Parallel Universes and Time Travel

"Unreal, what are you talking about? But such magic exists. Allow me to explain... When you attempt to travel into the past, you shift into a parallel reality with the required date," explained Horkim.

"So, this is time travel. The spellcaster enters a parallel universe with the desired time?" Vallynor inquired.

"Yes," confirmed Horkim.

"Then, if parallel universes exist, could there be other parallel universes for this world as well?" Vallynor pondered what he had heard and couldn't resist asking Horkim this question.

"No, only this reality. I can't explain why that's the case. Take this question to Caesar. It's difficult for me to explain all this. Besides, we've already spent too much time here," Horkim turned to the metals, picked up several ingots of magical iron and gold, as well as some ordinary iron ingots. Then he said, "You can put the rest back. We don't need anything else."

"Why did you take iron?" Vallynor was surprised by Horkim's choice, expecting him to choose the most valuable items.

"I already have orichalcum and mithril, but these beauties are almost depleted. There's a high demand for them in our time, when mithril and orichalcum have become less valuable than ordinary iron or gold... And don't forget to collect your artifacts so that they don't remain forgotten here," Horkim explained his choice.

Vallynor quickly shifted the ingots in his ring and headed towards the mountain of artifacts and gold that had been accumulated by the deceased. He quickly surveyed them and tossed them into another ring. Rings, amulets, masks, boxes, a black egg, a mirror, and much more landed in his hands. Additionally, there was plenty of gold in the form of thick and heavy coins.

When he finished, Vallynor retraced his steps with Horkim. Horkim explained to him that he shouldn't show everyone what he had in his ring and that he was lucky he and Rick weren't chasing fleeting gains.

Horkim pulled wristwatches out of his pocket, snapped them, and said:

"It's getting late, my boy. Don't you want to come with me to the tavern? There I'll introduce you to the other dwarves, and even the elves. We'll celebrate your apprenticeship."

"Let's go," agreed Vallynor.

"Hahaha, that's the spirit, my boy. You're already a man and should go to the bar with your teacher. After all, you've received a small lesson from me. Next time, I'll tell you more about the pros and cons of different metals. And now, let's go drink," Horkim gloated inwardly over Caesar. "No worries, tomorrow this fool will be in a drunken stupor and sit in his own mess during your lesson. Hehehe."

Exiting the secret room and returning to the forge, Vallynor looked around again, marveling at the combination of antiquity in the form of anvils and hammers with science in the form of devices and magic that aided the blacksmith's work.

"Let's go to Nefan and Henry, they should be waiting for us by now," said Horkim, reaching out to pat Vallynor's back.

Only now did Vallynor notice that Horkim was much taller than him, about two meters. At first, Horkim had intended to pat him on the shoulder, but for that, he would have had to stand on tiptoes. So, he patted him on the back. Horkim walked ahead, trying to hide his embarrassment and comforting himself with the thought that Vallynor hadn't noticed anything. But Vallynor did notice.

Entering the adjacent room, Vallynor saw Nefan sleeping on a straw chair, snoring lightly, while Henry held a book in his hands, which was completely soaked. He was reading it slowly, and when he noticed Vallynor, Henry turned the page, ran his finger along the line, then closed the book and, looking back, said:

"You took more time than expected. Night has fallen now, which complicates things. But I still need to show you a lot."

"Not today. Today we're all going to drink, and I'll introduce Vallynor to the residents," said Horkim.

"I must fulfill my part, even if I don't want to."

"Henry, the residents of this city are true townspeople. If Vallynor gets to know them, he'll learn more about the city itself," Horkim said.

"Just say you want to drink in good company," Henry looked at Horkim with surprise, contemplating his words that seemed strange to him.

"Horkim is right. As Vallynor's future master, I support Horkim's suggestion. Caesar clearly wanted Vallynor to meet others, not just stare at buildings," Nefan interjected, his eyes gleaming as he thought about his own drinking.

Henry pondered everything and, shoulders drooping, said, "Alright," although he felt it might be wrong. He had to fulfill Caesar's request, even if he didn't want to. Perhaps that was Caesar's wish. After all, Caesar could see the future, and no one knew how he did it. Most methods of predicting the future no longer worked.

Nefan joyfully patted his beer belly a few times and left the forge. He seemed to be the first one to head out. Horkim smiled and signaled Vallynor to follow him, and they stepped out as well.

