Michael’s transition inside the amulet wasn’t as smooth as it had been with the book. He didn’t experience a relocation, so much as the feeling of being dropped from a very great height, very-very rapidly. And not dying once landing.

He ‘woke up’ and didn’t see a forest or marsh or any other environment around him. He didn’t see anything. Just a formless black void. He was standing on something and down was still down, so physics still kind of worked. And he could see himself, so light still existed. Which meant that the area around him wasn’t dark, it just… wasn’t.

The only thing he could see was a tiny pinprick of light, far off in the distance. He wasn’t even sure it was there the first time he noticed it. It was small enough that his eyes might have just been playing tricks on him.

Well, not like I’ve got anything better to do.

He started walking towards it. He knew time didn’t flow like it should inside an artifact like this, but he came to know that other laws were mutable too. Distance, for example. He found out that the light he had been seeing came from a campfire. But he learned that too quickly. He should have walked for many more miles before he should have been able to tell what it was. But he was nearing it far quicker than his normal stride should allowed.

As he came within shouting distance, he saw that the campfire was not the only thing present in this void. And it was a campfire. A rather big one, complete with of ring of stones around it. The flames were dancing merrily and Michael could feel the warmth of it even from a distance. But that wasn’t anything too extraordinary. What both surprised and made Michael instantly be cautious were the two figures standing on logs, near the campfire.

“Are you gonna stare at us the entire time, lad?”

“What a pleasant introduction. Did you think long and hard about it?”

“Oh, shut up, pointy.”

“Pointy, yes, haven’t heard that one before. Except, no. I had.”

The arguing figures were composed of a dwarf and an elf. They didn’t look old. At least, not Regitris level old. They both seemed to be in their thirties, though the dwarf’s beard made him appear much more the senior.

And it was a lustrous beard. Long, braided. The color of teak bark. Masculine and rough. Michael felt a need to smell it, to touch it, to fu-

WOAH! What the hell am I thinking?

“Did you enchant him to wanna hump my beard, you pointy freak?” the dwarf barked.

“Of course not.” The elf replied, before speaking again after only a second. “It was your beard I enchanted.”

Michael felt really strange. This… this wasn’t at all what he had been expecting. The dwarf materializing an axe and throwing it at the dodging elf didn’t help matters in the slightest.

“Come, child.” The elf said. “Take a seat at our fire. We promise our squabbles are only our own.”

“Pointy’s right, lad. Besides, there’s a long time since we’ve had any company.”

“I see.” Michael said, hesitatingly. “Might I know with whom I am speaking.”

“Polite.” The elf remarked, approving. “My name is Silenan. May magic bless our encounter.”

“Name’s Darun.” The dwarf nodded. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Michael.”

He took a seat as he talked on what appeared to be a freshly materialized log. It seemed that the two had some control on this… place. Since they seemed to be able to make things appear at will. Though given the sheer emptiness of it, Michael guessed this ability of theirs was probably limited.

“Do you know where you are, Michael?” Silenan asked.

“Inside an amulet. I touched it got transported here.”

“Interesting.” He hummed. “I take it from your manner of speech that you knew what would happen upon contact with the artifact. Are you experienced in this?”

“Uhm, I wouldn’t necessarily say experienced. I just had a prior experience with an artifact like this. It had the same feel to it.”

“And you touched it.” Darum stated.

“Yes.”

“Without being sure what it did. Just because of a ‘feel’.”

“…yes?”

“Politeness doesn’t excuse idiocy.”

“Darum! Need I remind you that our presence here also speaks to the level of our mental faculties?”

The dwarf huffed, but nodded. Yet that last bit made Michael curious. It sounded like… they being here might not have been their intention.

“Uhm, I kind of swore a magical oath not to reveal the other person I met inside an artifact. But they placed themselves there. Can I ask what your story is?”

“You can ask, lad, but whether or not we respond is a different matter.” Darum told him.

“Very true. Information should be better viewed as an exchange. You wish to hear our story, then we wish to receive something in return.”

“Alright.” Michael said, preparing himself. “What would that be?”

“Gossip.” Silenan smilingly responded.

What?

“We’re stuck inside this blasted thing, lad. What else do you think we’d want?”

“Best not answer that, Michael. Our old minds are not prepared for your youthful fantasies.”

Alright, so the elf is a pervert. Good to know.

And that was how Michael spent the next couple of hours. Or probably seconds, in real time. He told the two anything he knew about Gnosis. Nothing sensitive, mind you, but all generally available information. What factions he knew of and which of those were actually important. Who currently rules Gnosis. How many floors have been discovered and or explored. Basically, anything and everything the two wanted to know. Which was sometimes an issue, since Darum also asked about any fertile dwarven women, but Michael did his best.

“Not like you could do anything about it.” Silenan scoffed. “The castle could be full of naked dwarven maidens and tiny hammer wouldn’t be able to smite any of them.”

“I still like to know.” the dwarf grunted. “Besides, if the real me was still out there, he would have appreciated the situation.”

“Uhm, real me, Darum?” Michael asked. “I’m not sure what that means.”

The two shared a heavy look. Darum nodded and it was Silenan who started to speak.

“This is the part where we hold our end of the bargain. I should start by saying that the two of us were part of Gnosis, long ago.”

“You were professors.”

