On the day a certain goblin woke up in a cave..

In a dark room, empty of anyone laid eight stones, each the size of an adult male’s hand. All perfectly laid in a circle upon an old wooden rustic altar. An altar that clearly showed its age with all the cracks and splits in the wood along with a heavy amount of dust.

Yet despite its appearance, the altar stood firm, dutifully being a place of refuge for the very stones that lay upon it. Year after year, this room and the contents within it stood silent without interruption. It was almost as if the room was frozen in time for the very purpose it was created for now seemed lost and forgotten by the beings it should matter to the most.

At least such was the case for decades until this very moment. The room finally had signs of life.

The stones began to emit a faint light which gradually grew brighter until the stones themselves started to vibrate in place. After a minute the entire room was bathed in a soft green glow and the stones themselves stopped vibrating and instead began to emit a faint ringing barely more audible than a whisper.

But just like the light this ringing sound also grew in intensity until it was just loud enough for it to reach down the hall, and inside a room not too far from the one it started in, until it finally reached the ears of the one within.

“Hmm..? Ringing..? Who could be making such noise at this forsaken hour. Once I find this little scoundrel I’ll give them a proper scolding! Damn..ring..wait.. Ringing?! No… it can’t be..”

Muttered a rather aged voice, before said owner of the voice hurriedly gathered himself and sprinted down the hall as fast as his old bones could go. It wasn’t long before he reached his destination and a look of absolute shock made its way onto his face.

“The Stones of Birth are..glowing..they are glowing..THE STONES OF BIRTH OF GLOWING!! I MUST TELL THE CHIEF!!”

And so the aged individual began another sprint, despite the creaks and pleas of his old bones.

Though this sprint was one the elder would make ten times out of ten regardless of any hindrance, let alone one as feeble as age. For the glowing of these stones signified prosperity, freedom, growth, and strength for the race this particular individual belonged to..A race of individuals with a skin that was always covered in a beautiful shade of green.

Goblins.

Yes, this old individual was in fact an old Goblin, one of course that was tasked with a sacred duty more important than even his own life yet one that he has never been able to carry out in his long life. One that was forgotten to many, one that had almost lost its meaning completely. Yet the stones now glowed. A duty that almost lost the battle against time now came roaring back with vigor. The stones glowed. It was now up to the old Goblin to make haste with his message. The stones were glowing.

First the Chief, then the entire clan, then all neighboring clans and then the subordinate tribes and before long all of goblin kind will come to know the stones were glowing.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

And once the goblins were prepared.. the world.. the entire world will come to know.

THE STONES WERE GLOWING. A GOBLIN ROYAL HAS BEEN BORN AND A GOBLIN KING WILL SOON RISE.

As yes.. the stones were indeed glowing.

Ahem.. back to the present..the old Goblin, quickly made his way out of the small stone building and followed a dirt path south right into the center of the Clan grounds, where the largest building in the Clan was located, the home of the Chief, this building also doubled as an administrative building where clan elders would convene to discuss all manner of things.

After reaching the building, the old Goblin didn’t even bother with the guards manning the doors and just barged in, of course not just any individual could just barge into the Chief’s building unchecked…anyway he quickly found the office where the Chief usually resided at this late hour, and of course barged through that door as well.

Sigh..

“Elder Raj, you know your not supp..-“

“Blah! There is no time for that! The Stones of Birth are glowing!!”

The Chief immediately stood up from his chair with a look of seriousness on his face.

“Are you sure?! This is no laughing matter!”

“Of course I’m sure! They are glowing, a very beautiful green glow in fact.”

“This..this changes everything..we need to find him. Did the glow start today?”

“Yes, after discovering the glow, I made it here with great haste. Which means we have a week..one week until the Stones of Birth will stop glowing completely until the next day where one Stone will glow again for just a short moment to signify the direction of the Royal.”

“We need to gather all the elders and the neighboring Clan Leaders, we need a force strong enough to make the journey to find and bring our future King home but also small enough to remain hidden from our many enemies. None can know of this…especially not humans.”

Despite the late hour, it didn’t take long for the Chief’s message to be passed throughout his clan, and then the neighboring clans as well, all thirteen of them. Each housing thousands of goblins of all shapes and sizes, for these were Goblin lands, deep into the Dark Lands of Mir. Far away from the human gaze and too dangerous for any one large force to venture without significant losses.

By the time first light came, a large conference room was now housing all 14 Goblin Chiefs in the Dark Lands of Mir. Every single one of them radiating a power that suited beings sitting firmly in Tier 6.

“How many will we send?”

“We should of course send no less than Fifty of our finest warriors! How can we welcome our future King with anything less?!”

“Rogur you babbling fool! If we send that many Goblins beyond these lands they would attract too much attention!”

“You were always too damn cautious Jurna! Sending only fifty is barely even acceptable”

“Rogur, she is right. I agree our future King should only be treated with the highest honors, but this mission is too sensitive and far too important. It needs to be handled delicately. I think no more than ten warriors should go.”

“Ten?! Does anyone else agree with Grul?!”

The remaining Chiefs who were silent up until this point all gave it a moment to think it over before nodding to Rogur, indicating their agreement.

“Fine! But my Clan will send at least two warriors! And one of my Generals will be one of them! I won’t back down from this, I refuse for my clan to have a poor showing in front of the future King.”

“Have it your way. To avoid any leadership issues Rogur’s General will be the only Tier 5 on this mission, the remaining spots will be our best Tier 4 warriors. Lets quickly determine a team and prepare them for this mission. We only have a few days. Let's not waste any more time.”

A rather tall yet surprisingly buff Maglin responded to Rogur, while the latter, an extremely bulky Goblin, only grunted in response.

The remaining Chiefs didn’t pay him any mind, they were more than used to Rogur’s personality. Despite wanting to make this team fairly quickly it took more than half a day to fill the required slots, while no one else was as heavy handed in their approach as Rogur, they all wanted their clan’s warriors to make this journey, as it would bring them great honor to escort the future King.