The day my plans of adventure changed was as regular of a day as one might have expected. My life on the road had panned out very badly on the onset, before I understood much about finding food and setting up a shelter. I knew the theory, but in reality I was not a hunter or forager, and my shelters were rudimentary. Exposure was becoming a serious issue on my daily health. I had managed to cover embarrassingly little ground too, at best I was still only a week or two from home.

I was faint and skinny, getting paler despite the sun overhead thanks to nights spent cold and wet. My clothes and cloak had grown both stiff and oily. The sword I had stolen from my dad was getting heavier and heavier on my belt. I was filthy and I stank. It was persistent despite my best efforts at washing regularly when I found rivers. For all my trials, and the things I missed about home at once, I felt that I was at least standing in the real world. I was confident of that because I had a sinking feeling I might die out here, but a part of me stayed committed to my risk. I just couldn’t stomach the idea of going home after all I’d put myself through, because I was sure I hadn’t gotten what I needed yet.

I was stumbling through a thicket, sweating in my boots and around my forehead, itching and overheated, basking in the absolute freedom that was my misery. And to be strictly clear, I was miserable. But at least the sounds of nature were nice, I remember thinking to myself.

So a sound like thunder, if thunder was being violently murdered by something much louder, immediately tore through the air around me, and I froze on the spot. The sky was bright and and then dark. Birds and wildlife were as startled as I was, the sounds of them fleeing a faint drum underneath the sound of rushing blood, my pulse thumping in my barely recovering ears. When I could make sense of things, I found I had fallen over onto the wet forest floor, and was blinking away the dots in my vision from the bright that had overtaken my eyes. It just about stopped my heart, but it was the first sign of something important happening since I’d come out here.

I made with haste, desperately, for what I believed was a nearby clearing, only to find it was the forest’s edge. The object responsible for my startling, to put the sensation lightly, was a bright streak across the sky, a falling star which had made its home in a hamlet upon the horizon, with only a few fields and spots of forest between it and where I stood. Like a moth, a very hungry, very cold moth, I walked towards it for what was truthfully a short and easy hike. But it felt at the time like hours between all the uncomfortable sensations around my person. It still didn’t matter; I had to see it and I had to know. I came out here for adventure and I wanted to chase it down. I was a little embarrassed seeing that it had landed in a town, meaning I could have stayed on the road, not endured all that time in the woods, and I still would have probably ended up here.

When I finally reached the hamlet some time later, a half hour maybe, the fallen star had cratered some poor building. There wasn’t an air of grief around those adjacent, so I assumed nobody was inside the time. I was glad everyone was ok, but I’ll admit I had hoped to save someone from something for the first time. There was hope to do something helpful though. Because when I saw the crater it had made, the villagers weren’t even near its edge for fear of it. They were mostly as confused and afraid as I had been back in the woods. I was so hungry I could have cried, but I was certain I had stumbled across something actually adventurous. This could be exactly why I came out here. The dream of vindication drove me toward it. If everyone was going to be afraid, I would be the one to go down. They were staying far away from the burning ruin of the cratered building and the site itself, including even those who were bolder among the humble folk around me. I was encouraged. I would be the first to lay eyes on this strange new thing and if something was amiss I would do my duty and feel like the hero I was certain I could be. When I took my first steps down I immediately saw that I had been wrong. There were, in fact, a good few who did actually tread inwards just before me, now carefully climbing down the crater edge towards the decreasingly smoldering smoking spot in the middle, surrounded by burning debris. There were six of us in total down here.

I noticed two men, one older and one younger. The younger man was wearing armored gloves and a helmet, and was advancing with his sword and shield in hand. His stature was comparable to mine, but his build had seen far more grace thanks to a balanced diet and training. I couldn’t see his face with his head turned away. The older of the two men had oily brown hair, longer than average, and he stood with what I’d describe as a more confident caution. He had a similarly shaped shield to the fellow next to him. They were associates at the very least. I saw nearby, at the top of the crater edge, a pair of horses whose neighing had caught my attention. They had shining armor tied in nets to their saddles. These men were travelers, knights by the look of it who’d donned the quickest of their gear to investigate. I was behind them and couldn’t yet see the crests of their shields. My disappointment over not being the first down here was overcome by my curiosity, as well as some boyish excitement. I always loved knights, and I wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. I was a little self-conscious about how underwhelming my appearance must have been in light of how prepared these men seemed next to me, and I hadn’t even seen their faces yet.

