“Pa, boring. When fighting?” the Demon asks slightly annoyed, but the male Goblin once again ignores her. They have been searching the forest for quite a while now without stumbling upon any monsters whatsoever. The joyful skipping of the Demon has long ceased while her aggressive and bad mood returned. At one point, she even started doubting her father: ´Maybe avoiding monsters on purpose?´ This thought has been growing by the minute.
Not long and she can´t take it anymore.
The Demon abruptly stops in her tracks: “Lying? We not hunt monsters? You just want me out, that it?” she then asks with gritted teeth. For once the male Goblin reacts to her words, coming to a halt as well. He looks at her with serious eyes and shakes his head. Then he continues his fast pace. The Demon grumbles something under her breath but is left with no choice but to continue following her father. She still doesn´t trust his words.
--
As the sun is about to set, the Demon's senses suddenly ring: A presence. Her excitement returns at once. She leaves the male Goblin behind and hastily runs in the direction her instincts lead her. Hiding behind one of the many trees she peeks out onto a small clearing as her heartbeat quickens. She sees a large four-legged monster, with sturdy-looking armor covering its body, indulging in a meal of some sort of plants.
'Fight'
That is the only word on her mind. She jumps out of hiding and leaps toward her prey.
Landing on its back she repeatedly thrusts her claws into its carapace, slightly scraping the armor before it cracks open and her hand digs deeply into soft meat.
The Demon laughs maniacally as the monster wreathes in pain, not understanding what even happened just now, and tries to shake its attacker off. She jumps down from the monster´s back as it turns toward her with rage all over its face. Its eyes become bloodshot. The Demon looks at her red-inked hand in ecstasy as the corners of her mouth further go up into something that can´t even be called a smile anymore. ´I waited so long so long so long so long!´. Losing any kind of sense, another crazed laugh shrills from her mouth as she sprints at the monster, intending to finish it with her next attack.
But from this point onward, the fight takes an unexpected turn for the Demon girl; Before she can even react, the monster appears right in front of her, slamming her with its heavy body and making her fly backward. She didn´t even realize what happened as she crushes into a tree and gives off a painful wheeze. While gasping for air, she´s hit again in the side and is sent rolling across the clearing. This time she collides with a boulder, she coughs up blood and holds her broken arm in agony.
´It hurts´ she thinks ´But it shouldn´t hurt, not right!´ Tears gush down her face as she sees the angry monster run towards her in bleary vision. The fight was a senseless pick; She may have managed to hurt it with a surprise attack, but there´s still a vast gap in their strength. Although she´s a Demon, she´s still small and inexperienced. Her opponent has lived for many years, adapting and surviving in this harsh environment on its own. Once a fair fight broke out, it was obvious who would win and who wouldn´t even stand a chance… but the Demon, in her deprived state, forgot to care about such a simple yet crucial detail.
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´I don´t want to hurt anymore. Get away!´ she pulls back, throwing anything she finds on the ground at the charging monster. “Heeeeeelp!!” she screams from the bottom of her lungs.
Her cries are heard. A large blue figure appears in front of her. The Demon inaudibly gasps as her father stops the monster in its tracks entirely. “GRAAAA!” an ear-deafening roar echoes throughout the forest as the monster is thrown in the air and crashes on its back. The Goblin jumps and brings down a huge strike that tears through its armor in one fell swoop without even giving it a chance to resist. The monster releases a garbled noise, then stops moving.
Turning around, the Goblin finds his daughter lying on the ground in shambles. “Pa” she manages to squeeze out as he approaches and inspects her body for any fatal injuries. Tears drip like a waterfall from her face: “I… so scared” she sobs while being picked up by him. Leaving the monster behind the male Goblin hugs her and starts walking in the direction of the cave. “This hurt… I… don´t like” the Demon weeps, her speech interrupted by more tears. Her father nods, then looks at her. She's confused for a second, but then the realization hits her: “This… how you feel? How Ro… Re, Ba feel? How Ma… always feel? I too… so bad?” She asks. She gathers the courage to look up at her father, desperately in want of an answer. But the Goblin doesn´t lower his head anymore to meet her gaze, he only continues to move onward. “Is it?” the Demon asks as she closes her still watery eyes, hugging her father. “Is it?!” she cries desperately into his chest
“I… sorry”
--
The Demon has slightly calmed down as the two approach the cave, eyes still red though. The male Goblin signals the girl in his arms that he'll let her down now, she should walk on her own from here. She touches the ground and immediately stumbles a little before catching her step. Her father looks at her. "I ok," she answers
As both of them enter the cave, four worried figures quickly appear and get even more worried when they see the little Demon's state. Her mother quickly checks every inch of her body as the three Goblin kids just stand there, not knowing what to do.
She´s badly injured, not lethally so, but it´s actually surprising she didn´t lose consciousness. The mother picks her daughter up and carries her to the table they normally eat at. She lies her kid down on it. She sees her three siblings trotting behind with her father following as well from the corner of her eyes. The Goblin mother retrieves numerous pots filled with mashed herbs, with ´medicine´, and tends to the Demon's bruises, scratches, wounds and broken arm. The three small Goblins, instructed by their mother, fetch multiple flexible leaves their family uses as bandages. Their mother takes them hastily.
The Demon doesn´t say anything, she just stares at them moving frantically. Then, she begins sobbing again. Her mother quickly steps away from her daughter, afraid that she had hurt her somehow, but the Demon just shakes her head: “Nn, not your fault. No hurt” the female Goblin, clearly relieved yet still worried, approaches her daughter again “It just. I so terrible to you” she wipes away her tears “But you still worried. You still treat me. You still kind but I only hurt you. I-I sorry”
She barely manages to suppress the hicks that interrupt her talking. However her mother doesn´t mind. No, she tears up as well and hugs her daughter. The three Goblin siblings climb onto the table and hug her too. “I sorry. Everything, never do again” she says
"Thank you"
This day's events became a core memory in the Demon's mind that would change her forever. She swore, with the intent to never break her oath, to never hurt her family again. She finally realized she could trust them, that they cared and protected her. And she felt she wanted to do the same for them too. Her heart has been opened and for the very first time, a Demon has formed an emotional bond with beings outside its own species.
On this day, the girl felt genuine happiness for the very first time in her life.