I took up the rabbit and the knife I used to prepare the Lamot roots and returned to the wooden board. Dragging the rabbit onto the board I started in on it with the knife, I had expected it to give me more resistance than the vegetables, but this was ridiculous. Pushing my weight down on the knife I sawed back and forth like mad, but I was making next to no progress. The only thing I seemed to be doing was shredding the meat, not cutting it.
“Ugh!” I stabbed the knife into the board beside the nearly untouched rabbit. Looking it over I saw that the blade was definitely sharp, but also thin and short, it was no longer than my palm. I gave a sigh, realizing that while it worked fine for the Lamot roots, this blade was clearly not meant to cut through flesh and tendons, and certainly not bone. How was I supposed to get the meat into the pot? I thought about just tossing it in whole but quickly dismissed the idea.
There were some larger knives hanging up that would probably work, but they were far out of reach and I didn't think Suu'der would be willing to lend his aid again. Besides, they were much bigger than the knife I had used to cut the roots, I knew mother had said the orange bottle would help if I lost a finger but I didn't think it would do much if I managed to cut off my arm trying to wield the giant blades.
I let out another sigh, back to square one then, and I looked down at the rabbit. I tried to turn it over in an effort to find a weak point to start at, not an easy thing to do as it was nearly as big as me, and that was when I noticed my hands. Each of my fingers was tipped with partly translucent green nails, they were small but each of them tapered in and ended with a fairly substantial point.
“Well, worth a try,” I mumbled to myself and dug my nails into the animal's flesh. It was far from easy, I had to exert a good amount of force, but my nails managed to pierce the meat. After getting my fingers under a section of the flesh, I gripped it and began to rip it from the rabbit. My effort was rewarded as the chunk of thick meat broke away and I triumphantly held it in my hand.
I turned and dropped it into the boiling pot. Not the cleanest solution, but it would do. Turning back to the rabbit I saw the small divot in its side where I had pulled the meat off, this was going to take some time. Huffing a little I went back to work, methodically tearing chunks of meat from the rabbit and dropping them into the pot. My arms began to ache, but I kept at it, and eventually, all that was left of the rabbit were bones with small trails of meat still clinging to them.
I gave the pot a stir and sat down beside it, letting my arms have a chance to rest. I periodically checked the stew, it didn't take long for the rabbit meat to cook, changing from light pink to a golden brown. Deciding that it was as good as I could manage, I grabbed Suu'der's metal bowl and filled it. I heard him sniffling behind me as I did so and turned to face him.
“Are you hungry?” I asked him, and he panted and gave a growl of acknowledgment.
“If you want your dinner you have to sit,” I said and he gave a grumble. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Do you want your food?” I asked the wolf and he whimpered in reply.
“Then sit!” I commanded, pointing at the ground. Suu'der's large rump hit the yurt floor, seeming to make some of the jars shake from the force, he whined at me and looked at his bowl with pleading eyes. I smiled and place the bowl in front of him, as soon as it touched the ground he lapped up its contents eagerly.
“Good boy!” I exclaimed and scratched him behind one of his massive ears. He leaned his head into my hand, then licked at my face.
“Ew, stop! Not on my clothes!” I said, trying to sound firm, but it was undercut by the uncontrollable stream of giggles that escaped from my throat. I managed to push him away and stifle my laughter.
“ok, ok! Finish your food, I need to feed the others now,” he resumed eating and I went to fetch more bowls. I managed to find a fairly large wooden bowl and several smaller ones, along with some metal spoons. I filled the bowls, noticing how the rabbit was dwarfed by the amount of Lamot roots and other root-type plants.
It was practically a vegetable soup, but the smell coming from the pot was still delicious and it would do its job of filling our bellies. I took the largest bowl of stew and walked to the Brood Room, as I entered Sha'ree's ears perked up and her tail began to wag. I placed the bowl in front of her, giving her a quick scratch behind the ears, before turning to my brothers. Looking them over, some seemed to be bigger than they had been this morning, so I decided to take a closer look.
