Crackle
The crackling of the fire spread in the cave as goblin warriors placed another piece of wood in it.
Upon the fire tied to a rod was a wild boar, which was skinned down and marinated in milk.
The goblins were at most 4 feet tall, with grass green skin, and leather covering their genitals.
An act these creatures had learned from observing humans. They, however, did not have the same luxury for weapons, as they had never been near a civilisation to understand how humans made their weapons. All they could do was use stones to mimic the steel weapons.
At the back end of the cave, next to a narrow passageway, were the female goblins, cradling the gobblings in their arms.
Ding
The goblin warriors stood up, throwing sand on the fire and the wild boar.
Ding
Then the four strongest members stood facing the entrance to the cave.
Behind them, the warriors had split into two groups; the weaker and larger group stood as support for the four strongest, while the smaller yet stronger group helped the female and gobblings evacuate from the passageway.
Ding
The goblin at the front looked around as the sounds of the bells drew closer.
In his hands as a hammer and a silver blade, he had acquired from a fallen adventurer.
Ding
His eyes met with the last of the women, and he grinned at her as her eyes widened and she tried to run towards him.
But it was too late.
Ding
He ran forward by himself, throwing his hammer up at the roof of the cave, driving a bolt embedded into the roof even deeper as the cave began to fall.
Not giving time to anyone who attempted to stop him, he closed off the cave, letting the others flee.
Ding
Ding
Ding
He sighed, turning around.
Before him, at the edge of the forest, was a Uteas.
Brown in colour, it was as big as an average wolf, walking on six legs like a spider.
In place of ears, it had two horns that curled tightly to the side of the head in a round bun, with identical cracks within them.
It had four eyes that glowed purple in the night. Two in the place that they should be and two on its neck.
In place of its mouth was a trunk that was opened up into an upper and lower lip. Inside the trunk was a tongue with a sharp dagger at the tip, laced with paralysis toxins.
The goblin's calves were shaking, yet he remained strong and held up his blade with one hand and a small rock in the other.
The beast before him raised its two front legs, and on its underside was a mouth closed by teeth as big as the blade.
As it raised its middle legs, the teeth parted, revealing its mouth that had four tentacles reminiscent of an octopus, letting out a screeching roar.
The goblin screamed back, throwing the blade into the Uteas's mouth, which it caught using its tentacle and snapped it using its teeth.
Using this moment as a distraction, the goblin fled towards the right.
The Uteas followed after him, running like wolves.
When it came to speed, the goblin was never going to outrun the Uteas, so he started running between tree stubs, narrowly avoiding getting impaled by the Uteas's legs.
He was out of the tongue's reach, but that did not stop the Uteas from attempting to flick the toxins on him.
Just a few meters away from his goal, the ledge from where the forest began went downhill.
Putting more and more strength into his legs, the goblin jumped from the ledge,
The amount of time spent in the air allowed the Uteas to close the distance and stab him in the left arm with its tongue dagger.
It then retracted its tongue, jumping over the goblin, who fell, rolling down the hill, stopping when he hit a tree.
Meanwhile, the Uteas used its front two legs, lodging them into two trees and swung its lower body forward, effectively shifting its momentum back towards the direction it came from, before letting go and flying through the air back towards where the goblin was.
It swung from the trees using its legs, jumping from one to the other.
Stopping itself on the tree under which the paralysed goblin was. It climbed down the side and looked at where the goblin was, looking up at the Uteas.
As the Uteas moved forward to eat the goblin, a lodge swung down from the tree and struck it in the mouth and left middle leg.
It was thrown nearly a dozen meters away. Meanwhile, the goblin took this opportunity to lie down and grabbed the rock with his right hand and extended his left arm to the side, before slamming the rock into his left bicep repeatedly, gritting his teeth as he cried and let out whimpers.
Not letting the pain stop him, not until he completely tore off its left arm.
Only then did he scream as the pain became too unbearable and his eyes almost closed, yet he forced them to remain open, fighting to hold onto his consciousness.
He looked past his severed left hand and saw the Uteas getting back up.
Its teeth were broken, and its left leg was barely attached to its body, dangling from the middle of the Second section.
Still, it limped towards him.
For a minute, he watched it march towards him, and when it was just a few meters away.
Ssssssss
A hiss entered the goblin's ear, coming from the direction where his head was, followed by a rumbling.
With hope, he rolled his head back on the ground and saw something approaching.
