Collision of the three races

The Adventurous dwarf

Ambrose was running, churning his legs as inhumanly fast as a dwarf could go, his great ax trailing behind him as if a demented tail while his breaths grew ragged by each passing kilometer.

The darkness of the forest didn't bother him much, the mines of Serveren had been much harsher and crueler to navigate on a good day. It was near pitch black but the dwarven warrior had fought and survived under worse conditions, his past adventures aside, he was ready for whatever the world had to throw at him!

...except for a few hours ago when he was suddenly dragged away from the mountain caves of Serveran and thrown into unfamiliar and most likely hostile territory

But he was anything if not an optimistic dwarf!

'Just another adventure!' He thought with a smile as he rushed to where heard the scream and growl from 'i wonder what kind of beast could be waiting to be fought' his smile split wide and his legs churned faster in anticipation.

Ignoring the sound of the other crunching footsteps behind him and the way shadows danced just outside his line of sight he trudged forwards without sign of stopping.

Ambrose was a simple dwarf.

if he hears a scream of a damsel in distress... say for example a princess guarded by a dragon he would head there immediately... only to fight the dragon and leave the princess in search of another dragon to fight

It was the heart of his being, the raging flames of passion started with the dying embers of his father's last wish, a wish to show the world what a dwarf can do, a wish to their strength be known throughout the farthest reaches of the northern keep.

And over the course of his life, a great portion of it had been trying to do just that. Slaying earth elementals, fighting wraiths, and learning the dwarven steps of combat as to prepare himself for the many adventures he planned to undergo

And now was no different!

His smile split at a manic rate as he found the source of the scream

"Ha! Ti's will be an interesting fight!" He announced loudly as he gazed upon the heavily shadowed form of his newest adversary

Whether it be gray or black he couldn't tell, but nor did he care in the first place. All he knew was that it was ten feet taller than he with the muscular and toned torso of a human or dwarf with the legs of yak if such livestock could stand on two legs. It hefted a decent-sized tree five times the size of the dwarf.

"By Boulder and sky, you are one ugly fellah!" He laughed as the head of the beast locked on him "boy, either yer mother was desperate enough to do it with a horse or ye somehow got yer dad to stick his di-" he ducked under a heavy swing

'that was close!' upon rising he brought up his bare fist to meet the chiseled abdomen of the beast, striking with the earth-shattering strength of a dwarf 'Tis like hitting Adamantite!' he thought in astonishment as he sent the beast back

Just barely, he made out a face to the right of him

"what is a sky be damned dark elf doing here?" he muttered in confusion and shock,

Much like the dwarves, the elves liked to live in solace, keeping their homes warded from intrusion and shrouded from the sight, but even then, it was common knowledge that the elves had an affinity to nature and as such, they would surely house in a place with a lot of light.

Why would an elf wonder in a place where even a dwarf had slight trouble seeing through the darkness? Perhaps she was like him? Was she also looking for an adventure? If so, Ambrose had found himself a new friend!

The dwarf clutched at his head.

'did hurt my head from thinking too much?' he thought rubbing at his head, only to feel a slick thick liquid trailing from behind his head 'oh wait no, I'm bleeding,'

Somehow, in the midst of thinking, the beast had reared up once more and struck at him with the force of its beastly hands two-fold of what he had dealt it.

He felt his blood come alive and the smile on his face split even wider in anticipation as he held his ax at the ready.

He had never felt so alive as much as he did when he was close to death

Cracking his neck sideways with an audible pop he didn't wait, couldn't bear the thought of not locking into combat with such a beast immediately, and rushed forth in a barrelling frenzy, his ax poised overhead to start the battle

For a moment, ax met the bark of the tree harshly, the two weapons in a deadlock as their users struggled to gain the upper hand in terms of strength

Ambrose didn't budge, staying true to his stance pushing back with equal monstrous force.

Finally, wood gave way for his ax, t'was to be expected.

After all, what was a simple tree to a dwarven forged adamantite war ax?

Like a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue skies, he struck at the opening, exploiting the stunned beast's moment of weakness only to find a ball of flame directly in front of his face blinding him for a moment

"foul play!" he sneered diving to a random side, his vision blurred badly, disoriented by the sudden light, stray motes of light fitting his vision as he heard the snap of a bowstring and a gut-churning scream "I better thank that elven lass for that save…" he muttered gratefully knowing for sure it was the elf

For what other race wielded such weapons with unparalleled skill?

'stone and sky!' he cursed inwardly as he flailed around, his eyes taking time to adjust to the darkness once more 'this better be the right direction

Hoping and praying he tried to put distance between himself and the place he heard the roar come from a while ago in a mad dash to get to safety, taking a gamble by rushing to the side where the beast had an equal chance to be as the left

"well crap" he cursed blankly as he watched the second ball of flame appear a few ways from him "guess this is it!" he announced manically as he watched the ball of flame approaching him quickly, given no time to dodge

'at least I die here a warrior,' he thought solemnly 'i die amongst the glowing flowe- where did these glowing flowers come from?!'

In an instant there was the sound of a branch snapping, then, there was light.

"oh great father Hreidmar…" the dwarf muttered under his breath in awe as he watched the figure in front of him.

