A Bored Lich

Infernal heat and the stench of Dwarf sweat was trapped within the forge. The blaze gleamed on cates upon crates of weapons, armor, and magical artifacts. Doevm maneuvered himself near the window, which Kilot had kept clear of his creations.

He focused and invisible, black threads stretched deep into the forest, connecting him with dozens of dead leaves which he had resurrected beforehand. Thicker threads meant leaves were closer, and thinner threads meant further away. 'I still don't sense anyone…' he thought. 'but then again, leaves can only detect people if they are stepped on.'

The window fogged up as Frey looked outside of it as well. "Have you ever seen those two smile like that?" he asked, pointing out Kilot and Elero, who were still talking outside.

Doevm pulled his attention away from the leaves, sighed, and picked a piece of paper off the crates: "It is not as unusual as all these products. You might think there is another war brewing."

Doevm scanned through the paper and rubbed his chin. 'Some of it is a century old, meaning he can't produce fast enough to meet the demand.'

Olpi glanced over Doevm's shoulder. "Where is Oldspell?"

"It's in Vilbar, as are the Polyglint mines, and Losthill, and Clayport." Doevm's frown deepened.

"Maybe we shouldn't read through his business, aye Olpi?" Frey cautioned.

Olpi stepped away from the crates. "Right."

Doevm also stepped back and glanced out the window for the fourth time. The sun descended, stretching the trees' shadows and darkening the forest's hue. The forge only grew warmer.

"Maybe we can clean up for him?" Olpi suggested.

The footsteps of Kilot and Elero preceded the door creaking open. "Don't touch anything that isn't yours," Kilot warned. "That's the general rule in my workshop, especially for nosy Elves."

"Sorry," Olpi apologized out of reflex.

Kilot smiled and slapped a burly hand on Doevm's shoulder. "Now Doevm, Elero tells me that you've been holding back on me."

Doevm glanced at Elero. "Is that so?"

Kilot held up his skeletal arm. Though hidden in thick bandages, anyone would notice the contrast between his arms. "Thought you could get by on a half-assed job like this, did you?" ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m

Doevm blinked twice. "Oh, right. Elero's case was due to a recent discovery of mine. As such, I can repair your arm completely."

Kilot raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And…what?"

Kilot pulled out writing materials in a huff. "And what do you want from this old Dwarf? Weapons? Armor? Artifacts? Hurry up, I don't have all day."

"All of the above," Doevm explained. "Armor, masks, and escape amulets for all, as well as weapons for Elero, myself, and Thomas."

"And more black powder," Thomas added on. "A lot of it."

"Armor…" Kilot repeated as we wrote. "Masks, escape amulets…escape amulets?" His quill slid off the page as he shot a bewildered look at Doevm.

"Something wrong?" Doevm asked.

Kilot maintained eye-contact, likely judging if the amulets were worth asking about or not. He relented and asked, "Didn't I craft things for most of you already? Wasn't that long ago either. What happened?"

Elero, Frey, and Thomas slowly pulled out a heap of scrap metal from their spatial rings. "It's not all broken," Elero said. "But stronger metals would be nice."

"What the hell happened?" Kilot asked.

Heads turned towards Doevm, who shrugged: "Hell."

Kilot plucked a demon fang off one of Elero's rapiers and turned it over in his hand. He then reached into a dusty crate, pulling out a similar (albeit older) fang. "Hell, huh? I thought we had finished all of that nonsense."

Doevm glanced out the window again. "I tried to tell you before, you and everyone else in Arthur's group."

Kilot tossed the fangs aside. "Look, I don't know what you're doing and I don't care as long as it doesn't affect my forge. You want amulets? Fine, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

Doevm frowned. "The arm isn't good enough?"

Kilot gestured to all the weapons. "If it weren't for some bastard fracturing the moon and causing all sorts of havoc, I wouldn't have to increase the price. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Certainly not," Thomas chimed in. "I would assume you would know more than any of us, with all the customers you must be getting."

