Zog didn’t stop running until the sun had set. We found a small creek to camp next to and basically everyone instantly fell asleep. The second we took the howdah off, Zog collapsed to the ground covered in small wounds and sweat. The other kobolds had already fallen asleep.

I stared into the water as Zog blissfully slumbered behind me. I looked at him and smiled sadly. I may treat him like my servant but he was the one who raised me.

I patted him on the head and said “Don’t worry Zog, no matter what I’ll pay you back. I don't care how many dangerous jobs I gotta do. I’ll get you the best life ever. We just gotta keep going. For the money.”

After saying that I drifted into sleep. Once again I dreamt of my old master. This time it wasn’t remembering it, It was just a nightmare. I was walking through a marsh, there was no dry land. Nothing but waist high water.

I walked through the drudge of water and couldn't help but feel scared. I had the feeling that something was watching me as I moved through the muck and grime. After what felt like an hour I finally found something other than mud and water. A single small island with a tower stretching towards the sky. It was made of a solid black material that looked like it absorbed the small amount of light in the marsh.

With nothing else to do I entered the tower and began climbing the spiral staircase leading up. The stairs steadily grew steepers and by the time I neared the top I had to jump and climb up. Finally after finishing the climb I stepped into a room that seemed far too large to fit in the tower.

Inside there was a single throne on which sat my old master. She however did not look the same. Her eyes were sunk into her face and had bags under her eyes. Her hair was now a stark white and her face looked angular and unnatural.

I was about to run when she started talking. Her voice sounded like a thousand rats chattering at once but somehow still came out as words. “Kobold, why did you abandon me! I thought you were supposed to protect me!” Her wails of sorrow shook me to the bone as I stumbled back screaming.

“Fuck you bitch! You tried to kill me! What right do you have to say I abandoned you! Just fucking leave me alone!” She started sobbing as she suddenly screamed. “You abandoned me! You left me! Monster! Animals! You failed me! You abandoned me!” I looked at her and couldn’t see a hint of the kind master from my first day of her ownership.

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I looked at her one more time and yelled. “Stop fucking repeating yourself! You tried to kill me! I have a good life now! So, Fuck off!” I turned around and was about to leave when she leapt from her throne and sprinted towards me. I looked at the throne and noticed it was covered in blood. The blood dripped everywhere. As she neared me I instinctively reached for my shovel and was surprised to find it had followed me into my dreams.

I swung the divine instrument into her face as she was smashed to the ground by the shovels' grace and power. She managed to rake her claws against my chest but another blow threw her back. She looked at me and tried to scream at me. “You abandoned me , urgh!” Thankfully a shovel to the face fixed most problems. I slammed the beautiful weapon into her face one more time before walking away.

As I walked away the world around me melted away as I woke up to see the kobolds packing up camp and Zog looking at me concerned. I looked over myself and saw that the cut from the fight had followed me into the real world.

I turned to Zog and he said “You wouldn’t wake up so I let you sleep but then suddenly a lot of blood shot into the air and now you got da cut.” Zog’s surprisingly well spoken sentence shook me as I realized I almost died.

I picked up my shovel and held it close to my chest. Then I turned to Zog and said “Get the howdah on! We have a lot of ground to cover. I want to get to Sein in a week! Let's move!” My troops scrambled to get their meager belongings as me and Milo got Zog his howdah. I examined the eggs and noted that they had grown a decent amount. Hopefully, they wouldn’t hatch before we got to Sein.

After getting everyone ready to go I was about to hop on to Zog when Milo walked up “Uh boss I know you want to get going but, we don't have any food.” I sighed and nodded as I turned to the kobolds and said “Everyone, gather food and bring as much here as possible! We'll meet here in an hour.”

After sending them off I grabbed my book out of the howdah and started reading. Thankfully I had remembered to grab it before the goblins overwhelmed us. Otherwise I would have been forced to suffer through hours of boredom.

After reading for a bit I polished my weapons and tried to think of why the dreams were getting worse. Usually it was the same scene over and over of my master beating me. This time it had been in some strange marsh, perhaps another world.

I turned to Zog and said “Hey Zog, have you ever heard of stuff in your dreams being able to hurt you in the real world?” Zog looked a bit confused but said. “Well, there are stuff called Ware, demons that get tortured a lot in real life so they act like people when they’re awake, then when they sleep they attack people in their dreams.”

I stared confused at Zog and said “How do you know so much about them?” Zog looked surprised by the question but didn’t answer. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before the other kobolds returned. After everyone ate their fill I hopped onto Zog’s howdah and said “Alright everyone! Let's move out!