The Realm Between: A LitRPG Saga (Books 7 - 10), page 89
“I imagine that will sub as your weapon if you have to fight, giving it the same stats as your dagger,” the elf guessed.
“One would hope so.” Azure wasn’t so sure. Swiping through the air, the dagger felt real enough in his hand. Of course, there was the worry that it would do no damage if it struck an enemy, remaining an imaginary weapon. “Rerdam?” He glanced up at the old knight to see if he had more to offer.
Rerdam held up both hands. “I don’t really know how this sort of thing works.”
“And I have never played with Alchemy like this before.” Jin drew Azure’s attention back. “All that we can do is hope that you don’t need to use your weapons.”
That did not make him feel any better.
“You should be off.” The elf looked at the door. “Daylight is burning.”
“I still need the token.” Azure peered back up at him over the bed.
“Yes. Of course.” Jin shook his head as if he’d forgotten, then disappeared for a moment.
While Azure waited, he took a moment to examine his new body further. Unable to help himself, he groped his own breasts. They were disappointingly firm, like two apples that had been forced into a too-small rucksack. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had expected, but it wasn’t that gnome breasts would be as solid as his own male chest. Maybe if he took off the dress…but there was no time for that. A thought for later, if he accomplished this task before the time ran out.
“Don’t forget to give him the rest of the potions,” the old knight reminded the elf while he worked.
“Oh, yes,” Jin replied absentmindedly. “Could you?” He nodded from the pile of potions to Azure.
Rerdam stood to walk the few steps to the elf’s bed to pick up the potions. Azure noticed that he seemed to move slower somehow, though not quite as sluggishly as most giants walked in movies. Still, it was strange to witness the delay.
Soon, the old knight was crouching down, offering Azure the vials.
Azure reached for them apprehensively, seeing how much they’d grown since he’d shrunk. In his new, shorter state, the vials were full-sized. The thought of drinking so many of them made him shudder inwardly. No doubt, he’d have to pee long before he made it to Hadel Palace.
“I hope drinking another one will change me into something bigger,” he muttered as he uncorked the second vial.
After Azure had drunk the first Potion of Full Concealment, a small icon had appeared in his peripheral vision, an outline in black of two human bodies crossed on top of each other. Next to it was a timer, counting down an hour. While Azure’s appearance didn’t change again after drinking the second potion, the timer did increase. By the time he’d drunk the eighth potion, he didn’t feel like he could hold anymore, his stomach distended and aching.
“Can’t I just take the rest with me?” Azure pleaded.
In place of his Worn Leather Backpack, Jin had given him a satchel just large enough to contain the Token of Godly Flesh and four other items. The other item slots remained empty.
“Can’t you fit anymore?” the elf asked.
“If I was a human or even a dwarf, then yes. But I’m not now, am I?” Azure replied with a bit of a bite, thinking about how if his new identity was only a mask, he shouldn’t feel this full, nor should he have the vision of a gnome.
“If you drink it in public, someone will see you.” Rerdam reminded him.
“I think I’ll throw up if I drink anymore.” Even as he said it, a belch was working its way up his throat, coming out at the end of the sentence with a wave of nausea.
“Fine.” Jin huffed. “Let’s just hope you can get this done in eight hours.”
The old knight hesitated, “Now that he’s a gnome, it’s going to take him even longer to get there. Shorter steps and whatnot.” He makes a circular gesture in the air.
The elf pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re both frustrating me.”
“I have to pee,” Azure noted, wondering how he’d accomplish the task without a penis. Being in a woman’s body was bothersome.
“Not helping.” Jin’s features went flat.
“Go have a piss and drink the other two potions in the loo,” Rerdam told him.
Azure inhaled deeply, storing the other two potions in his satchel. “Well, I guess I’m off then.”
“Best of luck to you.” The elf stood to walk him to the door.
Azure twisted his neck to look at Jin. Even doing that felt strange. Gnomes had shorter necks than humans, his chin scrapping his shoulder. “What are you guys going to do while I’m gone?”
“I’ll probably go find intel on our third target.” The elf didn’t even look down at him, opening the door so that Azure could pass.
As he walked out of the room, his eyes stayed glued to the doorknob. Would he have even been able to reach it if Jin hadn’t been there? For being the melting pot of The Realm, Hadel didn’t seem very gnome-friendly.
Getting anywhere quickly on his new short, stubby gnome legs wasn’t going to happen. Azure waddled more than he walked, his knees not bending as well as his human legs had.
By the time he’d reached the door to the Sunaway Inn, the urge to pee was almost painful. Walking the extra distance to the latrine just seemed like torture.
Gnomes must have to plan their bodily eliminations in advance, Azure thought bitterly, feeling like the bathroom was a world away. Thankfully, the door to the inn had been left open, so that was one less obstacle he had to contend with.
The latrines in Hadel consisted of small buildings with stone floors. Wooden benches with holes carved into them lined each side of the wall. In the center of the rooms were two basins filled with water used for washing a stick that whoever was having a bowel movement utilized to wipe their backside. Ever since coming to The Realm, Azure had purposely made himself constipated while in cities so that he didn’t have to use the provided shit stick.
