C1 Chapter 1

THE FOUNDLING

It was a beautiful, warm evening. Olo, a dwarf in the prime of his years, who’d only recently turned 648 years old, was on the way home together with his best friend and colleague Toben, who was only forty-two years younger than him. They were heading home from the old part of the city, or rather their favorite bar “The golden ambos”. There, they had enjoyed their after-work-beer like any other evening, and now they strolled down the streets next to each other, both in a pleasant mood. The two of them had been colleagues and friends for the longest time now. At the government agency for Science and Research they worked together closely in the directorate for metals, blacksmithing, and inventions. They were held in great esteem there by their colleagues for being excellent co-workers and tinkerers.

Now, at nightfall, the administrative agency responsible for weather, light, and environmental matters – dubbed WeLiE by the dwarfs – had turned on the lanterns. They illuminated the entire area now and bathed the surroundings in a pleasantly warm light. Deep in a stimulating conversation, they crossed the large gathering place that was situated in front of the government pyramid. On one side, bathed in darkness now, was their workplace and of course the WeLiE. On the other side, where they were just coming from, the commercial zone with the small shops, restaurants and boarding houses stretched out, brightly lit at this time of day.

They talked about some of the changes in their dwarf colony, which was a modest part of a much vaster cave system.

“Fantastic, simply fantastic.”

Toben had stopped walking and studied the ceiling above his head. Olo hadn’t noticed that Toben had not followed him and only mumbled a tired: “What?”

“The kind of stuff WeLiE gets done. Look at that cave ceiling – thousands of stars. Isn’t that always such an incredible and uplifting thing to look at? And the flickering of those little spots! Like the real night sky.”

Olo looked up in annoyance. He was exhausted and all he wanted was to get home as quickly as possible. But he had to agree with Toben. It was indeed an incredible sight. Aside from the now turned-off daylight crystals, there were eons of tiny gleaming crystals mounted to the ceiling that gave off the impressions of a real night sky.

“But that flickering…Do you think that’s normal?”

An ice-cold shiver ran down his back. Something unknown, threatening, was accumulating above their heads. He felt it down to his bones. Unsettled, he grumbled:

“Come on, let’s keep walking. Something is not right here. I can feel it. You can stare at the ceiling again tomorrow.”

Toben tore his gaze from the sight and shot a confused glance at his retreating friend. In the end, he hurried up to catch up with Olo.

“What did you say? Something is wrong? What are you talking about?”, Toben wanted to know.

“Just a feeling! Nothing else!”, Olo mumbled and started walking even faster. Deep in thought, Toben matched his friend’s pace.

The two dwarfs had almost crossed the plaza when they suddenly flinched in surprise. A bright bolt of lightning had blinded them. Confused, they stopped walking.

Once Toben had gathered himself a little, he directed his questioning glance at Olo:

“Wow! What was that? I didn’t know the WeLiE could make lightning now! You think they’ll do thunder and rain next?”

“Nonsense”, Olo mumbled and shot him a horrified glare, before he looked around to find the source of the lightning. His gaze landed on the giant monolith, a cone-shaped and pitch- black object that was located on the far end of the plaza, right opposite of the government pyramid. A strange kind of gleaming exuded from the foot of the structure that had been there for as long as any dwarf could remember. The two dwarfs exchanged stunned looks, and at that very moment they heard a deafening noise.

At first, they got scared. But when the first shock slowly subsided, they started moving towards the noise. Dwarfs are courageous, yes, but they lacked a certain caution when it was necessary. They came closer and closer to the source of the noise until – their blank astonishment left them audibly gasping for air. They had not expected this! A small basket, richly ornamented and sheathed in expensive silk, stood in front of the monolith. And they discovered something else as well: a small, golden, flying creature. It circled the basket time and again. Inside the basket there was an infant with blonde hair the color of snow, light blue eyes, and an opened mouth, where the deafening noise came from.

Well, they had found the source of the commotion that had attracted their interest.

The child, dressed in silk and velvet, was lying before them, screaming and kicking. Down at the feet of the little bundle, Olo and Toben saw the remains of a broken, golden egg that was spotted with hieroglyphs. A richly decorated locket wobbled above the head of the screaming infant.

They looked on helplessly because they didn’t know what to do. They only knew one thing – the pipsqueak needed help.

Olo cautiously approached the basket and lifted the powerful-voiced baby. Thoughtfully, he regarded the little worm while trying to calm him. Then an idea struck him. It didn’t matter. No matter where the little one had come from, he would adopt the baby and raise it as his own. Olo and his wife Tala had always wished for a baby. Sadly, their marriage had remained childless – but now fate had presented them with a little child.

And what a child it was…