Chapter 4

The screams were deafening. They were extremely high pitched, so high that it quickly made my ears start to ring and my eyes water. I continued to run towards the goblins, with my both hands on my sword, ready to attack.

I really should have came up with a plan, as when I got closer, I noticed the little goblin start to run away, as well as one of the tall goblins rummaging through the big chest. It pulled out two stones, and quickly passed one to the other taller goblin. When I was about 12 feet away from them, I stopped and realized that it was not stones in their hands, but small, rusted daggers. My eyes went wide, as the three of us stood there, staring, waiting for someone to make a move.

It felt like years passed by, the only sounds being made were the pounding of hearts, as we eyed each other up. Then, when in the distance, the little goblin fell and made a noise when running away did the silence finally break, and the fight was on.

The first goblin that I had noticed quickly dashed towards me, swinging it’s rusted knife in the air. It looked like a child playing with a wooden sword, only this time it was a green monster ready to kill and eat me. I easily dodged it’s first attack by jumping backwards. When it missed, the goblin stomped it’s feet and screamed again, it’s red eyes gleaming with fury. It once again charged, and when I tried to dodge the same way, it continued it’s assault by chasing after me. That’s when I swung my sword towards it, trying to slash it in the chest. The goblin was too nimble for my attack, and quickly ducked under my sword, rolling on the ground out of the way. I glanced at the other goblin, who was thankfully just standing there, watching, pointing it’s knife towards me.

The first goblin got up from the ground and this time it bared its fangs towards me instead of screaming. The rows of teeth that it showed were dirty, brown and decayed with saliva permeating every inch of it’s mouth. The goblin got into a defensive stance, no longer charging aimlessly. The other goblin on the left of it quickly went behind him, and also took a similar stance. When I noticed both goblins were breathing heavily, my eyes went wide.

What is that? I looked down at the old, rusted daggers the pair of monsters had and noticed they both started to glow. Each dagger had a faint, purple smoke come off of them, similar to how the edges of the blue portal were wisping away. Not only that, the purple colour went up to just under the elbow of these beasts, as if it was radiating off of the dagger.

No. That’s wrong. I let go of my sword with my left hand and held up my wooden shield, now only wielding my blade with my right. The purple energy is not coming from the blade, it’s coming from the goblins, and it’s going into the blade. It’s quite the assumption to make… but is this some kind of magic?

Just like before, the first goblin screamed and began to swing it’s blade towards me while charging. Whatever the purple colour is, I do not want to find out. I also dashed towards the goblin when it started it’s charge, and it’s face contorted in a way that made it seem like it did not think I was going to do so. It stopped in it’s tracks, and when I got near it, I swung my sword.

I immediately wanted to puke. Blood splattered the floor of the cave, my clothes, and everything else as my blade ran through it’s chest. The goblin dropped it’s dagger, and fell to the floor, screaming in agony as blood poured out of the giant slash I made. My entire body started to tremble, and I felt like passing out as I stood on top of the beast, watching it bleed a deep crimson colour.

Even though my panic, I raised my blade, my eyes shaking with a will I never knew I had, I was prepared to end it’s life. That’s when the second goblin slashed me in my leg.

I swung my sword towards it, and it jumped back, easily dodging my attack. I fell to one knee, and clutched my thigh where it had hit me. I took a look at my wound and when I saw the blood gushing out of it I began to panic. The pain was unimaginable, and I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. How will I stop the bleeding?

I gave a nasty stare to the goblin that slashed me while gritting my teeth. It did no charge attack like the other goblin, so I was able to stand up, trying to put minimal pressure on my injured leg. The blood was running down my leg at a pace that made me very nervous about blood loss. I’ve never been hurt before, at least like not like this, so I am unsure how much blood a person could realistically lose before they start to lose consciousness.

That’s when it hits me. I have to end this quick, so I can get the reward of the portal, and maybe find some help. I steel my resolve, and continue to fight.

Before the goblin that is watching me bleed can react, I grip my blade and swing in downwards onto the goblin that has the large chest wound from my blade, cutting through it’s upper torso. After a few more seconds of it grunting in pain and clutching at the now two gaping wounds in it’s chest, the goblins hands fell, and it died.

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

I looked back to the other goblin, the purple blade trembling in it’s hands, and notice that it’s crying. Crying? Why would a monster be crying?

Eh, who cares if it is.

I try to run forward towards it to finish it off, but my speed is greatly slowed. I know the pain in my leg is going to prevent me from running at my top speed, but this? I feel like a snail. I start to chase the goblin, and it runs away from me. We go at this for about a minute, all the while blood is still oozing out of my leg.

While being chased, every time it sees me misstep, or almost fall due to the pain, it quickly attempts to slash at my face, arms, or any exposed parts. I dodge the first onslaught, and as I block the second with my shield, it quickly falls apart, crumbling to the ground. The goblin notices I did not intend for that to happen, and continues to attack, but I roll out of the way.

That’s when I feel a slight pain in my arm, and notice that my shirt is cut, with a small bit of blood on it. Upon closer inspection, I realize that the last attack from the goblin actually grazed me, but thankfully did not cut deep enough to cause any serious damage.

Or so I thought.