By no means was he an intimidating feller, with vibrant green eyes, and from what the dwarf could tell by looking at his back, he wasn't used to doing training since he stood there as if a shepherd boy caught between the knight that stood beside him and the beast hurling magic at him

And currently, the fire splashed fluidly over the linen clothes the man holding a staff as if water to a metal roof flowing past him and dissipating into nothing

"dwarf, are you okay?" his voice, the deep yet warm tone had a ring of wisdom to it Ambrose only heard of from his village elder

The human spoke in the tongue of man but luckily for ambrose, he had been prepared for such an encounter with the race and learned the language enough to get by.

He could only nod at the question

what took the dwarf by surprise were the fire lotus flowers that grew on where he stood, giving off a warm light.

Fire lotus didn't grow on the surface

"Morro!" Ambrose heard a feminine voice and turned to the blonde swordswoman that stood at the ready, holding a sword "it pains me to say but I can not fight it in this darkness" her voice heald an ounce of panic as she watched the shadow stare at them

'that is an enchanted sword…' the dwarf thought in surprise, he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He was sure that blade was enchanted

The human Ambrose now identified as Morro made a humming sound raised one hand

He swept it in the air in a single stroke

"assist me, give us light" the words ringing in the air as he spoke them, light bloomed beneath their feet as surely over a thousand blue iridescent flowers came into existence each one delicate and brimming with a bright light that illuminated the beast's monstrous form

"what in the demon realm is that ugly thing?" Ambrose couldn't help but ask out loud as he finally saw what he had been fighting

The knight stiffened at the sight of it

"horse…?"

Truly, if a giant and a mare had a child it would be the thing they were facing at the moment, with a head of a horse and the chest of a human followed by grotesquely disproportionate size legs as if only bone and sinew ending in two hooves as black as night.

It neighed in agitation, a guttural and blood-curdling sound as if the grinding of a horse against a rough surface, looking at its surrounding in what looked to be confusion and panic as it kicked at the ground thrice, bringing up dirt with each powerful kick as it tried to trample the newly bloomed flowers as if they had done undo harm to it.

"tis caught off guard!" the human woman shouted diving inwards from the right, her sword extended, as she stabbed into its midsection

Before the blade sunk into the beast, Ambrose was already moving, dashing forward with the tenacity and barrelling force only a dwarf could possess right as the beast lurched and reacted badly to having a point object stabbed into it at its time of weakness.

"you fool you'll get yer self killed!" he yelled right as he proceeded to tackle her to the ground, his weapon forgotten on the grass

The two tumbled out of reach of the wild swings of the beast, just barely out of range of the strange magic it had started to use to burn the surrounding flowers. Ambrose felt the heat across his entire body as he forced them to roll farther than supposed to just to avoid the torrent of flames

"unhand me you barbarian!" the knight who had fallen in a heap of limbs tangled with his own shouted nearly cutting off the dwarf's hand since she still held her blade in hand

"careful where ya swing taht!" he exclaimed, glaring at her angrily "e've seen ogre's with more strategical thinken than ye!" he hollered, his accent thickening with the rage

'ungrateful wretch! As expected of a human' he sneered inwardly

"how dare yo-" her heated retort was cut short by the growl of the beast they had completely forgotten about, already rearing its fist back ready to pummel them to death if need be

'this is gonna hurt isn't it?' Ambrose, who'd already processed the incoming pain thought in resignation already bracing the most likely place to be hit

Bringing both his hands to his face he grit his teeth.

There was a sharp thwack! Of wood lashing out at something lashing out with great force followed by yet another bloodcurdling scream of agony from the beast as it rounded on the source only for a second sharp sound to echo out due to the green-haired man rounding back his staff to collide with the face of the beast sending it down momentarily.

"tis not the time to argue" Ambrose found the fact that his voice remained so calm made a grin c***k on his face

'Methinks I've found myself an interesting brood' he laughed rising instantly to retrieve his ax, ignoring the twisted ankle that had been caused by the fall as he shoved the human off him.

Rushing and ignoring the pain, Ambrose rushed to his weapon on the grass, knowing the beast's rage and attention would be directed at the human named Morro

And if he was what the dwarf thought he was, then he best not let him fight a beast like that on his own.

"run!" Ambrose shouted in warning watching as the man raised his staff to the beast's neck and looked to be whispering something

The dwarf felt a knot of dread form in his stomach as the beast dashed at the green-haired man, in a frenzy, foam rushing out from the mouth of the beast as it entered a rabid state.

"you're not going tah make it!" Ambrose shouted

Right as the beast was about to start pounding him to the ground the dwarf felt himself calm when he heard the whistle of an arrow soaring through the air

'that man…' he looked to the druid that continued whispering to himself then to the elf thatt had fired the arrow lodged in the back head of the beast

He didn't think this human a reckless i***t like his companion, by the tone of his voice he'd almost swear to the great sky above that he knew the elf would fire to help him.

'he knew her positions from the beginning' the dwarf's face shifted into a manic grin as the druid finished his whispering and sent his staff down on the beast's head

"RIBE!" the words echoed in the air like a command, ringing out like a thousand bells in the air as the staff met skin.

Immediately thereafter, vines of varying thickness rose from the ground wrapping, trapping and grounding the beast to where it stands

The man met the dwarf's eyes a small smile on his face as he nodded to the ax in his hand

'i definitely like this one' he smiled, bringing down the great battle-ax to cleave the beast in twain