Lagdon powered his way through the congested thorny bushes that seemed to make up the forest floor of the Dark. There was no grace or subtlety at all, as he swung his clb from side to side, taking out his anger on the innocent foliage. And he was angry.

Sure, all hobgoblins were made for breaking and decimating, not sneaking or fancy foot work. But right now, even for a hobgoblin, Lagdon was being rather obnoxious. Normally he would not plow through an unknown forest, drawing attention to himself all the way, but in this case he could tell that it hardly made a difference. Something in this forest was messing with his senses, and he had no way to know if it was just a natural effect the Dark had on interlopers, or if there was an entity behind his current predicament.

As it stood now, he was just going to assume it was an effect of the forest until something told him other wise. But as for the tree like creatures that had abducted Enna? He was sure that they had been sent by the Specter. He knew a minion when he saw one, and as far as he knew, the specter was the only thing both strong enough, or motivated enough, to create such beings. And that was not good, not good at all.

But it was Enna her self that was the source of the majority of Lagdon's current frustration. Just thinking about the slight and seemingly fragile human land god had him battering a thistle bush to a pulp. He knew- given he and Nord were the ones in charge of her training- that she was not nearly as defenseless as she had been just a few short weeks ago. But she was still far too gullible and breakable for his liking.

He should have kept her as far from this damn forest as he possibly could have. And had she of been a palace born princess, he may have. But Enna was not that, she was his land god, and it would have been the height of disrespect to imply that not only could she not protect herself, but could not even make the simplest decisions for herself. And as protective as Lagdon was over his land god, he knew that she was a power in her own right... when she really wanted to be at least.

Lagdon sighed, stopping just long enough to pry the roping vines off his weapon of choice, and glaring at the dark trees around him. He had no clue how far nor what direction the minions had taken the woman. Had she just abandoned the kobolds to their fate than they would not be in this current mess.

Lagdon shook his head, banishing the thought from his mind. He may find Enna's ways maddening, but the truth was he had a great deal of respect for her. He certainly knew no hobgoblin currently alive that that would stand up to Margund the way Enna did. The current goblin king was an intimidating man, and that was before his evolution to a goblin lord. But Enna still spoke to him as if he were just another man she had met on the street. A man she had respect for, but not at all like a man she feared just as much.

It had been his brother who had urged Lagdon to take on the role of Capitan of the Guard in charge of protecting the land god and her ideals. Honestly, such a job was an honor, but he had been hesitant to take it at first. Enna was just a human after all. But over the last months he had come to see why Margund had such faith in her, even after only just meeting the woman.

Enna, who really had no logical reason to care, was almost irrationally dedicated to healing this land while also embracing and guiding the monsters who called it home. Any reasonable god would have seen the deplorable state that Aeros had left it in and would have done one of two things:

one, they would have seen a land in disrepair teeming with starved and waring monsters, and just forsaken the place. They would have let the monsters kill one another off, aloud the land to stay miserable, and -much like Aeros had when first he took over these lands- done the bare minimum to keep it alive, ignoring the people so long as they continued to offer them tribute.

Or two, Start from scratch. They would have encourage the monsters to either leave or kill one another off, drained the land dry of all life and fertility, and the started again from day one. It would have been an extremally long and tedious process, but at least the god would have it just as they wanted it. Its not like a land god didn't have an infinite number of years to wait for things to be just as they wanted them after all.

Both of these options had been taken by land gods the world over. Countless times over the ages. And, no doubt, will continue to be the main course of action for any land god to come about again.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Yet, for some unknown reason, Enna had decided to not only forsake both of these tried and true routes, but also took on the most complicate and convoluted path that Lagdon could imagen. Not only was she insistent on fixing what she saw as Aeros' mess, but she was taking that task on with her entire being. How could a land god even survive by siphoning all of their collected energies into things that were not themselves? If she only held on to that power rather than dump it into evolving the monsters, or energizing the land as fast as possible, she would be far stronger than the average monster by now. Would she be able to take on another god? Probably not. But Lagdon was sure she would not fall on her ass as often during training at the very least.