Even after being a predator for the goblins, the Uteas were still not the apex predator, at least not in the Gustan Mountains.
That title belonged to the Rigyr.
A grey serpent wide and long enough to swallow ten carriages. Along with its massive size, it had the advantage that no other serpent had.
Two limbs.
It had two limbs placed an arm's length below its head, and beside its heart, with a reach of fifteen meters.
The Rigyr knocked down trees, moving towards the Uteas at incredible speed.
The Uteas attempted to run away, but it was unable to as the Rigyr grabbed the Uteas and lifted it.
The trunk opened but was forcefully closed by the Rigyr with one hand, and then, with the other, it grabbed all six legs.
Holding it over its head, the Rigyr began pulling apart the Uteas.
In a last ditch effort, the Uteas broke its middle left leg from the joint it was broken at and used what remained to stab the Rigyr in the brain.
However, in doing so, it sealed its fate as the Rigyr's body fell limp, and it fell forward, crushing the Uteas under it.
Ha ha ha ha
Panting and gasping for air, the goblin stood up and ran away, holding its left arm.
Unfortunately for him, he had lost too much blood, and the blunt trauma from the fall had started to blur his vision to the point he was practically blind, especially under the darkness of the night.
A constant ringing in his ears, which made him deaf to the sound of the river flowing, next to him.
What happened next was unavoidable as he stumbled into the river, and the strong current pushed his weak body downstream.
He attempted to stay above the water, but he was barely succeeding.
In the next minute, the river had brought him five kilometres downstream, near a waterfall where some adventurers had set their camp.
An was standing at the edge of the river, her eyes closed, as the sound of the flowing water filled her ears.
"This is peace."
That was when she heard faint cries of help and opened her eyes, looking around.
She casted a light spell, illuminating the entire river, and revealed the goblin, calling out to her.
Without hesitation, she reached towards the goblin and pulled him out of the water and into the air as she brought him closer.
Before he could touch the ground, a healing spell was cast on him as his arm regrew, and all other injuries were healed.
Setting him down on his feet, she attempted to strike up a conversation as she patted him dry with a towel. "Are you okay?"
The goblin took a deep breath before speaking. "Why do you ask, when you know you can't understand us?"
"I can."
He had heard stories from elders in his clan that there were a few beings who understood the monster dialect, but he was seeing one for the first time in his life.
"I am fine, thank you."
"You need not thank me. But may I ask, what happened to you?"
"An Uteas attacked my clan, I made it chase me away from the clan, where a Rigyr attacked it, and they killed each other. There will be more, but you don't have to worry about them; no monster will dare approach you."
"Monsters?" From the direction of the waterfall came Raghav, his features becoming increasingly visible as he drew closer to them, illuminated by the light of the campfire.
"Beautiful." The goblin thought out loud when he saw Raghav's face.
"Thank you, Mr Goblin. Please tell me, what do you mean by monsters?"
Snapping out of the trance he was put under, he responded. "The Uteas, Rigyrs, us goblins and the other monsters in this forest."
Raghav bent down on his knees, offering him a mango. "Why do you consider yourself a monster?"
"I am one."
A smile made its way on Raghav's face, a gentle smile.
One not filled with joy nor happiness, just warmth. "No, you are not a monster, neither are the Uteas or the Rigyr. You are just like any other animal. The humans call you many things, you should not listen to them, you are just like the wolves, cows, wyverns, and that does not make you a monster."
The goblin took the mango, looking back at Raghav, who stood up, holding his hand out for the goblin.
"Come with me, I will take you back to your clan."
Without hesitation, he held onto Raghav's hand, and the two began walking upstream.
An just chuckled, waving at the goblin, who waved back at her with the mango in his hands. 'Stay safe, little friend.'
.
.
.
.
Within the depths of the forest, Raghav and the goblin were walking with the goblin holding onto his finger.
"So, what is your name?"
"I am Aqe. What is yours?"
"Raghav Suryanshi, I must say, you were brave putting your life at risk."
"Thank you, My Lord, I cannot believe you came for me yourself."
He jumped as he said those words. "My wish will now be complete."
Raghav matched Aqe's eyes, tilting his head. "What wish would that be?"
Aqe laughed. "You know it, to be born a human, so that I can be a devotee and attain The One and be free from this cycle."
"Will you do it or forget about it?"
Hearing those words, Aqe stopped pulling on Raghav's finger with both hands. "I will do it."
