Fuck. This. Shit. That had been my mantra for the last three hours, floating about through my head back and forth, distracting me while I fought for my life. Winding its way through my head It had warped me into a person capable of surviving, which I fully planned on doing.

Looking down at the ground, I frowned. I felt off, everything around me was quiet. No birds chirping, no wind rustling the leaves. it's as if the entire world was holding its breath. Sitting there I pushed all of my senses to their Max, attempting to pick up what hid from me. Eventually, I found it. They're right fucking below me, those ugly green bastards.

Shuddering, I started moving, finding part of the tree smashed together with another tree, the branches tangled together. Perfect for hiding. Ignoring the creaking of the occasional branch beneath my feet I crawled and climbed my way toward the clump of branches, determined more than I ever had been in my entire life. If I didn't make it my arms would eventually tire holding my body up, and I'd fall, hopefully dying in the process. What would happen if I didn't die? No one wants to find out.

Eventually, I made it, pivoting around the leaves and twigs blocking my path before reaching my destination. Arms dropping, I collapsed, back against the trunk. Clenching and unclenching my hands to stop the shaking, I finally relaxed. Flopping on a particularly sturdy spot I relaxed, feeling my spine pop and crack. That shit was waaaayyyy too close. Fuck I'm tired. Moments later I was asleep.

Waking up I quickly got to work. after all, there's no rest for the hunted.

Plan C was simple. Run, fight back when you can, and get tortured slowly by inhuman creatures until my death. Simple in theory, but hard to apply to real life. I was dehydrated, my mouth cracked and dry. My arms felt like lead and my hands were scratched and torn beyond belief, courtesy of the countless tree branches around.

The occasional grunt of a goblin drifted up from the forest floor, quiet, but there. Either they were resting right under my tree, or they were waiting for me to come down. Either way, it was deep shit. I needed water and fast before I started hallucinating. At that point, all would be lost.

It took a while, but I've found my new weapon. A branch that's partially broken about… ten feet? Nah closer to 15. A branch about 15 feet above me. Already broken just hanging on by a thread. The piece broken off is gnarly, all spiked and uneven, and just dangerous when stabbed at a living thing. It's perfect. The only problem is, I can't climb up there. There are too few branches to climb up on, and they might be too small to stand on. Fuck. Again.

Hand on my stomach I groaned, trying to ignore the growling in my stomach. Looking at the sap slowly leaking from the tree, I was tempted to try it. Didn't we get maple syrup from the trees back home? It should be fine. Sure, I don't have water to make it more watery, but I can still eat it… right?

Holy shit this is GOOD!!! This syrup tastes like Cocaine or something, I feel great. Like I've had hours of rest, and have just swallowed a gallon of water and a Big Mac.

You know what? I am gonna climb for that branch, and then I'm gonna take it down to the ground and stab all of those goblins to death. Fuck them, and their red eyes. They want to mess with ME!? Wait until they see what a cornered drugged-up human can do. I'll give nightmares for as long as they're alive.

Bringing my left arm up, I grasped another branch at the base, pulling myself up to the next branch as easily as cutting a pie. Holy shit this stuff is the absolute best, I need some more of it.

Reaching my cut, bruised, and bloody hands I stuck my finger in some more of the magical ooz, sucking it off my pointer finger with a loud *POP* as my finger left my mouth. When I get back to earth and start selling this stuff I'll be richer than Heisenberg.

Hoooly am I stupid as shit. Turns out goblins have good hearing when they want to and they branch way up on a tree cracking and snapping intrigued them enough to climb said tree. The tree I was in. Currently, I'm just sitting here back in my bush, trying to ignore the snarling and growling of green people 30 feet below me, but I know I won't last here forever. It looks like I'm going to be fighting more than I thought. The good news is that syrup is fucking good, still. I think I might be addicted.

