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Isaac’s nose is melting! He cannot stop holding and pinching it as they pass through the Flat plateau of the flat plateau. Every stall reek of its own rotten scent. One vegetable, beside it is be fish and beside it is raw meat—all the smell of a spoiled market mingled in the air and pulling down on every bit of Isaac’s nose hair. The boy tears a part of his shirt and wrapping it around half of his face for it to be a mask. He also plucks a bit of Merry’s fur, ask the magister to turn it into cotton and now his nose is stuffed like a dam.
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He dares not to open his tight shut teeth. Breathing in and out through his mouth and tasting something salty. Something earthy, and some other taste that he cannot describe anymore. Plus, Merry is struggling to pass through the crowd. Thousands might even be here huddling around each other and he does not know why other than the lamp lit stall owners yell in hoarse loud voices that they are on sale.
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“Lord Magister, was this market always like this?”
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Hearing his servant’s distress, Ober takes a peek from the window and see the crowd. “I guess it is because of spring.”
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“It’s too crowded, bloody crowded…It wasn’t like this before.”
“True” Ober sighs at the harsh truth. He expected that the kingdom would grow in population but wondered why the plains are not occupied with villages yet. “Everyone is cramp inside the walls.”
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“The walls…” Isaac looks up at the giant wall of stacked cement. One might think it was formed from the land up by some bender or magic but there are people on top of the wall, constructing and adding more bricks. “Are they trying to reach the sky with this?”
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“Fish and chicken for the healthy! Meat for the tasty!” The vendors scream out their goods, “Garlic ears over here~ Fresh fruits and vegetables only in my stall! Hobgob and goblin arms here~ My shop has all the body parts you need, even child testicles~ Mice free, roach free, and perfectly healthy in mine!”
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Goodness knows how they are able to keep on screaming with their tired voices. Their throats burning in the lamp light. And their wetness glint on their eyes with black lines, they look more crazed and almost like controlled than alive.
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“Cataracs Here! Fish sperm and eggs here! A hat for the magician~ A brain for a genius over here~ Take your pick, all free for your rotten rats!”
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Merry sighs and nudges the crowd away. Some would even outright slap her which she bites off their entire hand. Poor men call out for guards but they simply glance at them and standby. Some would knock and try to tear off the carriage walls and wheels but coated magic will not let them do so. Some would even throw stuff at Isaac which he catches their goods and take them for his, though, many are rats and he jumps up and gets terrified more than he was facing a Psycho princess.
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Cog wheels click and the stalls for weaponry, armor, leather, and smithery leads them to the rustic down ramp. Merry’s hooves clap sharply and the rustic patches sticks uncomfortably for her to press on. She snorts and retreats.
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“Lord Magister, Merry does not want to go down.” The boy snitches and jumps off from his seat, stretching his legs. “Shall we walk?”
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“We shall.” Ober steps out of his transport and waits for his servant who is tying Merry to a pole. Lamps line the wall of the ramp down while there are mini street lamps on a tinier and thinner ramp slope next to the big one. Dwarves in size of his fingernails greets the lord magister, recognizing this big old man with their cute arms waving at him. Ober reciprocates their wave and pondered how these small kind in Kinguin always manage to live in a crowded place like in the middle of Flat plateau market.
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“Ah, Dwarves! Genuine ones!” The boy squats towards them and waves his hand, greeting them. But the magister pats his shoulder and went on first down the slope.
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Into a winding tunnel where cool air naturally flows in and out. And finally at a reception where a lady dwarf screams out, “Pay the toll for transmutation entry! 50 silver Bals for adult, 25 silver Bals for children!”
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Ober pays even though he can do it himself. Isaac is still being distracted by the dwarven cars speeding through the tunnel’s tiny highway. Then the receptionist wears her pointy hat and turn giant offered silver coins into dust sized dwarven material. She cast out the spell “Statura Nanus!”
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From hunching forwards and looking down at the receptionist to looking up at what looks like an earthly skyscraper. Isaac watches in awe as the next Hemrean gets transformed into a dwarf. His hands look the same and his body does too but they are small like a dwarf! Indeed, they are now dwarves!