Who I could see from the front were the other three individuals who had climbed down into the crater. They were dwarves. They wore fine helmets that made their features hard to discern, which was already a taxing effort on account of the fact that their faces were also adorned with thick beards. My vision was also probably not in ideal shape. I still felt a little bad about only being able to identify them by beard color. Those colors were black, auburn, and a lighter brown than the hair of the older human man. They’d come in with an array of equipment. The black bearded dwarf seemed their leader and carried an impressive axe with two blades on its head, the metal dark like the scaled mail shirt he wore, along with his helmet which sported a pair of metal ornamental wings, likely indicating status. The auburn bearded dwarf had a shield and a large hammer of equally balanced and thick construction to the axe I had already seen, and his clothes felt more reminiscent of a workman than a warrior, although I figure they were designed to accomplish either task. I took the ornamental wings on his shining helmet as a clue to that point. The last dwarf was definitely a worker, his helmet the simplest with a bronze sort of tint, and lacking ornaments of any kind. All he had brought was a pickaxe, which was still of finer and more expensive make than everything on my person put together. Again, I felt rather out of place beside these people. I felt the sting of my own youth and inexperience but tried to shake it off.

My inclusion among these men made me the sixth person standing here.

All of us were coughing from the smoke, but the sound of mine is what alerted the two knights to my presence, both turning to face me. The younger knight was the first to speak.

“It’s not safe here, you should return to your home.”

His accent was refined and pronounced certain letters oddly. It reminded me of how my dad described people from further south, near the central cities of the Periculan Kingdom. It also took me a second to process that he couldn’t have meant my actual home. I wasn’t thinking especially fast between the effect my condition was taking on my emotions, not to mention the emotions at play.

“I don’t live here,” I clarified, “but I’m just as curious as you are what this is.”

The older knight found that sufficient and bumped the arm of the younger, talking to him without addressing me directly. His accent was closer to mine but had a few elements similar to his fellow.

“It’s alright, he can see if he wants to take the risk, but I need you to focus.”

I appreciated the social mercy, as I felt less like I did not belong here. I advanced more confidently. The younger knight respected his elder’s wishes, and after giving me a measured glance, returned his attention to the center, which the dwarves were already inspecting now that the smolder had died down and the shape of the fallen star was revealed. It was a chunk of glossy black stone with odd indentations around its oblong shape. There was a faint blue glow under its surface. At this point I had more in common with the dwarves because of how entranced we were by it. The black bearded dwarf commanded the brown bearded dwarf holding the pickaxe.

“Vrey, inspect it. What’s it made of? What’s inside?”

The brown bearded dwarf, the one called Vrey, walked around it, looking it over with a befuddled expression before delivering his report. I waited like the others to hear the opinion of someone more qualified than me.

“I’ve never seen its like. It has the gloss and hue of obsidian, but the translucence of glass. The glow is from an object with observable dimensions, distinct from the shell. We could open it and find out.”

At this point I was now standing directly next to the other two humans as the older knight addressed the three dwarves. I’d have felt the pride of standing like an equal next to a knight if not for the fact that I clearly wasn’t. I shoved that feeling down because I wanted to know what was inside. The older knight spoke before the miner could strike the fallen star’s surface.

“Stay your pickaxe, master dwarf. It may yet be unsafe to open. Perhaps in a more controlled place.”

The black bearded dwarf spoke up on behalf of his party.

“A Periculan ally, though you may be, I suspect this is the most control we are going to have over this object. If we’re to discuss the matter of claim, I would prefer it sooner than later.”

The younger knight took offense to this and wrinkled his nose.

“Sir Darion was being courteous, the Dwarven Establishment cannot invoke its laws of claim in Periculan territory.”

The older knight, the aforementioned Sir Darion, held up his hand and said “Hold on, Ferendei, perhaps the dwarves are right, and there is an opportunity to look upon this potential treasure as allies. What are your names?”

The dwarves, nevertheless, were put off and defensive. The auburn haired dwarf interjected, shouldering in.

“I am called Eter, the miner is Vrey, and our captain is named Bronn. I should tell you though human, I don’t trust any man who’s so easily convinced. I don’t want you or your fellows to lay hands on the object first.”

Sir Darion, on behalf of himself and his fellow knight, Sir Ferendei, took the opportunity to defend his position.

“I am being hospitable, Mr. Eter, considering we stand now upon our home turf. Nevertheless, perhaps it’s for the best we don’t lay hands upon it first if the matter is truly that important to you. Go ahead then.”

