Blood. Flesh. Brain matter. A mess of all three were spread on the ground where the goblin once was, dipped in a thick and oily pool of green blood. A moment ago, the goblin was still there, standing limp a few inches above the ground and trembling as Adam held it by the face. A moment later, an explosion of gore, then the goblin was no more.

Ruk and Caben had retreated a minute prior when they felt the weight of the air looming over them like a wave threatening to burst through a dam. Their skin tingled, their breaths grew heavy, and their bodies threatened to slump under the pressure.

Around them, things floated. From bits and pieces of debris to entire roofs and walls, pulled from the corpses of rotting houses and buildings.

They were beholding a power that was both alien and terrifying. There were no spells involved. No enchantments. No curses. No magic whatsoever. Psychic power enveloped them and their surroundings, wrapping them around the firm grip of a young man who had been through hell, and had just witnessed something similar.

The two made the wise choice, barely avoiding the shower of gore when it happened. Afterwards, they saw the young man covered in a bright light emanating from his skin. It was a mesmerizing and unsettling sight, and it didn't seem to bother the young man in the slightest. He didn't even seem to notice as his eyes remained closed.

Adam was not stained by the rain of blood and gore, courtesy of the psychic forcefield over his body and clothes. The bright light coming from his skin was a curiosity, but he ignored it. He had a serious expression on his face. A hard frown. He clenched his fists as he opened his eyes, ignoring the painful mental backlash of suddenly and violently ending the psychic connection with the goblin.

Rage. He was filled with it, tempted by it, but he wasn't about to let himself be controlled by it. Not again. Instead, he was determined to use it as a tool to drive him forward, a force to propel towards achieving his goal. And that goal was two-fold. Rescue and vengeance.

Before Ruk and Caben could ask any of the many questions that had arisen in their heads, Adam revealed what he saw.

"She's alive," Adam said as he turned towards them, "And many others, strapped around poles and barely scraping by to see another day."

Hearing this, Caben grew cheerful and angry as the two emotions clashed with one another. His daughter was alive! And though Adam didn't mention her, maybe even his wife as well. But the demeanor of the young man before him was not at all reassuring. He dreaded what came next.

"They're somewhere to the west, in an abandoned mountainside fortress. I believe the goblins have made their nest there." Adam said. He then turned to face Caben. "You accompanied explorers. Tell me, are you familiar with this fortress?"

Caben pondered, thinking hard as he tried to recollect the journeys he had undertaken for the past five years in vain searches for riches. Then it clicked. He knew of the place and where it was, but not what lied within. They never went that far.

"I do, we discovered it three years ago on an expedition. It's an ancient dwarf mountain hold. It was built into the side of the Peaks of Sorrow. But we found the outer city long abandoned and stripped of anything useful. We didn't bother venturing into the mountain hold itself since we didn't have the time and equipment." Caben shared.

Adam nodded then turned towards Ruk. His partner was already holding his ax accompanied by a serious expression on his face. "Point me to the vermin, brother. We'll slay them and rescue the humans!"

“Where is this dwarven hold?” Adam asked. He knew that it was somewhere westward, somewhat far from the village given the dense forests the goblins needed to traverse through and the fact that he couldn’t yet see any tall mountains from here.

Adam also knew that Caben didn’t know the exact location himself. The man said it himself. He was not an explorer, but a knight who accompanied said explorers. Instead, Adam expected to be given tidbits of clues. Geographical landmarks that could point the way.

“To the west of the village, a week away at best. The Peaks of Sorrow are surrounded by a dense and wet forested region called the Garden of Sorrow, but before we can even get there, we need to trudge past some marshlands and swamps.

Adam frowned. Places were given names that oftentimes described them in some sort of way, either literally or figuratively. That said, the use of the word ‘sorrow’ in the name of two places next to each other was not exactly a positive description.

"I do not know what those monsters are up to, but from what I saw they're preparing for something. Everyone, aside from your daughter, was strapped to a pole and left to suffer." Adam said, facing Caben now. "Your daughter, however, is in a cell beneath the foot of a large statue, being fed scraps."

Caben's eyes widened as horror dawned on his face and drained him of color. Adam sensed this and his frown deepened, expecting to find out about the worst scenario.

"They're preparing a ritual." Caben said, breathing heavily, "They're going to kill them. They're going to sacrifice them to a dark god!"

Adam's frown turned into a deep glare as his eyes widened in shock. A sacrifice? Ritual? For a so-called dark god? What kind of insanity was about to unfold? He shook his head, gritting his teeth. The goblins needed to be stopped before they could do it. Whatever the ‘summoning of a dark god’ even meant.

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There was, however, a problem. The memory was one month old. For all they knew, everyone had already been killed, sacrificed for a ritual that resulted in an outcome Adam was yet to appreciate and understand the gravity of. But He still hoped for the best, and so too did Ruk, and especially Caben.

"We won't let them finish it," Adam said as he stretched out his arms on either side of him, closing his eyes. He felt the psychic power flowing from his mind and through his arms, bursting unseen on his palms. The world around him was wrapped around his influence and under his control, at the mercy of his mind. If he so wished, a clenched fist would see trees crumpled in their hundreds while a raised hand would see the ground pulled upward from the bedrock. But he wasn't about to go and destroy the surrounding area.

