Calb and Serina left the Imea Mountains with heavy hearts. Though Serina had always been readying herself to challenge the InterContinental Towers to go after her mother, when the time actually came for her to truly leave her grandpa, who had been like a father to her, she found herself hard to hold back her tears. As if she had matured over the years, the thought of leaving her grandpa all alone in the Imea Mountains broker her heart. She was no longer a little girl thinking only about herself. However, she knew she must go, and thus, she gave her grandpa one last hug and started on a journey that one must make, at least, once in their lives.

“Are you all right Serina?”

“Yeah, I am just little bit sad, that’s all. I mean it was inevitable that I must leave sometime right?” Nodded Calb. “Besides, if I didn’t leave now, when will I ever find another human luggage carrier?” Serina teased Calb, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Human luggage carrier huh?” Since PIDO was capable of converting objects into weightless energy particles that can be stored in it, Calb became the load carrier, by default. It didn’t bother him to store their luggage in his PIDO, since the stored luggage would not weigh him down any, but to be called a “Human Luggage Carrier” made him feel a little, abused. But then, ‘What else is new?’ he thought with a smile. ‘That is the way things should be because that is who she is, someone who hides her inner most part with feigned abuse.’ He was glad that he can be there for her to “humor her,” so to speak.

“Hey Calb?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you let Corea out? Since my hands are free, I can carry her with my hands.” Serina’s staff was tied to her back.

“Sure.” Calb called Corea out on Serina’s hands. As Calb had never withdrawn the miniature PIDO from Serina since last time, he didn’t have to reestablish connection with her.

“Wow! Look Calb, she grew quite a bit since this morning!” Sure enough, Corea was bigger, and her baby feathers were replaced with juvenile feathers, so to speak.

‘Hi Corea!’ Serina spoke with her mind.

Corea jumped onto Serina’s shoulder and rubbed her cheek against hers and said, ‘Hi Serina! Like my new feathers?’

Serina’s eyes opened wide with surprise. ‘Corea! You can speak much better now!’

‘Yeah. Me smart?’ Corea rubbed her cheek against Serina once again.

‘Of course you are smart! Boy, Calb must have made some big progress this morning huh?’ Serina was so delighted.

‘Yeah, it was due to your grandpa. Once I told him everything about the PIDO, he was able to tell me what had happened and how to utilize all the gifts that I’ve received from all the Guardians.’

‘Guardians?’

‘Yeah, apparently that’s what they are called. They each have different powers granted by God, and they became the planes that manifest the respective powers as a law of nature.’

‘Corea was given to me by Kazan the Beastmaster, and as his power being that of Kingship over all the animals, he gave me a very special baby eagle. Apparently, Corea’s mother is a Matriarch of one of the ruling species on the Plane of Kazan, and at the same time, she is an Overseer of one of the InterContinental Towers, according to Corea. Right Corea?’

‘Right! My mom best!’ “Keeoo!” Corea was so hyped up, bragging about her mother, that she even let out an audible shout.

‘Corea, don’t you miss your mother?’ asked Serina.

‘Nope, me with mom.’

‘Huh? How can that be?’

“Corea is a familiar of herself. I guess you can say she is a spiritual clone that exists in two different places at the same time. Her original spirit resides in her body while Corea resides in PIDO. As such, she can talk to her mother anytime she wants through her physical self.’ Looking at Corea, Calb asked, ‘Did I say it right Corea?’

‘Yep! Calb right!’ Corea lifted into the air and started to circle around top of Calb and Serina’s head.

They enjoyed looking at the gleeful Corea fly around them, and in that way, within few hours, they have reached the farthest point that Calb has ever been away from the Imea Mountains.

“From here on out, everything I see will be new to me huh?”

“That’s right. As I have said before, Imea Mountains is one of three major mountains in the Garmea Continent. Garmea Continent is shaped like a crescent moon with the arched side facing north. Two other major mountains are Chamea Falls Mountains and Loomea Mountains. Chamea Falls Mountains is at the very center of the continent while Imea and Loomea Mountains make up the two ends of the crescent moon, with Imea Mountains being on the East side and Loomea Mountains being on the West side.”

“Hmmm, if the Overseer that we are going to see lives on the Chamea Falls, I could, sort of, guess that there is another Overseer that lives on the Loomea Mountains, but where are the other two?”

