Inside Maze Forest, a cooling breeze drifted through the trees, carrying the crisp scent of moss and damp earth. Dew clung to the delicate strands of a spider's web stretched between two ferns, glittering like silver threads in the sunlight. Small forest creatures darted between roots and leaves, vanishing as quickly as they appeared.
Tucked away behind a cluster of thick roots stood Hubert's Workshop, a tiny, crooked hut patched together from metal scraps, wood, and what looked like the remains of a steam engine. The air inside hummed faintly with the sound of turning gears and clinking tools.
Hubert, the gnome inventor, sat hunched over his workbench, nose almost pressed to a half-finished contraption that was puffing smoke in irregular bursts. His magnifying goggles glowed blue as he adjusted a tiny screw with the care of a surgeon.
