Beginning his rapid descent down the mist filled stairwell, Alan barely rounded the first corner before being attacked by a single Goblin. While rather large for its race, it still stood under three feet tall. Humanoid in appearance, with a sharp, pinched face, its long, pointed ears, dark-green skin and bright-red eyes were the only thing differing between them and human children.
Well, that and the abnormally long arms, hands ending in sharp black claws, equally sharp black teeth, and the low-pitched gutteral barking that was apparently how they communicate. Perhaps the only actual similarity to human children was its size, because this one was naked from the waist up, gripping a short sword in its right hand, and bellowing incoherently as it rushed up the stairs on stumpy legs to meet Alan's charge.
Not even bothering to slow down, Alan swung his meat hook vertically in a quick uppercut that plunged into the Goblin's chest, instantly getting caught under its ribs. Lifting it off its feet, with putrid-smelling yellow blood and viscera spraying across his leather armor, Alan cocked his arm back and threw the Goblin, meat hook still embedded, full strength down the stairs.
Rapidly rounding the next corner he was able to witness to his once thrown, now tumbling Goblin projectile crashing into a pile of at least ten waiting Goblin archers. At closer to two feet tall, and weighing much less than their hastily accelerating kin, they were simply blasted in all directions as the Goblin, now turned green bowling ball, continued to barrel down the stairs unimpeded.
Coming to a stop next to the first pile of tangled up Goblin archers, Alan didn't even pause to choose a target, instead he swung his sickle into the group with reckless abandon. The soft goblin flesh, and brittle bones presented no resistance to his curved blade. Leaving behind a pile of gore and severed limbs, he was quickly upon the final Goblin archer. It attempted to turn and run, but was swiftly decapitated.
"Maybe it is sharp after all." Rexus panted out while holding onto his knees, having sprinted down the stairs to catch up, only to miss out on the fight. "I wonder how much Experience these guys are worth... You killed at least ten of em! So much for your genius strategy huh?"
Sitting down on the wet stone steps, Alan started trying to catch his breath. Wanting to quickly locate the Goblin with his meat hook still embedded in its chest, his break was unfortunately short-lived.
Not willing to be left behind again, Rexus took the lead continuing down the stairs. Tower shield held high in his left hand and rusty sword in his right, it was probably a terrifying sight for the tiny goblins. Alan felt no suprise when he reached the stairwells first landing unopposed. Halfway down the sheer cliff into the chasm, the stairway opened up from the four-foot wide stairwell, to a vast, open ledge
Reaching the landing less than a minute after his brother, he was just in time to witness an eerie shimmering in the mist, reminiscent of a wall-sized soap bubble. Not sure what it was, but already getting a bad feeling Alan started to calling for a quick retreat to the stairwell. But before he even got the first word out, the shimmering bubble popped silently, revealing at least fifty Goblins between them and the stairwell down.
"RETREAT!!" Alan screamed, grabbing Rexus by his belt and pulling him back towards the stairs, shoving him to get him climbing faster. Breathing hard, clambering up the wet, algae encrusted stairs they made it a little more than halfway back up before Rexus abruptly stopped, lifting his shield, he turned to Alan. "They've somehow made in front of us too! Shit! Must've used whatever that damn shimmer Skill was to hide from us..."
Cursing at the stupid Goblins sudden proficiency at camouflage, and hearing the sounds of the Goblins approaching from behind rapidly catching up, Alan commanded Rexus to charge straight through them. He grabbed Rexus' shoulders and started running. The brothers slowly began building up speed, charging up the stairs. With little time to react, the Goblins barely managed to fire off their first round of ineffective arrows. The stampeding brothers hit the waiting cluster Goblins shield-first like a freight train, scattering them underfoot.
Each step taken forward was atop a writhing Goblin, crushing the waiting limbs and torsos of the tiny humanoid bodies into green paste underfoot. Alan felt a sharp pain in his thigh, and soon after he noticed that a dagger was buried to the hilt in his leg. Gritting his teeth, he yanked it out, stumbling slightly, before once again grabbing his brothers shoulders and urging him forward.
A sudden roar from behind them caused Rexus to stumble, ceasing his forward momentum. The pause allowed the pain in Alan's leg to catch up to him. Grunting in pain, Alan pulled off his belt, and tightly fastened it around his bleeding leg. Another roar sounded, this one much closer. Alan heard a massive collision as something large behind them collided with the pursuing Goblins.
Alan knew this may be their only opportunity to escape. But he felt it to be equally, if not more so, important to know what else was down here with them. Alan directed Rexus to block the stairwell with his shield and prevent any Goblins from being able to move down the stairwell. As quietly as he could on his injured leg, Alan returned to see what was going on, and hopefully also locate his meat hook.
Approaching the landing where the Goblin ambush was revealed, Alan was stopped in his tracks by what he saw. Reared up on its hind-legs, blocking the Goblins from pursuing the brothers any further, the Hellcat roared yet again. What he saw left him feeling confused. Alan quickly realized the earlier roars were the Hellcat once again making an appearance.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
What the Hells is going on? Alan wondered. Is it on our side? Mind racing, Alan was completely caught off-guard when the Hellcat spotted him standing there, turned and roared, charging directly at him. Soon after it charged, the beast halted barely a few feet away. It turned around, placing its back to Alan while bellowing another roar of challenge at the Goblins. A lightning-fast strike of its left shoulder space-eel bit the head right off an unlucky Goblin that got a little too close. It was promptly swallowed whole. Peering over its shoulder-eels, it growled at Alan, seemingly telling him to go away or else.
