Oh god, this is going to hurt so damn much. The floor cracked apart beneath our feet and so we fell deep into the darkness. Unable to move, unable to scream, we fell to our doom. Not knowing the distance or the length of my fall. I knew only excruciating pain for a fleeting moment, then darkness faded to nothing.
Well, that hurt. Son of a bitch, I’m dead. AGAIN! Ugh now, what? An eternity alone in the darkness. Guess it beats being a passenger in my own body. Barely. Lost in my thoughts as I drifted through a sea of nothingness. An eternity alone with my thoughts. That’d drive anyone mad. Maybe I already am? I contemplated my sanity as I floated outside of time. Until the tranquility was interrupted by an ethereal hand. It burst through the darkness with shards flying like shattered glass. The disembodied hand latched onto me as a voice echoed through my very being. “I’ve found you at last.”
The hand retracted through the hole it created with me in its ghostly embrace. I shivered as I was pulled through the veil as a deathly chill entered my spirit. A familiar feeling came over me but something was off about it. As if it wasn’t quite right and not as I recalled. The layout of the room was similar but the atmosphere was completely different. The room was damp and filled with an earthy smell. The walls were dilapidated and dirt was visible in many spots through the broken stone. The room itself was dimly lit, the light flickered often, like a flame that was running out of fuel. Two chairs in disrepair half covered in moss sat in the middle of the room. One of the seats was empty in the other sat what appeared to be an ancient goblin.
The ancient goblin was still like a statue and covered in dust and cobwebs. It looked like it had been dead for ages. Dehydrated skin stretched tightly over petrified bones. The fossilized remains of various carrion creatures occupied his chest cavity and were littered about the floor. This sure would be terrifying if I wasn't in shock. I don't know it's kind of hard to top dying and having your soul dragged into another realm. TWICE! Maybe this is what Hell is? Maybe my hell is just birth, slavery, and death on repeat for all eternity? Nah, I don't accept that. I won't accept that. One way or another looks like I'll find out sooner or later. Hopefully soon. Please?
I stood still, slowly examining my surroundings. Everything had the look of being undisturbed for eternity. Nothing stirred except the dust I kicked up as I moved to the chair. As soon as I sat down creaking and cracking noises came from the ancient goblin across from me. A dust cloud burst into the air as cobwebs floated down to the floor. The ancient one thought to be a corpse moved his head and fixed me with an intense stare. A coughing fit struck me as I choked on the corpse-filled air. An uncomfortable eternity of silence was broken by soft-spoken words emanating from a mouth that hadn’t been opened in a very long time.
“I fi… I finally found you. Took me lo… longer than I thought it would. S… sorry I guess I should at least… introduce myself first. My name is… Chooftoof.” He said through a coughing fit.
“Ok… Chooftoof. Why am I back in the In-Between and why is it so different than before? What happens now that I’ve died a second time? Why am I here with you and not meeting with Rynn again?” I asked.
“You’re back because I pulled you from the abyss. I brought you to my realm in the In-Between. I realize that mine isn’t as welcoming as others but it’s what little I have remaining. One of two things can happen and that’s going to be your choice. You can return to the abyss and hope the other Gods leave you be. Or you can agree to help an old ailing deity and live again. I snatched you out of the abyss before anyone else could because a wrong needs to be corrected and I don’t have the strength to correct it myself. For that, I need your help if you will.”
“So I’m an amusing toy for the Gods to do with as they, please? Those options kind of force my hand if I want to live don’t they? What could a mortal like myself possibly do to aid a God? Why don’t you have the ability to correct it yourself? How am I supposed to help? I can’t do anything.”
“To some yes you are a plaything, but not to me. You may not be from this world but you are a goblin now and no longer a human. Which makes you one of my children. The species you belong to is my creation. I am the Goblin Father. Every goblin's life is precious to me and I am deeply enraged about their lot in life. I can not rectify that without assistance. I’ve grown weak over the years. We, Gods, require belief to fuel our strength and sustain our lives. With my people enslaved my believers have grown thin and my reservoir of power is nearly out. Which in turn threatens my very existence. No belief means no power. No power means Goodbye Goblin-Father.”
“Ok so let’s say I’m willing to help. What am I to do for you? How will I accomplish it?”
“What you would need to do is free my children and restore their belief in me. I know that sounds complicated but I believe you are the right choice for the task. This world has rules and they can allow people to accomplish wondrous things. Alas, my children have been forced to forget about these things. I want you to make them remember. Guide them back to a place where they can be proud to be Goblins. Free my beloved children and you shall be granted boons as I regain my strength. As of now, I can only grant you an ember of my power. It’s up to you to fan that into a flame strong enough to achieve the goal. Only one question remains. Are you willing?"
