I waited until the last possible second that I had to act. The longest of the goblins’ spears were mere millimetres away from my clothes when I finally moved. Instead of launching the fireball in any of the directions that I was being attacked in, I threw it down to the ground at my feet. At the same moment, I launched myself up in the air with a blast of flames from my feet, propelling myself almost three meters into the air. As I did, I brought my knees over my head as I rotated in the air, stopping just when my head was pointed directly down to the ground.
By the time I was in position, the fireball was just about to hit the ground, only a fraction of a second away from erupting into waves of flame.
The timing was impeccable.
Curling my thumb and index around my lips, I finally let loose the breath I’d been holding in since the idea had struck me, before I had even stepped into the goblins’ village.
The pool of Flux that I’d been rallying with my breath rushed out of my mouth, through the hole of my fingers – where I ignited the stream – before finally spreading out as it hit the ground.
The result was a perfect union of flame and chaos, blooming outward from under me like a brilliant orange flower. The fireball exploded at the same moment that my flaming breath hit the ground, the two combining as they spread out in every direction. The flames rolled over the convened bodies of the goblins, scorching them mercilessly as they bathed in it. The pained screeches of the goblins sounded out through the village, flooding the air. The sound was loud enough that there was no way anyone in the village hadn’t heard it.
Completing the flip, I brought my feet back under me just as I landed on the now-seared dirt. It crunched under my weight as I settled on top of it, the sound an echo of the maniacal cackling that escaped my lips.
All around me lay the burned bodies of almost a dozen goblins, and at least five more with severe burns all over their green skin. The wounded cried out in fear and pain, and the air mingled with their shrieks and the rotten smell of their scorched flesh.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the entire village to be alerted. Dozens of goblins poured out of the various huts scattered around the camp. The number of angry goblins staring at me quickly rose far higher than my initial estimates, but the elation that flowed in my veins didn’t diminish in the slightest. I laughed loudly in the face of their rage, letting flame coil its way around my arms and my pole. The goblins circled around me once again, their ever-increasing numbers giving them more and more confidence.
And their confidence was not unfounded, either. There were far too many of them for me to deal with at the moment, with my current level of strength. At least, I couldn’t handle them in a situation where they had me circled up like this. Especially not when my Flux reserves were already running so low. The new flame breath idea had been a great success in my books, but it still used up an incredible amount of my own Flux all at once. For the first time in a long while, I could feel my Flux veins running a little ragged, the familiar cold exhaustion of an emptying Flux reserve spreading in my chest.
However, the goblins had misjudged the situation. I wasn’t there to pick a fight with them, I was there to distract them. That meant all I had to do was wreak havoc to the best of my ability, not actually face them in a fight. So, instead of taking the next wave of attacks head-on, I burst into movement suddenly, giving as little warning as possible as I leapt to the left of me, barreling into the unsuspecting goblins that stood in my way.
My momentum pushed the goblins directly in my way to the ground, and the others around me backed off quickly under the oppressive heat of the flames. But despite the space they had given me, the goblins still kept as tight of a circle around me as they could bear. Spears of various lengths poked out from their ranks, sometimes trying cautious swipes and jabs at me.
Knowing I had little time before the massive crowd of goblins got to me, I relied once again on the now-familiar technique of boosting my jumps. Taking a single step forward, I leapt off the ground as flame erupted from my feet, boosting me at least a couple of meters in the air.
As I flew, my eyes landed on the wooden hut closest to me, a glint shining in my eye as an idea formed. Acting as quickly as I could, I ignited a large amount of Flux in front of me, forcing it into a cone-like shape with the tip pointed toward the hut. I launched the thing with a laugh as I fell back to the ground, watching with the rest of the crowd as the brilliant flames flew over their heads and crashed into the sticks and dry wood of the hut. The materials were the perfect fuel for the fire, and it showed. The hut went up in flames almost immediately, the roof crashing inward under the force of the strike. The flames roared as they reached up high into the sky, their arms dancing in ecstasy.
While the goblins stared in dumb shock, I landed on the ground and immediately booked it, running as fast as my legs could carry me in the direction with the least goblins in my path.
The sudden movement broke the mass of goblins out of their trance. They immediately shrieked in rage and charged after me, weapons raised high as they pushed their lanky legs as fast as they could.
My longer legs and inhuman strength gave me a pretty massive advantage in speed, so I wasn’t very worried about getting caught. I was really only worried about getting cornered, but in the worst case, I could simply hop their fence and escape into the thicket. The entire crowd was unlikely to follow after me, since it would mean leaving the entire village undefended.
And the few that did follow me could be dealt with.
But that was only a worst-case plan, since leaving the village would put Ren’s mission in jeopardy. For the moment, I simply laughed and ran like the wind, throwing flames at whatever flammable structure I came across. The goblins, with their limited intelligence, didn’t even try to put a stop to the infernos that were dotting their village, swallowing up their houses. Instead, the entire crowd chased me with an unwavering focus, as if stopping me was the only thing on their minds.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Freedom burned its way through my veins as I ran, a feeling unlike anything I’d ever felt in a long, long time embracing me.
