Pulling my ax from its holster on the left side of my belt, my right hand reached for its own weapon, forgoing the bear spray for now as I had no desire to end up in its mists myself. I kept reaching past it and drew my knife as I began crouching down to avoid the impending explosion from the Shaman immolating himself in his own horrible casting. Ducking my head I placed my weapons on the ground so that I could switch up my handling of them without fumbling the exchange. Before I picked them back up, I glanced back to the shaman in confusion, fortunately for me all of the remaining Goblins were staring at where their shaman was as well. The evil caster was now suspended in the air, now glowing with three to four times the intensity that the previous sacrifice had shown with. Instead of rushing towards me as I knelt on the ground, they stood motionless as the ball of hellfire began doubling and then tripling in size. Even the bear stopped swiping down Goblins as we all stared into the evil, glowing red and black lights that were consuming the blue energy, that I could only assume for now was the life force or soul of for now. Although glancing at the previously consumed sacrifice, it wasn't an aged shriveled ball, so maybe I could cross off life force, but I didn't want to get rid of any possibilities until I had more data. As the light coming from the goblin shaman started dimming down, I gave myself a little shake to stop my pondering and get out of the stupor I found myself in trying to contemplate these new forces. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, I got up to run away, but stopped as I worried that the shaman's inner light was dimming too fast. I left my weapons on the ground and took a quick five steps to the nearest Goblin that stood frozen unaware of my approach, still watching his leader be consumed. Grabbing it by the back of the neck with my left hand, I forced my right hand down into a position that even adrenaline couldn't stop my inner disgust. With a quick step past him, I twisted my body in a move that had I still been on earth and under the never ending cameras, the footage would no doubt soon have been posted on the internet and begun the great canceling vendetta against me. For as my right hand released from what I was now certain was, a Goblins shit covered loin cloth, I dwarf tossed the filthy creature into the fireball to join its leader.

Two more steps brought me over to the next closest goblin, this one starting to shake itself back into reality and was already turning to meet me with its rusty-tipped spear. Too late, as I had already closed the distance, this time with how I was face to face with it. Or perhaps, with its height, I had better say crotch to face. Wanting to avoid getting my bits within striking distance of its jagged yellow teeth. I leaned down slightly and reached out to grab it by its vest. With a spin of my body to disorient it, wanting to avoid being stabbed by its spear, I sent it flying into the ball of hellfire to join its friends. With both of the new goblins lighting up with that eerie light, I decided that I had now added enough gas to the impending explosion.

Dashing back to where I had started, I took a second to bend down and pick up my ax and knife, this time taking them in their proper hands without fully stopping. Task accomplished without fumbling, I kept moving, going from the bent crouch that I snatched up my weapons with to a proper sprint. As I heard a roar behind me that sounded closer than it should have been, I discovered I still had another higher gear to reach. Unsure whether the bear was chasing me because its predator instinct saw that I was running away, other than the diminutive goblins that still had their spears that I had left behind. Or, if it recognized the evil in the ball like I had, and had no desire to be around when it went off. Either way, I decided I didn't want to take the time to look, so pumping my arms and legs as fast as I could, I continued my sprint. I was glad I had taken it easy on the way down the hill, so that my body wasn't yet exhausted by the sprint it found itself in now. While I had no doubt that the roll around my waist would come in handy in the next couple of weeks in helping to stave off starvation. I could only curse in my mind, unwilling to waste the oxygen to do it out loud, how much I hated my past self for not being more strict in its diet phases, in trying to get rid of this dad bod of mine.

