“We WON!” Alex shouted as he ran, jumping into Andrew's arms.

Watching them play that 97 minutes of soccer almost ended me. The game was 0-0 all the way through it. Going into penalty kicks for the championship was a dream for everyone but me as the father of the goalie.

I had bitten my nails off already during the game and when the other team lined up for a shoot off I found nothing but stubs to bite. Each time Alex had managed to read the kicker and the ball. He had managed to prevent the other team from scoring. Andrew was up and he was trying to score for our team. Alex had done his job by blocking five goal shots in a row and Andrew was taking our fifth and last shot in this shootout round.

As he lined up to kick, I knew where he would kick it. Andrew and Alex had practiced every day for over fourteen years. Since the age of three, they had loved soccer. Now at seventeen, their team had a chance to advance to the state title game, and it all fell on the shoulders of Andrew.

I stood there, amazed at how easily he laughed and smiled. It somehow looked like he did not have a care in the world. He seemed to have not feel the pressure most would in a moment like this. How I wished their mother was alive to see them now. It hurt my heart every day that she had died of cancer and left me alone to raise these two amazing boys.

The kick was a thing of beauty. A sidekick to the top corner post bounced into the back of the net. Our team and our school crowd erupted in cheers, rushing to where Andrew was standing.

We must have celebrated on the field for a good half hour.

I still remember the smell of the grass. I could never forget the smiles on my boy's faces.

Everything had been a perfect dream until we started to leave the field. It was perfect until the moment when one of the boys from the other team stepped out from the shadows of that hallway. He had gotten a red card for slide-tackling Andrew during the game.

He was angry and upset. His eyes were glaring at Andrew.

“YOU FLOPPED AND GOT ME THAT CARD!” he shouted. “I should not have been ejected! I won’t get any offers to college because of you!”

He was jabbing his finger into Andrew’s chest. Andrew did nothing, standing there and taking it but I would not let him ruin this moment. I saw the other boys on the team surging forward about to get involved so I stepped in front of Andrew and the boy.

“Back off, son, the game is over. Tomorrow will be better,” I said as I got between him and my boys.

I really never felt the slug tear through my chest. I mean I realized I had been shot but still could not feel it. Another bullet suddenly struck me in the shoulder, and I fell trying to comprehend what was happening. I saw my boy's faces as they charged the young man who kept pulling the trigger on the gun he was holding. I saw them go down, shot in the chest as well. More boys from the team rushed to help. Peter and Duncan were shot before the team took down that young man. Things then went dark.

-----------------------------

Opening my eyes, I smelled trash and filth. I wondered if I had somehow made it to a hospital but I could not understand why it smelled so bad. The light was also wrong. I could see the sky.

Someone was yelling, and I could not figure out who. The voice was like a growl and scratchy. Turning I saw two creatures that looked like goblins, that I would imagine from a show or a game I had played, before me yelling.

“Dad! Dad is that you?!" They were screaming.

Confused, I shook my head and started to move backward along the ground on my rear.

“It’s us, Dad! Alex and Andrew! What happened?”

Looking around, I suddenly realized I had green arms too. My clothes were nothing more than rags and I looked like I was some underfed creature from one of my games.

“Is this a dream?” I mumbled.

“No, Dad. Did we die? Duncan and Peter are here too!” He pointed to two other small goblins huddled together a little bit away.

I looked to where the one talking to me pointed, and I saw that they were hugging and crying. They looked at me, and I saw their faces were drenched in tears.

“This cannot be real,” I mumbled as I felt my face. I felt my teeth and could feel sharp tips on each of them. My fingers taste like dirt and trash.

“Where are we? How long have I been out?”

Both of my boys rushed me and fell on top of me. I could not believe how small they were. So skinny and scrawny. How many years had it been since I could hold both of them at one time?

“Mr. Phillip,” I heard one of the other goblins say, “What has happened?”

Sitting up, I saw they had moved closer.

“Is that really you, Peter, and Duncan?”

“I’m Duncan,” responded the one on the left. “Last I remember was us getting shot after the soccer game. Does this mean we died?”

Nodding I motioned for the boys to let me stand up. My body felt weird. Strong and yet clumsy. I had watched enough anime to have some idea about this possibility but to believe for a moment that this was real seemed impossible. And why were we goblins? Shouldn't we be humans or elves or something noble? Why be a race that is weak and evil?

“Dad, what are you thinking?”

Looking at the goblin on my left, I smiled.

“Alex?”

He nodded and gave a toothy smile.

“How did you know?”

I smiled and shrugged.

“You look the same.”

Laughter broke out, and for a moment, we forgot the problem before us.

I looked around and realized the small clearing we were in was part of a thick forest. In the distance, I could barely see some mountains in one direction, and the sun was directly overhead. I had no clue which way to go or even what to expect.