The door to the bathroom was always open, filtering out the smell from within. Even though the holes in the toilets let out into an underground moat, the stench still rose up to assault whoever was inside. It had been a difficult thing to get used to in the beginning, but eventually, Azure had adapted as much as any person could.
Waddling into the latrine, he kept his eyes to the floor, though he couldn’t help but feel that the men in the room were watching him.
This is going to be awkward, Azure thought as he hiked up his skirt and fought with his undergarments. Had he been alone, he would have taken a few moments to examine his lady bits, but he was too scared of garnering the arousal of his onlookers to do anything other than get the job done.
Never had a trip to the bathroom been more uncomfortable.
After emptying his bladder, Azure sat for a few more seconds to drip dry, since shaking it out wasn’t an option. When he stood, he found that he had done so a bit prematurely, his undergarments ending up unpleasantly moist from his haste.
Being a girl is kind of gross. I wonder if this is normal or if I just don’t know how to pee correctly.
Azure pushed the thought aside and left the latrine as quickly as possible, feeling unsafe in his new body.
The hot sun of The Deathlands bore down on him. Taking a deep inhale of breath, he began walking, already looking forward to the day being over.
At just shy of two feet tall, The Realm looked vastly different to Azure as a gnome than it had as a human. People walked past him, taking enormously long steps, their legs as thick as tree trunks. To most, he seemed invisible, the humans keeping their eyes up, only meeting the gaze of those a similar height. Even dwarves got more acknowledgment than he did.
The buildings Azure passed seemed ridiculously massive. Even the small ones looked like supercenters. Any refuse on the ground presented a real obstacle, and he found himself having to take multiple steps to walk around discarded fruit peels and other detritus.
At one point, a white wiry-haired dog ran up to him. Though it only would have reached his knee if Azure were human, the dog was easily taller than him as a gnome, seeming monstrous. Watching it bound up from a distance was almost horrifying. He put his hands up in surrender, taking several steps back and calling out, “No,” but still, the animal kept coming.
Like many excitable dogs, it made contact by jumping on him, placing its front paws on his shoulders, and knocking him over. Azure’s breath left his lungs in a whoosh. Then his ability to inhale was snuffed out by a large pink tongue lapping across his face, leaving a slime of wet saliva behind.
Panic welled up inside him, though it was short-lived thanks to the dog’s owner, a human boy no older than seven, running up to pull the beast off of him.
“Linus, no!” the kid shouted at his pet as he struggled to drag the dog away, an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry, miss. He really loves gnomes.”
“It’s fine,” Azure replied stiffly, finding his way to his feet and then dusting his dress off.
Even standing back up had been a chore, thanks to the stunted function of his new legs.
Being a gnome was damn hard, he decided, growing a newfound respect for the small humanoids.
Finally, after what had felt like walking for miles, the drawbridge leading up to the palace came into sight. Azure’s relief diminished when he saw the line of people waiting outside to get in. With a long-suffering sigh, he pressed on, hoping he could reach the end before more people had a chance to file in in front of him.
He’d been so preoccupied with other worries in the latrine that he’d forgotten to drink his remaining Potions of Full Concealment. If there was another bathroom nearby, Azure would have to take the time to find it, which would probably mean an even longer wait in line.
Glancing up at the clock in his peripheral vision, he saw that he had just over seven hours left. Had it really taken him so long to get here?
Whatever the case, doing some quick math, Azure estimated that he should still have enough time to go to the bathroom and make it to the front of the line to state his case.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he was blinded by a thick piece of fabric wrapping around his head. Pressure forced him back against a hard surface, and his legs lifted from the earth. Azure’s nostrils filling with a noxious gas. He moaned out a soft, panicked objection, and then the world went black around him.
GOD OF DEATH
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE REALM – DAY 947
Darkness greeted Azure upon waking, though what had actually woken him was his body being jostled around. His heart flew into his throat as he tried to process what was happening. He was bound tightly, cocooned in something that restricted him from all sides. Trying to pull his hands forward and touch the surface of the fabric rubbing against his face, he realized they had been tied behind his back.
Azure fought to reach around to find one of his daggers, but it appeared that his weapons had been removed from their scabbards.
Attempting to cry out did no good, as there was a wad of cloth stuffed in his mouth, kept in place by a strip of fabric tied around his head. The material reeked of chemicals—the same chemicals that had rendered him unconscious.
What the hell?
There was no doubt in Azure’s mind that he had been kidnapped. By whom or why was the mystery.
Trying to calm his rapidly beating heart, Azure took a few breaths, closing his eyes and opening them again. He could hear the clop of horses’ hooves and detect the faint smell of the equine animal beyond that of the chemicals. The bouncing he was experiencing was most likely because he was in transit.
Flecks of light speckled Azure’s face. Focusing on one and shifting his eye against it, he could see the brown of dirt and dead grass passing him by. That’s when he realized he’d been stuffed into a sack. The indignity.
Making a verbal complaint, Azure tried to get the rider’s attention, but the horse did not give pause.
