Bells chimed slowly all around. A goblin woman sat in grass as green as her skin, surrounded by strange trees. It felt so alien, yet so serene. The only hint of blue was peering out from the sky. The calm was interrupted by a gust of wind and more bells. Where had she heard these bells before? The bells that rang out during morning prayer? She hadn't been to morning prayer for many years, not since she was a little girl. Perhaps she should go attend one soon, perhaps Sanavrona would smile upon her with some small blessing then.
"Rennavri" A woman's voice called out to her. It sounded sweet like blossoming spring flowers, bright like ember salamander tadpoles, and warm like the voice of a mother cuddling her baby close by the hearth. "Rennavri, sweet one, hear me"
The young woman did as she was asked, she sat up within the calm, green forest. She half wondered where she was, half wondered who was calling to her.
"Hello? I hear you. Blessed mother, is it you? Have you come to save me? Sanavrona?" The last syllables echoed through the trees as a deep white fog began to roll in, grey forms peering out facelessly behind it. Rennavri began to shiver, she felt eyes all around watching her from the fog. She waited for the voice to call out again, but another took it's place. A familiar voice, one she hadn't heard in far too long.
"Rennavri, I'm here. Please, answer me" a male voice begged for her attention, for any sign of an answer
"Likra?" She called out, her voice hoarse and choked up, tears stung at her eyes and threatened to coat her cheek, "Brother, is it you? Where are you? I can't see you"
"That's fine, at least you can hear me. Sister, I'm so sorry. I should never have left you, I should have stayed by your side. I just hope it isn't too late"
"Too late for what? What's wrong?"
"It doesn't matter, just know the goddess has granted me a boon. Listen, listen closely. An outlander comes, he means to do battle with the lord of blood, and all who serve him. You must show him you are no puppet of darkness, show him your faith just like the stories told at prayer" A goblin-like form showed through the fog. Rennavri got up and ran to it, then stopped just before the fog. She reached out and clasped hands with her brother.
"Likra, I missed you so much! You've been gone for so long, but always you were in the back of my mind. I knew it, if anyone could come save me, it would be you!" her tears flowed at his touch, he was cold and damp, but it was her brother's hand she knew for certain.
"Not this time, little Renn. I'm sorry it couldn't be me coming to save you. Listen, follow the signs, the blessings of the goddess will find you. You will be saved, you will continue the fight that our family, our people, thought finished"
"What do you mean? Likra, what do you mean you're not coming to save me? Why do I have to fight?" She could feel the fog turn darker with every question, the questions kept racing through her mind.
'Where is my brother? What's going on with my brother? What happened to Likra?'
His hand kept holding tight to her, then from elsewhere in the fog she heard screaming and the clash of weapons. She followed it with her eyes and the fog parted. She saw her father and her uncles fighting demon blooded goblins, they cut down foe after foe like the band of heroes she knew them to be. Then a burst of heat flooded the fog, and a great ball of flame flashed through the air. When her eyes stopped stinging from the light, she saw her father and her extended family lying torn and blackened, pieces of them around the arena as twisted, demonic laughter echoed around her.
As she called out wailing, Rennavri heard her mother's cries from elsewhere, the fog parted again to show her being dragged away in torn slave rags, cuts and bruises marred her beautiful green skin as she was dragged off by her ankles, kicking and screaming.
"Rennavri!" Her screams echoed elsewhere in the fog, fading away into the darkness, the sick laughter returned with vulgar grunting to accompany it.
The goblin dropped to her knees, her tears staining the ash that now surrounded her. She still held her older brother's hand, praying the goddess would save them. Then she felt something was wrong once again. Her brother's hand felt different, his nails longer, his fingers more boney and thin. Whose hand was she holding?
Rennavri looked up and found she was holding hands with a demon goblin, one that looked just like her brother, only twisted, with a large hole through his head, right between his demonic yellow eyes. Through the hole, she could see a blood red sky and more figures emerging, hanging upside down by their ankles as if suspended by rope.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She struggled to escape the hand she was holding onto for comfort moments ago, but now he grabbed her arm tightly, refusing to give her an inch of space, the echoing laughter returning and coming closer.
"Come on, sister! What's the matter? I thought you wanted me to come save you?" He chuckled, his long tongue rolling out to the side as he licked dried blood from his thin, cracked lips, "Brother Likra has come back, ready to save you. Or, was it to save a piece of you for my friends here?" she felt paralyzed and powerless, more cultists closed in on her with strange holes in their bodies. One of them was even burnt to a crisp with his sick, unclean smile hanging lopsided from a detached jaw. She struggled, trying to wiggle out of her brother's grasp, devil tongues all around lashing out to lick the tears from her cheeks.