Gripping the makeshift spear tighter I watched as the goblins climbed closer. I feel like I could reach out and touch them. They occasionally stopped to sniff the air, no doubt smelling me now, frequently snarling at each other In what I assumed was an argument of some kind. Maybe they were deciding whether to kill me themselves or ask for help. Snapping out of my mind I gripped the sharp piece of wood in my hands harder, knuckles going white. Fuck, just get this over with already. Leaning forward I looked straight down, watching the goblin directly below me, now so close I could grab its hair, look up directly into my eyes. Its eyes widened, no doubt putting everything together, but before it could so much as squawk I landed on it, the sharp end of the pointy stick first, right in its left eye.

*SQUELCH* The eye popped like a balloon, and I was happy. I had successfully defeated another opponent, heck, maybe I had a chance to survive. Before I could think any further reality hit me hard, in the form of gravity. Slamming into the boney body I fell, letting go of my spear for the nearest branch, watching as the smashed body finally hit the ground. Crazy screams echoed up through the trees, and I barely had a second to think before I felt claws tear into my back, dragging me down with them. Screaming in surprise, I fell to the ground, the forgotten goblin latched to my back.

Coming to consciousness, I screamed. The now dead goblin's claws were stuck into me, ripped off its mushed body, which I landed on. Reaching around I tried anything to get the pain to stop, face so wet from tears I practically had a shower to no avail. My hands, and feet for that matter, were bound, crude rope digging painfully into my wrists. The skin rubbed raw already, I still strained, ignoring a dozen goblins around me laughing as I rolled on the ground. Eventually, I gave up, the pain overriding my will. Tears fell, then stopped, no more tears to spill. Why won't they just kill me? Please. Please kill me, I'll do anything. Nothing. Drug by a rope attached to my feet I screamed some more as the rocks and roots and uneven earth tore at my back some more, aggravating the goblin claws and ripping new wounds all over.

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The goblins just continued laughing, poking me, and kicking me, I felt none of it. Just pain. And the truth was that I was nothing to them, just entertainment. They didn't care that I cried, I didn't care that I cried. The tears changed nothing, the struggle changed nothing. I was already dead in their eyes, I was already dead in mine. At the end of the movie, this moment, however long it happens to be, was the credits. Eventually, the pain meant nothing as I was strung up on a cliff, watching the goblins party over their dead brethren, eating them as well. Soon I'm next. Thank God. Thank you.

Morning came around, and I screamed some more. Sleeping seemed to have returned some of my sanity, and now I could feel all of it, the lack of skin on my back, the claws stuck in dirty exposed flesh, the raw and bleeding skin on my wrists, all of it and more. An hour later, under the mocking stares of a few goblins, I passed and shat myself, passing out again.

It turned out the goblins wouldn't eat me until I fully lost hope. For some reason, I couldn't lose it. For fucks sake the one time I needed to go with what life wanted I couldn't.

My days went something like this. Sleep, wake up, scream, sleep, wake up, scream, sleep, wake up, scream, sleep, wake up, scream, sleep. You get the idea.

It rained five days in, and the goblins gave me some rainwater. The Fulkerson, they enjoy my suffering. Turns out I'd live a bit longer.

On day seven I barely felt the pain anymore. Instead, I wriggled, trying to yank my hands free of the bindings around my hands. It didn't work. Later I screamed some more.

The screams weren't for the pain anymore, rather they were screams of frustration. I wanted to escape and had somehow gotten reinvigorated by a mysterious energy. Then it's like I would change, and become a whole new person. Those times I changed, I screamed.

The goblins had taken to feeding and watering me, all the while I sat strung up on a cliff. They were interested to see how long I survived.

Two weeks in, and I was actually healing. The claws had sort of settled in my body, the rest healing around them like they weren't even there. I felt them sometimes, other times distracted by the insane capabilities of my own body. I hoped I wasn't hung here forever. Honestly, though, I didn't hate it anymore, the pain. The suffering. It was such an ingrained part of me I was interested to see what new pains I felt the next day. I was starting to not feel like myself anymore. I screamed less, as well.

