To him that wills, ways are not wanting. A saying is like a nut, that juicy delicious meat must be broken out of its shell by our minds. Determination of mind to never give up despite obstacles are qualities we should all strive to achieve. Commitment and determination these are qualities can overcome what look like from near like impossible odds. Don't only think what can happen in a month, don't only think what can happen in a year. Focus on what you can get done in the next 24 hours and do what you can to be closer to where you want to be.

'Fuck. I'm dying here. Can't believe this is how I go.' Eian huffed to himself.

Staring down the two-yard-wide stairway Eian saw the ground at the bottom. From all the way up here it looked eerie, with few landmarks he couldn't determine exactly how high he had climbed. All he saw were was what he thought was a big tree favoring a shrub and surrounded by green fields. The occassional breeze blowing through the mountaian-side sent shivers down his spine and his ass clentched. He had encountered a three open-pavalions along the stair-way taunting him to remain near the seats. The pavalions had some full water-basins from which he had quickly drank, only to inmediately puke back empty. He drank slowly and little the second time, before shortly continuing his trek.

'Who knew you could get tired in a dream. Those guys didn't say anything about this.' Eian said as he lay on the stairway.

He got up and continued the climb. Sometimes he would slow to exaggeratingly to crawl up the mountain. He began humming to himself thinking back of home. His shabby job his mother told him to get him to try to pay for college.

'I wonder what ma's doing now that I'm not there. She's probably hysteric by now. She might even call paps and mams and that can't possibly be good for their health at their age.' Eian thought worried about his mother and grandparents.

Steeling his determination Eian stopped clowning around and began his trek earnestly again. Two pavalions later and his legs cramping he saw some smoke in the distance. Vigour he had thought long past surged through him fueling his weary body. He soon came upon an open pavalion, behind it was a sturdy but thin path of stone, no more than two feet wide. The path lead to another open space of solid stone floor. His heart clentched at the thought of the cross.

'Ohhh..fuuuuck' Eian rightly thought.

He took a quick drink of the water basin in the pavalion and approched the path. From here he could see a large plain stone-block building built into the mountain-side past the thin path. It was emitting smoke through some sort of funnel. He thought he could hear the occasional strike ringing from the building, though it could just be the wind and his imagination.

He braced himself against the side of the mountain and edged alongside it. He quickly madde it to the other side.

The ringing strikes were much more clearer here and he approched the building's metal door.

"Ho there come on in! I'm a bit busy! Just lemme finish up here!" - Rebounding Voice hollared strangely.

Pushing the door foward he found himself in an extremly hot place. He saw the back of a black-metalic short-creature which was visibly holding an extended thick-chain, which was hanging off the roof, on one hand. It's other held an unfinished sword towards the metallic mouth of a dragon-figurine. Pulling at the chain an intense burst of fire extruded from the dragons-mouth. Quickly the metalic creature banged a few times at the sword with a hammer as thick as his torso.

"Okay all done." It said after a while, setting the sword down.

"Ummm." Eian stared, short of words.

"Lets go outside, boy. We'll talk there." Its voice rang strangely.

It walked towards Eian and shooed him out the door.

Upon closer inspection Eian noticed the creature was entirly made of black metal.

Like a mini-black metal golem.

It was short, perhaps reaching up to his chest.

It was thick, its two arms were thicker than his legs, with many grooves upon its entire surface.

Suddenly it grabbed at its head and popped it off.

Revealing a thick-haired grey-skinned face similar to a man.

It was then Eian realized it was a little thick grey man wearing an entire suit of black metal.

Eian felt quite foolish now.

"Names Ul'Falar, clans Il'ksro." The thick grey dwarf nodded it's head.

"Oh... I'm Eian, umm clan Carillo?" Eian attempted to imitate the figures manner of speech.

"Ha! Humans never understand. Ul's my acutal name, Falar is my family name." The dwarf laughed.

"Oh, I actually guess I don't have a clan then." Eian replied.

"Well clanless Eian Carillo lets sit over there by that bench eh? You can tell me of your situation there." The dwarf pointed.

They quickly sat down and though the seat was a little low for Eian.

Eian briefy detailed their encounters to the dwarf.

"Well let's start off with the major problems you'll have boy." The dwarf said slowly.

"Problems?" Eian asked dreadful.

"Yeh. Problems. Ever heard of 'Slow and Steady'? Thats the principle Earth powers are based off." The dwarf said seriously.

"Oh." Eian replied confused.

"The door o stone is there to halt those whom don't have the attitude for it." The dwarf said.

"Does that mean I do?" Eian asked wondering what the dwarf was trying to say.

"Weeellll. I suppose so. I made this here mountain to test yeh too. Two birds one stone. Gave me enough time to try out a few things with an alloy. But thats not the enitre problem boy." The dwarf said.

