Wait, You were just a Short Slavic Man this Whole Time!?

There was no day and night in the conjoined realm. Their relation to the outside world was completely severed, so they'd have to leave to find out they had been messing around until 5am. Still, when it was time to sleep, Fuuma would go over to Dige's realm to sit by the fireplace. The low light helped him get sleepy, something the fluorescent light refused to allow. It reminded them that they couldn’t stay there forever.

“I can’t believe we got them to work.” Fuuma stared at his creation lovingly. “I can’t wait to see Kuroni swing it around on the battlefield. She’ll look so cool!”

“You mean you'll look cool,” Dige smiled.

“No, I’m a sniper. I took the shittier one. Also, have you seen her fight? She’s so-.”

“Jiggly?”

“Yes! She’s so cool, and graceful, and beautiful! I would do anything to be her boyfriend.”

“So you say,” Dige sipped some ale. “What about the blonde one?”

“Bro, they’re sisters. It’d be messed up if I dated both of them.”

“That's not what I'm asking.”

“Look, Tama teases me all the time and can be such a brat. She’s as much of a sister to me as she is to Kuroni. Although she is my age. She can be a backup option.”  

Good enough for a toast. At least it wasn't a harem. He wished only the best on this boy’s romantic endeavors. He thought that for all of them, but only Fuuma seemed to appreciate it.

Fuuma inspected the saber back and forth, searching for any flaws. “You know, I didn’t expect to find someone who could understand sci-fi in this world. I don’t know how you do it.”

“I dunno,” Dige replied. “Don’t the other boys know about this, too?”

“They’re normal compared to me. I’m the one who dove into leaked classified documents and bought the design works. I showed my railgun to them, and they went ‘So cool!’ They had no idea what they were looking at.”

“Neither did I. But I guess that makes ye a smart biscuit.”

This made him smile. Fuuma recalled when he was scolded for his knowledge, studying subjects that wouldn’t get him a job or friends. Recalling it hurt his soul immensely.

“You’re a hero like us, right?” Fuuma asked. “What transported you to this world?”

“You mean the blue-haired girl?”

“Uh, yeah. You died, right?” Fuuma looked the dwarf over from bottom to top. “What happened?”

Dige’s face grew dark, shadowed by the fire’s light. A deep pit grew in Fuuma’s stomach as he prepared himself for the answer. He was worried about what the answer would be.

“My home realm is called Earth, and I come from the Ural mountains in the far north.”

“What!?” Fumma stood, his hands trembling. “You’re from Earth!?”

“Eh?”

“The Ural Mountains on Earth? That’s in modern-day Russia. Are you saying you’re not actually a dwarf and just…Russian?”

“What are you talking about?” Dige scratched his beard. “Anyway, I come from the Moor clan. We lived in the mountains for millennia, hollowing them out and building great stone cities for our industry. It didn’t look too different from where we sit here.”

Fuuma glanced around, and despite the sheer amount of ores everywhere, he could see fine masonry just below the surface.

“There are tales of great wars and defenses, and of amazing treasures that dwarves would bring back to our city of Orenburg.”

“Again, are you Russian?”

“But those stories were long gone by the time I was born. The treasures were still there, as well as the statues, but I was brought in as one of 50 dwarves left in the entire mountain range. The oldest among us said that there used to be a lot more travel and commerce between the cities across the continent, but dwarves stopped traveling centuries before and dug deeper into their holes. Some say we were becoming one with the rocks. I never saw it myself, but my mother and father left one day and never returned.”

Fuuma nodded and stayed silent.

“I was then raised and taught under the king himself, Olfa, who wore many jewels and was as strong as an ogre. We also fought ogres a bunch, as well as orcs. Empty dwarven cities make for good hiding places. He taught me everything I know, how to behave, and how to uphold my pride as a dwarf. I respected him more than anyone. He was a true dwarf.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. He disappeared into thin air. I never heard a strange word out of him. I wonder if he just grew tired of the mountain, or if there was some foul play. Over a ten-year period, the other dwarves disappeared as well without a word, without saying goodbye. I sometimes thought that they were going somewhere and just weren’t telling me, like I was the one out of the loop in some sort of cruel joke, but it eventually came to pass that I was the last dwarf left. The city was mine alone.

“I don’t know what to think about that time. I thought that at some point, whatever took the others would come for me too, and I’d become part of the mountain. I found that to be very assuring, because it meant my family was still around me at all times, even as I continued to mine and forge. The smithing became my entire world. If I were to leave this world the same as then, at least I'd leave my mark in my weapons and jewels engraved with my name.”

Dige fell silent, reliving the moment again in his mind. Fuuma noted the dwarf’s hand clenching over and over again. He was fighting in his dreams.

“Let me guess,” Fuuma shuddered. “This is when man came to your mountain.”

This took Dige by surprise, maybe even offended him. "It was a dragon, you dolt!"

"But, I think-."

"Boy, I am not a Russian! Get that fantasy out of yer head before I smack ye!"

"Okay, okay."

Dige continued. “I had never seen anything so terrifying in my life. I had heard the legends of other dragons but had never seen something of that color. It had no enemies or obstacles to stop its advance, yet it tore through my ancestral city with pure hatred, setting light to stone and tearing at statues with its giant claws. It had come to make a new nest out of our treasures and nothing more. It hated everything about dwarves aside from our riches that it coveted. I brandished my axe and leapt into the fray to destroy this monster.”

“You fought a dragon?” Fuuma couldn’t help but be jealous. “Did you kill it?”

Dige scowled. Fuuma was so excited, he forgot what story this was. But was the fight grand, at least?

Dige touched his face. “Nay, he killed me instantly. I can still remember the skin burning off my body. It was horrible. Then I met blue-haired lady and now I’m here. After that, there’s not much to say.”

“Oh, right.” Fuuma looked away.

“What’s wrong?”

“You don’t seem that upset about it.”

“About dying horribly? About failing my family and letting a dragon take over my homeland? About being alone for so long and nobody truly loving me? Aye, that makes me more than upset, it makes me bloody angry!”

Dige stood up with renewed vigor, as if he were about to battle the devil himself.

“He’s the first on my list! I’ll never forgive that evil creature! If this quest gives me anything, it’ll be a way to get back home so I can kill that bastard for good! See this blueprint I made here? This is an anti-dragon weapon. I’ll use it to blast that oversized salamander into the history books where it belongs!”

Dige was inches from Fuuma’s face. His passion got the better of him. “Okay, I get it,” the boy relented. “I thought you’d be more sad about everything, but I guess dwarves only get angry.”

Dige sat back down. “Oh, don’t be mistaken. Dwarves can get sad. We’ll just never show it.”

“Does that mean-?”

“No matter how bad things get, or how alone we may feel, a dwarf never breaks face. It’s part of our pride as children of the mountains.”

Fuuma wished he could remain that stoic, but he knew that was impossible.

“So tell me, boy,” Dige asked. “How did you die in your world? Were you killed in a fight as well?”

A darkness fell over the campfire, and the boy’s face turned away. As dense as he was, Dige took this as a cue not to press. He must’ve gone in a shameful fashion, just like him. It was difficult to open up about these kinds of things, but he wished the best for him. Perhaps when this adventure was over, Fuuma could return to take his revenge as well.