In the midst of this thrilling moment, a spike of fear pierced me. Given my experiences in the apothecary shop and the streets of the city, I was petrified of the very real possibility that I’d have to engage in close combat with these creatures. Still waiting for the promised lessons on how to deal with my newly developed and crippling empathetic senses, I felt like I was being thrust head first into a human sized meat grinder. This while the guiding instructor offered encouragement that such would help me to ‘loosen up.’

Yet here I was, being thrust into a comparable situation where I expected the empathetic feedback to render me comatose. Given the current battlefield, hope still held strong that our opponents would never reach the few meters distance it would take to step inside my sensory range. Elsewise, who knows what I’d be feeling now if I could sense the emotions of these diminutive green monsters.

Undisguised rage appeared most prominent upon their ugly and disfigured faces. Teeth that appeared useful for rending, protruded messily from their grinning and bloodied lips. A few of the larger and further back figures appeared to be calling out orders by which to urge on the front cannon fodder. An apt term since that is what I turned them into with the repetitive hits from burning stones and spear like arrows.

My assault upon massing troops continued for a two more rounds of launching attacks before I began feeling that they were getting worrisomely close. When they were just a few house lengths away I began casting quick glances at both of the elderly individuals. A dozen seconds remained before the goblins would overrun us.

At this point, it was Frank who called out with wry humor. “Dearest, please stop worrying our young visitor and trigger the last explosive.”

*Haha! * She cackled in response before raising up her staff and slamming it into the ground. A faint shimmer formed between us and the goblin army.

*KaBOOOOOM!!!*

Nothing could have truly prepared me for this detonation!

An explosion of epic proportions ripped apart the entire ground before us. Despite the protective magic, I was still slammed backward into the side of the cottage from the resulting shockwave. I felt great alarm and concern for the two elderly folk as to how they might have fared against the blast when I myself was so shaken.

Casting my gaze about, both of them were still in their respective places, acting as if the shockwave had not just razed over us. Well now, I guess I needed to stop making assumptions about the strength of those around me. Even if I felt far stronger, sturdier, and faster than before, it didn’t mean that there weren’t others who would still eclipse my own capabilities.

Looking back at the battlefield, I saw a fine blood mist hovering over the countless still forms of the goblins. Only the occasional twitch and guttural cry in pain sounded out, warning that at least a few were still alive. The closest green body was no more than 7 meters away from me and I thought I could feel the barest traces of emotion from them.

Pain and fear were the most represented of emotions, but hatred still appeared to mingle with those sensations. I felt it was ridiculous how such a creature could hold such hate for another being when they were the original antagonists. Actually, I paused in thought. Were we the original antagonists?

I had been informed to trigger the distance catapult which was shortly after followed by the invading army of goblins. With those feelings from the not-so-distant agonal form of the green creature bleeding into me, even as its life blood seeped into the ground, my mind forced me to reconsider our moral standing. What I would like to know, was if this was a justifiable offense, or if had we triggered a violent encounter that would otherwise not have occurred?

I still tried to justify our actions as my mind warred internally with the implications. Were the Travelers and the city folk truly at risk for assault or . . .

I gazed out over the field with a new concern in my heart. Only a few of the creatures had stood up and it looked like they were considering retreating. It was then that Inaaya did something that truly baffled me. She began unwrapping her top.

Behind me, Frank gave a disapproving snort, but kept silent otherwise. Then, thankfully at an angle that I wouldn’t inadvertently see, I watched as she ripped open her shirt to expose her questionable assets to the entire battle field.

Did she just flash them!?! I heard an embarrassed cough sound out from the vulpine grandfather in the rocking chair behind me. I could feel a palpable change wash over the few surviving goblins. Their previous feelings of defeat and resignation reignited into a furnace of lust as the diminutive green creatures gazed upon my aged host and her assets. My mouth soured at the thought of any creature wanting to sexually assault such a granny. And what the dusts was she doing antagonizing an already defeated horde?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

New life appeared to be injected within them as the few survivors began picking their way over their fallen cohorts. After about 20 of them had apparently risen, (in more ways than one) to the challenge, did she finally wrap herself back up. She glanced at both me and the old man before giving a sly smile.

I wanted to face palm at this point, but the very close proximity of the survivors pushed any thoughts of complaining or calling foul to the far reaches of my mind. I had far more important things to consider now!

In seemingly slow motion before my eyes, I watched as the nearest goblin shuffled over, sporting a blooded face and a missing left arm. The crimson drops which spurted from its wounds held my attention the most. Caught up in the moment, I was barely startled into action when time seemingly returned with a disorienting vengeance. The creature threw itself towards granny Inaaya as I belatedly swung out my staff to intercede! I only clipped the bugger, causing it to stagger aside with the first strike. But that was enough as I followed up with a full powered swing to its scull.

