Jade Benz

Jade was dead, that was swiftly becoming a bad habit. she sat in her focus chair in the empty room. Tik and Tok were with her. Tik had been here when she arrived having died a little before her. Tok followed shortly after, not being able to deal with the rats on his own.

She was pissed off. She knew how to heal the ogres. She knew how to bring them back if they fell. Hell, she even knew how to shield herself while the boys cleaned house. She just couldn’t do it all at the same time. That damn puzzle preventing her from getting to her full power.

There was a bright side to dying constantly though. her clothes got fixed up like new every time she entered the white room. Jade honestly didn’t know what she would do, if she had to sit inside her own head wearing dirty ass clothes. That didn’t matter though, she was close and there were only a few knots left.

Once she solved this puzzle, she was sure things would get easier. Every time she died, she had worked on it, and with each knot she loosened she had more access to her powers. She was like a damn superhero from those popular movies…whatever they were called. She had seen one once but hadn’t really been paying attention. One of the chicks could use force shields though, she remembered that part.

“Yes!” she said, undoing the last knot. The puzzle that sealed her power off fell away and disappeared. Finally able to see inside herself she was ecstatic.

“Can you see this, boys? There’s a big ass fireball in here.” She called out to her ogres. Who sat cross legged next to her chair. They were playing rock paper scissors, and punching each other when they thought the other was cheating. That happened a lot, since they hadn’t learned the rules yet. The ogres couldn’t see what she was talking about but they went ahead and made grunting noises of appreciation anyway. Instinctively knowing that’s what she wanted them to do.

“Finally. Now lets’ see if I can’t make you two smarter.” She said beginning to pull on her core.

She didn’t get a chance to do anything after that. She suddenly found herself standing back in the sewers. The rats were already beginning to swarm up the stairs. Jade didn’t understand what was going on, this place was so different from earth. fighting and dying was becoming all she knew. Well, that and solving the puzzle, she spent more hours on that thing then she cared to think about.

The more she fought and died and unraveled knots, the clearer her mind became. She wasn’t changed completely, a lifetime of familial neglect and self-inflicted abuse, wasn’t going to just go away. She was learning how to cope in her new life though. It helped that since she left that goblin town there hadn’t been any drugs. Jade had even wondered if she would have killed those green dudes if she had been sober, and not fresh dead, on earth. She still held onto that pipe, but it was mostly out of habit. That, and the fact that it kept showing up in her pocket every time she was reborn.

“I guess giving you brains can wait for later fellas,” she said. Dropping any unnecessary thoughts as her combat instincts kicked back in. “Let’s see who can kill more of these damn rat bastards this time.” With those words, they started the slaughter all over again.

*  *  *

Benjamin Vryce

Benjamin stood in the small room he had claimed upon arriving in the bathhouse. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself so he rearranged the furniture in his room to kill some time. He gave up when he couldn’t find anything larger than his foot to move. Kicking aside a few scraps, he decided to see how many pushups he could do before his body gave out. Two hours later he was forced to give that up as well. he hadn’t even broken a sweat, and his passive regeneration was funneling essence vapor into his muscles. At the rate he was going he would never get tired.

Next, he tried to draw in essence from his surroundings. That had worked to a point, but the draw was so minimal that there wasn’t a noticeable difference between what he pulled in and what flowed into him naturally. In the end he ran out of distractions and got sick of waiting. So, he knocked on Grace’s door.

After the sound of his knock stopped echoing around the hallway, Benjamin called through the door.

“Grace, Stomper I would like to leave now. Please finish up and meet me in the common area.” while he waited for them, Benjamin looked over his summoning options. From the draw the two goblins and Silver made on his core, he figured he could afford to have a worker ant or two out as well.

He didn’t summon them though; he didn’t need any more creations around him at the moment. He would rather have his essence pool refilling faster. He then debated if it would be better to dismiss the goblins. Purely for essence efficiency reasons, but again decided against it. His original reasoning to summon Stomper out still held true, he needed the extra help.

A short while later the goblins entered the room and stood in front of him, neither of them would meet his eyes. They were dressed and looked ready for battle. Benjamin reflected that it was a good thing Grace had brought the extra armor after all. with them all armored from the table, the three now looked very similar. That is if Benjamin ignored the fact that he wasn’t green and stood two and a half feet taller than the goblins.

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They each wore a plated leather tasset, a brown brigandine cuirass, and metal greaves and bracers. Stomper held a bearded axe in one hand and a banded round shield in the other. while Grace held a bow and had a quiver of arrows slung low across her back. She also wore her hunter’s cloak; a giant squirrel hide affair with the head of the beast acting as its hood. Pulled up, the ears stuck up over her head. Benjamin still thought of animal anime girls whenever he saw her with the hood up, but shoved that thought aside at the moment.

The pair were standing side by side and wearing their war gear. It strongly reminded Benjamin of a couple he had once seen on a TV show about Vikings. The hair was even similar, the pair had their shoulder length black hair pulled back into loose ponytails. All told the goblins looked like vicious fighters. Again, if he ignored the fact that they were only four feet tall.

