“Keep- Keep him still, please.” Jack said as he tried to reach out for the goblin moments before it sent out a kick in his direction. Luckily enough, Arturo stepped back just in time for the kick to barely miss him. He looked down at Liam with anger, who just laughed weakly. “Sorry, the thing ripped away from its pants. And I didn’t want to grab its legs.” Jack’s face didn’t shift. The bastard had almost cost him. Well, he had “Weaving Fortune” so… he really couldn’t act like he didn’t see the strings move in his favor.

Still, Liam was inept.

“Could you hurry? I don’t want to hold this thing too long.” Arturo said from the back. Jack sighed and tried again. The reason they had to hold the goblin down was because Jack apparently couldn’t “Capture Puppet” from more than a few inches away. His strings could only come out so much before they reverted back into his hands. He went to try again before he realized… couldn’t he just move their strings? From a distance he outstretched his hand, aiming for the top of the goblin, where the most strings resided. “...Strings of Fate”

Something in his mind shifted, and all of a sudden the strings attached to the goblin stretched to wrap around the monster. They shifted and moved, but never showed any sign of actually breaking, which was good for him. The goblin slowly stopped moving, breathing in heavily as it’s body seemed to almost tighten together, lines appearing in his flesh. The two holding the goblin noticed this. “Uh, Jack?”

He didn’t respond, pulling the strings towards his hands. He could tell that despite the string’s strength, him deforming them to this point was severely hurting the goblin. It seemed to be quite an interesting new weapon to use in a fight. The goblin’s strings were soon wrapping around Jack’s hands, enough for him to start. “Capture Puppet.” His strings shot out, as if they could sense the string’s proximity to them.

They coiled around the strings and snapped them almost immediately, making the goblin fall limply in the arms of Arturo. Him and Liam looked at Jack confused, only to see his face.

Jack’s mind was on fire.

It wasn’t horrifically painful, exactly, but his mind felt like it was being used as fuel to make the proper flame to feed this monster. The strings turned from black, to a deep blue, to a thick, red line that spanned off the monster and into him. It was next to impossible to gain control, but it happened, and it had happened in less than a couple of seconds. As the red line slowly disappeared and the goblin twitched, he grinned. It was his.

It slowly started stirring in the big man’s arms, and the look of disgust on his face caused Liam next to him to laugh. Jack didn’t care, the strings attached to him filled him with a curiosity he wanted to thoroughly satisfy. “Let him go.” Arturo didn’t need to be told twice, dropping the monster before Jack even finished the sentence. He watched it as it slumped to the ground, face first. “I sure hope you know what you're doing. I’m stomping on that thing’s head the moment it acts bad.”

Jack gave him a quizzical look. Only a moment ago he had been acting like the world was ending because he killed something. Where did that meekness go? Even Liam was looking at it like he wanted to stab it, the psychos. “Goblin, come here. Get away from them. …Goblin.” The thing stood still for a second, before shuddering and standing up. It was slow, and clumsy… But weirdly enough, that made it more endearing, somehow.

He didn’t know why he felt this way.

It shuddered its way towards him, and unconsciously he put a hand towards the wrappings on its head. He pulled them off, seeing an actual goblin’s face for the first time. They seemed so short and childlike when they were fully dressed, but their faces showed their true colors. Their noses were squashed, and their skin had a slight bumpiness to it, as if it was covered in warts. Still, he couldn’t help but find the thing charming. “Jack! We need to go! Hurry man.” …Especially considering it didn’t talk.

The group had already formed together. This had only been the second time they had fought and already they seemed to be working together much better. It was to be expected, since they’d already gotten over their original shock of death. It wasn’t perfect, their hands still shook when they fought, and Abby had even almost dropped her spear when she sunk it into a goblin… But that wasn’t something his spell “String of Fate” couldn’t fix.

The guards stopped, looking back at them with hesitance. “Another group… Eight this time. Are you heroes prepared to take them on?” They were worried, which was more than he expected from them. “Of course. We were just a bit scared before. These goblins are nothing, now.” Jack smiled at those words. Liam and the others seemed almost eager to prove themselves. Eager to prove that their first battle was just a flook, a one-time thing.

It just meant he could practice his magic a bit more. “Go! Stay in pairs, and don’t stray too far from each other!” Liam shouted, running past the guards. The others didn’t miss a beat,charging alongside him with an almost bloodthirsty aura. Their strings of fate were wild and unkempt, and Jack knew that would only get them in trouble. He raised an arm out, walking behind them as they charged in.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

They fought better when he willed them to fight better. “Strings of Fate, Weaving Fortune” He reigned in their strings, compressing them and pulling them towards the goblins in a simple line. It made them less hesitant, less likely to die or get injured when they inevitably messed up due to fear. He also tightened the strings of fate in Liam’s and Arturo’s weapon’s, as well as Elijah’s and Mary’s when they occasionally went to the front lines to fight.