Nearing the summit, I started hearing a panting coming from my right side, and could only be grateful that one thing seemed to be going right in my reckless plan. It seemed that the bear had either recognized me as being the one to help it in its fight, or was just so caught up in its own escape that it was leaving me alone as it continued charging past me in its race for the summit. With the top of the ridge still a good twenty to thirty yards away, I had to force my ever curious brain, not take a second to spin my body around and look at what was happening behind me. Because although I was certain the evil, little green creatures had no chance of catching me, I had no idea what the magical forces would do when they were done draining their victims. I should be fine as the pack of goblins hadn't seemed to be too scared with only one victim, so quadrupling it shouldn't take out the hill, but I couldn't be sure about how bad that explosion was going to be. So wanting the hillside and a berm of earth between me before I risked anything, I continued sprinting up the hill, arms and legs pumping furiously. Being careful not to stab or cut my legs with my weapons I thought about dropping them, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew I would regret it in the afterlife if I died in an explosion, not yet having reached the top of the hill. But I was sure I would be even less happy if I survived the explosion only to die to the goblins claws and teeth because I was unarmed. Trapped and eaten, sounding so much worse than drying broken in an explosion in my mind. Still smelling the disgusting stench coming from my right hand despite the speed I was going. I had a lot of doubts as to whether the bear spray, that would be my only remaining deterrent if I dropped the two edged weapons, would do anything to hold the goblins back.

With relief that I finally made it to the summit alive I quickly dove up and over the edge of the ridge, rolling onto my side to slow myself down and getting low, wanting to avoid any flying debris. I held my arms out above my head in the roll, to avoid stabbing or cutting myself. Finally shedding all of my momentum, I desperately wanted to lay on my back and suck air to recover. But, I was unwilling to meet any possibly following enemies in such a prone position. So, I forced myself to get back up into a crouch. Staying low to the ground, still not wanting to stick my head up high enough that it would be blown off, now that I had finally made it to safety, I crept back towards the edge to look over again in movements identical to those I had used only a short time before. With adrenaline still pounding through my body as my heart beat furiously, I forced myself to ignore the gasping breaths my hormones were demanding I take and slowed down to several deep breaths instead while I remained in my crouched position. Setting my weapons down near the edge to free my hands yet leave the blades easily accessible should I hear the remnants of the goblin horde, come chittering this way.

Getting as close to the edge as I could, before laying down to give as small of a profile as possible. Feeling the grit of the dirt and the pricks from the grass blades on my cheeks, I also had to ignore a stick poking into my stomach. I left it all alone for the moment, and used my toes to inch slightly farther so that I could peer back down over the edge of the hill. Forcing myself to stare back into the abyss of those awful energies, so unlike the ones I had dealt with on my trip to this moon. Looking back over the edge, I saw all of the little green terrors now standing frozen, glowing blue. Not in fear, but being held motionless, as tendrils of reddish black lightning reaching out to each of them, from what was once a pinprick speck, in the middle of a ball of raging hellfire. Now it seemed like it had reversed itself by reaching out and draining the remaining Goblins in sight, and judging from the two lines of energy reaching out and into the grass beyond what I could see, there were two more Goblins out of my sight as well that hadn't been able to escape it either. It was slowly turning into what looked like a portal. Now up to the size of a beach ball, it no longer seemed to be a demonic fireball, instead it had turned into an abysmal mirror of blackness, a black hole of energy darker than anything that was inside the ball that had brought me here. The red and black lightning was still there, but now they were braided together surrounding the abyss, pulling the blackness larger with every pulse of life force it dragged out of its captive goblins. With another pulse, I saw a tendril shoot out, in what looked to be an effort to drain me in its mission to get bigger. I reflexively pushed myself back and rolled over just in time to see it shoot straight out past me in a line before disappearing into the sky. Moving as unscientifically, as the beams that laser rifles fired in certain movies, rather than at the invisible speeds of light that science had taught me was real. It all served to further solidify in my mind the mystical nature of these forces. If what I had come into contact with before was Order and Chaos Qi, then this new energy I cataloged in my mind was certain to be Hell or Demonic.

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Rolling back over onto my stomach, I inched my way back to my previous position. Face pushed even deeper into the dirt, my heart pounded even harder, seeming to try its best to jump out of my chest. While knowing it was a stupid decision to look back over the ridge again, I was buoyed by the fact that I had avoided the previous disaster. With all the stupidity of a cat, confident in its extra lives, I inched my head back up to stare down at the still forming portal. Staring at it as the energy from the remaining Goblins pulsed into it again, it seemed that it had shrunk the tiniest bit in its effort to capture me. Unsure if that was actually true, but with the confidence that every gambler holds right before the house sends them crying to the atm again. I pushed my head farther into the air, in an effort to see if I could undo the disaster I had a hand in starting. But whether I would have won my desperate gamble or not, it seemed like the portal either wasn't willing to waste the energy or possibly it was only allowed one shot at capturing a beings life force. For now it ignored me and continued to pulse, growing slightly bigger with every beat.