Vallynor followed Horkim when he felt Henry put his hand on his shoulder and stop him.

"Are you still willing to fulfill the proposal?" Henry asked.

"What? What proposal?" Lost in thought, Vallynor realized that Henry was talking about him sharing all he knew about the ocean in his world.

"Of course," said Vallynor. He didn't want to ruin relationships with anyone due to his knowledge.

"Don't be afraid once you're out," Henry said.

Vallynor contemplated possible scenarios. For example, something like a zombie apocalypse where everyone would be shouting "beer" or "alcohol."

Feeling some temptation, he opened the door. Behind the door wasn't an unfamiliar city, but a massive tavern filled three-quarters with people. They were chatting and enjoying drinks. Glancing around, Vallynor noticed that Nefan was already holding a new bottle in his hand, and Horkim was moving from one group to another, talking to each person and occasionally scolding.

Feeling eyes on him, Horkim looked at Vallynor and waved his hand, calling out, "Come here, I'll introduce you to everyone... well, almost everyone."

Vallynor approached and felt hundreds of eyes on him, maybe even more. Everyone was looking at him and analyzing. Some nodded, others shook their heads. Some started whispering, and a few didn't even hold back from speaking loudly enough for it to be heard:

"Is this the guy everyone's talking about? He looks weak. I can't understand what all of you see in him. It's like he's about to make you all shout with delight..." A dwarf who had risen from his seat remarked, looking at all the gnomes and dwarves.

"Choose your words more decently, Dokod. He's my apprentice and Caesar's student," Horkim shouted, glaring at him angrily.

Dokod, a dwarf who had always criticized Horkim for losing his title to some elf, was now criticizing Vallynor. Although he wasn't directly insulting Horkim.

Dokod disdainfully looked at Horkim and Vallynor, then returned to his table, where three other dwarves were sitting.

Approaching Vallynor, Horkim whispered to him, "That's Dokod, remember, he's a dwarf. And don't confuse him with gnomes. He's like this because he lost the title of the best drinker. He tried to take my position as the head of the blacksmiths several times, but he couldn't. That proves I'm better than him. But he's still one of the best armor smiths around. I prefer crafting weapons though. Now, let me introduce you to everyone," Horkim added, speaking louder in the end for everyone to hear, and shouted, "Bring the drinks!"

"Hooray!" everyone exclaimed cheerfully, including Dokod and his companions.

Vallynor looked around as Horkim placed an order. He saw various creatures: insect-like people, animals he had never seen before. Gorgeous girls of different ages—clearly, they were all over a thousand years old. There was a running joke about the "legal lolis."

Girls who seemed to be about 6-7 years old were looking at him with lustful eyes. Girls aged 18-20 were dressed plainly. Women were also present in the hall, sipping their drinks.

There were also girls dressed in magnificent dresses, creating an impression of nobility. The question arose, what were they doing here?

Of course, among the attractive women were those who were unappealing due to their appearance, such as plump women with distinct physical features clearly linked to elephants. One of them was the epitome of body positivity and even threw glances at him. Brrrr.

"...Hey, kid, snap out of it!" Horkim yelled and nudged Vallynor.

Vallynor was stunned by what he had seen and lost consciousness. He didn't notice that Horkim was trying to talk to him.

Horkim punched Vallynor's arm and turned to the gnomes who had picked up large crystal goblets of beer. They had gathered together. Nearby was another group that, at first glance, didn't seem different from the gnomes, but Vallynor immediately realized they were dwarves when he spotted Dokod among them.

Horkim raised his beer glass and began, "We're gathered here not just to drink, but also to get to know my new apprentice. Meet Eross, Davvin, Panapos..." Horkim introduced each of them. He didn't even emphasize the fact that they were dwarves. Horkim was a good leader and didn't want to stoke the flames of rivalry any further.

Every gnome or dwarf, upon hearing their name, approached Vallynor, shook his hand, and drank a glass of beer. Then they looked at Vallynor expectantly, but he didn't understand what they wanted from him.

Horkim slyly smiled and whispered in his ear, "They're waiting for you to drink a glass of beer in return. We have a tradition here - to get to know someone and have a drink together. You have to drink as much as your partner. You can drink more, but drinking less would mean you don't respect them."

