Shadow Author

Speeding through the city, we eventually started slowing down and came to a stop outside of a… mattress store.

Stepping out of the car, I looked up at the two-story building. There wasn't anything special about it that immediately caught my attention which made me even more confused.

The design was elegant to meet the standards of the city but overall it was modern.

From outside the store I looked through the numerous large windows into the showroom.

I could see the bustling scene of people inside, looking over the various mattresses on display.

Confused, I looked over at Miss Smith but she was already making her way toward the entrance.

"Uh, Miss Smith, what exactly are we doing here?"

I didn't get a response from her as she opened the door and walked inside leaving me behind.

Sighing I knew there was nothing I could do to stop or reason with the crazy warrior so I followed in her footsteps as I entered the building.

Upon entering the store, I was greeted by the sight of a vast selection of high-quality mattresses.

The entire space was open, with a comfortable atmosphere accommodating to anyone who might require soft bedding.

Scanning over the different options I was a bit surprised by all the choices as I didn't expect there to be many differences.

To me, a mattress was a mattress. Some were hard while others were soft, and all that mattered was that they existed for people to sleep on.

Passing the spring and foam mattresses to more advanced mana-based ones, I tried keeping up with Miss Smith.

She seemed to be making a beeline toward the back of the store, so I did my best to catch up all the while passing the large assortment of bed sizes.

Finally, when I caught up to her, I tried asking some more questions. What I really wanted to know was why we were in such a place when we had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Miss Smith, can you please tell me what we are doing here?"

No response.

"Miss Smith if you didn't know I have something important I need to take care of and-"

I was cut off by the sound of Miss Smith pushing through the employee-only door.

Watching it swing shut behind her I looked up at the bright words that told all others to keep out.

Giving up trying to make sense of what Miss Smith was trying to accomplish I pushed the door open and walked through.

Crossing over I entered the storage room as the door shut behind me.

Looking around there were plenty of shelves full of boxes stacked to the ceiling.

Walking up to one of them I looked at the box and there was a mattress design imprinted on it.

'It's just like any other storage room. Why would Miss Smith be so concerned with entering such a place? Unless…'

Grabbing the box and carefully taking it from its place on the shelf I placed it on the ground next to me.

Looking at the box I couldn't make out anything special about it but that didn't stop me from testing my hypothesis.

Tearing through the tape, I undid the top of it before reaching a layer of protective foam.

Pushing the foam to the side, I slide my hands over something solid.

Grabbing hold of it, I pulled the object out of the box while spilling the contents of the foam onto the floor.

When it was finally free and visible to my eyes a tremor ran through my body.

Frozen by the discovery I looked around the room at the hundreds of identical boxes that filled the countless shelves.

But then I heard the sound of footsteps coming from where Miss Smith went and panicked.

Packing up the box as fast as possible I carefully put the item back into its place before scrambling to put all the foam back inside.

When the steps started getting closer I rushed even faster packaging the box back up.

When the item was finally secured and the box was closed shut the steps were just around the corner of one of the shelves.

Moving faster than I had ever moved before I squeezed the box back into its place before turning around in the nick of time to see an extremely short man.

Momentarily stunned by his appearance I stared at the strange creature while forgetting I had just stumbled upon something that I should have never seen.

"Boy what are you still doing here and what are you doing so close to my shipments? Hasn't anyone taught you that curiosity killed the cat?"

I opened my mouth to speak only to close it a second later as I still couldn't believe my eyes.

A devious smile crept onto the short rugged man's face.

"What, haven't you seen a dwarf before?"

*

"I'm sorry."

Apologizing to the dwarf Miss Smith stood behind me looking disappointed.

After the mythological creature almost caught me snooping around, he led me to another apartment that stemmed from the storage room.

Inside Miss Smith was sitting — if you could call it that — on a chair that could only hope to support a toddler while speaking to a being that matched the height of the one next to me.

Her chair was so low to the ground that Miss Smith's knees were higher than her waistline and if one were to look at her from far away they might mistake that she was squatting down not sitting.

When we got inside my escort, Noznuil, started explaining how he caught me trying to take a look at one of their boxes. But then he proudly announced that he arrived before I did anything and had to drag me here since I couldn't stop staring at him.

I didn't bother correcting him since it was somewhat true, except for the dragging part, but I let him have his glory since I knew the characteristics of the dwarfs plus I wanted the subject to stay as far away as possible from the fact that I was looking around.

In the end, Miss Smith made me apologize which caused Noznuil to smirk.

Once everything was settled I was then introduced to the second dwarf, Koggorlig, who seemed much more mature than his counterpart.

After that Miss Smith and Koggorlig continued their conversation while Noznuil and I stood awkwardly off to the side.

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