Glo grew taller, growing even taller than Risha. He kept the same lean build as Risha, not gaining the bulging muscles of the orcs. His eyes glowed a sharp green, and his ears drooped more than Risha’s. His black hair stayed short, framing a sharper face.
He blinked then read something in front of him. He turned to Risha, a wide smile on his face showing sharp teeth. “Risha did it! You did it!” He wrapped his arms around Risha, lifting her off the ground in a huge hug. “Glo never doubted you! Glo knew that you were the best goblin! You’re way better than those ugly stupid orcs!”
Risha couldn’t stop the laughter that escaped her as she was twirled in a circle by the older goblin. “It’s ‘I’ Glo! We can talk fancy now!”
“Glo doesn’t care about fancy talk!” Glo said. He set her down, then danced in place with pure joy. He paused, and puffed out his now muscular chest. “Glo evolved! Glo evolved into a High Goblin Commander. What does that mean? Glo doesn’t care! It’s better than an orc and that’s all that matters to Glo.”
Risha shook her head as Glo continued to celebrate. Glo pulled her into dancing with him, and Risha’s smile grew to match his.
Eventually, they both lay in the grass, staring at the moon and the stars, so much brighter than they used to be. They could see entire galaxies that they were blind to before. They felt as if the clouds of winter had cleared for just this moment. They held hands, not romantically, but as a brother and sister who had seen far too much together in their short lives.
“What do we do next Risha?” Glo asked. “The overseer… he won’t like this.”
“We fight back.” Risha said. “We control the spiders, and if I help the other goblins evolve, we can become our own masters.”
Glo turned to face her, his face unusually serious. “You’ve never seen a full orc war party Risha. Even if you evolved every goblin in our village, we wouldn’t be able to stand against them.”
Risha frowned, her gaze staying on the night sky. “Then we contact the other villages. If we kill the overseer, it will take them a while to know what’s happening. They would never expect their trash servants to turn against them.”
Glo stayed quiet for a long while, then nodded. “We evolve Tya first! If you get her on our side, the elders will follow. If we convince the other villages to join us, maybe… we could be… free.” the last word came out as a whisper, as if Glo was scared to say it.
Risha nodded her head and they returned to silence.
“What was your skill?” Risha asked.
Glo looked over his notification, reading it carefully before responding. “[Commander]. It says ‘you are a leader among leaders. When you put your mind to a task, your people see it done. No enemy shall escape your blade.’”
“Sounds strong.” Risha said.
Glo nodded. “Glo is happy with it.”
The two of them got up and walked back into the village. Tya, as the village healer, was one of the few goblins who had a private hut. As they opened the door, they heard the soft sound of the old goblin snoring.
Risha was forced to crouch into the hut, while Glo waited outside. Hanging herbs lined the walls of Tya’s hut, and Tya lay sprawled out on her bed.
Risha was very gentle in her waking of the old goblin, and stepped away so as not to startle her as she woke.
Tya blinked blearily at Risha for a full minute before recognition entered her gaze. The old goblin smiled. “Risha strong!” Tya cackled to herself.
Risha smiled. “So is Tya!” Risha activated her skill.
Analyzing Goblin Tya’s feats
Possible Evolutions:
High Goblin Healer
High Goblin Elder
High Goblin Shaman
High Goblin Herbalist
Surprisingly, no orc options popped up for the old goblin. Risha wasn’t sure why.
After a moment of thought, Risha made her choice for Tya. Words came out of Risha’s mouth, but after they were spoken, she couldn’t remember them. The words wrapped around the old goblin’s spirit in much the same way as it did to Glo.
The old goblin didn’t grow as much as Glo did, instead staying rather small as her skin turned a healthier purple. Her hair’s gray color became a more vibrant silver, while her brown eyes gained that same glow as Risha and Glo’s. Tya’s ears drooped heavily, and she looked significantly younger, while still looking older than Risha or Glo.
The first High Goblin Healer blinked her eyes rapidly, then cackled even louder than she had earlier.
“Tya- I evolved?” Tya looked up at Risha with a wide smile. “I evolved! Risha! Risha! Was this you?”
Risha nodded.
Glo stuck his head into the hut and Tya’s smile somehow became wider. “We aren’t orcs! We’re goblins, but- but evolved!”
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The old goblin moved quickly and hugged Risha. Tya’s head came up to Risha’s stomach, and Risha happily hugged the old goblin back.
“We must hurry!” Tya said, pulling away. She grabbed Risha’s hand pulling her toward Glo and the outside. “We must evolve the others before the overseers come.”
Risha and Glo shared a glance, then turned back to Tya who stared at them curiously.
“We need your help Tya.” Risha started.
The old goblin listened closely as Risha shared her plan to gather the other goblin villages, a contemplative expression on her face.
“Risha…” The old goblin started after Risha was done. “You are not the first goblin to evolve and not be an orc.”
Tya grabbed a stick, leaning against it as she thought. Risha and Glo stayed silent, waiting for Tya to continue.
“This was many many years ago, when I was barely a month old. His name was Roc. He evolved into something more, stronger, and he attempted to unite the villages against the orcs. The orcs eradicated him, his entire lineage and every village that joined him.”
