A sickeningly sweet smell assaulted my nose as I slowly opened my eyes. The room was still pretty dark, so I fumbled around for the light switch. My wife gave an annoyed snarl as my hands brushed over her from my attempts.

With a small chuckle, I recalled how fierce she'd gotten ever since she became pregnant, though I never realized how much it affected her voice. I made a mental note that lozenges would be a priority on the next grocery run.

The same sweet stench wafted over me once again, and soon my vision had adjusted enough to the darkness. Well enough to tell that I was not in my room, heck I wasn't even in a room at all. In place of the white plaster walls and designer cupboards, was gray rock and a sandy floor.

My "wife" turned out to be a green wrinkly looking creature. Its hooked nose and skinny fingers, together with its pot-belly pointed to what could only be understood as a goblin. The scent hit me again like a truck before I realized that it came from all around me.

A quick glance now returned large piles of black filth that coated the room I was in, some with yellow bone sticking out from it. I was likely in something of a latrine. A truly rude awakening.

My heart skipped a beat, before restarting violently in my chest. Where was my wife? Was she hurt? She was in her early stages of pregnancy, and now more than most, I couldn't leave her alone. Did this freak do something to her?

In a mad rage, my fingers grasped over the nearest rock I could find and was about to bludgeon the creature before a flash of olive green caught my eye.

It wasn't obvious in the dark, but my arms had gotten stick thin, thinner even than the goblin in front of me. There was green skin coating the emasculated muscles. Brittle looking bone protruded beneath.

Not surprisingly, as I lifted the rock over my head, I could feel my almost non-existant muscles screaming and shaking in response. The effort ran my breath ragged, causing my arm to fall down weakly, the rock dropping to the ground.

The noise startled the creature awake, its large bulbous eyes swiveling around before settling on my own. It’s mouth curved up into a hideous grin that showcased two rows of misaligned teeth.

“Son! Awake! Knowing One said wrong! Was wrong! Son, awake!” it cried in a guttural voice. It jumped up with obvious delight, swinging its arms in what could only be its version of a happy dance.

As it’s clawed feet tapped around, some of its spit landed on my body, but I was too stunned to wipe it off. Somehow, I understood the creature’s hoots and howls. It wasn’t a proper language per se but I knew what each sound and action meant.

Before I could think further however, the goblin had me in its arms, dragging me away from the dim corner I was at, and into a deeper section of the cave.

Several goblins noticed me with wide eyes, but the majority of them simply continued to sleep on the floor, tongue and drool touching sand. There were clear differences in them and I could recognize the females from the males.

The curvatures of their bodies were more streamlined, rather than the hunchbacked postures of the men, much like my apparent goblin-father dragging me.

My eyes darted around, catching glimpses of exactly where I had somehow been transported to. Here and there I could spot what could only be weapons made from bone, or a wooden tree branch sharpened into a spear. They were accompanied by splotches of dried blood that stained the sandy ground.

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Corpses from various animals and monsters littered the cramped corridors, but unexpectedly a large portion of them turned out to be the goblins themselves. Evidently their weapons proved far too weak to take on the monsters without superior numbers. A low rumble resounded across the cavern walls, and I scanned around before realizing that it came from me, or more specifically, my stomach.

For reasons I knew not of, the goblin who’s body I inherited was hungry beyond compare, which likely contributed to its current condition.

My scrawny body felt extremely weak, barely even able to stand, whereas my captor was almost in full strength, its large hand grasping mine light a handcuff. I was eventually brought to a large circular room within the cave, and could immediately see that something was different about it.

Where the rest of the cave was barebones and savage, this particular room was furnished. I was pretty sure this was where the supposed Knowing One resided.

It wasn’t much by human standards, but from what I’d seen in the rest of the cave this place was practically a palace. Furs belonging to wolves, lizards and creatures I’d never seen before, all adorned the floors and walls.

Each one displayed more like a trophy than a carpet or comfort piece.There was something else that was odd too, but I couldn’t put my clawed finger on it. Like something out of place but I couldn’t tell what.

In the center on the ground sat a blue skinned goblin, clothed in a torn robe far too large for its size. It wore a skull on its bald head much like a hat and was studying a white, pearl-looking stone.

My source of unease intensified when my eyes locked on to the stone's smooth gleaming surface. The goblin studied it once more before finally glancing up and noticing the two of us.

“..Alive, hmm? Was wrong, death? Impossible, never wrong. You dead, like crow” it muttered under its breath.

“Was wrong! Knowing One, Son alive!” cried my goblin-father. His head nodded up and down excitedly, and his body practically vibrated, almost breaking out into dance once again. His drool splattered on to me once more. This time I definitely made sure to wipe it off.

“Sound less, Gro’bur, or food no more. But true, dead is alive. Was wrong.” said the Knowing One. His hands grasped my head left and right, examining my features much like a doctor would. “Still, too weak for Hunt. Death immediate, certain. Hands like rabbit bone, weak.”

I would have been insulted, had I not agreed with him. He wasn’t using much strength as he shifted my head left and right, but I was powerless to even resist. All I wanted to do was sleep. Perhaps all I needed to do was sleep, since after all this was clearly a dream. Or a nightmare.

“Called by?” the Knowing One asked Gro’bur. My father responded with a sheepish grin, before shaking his head and shrugging his hunched shoulders.

“..No name. Means no food. Follow law Gro’bur.” said the Knowing One.

My father immediately jumped forward frantically, his hands waving about in clear worry. “Has name! Has name! Reveal after hunt..!” he squealed. His hands were now rubbing together pleadingly.

“Law is law Gro’bur. No name means no food.” replied the Knowing One. He began to walk back to his desk, just as my stomach whined for the third time. I couldn’t rescue my wife if I was in this state. If I starved to death, i’d never know how my wife was, or where.

Hunger-induced anger flared up at the stupidity of my goblin-father Gro’bur. All he had to do was give me a bloody name and we would be fed with whatever counted as grub here. At this point I didn’t care what it was I ate, as long as it was edible.

My anger gave strength to my throat, and for the first time since I came here, I heard my own screechy goblin voice take shape. Phlegm got stuck as it reverberated, but it was my voice there none the less.

“Name..! My name, Timothy.” I stammered out, clearing my voice while still coughing out the necessary hoots and howls. The Knowing One stopped in his tracks, slowly turning around and watching my desperate expression.

I held his gaze, not willing to look away in fear that the promise of food was lost. I was rewarded with a bout of dizziness that sent me spiraling to the ground.

It took me a moment before realizing that I had been slapped, or more accurately, backhanded into one of the monster hides on the floor. It was a miracle that I was still alive considering my condition, but the aged goblin must have held back.

The Knowing One glared at me with a fierce expression on his face, his yellow teeth baring into a clear snarl.

“Not your name. Young, lie with name, ridiculous.” he spat out. His curved hands wiped my blood on the back of his oversized robe. I could already feel some of it dripping down my mouth.

Gro’bur knelt down immediately and began begging with crazed hoots and yelps, but in my delirium I couldn’t catch nor understand a single word.

Unconciousness had already begun to swallow me, but I heard the Knowing One say one last thing.

“Banished, honorless young.”