The Gnomes’ Great Move and a Fading Life

In the deep, tranquil forest, two big-headed gnomes were busily moving items out of a burrow, meticulously sorting them as they went. It was clear they were in the midst of a move.

“Little Hard, be careful,” Big Brain sternly warned his brother. “If you damage my manuscripts, I’ll make sure you regret it!”

“I am being careful, my dear brother,” Little Brain stumbled, hoisting a large crate of parchment scrolls before dropping it with a thud onto the ground.

Rubbing his aching arms and wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, he retorted sarcastically, “If you’re so worried, you’re welcome to move it yourself, instead of burdening your adorable little brother.”

“Hard! Is this not your home too?” Big Brain huffed, his breath coming in short, angry gasps. He hadn’t paused for a moment and was drenched in sweat from the arduous moving. Upon hearing his brother Little Brain’s sarcasm, he instantly flew into a rage.

Little Brain, unwilling to indulge his brother, plunked himself down onto the crate filled with parchment manuscripts and deliberately tapped the side of the box with his heel. His expression was mocking, and his words relentless:

“Oh, absolutely, absolutely,” he drawled. “Pray tell, who was it that turned our home into such a mess, blew up the door, and ultimately forced us to move?”

Little Brain’s eyes widened as he glared at his brother, pointing to himself. “Was it me? No!”

Then he pointed at Big Brain. “This is all your fault, brother! Why should I, your younger brother, have to compensate for your blunders? Shouldn’t you be the one moving everything by yourself? Now I’m helping you, fixing your mistakes, and yet I still have to endure your accusations. Even the Horned Demon would curse you for a wretch upon hearing such words!”

Big Brain, thoroughly berated by his brother, stood frozen in place, his expression utterly blank. After a full half-minute, a furious crimson flush slowly crept up from his neck until it completely engulfed his large, round head.

He roared with a surprisingly high-pitched voice, “How dare you! I am your elder brother!”

Having finished his outburst, he stomped his short legs and angrily charged at his brother.

Little Brain, equally hot-tempered, refused to back down. “And I am your younger brother!”

With that, he too charged forward, and the two immediately devolved into a wrestling match. They exchanged clumsy punches and kicks, but their meager strength meant little harm was done.

Especially when their blows landed on each other’s heads, the recipient’s head remained largely unfazed, while the aggressor’s own small hands swelled into painful lumps.

Finally, frustrated and exasperated, the two brothers realized they couldn’t inflict any real damage on each other. After a few seconds of silence, their clever minds quickly devised a new strategy: if they couldn’t hurt their brother’s body, they would hurt his feelings!

Both instantly lifted their heads, their small eyes glaring fiercely at one another. With synchronized movements, they simultaneously raised their right hands and delivered a resounding slap across each other’s faces.

The ‘Big Slap’, true to its name, was less about physical harm and more about extreme humiliation, especially for these highly intelligent, physically distinct small beings like Big Brain and Little Brain.

Clutching their reddened left cheeks, stinging from the slaps, they each saw a reflection of shock and disbelief in the other’s eyes.

Their small, wounded eyes seemed to cry out: ‘I am your brother (or younger brother)! How dare you treat me this way?!’

Their dignity profoundly insulted, the two brothers released each other. They comically covered their faces with their hands and began to whimper, “Waaah, waaah, waaah.” Perhaps feeling their cries weren’t fervent enough, they both flung themselves onto the ground, resting their heads on the fallen leaves and weeds, and began to wail uncontrollably.

“Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!” Their desperate cries were swallowed by the dense, deep forest, leaving not the slightest echo.

****

“What in the world is going on?” Noren, crouched behind a low bush, twisted her face into an expression of utter speechlessness as she watched the two small figures. Her desire to complain was overwhelming.

Beside her, Tolke was equally at a loss for words to describe his feelings. A torrent of complaints was trapped in his chest, and after pondering for a long while, he still couldn’t articulate them. Finally, only a few words escaped his lips: “Strange children.”

Indeed, Noren and Tolke had been lurking there for quite some time. The Giant and the Thin Man had, of course, also emerged from the burrow. Noren and Tolke had tracked the Giant to this very spot.

To their surprise, beyond the Giant and the Thin Man, two big-headed gnomes also resided here, a truly unexpected discovery.

The Giant, Bru, was currently standing by, cradling his brother. The Thin Man, having once again succumbed to pain, had fainted. Furthermore, since Bru was simple-minded and couldn’t speak, and the gnomes were too short to see the injured Thin Man in Bru’s arms, they were unaware of the Giant’s purpose.