This is what I was born for, I thought to myself in elation as I pushed my legs harder and harder. Flames played along my body as their arms danced in the wind, providing a pleasant warmth that was entirely at odds with the searing heat that had begun to press on the rest of the village. By now, all but a few of the buildings in the village had caught on fire, and a thick layer of hazy smoke had settled over the space, gradually making it harder to see and breathe. The heat didn’t bother me much, but I was not so lucky with the smoke. Every breath began to burn its way down to my lungs, making my throat itch as my body begged to stop and cough.
Thankfully, the mob of goblins behind me had also been hit by the smoke the same way I had been. The majority of them had fallen off the chase, dropping to the ground as they hacked and coughed as their lives depended on it.
My eyes began to water as I finally slowed myself to a stop, realizing that the goblins had all stopped as well. Ignoring the pain, however, I searched the hazy space as I looked for Ren, hoping that he was done. My job was more or less done, which meant I could leave if I wanted to, but I wanted to see where Ren was.
Spotting the hut that was Ren’s target – one of the only buildings that I’d spared my flames – I began to make my over to see how Ren was doing. However, just as I began to make my way over to the hut, Ren burst out through the wooden door with a crash, stumbling over his feet as he scrambled to get out of the building. He’d fashioned his half cape into a makeshift bag that he clutched over his shoulder. As he zipped past me, I saw that it was full to the point of overflowing, and leaking a powerful amount of Flux into the air.
“Ren?!” I yelled out as he ran like his feet were on fire. Ren turned around as I called out his name, skidding to a stop as he recognized me.
With a wild, unabashed grin splitting his face, he yelled back at me through the smoke. “Let’s go! We gotta run!”
My face twisted in confusion for a moment, but I quickly abandoned it. I trusted him enough to simply act without understanding, for the moment. With a burst of fire from my feet, I leapt forward as I sped towards Ren, and not a second too late.
The place I’d just been standing blew up the second that I left it, the dirt thrown up meters into the air as a jagged hole the size of a manhole cover appeared in the spot.
“What in the world-” I started, turning around to see what kind of monster had just done that, but I was stopped as Ren grabbed my wrist and yanked me with him. I stumbled a little but caught my balance again before I could fall to the ground. I let myself be dragged by Ren as we raced out of the village, noting in the back of my mind that Ren was far faster than I had given him credit for. I pumped my legs as hard as I could, but Ren still seemed like he had to slow himself a little to keep pace with me. It was embarrassing for me – although I was sure Ren didn’t even notice – but the competitive streak in me didn’t like it one bit.
Still, I had little time to stew in my competitiveness as we quickly reached the edge of the village. We hadn’t headed for the entrance of the village, so we came up against the fence instead. Fortunately for us, however, the fence was barely more than half a meter high, and both of us jumped it in stride.
We crashed into the jungle on the other side with a loud racket, ignoring the leaves and branches as we kept running further and further.
Eventually, we stumbled into a wide clearing, with only grass and some other tiny shrubbery dotting the ground. Ren finally stopped as we entered the clearing, studying the place for a bit before nodding to himself.
“So,” I began as we both stood in the middle of the clearing, catching our breath. “You wanna let me know what’s going on now?”
Ren chuckled to himself as he took in a breath, setting the bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder down on the ground. “Sorry, wasn’t a lot of time. There were these two other goblins inside the hut that I went into. They were way stronger than the normal goblins. They were, like, buff and could use Flux. They were using the same kind of Cores that I grabbed, actually. They were sitting cross-legged with the Cores in between their legs, and their hands on top of them. I think they were somehow absorbing the Flux out of them to get stronger.”
“Oh, wow. You think that’s why they harvest the Cores?” I asked.
Ren shrugged. “Probably. That’s why I grabbed a bunch of them. They just had them lying around, so I grabbed as many as I could and bolted from the place.”
“Annd?”
“And what?”
“Why did we run like our lives were on the line?”
Ren smiled sheepishly, a look on his face so foreign to him it took me a while to place it. “I may have accidentally slipped as I was leaving, which woke up the two goblins,” he admitted embarrassedly.
I laughed as he said that, which earned me a glare, but I paid him no heed. “So, even the great Ren isn’t infallible, huh?” I said in between my chuckling, amused more by his embarrassment than his actual mistake.
Ren grumbled something I didn’t hear before shaking his head, a small smile creeping up on his lips. “Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe, but even I’m not perfect. But enough about that, there are more pressing matters to deal with.”
I nodded as I tried to stifle my laughter. “Of course. What do we do now?”
“Well, I’d love to try and experiment with these Cores, but I don’t think we’ll have the time for that.”
“Really?” I asked, catching the ominous hint in his words. “Why?”
“The goblins that I stole these from were chasing us, and I don’t think they stopped at the end of their village.”
“So they’re coming here?”
Ren nodded. “I would have fought them in the village, but someone," he gave me a pointed look, "burnt the entire thing down, and the smoke would have hindered our ability too much. I don’t know how strong they are, but to be on the safe side, I’d like to be able to fight in normal conditions. And I didn’t wanna fight them in the crowded jungle, so I figured a clearing like this would be the best place to fight.”
I nodded in understanding. My Flux reserves had passively refilled enough to handle another fight, granted that they didn’t try to make it a battle of attrition. But I had enough faith in my abilities to end the fight before I risked running out.
At least, that was until the two monsters burst through the foliage with a sudden crash, growling and glaring at the both of us with a hatred and bloodlust only an animal could be capable of.