Hiddey POV
The clanging of pots and shouting of hoarse throats calls out to the horde. Goblins young and old carrying mismatched weaponry from rusty knives, pans, stone spears and clubs. The bonefire light the night in a unpleasant light as the horde chattered among themselves. I stood in the middle trying to hide in the older goblins. The younger horde gather looking at each other in suspicion the veterans mingle in between the young gangs to decrease the chance of being spotted. Soon a mighty crash is heard, and all heads turn towards it.
Our mighty leader stands before us with Bokeader at his snide snivelling like a … snivelling coward. I watch closely as the Daughters of our mother gather behind them with their holy symbol of sharp dog teeth amulets. Chief looks at his horde clearly unimpressed as he grunts pushing Bokeader in front of him, who grabs one of his many potions and guzzles it down spilling it over himself. He coughs and throws the potion away before clearing his throat, “Brothers! We are hunting! A new prey has appeared on the island a MAN!” The crowd stood watching him in silence unsure of what make of this, he looks at them and gives us and scoffs at us.
A veteran from somewhere in the back shouts “IT’S CALLED A TALLTHING!! WHY SHOULD WE HUNT IT, IT WILL KILL US ALL!!” Ignoring this incredibly insightful comment and words of wisdom he starts speaking. “Shut it or you’ll join Pitt duty!!! Continuing this MAN not Tallthing has been spotted, so our great Chief has called a GREAT HUNT, we will capture it and rip of its weak pink flesh right of its bone. Its tasty flesh and marrow will sate our hunger, whoever kills it and brings it before Chief will join the ranks of his guards! They will have their own brood and all the food they want.” The crowd stand there nervously but slowly become bolder as they listen to his words, I try and push my way out of the crowd, and I see a few other veterans doing the same.
As I reach the crowds edge, I see one of the veterans try and sneak of before a group of daughters emerge from the shadows and slit his throat unnoticed by anyone else. I quickly turn around with my heart beating, this is bad the only chance I had at surviving was to hide in my hovel when everyone was distracted. Many of the other veterans stop and turn around giving each other fearful looks. I nod at one of the closest ones, he looks at me and nods pointing to the others. I push through the cheering horde as they jump and scream at whatever Bokeader is shouting.
He grabs my shoulder as three others reach us, he speaks in a high-pitched voice “We need to stick together, a Tallthing is dangerous.” They all nod along quickly I speak loud enough for them to hear me “Chief wants to kill the Mad One and the Tallthing because they attacked the fish farm and stole his sword.” The high pitched one turns a lighter shade of green as he speaks “That explains the Daughters, we need to stick together and if we see the Tallthing we should work together to kill it. Are you all in?” I try and answer but suddenly a horn blow and the gates to the village are opened as oil is thrown onto the bonfire, I managed to nod and we grab onto each other as the horde rushes out with implements and weapons to hunt, I wont lie it will be a slaughter.
The goblin people are almost gone because we are just too weak to survive, we might as well just lie down and let the world stomp us to death. Legends said that one goblin’s made kingdoms before the Blue appeared, but we were not loved by it, so our people were just too weak to survive. We were driven from our lands and slaughtered by Pointy Ears, Tallthings, Goblinhaters and even our fellow monsters hunted us for EXP. Were the last true free tribe of goblins the rest have changed, for the worse. This world was never meant for us but damn the Mother I’m not dying tonight. Look up at the three eyes of the Mother the great white eye and its smaller red copper eye and light blue stare at me. I’ll survive and do what I want, nodding I hold onto the goblin as we are pushed out of the gates. I hear Bokeader shout “TODAY WE FEAST ON MANFLESH!!!”
“It’s a Tallthing get it right!” I shout back at him as the hunt begins.
Unknown POV
The sound of feet alerts the figure, as he stands next to the open door his axe raised waiting for any unfortunate person to come close. Slowly he peers around the corner to see a tall albino wearing a large black coat passing a sword between his hands and a floating girl following him. A confused frown appears but he shakes it off and grins. It took him hours to find him under the cover of the night, he slowly steps out and gets ready to attack. With a spring in his steps he reaches him and strikes deep into his neck releasing blood onto his calm stoic face. Well that’s what was supposed to happen, but a sudden explosion rocks the school and orange light shines through the broken windows and hole filled walls. The albino falls to the ground as the wall to his right explodes and cheering is heard from the outside, followed by blood curdling screams.
The figure trips over his own feet and falls onto the ground where the albino stood, the cold man loses his grip on his axe. The axe hits the floor sliding in front of the rubble covered albino who is just coming back to consciousness. Their eyes meet and they both stare at each other, they both look down at the axe and in that moment they both try to grab it.
Kacper POV
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My eyes meet his as I look into his calm brown eyes, tilting my head I see the axe. With a burst of adrenaline, I jump for the axe grabbing the handle. Another hand grabs it seconds later and our eyes meet again a look of mild irritation crosses his face. A desperate one-sided struggle begins as I try and pull it out of his grasp. Yet its all for nothing as he rips it out of my hand and delivers a punch to my face sending me reeling and clutching at my bloody face. My finely tuned survival instincts save my life again as the cannibal lifts his axe to split my head, of course I had some help.
“Roll to the SIDE!”