Pushing myself a little farther up in an effort to get a better look, I remained ready to drop down at the slightest sign that the evil little globe was the one baiting me. With another pulse that further drained the remaining Goblins and dropped a few of the smaller ones empty and lifeless onto the ground. I quickly rolled over onto my back while grabbing for my knife and ax, holding them crossed over my chest, as I stared into the eyes of an enormous bear. Heart pounding in my chest I pulled my feet closer to my butt, in an effort to get them a little farther away from the giant nose and mouth that had just pushed up against my right foot. Unable to inch my way any further backwards and risk rolling down the hill and into the portal's grasp, I could only stare into its eyes and hope that our implied truce remained in effect. As it brought its massive maw over my chest I felt myself coming to a pivotal moment. I could risk it all and stab up with my knife, hoping that despite my awful leverage position I could brute force it up through its palate, and manage to drive it into its brain. Or, I could take the risk that it was willing to not end my life and do nothing. Cursing in my head, I chose the path of passivity, which I would normally never take, although this was undoubtedly why I found myself in the situation I was now in, so maybe I could use a little more of it now that I was in a new universe. As I slowly moved my hands away from my chest let them fall to my sides in an effort to seem less threatening, although seeing as how he was double my weight I doubt the bear was delusional enough to be threatened by me.

I said as softly as I could, “Hey buddy, you remember me, I was the one that helped you out against the little green bastards.” As it leaned its nose down into my chest, and gave such a giant wet huff. I instantly knew this bad boy had definitely had a seal for breakfast in the last day or two. I felt better that I was going to live through the next couple of seconds when he backed off without having taken a nibble from me.

“That’s right Yogi, you know me. I'm your friend.” I said, as I reached up without my ax and with such an enormous amount of stupid confidence, that had to be coming from my adrenaline high. Reaching up and scratching its cheeks a couple of times and as it leaned closer down to me, I could only continue to hope that I was doing the right thing. I reached farther up onto its head and started scratching the base of its left ear, like it was a giant dog. Apparently, not insulted, it leaned a little closer to me and gave my neck and face a giant lick with its incredibly rough and smelly tongue. Forcing myself to be still and not wretch, I pulled my hand back down and patted its muzzle.

“Alright, big boy.” I said quietly with another couple of pats, “As much as I would like to stretch this bonding ceremony out and become blood brothers with you. We've got bigger fish to worry about.”

Rolling slowly back over onto my stomach, once again being careful not to stab myself. I cocked my head to the side and looked once again into the bear’s eyes to see him looking back at me before it crouched down itself. Clearly the bear either saw itself as the alpha or was just willing to let the crazy monkey satisfy its own curiosity while having no desire to give the hellfire another shot at it. With a quick shake of my head at my willingness to accept such a large, dangerous creature near me when just a couple of short hours before I would have been going for my bear spray. I marveled at the willingness of humans to be able to compromise when pushed up against something that was clearly the worse of two evils.

Inching my head back toward the edge, I looked down and over. Part of my mind continued to stare on in amazement as the rest of me was willing to continue on in this insanity. Ignoring the massive five hundred pound specimen crouched right next to me, I looked back down into the abyss that I had run from just a short few minutes before. Looking down, I saw that the portal hadn't grown much bigger, it seemed to have finished up the rest of the goblins while I had bonding time with my new friend. With only one remaining, glowing weakly in the air despite the light coming down from the massive giant still hanging in the sky. With a final pulse, that goblin too went lifeless and dropped limply to the ground. No longer being supported by the energy being dragged out of it, the final Goblin collapsed, like a puppet with its string cut. With all of the energy around it having been consumed I got ready to duck back down, in case it shot out another tendril out towards me, however no such tendril was forthcoming.

