You had spent the morning wandering the craggy paths of Mountainhide, the towering peaks home to the mighty dwarves. You had always heard stories of this land, of its warriors, blacksmiths, and stubborn folk who carved their lives from the heart of the mountains.
But nothing in those stories had prepared you for what was about to happen.
A deep rumble shook the ground beneath your feet. First subtle, then violent. A quake—strong enough to crack the earth itself. The mountains groaned as if they were alive, and the sky filled with the deafening sound of splintering rock.
Then, the avalanche began.
Boulders as large as houses tumbled down the slopes, a raging river of stone crashing towards you. You were about to be crushed beneath the weight of the mountain itself.
But just as death seemed certain, a shadow loomed over you.
Something—or someone—dropped from above, landing with the force of a falling titan. A massive, towering figure—a warrior unlike any you had ever seen.
His form was monstrous, built like a walking fortress of stone and muscle, wrapped in furs and leather, with metal claws glinting on his fists. His boots cracked the earth as he reared back a fist the size of a warhammer—
—And with a single, thunderous punch, he shattered the boulder that would have ended your life.
Stone fragments exploded in all directions, dust clouding the air. You barely had time to register what had happened before—in an instant—he changed.
Before your eyes, the towering mountain of a man shrank. His broad shoulders compacted, his frame shrunk down into something smaller, leaner, faster. Now, he barely stood as tall as your chest, yet he moved with the agility of a beast.
Before you could react, he scooped you up as if you weighed nothing.
Then he ran.
Within minutes, the chaos was behind you. The two of you came to a stop beneath a rocky overhang, shielded from the still-trembling mountainside. He set you down carefully, stepping back.
"You alright there, lad?"