Seeing the determination within those green eyes, Raghav nodded. "We will have to see it ourselves."
Aqe nodded, then looked forward when he spotted a marking on the tree. "This way, my clan must have left that for me."
He began running forward as Raghav sprinted beside him.
As they went up the hill, Aqe jumped at the top and was suddenly yanked back by Raghav, with a hand over his mouth.
On the other side, an adventurer snapped his head towards the hill and frowned before turning back and moving forward.
Once he was further away, Raghav and Aqe peeked over the hill. "There are adventurers here, but at this hour?"
"Are they here to hunt us? I have heard of a group of humans called adventurers, who often come into the forests and hunt down monsters."
"How many clans are there in this forest?" "Around six thousand, my lord."
"When was the last time you heard from your neighbouring clans?" "We have not heard from them for a few days, and we suspected that a pack of Uteas found them. That is why we were on the move."
Gritting his teeth, Raghav stood up, grabbed Aqe and ran forward.
Aqe kept informing Raghav about what path he should take, and due to their combined efforts. They reached the clan before the adventurers.
The goblin clan was moving in a circular formation with the elderly, women and children in the middle and the warriors around them.
Snap
Someone or something stepped on a twig behind a tree.
They picked up their weapons and turned towards the direction of that sound, only to quickly put them down as they saw Aqe approach them.
"Chief, you are alive? /Are you alright? /What of the Uteas?"
They all threw different questions at him. "Yes, I am alive and well, the Uteas is dead, killed by a Rigyr. I was injured but saved by someone who has brought me back to you."
Gesturing towards a tree, he announced to his clan. "This is Raghav Suryanshi!"
Moving out from behind the tree, Raghav greeted them. "Hello, everyone. I hope you have some strength left, because we need to hurry; some adventurers are on their way to hunt you down."
Just as he spoke, the sounds of footsteps were heard as eight adventurers surrounded them.
"What's this, a lunatic talking with goblins?" "Does he believe he can talk to monsters?"
The members began passing remarks about Raghav until their captain intervened. "Oi, tell us who you are and what you are doing here, or else."
Due to the night, it was hard to see faces clearly, so Raghav simply raised his hand and created a sphere of light, illuminating the area.
The adventurers who saw him took a few steps back, while the adventurers behind him looked at each other in confusion. "Is he a freak?"
"No! He's Raghav."
They both gulped, walking around to their allies as they saw Raghav's face.
Upon it, a serious expression.
The captain was the first to speak, calming his left hand with his right. "I am sorry for what my men said about you, Sir Raghav. We did not know that you were in the area as well."
"Why are you here at this hour?"
"We were assigned a commission by the Count himself."
"What commission?"
"To eradicate the monsters in the entire Plied County. I thought you were also in on this."
Hmmm
Raghav stood there humming as everyone around him remained in silence.
"Gather all the other adventurers that you know are in this region and head back to Plied and tell the count to stop this commission. I will be there by noon tomorrow to talk. As for the wildlife, you will not harm another, nor will the others. Is that clear?"
The captain frowned, shaking his head and gritting his teeth. "We know you are the Hero, but this is none of your business. We are here on an official commission, and what we are doing is legal. If you interfere with our work, we have the right to place you under arrest. Is it worth it to be arrested protecting the horrors of the night?"
With narrow eyes, Raghav nodded. "It is worth it, but you are correct. I have no jurisdiction over this operation, and neither do I intend to be arrested."
Suddenly, Aqe held onto Raghav's leg, looking up at him with teary eyes. "Please, help us."
Raghav looked at him and then at the other goblins. "However, with me travels someone who does, on behalf of Princess Aurelia Reid. I command you to do as I have asked."
"Did she give you this permission?" Asked one of the adventurers.
"No, but she will say the same as I have, word for word. Take my word for it, or we could do this with our swords like you are suggesting, Captain."
The adventurers all looked at their captain, who gritted his teeth, sheathing his sword. "Fuck it, I ain't dying for this shit, come on. You heard him, we are leaving and taking the others with us, or do you want to be thrown into prison for not following a Royal Command?"
Just like that, they left, and Raghav looked down at Aqe and patted his head. "Take them far away, and hide somewhere near a village or a road. Somewhere where you are unseen. They tend to overlook such places. May you be safe from The Horrors of Mankind."
The goblins all hugged him before running away. Aqe looked back once as Raghav smiled once more, waving to him.
When Aqe was out of sight, Raghav turned around, dropping his smile.