Serina paused and turned to look at Calb. “There is something different about you. You have impressed me quite a bit lately. Not only have you made a big progress with the mana issue in a day, you have just proven to me that you are not a dummy.” Serina feigned a serious look.

“Is that a praise or an insult?” Calb smiled.

“Of course it is a praise. What else could it be?” Serina feigned a shocked face. “Would I make fun of you at a time like this Calb?”

“I would think something is wrong with you if you didn’t,” returned Calb.

“What are you saying Calb? Are you saying I am some kind of a sick person that gets a pleasure out of making fun of people?”

“No, you just get a pleasure out of picking on me.”

“That’s only because I like you Calb. Don’t you know a sensitive maiden like myself can only express their love in this manner?”

“Sensitive maiden huh?”

“Yes! A sensitive maiden. You got something to say?” Serina grabbed Calbs waist with her fingers and gave a pinch of his life, or so it appeared.

“Okay,,okay…I have learned my lesson oh fair maiden.” Calb kneeled on one knee and bowed to Serina. ‘How many did you sense?’ Calb spoke with his mind.

“That’s right! You should know your place.” ‘Just one, 10 meter to my right. Get ready.’ “Now get up and give my hand a kiss.”

As Calb made a motion to get up, he immediately bolted to his left while Serina bolted to her right. Their goal was a pincher attack.

“Who’s snooping?!” The two yelled. Unprepared, the snooper tried to run away, but before he could get way, his escape route was already barred by two staves.

“Huh? A kid?” Calb let out a surprise.

“Who are you calling kid!?” The, once, running away snooper defiantly stood his ground while sticking out his chest at Calb. “I am Kormor the Stout!” Contrary to his short stature of 1.2 meters and fresh, face of a child with clean-cut short hair, so called, Kormor’s voice was that of a mature male. Also, unlike what his title suggested, he was not stout at all. He was wearing unusual clothes, in that, he had a leather tunic with silver corded belt with a huge buckle that can be called a modified armor covering his entire abdomen. There was a design of a very big sledge hammer and a helmet with two horns placed on each side of a large rectangular shield, in the center of the said armor-buckle. Lastly, every part of his skin, excluding his head was covered in grey and, somewhat, shiny cloth, appearing to be serving as second skin.

“Whoe! Sorry. I only saw your height at first so I figured you were a kid, but maybe not. My apologies.” Calb gave him a short nod. As if he was bothered by Calb’s word “height,” there was a slight twinge in his facial expression, but all of that disappeared with Calb’s cordial apology.

“Phmph…, humph, apology accepted…, and sorry for snooping.” Kormor said the last part with a muffled tone. Though Kormor never met Calb and Serina, because of what he had already observed of the two and Calb’s cordial apology, he was assured that they were not hostile. As for Calb, he couldn’t be too tough on an individual just for snooping, and as he didn’t see any weapon on Kormor, he treated him with cordiality, though still vigilant.

“So why were you snooping on us?” Serina joined in on the conversation, making sure her tone was appropriate, even though she could have chosen better words. She decided on the middle ground, unlike the “naïve” Calb.

“It was unintentional. It isn’t often that I see people up here so I was curious. Nearest town is two days away, and as you weren’t carrying any bags, it seemed logical to say that you live around here, but I don’t remember seeing either one of you in these woods so….”

“Ahh, I see.” The two looked at each other and sighed. “We are not from the town, nor do we live around here. We actually are from the Imea Mountains. My grandfather is an Overseer that lives over there. With that said, I come here to hunt every now and then, but I have never seen you here either, but you speak as if you frequent this area?”

Kormor looked a bit uncomfortable at Serina’s question, and noticing the discomfort, Calb jumped in. “If you don’t feel comfortable talking about it you don’t have to. We will be on our way then. Let’s go Serina.” Calb walked on without waiting for Serina. Serina stood there, a while, looking back and forth between Calb and Kormor, and as if deciding that it is not her concern, she followed Calb.

“W..Wait!” Kormor yelled after them. Calb and Serina turned to look back at Kormor.

Kormor came running after them and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It is just that…well…I am forbidden from making contact with the Lameans….”

“Huh?” Serina and Calb looked at each other. “Don’t you mean Garmeans?” asked Serina.

“No, Lameans,” corrected Kormor. I am not from Lamea Plane. I am from Pleevon Plane, and I am a Dwarf.”

