“Ruuuggghhhhnnn.”

One of the goblins turned to the other and pushed it away. At first, it looked like it was going to let me go, but after it turned back to me, the vicious grin on its face proved otherwise. It didn’t want to make the fight fair… it wanted to make it interesting.

Intelligence is relative, but at the very least this monster enjoyed the situation. 

It raised its club as it strode towards me. The other goblin stood behind it to block off my escape. Even if I managed to dodge the first blow, the second goblin would catch me easily. Whilst my eyes roved around in search of a way out, the first goblin’s patience wore thin. Its eyes were narrow as it glared angrily at my lantern.

“RRAAAUUUGGH!”

Its footsteps thundered along the tunnel as it rushed towards me. It had lifted its club above its head with both hands in preparation to smash it down on the weak little human in front of it.

As I tried to raise my staff to block the blow, one side caught against a ridge of the wall. I managed to raise the opposite tip towards the goblin, though it didn’t give me time to correct my stance. It grinned at my plight as its club dropped towards my head.

I managed to move the raised tip of my staff to greet its strike. The club smacked into the end of my staff and almost jarred it from my hands. The other end of my staff was pummeled several inches into the wall before it jammed in place. 

The goblin grinned at me as it took a step back. I knew that my normal strength wouldn’t be enough to free the staff, and it seemed like he had guessed that too.

But I had a card up my sleeve.

“Buffed Strike!”

I used the increase in power to pull the staff out of the wall. In the same motion, I thrust it towards the goblin, but the monster managed to block the blow with its club. My strike was weak compared to its own blow, but it still managed to force the goblin back a step.

“Ruh.” The goblin let out a short snort as I pushed against its club. After a second of confusion, I realised what it had done.

It had laughed at me.

Before I could react, it grabbed my staff and pulled me down to greet it. Its forehead smashed into my head and knocked me back into the far wall. I could feel my blood trickle down my face as my back scraped against the wall. It was a close call, but after a few seconds, I managed to pull myself upright.

The goblin’s eyes narrowed as it stared at me. It was surprised I had lasted through its blow as its happy grin was replaced with an angry snarl. As I raised my staff up, it thrust its club towards me. 

“Buffed strike!”

I blocked its attack with a thrust of my own. The instance our weapons met, my staff rocketed back and slammed into my shoulder. His strike had pinned me to the wall like a bug.

The pain was so great I almost blacked out, but a surge of adrenaline pulled me back from the brink. I grabbed my staff with both hands and tried to force it away. No matter how hard it was pushed, the goblin's club didn’t move an inch. His grin was wide as the pressure increased on my shoulder. 

“Buffe-” I started to speak, but the goblin cut me off as it pushed out with its club. The armour on my shoulder creaked beneath my staff as the pain in my shoulder increased. A moment later and I heard a heavy crack.

He had broken my shoulder.

My arm dropped uselessly to my side. I still had my other arm, but that didn’t matter much. If my counter had failed when I had the use of both arms, what could I do with the just one?  My brain had detached from the situation, but as I came back to, I heard an angry scream.

It was my voice.

That did make sense. The pain was so intense that I should have been unconscious. The goblin grabbed my staff and chucked it to the side like a piece of rubbish as it moved closer. Its hot breath huffed out against my face as my eyelids drooped down. 

“-stop.”

I heard a voice from the far end of the corridor, but it didn’t matter. Whoever had come was too late. But then the goblin made its first mistake. 

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It twisted its head around to stare at the newcomer.

My vision cleared as the monster cast around. The voices came closer, but it was clear they wouldn’t hold its attention for long. I only have one chance to escape, and if it didn’t work…

Screw this!

I used my uninjured arm to reach down to my waist. The goblin sensed my movement as it swung its head back to face me. Its gaze didn’t show any concern as it looked down.

But that was before I smashed my lantern into its face.

The light surged as the fragile case broke apart. The tunnel was filled with a blinding blue light for several seconds before it faded back to darkness. As the tunnel went pitch black, I threw myself to the side and crashed into the wall. My dodge came not a moment too soon as the blinded goblin smashed its club into the space I had just occupied.

Too close.

I crawled on the floor, past the enraged monsters. It was difficult to move with my injuries, but it was better than the alternative. Once the goblins were able to see again, what would follow was easy to imagine. They would take out their anger on the one who had unleashed the blinding light on their weak eyes.

