Spears were pointed in his direction as he made his way across the Sea of Goblins. For a long while, no one spoke to him. When he finally reached the edge of their army, where they had placed even more cannons than last time, a particularly small and spindly goblin rushed up to him.

"Who are you then?" the goblin asked.

"I'm Eli. Are you a goblin leader?"

"You could say that. You could definitely say that. I've heard people say that. Everyone says it. I'm Arti."

"Well, good, Arti," Eli said. "And I have come to talk peace terms."

"Peace?" Arti spat. "You want peace? After all you've done?"

"What we've done?" Eli asked, trying to suppress a flash of anger. "You came after us. Solomon warned us you would attack. You just ran up here and started killing us."

The goblin narrowed his eyes and kept peering into Eli's face. Finally, he scratched his forehead. "Solomon, you say?"

"Sure. He came to warn us."

"Okay. Maybe you should talk to my father. He's a leader." He waved for Eli to follow. "Come along then."

"Your father?" Eli asked. "I thought you were the goblin king."

"Whatever gave you that idea? No one ever said that," the goblin said. "And what's that about a king?"

Eli shrugged. "Your father isn't a king?"

"He's a council member! One of twelve! King? Ptwa! Don't you know anything about goblins? What's your name, anyway?"

"I'm not from around here. I'm Eli, I already told you."

"Right. Human names. They all sound the same. So, what did Solomon tell you?" Arti asked as they neared a grassy hill.

"He told me and my friend that most goblins were looking for blood and would attack."

"That's strange," Arti said as he reached down into the tall grass and pulled a lever that'd been practically invisible.

The hill itself opened up, a large patch of dirt and grass sliding in and then to the side. Eli couldn't believe his eyes. A spiral staircase crafted from metal disappeared down into the gloom.

"You better not tell anyone about this," Arti warned.

"I don't know what this is."

"Yeah, well. I'm gonna keep my eye on you, Priest," Arti said.

"You know about The Dying Light?" Eli asked as they descended. "Met many priests?"

"Nah, never met one," Arti replied. "Aren't they all dead or something? Just recognized the symbol on that fat book of yours. I like to read, you know. Bet you thought goblins can't read. Not much of a fighter, me, really. More of a lover."

The staircase ended, and they exited onto a small platform leading out to an honest-to-god underground railway track. A metal cart waited for them and Arti jumped in, waving for him to follow.

"Is it safe?"

Arti grinned, showing two rows of white, slightly pointed teeth. "Nope!"

Eli followed anyway, hoping his Aegis would protect him if they crashed.

"You're a very trusting guy," Arti commented.

"Maybe. So, where are we going?"

They were interrupted as the cart lurched into motion with far more initial speed than Eli anticipated. The tunnel was almost completely dark, except for a small light in the ceiling every ten or so seconds. Their speed increased until those lights were a steady, unbroken line. Eli was barely able to breathe.

"How much further?" Eli grunted.

"Almost there," Arti said, obviously very happy about Eli's discomfort.

Their underground journey didn’t end when the cart stopped, however. A different goblin, standing on a raised platform overlooking the rail, looked very surprised at Eli being in the cart.

Eli waved. The new goblin hesitantly raised his hand and waved back before pressing a button on a panel in front of him. The cart spun to face a different tunnel going left, then they were off again.

"You have electricity?" Eli asked, his stomach churning from the sudden stops and starts.

"Electricity?" Arti asked.

"The railway. How does it run?"

"Mana, of course."

"Of course," Eli said.

They turned twice more in a similar fashion before ending up in what looked very much like a subway station, with a platform and double sets of stairs leading up. Plenty of other goblins waited here, big and small, in more hues of green than he even knew existed. They were reading newspapers, playing with toys, or talking amongst one another, until they saw Eli.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A lot of screams and shouting followed. After quite a long while, Arti managed to calm the crowd before they jumped Eli, explaining how Eli was with him and not to be feared. He made a great deal about how weak and pathetic Eli was, telling everyone he was no threat.

They walked up the stairs alone, with a thousand eyes burning a hole in Eli’s back.

"I'm somewhat of a threat, you know?" Eli muttered.

"Sure you are, human. Sure you are."

"What are all these goblins doing here, anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Arti asked.

"I mean, they were only standing around."

"They were waiting for the train, of course. Probably going home from work. It's late, you know? People are anxious. There's a war going on, you know?"

"A war?" Eli asked.

"Yeah. In case you haven’t noticed."

"With us? Hopefully, that ends today."

"Yeah, we'll see," Arti scoffed.

Coming up the stairs from the subway station, Eli was surprised to find himself in the small city of stone buildings, paved streets, and lots and lots of goblins living next to a small mountain.

“How far did we travel? I never saw this mountain,” Eli wondered aloud.

"Far."

“This town is pretty small. How do all those goblins attacking our building fit?"

“That’s classified,” Arti replied.

The town was sized for goblins. Most houses were quite a bit smaller than human ones, and Eli felt like a giant walking around. He stood out like a sore thumb. Lots of glares and scared looks were directed his way, but since Arti walked next to him, no one questioned his presence.

