The group walked in silence at the goblin’s urging. If they could stay quiet, they could hopefully avoid attracting any unwanted attention. Sure they might have beaten one orc hunting group, but what if they ran into a stronger party. Or one with better tactics. The group saw a couple of wild animals that scurried off as soon as they saw the party. There were some small rodents that looked like squirrels, a rabbit-like creature and a pair of deer-like animals that bolted as soon as Jack snapped a twig under his boot. The forest was teeming with life, despite there being orc hunting parties running around.

The group walked an hour at the goblin's slow pace before Aiden finally offered to carry the creature. With that change up, the group sped forwards, easily going four times their previous pace. They walked with determination, but felt that with all of the changes their bodies had been through, and the stat upgrades, it was far easier to walk at speed than before. And walking would be a little bit of a stretch at this point. It was more of a light jog in pre integration terms, at a pace that they would not have been able to sustain before.

Half of an hour later the group arrived at the outskirts of the goblin village. They began to see signs of civilization through the obvious cut marks on trees, the clean-cut tree stumps and the cleared brush. The goblin signaled to be let down then asked the party to wait as they went ahead to tell the village elders of their arrival. Nenn hoped that they hadn’t made a mistake by trusting the goblin. One goblin might not be a risk, but 100 of them all at once was not something the group could take on.

A couple of minutes later the goblin had returned. He ushered the party out into the clearing. Nenn blinked as he struggled to see in the bright daylight that was no longer filtered through the forest canopy. Before him, in the middle of the clearing, was what could only be described as a wooden shanty town built under a gigantic tree in the center of the clearing. The tree itself was huge, definitely bigger than any tree on earth. It looked to be a broad leafed tree that reached up probably 200 meters into the sky, and about just as wide in radius. The entire goblin village had been erected around the trunk and was completely shaded by the canopy.

The whole village was less than a football field in size, but it certainly did not lack density. The town had a couple of layers to it, built up on top of itself three or four times, reaching up to the lowest limbs of the guardian tree above it. The village was bustling with goblins as they wormed their way through the haphazard arrangement of buildings. With the average height being three feet or so, the goblins got away with using much less space than a human settlement would have used.

Outside of the village a congregation of two senior goblins and a dozen armed goblin guards looked eager to start a conversation with the newcomers. The goblin elders sat on a set of simple wooden chairs and looked eager to chat. The guards on the other hand shifted apprehensively, possibly a bit worried at the prospect of having to fight the party.

“Hello and welcome to our little village. I am Hetruvensho, the goblin elder of leadership,” one of the elder goblins said. “Ortango has told us quite a bit about you, but we would like to hear your story told from your own mouths first before we move on to other matters.

Nenn and company took a seat on the grass in front of the elders, forming a kind of circle with them. They wanted to convey that they were no threat to the goblins and they would not be bringing violence to their homes. The guards seemed to relax when the party took a seat.

Aiden began to recount what had happened, starting from the very beginning. He told a story about how humanity had visited another planet and returned, how the Obelisks had arrived, The Announcement, and The Trial. He told the assembled goblins, who had grown in number dramatically since Aiden began to tell their story, about arriving in this world. About how they decided to try diplomacy rather than violence with Ortango, the goblin hunter, and how they defeated 4 orc hunters.

“Ah, wonderful. That matches Ortango’s story. But more importantly, it matches our sacred texts,” the elder goblin said.

“If I might be so bold, what do your texts say?” Harper asked. The other elder goblin stirred.

“I am the Goblin elder of culture, Genbuto,” Genbuto said. “The texts are incomplete. We of goblinkind, and the Forest Clan have done our best to pass these records down from generation to generation, but a little gets lost here and there. A scroll lost in a raid. A fire taking a tome. Ink being spilled on a page. It gets rewritten from memory, but memory is only so good,” the other elder goblin said.

“The texts speak of a day where goblinkind was forced to leave their world and come here. That was an uncountable amount of time ago. I am the five hundred and forty-first goblin elder of culture for the Forest Clan. It would have been an already forgotten memory back when the first one of my lineage took their title.”

