Ferka was a practical realist.

She didn’t believe in gods, nor did she think there was a heaven or hell, and she didn’t believe in an afterlife. To her, the reality unfolding in front of her eyes was more important than anything else.

If there was anything she might believe in, it would be the “spirit of weapons,” a phrase dwarves often said as a habit.

She’d heard it so often from her father and acquaintances that it had worn down her ears, though she only believed in it on a “maybe it exists” level.

But right now, Ferka was …