"Say what?!" I shouted across the field. I didn't need Brar to repeat it a third time, but he felt he did.

"Two sets of twin girls, Zolb!" I could feel the excitement coming from Brar. It reverberated through my entire head. Like someone was playing drums on my skull. "Orc and goblin twin girls! You realize how rare a girl is, right?"

I nodded my head even though I knew Brar could not see me move it. Gazing across the grain field, I found myself staring off toward nothing. Four more children from me? And twins again? These girls might never meet me. Did I want them to meet me? Would they want to meet me?

I spied Dirk talking to Vreek and wondered what the boys would think. Should I even mention it to them?

"Zolb!"

Coming out of my stupor, I acknowledged Brar.

"Yah?"

"You realize that in one act, you somehow beat the one percent chance of a female orc or female goblin? Both females are super excited and wanted me to tell you they cannot wait till the next time they see you. They are both hoping for a second chance with you!"

I groaned out loud, and I could hear Brar chuckling through the ring. This stupid ring had sent him that groan, and I knew he was laughing his hairy green goblin arse off. Every one hundred goblins and orcs born had a chance to be a female. Usually, it was less than what Brar said. Sometimes it would take over one hundred and fifty for a female to be born. I tried to remember, and I thought Brar had ten or eleven females in his camp. Adding four more would mean an extra twenty or thirty goblins and orcs in a year.

"You should celebrate!" Brar informed me. "Each of these children is massive compared to most of the new goblins and orcs. Tell Vreek! He will love the good news."

"Maybe I will..." I replied. "He is training tonight once Turk wakes up. We found a safe place to train. Dirk woke up a few hours ago. Turk was still asleep when I reached out to you. We are preparing to reach the Dwarf capital in a week or so."

"You found hearts that would work for Turk and Dirk?"

"Yes. Turk can now hold a heart in his hand and determine if he can grow from consuming it. The two they ate were good enough for them, but Turk said none of the ones we had would work for me. Vreek needs to catch up also, so we are getting him in on it."

Brar was quiet a moment, and I knew he was thinking.

"You and your boys always surprise me," Brar finally replied. "I cannot do that, but I would imagine it has something to do with how strong Turk is. Has he evolved yet?"

"Not last time I checked."

"Let me know if he does. You do not have to wait a week to inform me.”

I remembered Brar had mentioned that Turk might evolve soon and go down a path that none had done before. I tried thinking of all of the goblin classes I remembered from games and movies, and Turk did not fit into any of them. He was physically too powerful for a mage or warlock class, and his ability with a bow fit more with a hunter or archer class. When he combined his ability to use a bow with his magic, he did seem to be creating something new.

"I'll let you know," I promised as I let my mind wander more about Turk. "Do you want to know about our plans in the Dwarf capital or not?"

I heard a sigh and knew Brar was building himself up for that. "I know it is probably dangerous, but if Vreek says it is ok to attempt, I will have to trust that I imparted some wisdom to him over the years."

I chuckled and started sharing our plans for invading the city and entering the labyrinth after it reset. I detailed our goal of diving as deep as possible while killing as few of the weaker monsters we might expect to encounter. If we ran into dwarves, we would make sure to kill them all before one of them could escape by using their gem.

"You should be able to eat the monsters you kill. I don't know if the hearts will do anything for you until the lower levels," Brar added after I stopped. He had not shot down our idea as I had expected. "I would expect that once the dwarves find out something is in the labyrinth, they may send scouts or large parties, but they will most likely go slow. It will give you some time to go deeper. I am not sure how long you can stay in there."

Brar was right. It had been something I had thought about for a while. We would be speedrunning a labyrinth that I had no idea about. All those games and anime I had watched always detailed how deadly they could be. If we were trying to find magical items and gear worth collecting, it would have to come from what I would assume were bosses or some guardians every so often. The truth was we were walking blind. We were not sure where the labyrinth would be, and we had no clue what the labyrinth would actually be like.

The other races had been farming them for centuries. We would only get one shot at this before word spread, and every city protected theirs from us.

"I'll do my best not to die," I joked. "If things get bad, we will destroy the gem and teleport out."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"That is not a free escape," Brar reminded me. "You could get sent to the king's throne room. You could be put in the middle of their town. So do not depend on it to put you safely in the woods somewhere out of reach of all those who seek to harm you."

Why did everyone keep saying the King's throne room? Had that happened before? I glanced back at where Vreek and Dirk were and noticed that Turk was now out there. Dirk and Vreek were clapping him on the back, and even though I was easily fifty yards away, I could tell he looked different.

"Brar, I'll be right back. Turk is awake, and he looks different."

"Different, how?" Brar replied.