“Huh? How can that be? My grandfather never mentioned people from different continent, let alone, different Plane. I did mention that he is an Overseer right? There is no way he would not be aware of people coming from different plane. Even if your people came here before my grandfather was an Overseer, he would have heard something from the previous Overseer about a whole different race coming to Garmea! I would understand if your people had secretly come by the sea, to which it would be impossible for it to have happened secretly anyway, but if your people had come by the InterContinental Tower, it would be even more impossible to do so without an Overseer knowing about it!”

“You are correct in what you say, but we came neither through InterContinental Towers nor by the sea. We were granted special, one-way passageway to Lamea Plane from Pleevon Plane by the grace of Pleevon the Mage and Lamea the Warrior.” Serina looked at Calb, dumbfounded.

“Would you like to visit our city?” asked Kormor.

“City? Not a town or a village, but a city? Up in these mountains?” Serina’s mind was about to overload. Too many things have been told to her, today, that she had never known. It seemed like the world she had known throughout her whole lifetime was nothing but a lie, carefully camouflaged to keep her from knowing the truth.

“Yes, a city, but not necessarily up in the mountains, but rather inside the mountains.” It seemed like Kormor said the last part with pride.

Serina and Calb looked at each other, and as if agreeing that they really are not in a great hurry, they decided to follow Kormor. Then, suddenly, they heard Corea flying toward them from afar. Calb had let her fly about to let her see the surroundings, and as if she sensed the change in their plans, she rushed back to Calb and Serina.

‘Do you want to go back in the PIDO?’ asked Calb.

‘Nope. Me want to see,’ responded Corea as she landed on Serina’s shoulder. As if on cue, Serina greeted Corea with a little rub.

They travelled about an hour and a half through the thick woods before they got to the bottom of the mountain range. Serina had not come this way often whenever she did come this far from the Imea Mountains, but she was sure that there wasn’t anything of importance here. However, when they came to a small boulder that was protruding out amongst other bigger boulders, Kormor stopped. The small boulder was only about another head-length taller than Kormor.

Kormor retrieved a little rod from behind his buckle and started to write something on the small boulder, and similar to what happened to the door leading to the secret room at the center of the Maze Canyon, light dispersed from where Kormor wrote the inscription and, soon, an outline of a small door appeared, along with a tiny little hole big enough for the rod in his hand. Once Kormor put the rod into the tiny hole, the door became transparent and allowed them to enter. He informed them that once they enter, the door will close on its own.

Kormor lead them inside, and though the hole was just the right size for Kormor, Serina and Calb found the experience to be, a bit, uncomfortable, to say the least. The ironic thing about the door was that it was too high for them to crawl in, as that would make them look foolish, but at the same time, it was too low for them to walk in without having to bend almost to their waist, which made them look awkward. So in a sense, they were left with either looking foolish or looking awkward. They only hoped that they wouldn’t have to do that for the entire way to the Dwarf City.

Thankfully, once they traveled about 10 meters, they came to a little chamber with very tall ceiling and a very tall double stone door that had numerous inscriptions and carvings that epitomized artistic talent of the dwarfs. Serina and Calb both had their mouths wide open as they imagined the spectacular masonry skills required to make such doors.

As if expected, Kormor waited with a wide grin as he watched the two gawk in wonder. He had waited because he had much more to impress the two with. He wanted their excitement to die down before inducing another by showing them the pride of the dwarves, their magnificent Halls of the Heroes.

Once the two travelers had settled down, Kormor, once again, inserted his rod into a similar tiny hole that they saw outside. However, this time, the two double doors did not disappear; but instead, they swung inward to reveal a massive inner chamber with the ceiling that doubled the height of the entrance chamber! The whole place looked as if the dwarves had carved out the whole interior of the mountain to suit their artistic flare.

“Wow! Kormor, this is amazing!’ shouted Serina. She was, then, welcomed by her own voice echoing off of the distant walls!

Then, all of a sudden, they heard clamors all around them, followed by sounds of numerous footsteps that filled the entire chamber. Within seconds, the big chamber that, initially, thought impossible to fill was crawling with bunch of short, stocky men with war hammers and axes. They were wearing impressive helmets with horns on each side. Though their garment were similar to Kormor’s, these dwarves all had long, unkempt hairs and long beards, whereas Kormor’s appearance was very presentable, as described earlier.

