Alex didn't care if these.. well he only had one name for them from his fantasy knowledge and that was dwarves. If these dwarves thought he was back up or new labor or whatever, he needed to get back to the surface. There had to be someway..
He heard as much as felt some of the stocky dwarves coming up a nearby stair and he turned to run. Except his legs didn't want to cooperate. They felt too short, and in trying to take to long a stride Alex instead tripped and fall over the ledge. He only had time to shout before he hit the ground below with a heavy thud, his head cracking on the stone.
"What are you doing, lad?!" Came a shout, though the world was swimming and he didn't know where exactly from.
"Boss, something's weird with this guy." Came another voice, a bit softer.
Then one with a gruff smoky quality. "He's too tall, and thin, and not even a decent beard. What's with these city dwarves?"
"And no clan or family markings."
"He's not a city dwarf."
"What do you mean, boss?"
"Look." The voices were beginning to blend together, and Alex couldn't see, the world seemed to be going dark.
"Woah, is that...?"
"That's gotta be at least eight inches.."
"Yeah, the crystal is pretty big, too."
"Shut it, the both of you. Take him to the infirmary, and bring that too."
Alex felt himself being hoisted off the ground by two sets of hands, strong and calloused. Then the darkness took over and he passed out.
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Once more Alex woke in a strange place, but for once in the last few days it was in a bed. A firm bed, but a bed. He felt woozy, but despite that tried to sit up.
"Woah, take it easy there." He recognized the voice as one of the three that had been talking over him, the softer voice. Rubbing his eyes, he peered in the direction of the talking. Sitting on a chair where he could keep an eye on Alex was one of the dwarves. This one had blond hair, cut short, though his beard was quite a bit longer. The ends of his blond mustaches were braided, and the hair hanging from his chin was gathered through a golden loop that was just low enough to touch his chest. He was heavily muscled, with thick limbs and meaty pectorals over a slight gut. Tattoos covered his shoulders, and possibly his chest but they were slightly obscured by the thick pelt of blond hair that covered his chest and stomach. HE wore no shirt, just a pair of baggy trousers shoved into leather boots. He also sported a few pieces of gold jewelry, a couple of brow and ear piercings as well as a thick bracelet. Somehow he knew this was a younger dwarf, maybe just into adulthood.
For such a stocky guy he got to his feet quickly and rushed over to Alex's bedside. "Take it easy." HE poured a cup of water into a thick pottery mug and held it out to Alex who took it and drank quite happily. "My name's Sigg." He offered in a cheery tone.
"Alex." He drank more of the water. "Where am I?" Lowering the cup, Alex stared at his arms. They were thicker than they should be, and shorter. He could even see his muscles bulging against the skin, something he wasn't used to as scrawny as he used to be.
Sigg stared at Alex for a moment from below lowered brows. "Fagbu, well, the dwarven stronghold of Mount Fagbu to be accurate. You really don't know?"
"Cut the boy some slack, Sigg. He's no doubt had an odd few days." Came the gruffer voice. The red haired dwarf from before came through the door. His beard was intricately braided and decorated with metals and gemstones, and long enough it reached his wide leather belt. He was also shirtless, displaying a tattooed upper body that looked like someone left a body builder in the wash too long and shrunk him. Plus a rather impressive gut that hung round and heavy beneath massive and equally rounded pecs. This close, Alex could see gray streaking the dwarf's red hair. "So boy, what were you? Human? Elf?"
"What was I?" Alex asked dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"
Red snorted, a deep rough sound. "You're almost one of us. Not quite, but almost." Red dragged a chair over to Alex's bed and sat down, crossing his thick arms over his chest. "I'd say the amount of exposure you had. Three days ago you were something else. Out with it." The older dwarf wasn't rude, not really, he just sounded like he was used to being in charge and getting answers. And Alex felt almost compelled to fall in line when fixed with his steely blue gaze.
"Human." Alex said, earning a nod from Red. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what's going on. You said I'm becoming one of you?"
Red nodded. "You can thank that." He said with a motion to Alex's bedside table, where his glowing crystal sat, still shedding a golden light, though it was mostly lost in the well lit room. "Dwarthricite." Red stated, rubbing his bearded chin. "Been decades since I've seen any raw crystals. And I don't think any that big have been found in centuries. A holy gemstone, blessed by our god, it turns any of the mortal races into one of us as long as they keep it nearby."
Alex tried to scoot away from the crystal, without leaving the bed. "You can have it, just get it away from me." For some reason, when he said those words Sigg looked.. hurt?
Red just shook his head. "Too late, lad. You have to finish what you started. Taking it away now would do no good it'd just slow the change down. You'll be done soon, anyway. If you really hate it, well, there's ways in this world to change yourself again. I'll even tell you how, in exchange for something. But maybe you should give it a chance. We're not a bad lot." Red let out a guffawing laugh as he got to his feet. "Sigg, you're in charge of him."