They simply let the Giant stand there foolishly, knowing that Bru wouldn’t understand their questions nor be able to answer.

Big Brain and Little Brain’s piercing wails startled the birds in the forest. Several large black crows flapped their wings, cawing, “Caw! Caw! Caw!” as they flew away. The cries also gradually roused the unconscious Thin Man.

“Hiss~ I’m in so much pain~~” The Thin Man grimaced, baring his teeth, the excruciating agony in his legs almost unbearable.

He tried to push himself up from Bru’s embrace, but without the strength of his legs, relying solely on his arms and core, it proved difficult to sit up. He tried two or three times, all in vain.

The Thin Man patted Bru’s chest. He was too weak even to slap his brother now. “Bru, sit down.”

Bru stared at his brother, puzzled, tilting his head. The words were too faint for him to hear clearly.

“Sit down! Cough, cough… *Pah!*” The Thin Man yelled with all his might, the effort tearing at the palm wound on his chest, causing him to cough up a large mouthful of dark blood.

As Bru sat down, stretching his legs straight, the Thin Man slumped against him, utterly frail. His eyelids drooped, his eyes devoid of any vitality, as if his life force was flickering out.

“Little Hard, Little Hard, stop crying!” Big Brain, drawn by the huge commotion of Bru sitting down, was the first to spot the dying Thin Man. He immediately stopped his wailing, nudged his brother a few times, and pointed at the Thin Man.

“Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!… Don’t push me! Let me cry a little longer!” Little Brain swung his arms, batting away the hand that pushed him, and turned to face another direction, resuming his cries.

“Help him! Bupa is gravely injured!”

Little Brain scrambled to his feet. After two seconds of shock at the Thin Man’s miserable state, he threw his head back and burst into laughter, tears streaming from his eyes. “Hahaha… That… that idiot, he… he deserves it! I knew this day would come for him!”

“What are you laughing at? Help him!” Big Brain rapped his brother’s head, his gaze extremely stern.

His brother met his gaze with a defiant stare. He grumbled, “Why bother saving him? It’d be best if this brute just died! Then he wouldn’t be threatening us to do this and that all the time!”

Big Brain frowned, his entire scalp wrinkling down and bunching together with his brow. He reminded his brother, “Without their dealings with the mayor, what would we eat?”

His brother pouted. “The big crows I raise are smarter than Bru; they can catch small animals for us to eat!”

“What about winter?”

His brother stubbornly insisted, “We’ll farm ourselves!”

“Hmph, farm… Do you think farming is like your herb garden? With our tiny arms and legs, we couldn’t even clear a patch of land, let alone till the soil!”

His brother pointed at the Giant, Bru. “Isn’t he here? A few trees would be easy for him, wouldn’t they?”

“Cough… If you don’t come save me soon, once… once I recover… I’ll make you pay… dearly!” The Thin Man’s will to survive prompted him to utter a foolish threat in his final moments, truly befitting an idiot.

Big Brain fell silent upon hearing the Thin Man’s threat. He glanced at the Thin Man from the corner of his eye, his expression no longer anxious, but calmly and hesitantly pondering Little Brain’s proposal.

After a moment, he asked the final and most crucial question: “What about Bru? How will you command him? Won’t he go mad if the Thin Man dies?”

Little Brain smiled faintly, pulling a dark, square object from his person. He walked over to the Giant and pressed it into his hand. “Bru, eat!”

Bru recognized the big-headed gnome before him. Though he hesitated, he ate it. The black square was shoved into his mouth, and he chewed it with a loud “Crunch, crunch, crunch,” the sound like gnawing on bones.

“See! He ate it!” Little Brain grinned widely. He stood with his hands on his hips, head tilted back, his nose practically pointing to the sky. “Bru is simple-minded; he’ll do whatever he’s told, as long as we don’t hurt him, it should be fine. As for the Thin Man… Bru, that idiot, doesn’t understand what life and death are. If the Thin Man dies, we’ll detach his head and stick it on a stick. When we give commands, he might even think it’s his brother speaking!”

As Little Brain spoke, he leaned down to look at the dying Thin Man, who was now too weak to utter a single word, his breaths shallow and infrequent.

The Thin Man’s vision blurred. He weakly stared at Little Brain’s large head, which morphed from a single clear image into three hazy ones. Only one word remained in the Thin Man’s mind—

‘Demon.’