Although his eyes still stung a bit, Kirkley Bliant was in a pretty good mood. He was very happy with the newest addition to their party. For one thing, Jack was a Drakarian; a race of people who were the descendants of the coupling between humans and dragons, and that meant that there was someone in the group with a worse racial background than Kirkley’s. This made the little goblin feel very comfortable.

Goblins weren’t looked upon too kindly by most people, but the thought of a Drakarian often brought fear and disgust to the common folk. Many hated dragons, for they were not peaceful creatures; on the contrary, they often brought settlements to asunder and ate the livestock, leaving people with nothing but their burnt-down homes and fields. And in that sense, they hated their descendants as well. The Drakari were humanoids who had scales for flesh and fangs for teeth; they also had long pronounced snouts and fierce-looking eyes like dragons. They did not, however, have any wings or tails. Not all the Drakari had the same colored scales either; Kirkley noticed that Jack’s were a grayish black color. He personally would’ve preferred something flashier; like red, but oh well.

With Jack, they were a party of four again. It saddened Kirkley to think about Fleffy the elf. When Kirkley returned to the world of the living, it had been with those three: Hasib, Jillian, and Fleffy. They had to collect the Abyssal Shards.

Luckily, the place they had been teleported to was relatively close to a farm called the Greenleaf farm. It was owned by a dwarf called Thornfield.

The Old dwarf was kind enough to let them spend the night in his barn and provide them with food. They even got to meet the kind dwarf’s family. They were a happy family of six, with four kids. The eldest of which had easily been a foot taller than Kirkley already. Dwarves weren’t the tallest of people, but they were hardworking and fierce, and they still easily towered over goblins.

The following day, Mr. Thornfield had sent them on their way, although he had offered them a longer stay, but they were in a hurry to find the shards, and so had to decline the offer.

Not two days later, they ran into a boar; it was a fearsome sight. A mountain of a beast, it was unlike any other boar Kirkley had ever seen. Its eyes were filled with rage and hungered for blood. It had long, curved tusks and a row of thick black fur growing on its back. Fleffy insisted that he take on the beast on his own at first. He held his greatsword in his hands and waited for the boar to make the first move. The two circled one another, keeping a fair distance. Then suddenly, the boar charged at Fleffy, its hind legs throwing up clouds of dirt as it rushed at him with full force. At the last moment, Fleffy tried to dodge the attack and deliver a counter-slash down, but it was too late; his timing was off, and both of them had hit their target. As they were locked in place, tusk into elf and steel into boar, Hasib rushed in and finished off the beast. The wounds Fleffy had suffered, however, were too great to be healed by Jillian. And so, he died the following morning from his injuries.

They stuck his sword in the dirt next to the grave they had dug out for him.

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Kirkley was used to losing comrades by this point; his past life on the seas had made him accustomed to the harshness of the ocean and the death that it could bring. Even so, it pained him to see one go every time.

Presently, they had reached the bridge connecting Farmer’s Folly and Valeron; it was a great stone structure that arched above the river fifty feet above the surface. Evening quickly approached as they crossed the bridge. They continued for another hour before setting up camp in the middle of a clearing flanked by trees. Not far off, Kirkley could see the sun ducking behind the tall mountains.

“Head northwest towards the mountains; when you get to the river, keep marching on its right until you start seeing the snowy peaks of the Dhumikliom Kingdom, then start heading northeast, and you’ll get to Nayulik that way,” the traveling farmer had told them.

As night finally arrived, the party decided to call it a day. Jack began digging a small trench in the ground with his bare hands.

“What’re you doing, Jack?” The goblin asked.

“I’m digging a hole; it'll keep us warm. We won’t be as easy to spot. See, the trees help but there are gaps,” He replied.

“Smart. So you've done this sort of thing before?” Hasib added as he joined Jack in the digging.

“What, you mean survive? Yeah, I've done that sort of thing once or twice.”

Kirkley sat on a comfortable-looking rock, took out his lute, adjusted the red bandana on his head, and started to play a soothing tune. Jillian was already asleep.

As the two finished digging, Jack settled on one side and buried himself in the dirt. “So how come you all started with equipment, and I came here with fuck all?” He asked, rolling over on his side beneath a blanket of dirt.

The other two remained silent as the drakarian went to sleep. It was true, why did they all start with equipment, except for Jack? Did Axorivim perhaps hate the drakarian? Kirkley didn’t linger on these questions for too long, as the thought of Axorivim hating Jack made the goblin laugh.

And so, day passed day, and they eventually came across the river. Following the advice of the farmer; keeping it on their left, they followed it until they could see the snow-peaked mountains of the north. The river had clean fresh water; Kirkley took advantage of this fact by going skinny dipping in the river.

Because of the presence of the freshwater source, hunting for game was a lot easier. Hasib and Jack had brought back a deer once somewhat unscathed. Somewhat–Jack it seems had taken a blow or two from the deer’s antlers due to his recklessness, nothing Jillian couldn’t fix. Perhaps that was one of the reasons Kirkley had taken a liking to Jack, his recklessness. It reminded the tiny goblin of his home.

Their journey continued, taking them to high hills which were definitely hard on Kirkley’s legs, but the little tunechanter managed to persuade Jack to carry him on his back for the trip.

The mountains in the north soon became visible to them, and their trajectory had changed to head northeast. As they went further north, they slowly began to feel the cooling of the air. Jack felt this the most as the only clothing he had was a short-sleeved shirt and trousers. Jillian traveled cozily in her trouser-coat.

After five weary days of travel, they had finally arrived; as they stood atop a tall hill, they could all see it in the distance–the great city of Nayulik.