“Well if this is what I think it is, we need to stick together. Let's find some sticks and rocks and at least have something to fight with if we have to.”

“You really think we will have to fight something, Mr. Phillip?”

Nodding, I paused for a moment.

“Status. Inventory. Menu.”

Looking around, I realized nothing was happening when I said those words.

“I already tried that,” Andrew said with a laugh. “First thing I tried when I realized this was not a dream.”

“I am glad you paid enough attention when we watched all those shows together," I joked.

I pointed to the trees ahead of us.

“Well, let's get something to defend ourselves with at least and see what we can find. I am guessing there has to be a goblin village or something nearby.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

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“Why are you shaking?” Turk asked.

I put on my best smile and lied. I did not want to think about what had come next. The slaughter of Peter and Duncan.

“Just excited for us to try our first real heart. We need to hurry up and eat them before they start to lose their power, I believe.”

“That sounds so strange to hear,” Dirk said with a shudder. “I mean, we ate a lot of weird stuff before, but this is a whole new thing. Bugs were bad enough, but a heart…”

I nodded and pulled out the hearts Brar had let us keep. The shirt we had taken from the warrior had done a great job keeping them protected as we transported them. It felt weird knowing I was killing humans. I would have hoped to have been one in this world.

Looking at that heart, I was thankful that goblins spoke when they should not. It was how I learned that a heart was a special thing.

We had gotten to camp, injured and hungry, and had no clue how things worked. Apparently, the more hearts you eat of a fallen foe, and the stronger they were, the more powerful one could become. I figured it was how a goblin and other races leveled up, as I had explained to the boys before. Supposedly the humans took trophies from us and other creatures and offered them to their gods or paid for their power increase with treasure.

Holding the heart in my hand, I could feel the warmth of it gone. This was my first real success in this world, and I would not risk passing it up. I would kill as many people and creatures as I had to if it meant I could protect my boys. I would not let them suffer the same fate as Duncan and Peter.

I felt the boys watching me as I lifted it to my mouth. Tearing off a bite with my teeth, I was about just to swallow it whole when suddenly the flavor of it hit my tongue. It tasted better than anything I could remember ever eating. I knew I looked like a starving creature as I horked down the rest of it quickly. I could feel something inside me bursting with energy. It was like I had slept all night and finally ate a full meal.

“Was it that good?” laughed Dirk.

Laughing, I nodded.

“Let me cut your piece in half rather than talk about it. I am afraid words will not describe it, but I do not believe I have ever tasted anything so amazing in any country.”

Both Turk and Dirk looked at me with their eyes wide. Even in that dimly lit tent, I could tell they were excited to try it now.

I took the sword of the warrior we had slaughtered and marveled at how easily it cut the piece of heart they had been given by Brar. The sword was in immaculate condition. No nicks or rust, and the balance of it was great compared to my old, rusty, broken sword. Handing each of them their piece, I laughed as they looked at each other and took a bite at the same time. Both of their eyes went wide, and they quickly devoured their half.

“Praise the Goblin Lord,” Dirk said with a laugh. “I thought you were joking at first, but that is amazing. I could easily eat a dozen right now.”

Turk was nodding and licking the blood off of his fingers. Part of me wanted to feel squeamish but I realized I had done the same thing without knowing it.

“What now?” asked Dirk.

“Well, I was going to say we should rest but I do not feel the need for it now. Instead, how about we take this armor and get some resized for us?”

Both boys nodded and started digging through the pile of armor. The leather should not be too bad to be adjusted or resized. Finding a goblin in camp who would do it quickly was the main problem.

Exciting the tent I noticed the goblins now sitting outside of the tents close by. They were watching to see who we were. They sat outside their dirty tents that looked just like ours. Some grunted a greeting but most just wanted to see who their new neighbors were. Flashing a toothy smile, I strode off towards the place in camp where I knew the goblins we would need would be. For the first time since waking up here, a small ray of hope seemed possible in this place.

“Two weeks!” shouted the goblin who handled the armor requests. He pointed to the two orcs behind him who were stretching some armor across a wooden table, waiting to be cut. “I have orders for others. I cannot do it before two weeks.”

“What if I pay extra? I need it in less than a week. Brar was specific in when he wanted me to accomplish for him.”

The goblin looked at me and cocked his head sideways.

“You throw that name around like you are something special. Are you sure you want to risk what he might do to you if he finds out?”

I put on the best poker face I could imagine a goblin having and glared at him.

“Ask Vreek. Today he told me what he wanted, gave me a tent in his section, and,” I stopped and looked around as I leaned in and whispered, “Brar gave us a heart to make sure we were up to the task!”

His eyes widened and he leaned back from me. I could see him trying to weigh his commitments to what he thought Brar would have tasked me with.

