CHAPTER 19: Goblin Chief

Please be safe, Abbey thought as she watched Adam fly over the goblins and away from the group. Last year she had noticed him for the first time. They had been in most of the same classes, and he never stood out. It wasn’t that he was ugly. She actually thought he’d be good looking if he cared for his hair and clothes. He also wasn’t unlikeable. People genuinely got along with him. Adam was able to talk cheerfully with almost everyone. Yet he was always off to the side, staring out the windows. He only got into conversations when people pulled him in. His grades were average, but when he spoke to people he seemed knowledgeable enough. Sports didn’t seem to hamper him either. He could play them but he always took a roll that didn’t require him to do much.

Adam had been a mystery to Abbey. Everyone, including Adam, joked that he was just a slacker. Andrea and Alissa had teased her about him whenever she mentioned him. They started watching him too but gave up saying he was too boring. He never took offense to things, he never got discouraged, he was never engaged. He was simply there.

“ROTATE,” shouted Lucas.

While Adam seemed like an open book to everyone, and someone without depth, Abbey had built a different story in her head. She refused to think he was a slacker, she simply thought he was waiting. What he was waiting for she was uncertain of.

Abbey’s whole life had been controlled. Doing poorly on tests to stay in the same class as Andrea and Alissa was the only measure of control she had. Everything else was her father. He hired people to choose her clothes. He sent her to salons to learn how to do her hair and makeup. How she behaved and what she was allowed to show interest in was all decided by him.

Her father wasn’t some masterful businessman, but he did well enough and he made sure she fit the image he had of success. Really he didn’t care about her grades, her interests, or anything else. Just her image. He expected her to become some magnet for other businessmen and marry into a successful family. It was unlikely that it would matter to his own company, just that his expectations were met.

“Everyone, two paces back,” the order was given.

Abbey was raised to believe that her father’s vague expectations would happen, that it was just a matter of time. As if it was reality just waiting to unfold. She didn’t need to hope for that future since it was just inevitable. Yet she didn’t want to give up Andrea and Alissa. They had made her life so much more enjoyable, her only real friends. Even though she loved them, she knew it was temporary, that at some point in time she would become part of high society and leave them behind since they didn’t fit her dad’s image. She had even done her best to hide them from her dad, so as not to lose them sooner.

With that image controlling her life, and a pushed down feeling of being trapped, she had watched Adam. While she was required to be something, Adam chose to be nothing. He had no limit. He wasn’t controlled. Adam had the choice, and it was to wait until the time of his choosing. It was both unexplainable and fascinating to her.

In her head she imagined so many stories wrapped around him. Things he could be. What he was doing when no one was watching. He was a nobody to others which meant he could be absolutely anything for himself. She longed to know him and find out what it was like to be the opposite of herself.

“Brittney and Joseph need heals! Carlos and Lamar, forward!”

Even as her little crush and fantasies had grown, she knew that if she found out the reality it would end in disappointment. Real life didn’t work that way. Yet she still imagined herself going on adventurous dates with him, or just sitting in a basement doing nothing. Both excited her as she thought about the two of them together.

Then the [System] came, and everyone chose a class. Everyone had their purpose stamped into reality above their heads. There was no guessing or wondering who a person was. They had chosen it, and it was displayed for everyone to see. Everyone except the slacker. Everyone except the boy with endless potential.

Abbey had almost squealed when she had looked at him and noticed no tag. She seemed upset about it, but then that sense of waiting reappeared. Maybe he had chosen to be nothing. She pointed it out to Andrea and Alissa, and they watched him too, though they didn’t see what Abbey saw.

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Like a stalker she waited after school until Adam would leave. She made sure to be in homeroom before him. Abbey wanted to make sure she was there when his waiting stopped.

“Their levels dropped! Adam did it,” announced Lucas, breathing heavily, to a cheer from the others. “Take a break from killing them and rest while just keeping them back.”

