Steal sprang forward as the elf's blade moved away from Kelvin's throat, though, by the time the weary goblin managed to bring his blade forwards, the elven blade had settled against Kelvin's throat again. Halting the goblin's headlong charge as he forced himself to a sudden stop, the pointy-eared woman's face was contorted into a snarl, sharp eyes narrowed at Steal as she moved the blade from Kelvin's neck once again, now levelled towards the goblin.

The elf snarled again then spoke in a language Steal didn't understand, though the sounds that came from her fanged mouth resembled the same, more dulcet tones and phrases that had come from Kor'Ak's lips "Drop it! Now!".

Naturally, Steal didn't understand the woman's words, though he could understand and interpret the clear aggression in her voice and commanding tone. Though he had no idea what the elf was commanding him to do. Instead, he merely stood there, small, scarlet-stained blade still pointedly pointed towards the elf.

"I said drop it!" The girl snarled again, waving her curved sword angrily and wildly in the air at him. Her spare hand darted out, index finger pointing to the filth-caked dirk that he gripped tight, green knuckles whitening.

The elf snarled again, her finger now darting from Steal's dagger to the grass beneath him. "Down!"

Steal shrugged.

Aera sighed, then slowly slid her sword back into its scabbard at her side, still gripping its hilt, ready to draw. Slowly, her free hand wrestled the bow from her back, eyes still fixed on the goblin as her sword-hand let go of her blade and knocked an arrow before Steal could react.

The goblin screamed, and the arrow whistled a sharp tune as it tore through the air.

CLANG

The flint arrowhead struck Steal's blade, loosening the weary goblins grip.

More whistling.

A second collision knocked the dagger from his hands, the filthy blade hit the dirt, and the goblin's eyes snapped upwards, narrowing on the elf as he prepared to charge her.

Sadly, she took the initiative, Aera dropped the bow and dashed forwards, her first swing flew wide, letting the goblin press forwards and lunge, jagged, dirty claws ready to tear through bare flesh. Something hard flew upwards and crunched into his nose, the girl's knee forced him back, staggering as blood poured from his nose and his brain felt numb, vision blurring and swaying. Made only worse by the fist that cracked against his temple, then the second fist. And the third. She quickly brought the goblin to the floor, finally stopping her assault as Steal's previous snarls shifted to pained whimpers.

Nothing would save him. The goblin knew this. His companions still lay there, barely so much as twitching in the dirt, and there was no one else, nothing else that would help him.

Another punch crashed up into his jaw, teeth clenching around his own tongue.

"G-g-g... Gyik..."

Another strike.

He couldn't see.

His assailant was but a blurry haze, the stinging tears that ran from his eyes doing nothing to help the creature's already failing vision.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Another strike.

His ears were ringing, twitching as a blow smashed into the side of his head.

The light started to fade as yet another blow cracked against his skull, the elf easily brushing aside his desperate attempts to defend himself with his arms.

Darkness.

No sound, no light, no senses at all.

It felt like an eternity, alone in this darkness, the goblin was bereft of even dreams.

Then the darkness broke, a single pillar of light cut through the darkness, a white-robed figure stood at the very centre, a featureless golden mask stared eyelessly towards the goblin. Steal felt himself be tugged, dragged through the darkness towards the pillar of light and the robed figure.

A smooth voice rolled from behind the mask "Hello my dear little one". Steal could understand his words, they weren't goblinoid, he was sure of that, yet he understood him perfectly.

A slight chuckle echoed through the darkness as the figure kept speaking "You don't appear to be in a very good state, do you? I'd be willing to help you out if you just ask y'know"

"I... Would like help" This tongue was his own, it felt natural in his mind, and the robed figure merely nodded. 

"My name is Maal, it's nice to meet you young one."

"You too..."

"Your name?"

"Agh... errr... Steal... Why?"

The robed man, Maal, pulled a thin, skin-coloured roll of parchment from somewhere deep within his robe, another slender, wrapped hand dove into his clothing and produced a black, plucked raven feather, a viscous red liquid coating it's sharpened nib. He turned to the parchment around towards Steal, ornate runes and characters scrolled across it, drawn in blackened soot, smouldering embers still glowing faintly in the odd writing.

Maal pressed the quill into Steal's right-hand, the little goblin's hand clenching around it.

"Just write your name here little one, and all the strength I can offer will be yours to wield." Another chuckle echoed through the unending dark.

To a more intelligent, more civilised creature, this skin-coloured parchment would be recognised as a contract, with the more knowledgeable recognising it's soul-binding, demonic nature.

Steal was none of these things.

Nor was he literate.

"I... Don't know how to write."

The gold-masked man sighed a little, before a voice, overflowing with mirth rang out from unseen lips. "It doesn't matter, just scrawl anything-" the figure pointed to a miniscule, empty space on the parchment with one cloth-shrouded finger "-here, it's more the intent than anything, as long as you want this power, It'll work"

"Ah.. Umm... I can definitely get stronger right?"

"Why would I lie?"

The naive goblin nodded along, the creature had yet to show him anything but happiness and kindness, and the young creature only had a very vague understanding of the concept of lying, he didn't take the man's completely obscured body, or the fact that he appeared to just appear out of nowhere to be something that would raise suspicion.

So, with only the smallest bit of hesitation, Steal held the crimson-coated quill in his hands, pressing it against the parchment, scarlet ink marked his quill's path to make a meaningless scribble, a singular line that curved in on itself a half dozen times.

The sooten runes suddenly lit up, the parchment igniting as the ash reignited in a blazing flame, that quickly turned to the contract to dust. Maal nodded.

"Good, good. This will do"

Delicately, the robed man began to undress the wrapping around his right-hand, with each layer, another patch of dark, burnt, coal-like skin could be seen beneath. When the last bandage dropped to the floor, the pitch-dark hand moved leisurely forwards, middle finger uncurling and pressing gently against the centre of the goblin's chest.

A patch of green skin above his heart turned as dark as Maal's skin, then it erupted into a raging flame for a brief moment, scorching the goblin's flesh to his very core, he felt his heart burning, literally, fire licking and charring his insides.

As the goblin collapsed and writhed in pain, the pillar of light that engulfed Maal flashed and flickered, before completely dying out. Steal was left in the darkness again as he felt his body engulf itself in a raging flame that emitted no light.

"It's time to wake up, little one" the smooth voice faded as well, it no longer echoed, falling flat at the very last syllable.

Perhaps he shouldn't have trusted the random dream man.

New Trait Gained: Daemon-Touched

New Trait Gained: Unholy Mark (Maali-Kious-Asz-Hool)