Vallynor didn't know what to do. He sighed, took the beer glass brought by the bartender, and drank it all, taking a few sips. The gnome nodded happily and returned to his group, replaced by another gnome.

Vallynor realized that the color of this beer was very similar to the liquid that Henry had created by combining everything he knew. He came to an unpleasant conclusion that he had drunk the very liquid that contained entrails and other things.

Now he had to drink this beer with all the gnomes. Looking at all the gnomes and dwarves who were waiting to drink a glass with him, Vallynor felt nervous.

However, he couldn't refuse. Remembering the times when he lived with Baba Yaga and her methods of healing and nutrition, he managed to calm down a bit. And he drank a second glass with another gnome.

Every gnome and dwarf felt that sharing a glass of beer with a new friend was their duty and honor. At the same time, they began to compete with each other to see who could drink the most with Vallynor.

Everyone wanted to be the first. Because of this, they could drink up to 12-15 glasses. And that was just with one gnome or dwarf. And these glass goblets weren't 100 milliliters in volume; they were almost 700 milliliters.

Initially, Vallynor couldn't drink the beer without disgust. But gradually, he started to get used to it and even began to enjoy it a bit.

Horkim closely watched Vallynor, waiting for the first signs of intoxication, but it didn't happen. While the first gnomes or dwarves were already falling to the floor or onto chairs, they were the weakest. Horkim, looking at Vallynor, whispered, "This guy's strong."

The bartenders, who were bringing the beer, pulled something resembling a phone from their pockets and started calling the wives of each drunk gnome and dwarf. After five minutes, gnome women, orcs, beastfolk girls, elves, and so on started to appear.

While drinking with each one, Vallynor noticed that after every drink, their wives would come and take them away just as they started drinking. Apologizing with the excuse that they needed to use the restroom, Vallynor headed for the restroom.

Vallynor asked people and creatures until he found the restroom. Inside, everything looked much like a typical Earth restroom, except that all the walls were mirrors.

He immediately went to the restroom. Maybe he was half-dead, but the beer was too good. He began to feel that something terrible was going to happen. An instinct within him was screaming. At first, he didn't understand what was happening, but soon realized that he was drinking and drinking, and water had to come out somewhere. Realizing this, he quickly headed to the restroom. After all, he hadn't visited it for a long time, although he occasionally relieved himself when he was with Baba Yaga.

After washing his hands and looking in the mirror, he left the restroom. Vallynor didn't notice a pair of eyes in the corner of the mirror intently watching him.

When he stepped out of the door, Vallynor noticed Horkim. Horkim was sitting against the wall, slowly sipping his beer. Seeing Vallynor, he initially looked at him expectantly, but upon realizing he wasn't drunk, he sighed and said, "You're a tough kid, go on back. There are still those who wanted to greet you."

Vallynor simply nodded and headed toward the group of gnomes.

***

Caesar looked tiredly at the ceiling. He got up and surveyed the ruined office. On the wall, written in black as pitch blood, were the words: "Scio. Suus 'solum initium."

Waving his hand, all the blood on the wall disappeared. Then he turned to the destroyed painting, abruptly looked back at the wall. The cleansed wall slowly began to turn red, but this time instead of words, eyes were drawn. Thousands of eyes stared at Caesar.

Caesar was enveloped in light, and a sense of purity filled the entire room. The eyes competed with the light, which gradually dimmed until the eyes slowly vanished from the wall. Caesar pulled out a stick and struck it against the floor.

The stick was surrounded by light and doubled in length. The pure force that had filled the entire room intensified and began to dominate over the eyes. The drawn eyes burst like blood, one after another, until they completely vanished.

Caesar breathed heavily and looked at his hand, where the stick was. Putting it back in place, he looked at the wall, which was completely covered in cracks, and in the center in a semicircle, mockingly written: "Vengeance."

"You..." - Caesar turned to the window. He looked at the pure black sky with a few dot-like flowers that weren't stars but the most vibrant beings. They didn't want to live in the city, but they didn't want to be completely isolated either. One of them was Queen of Nightmares Lia herself, who had created her corner there.

One of these points quickly enlarged until Lia herself appeared before Caesar.