Inspection Inquiry
Target contains a Trifecta Soul:
Player Soul - %$@#$@#^
Vaettir Soul – Malkadian Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Goblin Toddler
Target contains a Trifecta Soul:
Player Soul - %$@#$@#^
Vaettir Soul – Makadian Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Goblin Toddler
Target contains a Trifecta Soul:
Player Soul - %$@#$@#^
Vaettir Soul – Drazahar Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Goblin Toddler
Target contains a Trifecta Soul:
Player Soul - %$@#$@#^
Vaettir Soul – Dahkan Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Goblin Toddler
Target contains a Trifecta Soul:
Player Soul - %$@#$@#^
Vaettir Soul – Tasar Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Goblin Toddler
Target contains a Dual Soul:
Vaettir Soul – Tamar Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Baby Goblin
Target contains a Dual Soul:
Vaettir Soul – Inash Bloodstorm
Corporeal Soul – Baby Goblin
I was a little surprised, it looked like all of my brothers that had 'Player Souls' were now toddlers. The point was driven home as they began to doddle about, no longer crawling but walking, though their steps were still unsure and they looked like they could topple over at any moment. One of them broke away from the group and approached me. It was Malkadian.
“Tawk now?” he asked me, I was a little surprised, but then I remembered I had said my first word when I reached toddler as well. I smiled, this would make things easier. Although their speech was not as clear as mine, we would still be able to communicate with more than yes or no questions. I nodded at my brother.
“Yes, we should talk now,” I was about to leave when I noticed Inash and Tamar, awkwardly crawling around and starting to cry.
“I need to take care of the babies first. The rest of you who can walk go to the main room, I'll be there in a moment and we can eat and talk,” I said to Malkadian, but I directed the latter half to the group.
Each of them gave a nod in reply or mumble 'otay' and began heading toward the main yurt. I scooped up the two goblin babies and wrangled them into Sha'ree's harness, once they were settled and quietly nursing, I followed the rest of my brothers out of the Brood Room.
When I entered the main yurt I found the five little goblins mulling around, most of them were near the cooking pot, but some were trying to climb the furniture or open chests and I even spotted Malkadian happily petting Suu'der. I clapped my hands together to get their attention.
“Alright! Everyone go gather in a circle by the cauldron!” I called out and they slowly formed a circle in front of the massive metal pot. I quickly fetched a bowl and spoon for each of us and began to fill them, placing portions of piping-hot stew in front of each of them.
They immediately began eating with varying levels of success, some used the spoons, others their hands and one just drank straight from the bowl. I took a seat at the opening of the small circle and began eating my stew as well. The meat was tender and the broth was filled with so much flavor, I had no idea how my mother had managed it from such simple ingredients. The room was filled with the sound of happy slurping as we quickly finished our meals.
“Ok,” I said, wiping my mouth.
“Now that we've all had a good meal, I think we have some things to discuss,” the others looked at me intently, but before I could continue I saw Malkadian, Makadian and Drazahar all grow larger. I was taken a little aback, then I decided to do a quick inspection.
Inspection Inquiry
Denied You are not of tier
“This morning I asked if anyone remembers their past life, and all of you said you did,” I waited for their acknowledgment. Each of them gave me a nod. I paused for a moment trying to decide where to start.
“Let's start from the beginning. The first thing I remember, at least from this life, is taking a path to meet our god and being tested. Do any of you remember something like that?” at this question I saw each of their eyes light up in acknowledgment.
“Igwis!” Makadian shouted, “we met Igwis!” the other boys nodded.
“He trew a pebble,” Malkadian followed up, and I turned my attention to him, “he trew da pebble and we had to find it,” he sounded triumphant in his statement.
“Yes!” I said.
“And when we found it we suddenly appeared in front of Ignis again,” Makadian nodded his head in agreement.
“So, we all took the same test,” I concluded, and the other two seemed to agree.
“No, das not right,” the three of us were caught off guard and we turned to face the new speaker. It was Drazahar. I furrowed my brow in confusion.