"I'm not sure. Let me walk over to him. Give me a minute."

“Holy mother of unicorn dongs!” I heard Dirk exclaim as I got closer. “You got tattoos, it looks like!”

I could see the dark lines running along Turk’s arms. It looked like someone had tattoed bands of half-inch black lines around his arms. They ran all the way to the back of his hands. I could see a small line near his collarbone as well.

“You look like you gained something new,” I called out as I got closer.

Turk turned and smiled at me and nodded.

I noticed his pants were soaking wet.

“You piss yourself also?” I asked.

Turk laughed and grimaced.

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “I found myself lying in my own shite and decided to clean up myself and my pants before I joined you all.” He tugged at his pants a little and shrugged. “Wet pants ride a little wrong.”

Vreek was still in awe as he examined Turk.

“You know these are rare?” Vreek murmured. “I think Brar has only a few lines on his chest and maybe on his back.”

Crap! Brar…

“Hey, Brar,” I said out loud, and all three of them looked at me. “I’m guessing Turk did evolve. He has black lines running all around his arms to his hands, and I think they also go over his chest and back.”

“Tell him to take off his clothes now!” Brar shouted. I felt the force of his shout in my skull again.

“Try not to yell next time. That hurts.”

I looked at Turk and gave him a playful grin.

“Brar wants you to remove all your clothes so I can tell him about your tattoos.”

Turk’s eyes darted at the three of us, and he shook his head.

“I guess I can’t say no, can I?” he asked sheepishly.

I laughed and shook my head no.

“Everything gets bigger, you said.”

Vreek and Dirk laughed, and Turk grinned. He ripped off his shirt and dropped his pants.

I remembered now why I had told the boys when they were thirteen, they couldn’t skinny dip in the pool anymore. I didn’t want to see that either.

As Turk got dressed, I waited for Brar to finish his mumbling. He made me describe the lines multiple times. I figured he was sketching them while we stared at Turk. Vreek and Dirk had quickly left after looking at the lines all over his body.

“Ok, I think I have figured out two of the lines and what they mean. The other three I am not sure of,” Brar informed us. “I will have to try and contact the King and see if he will answer me. It may be a while before he does.”

Turk stood there with a questioning look as I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m still waiting for him to tell me something,” I whispered to Turk.

“I can hear you,” Brar stated. “Give me one more moment.”

Turk smiled and stretched some. I could see his clothes were not going to last much longer. Thankfully our armor had been made with a few leather clasps, so we could modify it as we had grown. Our shirts and pants, however, felt like what Bruce Banner must have experienced before the Hulk came out.

While I was waiting on Brar, Turk bent down and picked up the bow he had taken from the archer.

“I think I finally figured this out,” he stated as he started to pull back on the string.

The string started to glow, and suddenly a glowing arrow appeared from nowhere. It sparkled in the waning sunlight, and he let it go. It almost seemed to teleport across the field before blowing up a massive tree’s base. Chunks and splinters flew in every direction as the huge tree toppled towards the field and crashed into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and destroying a large portion of the crops it landed on.

“That was stronger than I had expected,” Turk exclaimed as he stood there, grinning like a fool.

“When did you?... I mean, how did you?...” I found myself stumbling over questions I wanted to ask, but I was unsure where to start.

“What are you babbling about?” Brar demanded.

“Turk just shot an arrow from a bow made of what I guess was pure magic. There was no arrow when he pulled the string back, and it just showed up,” I stated as I turned to look at the tree that was easily over two hundred feet tall that had been knocked down. “It took out a tree that was at least as wide as an ogre from a distance greater than your inner camp.”

“Are you joking?” Brar asked me.

“How would I come up with something like that? I just saw it happen, and Turk is standing there like it is nothing new to him.

“Elf tits!” exclaimed Brar. “I think I know then what those lines on his arms do now. He has two magic affinities on his chest. Fire and lightning. I am unsure about the other ones on his back, but I think the lines draw his power to his hands, which let him direct the magic through them.”

“Turk, do you feel the magic flowing through your hands when you do that?” I asked.

He shrugged and held out his right hand. Suddenly a tiny fire floated above the palm of his hand.

“I guess you can say so. It took me a while, but I figured out how to draw my magic through my body to make it do what I want. Do you remember when I could make the arrows glow that I shot before? Well, now I don’t need the arrow. I can connect the bow and the space between to make it appear.”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“Brar, that is a yes.”

“Interesting.”

“Anything else besides interesting?” I asked.

“Ask him if he has figured out what magic he is sending through his feet.”

I glanced down at the lines that ended on Turk's feet and then looked up at his face.

He was wearing one of those smiles I knew too well from when he was a child.

He was about to show off his new ability.