“That’s a lot to take in. I want to live and I want to learn more about this world. It’s fascinated me with the existence of magic. So yes I will agree to help you. Not just for you though. I will also do it for myself and unleash my vengeance on those who wronged me so. Grant me your power and I will do as you have requested.”
“Wonderful. You are now my Disciple. Take this ember and forge it into a raging fire. I can only grant you access and entry-level skills of your choice. What you make of yourself after that is dependent on your deeds. What would you like to learn?” Chooftoof said gravely.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
What kind of class should I choose? This world seems to have rules that are quite similar to video games. Chooftoof has offered me carte blanche when choosing what I become. Interesting. With nearly endless options what should I pick? Hmmm, we have the classic classes, Warrior, Rogue, Ranger, and Wizard. Warrior seems pretty cool, but it seems pretty risky. Trying to fight an entire world full of Slavers with just a sword and shield. Seems pretty fucking ridiculous to me! This isn't some epic tale of a Legendary Warrior Hero. Nope, Warrior is out.
What about a Rogue? Nope. Hell no! Rogue-like behavior is what got me dead in the first place. Hella Dead. Moving on. Ranger? What, and be some type of Robin Hood/Hawkeye character? Running around in tights? Nope. Jumping off buildings and destroying my knees? Abso-fucking-lutely not! One Archer versus a whole ass army? Fuck out here with that bullshit!
A Wizard maybe? Yer a wizard, Steven? Pulling off epic feats of magical destruction sounds awesome! Who wouldn't want to throw around Fireballs and Chain Lightning? Hell yeah! Wizards are cool but man if I've learned anything from gaming, once you run out of mana and or spells to cast, you're kind of just a dude with a stick. I mean a big stick but a stick nonetheless. Nope. We'll skip the Harry Potter shit.
With so many choices we could be here all day. I don't have time for that. So I'll speed things up and skip to the good part.
What would help me claim my revenge in the best manner? It needs to be able to set a poignant example. I want something with awesome magic skills, but I also want to be as safe from harm as possible. I mean you try dying not once, not twice, but three Goddamn times and tell me you don't develop a strong aversion to danger? I need something to inspire fear and awe in allies and enemies alike. Hmmm. Holy hell! I’ve made up my mind.
“Necromancy!” I shouted with an evil grin.
“As you wish my Chosen. I grant you knowledge of Necromancy. You may choose what skills you learn to start with. As you fight you will earn experience and become stronger. The stronger you become the more options you will uncover to increase your strength. The more belief I receive the more knowledge I can grant you. Now be gone from this realm! Spending more time here will lead to drastic consequences.”
Chooftoof looked at me with a spark of joy in his eyes before I was ripped from the In-Between and whisked back to my body. In an instant, I opened my eyes and jumped for joy. I’m alive. I’m ALIVE! As I was jumping in celebration my collar fell off. With a loud clank, the collar hit the floor. It must have unlocked when I died. Quickly I accessed my status window. Level 4 Goblin Youngling Chooftoofs Chosen HP : 90 MP : 60 SP : 80 Str : 5 Dex : 4 Con : 6 Int : 8 Wis : 7 Cha : 0(-1)* Alright looks like my stats increased a bit. Looks like the strength, dexterity, constitution, and stamina stats increased because of the constant grueling slave work and fighting. It looks like I gained a few levels because of it as well. My intelligence and wisdom stats went up because of learning the Knowledge of Necromancy. Now I need to look at the skills I need to learn. Here we go. 1. Animate Skeleton - Calls forth the remains of the dead and animates them as Skeletal Warriors. Each Animated Skeleton counts towards your control limit. 2. Create Golem – Creates a golem using magic and surrounding elements. The strength of a golem depends on skill level. Higher levels unlock higher-tier golem skills. 3. Summon Spirits – Summons floating skulls covered in green unholy flames that seek out and attack enemies. Deals physical and fire damage with attacks. Amount, duration, and damage depend on skill level. 4. Amplify Damage – Applies a curse to enemies that increases damage taken. Duration, % of increased damage and radius depend on skill level. 5. Bone Armor – Conjures bone armor on the caster increasing defense and damage reduction until it breaks. Amount and % depend on skill level. 6. Decay – Disperses a dark mist around the target and the surrounding area. Deals unholy damage, weaken defense and spreads disease. Disease effect drains health/second. Damage, range, aoe, and drain % depend on skill level. Decisions, decisions. Looks like Chooftoof gave me 3 skill points and my level gave me 3 for a total of 6. Ok, I’ll put 2 points into Summon Spirits, and 2 points into Create Golem. 1 point into Bone Armor, and 1 point into Decay. I really want to make myself some spooky scary skeleton minions but I need a way to make corpses first. So yeah I think this is the best choice for now! Skills Dark Vision Summon Spirits Lvl 2 Create Golem Lvl 2 Bone Armor Lvl 1 Decay Lvl 1