“You see that over there?” The dwarf said, pointing to the snow-capped mountains in the distance, “That’s where my folks live, we can head over there first thing in the morning and work our way from there.”

A man wearing a thick layer of grass, Dal, and a grey hulking mass of muscle, Inyah, stared at the dwarf, bemused. “You live in a mountain?” Inyah asked, grinning.

“No, I don’t live in a mountain, you racist. They live in the village BEHIND the mountains.” The dwarf lectured, waving the staff twice his size around. “The mountains make a great defence, it’s why the great raids passed us by.”

“Lucky,” Dal muttered.

“Not really, we were bored shitless. I had to learn magic just to give me something to do,” The Dwarf said, jerking his staff towards the spectators.

A sharp gust of wind blew over the mountaintop the men were squatting on, each hired by an unknown party. They enlisted The Dwarf while he was skulking around the mountains, they approached Inyah during his job as a waiter and Dal…God only knows. But the employer gave them a package with two simple instructions:

1. No peeking, and…

2. Go north

Go north, that’s it. No map, no directions, there are no cities that exist, nor have ever existed, called “North.”

As the wind howled over the mountaintops, the men sat in a peaceful silence.

“I know it’s early, but we should probably get as much sleep as we can,” Inyah said, lying down.

“Agreed,” Dal added.

“You guys are boring. What’s wrong with a little night-time adventuring?”

“Go to sleep, or I’ll lie on top of you,” Inyah murmured.

“Fine, I’ll just take the package and go without you guys,” The Dwarf fumed.

“Sleep,” Dal said

The Dwarf looked at the two men still lying down and sighed. He gripped his staff above his head and threw it down. Flames consumed it leaving a staff-shaped fire on the ground. Inyah leaned on his shoulder looking in bewilderment while Dal was apparently asleep.

“Don’t worry,” The Dwarf said, “it’s just a spell, the staff’s fine.”

“Just don’t set fire to the grass dude.”

“Thanks,” Dal muttered.

The morning sun glared over the horizon and onto the faces of the group. All three woke up at the same time while the staff was still ablaze. While Dal and Inyah stood up, The Dwarf was shaking as he hauled himself onto his feet.

“Are you okay?” Inyah asked.

“It’s freezing up here, I haven’t got the benefit of your ungodly workout regimen or being a tree to keep me warm.”

“I don’t exercise.”

“How!?” A shrug abruptly ended the conversation. The Dwarf waved his hands in a complex manner and the fire evaporated from the staff, leaving not a single scorch mark. As the Dwarf picked up his staff he glanced at a motionless Dal, “Um…is he…I mean is he— ”

“Hm?” Dal murmured, turning over to look at the Dwarf.

“Nevermind.”

Inyah began rolling up his bedroll and tucked it under his arm, “We should get going.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you need, like, a giant banquet before you go?” The Dwarf questioned.

“I’m a light eater, I usually skip breakfast entirely these days.”

The Dwarf double checked Inyah to make sure he wasn’t imagining the ton of muscle in front of him. After checking him for an uncomfortable length of time he walked to the edge of the mountaintop, “The side of this mountain has really fine dirt, we can slide down.”

The other two, now wide awake at this prospect, looked down at the sheer drop. The jet-black dirt was fine, but between them and the hard ground it looked less like a slide and more like a method of suicide, “No,” Dal said.

“Yeah, I’m not sure about this one. Can’t we just climb down?” Inyah asked nervously.

“Bad idea,” the Dwarf stated, “If you climb, or stop for any reason, you are definitely going to break all the bones in your body. If you actually have bones and not just more muscle.”

Before Inyah began thinking about moving, Dal sprinted towards the edge and took a flying leap off into the abyss. Both men looked down at Dal as he tumbled down, shedding grass and kicking up a trail of dust.

“Okay, don’t stop yourself but also don’t be that into it. Just step off.”

Inyah continued staring at tumbling Dal, terrified.

“Relax, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even have any bones. Just step off like this!” The Dwarf stepped off and, too, disappeared off the edge. He kept perfect control of his descent, almost lying down on the mountain’s side as he sped off. Seeing the little dude slide down so well made Inyah more confident about his chances, kind of.