Snarl walked towards Glob, who stood there, shaking from anger.

‘Idiots!’ Glob shouted, pointing a gnarly tree branch at its minions. Former minions. ‘Get him!’

Snarl turned and glared at the trio that littered the ground, they did not dare to even stand up. As is proper for the defeated.

Snarl needed a strong insult for this fat goblin, but commenting on its weight would only be a compliment, and ears length insults were beneath a Warren Lord of high standards. What was a good insult to start this one with? Snarl though.

‘This is not a power struggle!’ Glob screamed, hitting the deformed staff on the rocks. ‘Seize. You will not destroy goblins with your schemes. We will not be uprooted from our way of life!’ Glob shouted as Snarl approached it slowly, still thinking of something to initiate the fight with. The weak insult this goblin sputtered did not match its glorious body. It was weak at fights. ‘I. Will. Not. Allow it!’

‘You are a fake goblin,’ Snarl said with a sudden realization. The fat goblin reeled in shock, mouth open widely. ‘You refuse to do goblin things.’

‘How dare you, I’m twice the goblin you will ever be,’ Glob hissed.

Finally, the rage. The shaking. The weakness that Snarl should capitalize on.

‘Fake goblin.’

The two goblins rushed at each other, squeaking loudly. Stomachs forward, arms backwards, backs arched. The first blow sent Snarl to the side, and it hurt. That was a mighty belly, Snarl worried that it would become a minion of this fake goblin. At least, it was, until it turned around.

Its enemy was also hurt from the strike, so it was not as Snarl feared.

‘This is ridiculous!’ Glob grabbed the staff and pointed it at Snarl. ‘I will not be pulled back into our primal instincts.’

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It was not going to do goblin things, in other words. ‘Fake. Fake!’

The other goblins jeered and the defeated trio even began to look at each other, doubt rising in their eyes.

‘I won’t fall to your taunts,’ Glob approached and swung the staff, Snarl jumped back with a yelp and the staff splattered the wet dirt where it stood. ‘I won’t allow you to ruin goblin kind.’

Glob was refusing to belly joust. And did not move to the sacred third phase of Warren Lords battles? Snarl was so looking forward to the deadly eating contest, too.

This goblin was mocking all the things goblin, while saying it was protecting goblins. Snarl dodged a swipe, and got clipped on its shoulder with a twisted knob at the edge of the staff. An overhead swing followed, with the staff sinking into the melting ground.

Snarl rushed and did its most mighty belly jump while the staff was stuck. Glob’s eyes widened in horror as Snarl’s belly crashed into its pudgy face and sent it rolling.

‘Snarl is the Warren Lord,’ Snarl shouted. ‘I conquered this pathetic fake goblin, and its unfair servants. Now they all belong to me!’

The goblins cheered and rushed to raise Snarl in celebration. A few tosses, some groveling, a low of awe. Snarl accepted all of it with the humblest way it knew. ‘More! More, my servants!’

‘Little goblin from the forests,’ A voice sounded from within the tree. ‘Warren Lord Snarl, approach mine chambers.’

The goblins dropped to the ground, bowing, as the voice sounded. Snarl was left the only one standing. It forgot what it came here to do because of all the exciting things it had done. But now it was time to talk to this Oracle, to see what Snarl could do and use against Silent death.

It approached the tree, followed the opening in the trunk into a large tree room where a goblin sat on a rock.

‘Goblin who would end the life of goblin kind as we know it, what is it that you come to seek here?’

‘You are the one that knows stuff here?’ Snarl tilted its head to the side. That goblin looked so young and… not goblin like he was, but goblin like the slender kind that did not fight or joust. ‘I want to know Silent Death’s weakness, how can I defeat it?’

Oracle studied him with an empty expression before she answered. ‘I cannot stop fate, it will happen as I saw it. If you wish to defeat your enemy, the hunter of goblins, their silent death…’ Oracle moved to a tiny table, where she had placed a lot of strings. ‘Tie the bird down, prevent it its flight, they cannot fly, they cannot swim.’ She said as she formed the strings into a messy entangled ball.

‘Then bring our kind to the new age. Lord Snarl.’