Unwilling to upset the massive cat, Alan made eye contact with his unexpected champion. He raised his arms, trying to convey he wasn't a threat. With his hands above his head, Alan started taking cautious steps backwards.
When he could no longer see the battle raging below him, Alan turned his back and ran for his life. He almost immediately tripped over his previous Goblin adversary-turned bowling ball. Getting up to his feet, grinning despite the chaos, he stepped on the Goblins stomach, ripped his meathook from its chest, and kicked its corpse back down towards the battle raging down below.
Turning once more, Alan began limping up the stairs. During the climb up the stairs, his attempt at getting back to Rexus as fast as possible proved to be too much of a strain for his injured leg, causing it to throb with every step, forcing him to climb slowly.
Upon finally reaching Rexus, the brothers finished their return to the surface. Surprisingly they only found a single Goblin remaining, which jumped from the stairway, plummeting into the lake below. "Think he swam back home to tell his momma?" Rexus nervously joked, the pressure of the situation finally beginning to recede back down to normal levels. Not bothering with a response, and unwilling to chance another run-in with the Hellcat, Alan quickly unlocked the gate. With a final look over his shoulder he followed Rexus out, and locked it up once again.
Flopping down on his back into the soft, colorful grass, Alan started to laugh."ha. ha ha. HAH HAH HAH" Looking at his brother, he saw panic in his eyes. Tears were flowing down his face. "Holy shit" Rexus practically sobbed out. "We almost died bro... that was a terrible fucking idea." Gripping his knees to his chest, Rexus began rocking back and forth, obviously in shock.
Wanting to reassure his brother, Alan climbed to his feet, only to be congratulated for his effort by a blinding pain in his left leg. He nearly fainted when he saw there were ugly green-black veins spreading along his flesh, leading away from the stab-wound. The dirty damned Goblin had used poison. Calmly, so as not to panic his brother any more than necessary, Alan stood up, instructing Rexus to quickly go get their Uncle Alex.
As Rexus turned, and sprinted towards the forge to the southwest, Alan fell back down onto his butt, his head beginning to spin now that his adrenaline was fading. Unable to fight it any longer, he passed out. His last conscious thought was a hope that his uncle hadn't partaken in too many of his 'experiments' this afternoon.
Lost in the stranger's piercing gaze and sad smile, the boy almost forgot his pain before he suddenly coughed and broke the trance. Once again tasting blood in his mouth, the boy's body trembled violently. "Calm yourself, fool-boy, this is going to get much worse before it gets any better." He went on to place his hands gently on the boy's injured side, and to his utter amazement, they started to glow a faint green color. Feeling an intense heat invading his body, the boy fought back, forcing the stranger to press him harder into the rubble in which he was lying. "Keep still idiot, you have broken ribs puncturing into your lung, and severe internal bleeding. I can heal you, but it is going to feel like im melting you from the inside out."
Eyes growing ever wider, the boy couldn't help but make panicked whimpering sounds, while still trying to pull away from the stranger. "Guess you're already in shock eh boy? Guess I'd better get on with it then." The strange man's glowing green hands rapidly became too bright to look at, forcing the boy to shut his eyes.
"Here we go," the stranger muttered, closing his eyes as well. "VOW OF THE EMERALD PHOENIX!" He bellowed, his hands rapidly dimmed as the hazy green energy entered into the boy's tiny body. Arching his back, he screamed out once. A long, pained note. His eyeballs rolled back, and he once again drifted away into a dark oblivion. Lowering his hands from the now-healed flesh, The stranger knelt down and lifted the boy up into his arms before vanishing in a luminous flash of light.
..."And you say this cat had space eels growing from its shoulders?" A muffled voice hovering above him caused Alan to stir. "Ah it would seem our idiot is waking up." The muffled voice continued, slowly sounding clearer. Ever so slowly, the fog left behind by the poison was evicted from Alan's brain.
Looking around, he realized he lay in his bed, back at home. Attempting to sit up, Alan was met with the all too familiar sad-smile. Only instead of in his dreams, or memories, somehow it was located upon his Uncle Alex' face. "It was you.." he groaned out, before his dry throat forced him to quiet down. Approaching with a mug of water, Rexus asked if he'd like a drink, which he happily abided. Unable to stop himself, he continued speaking as soon as he wet his throat. "It was you this whole time... Uncle Alex, YOU killed the Cyclops? You brought me here? Is someone gonna tell me what the fuck is going on?"
Rexus peered questioningly at Uncle Alex, who responded simply. "Surely I have no idea what that fool is talking about. Do me a favor Rexus? Be a good lad and run back to my forge. Grab the jar of pink powder, and bring it back here. I'm pretty sure your brother is still having side effects from the Goblin poison."
Nodding in agreement, Rexus left the room, prompting Alan to sit up. Glaring at his uncle, he firmly demanded an honest explanation.
Staring up at the ceiling, completely ignoring him, Alan was just about to lose his patience when his uncle responded. "Before I can answer your questions, I would have to tell you a bit about myself.." pausing to gather his thoughts before continuing, Alex ran his hands through his thinning blonde hair, then peered directly into Alan's uneasy eyes. "But now is not the time. You need rest. We will discuss our past upon your return from the tutorial, and not a moment sooner. For now though, I must ask you to sleep, and forget the face of the stranger yet again".
Not quite understanding what Alex was talking about, nor liking the implications, Alan attempted to stand. He realized he couldn't move. He wasn't able to do so much as look away from his uncle's radiant gaze, no matter how hard he tried. Placing his slightly glowing hands on his 'nephew's' shoulders, Alex pressed him back down into the bed and uttered the word "Forget" once more before a deep dreamless slumber removed Alan's awareness.