When I looked around, I noticed my new neighbors, fellow prisoners, watching me. Their eyes weren’t hollow like when the witch was here. Instead, they were filled with anticipation.

The first was an acquaintance of mine—Karim, a goblin and member of the merchant tribe. The second was a human.

The human spoke first, striking up a conversation with enthusiasm.

"Hello man, what’s your name? Mine’s Lucas, a great warrior of the north!"

At first, I didn’t realize he was talking to me. Our races had been at war for centuries, after all. The only time I approached humans other than the witch was on the battlefield, and we didn't talk then. We fought to kill each others.

"My name is Ryan. I am also a warrior." I answered curtly.

"Alright Ryan, so are you a human or a goblin?"

I looked at him with incredulity, his question was totally unexpected.

Seeing the look on my face, he added, "Don’t get me wrong. I am NOT crazy, okay? I’m asking because the witch loves to torment goblins by transforming them into humans."

"Oh, alright, makes sense. I am a goblin. So what are you going to do now that you know?" I replied, not bothering to hide the truth.

"Seriously, you didn’t even try to hide it? You are crazy! I like it. We need crazy people to go against the witch! I am also a goblin, by the way, like every single prisoner here!"

Karim intervened, cutting into our conversation, "Are you the Ryan I know?"

"Yes, Karim, I am." I answered honestly.

"So you must know Lucas then, he is from the mystic tribe."

"No, Karim! Why did you ruin the fun?! I was about to ask him to guess my identity!"

"We don’t have time to play mind games, Lucas. We need to escape before it’s too late."

"Right, right. Stop nagging. I just wanted to play a bit for a change."

"What do you mean by too late?" I cut in.

"The witch will soon organize another gladiator game. She makes us fight to the death in a coliseum to entertain human's royalty."

"Why? Why does she hate us so much? Why goblins?" I asked.

"No one knows," Karim replied.

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"So, what's your plan?" I asked with anticipation.

Lucas and Karim looked at each other, then at me.

"We don't have a solid plan yet," Lucas admitted, scratching his head sheepishly. "But we're working on it."

Karim nodded. "The witch's magic complicates things. She doesn’t have any guard to watch over the prison because she doesn’t need any."

"What do you mean?"

“Well every time a prisoner tried to escape, his body kind of… Exploded.”

“What ???”

“What do you mean exploded?” I asked, feeling a chill run down my spine.

Karim glanced around nervously, lowering his voice. “It’s part of the curse she put on us. If you try to escape or attack her, purple light comes out of your body and you explode. It’s happened to many before.”

Lucas sighed, with knitted brows. "We need to bypass her curse if we want to survive.”

Karim added, “After countless sacrifices, we found a loophole to her curse. Illusion magic can be used against her. But there's a catch. The goblin mage who first experimented with it said that we can't kill the witch. If we do all the people she cursed will die with her.”

“What?? No way!!” I shouted, drawing the attention of the nearby prisoners.

“Yes way. Sorry to break it for you mate but we can’t kill her unless we want to die. And god knows who much we want to kill her.” Lucas answered grimly.

“Then what do we do?” I asked, unreconciled with the news at a physical and spiritual level.

“Well, we though of using divine magic to enter her dreams and uncover the origins of her hatred toward goblins. Then if possible we will find a way to use illusion magic to make her undo the curse on her own.” Answered Karim.

“That’s when you come in – you have god’s blessing. We need your help Ryan!” Lucas added with enthusiasm.

“Wait Wait Wait! Isn’t a bit too risky to enter her dreams? What if she senses it and decides to kill me?”

Lucas continued, “Well it is risky but do we have a choice? We need to do something or at least half of us will die in the upcoming games.”

“But why me?" "How do you even know I have divine powers?” I asked vigilantly.

“You seem brave enough for the task and you are the only prisoner with divine magic.” Lucas answered with a toothy grin.

Karim shipped in, “We know about your divine power because we have seen it when you were on the altar. The sight was so grand it nearly blinded us all. Golden light blazed all over the place.”

“Don’t worry, you have what it takes to succeed!” Lucas added while giving me the thumb up.

“Are you crazy, I can't even enter people dreams!” I replied, looking at him like he was a nutcase.

"Trust us Ryan, we have an excellent teacher for you. The cream of the crop!" Lucas said.

"He will teach you how to enter dreams, he is the great warlock Eldric himself." Karim continued.

"What?? The Eldric? Why would you need me then? Can't he do it himself?" I asked flabbergasted.

"Not anymore, the witch cut his connection to his god." Lucas answered sourly.

"But he is the best dream-walker of all times. You know his reputation. No one can beat him in term of illusion and dream magic!" Added Karim to convince me.

Of course I knew who he was. He was a living legend among goblins. Our one and only seven circled, double-awakener warlock.

I knew I needed to do it. For me, for the prisoners, for my tribe, for Tina and Fred. As long as the curse was lifted everyone would be safe.

I was scared, for sure but I couldn't let my loved ones die without trying. It might end up in my and everyone's death but it was our best chance.

Maybe it was our only chance.

I took a deep breath, “Alright,” I said, “If this is the only way, I'll do it. But remember that you own me one. Swear on your god you will help me if I ask a favor later.”

Lucas slapped my back, with a huge grin on his face. “I knew we could count on you! You have guts of steel, man!”

Karim added, “Of course we will Ryan. You have my word. I swear on the name of our great god Droveris!”

Lucas continued, “You have my word as well, the mystic tribe will help you! I swear on the name of our goddess Freya!”