Once upon a time, there was a goblin.

It wasn't much to look at. It wasn't any greener than the rest, and neither was his nose pointer or his ears sharper.

His teeth were just was jagged and yellow as all the others, as well.

But what this goblin had that made it special, was a sense of wonder and curiosity none of its compatriots had.

While they scavenged the remains of deceased adventurers, it couldn't help but wonder from whence their various objects came from, and what stories they may have had.

Look at that ax! It looked heavier than HIM! How did they even lift it? Were did it came from? And why did it have wiggly light-thingies squirming along its length? Oh, the wiggly things just bit another goblin. Now he was black. And smoky.

The smell was actually an improvement.

And look at that hat! It just looked fabulous! Too bad the boss already took it for itself. He didn't even get to look at it all that well. What an ass.

He hoped light-snake things came out of it and bit him, too. Maybe then he would be the boss!

And so, as the goblin traveled together with his pack, tribe or whatever, he continually saw new things that most other goblins didn't bother to look at much.

Once, while they were pillaging a town after some Orcs had worked on it, he found a clock-tower that somehow or other avoided the fires, and he marveled at the many moving pieces inside. And when he set foot at the top, look and behold, everyone looked smaller! It was like they all became ants!

That day, he couldn't help laughing out loud at how silly everyone else looked from up above. He got smacked for that. The jerks couldn't take a bit of humor.

But he never once forgot how the world look from up above. How he could see from on high above the sea of trees that he thought went on forever, and found there were mountains that went up higher than the clouds. He saw much more birds than he ever saw before bunched up together and flying away somewhere, almost looking like a cloud themselves.

Maybe all the clouds were actually very, very many white birds bunched up together?

And since that day, when warming itself with what rags he had in their cave, he sometimes thought about what it would be like to be a bird, and just fly away somewhere, free of all concerns and able to go anywhere.

Unfortunately, he wasn't a bird. He would probably get eaten by something if he got too far away from the group. After all, just as goblins hated most of everything, most of everything hated goblins. Or found them a decent snack.

He wondered why so many things ate them. They weren't that tasty. He ate goblin a couple of times before, and it was always stiff and yucky.

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But then again, he was starving back then, so he supposed that hunger was as much motivation for a wolf or harpy as it was for a goblin.

Speaking about harpies, one just snatched up their sentry up in the trees. Ha! That teaches him to sleep on the job!

That wouldn't ever happen to him. He was too smart for that.

But despite his fervent hopes, no harpy or other starving animal ate their boss, so they had to get up early in the morning at his yelling and kicking.

Now, for some reason, they were going to raid the Orcs camp. Which was the silliest idea ever, and not only because it was raining and doing anything while drenched sucked. Sure, orcs were silly, you could steal their pants and they wouldn't notice, but there were a lot of them, and they were big.

He seriously considered trying to make a run for it. Maybe, if he didn't get eaten or beaten up by the boss, he could make it to his secret stash, maybe borrow some of the boss things while he was at it, travel to some far away place and pretend to be an adventurer. They were all weirdos anyway, so no one would notice. Probably.

But that idea was soon dashed away as they came upon the camp.

The rain only marginally hid the stench, which was half the reason why no bears or wolves got near the place.

Animal skins could be seen on just about every abode, and big bonfires burned under the ceiling of huge structures covered in some kind of cloth.

The orcs themselves seemed to dislike the rain just as much as goblins did, for the ones he was able to see were particularly grumpy, their faces twisted in an ugly snarl. Not that he was very good at telling the difference. They all looked pretty ugly all the time, so for all he knew maybe some of they were actually happy about the rain.

Orcs were weird like that.

While he had such ruminations, their small band of goblins successfully managed to sneak in past a couple of guards that sucked at guarding anything. Apparently, they were too busy prodding a pair of humans to fight each other to do their jobs.

It wasn't until they almost finished grabbing all the tasty and shiny things they could grab that things went to hell.

Turns out, some orcs like steal wolf cubs and pretend to tame them. The wolves then figure staying put in the camp, occasionally sniffing or killing things, and getting food for napping most of the day is a good deal, and thus they stay.

And just like normal wolves, they are pretty good at hunting goblins.

Long story short, they fought some wolves, some goblins died, then the orcs showed up to check what the racket was about, and then more goblins died.

It turns out, being the biggest, meanest jerk out of the goblins can have its downsides, as their boss found out. Which means he got singled out pretty fast as the guy in charge, and thus killed.

Meanwhile, thanks to his stunning cunning, awesome acrobatics, excellent stealth, and just a little bit due to his rather small size and mud covered body, he managed to escape the chaos

He even managed to grab a few shining rock things! They felt weird on his hands.Were they pulsing? Eh, whatever.

And thus, here he was, standing at the entrance of the cave that had been his home for many seasons.

Soon enough, the smell of dozens of goblins would fade and the lack of a racket would be noticed. Sadly, his home wouldn't stay safe for long.

So, covered in a grimy cloak, carrying a few daggers, some strange shining rocks, gloves that adjusted to his hands, the ax that strangely didn't bite him, and a rather fabulous hat, there stood the most unusual goblin this forest had ever seen. Not that it would be seeing him much longer.

He was leaving, going to parts unknown. Maybe he would really become an adventurer? Who knew.

For now, he would try and see if he could reach the mountains. Maybe he would climb them? What would everything look like once he was above the clouds? Would he be able to touch the sun?

His head full of doubts, nonetheless he stepped forward and moved on, the sun at his back.

For there was one thing he knew for certain. Right now, he was like a bird; free to go anywhere he wanted, the only limit being where his feet could take him.

And if he died not long after? Well, then he would die like no other goblin had died yet.

On an adventure.