“No. I taught, but only those I picked.” Darum said.

“Apprenticeship would be a better term for it.” Silenan nodded. “Both Darum and I sometimes imparted our knowledge to promising students, but for the most part, we tended to our own studies in our own disciplines.”

“Can I ask what those were?”

“Just ask, lad. Don’t ask if you can ask. Only elves do that.”

“Politeness is not a racial trait, no matter how much dwarves like to pretend it is. But yes, Michael, feel free to directly ask anything you wish. We may refuse to answer, but asking will not insult us. Well, you shouldn’t ask what Darum moisturizes his beard with, but…”

“Stop insinuating things, you perverted magical bastard!”

A new axe flied close to Silenan’s head, before the elf started to answer.

“I was an |Enchanter| in life. One of the best, I like to think.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?” the dwarf grumbled. “I was a |Magical Smith|. I was an |Artisan| too, but I didn’t get to join my Classes, before… well.”

“We spend most of our lives inside this academy. So much so, that I almost forget the outer world. We were not friends, while we lived. Not enemies either. We simply didn’t interact.”

“You being a snobbish elf might have had something to do with it.”

“You are the quintessential dwarf. And that is an insult.” Silenan smiled.

Michael interrupted before the two started fighting again.

“And did you go from there to… here?”

This time, it was Darum who started to speak.

“We got called to work on a joint project. You know those? Mages from different specializations and sometimes different faction working together on a thing. Does Gnosis still do that? Anyway, thatțs what happened. They needed someone to make the artifact. Properly.”

“And they needed someone to enchant it. Which is where I came in. The artifact we worked on was the very same amulet that you touched.”

“I see. So whoever lead Gnosis back then wanted to make an amulet that could store… uhm, souls, I guess?”

Another heavy look between the two.

“Not exactly.” Silenan said. “The amulet had three primary functions. Do you know what they are?”

“Uhm, only vaguely. It can be used for protection, healing and it has a third property that I’m not aware of. That’s kind of the reason why I’m here. I wanted to find out what the third effect is.”

“Good to know my masterwork is still valued after all these years.” Darum nodded.

Michael didn’t have the heart to tell him his ‘masterwork’ had just recently been re-discovered, after who knew how long.

“Quite. We might just tell you what the third effect is. But for that, we will have a different bargain. As for how we ended up here… it was a stroke of misfortune. The artifact was complete and the two of us met one last night, to test it. We were so proud of it. An amulet that would negate Gnosis’s old curse. An artifact that would allow its owner to tread wherever they wanted. Nothing to stop them. But… that pride made me arrogant. I was arrogant. Stupid.”

“As was I.” the dwarf gravely said.

“I wanted my deed to be known over the centuries. So that even after my death, those who wore this artifact knew of its makers. Of those who allowed them to walk free.”

“What happened then?”

“Magic.” Darun said.

“I used a Spell I had yet to master. In theory, it should have allowed for a mental image of me to be placed inside the amulet. Nothing like the real me, you see. Just a mental construct, one capable of telling whoever held my work about the one that made it.”

“I learned of that.” Darum told him. “And I wanted it too. It was my work just as much as is. So I asked him to use the Spell on me too.”

“And I did. I used a Spell I did not master on the both of us. Because I though that even should it fail, nothing ill would happen. But… our last great work far exceeded even our own expectations. Beyond its effects, it had its own mana storage. Its own ability to both draw upon free mana and to amplify it. That is why… when I sed the Spell…”

“You got drawn inside. The entirety of you.” Michael concluded.

“No.” Silenan laughed and even Darum looked amused. “Spells can go wrong in a myriad of ways, but something of that scale can’t happen for this type of Spell. Not that I know off. But… the way it did go wrong might have been just as vile. For you see, the Spell didn’t make the amulet draw inside it the both of us. Simply fragments of us.”

“We were trapped.” Darum continued. “That feeling you felt? That’s pu magic continuously calling out. But we couldn’t do that at first, lad. We tried, but we didn’t know how to work it. The only thing we could do was to vaguely be aware of what was happening outside it.”

“We can do this, deliberately now, if we focus.” Silenan nodded. “Back then, though… we saw ourselves. Or true selves rock back from the magical aftershock. We saw them thinking and talking, deciding the Spell must have gone wrong, but not knowing how.”

“We didn’t know how to reach out.” Darum said. “Or pull someone in. We did get information from some of the various owners, but it took us a long time to figure out what happened.”

“Yet our true selves never did. They lived the rest of their lives with a part of their self gone. It reflected in their hindered mental processes, in their magic and in their personalities. They were forever less from that day forward.”

“I see.” Michael nodded. “I’m sorry for what happened. And I’m guessing you’ve been here ever since.”

“True. Though, that might change. I don’t like pointy much, but he’s smart. I am too, despite my failings. We’ve talked about this for… eons, I guess you could say. But we’ve come to a conclusion. We know how to end this. But we’re going to need your help.”

“Rejoice, for you are the one to finally bring an end to this cursed reality. And as I have already stated, we are willing to share the information related to our masterwork’s third ability. In exchange for something.” Silenan smiled.

Not like I haven’t done deals with hidden entities before.

“What would you like me to help you with?”

The two shared a final look and Silenan responded.

“We want you to kill us.”

Ok, so maybe I underestimated this a bit.