“Who dares to enter the Hall of the Heroes of the City of Tovon!?” Angry, groups of dwarves shouted in unison.

“Wait brothers!” Kormor stepped in front of the two travelers and faced the crowd. “They are visitors, and they were invited by me, Kormor the Stout!” As he said that, he tapped twice on his belt buckle and Serina’s and Calb’s mouths were floored, instantly. That little, skinny, clean-cut dwarf they had known as Kormor suddenly bulged out at the waist, and his immaculate hair started to grow uncontrollably. At the same time, in his baby like face suddenly blossomed long stumps of beard that went down to his knees. Then he tapped his belt buckle once, again, and a helmet with two horns popped out. Then he tapped his belt buckle once, yet again, and his gigantic sledge hammer popped out for him to hold.

Seeing, now, the transformed Kormor stand in front of the two strangers, the shouts of anger redirected toward Kormor.

“What is the meaning of this Kormor the Stout!”

“Why did you bring the Lameans to our city?”

“Why did you put us in danger?”

“They are not a danger to us. The girl,” Kormor pointed at Serina. “She is the granddaughter of the Overseer that is residing in the Imea Mountains, and the boy,” Kormor, this time, pointed at Calb. “Is her servant.”

Calb looked back and forth between Kormor and Serina with wide eyes, and Serina put her hands on her mouth, struggling to not laugh out loud. As for Corea, there was no such self-restraint. “Keeoo…Keekeeoo…Keeoo…Keekeeoo.” She, loudly, squeaked out her laugh.

The crowd suddenly quieted down, and they all stared at Corea with wide eyes, including Kormor. Maybe because Corea was overly excited, but there was a warm, green glow that was emitting out of her, a glow that was bright enough for the dwarves to take notice.

“The Kazanian!”

Hearing their exclamation, both Calb and Serina looked at Corea. Of course they knew that Corea was from the Plane of Kazan, but how did the dwarves know that she was from there? “Was it the light?” They both thought the same, as there was nothing else that distinguishes Corea from other baby eagles.

“Serina,” called Kormor. “How is it that you have an eagle from the Plane of Kazan?”

“Oh, Corea is not mine. It is Calb’s.” She pointed at Calb. All the eyes shifted from Serina to Calb.

Feeling the pressure from all the stares, Calb hesitantly answered, “Umm…she is a gift from the Kazan the Beastmaster?”

“Kazan the Beastmaster!” The whole crowd shouted in unison. Apparently, people from other planes were all knowledgeable of the other planes as well as the Guardians of each planes, unlike the Lameans.

“Make a way!” A loud shout echoed through the hall, and soon, the crowd split and an old dwarf with long white beard walked toward them.

Seeing the old dwarf, Kormor bowed to him. “Kormor the Stout greets Sirram the Elder!”

Looking at Serina and Calb, Sirram greeted them. “I am Sirram the Elder. Welcome to the city of the Dwarves. Welcome to Tovon.” Sirram gave them a slight nod.

“Thank you Sirram the Elder. I am Calb, and this is Serina.” Since cordiality flowed easier in Calb’s veins, Calb automatically stepped up to introduce themselves, not that Serina isn’t capable of such.

“I would like to know more about how you ended up with that Kazanian, if you would, but first let us move to a more agreeable location for the guests.” Sirram motioned to the mass, and the crowd parted again, but this time, wide enough to allow the whole group to pass comfortably.

They passed many halls of wonder, passed through the heart of Tovon, and came to Elder Sirram’s chamber, where they were given tea while he, himself, got a huge jug of beer. “It is my understanding that you humans do not always drink beer, but prefer tea instead. However, if you desire it I can also have my assistants bring them for you.”

“No, what we have is quite all right,” replied Calb.

“As long as you are content, everything is all right. Now, since you are a guest, and since you will be sharing with us your story, I will also share with you our story as to how we ended up in this continent.” Sirram, briefly, looked at them and started. “On the way here, to my chamber, I was updated by Kormor regarding what was shared with the two of you. As he has told you, we are originally from the Plane of Pleevon. Pleevon is a plane of magic. Just to be sure, magic is everywhere. However, it is especially plentiful in the Plane of Magic. Just as the citizens of Lamea are blessed with the mana flow and innate talent for martial arts, citizens of Pleevon are also blessed with the mana flow. However, instead of the martial arts, they are blessed with the innate wisdom for magic.” For some reason Sirram sighed and paused.