The black bearded dwarf, stroking his beard, turned his nose up.

“And take all the risk ourselves if whatever’s inside is dangerous?”

I’ll admit. I saw the opportunity and started speaking before I even really understood what I was saying.

“I’m not with these two knights. I’m Periculan too but from much further north. I don’t work for anybody. I’m the most neutral person here and I’m obviously not equipped to keep whatever’s in there away from anyone who really wanted it, even if I tried. My hands could be just what you both need, right?”

I started listening to myself around the point my mouth finally closed, and realized I had no idea what I was about to pick up, but I was tired and hungry and so desperate to find what I was looking for that I’d convinced myself to keep taking risks. And so, after a few glances back and forth assessing the immediate desire by all parties not to let the other just claim the inner contents, the knights and dwarves nodded at each other and then looked expectantly at me. I wished that they at least asked my name before sending me in there, but we were all probably feeling impatient and out of our depth to one degree or another, I reasoned. I stepped up next to the fallen star, along with the dwarven miner Vrey, who swung his pickaxe sharply into its surface. It landed with a heavy crack like glass somehow adhered to itself even after breaking. He withdrew his tool and struck it again at the same spot again to similar effect. He repeated this motion until the entire surface structure suddenly cracked apart with a hiss of air from inside, the pieces falling away from the object contained within a hollow space inside, which we now observed.

It was the most beautiful turquoise crystal, glowing faintly. I felt no heat in the air coming off of it, unlike the pieces of the black glassy shell. I experienced no sensation that came off too me as threatening. I was struck by its beauty before I even tried to touch it. After a moment, I tentatively laid my hands upon its surface, relieved immediately to find that it caused me no harm. With a tug, I freed it from where it lay, and looked upon it, smiling. I managed to glance at Sir Darion before my sensations changed drastically and I was corrected in my assumption all was well.

In a split second, there was a bright flash and a terrifyingly strange sensation crackling up my arms. It was painful but more so felt the way muscles feel when a person is in danger and experiences the excitement that narrows vision and sharpens awareness. It was like raw energy. I felt the discomforts of my person grow farther and farther away as I held it and acclimated to it. I thought I was about to die for a moment, seeing my life flash before my eyes, but now I was experiencing something more like reinvigoration.

The spectacle, I now noticed, had caused all present to move back and take defensive stances. I was honestly less at ease with how they were looking at me than I was actually holding the crystal which now felt increasingly comfortable in my hands.

“It’s alright. It released some sort of energy into me but I don’t feel anything wrong. In fact, I think I feel better than I did. Here, you can try it.”

Vrey, standing the closest, reached for it, but unlike my experience, encountered resistance from the crystal as a small arc of energy coursed out of it through the air as fast as a blink and impacted his hand. He howled and withdrew. After a few moments of everyone looking at him, he flexed his shaking fingers back into submission and seemed no worse for wear.

He explained “I am fine enough. That electricity was painful but also brief. It may have been worse if I’d properly taken ahold of it. I believe the crystal is not allowing me to touch it.”

Sir Ferendei, skeptical, also reached for it only to be met with the same defensive measure, withdrawing a trembling hand which he now steadied with the other.

“It isn’t allowing me either. You weren’t exaggerating about the pain. Boy, was this what you felt picking it up?”

I replied, confused at the object in my hand having expressed the ability to harm anyone but me. I also chose to ignore the fact that I was being called a boy by someone who couldn’t have been more than five years older than me.

“No, it was surprising and it hurt a bit, but not like what you’re describing. Maybe only one person can hold it?”

I set it down and watched the black bearded dwarf, Bronn, reach for it, only to be met with the same cruel pain as a bolt of energy met his hand. He hissed an recoiled. All eyes were now on me rather than the crystal as everyone present began to realize that nobody but me was handling it. I was beginning to feel afraid again, as I realized again how badly I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into.

Sir Darion at this point directed his attention only at me.

“You said it made you feel better. Do you still feel that way?”

“I do, actually.”

It was true. I hadn’t felt this good since I left home on a full stomach in much better condition. At this point Sir Darion finally saw fit to ask for a proper introduction.

“What’s your name, son?”

“Nioll, Sir. My name is Nioll Khorro.”

“Nioll, we’re going to try and remove this crystal from you as safely as we can, it’ll be alright-”

He’d barely finished the sentence when the ground began to shake. One booming thump after another, the sound and vibration of which punched into my chest every second it sounded, growing in both volume and intensity. What overtook our view of the crater edge was a large man.

