A rather accomplished dwarf treasure hunter explores the long-lost secret lair of a great alchemist, said to have discovered the elixir of eternal life.
After spending three days delving into the ancient tunnels and avoiding the treacherous traps laid by the mysteriously disappeared previous owner, he finds a little chamber, deep within the earth.
A swirling, faintly glowing potion rests there on a pedestal. He checks the room, twice, thrice. He can't believe it, but apparently, there are no traps, so he steps in and grabs the potion from its dusty holder.
He looks at it through the light of a torch. He's no magician, but he has a strong sixth sense regarding these kinds of things. That stuff is the real deal.
It would be very valuable on the black market. Too valuable, probably. It would get him dead for sure, once the word he has it would spread out.
On the other hand, the prospect of living forever is quite appealing. No, actually is too good to pass, so the dwarf does what's probably the one and only rash thing he has done in his whole life: he pops the musty cork and chugs down the opalescent liquid like it's a mug of piss-warm ale in a hot summer afternoon.
Of course, he could not foresee that the great alchemist had actually a wicked sense of humor.
The potion itself was the last trap of the dungeon, for those so greedy to hoard even life. He had actually found a way to extend life beyond its limit, but to do so the matter and the essence of the body had to be completely transmuted into something new.
Grunting, and kneeling on the dust-covered ground, the dwarf finally reads the plaque under the metal holder.
"To attain new life, be prepared to give up yours, fool!"
Gargling an intelligible curse the dwarf finally slumps to the ground, lifeless.
As the moon rises, a figure emerges from the dungeon. Thin, and frail, her silver-blond hair looks almost as it gleams on its own.
Her pale face is dirty, she holds over her a mantle and a coat of coarse wool, barely covering anything beneath her waist.
She hauls herself on a large, flat stone, overlooking the entrance that she, the once dwarf treasure-hunter, had dug only three days ago...
-Secret
-Experiment
-Girlfriend
