The clouds that blanketed the night sky were broken, allowing the stars and partial moonlight to shine onto the snow-covered ground, making it sparkle and glisten under the pale blue shine. It resembled that of a priceless art piece, one that was almost too beautiful to destroy. Almost.
Suddenly, many feet broke the soft-looking white powder, all of them running in desperation. The ones responsible for the destruction were none other than feral goblins, their small yellow eyes wide with fear as they pushed past each other. One goblin, a male by the name of Urk, was in the lead. He was lucky enough to outrun the others, as he was the first one out of their pack to spot that thing. He was also extraordinarily lucky to avoid tripping or faltering his sprint throughout the forest, which earned him a spot in the lead.
Still, Urk wasn’t sure if he could truly outrun that thing. The creature he had seen was unnatural, to where he had suspected it to be a nightmare.
‘A cruel and horrible nightmare…’
He had hoped these last few minutes were part of a bigger, much terrible nightmare. Unfortunately for Urk, it was not. He risked a glance at his fellow goblins, watching how the remaining ones were frantically screaming and shouting for help from Urk.
‘Stupid stupid! Wasting their breath shouting and not enough in running!’
As much as he wanted to answer their cries and pleas, Urk couldn’t help. The abomination that was after them had swiftly taken out the ones who lagged for even a second. Urk wasn’t about to risk it, no matter what.
The goblin kept running for a few more minutes, hoping to all hope that he would arrive at the cave.
‘We can take the creature down if the whole tribe works together! Just need to get to cave!’
Urk heard another one of his pack mates fall, Frey, judging from his screaming voice. The sound of flesh ripping soon cut the goblin’s screech off. Urk didn’t dare look back. Another fell, Stiks from the sound of his voice, his crying snuffed out as quickly as he started begging. Urk heard the telltale sounds of guts being eviscerated. The goblin didn’t dare look back. He heard Olga fall, her sobbing nearly stopping Urk’s run.
‘Olga! No….’
Urk heard how Grem stopped to help her.
‘No no no…’
“I got you!” Grem called, before he suddenly screamed. The goblin heard both Olga’s and Grems’ calls for help and mercy cut off suddenly, replaced by the horrible sounds of death. Urk shut his eyes, but it only made it worse as the sounds grew louder and much more pronounced. Urk didn’t dare look back.
After running for what seemed like an eternity, Urk finally arrived at the cave. He slammed his fists against the shoddy wooden palisade.
“Open! Please! Danger! Big danger!” He cried out, slamming so hard and fast against the gate that he was certain that his hands were going to be bloody pulps in no time. Suddenly, the gate was pulled open and Urk fell forward, crawling quickly and fearfully into the cave’s solace.
“Close the gate now! Now!” He shouted as he moved to force the gate closed. Once closed, Urk felt his lungs burning from the freezing air, despite the sweat forming on his bald head. The other goblins looked at him, confused and fearful.
“Urk? What happened? Where rest of pack?” One of them asked, setting his spear aside as he went to support the panicking goblin.
Urk blinked, realizing that none of his friends had survived the encounter. Urk felt like crying, his eyes watering as he tried to come up with words about what happened.
“We came across remains of lost goblins,” he explained, recalling how they were looking for the lost hunters and gatherers. There, Urk and his pack had found remains of goblins, crystallized and blackened. Urk wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he had no time to investigate further before he had seen it. The thing that had hunted them, throughout the small island and its forest.
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“It tore through Kurn and Dorph like bear… but much worse,” Urk recalled, shivering.
“Much worse than bear? What is it?” Dek asked, confused.
“I don’t know… but it was much faster… much stronger… Killed everyone in pack. Frey, Stiks, Grem, Olga…” Urk trailed off. He wanted to vomit, to cry, and to curl up into a ball. “It gutted them like fish! And I couldn’t do anything!”
The other goblins shared a look of concern and worry, unsure of themselves. Suddenly, there was a knocking at the palisade’s gates, causing everyone to jump. They all stared at the gate, confusion settling before a voice rang out.
“Urk! Anyone?! Help!” It was Frey’s voice, frantic.
The goblins all looked at Urk, whose green skin seemed to go pale.
“I-Impossible… I heard him die!”
The knocking only grew even more frantic, another voice calling out.
“There’s a bear out here! Let us in!” It was Stik’s voice.
“We need help!” Grem’s voice now butted in, causing all the goblins to murmur and look at Urk. Urk tried to explain, but his throat went dry when another voice called out.
“Urk? Why did you leave us?! We needed you!” It was Olga’s voice. Urk was at his breaking point.
“No! NO! That’s not possible! You’re all supposed to be dead! Dead!” He was panicking, freaking out, as he reached for a nearby spear. The other goblins stopped him, holding him down as he screamed in terror. “It’s that thing! It’s not my pack! We have to kill it!” He was fighting his fellow friends, trying to get away.
“Urk! You’ve gone crazy!” One of them shouted. “Dek! Open the gate up with Fran! We have to save them!” The other goblins voiced their agreements, moving to hold Urk down as the rest opened up the gate.
“No no no! Please listen to me! We all die if you open that gate, Dek! Please! No!” Urk’s cries were unheard as the two goblins opened up the gate, which creaked loudly as it was forced to the side.
Darkness swept through the cave as a freezing gust of wind snuffed out the torches. Despite the lack of light, Urk could see in the darkness. His eyes widened as he watched a dark, unnaturally shaped creature step through the open gates, its many many eyes glowing a burning blue as it spoke.
“Thank you for saving me…” Its voice was a horrible mix of Urk’s pack’s voices, along with some others. Urk no longer felt any need to fight back anymore, his body going limp as he stared in horror and despair. Without mercy, the abomination descended on everyone with a mixture of sharp teeth and razor-like crystals.
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The cave was nearly silent, the sound of something dripping disturbing the ambiance of the cave now and then. The source of the dripping was from the end of the cave, where a hulking abomination rested. Blood ran down its surroundings, some of it from the walls and stalagmites from the roof of the cave. The abomination stirred, now much bigger than it had been mere hours ago. Its many eyes opened up, glowing as they examined the area. This was a pleasant spot, it mused, knowing that it needed it for hibernation.
‘Still… The other island was a much better spot.’ one voice in its head commented.
Another voice piped up, raspy, as it spoke out loud, “Yes… the humans on that island would’ve made delightful hosts. But I quite like the goblins. They’re so stupid. They don’t fight back like our last host…”
A third voice suddenly made itself known. ‘Or like him… The outlander.’
The creature growled in anger, thrashing its huge crystallized arm at a nearby rock, smashing it. The voices all hissed at the mention of him.
“James Holter,” it growled.
A deep voice then boomed, shutting them all up.
“He is no threat. Both him and that spirit have no clue of their potential. Not like us. We will have our revenge one day. We just need to build our mass and grow. Within a month… we will find him, kill him, and use his body as fodder for our growth.”
The other voices voiced their agreements, all of them eager to take revenge on the man who had denied them their host and rightful food.
James Holter and Faust Desimir would pay for their interference.