Then, the fog pulled forward, surrounded Rennavri like a cold, damp blanket. Bells chimed once again, her heart pounding despite the new calm in her environment. The smell of old wine and liquor graced her nose. Familiar safety, her hiding place in the old wine cellar. A large, warm hand put it's reassuring weight upon her shoulder.
It didn't feel like the threatening grasp of an orc, nor the serene ecstasy of her goddess' blessing. It felt warm and friendly, like the safety of family around the campfire during the harvest moon. The feeling of the past washing away from her soul, ebbing like the tide. She heard words from far above her and just behind. She heard them clearly, but couldn't make it out. It was like another language, like someone spoke old elvish to her. Then she heard another voice, this one in her head. A voice she didn't know, but she knew she trusted them.
"C'mon, gobby. Time to go home"
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BANG BANG BANG
Rennavri's dream broke faster than the hinges on her door threatened to.
"Wake up, girl! You'll miss breakfast, you know that old hag Brudel will take your share if you don't hurry up!" The voice, real as the drool and tears on her face, came from the other side of the door. It was Rennavri's friend, Nanashia. The young slave didn't want to miss breakfast, or rather the slop that passed for it around here. But she stopped as she jumped out of bed. Why was she crying?
That's right, the goddess sent her a dream, a vision! Something about her brother? About following signs? A sign from the goddess was rare these days, she was sure that she couldn't miss it if she tried.
She tried to forget the rest of the nightmare and quickly got dressed, her roommate and only friend was waiting for her, ready to go fight for the last bowl of lukewarm porridge and to eat it as slow as possible to hold off the day's work.
The pair walked to the slave quarters' mess hall and found themselves just in time for the line to have thinned out, but for there to be enough food in the pot, and enough stale bread to help hold it down.
The older goblin woman in charge of serving today, Brudel, gave the girls a sour look.
"What's the matter, gram? Bones creaking again? Expecting rain?" Nanashia prodded the wizened woman with her words. Brudel responded with a scowl.
"You little wench, you're lucky I don't spit in your food. Food's bad enough today as it is, and what's worse is the news going around"
"What news?" Rennavri suddenly perked up her wide ears, causing a small earring on her left ear to jingle lightly, an old keepsake from her mother.
"There's been a portal opening, out in the ruins of the old city"
"What's so special about that? Patrols come and go all the time around there, even through portals" Nanashia said between a mouthful of porridge.
"Not in the elven quarter they don't. From the old market square, word was sent by way of crier bird to Lord Jaykra that a portal opened there. He believes it to be a returning invasion force and intends to leave a day early to check in with the forces posted there. He probably wants to congratulate the victors and be the first one to deliver the news to the war council"
Rennavri almost choked on her breakfast, Nanashia quickly poured her a cup of water as she struggled to get a question out.
"The elven quarter? Isn't that where they sent the new converts?"
"Ay, that it was. Good memory, lass. Forgive my asking but, wasn't your brother sent out with that batch after his... well..."
"Yes, he was" Rennavri felt her bottom lip tremble a little, remembering clearly now the horrific sight of her brother in her dream. He was converted to the reborn legion of Hieras, the lord of blood, and had suffered some horrifying injury that left a hole in his head. She gulped down the breakfast that was threatening to make a return trip and excused herself to a table, Nanashia hot on her heels.
"Rennie, is that what you were screaming about in your sleep?" the raven haired goblin whispered to her dejected friend, "Was it from her? You know..." Nanashia pointed up to the sky from slightly under the table, so only Rennavri could see. The two girls had bonded quickly when they learned they both still kept the old faith of their ancestors, and the pair prayed together every night to Sanavrona for various things, chief among them a way out of the slavery they found themselves subject to.
"I think it was, yeah. But I couldn't make sense of it, other than it somehow involved my brother. I feel like something happened to him, but somehow I feel at peace. Like the dawn is finally coming through the stormy night. Does that make sense, Na-na?" Rennavri poked and prodded at her breakfast, her stomach still doing flips over her vision. Her friend's response was to take a piece of bread and shove it into Rennavri's mouth.
"Shut up, you're going to make me bounce around like a happy frog if you keep talking like that! Just keep an eye out, okay? The goddess may show you the path, but the demons guide beasts to block the way and make things difficult. Just like the story of Krakabol the Pious!" Rennavri smiled around her bread and took a bite, her other hand dropped her spoon into the porridge and twirled her brown-red hair around her finger, happy to have shared some of the weight of her vision with her friend.