The city was gone. Gull stood, still dripping with sea water in the same square he’d been standing in when the mysterious woman had killed the other him. But the buildings, the castle– Everything was gone. Eroded away from an eternity of wind and sea.
He had to see it. Even from the ruins of the castle he arrived in, it had been clear. But he still had to see it himself. Now he stood on the cliff, no longer protected by walls that blocked the wind, the gusts were nearly strong enough to make him stumble.
What the hell had all that been? The strange woman. The other him. The way she– it had looked at him. Like something huge. Unfathomable. A metaphysical leviathan with a human shaped finger poked into this reality. That’s what he had felt looking at her. That smile. That smile was seared into his mind. The scene. The blast.
He had died. And yet, here he was. Already dead. Still alive. And one more step removed from everything he had already known. He’d walked through his old home to get here. It was gone. The caves still existed, but they had changed shape to be almost unrecognizable. The things that his tribe had collected were all gone. Everything was gone.
The sewers had held up better. They were carved away in some areas, but others were mostly the same. Enough to get him up here. Up here where nothing remained. The walls had come down. Imprints of foundations where the buildings had remained, but that was it.
What now? What could he do? He was going to die here. That’s what the other him had been trying to tell him. It was inevitable. And yet–
A sort of manic certainty filled him. He was shaking. But he was still here.
There was no way he was going to just let it happen like that. The other version of him had been telling him the facts. Everything he said was probably true. But, even he–
“So, here we are at last. Tell me, do you feel like a victim of fate right now? Is your hand being forced by the world itself? I am begging you. Decide not to do this. We said we’d break fate together! You promised me!”
The woman replied simply.
“I’m sorry, Gull.”
“Please. I can help you. I don’t know what it is, but let me help you.”
The other him had refused to believe those facts right up until the end. That was the most important lesson he had passed on. That might be how things work. But he hadn’t given up!
Gull wasn’t about to give up either. Not a chance. Gull was going to learn the rules. Figure out how all of this worked. And then smash those rules to bits! That other version of him had given him something the strange woman hadn’t been able to understand. Because she wasn’t a goblin.
Gull had spent his entire life up till now facing certain death from every angle. Every brush with humans, every time the tide had come up too high, every time a monster had come from the sewers, every single day. Overwhelming odds that wanted him dead. Fighting, scrabbling, scraping, and cheating to survive even one more day. That’s what it was to be a goblin.
It wasn’t exactly a hidden message. But his future self understood what his words would do. And the evidence was that his future self also hadn’t given up. If that really was the goblin Gull grew into, fighting fate up till the very last second, Gull would be proud to have died like that. But, that was irrelevant.
“I am… Gull.”
His voice almost got drowned out by the wind. So, he tried again, this time yelling. From the bottom of his heart and soul, he announced it to the world.
“Gull of the Ocean Cave Tribe! I will be the one who breaks fate! I will learn the rules of this world, and shatter them! I will– I will laugh in the face of certainty!”
The wind howled. But he held his ground. The Blade of the Sea Winds cut through it like nothing, and prevented it from reaching him. His heart calmed. The turmoil in his soul turned to resolution.
But, now what? His resolve gathered, he still didn’t have any idea where to start. For now, he wanted to get a better look where the castle was. Maybe there was a section of sewer he could duck into for shelter against the wind and plan from there.
As he started walking in that direction though, the ground under him shifted. He stopped moving, and looked down warily. It really did feel unsteady all of a sudden. He tried to take another step. The sound of old rotten wood breaking was the last thing he wanted to hear, but a split second later he was falling into the decrepit remains of a basement. The heavy stones around him toppled into the hole, narrowly missing him. He looked around him, a foot in any direction and he would have been completely crushed.
Gull laughed. That would have been such a stupid way to go after everything that he’d been through, and his resolute declaration above.
The sound of more mass shifting from above interrupted him. He had just enough time to look up and see the huge stone directly above him.
----------------------------------------
A screaming goblin fell from twenty feet in the air. He hit the side of the building roughly before falling directly into a dumpster. There was silence for a few seconds, before he burst forth again from the pile of garbage he had landed in, and toppled down onto a surface he didn’t recognize. Some kind of black stone?
It was night, and raining. But that was the least of his problems. This was a city. He didn’t recognize– really anything. But there were buildings, and colored lights, and more that were clearly manufactured by people. That meant humans. Gull looked around desperately for a way into the sewer system. It was so bright here, even at night. Did a place so magically advanced really exist?