Unlike Arturo and Liam, the others pretty much all had their own ranged option to fight. Mary and Charlotte had this strange light that caused goblins to tire when they were hit, while Abby and Elijah could shoot a ‘magic bolt’, a blue strike of light that left serious burns on the monsters when they hit. Abby could shoot hers much faster, and the bolts were stronger too so at first he had assumed Elijah was just weaker than her.

He was wrong.

“M-Magic Infusion!” The boy’s words were meek as always, but the spear in his hand had suddenly turned into anything but. Something was coating it, making it longer and sharper looking, with a transparent blade that extended a few more feet past the normal metal. It cut through the monsters like butter, and even a slight graze of the magic weapon was enough to completely amputate an arm, especially when he was under the control of Jack’s “Weaving Fortune.”

Now, if only Elijah could gain some confidence in his fights… He only ever stayed in the front lines for a couple seconds at a time, going back to shoot the occasional Magic Bolt at any stragglers he’d failed to kill. Jack could understand, killing something from far away was much less messy than finishing them from up close. As he said those jinxing words, two goblins entered at the side, hidden from view from both the group and the guards.

The guards seemed alarmed, until Jack calmed them down with a dismissive wave. This was a good time to try out the efficiency of his new ally. He handed one of the goblin daggers he’d taken from the corpses before, and it took him only a second to grab it. “Take the one on the right, ok buddy?” It moved, brandishing the knife with both hands as it shuffled forward. The goblins seemed confused by this act, funnily enough. They even let the goblin come within arm’s reach.

It brought the knife into the air and slammed it down into the goblin’s right arm, cutting flesh deep as the monster screamed in agony. It was immediately tackled by the other goblin, but fortunately Jack had been there in just enough time to slam his spear down into the back of its head. It fell limply to the ground, the strings connected to it implying it was still alive. For something that needed to be horribly eviscerated before it died, it sure did faint easily.

“Get up, help me with the other.” Jack ordered, brandishing his spear on the second, wounded goblin. It didn’t bother letting Jack’s little friend get up, charging at Jack with little to no regard for its safety. He cursed, wishing that someone could help him capture this one as well. He simply pulled the string of fate in the goblin’s chest towards the tip of the spear, and thrusted the weapon forward. It hit dead center, entering a couple inches into the goblin before it panickedly fell to the side to avoid certain death.

At that point, Jack’s new puppet had finally stood up. He didn’t even need to order it to jump on top of the wounded goblin, grabbing its sides and hugging it so it couldn’t escape. Jack was actually surprised at how helpful the clumsy puppet had been. Despite its obviously defunct brain, it could definitely make for a good meat shield to protect him. He also didn’t rule out using “Train Puppet” Either.

All in All this skill was actually pretty good.

He thought about this as he jammed his spear directly through the struggling goblin’s stomach, twisting it and pulling it out to stab it over and over again until it stopped moving. It was injured, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to take control of both of them in the proper time… Killing one seemed to be the best option. He wanted to stab through its chest, but the force required to make it through the bone was annoying, and it wasn’t like the goblin would go anywhere.

“Don’t let go until it dies. I’m going to capture the other one.” The puppet goblin only responded by tightening around the dying goblin even more. He took that as a ‘yes, sir.’ Quiet, hardworking, and doesn’t question anything… He was starting to really enjoy this puppet thing.

Another one would just mean another proper ally.

He gently set his hand on the back of their head, looking at the tiny creature for a second before whispering the words. “Capture Puppet…” The strings wormed their way into the body, grabbing the outside strings and pulling them together. They twisted and turned around each other before snapping, the strings once again shifting colors before locking in place, a similar red line connecting to him. As he watched the line disappear, he stood up.

The goblin underneath him didn’t move, despite it being under his control. “...Get up.” He kicked it on the side. Nothing. Already this one was his least favorite of the two. He glanced back at his former puppet, seeing it mercilessly tighten around the already dead goblin. It was… grotesque, to say the least. “Puppet… Gobby, Get over here and wake this one up. That’s your name now.” The goblin had proved its worth, and now that there were two he couldn’t mix them up. As to why he named it that… Well, he likened it to a pet, and he wasn’t very good at names.

He walked past it to help the others, only to realize they had already finished up. Currently all they were doing was chatting and checking if they were okay. Well, guess he wasn’t needed. He turned to Gobby, who was still trying to slowly wake the second puppet up. He might as well start experimenting now. He grabbed Gobby by the back of the head as they continued their work, and whispered the words. “Train Puppet.” He whimsically watched as the line between him and the puppet suddenly reappeared, turning from red to a bright, shining pink. Then it snapped apart.

Jack almost swallowed his tongue as his brain felt like it got hit with a spiked bat.