*Ghak!!* I dry heaved in the midst of the resulting disorientation and explosion of viscera. The tarts and water I recently had, threatened to come up as I stared at what I had just done. Triggered by the droplets of blood and brain mater which burst amid the creature’s demise, I don’t know how I held it in.

The impact of the metal rod against its fleshy body had struck a deep chord within me as my mind was rocked and impacted by the sheer intensity of its insane emotions. Blood lust and sexual fervor had filled its mind, to the exclusion of all else.

This was far worse in magnitude than all that I had suffered prior to this. Yet amid the bloodshed and mental pain, my mind did not fall into an abyss as I had feared. Instead, a fight or flight reflex took the lead, drawing me deeper into the fog of war and mindless violence.

Rapidly seeking out the next opponent to rise from the rubble, a new switch was flipped within me. I discovered the ability to allow a more primal side to take over on the frontline, as my rational thought became a simple guiding commander, which ordered the direction of the charge from behind.

The invading emotions, which swelled with the rise of the surviving goblins, rendered me incapable of parsing out the difference between their and my intent. Before this moment, I could never have believed that such negative emotions could be experienced with such raw potency. This deep and carnal level of unrestrained violence would have short circuited any sense of rational thought I had in normal circumstances.

Maybe sometime in the future I may capable or such, depending on what I experienced in life. But as of now, my psyche just did not have the capability to harness such single-minded hatred and desire to despoil another with violence and depravity while remaining sane.

The natural drive to torture, rape, and kill was so deeply embedded within the thoughts of these creatures that I no longer had any reservations about who might have thrown the metaphorical first stone. These diminutive monsters should not exist, and their presence would always pose a great danger to others.

In a quiet, cordoned off part of my mind, my peace-making nature and conscious predicated upon being an advocate quivered in distress at the thought of taking a life. Raging against it, my soul demanded closure and justice to the abhorrent desires of the monster. Something deep inside of me hurt as I continued to kill, but more-so the idea of allowing these creatures to survive to cause more pain and havoc was unforgiveable.

Bringing my staff to slam into them, breaking their limbs, crushing their skulls, and reaping their lives over and over again, I was more than ready to end this travesty of nature. This was all done to eradicate a race which promised to do far worse to us, were they given the opportunity to do so.

My body continue to move in reflex, dishing out lethal damage with swings of my staff, kicks of my leg, and full body maneuvers which maximized efficiency in group conflict. I had never managed to achieve this level of complexity amidst our training sessions.

The paltry experienced I had gained prior to my exploration in this world and prior to Monroe’s teaching, had only allowed me to reach yellow belt in marital arts. The greatest good such training had given me years ago, was it had revealed the truth of my fragility and shattered my heroic self-image. I had been under the illusion that in a moment of great need, I would be able to break out into a magnificent and lethal display of marital prowess. Subduing my adversaries and achieving accolades of fame, or at least the thankful attentions of a distressed maiden, had me drooling in anticipation of such a scenario.

I had been brought low at that time in the revelation of my own reality. Yet here and now, such potential was finally being released. The hard work which I had put into learning from an authentic and dedicated marital teacher, paired with a supernaturally enhanced body, mind, and soul, finally came together to create the young man I was becoming anew.

But even now, such did not come without a price. Just as Monroe had hammered into me with frequent repetition the moves I was now using, I was now being rocked by emotional turbulence with each clash and kill. Despite my recently discovered ability to compartmentalize my thoughts and intents in a highly efficient way, conducive to survival, I could feel the walls begin to fracture.

My fragile inner ego, separated from the invading insanity, was reaching a point of no return. Multiple times I was hit with a wave of detestable desires which more often clashed with my own ideals, but ever so slightly began coinciding with my own intent. Adrenalin fueled rage guided my staff and limbs to continue on despite this existential terror.

I began to adopt some of their primal blood thirst as I fought weapon to weapon or weapon to bare claws with them. I was standing upon a thin line of existence and annihilation. Yet amid this defining line, something came into existence. Much like how an exercised body or educated mind can recover amid adequate rest and proper nutrition from the strain, so too did my psyche appear to be experiencing a transformation upon this cusp of destruction and revitalization from an unknown source.

With gradual progression, my mind began to automatically parse out or resist the invading emotions which threatened to destroy it or drag it down into degeneracy, and allowed passage to those which provided a much-needed boost to my flagging energy. I almost felt like I had become a berserker with the red which had flooded my vision.

Diminutive green bodies formed a mound around me as my body began bleeding from several cuts where claws and knives had slipped through in the chaos. Time passed in a blur and even the conscious thoughts in the background had degenerated to a state of passivity.

It wasn’t until I had no further enemy by which to vent against, that the red haze began to disperse and my body became heavy.

Looking around myself in a single brief moment of returned clarity, I saw the carnage and finally collapsed amidst the dead bodies of which I was surrounded by. It was as if I had been but a marionette who had been dancing to the tune of another and suddenly had my strings cut as I had no further use.