An Intruding Shadow

Hello, fellow explorers. Sorry for the long wait but don't worry, the story continues! Welcome back to the Black Caves of the Mirror Mountain.

The dwarfs came running when they hear the sound of the giant's horns. The bellowing tone echoed through the tunnels. For centuries the dwarfs haven't heard those sounds. They ran swiftly to the Giants' aid. What could have caused such an alarm?

A small company of elite dwarves arrives at the entrance of the Black Forge caves. The Giants greet them and explain the situation.

"No one has been able to get into the caves. Not for ages. No one has been able to go past us. Not until today. We have picked up an unfamiliar scent. Who owns it? We don't know."

The dwarfs call their best tracker. He is a robust, broad-shouldered, elderly dwarf named Gamling. He arrives at the entrance to the caves, and without a word, he pulls out his pendant. He slowly blows on it.

A mist of glowing dust, like tiny fireflies, flows out from the pendant into the tunnels. The mist spreads. It embraces the walls, ceiling, and floor. Stillness covers the area. All that you can feel is the rumbling from the gigantic forges in the industrial halls of the Mirror Mountain. Suddenly an explosion of blue light and gusts of wind fills up the cavern. The dwarfs and giants turn away. They cover their eyes from the blinding magic. The wind catches the scruffled beards of the dwarfs. The light slowly dims. As it fades, the magic reveals the glowing silhouette of a footprint.

Gamling walks with heavy steps over to the new glooming tracks. Settled, now exposed to the naked eye. He glances down upon them.

With a slight raise of his bristled eyebrows, he delivers a sharp, high whistle. The signal fades through the halls. In the distance, a new noise like glass pieces creaking against each other approaches the cave entrance. An underlying deep rumble like thunder completes the sound.

The rumble comes closer and closer. The dwarfs behind Gamling steps back a bit. Around the corner appears a dog-like creature. It's covered in crystals. The dog stops in front of Gamling.

"Gloomy," he whispers.

From ancient times Gloomy was formed as one of the creatures from the mountain. He doesn't need totems. He was born from magic minerals. This makes him capable of feeling and seeing what has passed through these halls. He is called a Mirror Hound.

Gloomy walks over towards the footprint. As he breathes in the scent, the crystals on this back start to glow.

"He will help us find this intruder."

"Gloomy Go!" called Gamling.

Gloomy bolts. The company of dwarfs and giants follow the mirror hound. They move deeper and deeper into the mountain. The mirror hound stops. They hear him growling.

Gamling moves to Gloomy. He notices a shadow standing before them. A hooded figure. It shifts its cloak to unveils multiple totems, pendants, and medallions, all glowing in different colors.

"That's impossible, " Gamling whispers.

One of the giants runs forward to attack the stranger. He swings his hammer. It stops mid-air. The giant is frozen.

"The stranger is using all the pendants' power," Gamling mumbles.

His eyes widen. The color drains from the giant, changing his body completely grey. It turns towards Gamling. The colorless giant's dead eyes peer down. It swings its hammer at him. Gamling jumps to the side. He barely misses the strike.

The company also tries to dodge the attack. One dwarf doesn't move fast enough. The gray giant hits him and splashes him like a fly against the wall. The other giant is confused. His friend has killed one of the dwarfs. After seeing the remains, he doesn't hesitate anymore.

He strikes, the colorless giants parries. He strikes again and hits him straight in his face. The grey giant stumbles, shakes, and turns back to fight. Another blow hits him in the back of his head. He falls. The grey giant's skull is crushed against the floor.

The dwarfs are speechless. One dwarf breaks the silence, "...What happened"? Gamling is in shock.

"The giant was corrupted."

"Where's the stranger?"

He is gone.

Alright, fellow explorers. That's where we end today's post. Follow along to see what will happen in the next part of this story.

The Creatures Within The Mountain

Hello fellow, explorers.

You might have heard about Mirror Mountain, if not you can go back and read a little about them in this post https://www.akrisconcept.net/post/the-totem-thief. Mirror Mountain is part of a bigger chain that stretches across the land. In today's post, I'm going to writing about the creatures living within this glass-like mountain.

Ancient alliances, wast halls, and mysterious creatures are some of the elements you may come by when you walk within Mirror Mountain.

Today we are going to look at the dwarfs and the crystal giants. They have a special alliance that will prove to be significant in the trails to come.

The Dwarfs are master craftsmen. They build beautiful items from the minerals in the mountain. Their forges run both day and night to create intricate weapons and armor for friends and allies. They have lived in the mountain for centuries, keeping the mountain and its creatures close. Protecting their kingdom from outside evil.

The Crystal Giants live deep within Mirror Mountain. They come from the mountain itself being born from it. If you see them you will notice crystals growing out of their body. These minerals are the source of their power.

The Crystal Giants aren't the most intelligent beings in this world. However, don't underestimate their power to kill you. They are big, strong and faster than you might think. Night is like day to them. They make good guards and work well as protectors.

Knowing this the dwarfs ceased the opportunity to hire the Crystal Giants. They became guardians of the dwarven kingdom. They were tasked with protecting the dwarfs from any evil approaching their halls. In return, the Giants get shiny armor to protect themselves.

The Giants, being proud creatures, don't want to only rely on the dwarfs' craft. To compensate for their proud-ness they add pieces of rope and stone to the dwarven armor. That's the best they can do.

One-day evil came to the Mirror Mountain. It was The Totem Theif. He sneaked past the guards.

But Giants has a fantastic smell and soon they caught his scent. They sounded the alarm and now the thief was in trouble. As far as he knew there was only one way out.

Next time we will hear more about the Theif, The dwarfs, and the Giants.

Please leave a like if you enjoyed this story. See you next time

The World Of Portals

Hello, fellow explorers. Today I will talk about the world and what the title stands for.

So World of Portals. Why portals you may ask? And why haven't we heard about them yet? Well, I will try and explain to you all of these things in the best way I can.

Portals

The portals are magic driven gates that you can walk through into other worlds and dimensions. These gates take their power from the magic minerals from the ground around them. The creatures in this world also use these minerals for their magic.

The portals are used for trading and traveling through the lands.

They are protected by celestial like beings. They make sure that nothing corrupt happens. Like throwing bombs through the portals.

No one knows where these unusual beings come from. The few things we know about them is that they are ancient and protect the people in this universe. They can control gravity and they don't need the minerals for them to perform magic.

The minerals vary from world to world. They affect the way people live and use them. I will go more in-depth with how the magic works in another post. The minerals are the source of magic.

So that's a little bit about why the name is the world of portals.

let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for the name of the world.