An hour had passed since Zoeske ran away from the village. He began to feel tired as he reached the first small village on this seemingly endless road. It was a very calm village, well protected by a tall transparent magical wall, unlike Zoeske's village, which was protected by only two soldiers after the villagers agreed to give most of their harvests to the kingdom.
Zoeske crossed the wall, unaware of its existance. Suddenly, two arrows were shot precisely from an unknown spot, falling in front of him as a warning. Zoeske stepped back and eventually fall after stumbling into a rock. He was shocked by this action from the seemingly peaceful village.
One person walked slowly towards him, but he couldn't feel comfortable after their initial treatment. Thus, he ran away, clutching his bag tightly as if it held his last hope. He ran until his breath became almost heavier than lifting a mountain, and he never looked back.
"There should be another village on this road, but it's an hour and a half away from here," Zoeske said.
The sun almost set vertically in the sky, exposing its overwhelming heat on this wide-open field. Zoeske decided to take a break under one of the trees beside the road. He grabbed his flask and drank some water. A few moments later, sounds of quick steps were surrounding him. He bent down and slowly walked behind the tree, looking carefully around him, searching for any monsters or bandits.
All of a sudden, a passenger came from the opposite direction, pulling a large bag after him that seemed like it would almost explode from the stuffed items. Zoeske, hid between the long grasses, observed carefully who this perosn was. However, within a mere second, a loud screams close to Zoeske filled the air, leaving Zoeske and the passenger in shock. A pile of Goblins were screaming to exploit the passenger's shock. They all attacked him, and Zoeske turned the other side and held his mouth tightly using both of his hands. His body started to sweat profusely after he saw their large, sharp weapns.
A greenish-brown skin shimmering with sweat, and a tiny body with unnaturally muscular limbs. These goblins usually use weapons twice their size. Their faces, while human-like, are distorted by large fangs that slightly alter the facial structure.
It was the first time in his life to witness a real attack on human by these wild monsters, which made him doubt his village's belief that monsters only attacked after the sunset. He heard their steps everywhere around him, moving towards the passenger too fast. He was scared that one of them might suddenly discover his location. The last thing he heard after their screams were the passenger's scream and the sound of something crushing.
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After a while, they began to laugh and talk in their own language. Their sound somehow, stuck in Zoeske's mind for a while, repeating over and over like an illusion. It was a laugh that contained nothing more than a joy from the bloodshed. With his small body trembling, Zoeske's small hands were shaking and barely held the bag. Any sudden attack could finish his life immediately, as he believed. However, the sound of two travelers shouting rose when they found the goblins dancing over a bag and the human's body. That scared the goblins, which resulted in them running away.
A sense of safety washed over Zoeske, and he stood and ran towards them. But the scene of the dead passenger poured panic into him once he looked at the body: the passenger's body parts were ripped apart and the bones were crushed into small pieces. After he saw that, he immediately fainted.
Hours later, after the sun had faded away, he woke up tired in an inn that was warmly tight and contained only four beds. A woman approached him after she saw him trying to move. She gently pressed him against the bed and calmed him. She said, "Don't move, kid."
Zoeske's blurred vision didn't allow him to clearly look at her face. He asked, "Where am I?"
"You're safe," she said. Holding a wooden plate of food, she placed it in front of him.
Slowly, Zoeske was able to look at the food clearly. However, the scene of the passenger's body flashed into his mind, making him uncontrollably throwing up on the bed. She panicked and brought a cup of water, and tapped on his back.
"Hold on kid, a healer is coming now," she said.
Zoeske felt weird, almost disgusted by everything his eyes were catching. He started to scan the inn, a wooden inn that was illuminated by candles. A clock was sat above the door, ticking loudly every second. The door had a small circular window that contained the three main colors and allowed some moonlight to illuminate the inn with these different colors.
As Zoeske's eyes closed again, the door was struck forcefully. A girl around 17 years old had entered the inn rushingly, and a signs of concern was all over her face. She wore big cone-shaped hat that famously known as the witch's hat, and she was hugging a huge book that looked like it had two thousand pages. However, she almost covered all of her body with a big black cloth.
The women tried to keep Zoeske awake, so the girl can do her magic. She said, "You gonna be fine," a gentle smile illustrated on her face and calming him down.
The girl opened her huge book, turned to a certain page, and then her hand immediately poured some kind of liquid into a cup the woman broght to her. Zoeske was amazed, his eyes couldn't hid his interest. The girl said, "You clearly love magic, please drink this."
The woman took the cup, brought it closely to his mouth. He was barely able to accept it, thus, he drank very small amount of it. The medicine made him sleep again.
"What happened to him before they brought him here?" The girl asked.
"They said he witnessed the goblins' attack on a passenger. You know what kind of mess these creature leave after they attack someone," The woman answered.
"Poor kid."