Ignoring the pain, I managed to move in a perfectly graceful way I escape his attack. Scrambling to my feet I give a quick scan of my surroundings. The left wall has a giant hole where the explosion happened, I’m surprised the rubble didn’t seriously injure me. I guess I can chalk that up to being a Champion of Luck, know that I think of it my luck is pretty bad so maybe it was coincidence? Wait shouldn’t I be doing something?
“Dodge you fucking idiot!”
I swivel my head to the asshole to see him try and hit me, I manage to just barely move out of the way. Giving him a grin, I lift my hands and get ready to defend myself. I only lost 6 health I can still win. I feel a mental facepalm as Pix materialises behind him pointing at Jagg in the rubble. That’s when I notice I’m not actually holding Jagg, I look at my hands as I see them clutching air. I really need to invest in Perception if I overlook something like this. Fear starts to settle in as I turn cold and a pit forms in my stomach, he’s going to chase after me until I’m dead for real. I need to end this and get of this island fast or I’m dead.
I gulp and speak “Can we talk this out?” The figure steps forward and without even a shake of his head goes for another attack. Raising my arms to protect my head, in a moment of clarity I activate Weak Mana Shield fuelling it with all of my meagre mana. The axe collides with my blue shield that covers my forearms, blue sparks fly off and it shatters. However, before it shatters the axe bounces of it like a tennis bowl against a brick wall, I start flapping my arms around like a headless chicken. Even with my closed eyes I somehow manage to deflect his axe by sheer luck.
I feel a mental kick as Pix screams for me to move, I feel my mind turn to mush she scream. In an attempt to stop the pain, I follow her judgment, barrelling straight into my fellow player. In a battle of strength there is no doubt I would lose, but if you add in blind rage caused by ear bleeding pain, shock and surprise from his side, loss of balance from the misplaced strike and sheer momentum from yours truly… well things turn out differently. The man is sent reeling as he tries to keep his balance, failing spectacurely as he tripps over his own feet, I desperately push against him with my fear and pain induced strength. He trips smashing his head on the rubble strewn floor I hear a disgusting crack and squelch.
Ignoring it, I rush for my weapon stepping on the sharp rocks I grit my teeth and grab Jagg. I hear a war cry as the asshole gets up and in a fit of anger, he tries to end the fight. I turn but this time I can’t deflect the axe which manages to strike my right shoulder, embedding itself deep into the bone. My accidental swipe impales him on Jagg I hear a squelch, but I pay it no mind as I feel the burning sensation flare through my right arm. Pix and surprisingly Jagg both shout “Push you have him on the ropes!” I look at him and see that my blade had cut into his stomach somewhere into the intestines, I look up at his face to see blood flowing from behind his ears and a sick twisted grin appears on his face, a shiver crawls up my spine numbing the pain in my arm. A unspoken message is said, only one off us is going to survive.
With this challenge I push my blade into him, and I feel it slink deeper into his gut and he lets out a groan of pain. I clench my hands around the handle and grind my teeth waiting for him to rip the axe out. Yet he grabs me with his left handle and throws me to the side specifically the hole in the second story wall. I grunt as I land near the edge, I feel the axe dislodge as I force my arms to move in an attempt pick myself up. The axe falls hitting the floor and bouncing of the edge onto the rubble where it falls near a broken pillar with rusty pylons sticking out. I try and catch my breath as I turn around to the clattering of Jagg and the cries of Pix. The stranger covers the wound with his right arm as he picks up the bloody blade, he looks at me and with a dark look he rushes over with the raised blade over his head.
I close my eyes waiting to feel the blade to tear my flesh, yet it never comes. I open my eyes to see a blue box mere inches in front of the blade preventing the sword from cutting me. I just start laughing at the utter stupidity of it, yet I stop when I feel a hand on my throat. Jagg is thrown away as soon as the stranger reads whatever was written. The choking begins, “Do something… anything…one more death and were done. We need this life to escape from this monster or were fucked!!!” I desperately try and stop him, but it is like trying to bend a iron bar. The pain grows and I can here Pix screaming at me to do something. I struggle like a cornered animal lashing out at him desperately scratching at his eyes. Every breath becomes harder and harder, I feel my mind slowly slipping away.
A flash and a mental message sent by Pix spurs me on. I feel my muscles turn to iron and my mind resurrects itself as it jumps back into pilot the seat. With a feral grin my right-hand latches onto his left choking arm and my left hand grabs his right elbow. With all the strength I can muster in my legs I use our combined mass and his sudden shock at my new found strength to send us flying, over the edge.
I feel the wind hitting me as I hold the asshole, I tighten my grip on him as we fall down the hole. Welp, I guess we will be joining him. I hear Pix cheering as we fall but it is cut short when we smash into the ground. I feel my bones breaking and my flesh being torn. My head smashes into his as gravity forces me to follow after him. Everything goes blank, only feeling the blood and pain inflicted onto my body. Darkness surrounds me as phantasmal fire burns at my body, I keep on falling until I see a small grey glint. As it comes closer, I see a small box and a figure on it. Did I fucking die again? I hit the cold steel disk, as I see Pix runs over to me, I close my eyes. Mumbling I close my eyes “I think I’ll just sleep for a bit.”