Margund had recognized these odd traits in Enna right from the onset when they had been held captive in the fox's village. Almost from the very start Margund had put every ounce of his faith in Enna, renouncing Aeros with out a second thought, and not even questioning the fact that she was just a little human female, surrounded with nothing but weak foxes and dressed in a robe far too small for her. And if his bother had such blind faith in Enna, then Lagdon had decided to do the same.

And during his time as her chief protector, Lagdon had come to apricate the values he believed his brother had sensed from the start. Enna was almost irresponsibly dedicated to improving the lives of not only the foxes, who had gone out of their way to support her in her time of need, but also the the goblins. And his own people had done no favors for the young land god. Yet, still, without even being asked, begged or bribed, she had evolved them at her own detriment. And not just the goblin leader, the only goblin she even had a semblance of an agreement with, but their entire race. Every single one of them.

Lagdon could tell that Enna still had no concept on just how astounding that was. No one even knew how she COULD do it. Sure, an ancient and fabled dragon like Aeros would have the power to accomplish such a feat- not that he ever would- but most beings, even other gods, would not have been able to do it. In his discussions with Margund, Nord, and other men much smarter than he, it was suggested that it was only possible because she had come from another world.

"The humans may have more knowledge on the topic." Nord had said the day after the parties had ended after their evolutions. The goblin elders, as well as some of the foxes that had been in the city at the time, had gathered to discuss many things in the following weeks, and their new god was among the bigger topics. "We do not have much information when it comes to humans from other worlds."

"No matter where she comes from..." Said a goblin elder, rubbing the new growth of a beard on his face. It was a bit of a novelty for a race that had been mainly bald until then. "What creature in their right mind would offer over such power? For no reason! She must want something from us..."

At the time, a slur of arguments and fearful admonishments had followed the statement. No one wanted a single goblin -or group of goblins- to disrupt the clear favor this seemingly foolish young god had bestowed upon them. It wasn't till Margund, looking all the more regal in his massive new form of a goblin lord even if he was dressed in leather armor that was too tight on newly formed muscles, began to laugh that the gathering grew quiet.

"But she does want something from us." He had said, eyes sparkling in a merriment that had not reflected their since they were small children and did not understand their father's madness nor the deplorable state their people would fall into. "She said so from the very beginning, after all."

"How so?" Asked an older goblane woman, eyes narrowed and suspicious. She had been a rather devout follower of Aeros.

"She wants us to live and grow prosperously together." Margund said, a smirk on his face.

"Ridiculous. What could she possibly gain from that?!"

"Lady Enna," Brax had said, sitting at the table of powerful goblin leaders like his race had not been slaves less than a century ago. "has stated before that she gets her power from the state of her lands. The better off we are, the more energy we can send her way, and the more energy she gets, the more she pushes into these lands... and so the cycle continues."

There had been a moment of silence then. And Lagdon understood why as well. It was unfathomable for monsters to think that an individual found strength in the cumulative power of an entire nation, rather than the strength they possessed all on their own. A monster hoards, collects and protects its power to the very death. And so, Margund had been right in saying that there was something rather significant that Enna had asked of them. She wanted peace. She wanted stability. And she wanted to live amongst the people, to grow and learn with them.

Not many gods would go to such lengths when inactivity was more then effective enough to get the job done.

But now his selfless, dewy eyed, hapless god had gone and gotten herself kidnapped.

Practically snarling to himself in frustration and anxiety, Lagdon practically tossed a fallen tree out of his way, dirt and twigs flying in all directions, and a crash echoing through the low swirling fog in the air.

He was more pleased than surprised to see that he was no longer alone in this dark and dreary forest. Apparently he had just stumbled on the nest of a monster, as a massive bear like beast wobbled to its four boulder sized feet, yellow eyes boring angerly into Lagdon's blue ones. The younger goblin prince smirked. Good, he was itching for a fight.