The dwarf took a deep breath and began speaking.

"I saw you go for the life door and I want to say this. I don't care. Its a good door, life, and earth is a much harder path, both literally and figurativly." The dwarf smiled.

"Okay. So what is the problem you were speaking about?" Eian asked slowly.

"The problem is anyone else is probably going to be more useful faster than you right now. Earth is slow to manipulate and only the higher numbers give strong benifits." The dwarf said.

Eian stared at the dwarf blankly.

"Yes I know that's why alot of humans and other short lived races choose to flow other paths instead." The dwarf replied seeing his look.

"Is there anything I can do? To be more useful? The fire-voice said I should focus on body and spirit equally and I'd be durable." Eian stated begining to worry.

"Fire-voice? And yes durable you will be. Problem is theres not much else you can do for now. Shaping earth will be slow, so you won't be able to do earth spikes or turn the ground to quicksand untill a bit later." The dwarf lectured.

"What about shaping metal?" Eian asked hopeful, remembering the metal bars.

"Friad not boy. That's much higher than where you are now and iron is near the end of human racial potential." The dwarf said.

Eian digested the news, feeling bleak.

"I do have an easy way out boy, its a little painful right now, but if you want faster advancement it's the only way." The dwarf spoke slowly.

"What?! What is it?" Eian said grateful for any oppurtunity.

The dwarf gazed off into the open sky, away from Eian and the mountain.

"I can break your spirit." He said ominously.

"....That...That... doesn't sound too helpful." Eian said fearfully looking at the dwarf for any signs of aggression.

"I will be honest. It will be painful and your body will lose the gift of the earth as well as any benifits you would have accumilated from the earth." The dwarf spoke.

"How is that helpful in anyway?" Eian wondered feeling sick at losing the power of spirit.

"It's helpful because you'll be able to choose another door." The dwarf said facing Eian again.

"Oh." Eian said feeling strangely devoid of feeling.

The dwarf looked at Eian with concern.

"Your spirit will become zero, so you'll have to re-select those upon your 'Thsgra', better you do it now than later when you've spent too much effort into power of earth." The dwarf spoke.

Eian figured 'Thsgra' was how the dwarf refered to the tattoos. He thought over the possibility of changing to another element. Fire and Life were out since Sarah said they needed diffrent elements. Water, Death and Air those were possible doors he could choose as well. But he thought over the metal bars, perhaps he just had to focus solely on earth first like Sarah and Alex.

"If I stay with earth. And I focuss on only spirit will I get more powerful faster than splitting between body and earth?" Eian inquired.

"Yes and no. It has been tried, but the earth gift requires a strong body to enhance it fully and many earth-attacks require you to be naturally durable to effectivly use them." the dwarf spoke.

"Oh." Eian said simply.

He looked at Eian closely.

"If you want to stay on this path. I can direct you on how to make use of what you have as effectively as possible." The dwarf said.

Eian thought it over. He couldn't see how water and air could be more useful than earth. Death however sounded kind of awesome. Death the epitomy of killing things. He however envisioned Sarah and Alex's reaction when they learnt his spirit became zero. The dwarf was right though, he shouldn't devote time to this only to give up later.

"I'll stay with earth Ul." Eian decided.

"Good. Good. As a bonus if you ever reach your full potential. I'll give you a secret of the earth." The dwarf smiled at Eian friendly.

The dwarf jumped of his seat and motioned for Eian to follow him to a section near the face of the mountain.

"For now stone weapons and a few armor pieces. Stone will mold like hard clay. Tell me your attributes and where you are right now." The dwarf spoke.

Eian told him quickly.

"For your next attribute I suggest you go with Body twice. Eat alot, the earth gift will make you more durable as your body grows stronger. After that choose spirit trice, at three you'll learn how to compress stone into harder material, at four you'll be able to mentally lift a bit of stone, at five you'll learn rock-armor, but its heavy so you need a body to match it. " The dwarf said.

The dwarf rapped his metal guantlet lightly against the wall. A huge door-like slab of stone erupted from the mountain-side.

"Now let's get to teaching you. Grab some of that stone. Don't worry normally you would not be able to shape it till after the infusion finishes, but this place follows my rules." The dwarf said.

"Okay..." Eian said approching the Stone.

Eian grabbed at the stone and attempted to tear a chunk off. It felt rock solid.

"Will it to bend to your will boy. Desire it. Coax it." The dwarf instructed.

Soon Eian felt the stone turn to something similar to hard-clay and he was able to pull a piece of it away after a short struggle. It was still as heavy as a piece of stone.

"Okay now I'll have you make a stone helmet and move on to stone tools and weapons. Those are always useful. They don't need any complicated moving joints like most armor pieces to allow mobility. Be warned boy this will take a while." The dwarf said.

They began working and hours passed as Eian learnt the limits of stone.