Chapter 1 The noise of the rain drops was constant, the wet sounds of the small but fat drops hitting the cobble path, it was night, and quite dark, a dim light in the middle of the path was lit, illuminating a very small area in the middle of the dark. The cobble path was quite old, small pouches of grass grew between the small cracks of the stone, giving it a more natural look to it. The path was quite deserted, not a single building, walls, or anything nearby, empty, only the sound of bugs, and the of the rain drops falling over the cobble path. The path seemed infinite, some said the path went through the whole continent, others said that the path led to the Forbidden Lands, others say that the path leads to Golenvard, the place where the heroes of the land would rest after their death, destined to fight and drink all through eternity, and if ever Dashma would have to fight Yerlin in the Great Battle of Aces, the Heroes would go down to fight with her. All mockery…Heroes never existed, Gods, Divines, whatever you call them, they never existed and they never will, at least that’s what Jesh said, that’s what he thought, the gnome never really believed in the Way of the Gorsh, or really believed that Golenvard even existed; in his mind, only one thought ran through his brain “Once we die, we die; we lay lifeless, limp where we fell, or where someone moves us, limp and out of breath, as worms, bugs and Nirns eat our flesh and rip the eyes out of our skull” quite the morbid thought, but he had to face the reality, he was no longer a child, and he had no time for fairy tales. Jesh was a gnome, a seventy years old gnome, or conversed into the human age, only thirty. He was small, like all gnomes yet he didn’t found that bad, he uses his size as a weapon, as a tool and an advantage, he was a Powder Gnome (all Gnomes at the age of thirty five have two paths to choose and that will change how their life will change, where they will work and how they will affect the community, there’s the Powder Gnomes, that will follow the way of the mechanism, redstone and machinery, many of them learn the art of Technomancy, a mix of magic with machinery; the other choice is the Star Gnome, Gnomes that use a special kind of magic that they believe that came from the stars, that it’s a gift from their Gods, many of these become clerics, healers or some, Paladins. There’s no record of any gnome actually being able to use any other type of magic besides those two, thus, its said that Gnomes can’t learn any other type of magic), and he was proud of it, he always loved how the machinery worked, how to move powder around and that would make something good happen, he could make traps, ambushes, mechanical miners, all of the sort by simply building machinery that could do it for him. At least he was trying to learn how to do it, how to improve himself, yet he knows that’s simply something that will take ages. In this very path, Jesh walked, following the cobble path, his head staring down, his bright blue eyes hidden under the goggles that he used almost all day long, his darkened red hair that almost seems light brown was all wet now and fell on his head, gluing to his forehead as the rest on his neck. His black coat was all wet, humid from the rain drops, thankfully it was over his white buttoned shirt that always seemed to be fully buttoned all the way, his brown pants had leather braces attached to it that went around his chest making a small cross on his back, a holster stood on the side with a small flintlock pistol that he had, and a small steel dagger on his hilt. The gnome gave small steps, his boots making a regular sound, almost like following a pattern as he walked along the wet path, stepping on small puddles of water creating a little splash. The gnome grumbled a few words to himself, repeating the words of a small song that his mum used to sing “Lollay, lollay, little child Why wepestou so sore Nedes mostou wepe It was iyarked thee yore Ever to lib in sorrow And sich and mourne evere As thine eldren did er this Whil hi alives were Lollay, lollay little child Child, lollay, lullow You have come into An alien world” It was a beautiful song, one that he adored and one that he always recited when nervous, it made him a bit sad whenever he sang actually for it remembered him of his deceased mother, a woman he loved dearly, and this is one of the only gifts he has of her, her song, the memory of her sweet voice on his head, forever stuck, or so he thinks. He had not a very big mind on where he was directing, possibly home, but who knows where home is. As the gnome walked he started feeling the smell of burnt wood, of burnt flesh…if one would look at him, they would notice the smoke leaving from a cave on the end of the dirt path that diverted from the cobble one. A smirk could be seen on the gnome, and as soon as he passed beneath the light, if one would look closely, they would see drops of blood on his coat, and a malefic smirk on his lips, the light did a small reflection on his goggles, creating a rather sinister look on him, one that would be seen rare on gnomes, a scary one. And the gnome kept walking, the noise from his footsteps soon faded, disappearing, and now, only the noise of the rain could be heard…falling over the cobble path…falling over the water puddles…