Three main streets ran from the mountain and converged to one path where the town ended. Several smaller streets ran across, but all in all, Eli counted fewer than a hundred buildings of varying sizes and shapes.

The mountain, it turned out, had an opening. Going through a wide entrance took them down below ground again, where an enormous cave had been dug out and more houses built, almost as many as above ground.

The sound of metal striking against stone could be heard from all directions, and the air smelled vaguely of gunpowder. Street lamps lit the way with far more brightness than a regular flame could've. Working with mana, using it like the goblins were able to, was something they'd need to figure out. Just getting the lights in the office building working again would be a massive boon.

They passed a three-story building, a rarity in this city, and even more rare inside the cavern. It stood a little off to the right of the entrance and a very recognizable symbol was printed on its side.

“Is that a hospital?” Eli asked, pointing at a red heart symbol on a field of white.

Arti shrugged. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m a healer. Maybe I can help,” Eli offered.

“I don’t know,” Arti replied, looking uncertain. “We should probably head straight to the council.”

Arti looked into the building, then off into the distance, then changed his mind. “Sure, why not?”

A line of people was waiting outside while a goblin in white robes slowly admitted each of them through the doors.

“Hey, doc,” Arti said as they approached.

“You have to get in line with the others,” the goblin at the door said without looking up. Then he saw Eli, evidently surprised, judging by him taking a step back and dropping his pen. “Human!"

Eli held up his hands. “I’m a priest. Thought that I might help?”

“Help?” the doctor sneered. “These people need medical attention, not prayer from some long-dead religion.”

“I’m not the religious type of priest,” Eli clarified and healed the goblin who was first in line.

It was an old one, Eli thought, because he had a bushy gray mustache and walked with a crooked back. His arm was in a sling, probably broken. A heal took quick care of that and also topped off the goblin's health bar, which was sitting at less than a third.

The old goblin blinked, looked down at his arm and then wiggled his fingers. “It’s whole! Thank you, Mr. Priest.”

“You’re welcome."

Arti and the doctor were dumbfounded. “Wait, you can actually heal?” Arti asked, moving his hands around in the air mystically, as if casting a spell. “Like with magic?”

“You haven’t seen spells before?” Eli asked..

“Of course, I’ve seen spells before. Once. Maybe. But not healing!”

“Yes,” the doctor mused. “We haven’t seen healing magic in... must be 400 years now. No, wait, 600. The books are a little hazy.”

“You live that long?” Eli asked.

“Of course not,” Arti interjected. “You have to excuse him. He’s a little weird. It’s like he’s never seen goblins before.”

“Many of our kin have been moving away to other cities, but it is indeed strange to not know how long our people live, since it’s the same length as you humans,” the doctor added.

“I’m not from around here."

“I see,” the doctor said, nodding to the next patient. Eli didn’t see anything physically wrong with her.

“She’s healthy,” Arti commented. “What's wrong?”

“She has a debuff,” Arti said, looking at her stats. “Internal injury.”

Eli healed the next person in line. She looked fine physically but had a debuff saying Internal Injury. Once healed, some color returned to her face. Wanting to speed up the process, Eli cast a Sigil of Light, which covered almost the entire line of goblins. At first, there were screams, but when they realized they weren’t taking any damage, the screams turned to gasps as their wounds, injuries, and diseases were healed.

“If healers are coming back, I'll have to rethink my profession,” the doctor grumbled.

“Kind of like cheating, isn’t it?” Arti asked.

Eli shook his head. “There’s only me and one other girl in my group.”

“What do you call yourselves?” Arti asked.

“Infinite Innovation Solutions,” Eli replied, catching himself.

“Strange name,” Arti remarked.

The doctor only grinned, looking out across all those who Eli healed. They were now chattering excitedly. "Would you be so kind as to heal my other patients?"

About ten minutes later, Eli left, having healed every single patient in the building. Once they resumed walking, Arti seemed a little less suspicious of Eli.

"That building of yours. What is it made out of? It's hard like stone. Making it explode or burn is tricky."

"That's classified," Eli teased.

Arti ignored the comment. "What about where you're from? You keep saying you're not from around here."

This topic, Eli didn't want to hold back on. Answering truthfully might reveal some useful information. "We were transported here from our planet, Earth. We're not from Aryxia at all."

“What’s Eryxia?” Eli asked.

“Aryxia. Isn’t that the name of this world?”

Arti looked confused. “No? Never heard that name before in my life."

“What do you call this world, then?”

“I don’t know,” Arti shrugged. “The world.”

“Right,” Eli said, as they entered a surprisingly small building next to the cave wall, deep inside the cavern. It turned out the house was just another passageway into yet another, smaller cavern. Only a few houses fit in there, with one being significantly bigger than the others. Arti brought him to the front where a pair of goblin guards, holding spears, barred their way. Once the council got word of their arrival, the goblins let Eli and Arti enter.

Finally, Eli stood before a group of 12 goblins sitting around a large stone table. Half of them were men and half women. Most were in what he suspected was middle age, but some were younger and some were older. They all wore dark gray robes.

“Welcome, human,” one of the goblins said. Eli inspected him.

Sameno. Goblin. Level 23.

One level higher than Solomon.

“Hello, goblins,” Eli said, unsure how else to greet them.