I managed to snag my staff as I crawled down the tunnel, though I did take a wild kick from one of the goblins as they stumbled around. Luckily, it didn’t notice my presence. I grit my teeth against the pain. It was difficult to hold back a reaction as it landed a kick squarely on my injured arm, but I managed it. 

After I had cleared the second goblin, I pulled myself up and stumbled through the caves. The wails faded into the distance as I trudged through the caves. My night-vision started to kick in as vague shapes broke and danced in front of me. I had escaped from the goblins, but leaving the caverns would be…

And then I saw it. A dull light at the end of the tunnel.

Seriously, I can’t believe this…

I sped up and moved towards the light. After a few more turns, I broke out into the light of day once more. I had escaped from certain death by the skin of my teeth, and those tiny-eyed goblins wouldn’t be able to follow me. As I turned back to the town, a voice echoed out from behind.

“You passed. Good job, Rook. Focused strike.”

“Ray, you-”  I tried to turn around, but a heavy force slammed into the back of my head. I tumbled to the floor, my consciousness fading as the one person I hated the most in this world stepped over me.

“Don’t worry, you’re friends are on their way to pick you up. I can’t let you miss all the fun, right?” I tried to answer, but my strength failed me. Ray chuckled from above as I struggled. "Don't worry, we only have one more test for you. My ability is very accurate, so you should wake up just in time to see the finale. If you pass your advancement test before that, we might not even stand a chance."

Coward! I swear I'll kill him!

Whatever ability he used pushed me into a deep sleep before I could manage a retort. 

----------------------------------------

Nightmares are weird things. Sometimes you have no power over them and other times you have just enough to not make a difference.

This was one of the latter ones.

I raced through the caves with a horde of goblins on my tail. Each time I found a light at the end of the tunnel, it turned out to be another group who joined in on the hunt. The pack increased minute by minute as my stamina waned. I knew I couldn’t keep up the speed any longer.

With one final breath, I tumbled to the floor. The pack reached me a moment later before their clubs fell towards me in unison.

And then I woke up with a jolt.

My vision was blurry as I cast about. The room was bright, too bright. I couldn’t see anything at all, though at least that made it clear I was no longer in the tunnels. A few seconds later a door thumped open as a friendly voice shouted at me from across the room.

“What were you thinking?!”

It was Claire. I could tell from her voice, though my vision still hadn’t cleared enough to see her. The pain in my shoulder had faded, but it still felt stiff as I tried to push myself out of the bed. They had taken me into the treatment centre, though that was just a guess from the pale white walls and simple furniture spread around the room.

How did they know?

“Calm down, Claire.” John waved from the side of my bed. He pushed the infuriated woman back before he turned to face me. “Seriously though, you’d better tell her before she beats it out of you.”

"Never mind that, is everyone OK?" I asked as I swung my feet from the side of the bed. The pair shared a glance before Bryan responded.

"We're fine, Rook. We were more worried about you." He tipped his head to one side as he stared at me. "Are you OK? You took a big blow to the head, we thought you wouldn't wake up for a long time."

"Right." My heart, which had tried to break through my ribcage, calmed down. This 'finale' that Ray talked about hadn't started yet, or Bryan's response wouldn't have been so calm. "Where are-"

“Why did you run off? They told you to guard the entrance.” Claire cut me off as she pulled a chair across the room and flopped down in front of me. “You’re smart, Rook. Why would you do something like that?”

“They left me in there alone. Is there some sort of skill that lets someone control your mind?” I recalled the woman who had tricked me into joining them. She was on Ray's side, but as long as I didn't directly mention that it should be safe to ask the question.

“That sounds like a Spirit ability to me, and a pretty high level one at that.” John said with a frown. Before he could continue, Claire shot an abrupt question.

“Rook, did they do something to you?”

“Yes. They left me in the caves, from what I can tell” I answered clearly. I didn’t mention Ray’s involvement, but I should be able to explain the rest without raising his suspicions. “I'm not sure why, but they backed out without me-”

Claire pushed herself off the chair so fast it smashed against the floor. John tried to hold her back, but she ignored him as she stormed out of the room. He shook his head and turned back to me with a small smile.

“Well, you’ve just lit the fuse. Want to see the bomb go off, Rook?”