The room fell silent as they waited for Stalida to fully wake up. They knew she was alive as her chest was rising and falling with each breath.

“Should be any minute now.” Astrid said as they waited to see Stalida open her goblin eyes for the first time.

For Lu, she was amazed. This was the first time any of them truly saw a creature like this. Short, wild brown hair, tanned skin, and well built. This definitely fit the descriptions Lu had read in her fantasy books. Lu could only hope that the other races present in Aethria were just as unique as the goblin race.

For her mother, she was a bit terrified but she tried to hide it. Despite backing herself up against the wall as soon as the spell was cast, her facial expression remained fixed. And her eyes are locked on the sleeping goblin that was once a human. Harley thought that a creature like this was strange, something she was having trouble processing.

For her father, his expressions were mixed. He was horrified that he killed his grandma by stabbing her in the heart with the dagger that he still held onto. The longer he held onto it, the more his hands shook at the sight of her blood dripping from the dagger. He was surprised at how quickly her heart stopped as the blade's tip pierced through her heart. Then again, as the beautiful elven woman named Astrid pointed out, it would be a quick death.

“Let me take that back,” Astrid’s voice echoed through his ear. He willingly handed over the dagger as he couldn’t bear to hold such a weapon anymore.

“Thank you…” Lu’s father managed to muster out. As his own vision remained transfixed on Stalida’s rising and falling chest and her closed eyelids.

“She will wake up, give her time.” Astrid spoke softly as she sat on the edge of the bed and took Daniel’s hand.

Her grabbing his hand startled him as his prime focus was his sleeping grandma. He found himself staring at Astrid’s deep blue eyes.

“Don’t stare too long, people have a tendency to get lost in the Astral Sea.” Astrid joked with a smile. “Sorry,” Daniel spoke and turned his attention back to Stalida.

Lu, was sitting on the opposite side of the bed. Curiosity rang through her mind. She wondered if she would have to die if she ever wanted to change her race or if this was just a special circumstance. As she wouldn’t mind changing her race to an Elf, Genasi, or even an Aasimar. Something that had a longer lifespan than that of a simple human, but human enough that if she came back to her plane it wouldn’t scare anyone off.

Lu felt Astrid’s eyes fall on her, as if she read her mind, “Yes, I have something for you once we get to my tower.”

Lu nodded and the room fell silent once more as they all turned their attention back to Stalida.

A few more minutes passed as her eyes opened. “There you are.” Astrid, “Easy now, you are just beginning a new life.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

They all watched as Stalida sat up and looked at them curiously, reading each of their expressions. “I. Goblin?”

Her speech was a bit off, but Lu figured that was to be expected as she had just come back from the dead. Lu also knew that goblins had a bit of a weird speech pattern anyways.

“Yes, Stalida you are.” Astrid spoke softly. They all watched as Astrid’s hand began to glow a bright radiant color as a flash appeared from her palm. “You recovered nicely. I’ll have to admit, I was a bit worried going into this. Most don’t get reincarnated as many times as you have.”

“You didn’t know if this was going to work and you had me kill her anyways?” Lu’s father blinked once as he spoke. As he sounded a bit upset over the situation.

“She was dying as is, she wouldn’t have made it another day.” Astrid spoke as calmly as possible. “I could have modified your memory to make you forget what you have done if it didn’t work out. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.”

“I-” Lu’s father was speechless for once in his life.

“Daniel.” Stalida’s voice rang out. She reached for his hand but he pulled it away. Lu knew her father seemed nervous over his grandma being a goblin again. “Grandson.” Stadila was only speaking one word at a time but at least the words were somewhat clear. Her voice was a bit harsher than normal, but at least she was talking.

“I can give you four a few more minutes, but we really should be going before any of the nurses come through the door. I would hate for them to see a goblin sitting in the bed instead of an old lady.” Astrid said, looking between all of them.

“Daniel.” Stalida repeated and reached for his hand once again. He was hesitant but he let her take it knowing that this was the last few moments he had with his grandma. “Love. You.” Stalida moved her body and wrapped her small arms around her grandson. Giving him one final hug before she had to depart for Aethria.

Daniel looked into her goblin like eyes and held back tears, “I love you too grandma. I will always love you.” He kissed her forehead gently as he returned her hug.

He stood up and walked over to Lu. “Lu, I’ll miss you.” Lu stood up and he was quick to wrap his arms around his daughter one last time hugging her tightly, “No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will always love you.”

“I will always love you too, dad.” Lu couldn’t help but cry as her father hugged her tightly, she cried worse when she could start to hear her father sniffle. She knew that he was trying to hold back the tears, but he was failing in doing so.

As her father released her, her mother stepped in and gave her one more hug. “I love you, my sweet baby girl.” She kissed her daughters forehead and held onto her for a minute before letting her go.

“I love you, I love both of you. I promise I will write, I’ll figure out a way to communicate with you both.”

Lu stepped to the other side of the room where Astride was holding onto Stalida. Astrid produced an opec stone, just like the one Stalida used to use, “Here,” She tossed it to Daniel, “Use this to communicate with Lu for now. If she chooses the path of becoming a wizard, I will train her on how to use Planar Projection so she can communicate with you freely.”

“Thank you Astrid, please take care of them both.”

Lu’s father spoke.

“I will. It’s time to go.” Astrid spoke as pulled out a rod and began to recite the incantation for planar travel. “To Aethria.”

A shimmering silver rift appeared in front of them. “If you have anything else to say, make it quick.” Astrid looked over at Lu who was still crying.

“I love you…”

It was only three words, but Lu knew that those were the three words her parents needed to hear. Lu took Astrid’s hand as all three of them walked through the shimmering rift and into Aethria.