At first, I feel it in my legs, then my chest, arms, and even eyes. My mouth gets dry, and my vision gets a little blurry. I stand, but am wobbly as I do so, and lean against the wall of the cave. I notice that the goblin is standing further away now compared to before and is watching me. I also notice that it is still crying, but now the sides of it’s mouth are curled, and it displays it’s rows of teeth. It’s smiling at me. The goblin has it’s head tilted slightly backwards, as if this was it’s master plan.

Oh no.

I stare at the blade of the monster. The glowing purple that was radiating down it’s arm starts to slowly decrease in light, until it is faded from sight completely. Is this… some kind of poison? My hands and legs are now shaking, either from the blood loss or whatever weird stuff is happening to me. The goblin begins to slowly walk forwards, still smiling as it does, and I ready myself again.

I can feel that my arms are way heavier, and that I won’t be able to keep up in this fight for much longer. Damn. How will I kill this beast now? Is this why I felt slower before?

That’s when an idea hits me. I dash backwards as fast as I can, which is by this point a fast walk. The goblin quickly follows, yelling as it chases me. When it gets close to me, I slash at it, but it dodges all my attacks due to my decreased speed, and we repeat this game of back and forth, until we are returned to where we started, near the large wooden chest and the other dead goblin.

I try to back up, but as I do, I stumble over a rock, and drop my sword on the ground as I fall directly onto of the other dead goblins body. I try to reach towards my sword, but the short and vicious goblin quickly kicks it away from me and slashes at my hand. I pull my hand back, just missing it’s slash, and sit there, on the ground.

The goblin is still smiling, moving the blade around in it’s hands as it watches me. My heart is thumping as it walks closer to me. When it gets over top of me, it raises the blade above it’s head, ready to strike down at me. As it does, it screams something in a language I can’t understand. Idiot.

I slash the goblin in the stomach, cutting open it’s belly, having it’s blood pour all over me. Tripping over the rock was a part of the show I just performed to trick the goblin into getting close to me. I picked up the blade of the goblin from the one that I had previously killed when I hit the ground. The little beast fell right into my trap.

The goblin screamed in pain, as it clutched it’s innards that started to fall from it’s wound. I got up and kicked it to the ground. It was once again crying, and this time looking at me. It put both of it’s hands towards me, palms facing me as it did. Haha. Is this thing trying to plead for it’s life.

Fuck that.

I kick it again, and it screams more. The blood that it’s loosing will have it dead in probably less than a minute, but I don’t care about that. I can still feel my body getting slower, and I want - no - need, to see this thing die. That’s when I pick my sword back up, and place it over it’s throat.

For one last instant, the goblin looks into my eyes, and I get a sense of understanding. There is no longer any hate, or any malice. The goblin realizes it is dead.

I slash at it’s throat to finish it off.

After I do, I stand there for a moment, panting, completely out of breath. Whatever poison or bullshit is affecting me from their weapons is really slowing down my entire body, to where I am scared that it is preventing my organs from functioning. I need that blue portal, asap.

I look down the hall, to where I saw the third, smaller goblin run, and slowly make my way towards it. Blood continues to fall from my leg with each step, and I grunt with pain. Sure, I could take off my sweater and tie my leg off, or I could even use the dirty, nasty cloth around the waists of the goblins to make a makeshift tourniquet. But am I thinking logical? No. I’m bloodthirsty.

Just as I am about to make my way further down the corridor, I pause and turn, looking back at the wooden chest. I don’t know why I do, but I just got a sixth sense that eyes were on me. As I turn to look, I notice two eyes, staring back at me. I pretend not to see them, and the green head of the goblin quickly darts down, hidden back into the chest.

What a stupid creature. Why would it come back here? I walk over to the chest, passing the two other dead goblins on the ground. I glance at them, and pause. After seeing the blood, being cut open, and looking at the dead corpses that I killed, I start to vomit.

Shit. Not good.

I fall to the ground and quickly turn my head to the side as to try to mitigate the vomit that falls on me. After about a minute or two, I am able to reagin my composure, sitting there, breathing in and out, trying to keep my stomach from restarting.

As I wait on the ground, I don’t glance over to the chest, just to make sure the smaller goblin does not realize I know it’s in there. I get up and shake my head as my eyes start to go even more blurry. The cuts from the dagger are really fucking me now.

When I get over top of the wooden crate, the goblin finally understands that I’ve seen it. It too is crying, just like the last one I killed. I raise my sword and pause. Wait, is it crying because… these three were a family?

The first one was just a tad bit bulkier than the second one, and was trying to protect the second one from the fight. Was that the man? Or the husband? So does that mean the second goblin was… the wife? The Mom…?

If so… would this be… their child? My eyes become even blurrier, as my legs and arms are shaking intensely. I am about to kill a child? A kid? For what purpose? To potentially get this exit portal?

At this point, I pray it is just a dream.

——————————

I rummage through the wooden chest and don’t find much. A small leather pouch that seems that it was made to store water, some coins that looks like they are made of gold, and another one of those perfectly spherical orbs, this one with a green dot in the middle. I am shaking as I do this, but decide I need to be as prepared as possible for whatever comes next, so I take all three items.

I turn around, having the wind of the portal hit my face. It feels pleasant, and that’s a nice feeling right now, as I am currently dying from my injuries.