"You summoned me?" - Lia surveyed the ruined room and stopped at the cracked wall. Then she ran her hand along the crack behind her, conjured a chair, and sat down on it. Taking a glass of white wine handed to her by a tendril, she looked askance at the glass and then at the tendril, saying:

"Don't look like that. You've got nothing left. Go and do your business, not stare at me. I know my limbs are attractive to you."

Ignoring the words of this idiot, she looked at Caesar, waiting for him to speak.

Caesar smiled, shook his head, and conjured a chair from space to sit on. Then he spoke, looking straight into the eyes of the Queen of Nightmares.

"Help me..."

***

Vallynor was drinking another glass of beer with a dwarf. He looked around, expecting the next person, but no one approached him. So, he approached Horkim, who was already showing signs of intoxication, and asked:

"Did I drink with everyone? I mean, did I get to know everyone?"

Horkim looked at him strangely, his eyes indicating that he had many thoughts. But quickly turning his head back and forth, he surveyed in all directions, shook his head, and said:

"One left" - He pointed at Dokod, who was looking at Vallynor.

Dokod gazed at Vallynor and, taking a glass in his hand, approached and said:

"I still doubt you, but I can say one thing with confidence: you can drink like a man. For that, you have my respect, even though you're undead."

"Undead?" - Horkim, upon hearing that Vallynor was undead, looked surprised and realized why he hadn't shown signs of drunkenness.

"Not that I'm completely dead. You could say I'm not living and not dead either," explained Vallynor.

"I see. There are still some differences from a true corpse," nodded Dokod.

Horkim covered his face with his hand and began to massage his temples, pondering whether Caesar knew about his plan. However, he decided not to pay attention to it, considering it harmless.

"Vallynor, listen to me. You want to learn the craft of blacksmithing, and I don't mind you being taught. But you must focus more on magic and physical strength. A dead blacksmith is a useless blacksmith," said Dokod, raising his glass and taking a few sips of beer. Then he looked at Horkim and said:

"There are too many disagreements between us, and I understand what you've been up to lately. But I'm not asking you to lose the last thing we have left. What's left for me," - Dokod took a full glass from the waiter and emptied it, then left the bar.

Vallynor looked at Horkim, who was looking sadly at Dokod's back, and said, turning to him:

"Let's grab something to eat at the table," - with these words, he shooed a few dwarves away from one table and sat down. After ordering food, he took a mug of beer with both hands and said:

"Dokod always competed with me, striving to be the leader. Even if he was my adversary in that. We always compared our masterpieces. He was my friend, not like Eryladar, but still a friend. And this cursed war took almost everything from us: faith in God, freedom, loved ones. Dokod is one of those who lost his wife in the war. She was a true warrior, not easy to find. She fell into the clutches of hell, becoming its servant and forgetting who she was."

Taking a sip of beer, Horkim slightly shifted the chair he was sitting on and continued:

"He lost his wife. Fortunately, the children were on a mission, so they're okay. But he was left alone. Since then, he hasn't been with another woman. He remained faithful to his wife. And having lost everything, what remained for him was the pride of a dwarf, the pride of a blacksmith who drank better than anyone else. But I lost him to Eryladar, to the elf. All of this turned into anger and fury directed at me."

Listening to Horkim's story, Vallynor began to understand this dwarf better. However, from this story, he had a question.

"I noticed that gnomes and dwarves attract girls, but I've never seen female dwarves," he said.

"That's because they don't exist. But I'm curious, how did you figure out that the girls who came with these fools were gnomes?" Horkim inquired.

"I just observed the features of each. And I noticed that dwarves have slightly sharper and slightly higher ears than gnomes. But because there are tall gnomes, it wasn't noticeable right away. I realized this when I saw tall boots on one of them. Now tell me, why don't female dwarves exist?" answered Vallynor.

"Nothing complicated. In ancient times, there was a race of blacksmiths who were masters of their craft, even better than us. The gods, seeing their skill, began to pursue them. The god of that race didn't like that, but he couldn't do anything except help them hide underground. For centuries, they hid underground and interbred with representatives of other races. This led to the emergence of two new races - gnomes and dwarves. The original race was lost or, as they say, the god deliberately made it so, leaving only one representative to protect its legacy. Gnomes turned out to be fertile and strong, but they had weaknesses, for instance, I couldn't create jewelry. And dwarves were initially only males. They, in turn, were jacks-of-all-trades and surpassed gnomes. However, they often created jewelry to attract women from other races and make them their wives."