Except that it moved with no fluidity, and its strange black-green armor, I saw as it descended the crater edge, was in fact too thin and alien in proportion to fit something natural, and its faceplate was a solid piece disallowing for anything with normal eyes to see. It was a machine of some kind whose equal I had never seen to that point. I know for certain I saw it quite well because I was frozen on the spot, mouth and eyes wide open like an idiot.

If there was a moment for heroic instinct, it passed completely unnoticed while I awed at this thing now standing just before me, at least twelve feet tall, raising a titanic fist over my head. I was grabbed by unknown hands from behind and pulled back as the machine’s fist swung down where I’d been standing. I fell over backward and saw that I’d been pulled away by Sir Ferendei from a strike which certainly would have killed me. When I saw the other five individuals stand ready with weapons drawn, my only instinct was to draw my own, as though my contribution would have mattered. It didn’t even occur to me to run, with the thrill of adventure upon me. I didn’t even know how to react, I was only mimicking what I saw the others doing.

What I probably should have noticed at the time was that the machine’s attention was focused above all other priorities on the crystal I was clutching in my free hand. It took a hearty lunge at me, and was met by a blow to the head from hammer belonging to Eter, the auburn-bearded dwarf. I remember that he said something to me with some urgency, but I didn’t hear it. I only saw him sort of gesturing. By the time I’d gathered that he was yelling for me to run, the machine had reached over him entirely to grab my hand holding the crystal. It hoisted me off the ground which jarred me somewhat from my state of shock.

I saw now that the others had been swinging their weapons at its metal shell to no avail. Any strike, even if capable of disorienting the machine, could not damage it. Its chest opened and a small slot was present, not large enough for me, but almost certainly meant to hold the crystal which was, at this moment, housed in an arm being actively crushed by this titanic construct.

Ah yes, the pain. I almost wouldn’t have noticed amidst my shock if it weren’t the single most painful thing that arm had ever experienced. It was trying to crush my arm with grip strength alone, and it was succeeding. I swung wildly, lashing out with my sword with white hot searing overriding things like vision. To my surprise, the pain stopped growing and I fell to the ground. I looked up at once to take in whatever the source of that relief had been.

In my thrashing, my sword had connected with the machine’s interior works where its chest had opened to receive the crystal, and the wound which was now leaking a pitch black oil was also crackling with turquoise energy. The pain in my arm, I then observed, had become downright bearable where it clutched the crystal, which had come aglow with a fantastic brightness. It was the same sensation it gave me when my hunger and fatigue had subsided.

As the machine reeled back, a dark shape passed overhead and lodged itself into the same vulnerable opening which had been attempting to close but was now wedged open by the metal of a dual-bladed axe. Its thrower, the black bearded dwarf Bronn, called to all present “The monster’s heart is exposed! Bring it down!”

Eter and Vrey took to rushing behind the machine and using their weapons to strike its inner knees, making it come down onto its hands. That was when Sirs Darion and Ferendei made for the opening and thrust their own swords into the gaping wound, now gushing the same oil. It was remarkably well-coordinated, but then I suppose they all had a mind about the same thing, which was harming the open wound. Still, the machine crawled towards me.

It was now, seeing it brought down to my level, that I finally gained some nerve. I had no combat experience but I was finally able to move my trembling limbs and determined to help. So I took a brisk, if unbalanced advance toward it and thrust my weapon. The crystal flashed again and my sword once again passed a turquoise charge of energy into it.

The damages it suffered caused it to reel before falling utterly limp and tipping forward. The two knights cleared off and the mechanical man landed on its face with a thud that knocked me back over where I had stood less than a foot from its final position. I looked at this thing which had nearly killed me, at this crystal which seemed irrevocably bound to me, and at these men who had been able to work together to stop a common enemy.

At this point, with everyone collecting themselves, I saw they directed their attention to me, their expressions unanimously confused. I then realized that the only sound I could really identify in that moment was my own voice. I was laughing, positively beaming if the muscles in my face were any indication. I was not merely happy; it was joy beyond joy and the sweet satisfaction of validation. You see, even in that moment I knew exactly why I was so excited: somehow I had fallen into some manner, dare I say, of an adventure.

Then I passed out. It was unceremonious but it was because I had forgotten that I was starving, sick, injured, and now completely overwhelmed by what I was feeling. The crystal’s light had subsided and my consciousness went with it into a deep forced slumber.

It was still the best, most contented sleep I’d had since leaving home.