Sigg jumped a little, then looked at Red dumbfounded. "Me, boss?"
"Yes, you. Keep him here tonight, then tomorrow.. show him around." Red stopped in the doorway and looked back between Sigg and Alex. "As long as you're under our mountain you have our hospitality." Then he left.
"Sorry, the boss can be a bit... curt." Sigg said as he took the chair Red vacated.
"He's in charge?" Alex asked, receiving a nod from Sigg.
"King Orin. He's a bit more hands on than most rulers so I hear, but I don't think he really has a choice." Sigg refilled Alex's water cup and motioned him to drink more.
"King?" Alex felt stupid, mostly repeating Sigg's words. He was glad for the water to distract him.
"I'll go get you some dinner, just hang on a moment." Sigg got up from the chair and headed out of the room. Alex expcted that men who were so stocky and thick would seem ungraceful. But there was a certain sturdy deliberateness to them, and Sigg seemed surprisingly light on his feet. And they were kind of, well, attractive, Alex found himself thinking.
With Sigg out of the room Alex pulled back the sheets and sat up all the way. HE slung his feet over the side of the bed, expecting them to meet the floor a lot sooner than they did. In fact, the low bed seemed almost the perfect height for him to sit, and it wasn't much higher than the chair. He really had lost quite a bit of height.
There was very little sign of his former scrawniness as well. His thighs and calves were thick with muscle, as were his shortened arms. And for once in his life his flat chest had given way to two noticeable mounds, and the brown chest hair that had been a light dusting the last time he checked now spread out and grew around his nipples, as well as in a line over his stomach in an uninterrupted treasure trail. He patted his stomach, feeling the firm muscles beneath a soft pliable layer of padding. He already had Sigg beat in the gut department, even if the blond dwarf was still more muscular. Nothing on the impressiveness of their King though.
Alex hopped out of bed, wobbling for a moment as he adjusted to a new center of gravity, his thick and heavy cock slapping against his thigh. He stared down at the thing that given his shorter stature looked almost ridiculous hanging most of the way down his thigh. He grumbled and made his way over to the wash stand in the corner. Then froze as his reflection came into view in the mirror. He could still see himself in the face reflected back at him, but all his features seemed heavier and more masculine. His brown hair was still a bit of a shaggy mop, but his beard was now a couple of inches of thick brown growth on his face. He reached up and gave it a tug, and surprisingly his cock responded by swelling up, lifting away from his leg as it chubbed up. Was he turned on by beard tugging? He imagined what it'd be like with a longer one like Sigg's or even Orin's massive facial fluff. His cock responded by getting even harder, sticking out in front of him and drooling its approval at the thought.
"Want me to come back later?" Came Sigg's voice from the door as he came in carrying a platter of food. He was obviously joking in regards to his question as he just came in the room and set the food down on a table. Alex felt himself blushing and was suddenly trying to hide his erection behind his hands, with no success.
In fact, instead of leaving, Sigg came closer once the tray was set down. Alex barely registered that despite his new stockier build he still had quite a bit of height on Sigg, the dwarf only coming up to his chin. Alex wondered if he was just going to be a tall dwarf, or the magic still had a few more inches to take from him. Sigg hands came up and pressed against Alex's cheeks, stroking his short beard. "It's a good start, soft and thick. A few more inches and we'll be able to put some proper braids into it. Maybe a few beads."
As much as his cock reacted to him tugging his own beard, it was nothing compared to having Sigg stroke it. His cock spasmed at the touch, drooling a bit more of its eagerness. "Practically one of us already." Sigg joked. "Maybe once you're done I let you tug on my beard some." He teased, reaching down to brush a rough, calloused hand against Alex's cock, sending shivers up his whole body. Sigg knelt in front of Alex, and opening his mouth took nearly the whole length of Alex' thick tool into his mouth.
It was too much, and Alex didn't seem to have any control, in less than a minute he was filling Sigg's throat with his cum and the dwarf was eagerly lapping up every drop. Sigg wasn't done yet though, and as soon as he stood back up he grabbed Alex's beard at the chin and pulled his face down to share a deep kiss with him. Their beards pressed together as they shared a kiss that was salty and earthy from Alex's cum.
"Why?" Alex found himself asking as the kiss broke.
Sigg grinned up at him. "Because I think you're going to make one very nice dwarf and maybe I can convince you to stay that way" He said with a wink. "Now eat your dinner before it gets cold."
Alex sighed and nodded, heading over to the table to take a seat. As soon as he had the food in front of him his stomach grumbled. Loudly. Maybe he could give this a chance.. for a few days at least.