The waiting hadn’t taken long either. He came to school with a black eye and deep channels scratched across half his face. No one knew how he could have gotten them. Even Andrea and Alissa were watching him when he started lecturing Brandon and Brittney. He was more forceful than anyone had seen him. For Abbey she knew that he was done waiting, that whatever he was doing it was going to be big. It might have looked like Andrea was the one who wanted to follow him that day but really it was all Abbey.

Now here they were, in the middle of a different reality, possibly a different dimension, fighting a horde of goblins. They could run but chose to stay and fight. Because of Adam. They could be scared and panic, but they stood with determination and confidence. Because of Adam. She knew he was the most important person in the world. She had fallen for him before the [System] had come and now she was sure of it. The mental connection he had used to share emotions just showed her feelings towards him were right.

Sneaking into his room had been the scariest and most exciting night of her life. It had showed her that she was done waiting too, that her choices could be her own. She would love and stay with Adam, even if she had to share him with Andrea and Alissa. That would be her choice too, since she wanted the girls in her life as much as Adam. They could all be together in this new world full of magic and goblins, and an Adam that was no longer waiting. She would not let others decide who she should be.

“I just leveled,” announced Andrea. “I put points into body to help give you boys a rest since our mana amount is too low.”

Abbey thought that was a good idea, so she also selected a body level and put her points into strength and vitality. “Same,” Abbey said as she stood and grabbed a scraper, willing to fight for her future.

Name: Abigail Tamare [9]

Age: 17

Race: Human

Class: Support [7]

Body [2]

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Vitality: 6

Intelligence:13

Wisdom: 21

Skill Points: 6

Skills:

Slight Heal: Heal injuries by a small amount.

Reduce Poison: Weaken poison within a body to help a body fight it.

Since she and Andrea were physically fresher, they held the lines along with Elias and Brandon for 15 minutes while the others rested. The group was doing really well given the circumstances, even if they couldn’t last forever. They all trusted Adam to finish off that goblin chief. No matter what happened here, Abbey knew Adam would come for them if they needed it.

The fighting continued as the hallway filled up with goblin bodies. The smell and scenery were terrible, but they were all buoyed by the flood of experience and levels they were getting. The more they fought, the stronger they got. Even Brandon was probably a match for goblins, maybe even two on one. Brittney could fling them around, while the scouts could move around them without threat of getting hit, due to their enhanced speed and strength. The scrapers barely needed to be sharpened as those thrusting them were strong enough to pierce the goblins even when they were dull.

They were all plugging along, riding high on their continued success, feeling like killing hundreds of goblins was no different than math homework with how routine it was, when suddenly it all came crashing down.

Alissa screamed with such intensity even the goblins paused uncertainly. Andrea started hyperventilating.

“Nonononono,” cried Randall.

Elias, Lucas, and Joseph were all cursing.

All the confidence and determination slid out of Abbey as her connection with Adam was broken. The sudden emotional change dropped onto the group. The emotional boost he had given them was immediately replaced with fear and hesitation. Cold flooded her as she imagined the worst, a world without Adam.

The goblins, sensing the change, pushed forward harder than ever.

Brandon stood up with a scraper and rushed forward, joined by Tom. They got to the goblins before any major injuries were sustained. They stabbed and stabbed to keep things under control. Brandon, the weakest and least combat experienced of them, took hit after hit from the goblins, barely holding on to the scraper before Brittney arrived and started blocking.

“Nothing has changed,” announced a bleeding Brandon. “Adam trusted us to do this. He didn’t make us retreat. He didn’t tell us to run. Adam trusts us! We have to stop the goblins from invading!” He shouted it all, trying to get everyone’s attention. Even though their strength was still the same as moments before, the emotional weight sank their spirits and weakened their attacks.

“That’s right,” announced Tom. “The only thing that has changed is the safety net is gone. Even if the boss died, we will stop these goblins. We have the levels and we have each other. Together we will eradicate all these goblins and if we need to, we’ll save the boss. The training wheels are off and we can ride on our own.”

With only the strength they found within themselves, they faced the mass of goblins and attacked