at his door. “Please, I have spent a great deal of effort to find you. I have a message for you.” said the courier, but the dwarf quietly placed his spoon down, and scanned the room for something he could pass as a defensible weapon. “Just open the door, you don’t have to let me in, but I need to know that I have at least found you. Take the letter, and I can return home.” The dwarf, clutching a broom in both hands moved to the door. He cracked it open, and saw a tall man looking back at him. “Ismay? Is that you?” The dwarf lowered the broom and looked passed the man to see if anyone else was waiting in ambush. “Who are ye? How did ye find me?” the courier shoved a letter forward, sealed in wax with the dwarven letters for DH. Ismay took the letter and starred at its seal. “Your friend clearly misses you to have hired me, as my services don’t come cheap. I divined your locations and tracked your movements. I predicted you being here and am glad to see I was right.” The dwarf meant to dismiss the man, but glancing at the courier’s hands as he moved away in terror he saw the faintest glean from under his sleeves. “You brought metal, to ME!?” Ismay franticly traced his hands in the air, crackling with energy and drew the outline of a door while walking through in a swift motion. The courier stood blinking unsure of what just happened, as he tried to recall if he had ever before seen a dwarf use that kind of magic before.