“Thank you for joining me,” Benjamin said. He was armored the same but didn’t have a weapon. His claws were what he fought with; Silver still sat on his shoulder. It waved its proboscis forelimbs around agitatedly as the goblins arrived. it sent a calming feeling toward Benjamin who promptly ignored it. “We’re moving on now, I’ll go first. Stomper you follow behind me and Grace, you bring up the rear. Be ready to cover us when the fighting starts. Clear?”

He didn’t bother saying ‘if they were attacked’. This tower was designed to make him fight. He also didn’t spare any time for pleasantries. Benjamin wasn’t in the mood for nice, he was in the mood to get bloody. Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and walked out of the bathhouse. Ant case attached at the small of his back and clawed fingers itching for a fight.

He caught the two exchanging a worried glance as he walked away. He heard Stomper whisper something about Erlking before Grace shushed him again. They hustled to catch up to him, weapons in hand. Benjamin was already regretting being so abrupt. It wasn’t their fault he felt so out of his depth right now. It wasn’t even their fault that him seeing that kiss had made him angry. He had imagined he was growing closer to Grace; he wasn’t even sure how but. Seeing her kiss Stomper like that, dispelled the notion and drove home for him just how alone he was here. He slowed his pace thinking he should apologize for his abruptness. When the floor dropped out from under his feet.

* * *

Grace

Grace followed behind Benjamin and her clan brother, as they left the bathhouse. She knew that Benjamin was mad. He was trying to act like he was fine, but she knew better. She knew it was her fault this time too and she felt terrible. He had spent the last three days trying to bring her clan brother back to her and she had been so ungrateful. She thought back on the mornings events as they walked.

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the thought of her clan brother. She had been so excited when she saw him alive and in front of her that she had actually kissed him. She had kissed her clan brother, someone she thought of as an actual brother. When he had tried to ask her what she was doing she had shushed him. She had blushed dark green she was so embarrassed; she couldn’t stand Benjamin looking at her anymore. The thought of him watching her kiss Stomper upset her.

Pulling Stomper by the hand she went back to her room. Stopping only to say a brief and not nearly adequate ‘thank you’ before shutting the door to hide her shame. Once they were inside Stomper tried asking her what was going on. where they were, and why she had kissed him like that. She blushed in shame and told him never to bring it up again.

The lost and confused look on Benjamin’s face when she had left him in the hallway, without a proper thank you was a heavy weight on her heart. Stomper, by nature wasn’t one to take a hint. He kept pushing her for answers until the two were having a heated, yet hushed, argument. Stomper hit the bedpost a few times to articulate his demand for answers.

Shortly after he did that, the crashing started. She could hear Benjamin growling and could feel the ground shudder as he destroyed his room. She wanted to go apologize, but didn’t want to get to close to him when he was like that. So, she quietly filled her clan brother in on what had happened. How he had come to be, and that there were only five more of their clan that might ever come back. They talked quietly until Benjamin hit her door, and told them it was time to leave. The goblins jumped when the door cracked down the middle, but thought it best to just get ready without replying.

Benjamin explained what he wanted to them, then walked away. Stomper who hadn’t got a good look at him before, started to comment on how much like the Lord Erlking he looked. Grace shushed him. She didn’t think Benjamin had liked being compared to the goblin’s Creator.

She replayed those events in her mind again and again as they walked. Trying to watch her companion’s backs like she had been told. She wanted to go talk to Benjamin, to apologize for not seeming grateful. She didn’t know why him seeing her kiss Stomper had made her feel so awkward. She saw him slowing down and thought this might be her chance to talk to him.

When the floor dropped out from beneath them. The three companions were swept away together. The entire passageway turned into a giant tube with smooth sides. They slid down gaining speed as they went, until they finally shot out the bottom and fell for a breath before plunging into dirty water.

The water wasn’t deep, coming up just over her ankles. Grace struggled to her feet and looked around. Benjamin and Stomper had regained their feet already and were also looking around, weapons in hand. They had landed in a tunnel of some kind. With dirty, stinking, water flowing around their legs. She could hear a battle taking place down the tunnel. Looking to Benjamin she waited to see what he wanted her to do.

Benjamin was looking around. She watched Him sight in on the noise and look that way. There wasn’t anything to see from where they were. Grace thought he was thinking because for a moment he froze in place. Then he turned to Grace and her clan brother.

“I can’t tell who is fighting, it doesn’t really matter though. We are going in, if there is a potential ally then we help them. Otherwise kill everything you see.” He told them.

After speaking he turned and darted away down the tunnel, leaving Grace and Stomper to scramble after him.

“Master has a really bad temper, doesn’t he?” Stomper asked while they tried to catch up to the longer legged soul.

“Do not call him Master, it makes him angry. And no, he doesn’t have a temper. Grace made him angry when she greeted her clan brother in such an undignified manner. She then failed to thank Benjamin for his efforts because she was embarrassed.” She said huffily.

The male goblin just looked at her as they ran and shrugged. Grace knew how he was, he really didn’t care one way or the other. He liked to fight and didn’t think much beyond that. He also wasn’t used to Benjamin’s nature yet. He was just their new clan chief to Stomper.

Grace sighed; the fight would settle him down. Maybe then she would get the chance to talk to him.