Where am I

The first thing Arlen felt was a sore throbbing in every part of his body, before even his mind woke up his sense of feel did and it was screaming at him in pain. His eyes fluttered open, and groggily he pushed himself up off the ground feeling each of his joints creak and crack in the process, and the soreness began to fade. It took a moment for his eyesight to adjust to his surroundings, it felt like he had slept for 100 years but looking down at himself he seemed to be in the same condition he was in before he fell into that makeshift portal, or was pushed in. Who was that cop? Arlen remembered how the presence of the cop disappeared, he was confident that he had given him the slip. As he racked through all of the possibilities he was interrupted by a large rock landing next to him with a shuddering slam.

Arlen began taking in his surroundings, he seemed to be in a cavern, one that was dimly lit by sunshine coming in from the mouth of the expansive cave, although very tall, the cave ended just three feet behind Arlen, leaving him nowhere to go but up and out. He began trudging up the slight incline toward the light, his muscles still felt like sandbags as he made his way to the entrance of the cave.

What he saw was astonishing, a vast city of sandstone masonry lay before him, sprawling farther than his eyes could see. Streets wound in-between houses leaving no room for cars and the houses he could see directly in front of him seemed slightly lower than the typical homes he was used to seeing in the human world, although some were peeking higher than the rest in the distance. Looking up was the most astonishing sight, there was no sky, no sun, just an expanse of shining crystal. It appeared that they weren't reflecting light but producing it, pulsing with an almost life to them cascading brightness down across the town. Arlen was in wonder of his new found surroundings, and in his wonder he didn't notice the ground beneath him losing it's structural integrity and breaking, causing him to slide down the cliff side a considerable distance until he was now on level with the town he was previously gawking at.

Arlen began brushing himself off, only to be interrupted by shouting directly in front of him,

"What're you doin here?" Arlen's eyes shot up, and directly in front of him was a short broad man covered in hair and studded leather armor, he didn't seem armed, but his hands were creeped up close to his waist as if prepared to ready a weapon.

Arlen had met a homeless man who, according to him, had visited every world and told him tales of what people were like there. He recalled him saying that dwarven police were very laid back because of the lengthy lifespan of dwarves, most of the elders walking around were born before the War of the 13 Races, and many people were veterans of said war, so there were a lot of vigilante types roaming around.

Arlen assumed this was one of them. The studded leather armor he wore was on it's end, several unrepairable dents and shades of past burn marks coated it and several straps were missing. He definitely didn't have a gun on his waist or any sort of sword but based on where he rested his hands he was used to reaching for one.

Arlen's hand's shot up in a mock surrender and began to say, "Look I don't how but this guy pushed me through a portal in the ground and now I'm here."

The dwarf peered up, although his eyes were off of him Arlen could tell his gaze hadn't left him, and stayed as still as possible as to not raise alarm.

The dwarf glanced back down at him, "You're a mix ain't ya? Human and elf by the looks of it."

Taken aback by his bluntness, Arlen spoke, "How'd you know that?"

"Walk with me son," The dwarf lowered his guard and began meandering down the town's streets, gesturing for him to follow and began speaking, "You seem pretty young, I'll tell you somethin' they don't teach in elven schools."

"I'm from the human world actually," Arlen interrupted.

The dwarf pivoted and kicked him in the shin, "Don't interrupt your elders! Anyway it applies to both. Dwarves and elves live a long time, way longer than humans, a lot of people around here were alive during the war, so let me ask you this. What do you think happened to all the babies of the races who were mixed before the 3 races were separated?"

"I don't know."

"They were dumped here, in the dwarf realm. See not all races advanced equally, dwarfs lagged a little farther behind so when the elves and humans said take 'em we had no choice but to listen. Sadly, a lot of the kids didn't make it, they got angry after their races were wiped out, frustrated. We call it the 'Revolt' only two kids lived through it."

"What only two? How?"

"The surviving two were mixed with humans, guess they make for the best half breeds because they always seem to have a better head on their shoulders," The dwarf stared distantly for a moment, "I met a lot of the youngins, before the revolt, some of them were a little odd, not the brightest I guess."

"Who were the surviving two kids?"

"I'm taking you to one of them right now, he's a dwarf-human mix, and a town hero. He's the one who stopped the revolt, all by himself."

"What about the other one?"

The dwarf turned to him slowly, "We'll talk about him shortly."

As Arlen was left with even more questions he began to attempt to speak, but was cut off with the dwarf abruptly stopping in front of a plain looking brick building, that seemed abnormally taller than the rest. Outside was a sign glowing from what Arlen recognized as the crystals hanging from the realm's roof that read "A Giant's Spirit," and based on the ruckus from inside and the faint smell of liquor he had guessed he was standing in front a bar.

"The kid who owns this bar is the mix I was talking about. The reason I've told you all this is because I have a guess as to how you got here, and it ain't good. We'll talk about it with him, don't be shy go on in." With that the dwarf nudged him toward the door, but as Arlen reached for the door it bursted open, hitting him directly in the forehead as a man launched out the entrance and over him. As Arlen tried to reclaim his barrings, a shadow began to loom over him.