Crater Creator

1. Last day in paradise

After hours of hunting rabbits and squirrels, I have finally found myself a buck standing proud and high, with its two-foot tall antlers mounted on top of its head. I crouch behind a bush and ready my bow. Keeping it nice and steady, I fire an arrow through its side, piercing its chest. It slowly fell like a leaf onto the grass. I skin its pelt and put the hide and meat in my pack, and then I trot on towards home.

When I walk through the door, I must comment on how I love the quiet days in my house of solitude. It is also a little bit balmy outside and some clouds are floating around in the sky. The clouds are covering the sun, which is good. It means that the sun will not be beating down on me when I am out. Oh, what am I thinking? The sun never is beating down on me when I am out. It is as if the sky is my friend and it does not want to see a friend complain about how hot it is.

I am a Gnome by the name of Christopher Drinkwater. I live in a small town called Gwasgow. I am at the ripe age of twenty-five, which is what we consider young. Gnomes can live up to one to two hundred years old. I live in a very small house, probably half the size of a Human's house. Every day I saunter over to my marble table wearing my winter wolf pelt as a robe and my chipmunk slippers. I gaze at the multifarious amount of food; mostly comprised of meat, ready for preparation. The floor tiled with birch wood and animal fur. I then boil my eggs on my stone stove, while doing so I gaze through the pane glass window, and stand in wonder of the sight of my fellow Gnomes active working in the fields and tending to their gardens. Dolling up their homes to perfection, with flowers and making figures out their hedges. I see all the Gnomes prepping up their gardens as if for a judge to walk by and grade them on how beautiful their gardens are. My garden is probably the worst of all. I cannot grow anything, not even a simple weed will grow near my territory. I thought it was just digging a hole, plant the seed into the hole, and then give it water and sunlight. However, when I do the steps the plant just withers away. I gave up on that hobby a long time ago. The only thing that grows is grass, so I water that to make it shine in the sun.

Gwasgow is very beautiful, the diamond, ruby, and emerald-colored flowers are blooming in an enchanting bunch in the forest. The forest has a plentiful amount of animals, in all different breeds and colors. It is now spring and the forest and gardens are abloom. The songbirds are singing some happy song they always sing. The squirrels are collecting berries from the gardens. Gwasgow is the land of the Gnomes. Gnomes are peaceful, small, and lovers of all plants and animals, or so they are expected. Gwasgow is the only strip of land that is pure from the evil from the rest of A'Hearn. Gnomes do not tangle up in nonsense wars or forging and creating wondrous machines. For we have done nothing to cause any interest to the outside world, at least not anymore.

Centuries ago, before becoming the bountiful and beautiful sanctuary it is today, Gwasgow was home to the first Gnomes who were masters in dark magic. Hard to believe that today we considered 'kind and gentle', and hundreds and hundreds of years ago we fought everything. We were as war hungry as the Human brutes nowadays. We consistently were at war with some races of species. We had a type of magic that can convert the body of the caster into a heinous beast. We could take the shape of an Orc, Troll, Sea Serpent, anything. We were not fighting for the good of the land, but because we liked it. We craved to get our hands dirty and watch our opponent fall in defeat. We harvested their souls to recharge our power until we faced a new foe, the Pure Elves. They lived with no soul, just magic with skin. At first, we were unaware of this new species. Even the powerful Gnomes had to sleep, that was our one weakness. Since we were so strong, no one was bold enough to launch an assault on our town. The Pure Elves took this opportunity to take care of us. They had a special power to transfer their physical form into a spirit form. A world called the Dream World, a world that only Elves can travel to when sleeping. While in the Dream World they teleport into a sleeping person dream. They were capable of killing a sleeper, while they were asleep. They made a big impact on us by killing hundreds of Gnomes. When the Pure Elves were in the Dream World can they are hard to kill, and since we were unprepared, we lost. They warned us to stop using magic or else they will kill off every last Gnome.

Now all Gnomes focus on peaceful and simple things. Tending their gardens or growing crops, while still remembering their gruesome background.

The other Gnomes do not pay me any attention for I am not like them. I am not a Gnome you would expect, for I am a daring Gnome, taking on challenges the other gnomes try their best to avoid. I love to explore Gwasgow while tinkering my hand-made weapon. The bow is the best weapon to have, it is easy to make and we Gnomes have sharper eyes than other species such as Humans, Elves, and Dwarves. In addition, I love to hunt, but not with the same blood lust that my ancestors possessed. I do it for the pelt and food, not for joy, well sometimes. Foxes are the animals I try to focus on because I love the taste of cooked fox. It has tenderized meat and if you add some seasoning and herbs, it is oh so appetizing. The pelt of a fox makes a nice coat for the winter and as a blanket. Gnomes are natural crafters and cooks I have both of these and I am good at sleight-of-hand, tracking, not to mention my acute vision; perfect for hunting. I am not scared of any Orc or Troll, they try all they want, and they will not get to be alive for long.

The coats I make are also sold to my fellow Gnomes. They are all sold at a local tavern called the Light—Headed Elf, which was named because it was the first place for a Tainted Elf to ever be seen drinking in a bar. Tainted Elves differ from Pure Elves. Tainted Elves are longer made of magic they instead have lizard skin, because they left their fellow Pure Elves and lived in deep caverns and swamp's, and are considered outcasts to the Pure Elves. While Pure Elves use magic, Tainted Elves use dark magic, much like ours but stronger. Pure Elves and Tainted Elves are scarce among the races of the land. The Pure Elves tend to keep to their hidden Grassland and not take any care in the Human's wars and politics, or the Dwarf is excavating and probing. I find it odd, that of all the races our world seems to have, the Gnomes and Elves, both Pure and tainted, are the only ones who do not regularly occupy the cities of the land.