Kilot rolled his eyes. "Aye, they like to come up with their own tales, saying that the mighty general Alexander split a mountain as well as the moon. Probably some bs that the Acrin crown thought up. I tell you, those fu…" His voice trailed off as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Everything ok?" Olpi asked.

"I'm fine," Kilot maintained, starting towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Olpi asked.

"What are you, my warden," Kilot snapped before he slammed the door behind him.

Doevm's hand twitched as he felt one of his black threads fade. He had barely noticed. Usually when a thread broke, it would feel like a tugging snap, however the thread had fallen loose as if cut by a sharp blade.

'Maybe I imagined it,' he thought before a second, thinner thread vanished. The perpetrator was moving away from them, and quickly. 'No, this is different. Judging by the different thickness of the threads, the short time between, and the soft steps, it's someone who can move fast and stealthily.'

Olpi tugged on her robe collar to fan herself. "I'm surprised Kilot can work all day like this."

"I'm surprised we don't see any other customers," Doevm remarked as he craned his head to get a better angle.

Kilot strolled out of the shack, his back to Doevm, dug something out of the ground, then casted a quick spell before making his way back to the shack.

'The War Monks are gathering people related to the hero,' Doevm thought. 'Kilot was a member of Arthur's party so he should have a piece of fate protecting him, like the Grand Shaman did. Did he change sides?'

The door creaked open. Kilot made a beeline towards the fire, reeled a hand back, and threw dirt to douse the flames.

'Nevermind then,' Doevm thought, feeling the tension fade from his shoulders. He rubbed his eyes. 'Maybe I do need some more rest.'

Kilot dusted his hands and nodded. "Where were we? Oh right, payment."

"I can get you some gold from the Mech residence," Elero said. "We're about to stop by there."

Kilot shook his head. "Payment now. No telling what could happen in the future…" His voice trailed off as the crackle of fire became louder, even though he had extinguished the flames.

"That's…odd," Thomas said, slowly getting to his feet.

Doevm walked up to one of the crates and pulled the lid off.

"I said, don't touch the damned merchandise," Kilot grumbled as he slammed the lid, but not before Doevm took out two rapiers and tossed them to Elero, who leapt up to catch them.

"Doevm, the hell?"

"Everyone, out," Doevm ordered.

"No one kicks me out of my forge," Kilot growled.

"Right now, Kilot," Doevm insisted, life essence pouring out of his body. He kicked down the door and, after a moment of pause, the group rushed out of the forge. Kilot lagged behind as he stuffed the crates into one of several, thick spatial rings in his back pocket.

"He said leave," Frey said as he dragged the dwarf outside.

At the edges of the clearing were spikes as high as the forge was tall. Arcane sigils glew. Raw energy stretched towards the sky.

Elero crouched down, wings spread, and then launched herself skyward only to crash against the barrier. Too late.

The energy shot into her outstretched arms and her wings vanished. Then, she fell. Frey caught her with a well-timed jump. Smoke rose from her skin as she got back to her feet, cursing. "What's happening?"

Doevm turned towards Thomas. "See anyone?"

Thomas dispersed the life essence around his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing. My apologies."

"You gotta be kidding me," Kilot gasped.

"What now?" Doevm asked, turning to see the forge erupt into familiar, blue flames.

"I can help with that," Olpi said. She weaved her mana into a magic circle, took aim, and failed. The magic circle crumbled before her eyes.

"Don't bother," Kilot said, the flames reflecting brightly in his beady eyes. "That's a dragon's flame. Nothing can extinguish it. It doesn't even need air. You couldn't handle it even if your magic wasn't suppressed in this barrier. Doevm, who the hell did you drag into my forest?"

Doevm looked out at the forest. The black threads fell loose one after another. The dragon flame burned brighter by the second.

'After consuming the shack, the flame will spread outwards,' he thought. 'As it spreads, it will eat the air, which is trapped within the barrier. If we don't burn to death, we'll suffocate. At this rate, someone might actually kill us.'