“Risha is not Roc.” Risha said,
Tya stared at Risha for a long time. Tya nodded. “You’re not Roc. Roc did not give power the way you do. I will help you Risha. There will be no turning back, and you set all of us on a dangerous path.”
Risha could not stand straight in the small hut, but she still lifted her head in an attempt to copy the empress she met through her skill. “Risha- I am the Grand Mother. I am a mother to all goblins, and I will protect them.”
Tya cackled, then bowed with the grace granted to her by her new evolution. “Tya will help the Grand Mother.”
Glo lowered his head from where he listened. “Glo will help the Grand Mother.”
Tya may have been the oldest goblin in the village, but there were five elders that came close.
Tya gathered them all without giving any explanation, and brought them around the campfire that was used only on the most important of occasions.
Risha studied the old goblins, all of them looking up at her from their small stature.
Two of them looked exactly alike, and were the oldest hunters in the village. Mook and Sook were their names.
Another was an old Mother that was far past her birthing days. She now helped the other mothers where she could. Her name was Lia.
Another female was named Roa. She was the oldest spider raiser, an inspiring feat when you realize how early most spider raisers died.
The final old goblin was also a hunter named Milo. Risha thought of him fondly, since he was the one who had given Risha food when she was too small to fend for herself and the other children had stolen her share.
It was strange to have all of these goblins she used to look up to, now looking up at her. All of them smiled widely, happy for Risha’s new evolution. They cheered and congratulated her in the few words that they knew.
Risha was happy to gift them with evolution.
Mook and Sook both became High Goblin Hunters, growing almost as tall as Glo, their faces angular, with the slim muscular builds that Risha now associated with High Goblins.
Lia evolved into a High Goblin Shaman, and stayed almost the same size as Tya.
Roa evolved into a High Goblin Spider-Tamer. She grew to be the tallest of all the goblins, and her fingernails sharpened, becoming closer to the claws that the spiders had.
Milo evolved into a High Goblin Craftsman, becoming the broadest goblin she had evolved so far, almost as stout as an orc.
Risha felt exhausted after all was said, her throat dry after so many uses of her skill.
All of them rejoiced, their cheers growing loud enough for some of the other goblins to wake up. Tya quickly sent those goblins back to bed. Despite her change in appearance, no goblin dared to disrespect her.
Tya cleared her throat, interrupting the celebrations of the old goblins. “We have much to talk about.” Tya turned to Risha, then bowed her head in front of everyone. “The orcs will not be pleased with Grand Mother Risha. They will not be pleased with any of us.”
There was no love for the orcs by any of the goblins, as every single one had lost loved ones and friends to the cruelty of the orcs. Several of them suffered scars from the punishments the orcs gave out all too freely.
As such, a rare serious silence fell on the usually cheerful goblins. It was Risha who broke the silence, stepping forward to have every eye on her.
“We are not simple goblins anymore.” Risha said. “We have to fight back, but our village won’t be able to do it on our own. We need the others.”
The silence continued after her words, until finally, the old mother and first High Goblin Shaman, Lia spoke. “We will have to convince them to join us here. They are too far to be of any help.”
Milo, the craftsman, spoke next. “We have to build up our village first. We’ll need time to get ready to house the other villages, and their warbeasts.”
Risha was surprised at how quickly they all agreed with her. She’d expected resistance, but she’d underestimated her people's hatred for the Orcs. There were mentions of running, but it was quickly shot down by the others. They did not know where to go, and they’d never be able to run fast enough to escape a war party.
It was decided that they must evolve the other goblins in their village first and the rest of the night passed quickly as she went through every goblin in her village.
Risha discovered two things while doing this. The first was that the more experience a goblin had, the more options they had available to them, and the second being that she couldn’t evolve children. After discovering this, Risha decided to wait on evolving many of the younger goblins, giving them a chance to earn better evolution options.
The village transformed overnight. Many of the spiders that they cared for had begun their hibernation, but those who hadn’t quickly formed strange bonds with those who’d gained the Spider-Tamer evolution. The spider-tamer evolution allowed them to communicate for the first time in their shared history and the spiders hated the orcs almost as much as the goblins did.
Every spring, when the young spiders became fully grown, all of them would be taken as warbeasts. They would then be chained, tortured, and forced to fight in wars that saw most of their kind killed. Those who showed signs of becoming mothers were sent back to the goblin villages so that they might prepare the next generation. The goblins were, despite all their faults, the only ones that showed them any kindness in this cycle.
The elders hurried to start on all of the changes that would be needed while Risha evolved her village. They didn’t know when the overseer would be back, so hunters were sent ahead to warn the village of his approach.
They held back on sending word to the other villages, worried that if the orcs heard of evolved goblins running around, they would have a war party upon them before they were ready. Risha decided that she would go to the other villages as soon as she was sure that hers could house and shelter them.
By the time the first light was rising over the horizon, Risha was dead on her feet and Glo had to guide her back to her bedroll, which was now too small for her. He placed his on top of hers to make up for the size difference and she quickly fell asleep.