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“Isaac, come and stop standing around, boy. The spell only lasts an hour”
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“We’ll be visiting how Ghibli’s parents are doing right master?” Isaac picks up a pebble and tries to utter the same word as what the receptionist did but the pebble did not shrink.
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They enter the main archway and the entire underground plateau chock full of dwarves open up with warm dusts flying around like kites in the spacious sky. Towering mounds of earth in all shapes and sizes structure the community and the ones riddled with holes are residential with families being seen sleeping, or having late night dinner.
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“Dwarves can live up to 700 years despite how they look. They get stronger with every age too.”
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“Now that’s new, do you know why master?”
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“Probably with their pride as cow titters.”
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“Don’t joke around,” Warning the old man, “It’s not funny.”
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“But it’s true haha” Ober chuckles, “milk from male cattle can help them live longer than any other species. They would also ask for its sperm to help their weary bones rejuvenate and, look over there” He points at a shop that says ‘Milk and spunk’, “It’s a staple in their meals.”
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“That sounds disgusting”
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“Want a snack?”
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“Well…if the magister is paying then sure~”
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“Where did you even learn that phrase when I don’t even pay you.”
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The duo walks for a restaurant, and order at a stone table for dishes that has milk and cow sperm.
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“Hehe, from Mr. Floral Knight. Huh, I wonder why we never got to ask his name.”
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“He kept it secret and I did not ask.”
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“Still with that boasting confidence of his, can’t he be a bit friendly for sharing his name?”
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“It can’t be helped.”
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“Ugh”
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A server delivers their delicious hot food. Milk boiling in a pot and a plateful of “Cowspermoui” a generous white cheesecake made out of cow sperm.
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Isaac removes his cloth mask and cotton balls from his nose. Steaming milk, butter and cheese warmly embraces his senses and the entire restaurant seems to glow sweetly. A pan can be heard roasting and other customers treat themselves with caramel chocolate, and other warm deserts that he has never seen before.
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“Eat up” Ober grabs their free supplementary basket of dumpling breads which has an open pocket for the delicious, cheesy and milky fondue to stretch and fill in. A crunchy delight when the old man bites down on the golden-brown bread, breathing out a hot steam that Isaac gulps.
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The boy tries his fill too and goodness did his stomach bloat by the end of his ravage for milk and sperm. Ober jokingly talks about having and seeing a fat Isaac now and in the future. He says that he would look like Cornelius if he does become fat and the boy begins ranting and complaining about that fat ass noble. 30 minutes later and they get kicked out because the restaurant is closing.
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“Ugh, we got too carried away” Ober sighs, feeling the transmutation dizzying him.
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“What if I grow back with a full stomach? Will I still be full?”
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“Most likely not. Come, let’s head for the park.”
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A most spacious park with a ground that Isaac thinks it being an orange fruit skin. Apartment mounds and modernly decorated mounds surround the park with a running river next to it. Not many dwarves are around and all of them do not know who Ober and Isaac are talking about. The supposed to be neighbors do not remember who Ghibli’s parents.
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The lord magister utters silent words before saying that he extended their transmutation effect. Isaac looks around and see a suspicious pile of rubble just beside the river. Trash bags pile on top of it so he asks the lord magister if he can lift and transfer the pile which the old man does so with performing a bending. As he transfers the hovering garbage bags, Isaac asks a passing by old dwarf about the rubble next to the river and she says, “a private residence it was, aye. Lived in by good, honest dwarves, the kind that even served... the... the…” Tapping her temples, “can't seem to recall the word for the life of me! Strange...when aye remember late ma and pa clearly…”
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“Did they work at the third plateau?” Ober asks, and Isaac quickly turns back to check on the pile.
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“Aye, well... seems to me they worked in the Third plateau, always headin' there and spinnin' yarns about it at the inn, bless their pointy little beard. And there's their only child, still there I reckon... but me memory's gone addled as a roosters comb, can't for the life of me recall who they were or who they toiled for.”
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“It’s alright.” Ober says, comforting the old lady, “Is it possible that they were serving in the castle?”