Instead it began to pulse, somehow getting darker and blacker in an inexplicable way, how could emptiness become more empty? With a final pulse it suddenly lit up bright yellow, like tainted gold. Even though it remained frozen in place, some inner instinct seemed to tell me it knew I was here and was focused on me. I felt a tugging on my consciousness telling me to walk down to it, unsure if the calling was merely weak because it had not consumed enough energy, I was far enough away to ignore it, or if my time spent conscious while I was transported here had tempered my willpower. Whatever the cause might be, I found it remarkably easy to ignore the pull calling me down to be consumed. After reaching that conclusion, part of me immediately began to tell myself that as weak as the call was, there was nothing to fear and I should have no problem going down there and investigating this new power closer. Shaking my head with a quick chuckle at the quickness in which the portal tried to switch tactics, I resolved to myself that I was close enough, an Idiot I might be, but at least I could be happy I wasn't dumb.

I felt the bear start shifting beside me in an effort to climb to its feet, I worried that it might have fallen for the portal’s trap. So I left my knife on the ground and my left hand reached up and clamped itself firmly down on its muzzle. Thinking back to how I had just remarked in my mind that I wasn't dumb, the crazy part of my head that seemed to be in charge now replied that I was only dumb if the bear decided to take offense. With a sigh of relief on my part when I felt the bear settle back down onto the ground, I softly let go of its face and set my hand back onto my knife, in an effort to be ready for whatever was to come when the force behind the portal realized its lunch wasn't serving itself up on a silver platter. Looking back down into the sickly golden light it seemed to be darting back and forth, searching for anything it could call closer to it and consume. Seemingly finding nothing, I felt it settle its invisible gaze back onto me.

Unable to coerce my new friend and me down, it sparked viciously, going darker before lightening up again in a disturbing cycle, pulsing faster and faster. I saw what looked to be two scaled hands, with claws for fingers, reaching out of the event horizon and grabbing onto the edges of the portal. Pushing with what I could only guess was an effort to open it further. With a massive explosion of energy off the sides of the portal, I thanked my lucky stars that it failed in its efforts to stretch it any farther open. Staring into the center I saw a head seem to bend down and appear on the other side to look at me.

Covered in scales, it had a massive mouth of teeth sticking inward, forming a circle like a lamprey’s mouth. I had no doubt that for whatever this horrible creature clamped its jaws down upon, escape would be impossible without leaving behind whatever part of your body was stuck in its maw. Screeching out sounds that sounded, like steroid nails on a chalkboard from hell, it screamed at me. Unable to actually understand the words coming from its mouth, I was sure it was just some version of imperiously ordering me down, to either be consumed by it or become its slave. I ignored it and continued to look on with the stupid confidence of a patron at a zoo, knowing that I was safely beyond its reach. With a malevolent look it stared at me, the head pulled back up out of sight and with another crash of sparks from the lightning surrounding the portal. I figured it had given up widening the portal as its last shot at consuming me failed. Looking at the lightning, it seemed to have lost about half of its intensity. I'm assuming the life force of its Goblin batteries was starting to dwindle as it was continuously used up connecting the two points in space. Leaning back down, the head once more appeared before me, on its opposing side of the glowing hole in reality. Once more I resisted the urge to show weakness and cover my ears in an effort to stop the unholy sound from getting through, as it shouted more commands at me. As I focused once more on the edges and saw the lightning getting dimmer and pulsing faster. When the hands disappeared back to the other side and the screeching stopped, I let myself laugh in relief and triumph, happy that the danger seemed to be almost over. With the lightning pulsing faster and faster, now almost like a strobe light at a rave. I started getting to my feet, like a spectator at a blowout event leaving before the last couple of minutes in an effort to beat traffic. I wanted to give myself a little bit of space from the bear, in case it decided to end our truce, now that the bigger threat was gone.

Looking back over my shoulder, I could only curse my stupidity and dive for the ground, as the one of the flags I kept seeming to send out seemed to have finally caught the universe's attention.