The Black Swordsman is Unimpressed

A swordsman clad in black entered the village of Startleburg on a hunt.

There was a rumor that a monster had taken the nearby mountain as its home. It was a grotesque half-man, 135 cm tall and the same amount wide, with a ragged red beard and large, powerful hands that could crush rocks. However, its key feature was its stench. Every time the beast would enter the village, its odor would drive the villagers away in disgust. Only the village elder had the fortitude to tell the creature to shoo the half-man away. Then it would bathe in the river, per the elder's request, and return with metals and trinkets. It never asked for anything in return and would return to the mountain soon after. This encounter has repeated consistently every two weeks for the past three months.

The swordsman asked when the creature had last visited the village. It turns out, about twenty minutes ago.

Half a mile up by the river, the creature shot out of the river like a salmon. Dige the Dwarf had no concept of washing, but the villagers seemed to accept him more if he took a swim before entering the village. This fact had to be repeated, however, which annoyed him. They'd have to get used to his natural dwarven musk at some point. Were they scared? This world was full of strange consistencies. Even as he returned to shore, he could hear another chirp in his ear. He swore that there was a bug around him at all times. Why was it bothering him so much?

That was when the mysterious swordsman appeared, approaching from the road across the bank. On one end, Dige had never seen a man of his complexion before, with black eyes and jet black hair, angular and shadowy, with a pleasant face and a fox's smirk that seemed surprised, but amused. On the other end, the swordsman got to see what a dwarf looks like naked.

“You’re a dwarf, aren’t you?” he asked. "I've come to speak with you."

Dige was given his first feast in years at the village tavern. In the dimly lit room, the village farmers got to see their local monster's appetite firsthand. It was horrifying, as Dige consumed a meal meant for six on his own, leaving nothing left on the plate. Dige’s jaws crunched bone and root with frightening ease, and red juices splattered across his clothes, making him look even more monstrous. The smacking of his lips, his stamping boots. It was impossible to avert one's eyes from him. He was a grotesque spectacle. At least the visitor was quiet, civilized.

“I haven't seen an appetite like this in a long time,” the swordsman said with a chuckle. “Are you going to get a balloon belly?”

“Ay, if you’re lucky,” Dige replied. “You need to eat too, lad. You’re all skin and bones.”

“I have been eating. Watch.” He placed a bread roll in his hand, and as if by magic, it disappeared into thin air. “Ta-da! Nutrition.”

“Ah, that doesn’t seem fun.”

“I’m not a very fun guy, to be honest.”

“Then I’ll take the mushroom cake.” Dige laughed before downing his meal with ale. “Akir Kazga-.”

“Kasuga Akira.”

“I am so happy to have met you. I am so happy that you understand what a dwarf is. Not a misshapen man, or an ogre, like what you gits call me! I have proof now, you bastards!” His voice went soft again. “ A real dwarf. That’s me. Do you know where I can find my kin? I’d be willing to start again in a new clan.”

Akira took a simple glass of juice. “I’m afraid I haven’t found any other dwarves in Glynn’s World. You’re on your own, I’m afraid.”

Dige’s smile faded into confusion. “But, how do you know about me then, boy?”

“I played a lot of video games in my old world. Dwarves were popular side characters in them. Stout, brave, good at forging. But don’t get me wrong, my world didn’t have dwarves either. They were…inspired.”

Dige’s head lay low. “Well, that is accurate to say. I can forge mighty good weapons, I can.”

“Did you get a blessing from the goddess?”

“The who?”

“The lady you met when you died.”

“Oh, that lass. Poor thing. She’s going to freeze to death in that outfit. I don’t remember much from that place. I was a bit upset, if you could understand."

“The power, what did she give you?”

“Oh, it’s this.” Dige raised his left hand, and a small portal opened, about a meter in diameter. “I call it the Orerealm. It’s where I store my metals.”

“I believe it’s called ‘hammerspace’.”