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“Why, aye, I suppose they did... always prattlin' on about the goings-on up at the castle. Good deeds they said, helpin' folk and such... but the details be slippin' through my fingers… Ugh this foggy memory…It's like starin' into a thick dwarven mist, one I don't have the strength to push through.”
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With that, Ober calls Isaac to lead the old lady to a quieter corner in the park.
“Yes, lord magister” the boy dutifully responds before saying that he did not find anything.
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“Are you sure?”
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And the boy nods, and with a second of thinking he adds a guess, “It was burned to the ground”
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“I will see what I can do, tend to old lady”
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“Yes…”
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Ober jumps down to check on the pile. Sure enough, the ground is darker compared to the soil at the park. Bending, and chanting silent words, the air around him shakes in his attempt to rewind the pile years into the past. But the rubble is just lingering around, nothing is moving to shape the house. He pushes himself, 10, 30, 70 years back but the rubble is still there. 80 years is his limit and only heaps of stone and material are in front of him. Furthermore, would possibly break his tightened neck. “There’s nothing” panting heavily,
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Isaac comes down after noticing a picture frame piled under the rocks. He picks it up and dusts it off and see a family photo of two familiar dwarves with a child that looks like Ghibli. He shares it to Ober and the old man confirms that the baby the two dwarf parents are holding is Ghibli and that he recognizes the parents. Plus, a younger Ober is on their right side with someone on the left but the charcoal has blackened their head as well as Ghibli’s parents. “I can tell,” He says, “I can tell by what they are wearing. That is what they always wear in the castle.”
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“What about this one lord magister?” Isaac points at the far right, donned in gold and purple tight fitting with a bracelet on their left arm that has the emblem of the immortal amaranth. Their silver necklace with a ruby heart precedes in luster and the belt…
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Ober recalls and points at the belt specifically, “Exit—” a shap sting pinches Ober’s neck and he slaps himself, thinking that he caught a mosquito but none. “Exitium, a brand of the beast—Exitium”
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“A brand of the beast? What does that mean master?”
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“Just what it means, a brand of the beast. Those who wear a brand of a beast are Domitors as well as immolated—Tamer and Sacrifices. But—“Once again a pain on his back, like a knife had stabbed his nape. Ober tries to remember, a cloud in his memory that he ventures, imagining the man in the picture…someone in the mist…someone who sacrificed…someone who tamed…” Haures…” and the picture frame dissolves to ash. “ARGH!”
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“Master!” Isaac brings Ober back to the park, carefully making their steps up and sitting on a bench. “Don’t force yourself…”
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“…Just the name, I could only remember his name…” The old man suddenly starts sobbing, hugging himself and says that he is cold, really cold and feeling chills all over his body. “Ahh…forgive me, forgive me, forgive me…forgive my sins…”
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Suddenly, the entire underground plateau shakes. “An earthquake?” But then the dwarves all look up and point up. A gigantic metal slate piercing the sky and digging the ceiling away. “RUMEN!?”
Her smile bewitches the dwarves and Isaac, she leans and might even be on all fours as she sticks her eyes through the small ga—looking for something. “Dig more~” She commands and the ceiling gets picked up by giant shovels and men who can easily step on the entire underground plateau but Rumen tell them to stand back.
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Isaac brings the still shaking Ober behind a bush. He flips the old man’s right palm and calls out for Bell but she does not respond. Clicking his tongue, he rushes to the crowd of dwarves trying to huddle in alley ways where Rumen’s hand is reaching for. Uttering silent words and bending his limbs, imagining the walls of the underground to spire and it does so, blocking Rumen’s hand which she simply scratches it off. “No!”
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Her hand scoops like a bulldozer including Isaac. He struggles to break free, even when the other dwarves are stabbing the fingers and screaming for help. But then suddenly, a streak of brown cuts Rumen’s skin from her elbow down to her wrist. Blood gushes out and the princess can be heard screaming. She throws everyone down, letting them fall 100ft in the air. Some crash on the mounds and structures, some straight splattering down on the floor. A rain of dwarven bodies with Isaac screaming as he heads and tumbles his back against the river water. Electrocuting the boy to faint and floating him down with the current.
ns 172.68.245.5da2