“Except for the dwarves!” Sirram’s facial expression, somewhat, changed to that of pain, but at the same time, resoluteness. “We dwarves are not capable of casting magic. We have the mana flow, and we know how to make magical items, but we cannot cast magic without the aid of a magical item or an inscription. Can you imagine just how embarrassing it would be, to be born in the plane of magic and not be able to do magic, like the other races? We are a laughingstock!”

“You saw the grand halls as you entered and walked over to this chamber. I am sure you have noticed the grandeur and the massive nature of our halls. Why do you suppose short beings like us would require such high ceilings?”

“I don’t know sir,” replied Calb.

“We are a proud race, and the reason why we built our halls with such height is to remind ourselves that we are not limited by our heights, that despite our heights, we can still create buildings of high structures better than anyone else. Also, the artistic display shown in our work is to remind ourselves that we can create such masterpieces without the aid of magic.” Sirram paused again. “But there is a limit to how much we can fool ourselves into believing that we are just as well as the other race of beings that can cast magic.”

“There was a discontent among our people. The majority of the older generations and minority of the younger generations still held onto the disillusion while the other half of our race, dominated by the younger generations, thought otherwise. I was the minority among the older generations that was discontent. Our discontent was so great that we split into two factions and discontent faction made a plea to the Pleevon the Mage. We asked to be granted pilgrimage to the other planes so that we do not have to live in disgrace. Plane of Lamea was the most ideal plane for us, considering we didn’t want to give up the plentiful mana flow. The only problem was that all of the Lameans are humans.”

Sirram looked at Calb and Serina again. “Can you think of a reason why we would find that as a problem?”

“Well, group mentality is such that those that are outside of the group are considered as dangerous, and in such situations, the group making up the majority tends to pick on the minority. Sometimes such can escalate to harassment and, eventually, to enslavement.” Calb replied in honesty.

“You are absolutely correct. Anyway you look at it, we are the minority here. Can you understand, now, our fear and hostility shown to you earlier?”

“Yes.” Nodded Calb.

“Is that the reason why you developed that magical belt buckle?” Serina, who had been quiet, jumped in on the conversation.

“Oh you mean the thing that Kormor was wearing. Well, we do have to have means of acquiring things that we can’t produce ourselves, and though we do not have anything that can make ourselves look taller, we can come close to looking like humans. So far, it has served us well.”

“You know, if you would like, you can ask my grandfather to help out,” suggested Serina. “He can have some town folks deliver goods to his place and you guys can simply get it from him. Wouldn’t that be a bit safer? I would imagine that would take less time as well.”

“Yes, Kormor mentioned that your grandfather is the Overseer of this region. That is something to consider. Do you think he would mind helping?” Sirram looked at Serina with hope.

“You can rest assured. Do you see this guy? We picked him up off of the road when he didn’t have anywhere to go, like a bum. Don’t you think my grandfather is a generous guy?” Serina beamed at Sirram.

The two men looked at each other with unease. Calb was at unease for Serina calling him a bum. As for Sirram, he had thought that Serina’s demeanor was a bit too relaxed for their first meeting. As if understanding each other, the two men gave each other a strained smile.

“Calb, would you give me my luggage? I have something in it that if the dwarves give to my grandpa he would understand it was from me.”

“Sure. Just a second.” Calb was in the middle of drinking his tea, and thus, he made the motion to put his cup down.

“Umm, excuse me, but I don’t see any luggage?” Sirram asked with hesitancy.

“Oh, regarding that, Calb is a bit special.” Serina gave him a short reply with a smile.

While they were chatting, Calb located Serina’s luggage and conjured it out of his PIDO and gave it to Serina.

When Sirram saw Serina’s luggage coming out of Calb’s arm, he was stunned. “H-How is this possible? You do not have any magical item, and though I see some kind of inscription on your arm, inscriptions are not the medium in which magic manifests. I haven’t seen such magic even in the Plane of Pleevon!”

“Well, I guess this is where my story begins.” Calb looked at Sirram.

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Hello Readers!

I have started to talk more about the different Planes in this world of magic, and I think the readers will realize that the main characters of this story will face different restrictions and, perhaps, advantages depending on which plane they are on. Of course they are no where near being able to get to the next plane, so this information only serves as a guaranteed foreshadowing of what might become....

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!

Until next time.

-----MooShoo-----