He crept from his alleyway and took a look at the road next to it. Huge neon signs caught his eye. A giant woman drank from a beverage as large as him, and pretended to enjoy it a lot. Maybe too much. Gull blinked a few times. What the hell was this?
A noise caught his attention as a huge metal creature roared its way down the road. But, Gull saw what he was looking for! Along the side of the road, a drain big enough for him to fit in. Sewers? Sewers never changed.
He dove for it, and slid down in. The rushing water from the rain made it easy, almost too easy to get into the drain. For a second, he thought he’d be pushed under, but then he found a walkway alongside the main waterway and pulled himself up onto it.
A small lamp lit the area. The walkway ran alongside the waterway, presumably for maintenance. Even the lamp stuck out to him. That was a weirdly bright lamp, and where was the oil reservoir? He shook his head. Not important. Right now he needed to figure out where he was.
The last thing he remembered he’d fallen into the basement, and then a stone– crushed him? No, that couldn’t be right. He must have panicked and done something. He patted himself down. He was fine. A little banged up, but nothing too bad.
It felt like when the strange woman had tried to kill him. Everything had slowed down, and that burning feeling had started in his chest. It was power. His power. Somehow. How had he done that? If it just takes him somewhere different, could he do it again? Both times he fell. Maybe it has something to do with that?
He was walking down the path, looking for a larger room with more floor space when he turned a corner, and bumped directly into someone. A human, male, presumably in his twenties stared down at Gull. Gull froze.
He was about to draw the Blade of the Sea Winds, when the human smiled and spoke with… excitement?
“Woah, dude! That’s a sick body mod! Where’d you get that done?”
Gull stared at the man uncomprehendingly. The man stared back, his smile starting to diminish.
“Uh? Guy? You’re really giving me the creeps just staring at me like that. C’mon. What are you supposed to be? Something from a movie?”
Gull swallowed, and tried speaking.
“Goblin.”
“Woah, goblin huh? Hell of a lot of commitment there! You some kinda rich guy?”
“No.” Gull pointed at himself. “Goblin.”
The man laughed, completely carefree.
“Alright little man. You’re a goblin! Hey, wanna come get smashed with me and my buds? They’ll think this is funny as hell!”
Gull shook his head.
“Got smashed earlier. Big rock. Not again.”
The man guffawed, and doubled over wiping tears from his eyes.
“No no no. I mean get drunk. Smashed. Wasted. Laid out. Intoxicated, little bud. C’mon, I’ll hook you up if you’ll hang out.”
Gull raised his eyebrows, incredulous.
“You… have wine?”
“Wine? Dude, come on. I don’t have the fancy shit. It’s cheap stuff! Goblins love wine? Eh, if you’re some kinda rich guy, you can buy your own or drink what I’ve got. But dude, you gotta come with me.”
Gull shrugged. This man wanted to give him some free drinks, he didn’t see why not. Although, he wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Had humans here never met a goblin before? This man didn’t seem scared of him at all. Maybe he was just already intoxicated?
“You’ll come? Really?”
“Will come.”
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The strange man led Gull from the culverts to a larger area of the sewer. A ladder led up to a circular entrance overhead, and several humans sat around a small fire in the center of the circular room. There were four in total, counting the man Gull had followed.
He was bracing himself for a fight if it came to it, but he wasn’t detecting any sort of hostility from the man he was with. It was confusing, but he wasn’t about to make the first move. If these strange humans didn’t know what a goblin was, maybe they wouldn’t attack.
Besides, this was hardly the strangest part of Gull’s day.
The man tending the fire looked up. He was a little older, must have been pushing thirty. He addressed the man Gull was with.
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“It’s about time. Who’s the other guy?”
“I found him in the culverts. Dude is some kind of intense roleplayer.”
“Is he a narc?”
“Dude, Less, he’s a goblin. Don’t you wanna party with a goblin?”
The man, Less, seemed a little more skeptical. But after a moment, one of the other two people, a girl a little younger than Less spoke up.
“I want to party with the goblin. Hey little dude, what’s your name?”
Gull nearly jumped.
“Gull. Ocean Cave Tribe.”
The humans all laughed at that. The man who brought Gull spoke again.
“See? He’s cool. Alright Gull. Welcome to the hang out. My name’s Adler.”
The other two humans, the girl and another guy Adler’s age went around in turn.
“Kell.”
“Dig.”
Gull shrugged. He really didn’t know what to say to that. So, he just asked about the reason he was here.
“You have wine?”
Kell giggled and held a bottle out to Gull.
“Oh yeah. Strongest ‘wine’ your goblin lips have ever tasted. Go for it, little guy.”