He wondered, however, about his power. There was something new to it. It felt more potent, farther reaching, and much more flexible than before. It was as if something holding him back had begun to wane, letting loose an untapped reservoir of his psychic might into his fingertips.

Then something changed, like chains snapping and breaking loose. He opened his eyes, seeing farther and clearer than before.

Adam was liberated of something, and whatever it was, it scared him. Adam was not in any way, shape, or form, a cold man who could care less about everything and everyone around him. He was the opposite. He felt the emotions of others. He experienced his own emotions at a heightened level because of his inherent psychic abilities. He was, in all aspects, a man who cared too much. And the only reason he hadn't lost his mind just yet was because of his rigorous mental and emotional training.

Though unintentional, his parents had prepared him to face this new life of his in this strange land. It was overwhelming. Everything was. But not enough to break him.

Adam looked up to see a gray sky covered by thick dark clouds as a wind blew and brought with it a cold breeze of air. A storm was brewing again and at the worst possible time. If it rained, the journey westward would be made more difficult by swathes of muddy ground, higher bogs, and deeper swamps.

The only way forward would be to trudge through terrain that would almost certainly slow them down, even if they left their wagon of supplies and instead brought only their packs and backpacks.

Adam needed to think of something else. He closed his eyes as he went deep in thought, thinking about possible solutions in his head.

Then an idea came. A realization that was both obvious in retrospect but risky in application. That said, if he was successful, then the journey could be cut into just maybe a few days. If he was not, then he might find himself with a few broken bones and new scars.

There was only one way for Adam to find out.

"Stand back," Adam said as he walked away from Ruk and Caben. He walked towards a small patch of grass and stood there, breathing slowly and deeply as he readied himself.

Closing his eyes, Adam allowed his psychic senses to take over, merging with and enhancing the five senses of his physical body. Then, like a weaver of cloth, he weaved his telekinesis around his body, wrapping himself around his own grasp.

A few seconds later, Adam opened his eyes and beheld the befuddled looks of surprise of his companions as they held out their hands over their faces, covering their eyes from the bright light emanating from in front of them.

Adam looked down and saw that he was surrounded by a bright light, glowing like a blazing white star. He looked at his hands and found them covered by a blanket of psychic energy made manifest in the physical world in the form of solid light that flowed like calm waters.

Seeing his powers for the first time, he expected himself to be surprised, to be frightened, to be made uncomfortable at the unnatural sight. Instead, Adam was perfectly calm. He needed to be. He wanted to be.

For the young man who had otherwise suppressed a part of himself for most of his life, he was glad to finally see his other half.

Was he in full control? He hoped so. He wondered if his parents knew about this. If they did, it still didn’t explain why they were so vehement in reminding him to not use his powers on himself.

That said, he had now done so, and it felt good. There was a tingle over his skin, like a current of electricity mixed with the warmth of a flame. A low droning hum filled his ears, the sound of his psychic power making itself not just known but heard.

Was this his full potential? Or was it only the start of something more? Adam could only guess. But he had little time to consider any of these things.

"Brother?" Ruk called as he held his ax with a firm but tightening grip. The orc looked concerned, and Adam felt the uncertainty in his partner's mind.

Caben was likewise concerned, albeit more terrified and anxious with spear in hand.

"There is a storm brewing above our heads. Once it falls, our journey will be made harder and longer, and we do not have enough time to spare trudging through mud and murky waters," Adam said, his voice low but heard, "And there are lives at stake. We cannot risk moving slowly and arriving too late. We'll go a different way."

Adam's feet lifted from the ground, and he began to ascend. Slowly but surely, he floated upwards into the air. Instinct dictated that the lack of solid ground underneath his feet meant that he needed to flail, search for the floor, or fall, but he neither panicked nor fell.

He was up, he was in the air, and it felt right. Though there was a feeling of imbalance, it felt to Adam that the fix was nothing more than getting used to floating. And once that was achieved, flying.

Psychic power was controlled by the will of the person using it, and thus Adam willed himself to fly. And so he did.

Adam burst upward, surprising himself with the sudden speed while causing a sonic boom in his wake as he broke through the sound barrier in under a second. And yet, despite the fact that his insides should have been crushed by the force of his sudden ascent, he was fine.

In fact, in spite of his initial surprise, it felt as if everything was as it should be. He was flying towards the clouds and that was normal. Or so his mind wanted him to believe.

Adam reached the ceiling of dark and gray clouds in just a minute, but it felt longer than that. As he burst through the misty formations that were soon to bring about rain, he saw it.

A vast sky of blue, painting an empty but breathtaking horizon stretching beyond what the eye could see. He slowed in his ascent, coming to a stop a few hundred feet above the clouds.

Then he floated, suspended in the air as strong winds battered his forcefield and howled into his ears.

The air at this altitude was fresh and Adam took in a deep and refreshing breath. He felt free. He felt alive. But more than that, he wished that he could have shown the view to his parents.

After looking at the position of the sun to determine the time of day, he looked westward. There, in the distance, if Adam squinted just enough, was a mountain range.