1 Exiled

Gathered around a circular table are four figures staring at a floatong crystal catalyst. The energy controlled by the crystal was wavering between peak and low levels until it finally dims out and falls--shattering across the table.

"That fool!" shouted the first figure as his fist slams into the shards that have scattered about.

This man, or dwarf, was called Nordri protector of the north. His fellow dwarfs Sudri, Austri, and Vestri are respectively the other protectors of the south, east and west. All together they make up the four dwarf protectors of Midgard.

Austri trys to bridle Nordri's fury by focusing on the important issue at hand. "With out the divine connection to bring mana to Midgard our dwarven clans will not live past a century, we must protect them from perishing."

Sudri panics as she scoops up the crystal remains of her greatest creation. "Protect how?! It's not like these things run off of anything we have lying around."

Vestri speaks up with a hurried voice. "Let ne remind my fellow brethren and sister that i have a contingecy plan for this precise situation." His face smiles as if he's already receiving praise from his peers.

This statment from Vestri causes a calm stillness to settle around the table as the other three dwarfs glanced at eachother with puzzeled looks, contemplating what this hopeful plan could be.

Nordri's face suddenly changes as he realizes what Vestri is referring to.

"Oh no! Not that crazy theory you had about the eye of Ymir! There is no possible way a dwarf can survive there, you might as well murder all of our clans right now."

At the mention of the eye of Ymir the other two dwarfs started to toss anything from hammers to half eaten potatoes at Vestri as their brief hope left as quickly as it came.

"Please lis-Ouch!-ten, I have solved that problem a millenium ago, here have a look at these." Vestri then pulls out four metal cast tubes. Opening them he reveils four bizarre diagrams covered in dwarven technology and crafts that only these four dwarfs as a team could possibly construct.

"This just might work Vestri." Austri says as his admiration for the schematic infront of him pushes past all his conservative ideals.

Nordri's face is still holding on to its frustration but giving a simple "Hmph" in response to Austri's praise shows Nordri holds no more opposition to the idea.

"I choose this one for my clan then". Nordir stabs a daggar down on a diagram. When looking close at the preview box in the top corner of this diagram, a spine chilling sensation is almost garenteed to be felt.

"I knew you would fine that one interest-Hey! Don't damage my work!" Vestri grasps at the dagger to remove it with one hand while the other franticly traces a few sloppy dwarven runes in the air that start to glow a golden hue. When the last rune is finished they all start to spin downward in a spiral circle entering the diagram and mending the sliced hole.

Sudri finally parts from the crystal shards she has been clinging too and wipes her eyes dry. She glances at her diagram and smiles at the comforting vibes its preview box gives off.

Sudri takes a deep slow breath to calm herself and starts to review the rest of the schematic in seriousness and finds the power source chamber. "I can build this! It will outshine any creation i have made so far, what a brillent idea of harvesting mana."

Vestri is flying on cloud nine right now after hearing so much praise. Over the dwarfs entire time of being protectors, its only been his first out of 52,762 ideas that has received positive feedback, but who's probably counting other than Vestri himself.

Austri in the meantime has been following some pipes on his diagram, after rotating the paper a few times and flipping it back and forth he puts on a curious face and asks, "Vestri i see the lavatories plumming seems to all go into this one tank, but how does it leave once its full?"

Vestri face freezes and sweat starts to drop from his forehead. "Heh, Well you see... I sort of forgot to design the removal system before the air duck system, so with no more direct access to the outside its removal needs to be done by an individual with rubber tubes and a hand pump... through an air duck bypass hatch but you really don't need to worry about those small things hehe" Vestri's cloud has now dissipated as his one design flaw is pointed out and embarrassment settles in.

"Ah Vestri this is why your other 52,761 ideas have been tremendous failures! You always overlook the small things and only pay attention to the end result which is not proper for a dwarven craft!" Austri says in a heavy critizing tone.

Vestri face turns red from the escalating embarrassment and his head sinks down after realizing someone else has been keeping count of his failures.

"Haha Sindri bless the dwarf soul who has to handle that job, way to go Vestri" laughs out Nordri as he slaps the back of Vestri.

"Sindri's Blessings" The other two dwarfs raise there mugs and cheer. All while Vestri still keeps his head lowered thinking to himself, 'my moment in the clouds... gone as quick as it came'.