“I do store hammers in here, too.”

“There you go.”

Dige took another liter down his gullet, savoring the much-needed taste of alcohol, when he noticed that the black coated stranger stopped moving. Akira’s eyes watched him and the space around him, as if he were reading at lightning speed. It felt violating, as if he was judging him. No, worse. It was insulting because Akira wasn’t looking at him at all.

“Your world, Mr. Kasuga,” Dige muttered. “Knows about this world, but it’s not like ‘this world’, it’s like, ‘another world’, but-. You’re a weird lad, Mr. Kasuga. You don’t eat right. Your shoes are clean. You should be sweating in that coat. C-Can I see through you?”

Dige reached out, but his suspicion was unfounded. Akira was there as he halted Dige’s finger. His hand was immovable like stone. 

“Sorry, I’ll get to the point,” he said, but his eyes turned away as if changing his mind. “In my world, we have video games, like I told you before. We have anime and comics and books and movies that have fantasy worlds just like this, but the most important one is video games, because video games have stats. They have numbers. Your strength is measured by your level, gear, and potions. It makes everything simpler. Glynn’s World lets us run with those numbers. I mean, look at this. I’m stopping you without even trying.”

Dige pulled back. “I don’t get you, black boy, but if it makes you tough, then good for you.”

“No, it’s better than good. It’s great. You can become so much stronger, Dige Moor, son of Dodrige. You just need to understand.”

Dige’s eyes widened. “I-I never told you-.”

A sharp pain whipped across his belly, and before he knew it, he was flying. The strike was so fast the dwarf didn’t even process it. A single slice of a strangely shaped blade, and it was sheathed before Dige hit the ground, his top half separated from his bottom. The tavern roared into a panic.

“Your soul is weak, Dige, but it can be made stronger. Do not return to your mountain. You're a hero. Go out there and raise your level.” Akira was halfway out the tavern door before he turned. “Your goddess should fill you in on what to do next.”

Dige tried to reach out for his hammer space. Perhaps he could get a rock or a tool to throw at Akira before he lost consciousness, but it was too late. This death wasn’t like his previous one. It was long and painful, and he felt the life drain away over minutes. His eyes darted around the tavern. Not a single soul came to his aid. The dwarf was left to die alone, and he did, as his soul departed Glynn's World.

When Dige awoke, Marine slapped him. He was in the Lighthouse. The feeling was familiar, if a little less blurry.

“Dige!” she shouted. “That chirp you hear in your ear is me! Listen to your goddess for once! Do you know how much energy it takes to make calls like that?”

Dige didn’t answer, his mind fixated on what just happened. He could not understand Marine in the slightest.

“LISTEN!” That got his attention. “When you hear the funny chirp, say hello…Say hello!”

“Hello?”

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

“Good, that’s thirty seconds. You gotta get back now. I’ll call you Dige. You need to get stronger!” Her words faded away as Dige dropped back through the Sea of Souls into blinding light.

When Dige awoke, he was met with sunlight. The villagers crowded around him with fear and confusion, as his bisected corpse in the cavern was gone, and now he was here, on the street. Was this a blessing from the goddesses, or a curse?

The only thing that could animate him was the phrase that now haunted him. Get stronger. Get stronger. Get stronger.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?”

Dige stood red with fury, his mouth so wide and hair so wild the villagers once again fled. In a burst, Dige got on his feet. His eyes darted around for his target, but Akira Kasuga was already gone.

There are dwarves in many worlds across the Astral Plane. While most of them carry similar traits, a few have unique, accentuated propensities. The most infamous of all was the Dwarven Grudge. A dwarf can forgive almost anything. A dwarf can brush off most heinous actions that humans would find immoral. A dwarf can forgive murder, but if his honor was insulted, then there was no forgiveness. It would be written into their personal grudge book and would never be erased. The perpetrator would be marked for death until the dwarf made it so.

Dige was one of those dwarves.

“AKIRA KASUGA! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”