“What do you mean? You didn't see Ignis before you were born?” I asked, feeling confused. Drazahar shook his head.
“No, saw Igwis, but der was no pebble,” he said. This confused me even more, then Dahkan and Tasar nodded in agreement.
“It waz a hunt!” Dahkan stated with certainty.
“Y-ya, we had to find da animal and catch it an cook it,” Tasar chimed in as well. The other two boys nodded in agreement. I looked at them, stunned.
“So, Malkadian, Makadian, and I met Ignis and he threw a pebble and we had to find it,” I said looking at them for acknowledgment. They nodded, so I continued, “but you Drazahar, Dahkan and Tasar. When you three met Ignis he had you hunt game, catch it, cook, and eat it?” I asked them and the other three boys confirmed this was correct. I thought back to this morning and remembered their answers.
“You three answered that you didn't remember being in the yurt yesterday, right?” I asked them and they nodded again, things started to come together for me.
“you three are new 'Player Souls', you weren't when you were born, I checked. But that changed recently,” I stated, more to myself than to my brothers.
“So, If the three of you just became 'Player Souls' and remember a different test, you must have been in another group, one that came after us,” I concluded. The others looked at me wide-eyed.
“Dat makes sense,” Malkadian replied.
“But why da test so diffwent?” he coked his head as he looked at me. I let out a sigh and shrugged my shoulders at him.
“I don't know, maybe he was looking for different things from different groups?” it was complete speculation, but unless we asked Ignis himself I doubted we would ever know the answer.
“But there's something else I want to know, do any of you have memories from a past life?” at this question they all went quiet. I had a feeling I knew the answer and why they were so reluctant to respond, so I decided I would need to start this conversation with my own experience first.
“I can remember some things, but it's difficult, the memories are . . .” I tried to find the words to explain it.
“Incomplete? The only thing I do know is that it has something to do with the Duchess,” I said. At the mention of that name, the group suddenly burst to life.
“You saw her?!”
“Did she weach in yo soul too?!”
“They were chanting, member da chanting?!”
They were all talking at once in a crazed frenzy, some looked angry others scared. I managed to calm them down and get them settled again with Malkadian's help. I drew in a deep breath and exhaled heavily.
“So, we all saw the Duchess after our trial with Ignis?” I asked, they opened their mouths, clearly about to start shouting again and I quickly cut them off.
“Just nod, I can't make heads or tails of anything you say if you all shout at once,” I replied sternly. Mouths immediately closed and they nodded their heads, “that also must mean you remember your past lives, at least somewhat,” they went quiet again but gave me solemn nods.
“Is hawd,” one finally spoke, it was Tamar, he looked down at the ground.
“Ish like they all cloudy, cant se em wight,” he mumbled. A few of the others made similar remarks. It appeared that while we all remembered having a life before this, none of us could remember exactly who we were, where we were from, or the people we use to know. But we could feel it, this aching need to find something that had been taken away from us. After a long silence, I stood and brushed myself off.
“Well, one thing I know for certain is that we won't learn anything if we just sit here doing nothing! Right now our best bet is to learn and explore this world, through that maybe we can find out what happened to us and maybe even get our memories back,” I announced to them, they looked up at me, I could see uncertainty in their eyes but also determination.
“So, to do that, we first need to grow stronger,” I told them.
“Have any of you looked at your Milestones yet?” I questioned, Malkadian and Makadian said that they had, but the other three had not. I directed them on how to use the inquiry system to bring up their milestones. We discussed our milestones and it appeared they had all reached their first 'Corporeal Soul' milestone by learning to walk or run or speak.
Just like my own milestones the only ones that were visible were from the 'Corporeal Soul' list, the 'Vaettir Soul' and 'Player Soul' were hidden for them as well. I contemplated this, I had reached 'child' when I completed four of my milestones, so even if they did all of their 'Corporeal' milestones it wouldn't be enough for them to grow to the same age as me. I decided to try something.