Gull took a swig. This was not wine. But it was alcoholic. Extremely alcoholic. He coughed as he downed the mouthful of the strange drink and it burned its way down into his stomach. The group laughed again. The other boy, Dig was holding a strange device when Gull went to hand the bottle back. He was wary, given the device the woman had held when she killed him. But, this wasn’t being held like a weapon. So, Gull pointed at it.
“What?”
The boy jumped, but the girl answered for him.
“What, that? He’s just taking a video. Nobody’s gonna believe we got sauced with a goblin if we don’t have pics and vids.”
Less cleared his throat and tried addressing Gull again.
“So, what are you really doing down here?”
“Hiding.”
“From the cops?”
“From humans. Strange woman.”
Adler, taking a gulp from the bottle before passing it on, laughed.
“Little dude is just hiding from his wife! She’s probably pissed about the body mods!”
Kell punched his arm.
“Dude, don’t be a dick. And Less, shut up man. Just let the little guy be in character. Hey, Gull. What’s your backstory? Tell us a goblin tale.”
Gull looked at her warily.
“Need more wine.”
----------------------------------------
For the next few hours Gull regaled the group of four with stories of being a goblin. He eventually picked up on the fact that they didn’t believe him. But that was fine, half the stories were goblin tales anyway. At some point, Adler left and came back with a bag of ‘burgers’, which he shared. Gull ended up eating six of them by himself, but kept the stories coming. It was strange. Gull could speak the human tongue, having heard it all his life. But these humans were easily understanding him while he spoke goblin. It was less dense with words, but more comfortable for him and as the drink warmed him it was definitely the way to go.
“One day, was fishing. Outside. Very dangerous. Humans can see. Covered up, look like old woman.”
He mimed being hunched over and covered in thick cloth.
“Human come up to me. Human start talking. Not know what to say. So, quiet. Hope he go away. He grabbed clothes, pulled. Saw me.”
He made an exaggerated scared face, and pointed at nothing to sell the human’s reaction.
“Pulled sword. Huge sword. Maybe enchanted. Thought about fighting, killing. Didn’t want to kill. Dead human brings more humans. So, run. But, two buckets. Fish bucket, guts bucket.”
He waddled around in a slow circle, showing how hard it was to run with buckets of water, fish, and guts.
“Not working. Human right behind. So, I turn. Throw guts bucket. Just wanted to cover him. But, CLONK. Bucket hits. He goes down. Covered in guts.”
Gull mimed screaming and falling to the ground.
“But he rises, mad. Very mad. Big mad human. Big mad human with sword. Runs to catch. Then.”
Gull made some seagull noises and waved his arms like wings.
“The birds come. Big flock. All the birds on coast. All at once. They cover him. Pecking. Eating the guts. By the time he free, I was gone. Escaped into Ocean Caves.”
He grinned hugely.
“How I get my name. Gull. Didn’t have to kill, because of Gulls.”
The humans stared in wonder. Of course, they could see how awesome that story was. It was a story that transcended culture. Gull laughed, holding back the tears.
Adler reached into the bag to offer Gull a half eaten burger, when a sound came from one of the entrances to the circular room they sat in. Clapping. The group turned as one to see– It appeared to be a young boy. In his early teens, before any sort of growth spurt. He was shorter than Gull, but there was something ominous about his body language that struck Gull immediately.
“I hadn’t heard that one. It’s been a while, Gull.”
Gull squinted through his boozy stupor.
“I know you?”
The boy rolled his eyes. Less rose to address the kid, when the boy pulled a device out of a pocket and pointed it at him. This, he was very much holding like a weapon.
“You four, get out.”
Less tried to speak.
“Hey, you shouldn’t have–”
The weapon fired, burning a hole in the stone next to Less’s head.
“Get. Out. Or do I need to say please?”
The four humans vacated quicker than Gull would have thought possible, down the opposite tunnel. Gull was contemplating the same, when the boy spoke again.
“Oh come on, don’t you recognize an old friend? I know you’ve been drinking, but you’re usually quicker than this.”
The kid laughed and pocketed the weapon.
“I don’t know you.”
“It’s me! Hex! Just a new body. I always thought you had spells for this, or one of your little gadgets.”
“Hex?”
“Oh come on, don’t play dumb.”
“Not playing.”
That gave the boy a second of pause.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You don’t know me? Where is this for you?”
“What? Don’t understand…”
The boy stared, incredulous.
“Wait… Are you… Wait wait wait. You really haven’t met me before? How about Lily?”
Gull shook his head.