He growled and shook his head as he turned to look at one of the orcs.

“Snaglak! Go get my measuring rope and hurry!”

Turning back to me he glared.

“I will not charge you for the rush but if I find out you lied to me I will watch as Brar cuts out your heart.”

Cackling, I shrugged.

“What about if you find out you are wrong and he gets upset? Do I get to watch?”

Fitoz had already eyed my sword and probably wondered how I had gotten it. Now with this knowledge, he knew the risk was too much. I laughed inside because I had finally realized how much these goblins operated by fear. Death was always a possibility and upsetting the wrong one could hasten it.

The measuring process had not taken long and Fitoz was content to take our payment of the metal scraps we found in the chest. Metal was extremely valuable in camp. He informed us it would be ready in five days, unless of course, someone more important came and needed something before us. Now we were ready to eat!

Finding the food area was easy. That smell was one of the few things that was stronger than the other smells in the camp. When we got to the one serving food from a giant pot he barely glanced at us before handing us a bowl. No one would be foolish enough to come here for food without permission. Death was a guarantee, and ending up in this pot was likely.

Watching those who walked around in this area was educational. Most moved with greater agility and coordination than the others in the main camp. They had better equipment and seemed to have an air of confidence. They were here because they had earned their place through combat and they were skilled in something worth protecting.

I motioned to my boys to lean in while we talked.

“We need to train and find someone who can teach us all better skills if we want to survive. Our knowledge from the games we played and things we have seen in our life probably will not help us that much here. Tactics will be important but skills are what we need now.”

Both boys nodded as they horked down their food. There was no telling what was in that bowl of mush but it didn’t matter to any of us at the moment. It seemed everything tasted better after eating that heart earlier.

I tapped my empty spoon against my mouth for a moment as I weighed some options.

“How do you two want to train? I can play the front line but I am not sure that we want to limit ourselves to two assassins. It worked today because that party left their weaker members defenseless but against more organized parties that will limit us.”

Pausing between bites Dirk pointed his spoon at me and asked, “How many more members are we going to want to take on? I think we would all agree Xeld is a good choice but I am not sure Klas will work long term.”

I took a few more bites and nodded in agreement.

Pointing my spoon at the two of them I knew part of the solution was easy.

“At some point, we need to find someone who can do some healing. I know that healing and magic are both rare in this camp. We would probably have to ask Vreek for help with finding someone who can do that.”

“Dirk should be the one who attacks from behind,” Turk said, almost interrupting me. “He has always been the better attacker. I’ll focus on defending us by using a bow or if we can figure out magic, that way.”

It did make sense. Dirk was the better attacker. A lifetime of finding openings to dodge through had given him skills that would serve us best. Now we just needed to find out where we might learn some skills. I took the last two bites in my bowl and looked at the two of them.

“I’m finished and ready to find Vreek. You two done?”

Both of them nodded and set their bowls on the ground. Looking around I realized there were bowls all over here. No one that ate here took care of them. Another perk of this section I figured.

We finally found Vreek’s tent after asking one of the goblins who were patrolling this section. He had eyed us but given directions because he knew no one would be dumb enough to be here without permission. I had not realized how close his tent was to ours. His tent was two rings closer to Brar’s and his tent was twice the width as ours. It was then I noticed that there were four more rings between his tent and Brar’s and they all increased in size the closer the tent was to the middle. Rewards. Always a reward if one survives the risk.

A single orc guard stood outside Vreek’s tent and was eyeing us as we approached. He was twice as tall as me and had enough muscles to squeeze the life out of a horse, it looked like. His massive canine teeth jutted out of his mouth and it was hard to decide if he was frowning or just looked that way all the time.

“You look like Zolb and his two lackeys,” growled the guard.

“And you are?”

“None of your damn business. Now what do you three want?”

“Vreek told me to find him when it was time to eat.”

The glare of the orc was intimidating. I was not sure that right now even the three of us could take him with the element of surprise. The club he had on his back was almost as tall as one of the boys. One hit would most likely break every bone in my body.

“Stay here,” he growled as he moved closer to the entrance of the tent.

“Boss, the trash is here.”

I saw the look on Turk and Dirk’s faces. They knew we were not much but to hear someone call them trash was angering them.

“Let it go,” I whispered. “We will prove ourselves in time, right now we take what they say.”

A moment later the flap flew open and Vreek strode out, pulling up his pants and fastening them over a massive bulge. Sweat was all over his body. I realized what he must have been doing inside.

“Sorry to bother you, sir. You had mentioned coming by during dinner time. Would later be better?”

“Don’t grovel like that. You are not some worthless pink bag of flesh.” Vreek scowled as he finished fastening his pants. “I can finish what I was doing later. Let's get something to eat.”