Harper followed up with some questions in an attempt to figure out exactly how long that had been. It turns out that a year in the trial is 360 days, each month has 30 days, and each season lasts exactly 90 days, almost as if it had been planned. The goblins don't keep track of years, but denote time by the era of leadership. By the end of it, the group came to the conclusion that it had been no less than 3000 years since the Forest Clan's lineage began.

Nenn looked at the small ramshackle village in front of him. 3000 years to build all of that. What was before him couldn’t be a product of that. Could it? Maybe if the Forest Clan was semi-nomadic and would pick up and move when needed. Or if they just never felt the need to invest in their future. Either way, they were definitely not the most industrious society.

The topic changed once more as the goblins wanted to know more about where the humans had come from, what it’s like over on Earth, and how cool technology sounds. They asked what electricity was. The group couldn't explain how all of everything worked, as many people who aren’t electrical engineers would struggle to, and even then everything is pretty much a black box of magic built upon a previously slightly more transparent black box of magic.

Before long the sun was beginning to set and the goblin elders invited the humans to join them in a feast. They apologized that it wouldn’t be a big feast, as they had little time to prepare, but they wanted to celebrate the safe return of Ortango, the goblin hunter the group had befriended. The elders assured the group that had they not intervened Ortango would already be mostly digested in the stomachs of those late orc hunters.

The feast was brought to the gathered crowd outside of the village. If Nenn had to guess he would have put money on the goblins not having any sort of community hall, or an indoor space large enough for them all to gather. From the audience that had gathered and the busy cooks, there had to be no less than 400 goblins in the village.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The feast consisted of roasted small birds that looked to be about the size of a chicken, accompanied by an assortment of leafy greens arranged in a salad, and some root vegetables, which looked odd, but still somewhat familiar to Nenn. It was even more confusing when Nenn started to eat the meal. The bird tasted like chicken, the vegetables tasted like their familiar analoges. The carrot looking conical root vegetable tasted like a carrot, it was just a different color, and shaped oddly. The potato still looked like a potato and tasted like a potato, all that was missing was a side of butter and salt and Nenn would have felt as if he was still on Earth enjoying a Sunday-esque dinner with his family.

“What are your plans going forward, newly integrated humans?” Hetruvensho asked, having put down his crude utensil after several minutes of enjoying the feast.

“Well, that’s the thing. We don’t have a plan at the moment,” Aiden said. “The plan so far has been to not die. We’re sitting down with some new friends enjoying a meal together, so we seem to be excelling on that front. But in terms of what comes next, we haven’t had a chance to talk about it.”

The group looked at one another trying to see if anyone had something to contribute, and Jack looked eager to share his thoughts.

“I think we’ve overlooked a crucial detail,” Jack began. Nenn was taken aback for a second hearing Jack’s new distorted voice, but pushed the feeling aside, and filed it away for later to process. “We should have secured the obelisk. Right now who knows how many humans have entered into the forest with no one there to help them. Maybe there isn’t that fancy purple barrier to let them get their bearings before the Trial throws whatever at them.”

“This is true,” Genbuto added. “While I cannot say that I have seen an obelisk in person, there are legends and rumors that have been perpetuated that speak of them. They say that the obelisks are a bigger part of the Trial than they seem to be. And that an Obelisk should be fiercely defended. Some say that Obelisks make their defenders stronger. Some say they grant wealth or even wishes. All this is to say, even if only some of the stories are true, they are very much worth having.”

“Does the Forest Clan of Goblins have an Obelisk?” Harper asked.

“No, we don’t. I cannot even find mention of the clan having one throughout our entire history. Maybe it was before our recorded history when we had one. If we joined this world the same way all of you have, we must have had one in the past,” Genbuto said.

“Well, I think we know what we are doing tomorrow then,” Aiden said. “Can we ask that Ortango guide us back there? I don’t think we could manage to find our way back on our own.”

“That should be fine,” Hetruvensho said. “Is that alright with you, Ortango?” The elder looked to the goblin seated amongst what looked to be his family. Several young goblins were sitting around and on him, while a female goblin doted on the ones who weren’t trying to get Ortango’s attention.

“That's fine,” Ortango said. “Me lead humans back to Obelisk. Tomorrow.”