“Oh man, I always knew I’d run into you for your first time eventually, but how about that. How early is this for you? When did you leave home?”
Gull’s head was spinning, and only a little bit from the drink.
“Not sure I should say.”
“You’re that new? Oh hell! This is exciting. Hey hey hey, look, I know this is confusing but it’s good to meet you. We’re gonna be good friends, okay?”
His gut was still ringing alarm bells, and he wasn’t sure why.
“Why did you scare off friendly humans?”
Hex stopped in his tracks.
“Who, them? I wanted to talk to you privately, duh. Are you seriously offended? I didn’t even hurt them.”
Gull narrowed his eyes.
“Scare is a kind of hurt.”
“Ugh, fine. I’m sorry. Won’t happen again. Thought you’d be happy to get some time to talk. So what’re you doing here?”
Gull stared at the kid. This was not a normal kid. But that’s about as far as Gull had gotten in determining who this was. Another traveler like him? One who had met him before, and clearly wanted to be friendly. So why was Gull so nervous looking at him?
The kid’s smile faded.
“Seriously? Fine, I’ll go first. Lily’s ignoring me again. It’s so annoying. I was helping her! But, you know her. Can’t help but look a gift horse in the mouth every single time. Anyway, I came here to build a comfy place to hang out and do some work in the meantime. Got a lot of irons in the fire, I’m sure you do too. Or will. Whatever. If you wanna work together I can make sure you’ve got a comfy place here too. Unless you’ve gotta get going?”
Gull had finally realized part of why he was feeling so untrusting.
“How did you find me?”
Hex giggled. It sounded… offputting, coming from a kid’s mouth and echoing around the sewer.
“Oh, that? I have spells set up to alert me if any of us show up in whatever world I’m in. Honestly, I’m glad it was you. Although, I’d have preferred Lily. No offense.”
“Who is Lily?”
“So you did meet me first. Interesting. I always wondered why you seemed to get along better with her. I thought it was ‘cause you met her first. Guess you and I are just a little incompatible huh? She’s another traveler, like us. Prolific as hell. You’re gonna meet that girl everywhere so you better get used to it.”
“Everywhere? How many…”
Gull looked around the room before continuing.
“How many different… places. How many exist?”
Hex shrugged, and paced over to the fire, warming his hands.
“Dunno. I haven’t run out yet. I’m not even sure there’s a limit.”
“Are they all so different?”
“What am I, an exposition machine?”
“Thought you were friend.”
Hex grinned.
“Oh, you wanna play it like that? Sure sure. Whatever. We’ll pretend I can’t see your hands clenched, or that knife you seem ready to grab. Don’t worry– I forgive you. I’m new. We’re gonna be friends though, you can trust me! I mean, we’ve screwed each other over from time to time, but there’s no real animosity. We’re travelers together! It’d be a damn shame to constantly be at each others throats. I haven’t even taken advantage of you not knowing me. Promise!”
Gull grunted, but didn’t respond.
“Fine. Your question. Yeah, they’re all pretty different. I mean, they follow certain patterns. Different levels of tech. Different kinds of people around. Different sets of rules that govern each world, or none at all. But, you get used to it. Even gain preferences in time. Hell, I’ll let you in on a little secret if you want.”
“Secret?”
“I like worlds like this because the world I came from is like this. It’s comfier that way. Of course, we had space travel, and these chuds don’t. But you know, technology, fast food, cars, all that stuff.”
“Don’t understand.”
“You will. Just like you might like places like where you came from. Or not, every place I’ve visited with goblins they’re treated like total garbage. So, maybe go someplace without ‘em.”
“Other places with goblins? Where?”
Hex smiled, and it seemed almost genuine.
“Oh man, everywhere. But you’re probably better off just using that spell that makes you look like a human or somethin’ and going someplace humans live. That way you don’t have to worry about being hunted.”
Gull’s head was spinning again. Maybe this person wasn’t so dangerous after all? At very least, he didn’t seem to mean any harm, and was being very free with information.
“Spell? I have no spell…”
Hex raised his brows at Gull.
“Yeah? Maybe work on that one first then. It’ll go a loooong way. Or we might be able to find you some tech that will do it in the meantime. Some kind of holo projector? I dunno if they have that stuff here, and I don’t know how to build it. But, if I come across something like that I’ll pass it to you.”
“Thanks…?”
“No prob. Now, wanna help me set up here? I was gonna do my next step alone, but having a friend along would be pretty nice.”
“What next step?”
“Oh you know. Just a little breaking into a rich guy’s house.”