A beautiful girl, tan from hours in the sun, green eyes twinkling beneath hair as black the night sky, smiled at him twirling a white flower in between her finger before wagging it at him. "Briox you should be more careful in your studies, its not like the library is going to run away". Her laughter was like music as Briox grinned back at her and his sprite, Trivella tried to snatch the wagging flower "Shellea quite teasing i only read a few runes, and its much less taxing to learn them from the rune inscribed books then invocation memorization, i'd be fine even if i learned a few more a day". Trivella snagged the flower before quickly fleeing to his shoulder with her prize. He smiled at her antics as she struck a victory pose and waved the flower back at Shellea, she was his first creation, the first being he had given life to and he loved her as a child. That smile faded as something struck him as wrong, when he tried to think just what was wrong...

Briox bolted upright in bed, sweat pouring from his body. He shook himself trying to forget the wonderful dream and the reason it was wrong. His hand reached for his left shoulder, Trivella had always stood there happily speaking in the rapid words of a sprite. She'd been there every day from her birth...till a Hyser arrow took her from his shoulder. Briox gritted his teeth as his hand felt nothing where she once stood. Rage flooded him, hatred at his own inability to protect her, at the Hyser empire for invading, hatred at the despair he felt and his own loss. Clenching his fists Briox stood from bed and headed for the baths, ringing a bell to inform the servants once he reached the magically maintained washroom. They would insure that by the time he was out his robes had been prepared. It wasn't until he was soaking in the water, slowly pushing the dream from his mind that it occured to him he didn't know how he had made it to his bed.

----------------------------------------

Briox exited his rooms, clothed once more in the robes of a magus he was unsurprised to see Crossax waiting for him. Briox nodded "Greetings Crossax, how fares your morning?". Crossax rippled in what could perhaps be taken as a shrug? before replying "My morning is well magus, it is good to see you awake once more". Briox frowned "how long was i asleep?". Crossax's voice was calm as he answered "Due to mana exhaustion and recovery you have slept for quite some time, this is the third day since you completed the catalyst spell for the red goblins". Briox was stunned and quickly began to calculate the state of affairs, by this time he was seriously pushing the time limit to return to Rifthollow, his goblins should be completely born, but he had missed the early moments of their birth, a regretable thing, also he couldn't train them in the time remaining, not even the minimal training he had hoped to use to ensure their combat imprinting was complete. Crossax interrupted his thoughts "Your creations await you in the Western Courtyard". Briox blinked away his thoughts and nodded before he began to walk that way "Are they well?". Crossax laughed his form rippling again "They are lively, we almost lost some blues to their birth they were so ferocious, the instincts you instilled them with must have been quite vicious". Briox nodded slowly a dark look settling onto his face as they approached the courtyard "If they are going to fight the Hyser empire" his face for a moment as he paused at the door to the courtyard and turned to Crossax was murderous "then it was the least i could do". With those words he pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the courtyard before stopping to survey his creations.

They were obviously goblins, long noses two or three inches long, pointed ears even longer than their noses, each of them around four feet tall. But unlike most goblins, the red goblins before him were bulky, each of them bulging with muscles closer to those of an orckin or those beings known as gorillas than the commonly frail looking goblin. They wouldn't be as fast or as stealthy as most goblins because of it, or as agile. However he had not made them for that, the red goblins were brutal ferocity given humanoid form, from their bright red skin, to their protruding canines and the vicious glint in their eye as all of them turned at once towards the beings that had just intruded upon their courtyard. Briox looked at them bulging muscles, vicious stare, armed with short swords and leather armor, and the dark look upon his face fell away, replaced with a smile. He counted with a glance his gaze soft and benelovent as he looked at his creations, his children,sixty-two of them had been born by his hands and his eyes teared as he knew what he had made them for. He blinked back the tears and spoke to Crossax as every one of his creations stepped forth and knelt before their creator "They are beautiful".

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Crossax softly replied from behind him "Yes, yes they are". The red goblins knelt before Briox the mana within their bodies throbbed, telling them who, what, stood before them. As one they raised their heads and with smiles that could only be described as ferocious roared out "All hail the creator!". Their calls ringing throught the dimension they struck their fists over their hearts in salute. Briox strode forward walking through their kneeling ranks inspecting them, he stopped as he reached one with a scar running from its temple to its chin and asked "how did you gain this scar?". The goblin raised its head and spoke "Lord Crossax allowed us to leave the sanctuary and test our blades against the wild goblins" the goblins grin grew wider "We slew many of the greenskins but one of them caught my face in his death throes". Briox watched as the goblin reached up and ran a finger along the scar "This is a lesson that even the dying are dangerous, and that the blood of those who injure you tastes sweeter" the goblin seemed happy with its scar and Briox nodded casting a glance at Crossax before he turned back to his creations. He had made them to be warriors, many of the items and magics woven into the base mixture were intended to increase their aggression and inclined to violence. If he was going to make his children for war he would ensure they enjoyed their purpose as much as he could, Briox looked out across the kneeling forms of his warriors and spoke his voice resonating with the mana inside them "Rise".

The warriors rose to their feet, looking towards their creator waiting for his next order. Briox did not dissapoint "Prepare yourselves, soon you will see the first battle for which you were created. You will face not a greenskin goblin with a trickle of mana in its veins but trained soldiers who hold such beings at bay beyond the lands of men. You will face runed warriors imbued with mana and armed with weapons by magi, every one a match for ten men." Briox's face grew solem "And you shall face a Inquisitor of the Hyser Empire. A young one, like you , but he is an elite, a warrior who has stood out one amongst thousands. A man trained to slay mages and mana born such as you and I." The reds stirred their faces scowling at the idea of a being slaying their creator. Briox took a breath and continued "I made you to kill such a man, to wield your blades in my name, to serve as my sword. So i name you, my Red Swords, may you serve me well". By the end his voice was almost a whisper, but the Red Swords heard. They quivered in place seemingly unable to contain themselves and then Briox yelled "What say you!?". In return the Red Swords roared "ALL HAIL THE CREATOR!".

At the door to the western courtyard Crossax stood watching, forgotten by the Red Swords and their master. Slowly he faded, moving from the courtyard to the smithies where a old goblin yelled obsenities at his young workers and even a certain goblin boss was carefully hammering away at one final blade. Crossax appeared silently behind the old goblin who simply turned to look at the caretaker "So the brats awake huh?" Crossax nodded and looked over at the workers "Your not forging the final blade, Forgemaster Conex?". Conex shook his head "Its not my place" he nodded at the Bignose and his workers "Its theirs now, our master is dead afterall". Crossax slowly nodded "Yes, he is and now we do as we please don't we". Cronex's faced twisted somewhere between a smile and a grimace "That we do worm, so don't bug me unless its for something good, i've already helped enough by making sure this lot doesn't burn their loinclothes in the forges". Crossax laughed softly "You had fun, and i'll let you know if there are any tasks that would interest you". Cronex snorted and then both turned to look as the workers pulled the blade from the fire one last time and Bignose poured a potion into the cooling barrel as the drove the hot metal into the water. Quenched potion imbued water the blade slowly turned silver before they pulled it out and held it up before the light. Cronex walked over and looked at it shaking his head "Its an ugly thing, are you sure this is what he wanted?". Crossax followed and inspected the blade before nodding "I watched over his shoulder as he planned, this is the one he chose for himself". Cronex nodded slowly "This one is different, he may be worth sticking around to watch grow" Cronex paused "Or he'll die horribly". Crossax spoke simply "I hope he doesn't".