In the middle of the night, my bindings fell off. I had rubbed them against my wrists and teeth, trying anything to loosen them and it had finally happened. I watched the brown and cracking rope fall away, caught in surprise for a while. I had never thought it would work.

Turning, I looked at the now larger goblin camp on the shore of a river, five huts where one had stood. Saying the special words, I watched as my Status appeared in front of me.

Dyon, Age: 19yrs

Level: 4

Class: [Locked]

Strength 5

Endurance 13

Intelligence 9

Wisdom 8

Magic 1

FSP: 5

Skills: (Max 3)

Pain tolerance - 7

Five Stat points. Why? I had only gained two levels, but… my new skill. Pain tolerance. Was there a bonus attribute every five levels? Or was it just because I had unlocked a new skill? Stuff to find out later, I guess. I had killing to do.

Dumping my Stats into different attributes I looked at my new stats, feeling a mysterious energy enter my body. When it passed, I looked back at my stats, confident in my choices.

Strength 8

Endurance 13

Intelligence 9

Wisdom 8

Magic 3

My picks were simple. Endurance had gotten such a boost somehow that it didn't need to be improved anymore, far outclassing all of my other stats. The strength needed to be increased so I increased it and Magic, well… magic was magic. That was sure to be vital for my survival, I couldn't just not increase it. I wasn't actually sure what it did though, I could solve that later.

Staring down at the bindings holding my waist I frowned, just realizing my next problem. How do I get down? Moments later the answer came to me.

Sucking in my stomach, I watched the rope sag a little bit, no longer stretched taut by my slightly pudgy belly. Sliding down the cliff face the air was knocked out of me, the rope caught on my ribs now. Fuck. Pushing on the rope I tried to loosen it, stretch it, anything really. Nothing worked. Even with 8 strength I couldn't just break anything I came across. I guess I'll have to break my ribs and collarbone. Sighing, I stopped for a moment. Did I really want to do that? I could also rip off the newly grown skin on my back, I should be able to lose enough width that way, I'll just slide down the cliff to the ground.

Fuck. What should I do? I have to survive, by any means necessary. Pushing back into the rope with my arms, I smashed my back into the rugged cliffside, slowly lowering down past the rope. Even with pain tolerance, it felt horrible, and I grunted, squealed, and cried as I finally hit the ground. Laying there felt so good, muscles now finally able to fully relax. I couldn't rest, though. Not yet.

Standing up on shaky legs I hobbled toward the goblin village, remembering how to walk. By the time I reached the first hut, I wasn't nearly as shaky. Peering into the dark single-room home I saw no goblins, just massive bowls with lids sitting all around the floor.

What the fuck? Do they store things?

Walking forward I reached down with my left arm, feeling a sharp pain explode in my back. Fuck, those goblin claws are still in there. I'll just have to ignore them, I can't get them out right now anyhow. Shaking my head I refocused, ignoring the worsening and worsening pain all across my back as I reached down, finally removing the wooden lid. What I found… well, let's just say it made my life a whole lot easier.

Food, lots of food. And syrup. The sweet glorious syrup. I scared down the entire first bowl right away, running toward the next bowl. There were plants, but also meat, cooked to a near char but cooked. These goblins were my heroes. The third bowl I came to just had the tree syrup, which lit up my world. Sticking my fingers into the sweet golden tree juice I slammed them into my mouth, the stuff running all over my chin and down my bare chest. Oooooohhhh my God. It's so gooooooooood.

Half an hour later with four new empty bowls, I had eaten my fill. Sitting there I watched the goblin camp, encased in darkness. I couldn't get something out of my head, after all this time.

Level: 4

Class: [Locked]

I could unlock my class. Right now. I was full of food and that magical syrup, I had improved stats and a crazy new skill, and all the goblins were sleeping. I could probably get an entire hut before the others woke up. Could I take almost two dozen goblins? I honestly didn't know. What I did know is that these goblins had to pay. They tortured me, so I'd repay them the same way they paid me. With blood and pain. Blood and Pain.