“Yes, tomorrow. I guess we should explain that to the newcomers,” Hetruvensho said. “Night in this world is very dangerous. There are creatures that only come out at night. We call them night predators. They are far more adept at navigating the world than you or I are in the darkness. They are violent, strong , and predatory in nature. But, they have one fatal weakness. Light. Light aspected mana to be specific. A fire is enough to keep them at bay.”

“What about a torch, or some other light source?” Liz asked.

“It’s hard to cover a large area with a torch. Even if every member has a torch, they leave a lot of blind spots. The night predators are smart too. They won’t just shy away from the light. They will figure out how to ambush you. They will wait ahead of your path and jump out at the moment of their choosing, even if they risk taking some damage from your torch’s light.”

“So then how does a campfire help in that case,” Liz asked. “If a night predator can just risk a bit of damage to ambush you, how does a stationary fire prevent that.”

“That’s due to Mana Theory,” Genbuto said.

“Mana Theory?” Jack and Liz asked at the same time, catching their professional interest.

“Yes, Mana Theory. The theory of how mana interacts with the world. You’ve never heard of it?” Genbuto asked.

“No, our old world does not have mana. Or usable mana. I don’t know. All I know is that we couldn’t do magic, or skill assisted movement back on Earth,” Liz said.

“We had some fictional stories that talked about mana as a living energy, that could be used for things like spells, and that it exists in everything, but they were just stories,” Jack said.

“Interesting,” Genbuto said. “I would love to hear some of those stories, but on a later date. I’ll even bring out my writing tools and record some of these stories down so we can preserve them. Now, back on to the topic at hand. Mana Theory. Jack, you are close to the truth with what you said. Mana exists and interacts with matter to make everything happen. There are 6 main types of mana. Light and darkness. Fire and water. Wind and earth. They can be combined to make different types of mana like life and death aspected mana for example.”

“For things to interact there has to be an exchange of mana. For you to move your body burns stamina, which is another way of saying life energy. A campfire releases fire and light mana carried on wind mana. The light mana released from a fire imbues the area around it with light mana. Even once the fire is extinguished the imbued light mana remains for a time before it is expended. Which brings us to why a campfire is better than a torch. It takes time for this imbuement to build up, depending on the intensity of the fire. In simpler terms. The longer an area is illuminated, the more damage the area does passively to a night predator.”

The group was hanging onto Genbuto’s every word as they waited for him to continue, causing a small awkward pause in the conversation as they realized he had finished.

“So, then how does this tie into daytime and night time,” Nenn asked.

“You know of dusk and dawn, right? Dusk is the grace period we have before the night predators emerge, it is the time where the light mana that the sun has imbued into the world begins to deplete and darkness energy begins to build. Dawn is the opposite, where the light mana begins to build as the darkness mana begins to deplete. During these times it is especially dangerous as both creatures of the day, and night predators can be active and take each other by surprise.”

“That makes a bit of sense,” Nenn said. “We’re going to have to try to wrap our brains around Mana Theory and how it works. Thank you very much for your explanation.”

“My pleasure. Now, dusk approaches, let us retire to the village proper. We don’t have any accommodations that can fit beings as large as yourselves, but I’m sure we can come up with something to make you comfortable for the night,” Genbuto said. He finished his dinner, and stood up from his chair. The goblin ensemble moved into a flurry of action as they picked up their meal, packed everything up and walked back into the village.

The goblin village was a sight to see in the darkness of night. Around the perimeter of the village small fires roared, and strung throughout the village there were what looked like streetlights. Genbuto explained that they were enchanted lights that stored the light mana from the sun, then released it during the night. He said there were arrays higher in the tree that captured a portion of the light mana that passed through it, then transferred to the mana batteries in the village through a directed mana channel. It seemed that even the goblins had their own version of solar panels and batteries. Nenn couldn’t wait to see what humanity could come up with when they got a foothold in this world.

But for the moment at hand, the group arranged themselves around one of the perimeter fires, taking care to stay between the fire and the village, and settled down into a donated pile of pillows and blankets that the village put together for them. It's hard to find a blanket that would cover them completely when the tallest goblin is at most four feet tall. Nenn easily fell asleep, knowing that he would need the rest for the journey ahead.