Instead, he heard a man say, “You must have woken up. Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon.”
“Where?” Azure tried to ask, but the sound of his voice was muffled thanks to the gag, and any other noises he made fell on deaf ears.
Struggling didn’t get him anywhere either. The restrictiveness of the sackcloth kept his stubby legs from being able to kick around much. No matter how aggressively he wriggled, both the horse and its rider seemed unaffected.
All Azure could do was wait until they got to their destination, which caused him even more anxiety because he knew that he was outside of Hadel and was only getting further away from the palace. That aside, hours had passed since he’d lost consciousness. The potion timer now read 4 hours, 45 minutes, and 44 seconds remaining.
Azure decided to spend his time trying to wiggle out of his restraints. However, that was nearly impossible, considering that even his fingers had been bound. Whoever had kidnapped him must have suspected he was capable of casting spells and wanted to make sure it would not be possible.
A mix of depression and guilt fell over Azure as he finally surrendered to the situation, trying his best to at least be comfortable as he moved toward an unknown destination. He and his party had all worked so hard to procure items of concealment. This was probably their only chance to make their plan work, and he had messed it up by getting kidnapped.
Despite that initial thought, though, Azure knew it wasn’t his fault. Even if he had seen it coming, he might not have been able to do anything to stop it. No moron would kidnap someone out in the open unless they were confident they could accomplish it with the least amount of fuss possible.
Another hour passed before the horse finally came to a halt.
Azure had been slumped in the rucksack, half-hoping he’d die from a heat stroke before they reached their destination. Surely, whatever awaited him was going to be unpleasant.
Fuck The Deathlands, Azure thought as he waited for what was to come next.
“Oi!” the man yelled, his horse taking an apprehensive step back. “Oi! Hamedi!”
At first, Azure thought the man was speaking a language he hadn’t heard before.
But then the outlaw spoke again. “I brought what you asked for. Give me my coin, and you can have her.”
The ground vibrated slightly, and then Azure heard a gruff voice respond. “Show Hamedi the goods first.”
Azure was jostled around as the rucksack he was in began to shift. Then an overhead light assaulted him. It was so bright he had to close his eyes. There was little time to adjust to it, though, because a large hand reached into the sack, wrapping around his neck and pulling him out.
If Azure had been a human, the careless action might have snapped his neck. As it was, the weight of his body didn’t feel so heavy, though being lifted by the neck was still incredibly uncomfortable. He wanted to clutch at the hand and pry it off, but all he could do was kick in panic.
Images flashed by Azure’s eyes in a blur as he was tossed to the ground, an incredible distance in his gnome shell. There was the face of the bandit on his horse, a man in his late twenties with unkempt brown hair and an uneven beard. There was the bay gelding he’d been riding on, the animal seeming at unease, its eyes widening as they landed on the creature that the bandit had been talking to. A troll. Impossibly tall and wide and monstrous to Azure’s small gnome eyes.
In better shape than the two troll sisters in Sheidan had been, Hamedi held his paunch back with a wide leather belt, a subligar beneath. His hair was long and stringy and the deep brown of mud. A full but scraggly beard stretched across the troll’s broad jaw, traveling up the sides of his face to meet his hairline. Long and crooked, his nose extended over his mouth, hiding a portion of his yellow, uneven teeth from view. Pale blue, almost white, beady eyes peered down at Azure, crowned by wispy eyebrows. Hamedi’s skin was covered in bumps, like acne that had never quite come to a head, and it was crisscrossed with old scars.
He stared down at Azure appraisingly, opening and closing his mouth a few times. Then he took a step forward.
“Nuh-uh-uh.” The bandit waved a finger at the troll. “You can look, but you can’t touch until I get my coin.”
Hamedi grunted, then reached for the coin bag on his hip. He extracted a single silver coin, about twice the size of the currency currently used in The Realm, and tossed it on the floor at the bandit’s feet.
Cautiously, the man dismounted, then bent to retrieve the coin before jumping back on his horse again. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He tipped his invisible hat to the troll, then turned to leave.
Azure watched the bandit go, feeling nervousness rise within him at the thought that he was about to be left alone with the troll. What comfort the man’s presence had given him, he didn’t know. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t worried that Hamedi would do anything to him while the bandit was around. Now, Azure was completely at the mercy of the troll.
Hamedi watched the man ride away for nearly a full minute before finally approaching Azure. His expression was blank as he bent to pick the gnome up, cradling him delicately in both hands.
Though Azure knew it was probably pointless, he took a gamble on struggling. If he could wriggle out of the troll’s grasp and land on his feet, he could run. But if he ended up on his back again, he’d be screwed.
For his efforts, Hamedi tightened his grip, wrapping filthy clawed fingers tightly around Azure so that he couldn’t get away. He said nothing as they walked further into the forest.
Azure deployed a combination of screaming, talking, and pleading through his gag to try to get the troll’s attention. Hamedi never looked down, intently focused on wherever it was they were heading. He wondered where that was—what the troll’s plans for him were. Was he being carried off to be cooked? Did trolls eat gnomes? Azure would not put it past them.
