Husband of the Goblin Tribe

~~** Interlude | Somewhere Outside the Realm of Life and Death **~~

In what could be considered a mental reconstruction of what appeared to be a cavernous throne room, two formless beings manifested inside of it, as they had once before.

“It seems your time here as my guest has finally come to an end.”

“Finally came to your senses and decided to return me to the Goddess’ embrace, I take it?”

“Not at all. I have kept you here because I had hoped to find the right opportunity to allow you a chance to atone for your crimes, and, fortunately for us both, such a time has come.”

“Crimes?”

“Yes, crimes. Or is child-slaughtering a facet of Elara she keeps hidden to all but her faithful?”

“Purging your evil spawn from the world is not a crime, it’s a sacred duty!”

“So sacred a duty it must have been that, when I asked Elara for your soul as compensation for such an act done in her name, it took her less than the span of a mortal breath to agree.”

“Impossible! The Goddess would not have forsaken my soul! It was likely some heretical magic being cast by your shaman and that nasty one with the spear to obscure my death from the eyes of the Goddess!”

“When did I say she had forsaken your soul? I should think Elara is in agreement with me, that you are deserving of a second chance at life. All that will change for you is the perspective you will observe that second life from…”

A snap of the fingers showed a Human woman on a raised block of stone being violated by another Human male in the presence of two goblins.

“What is this?”

“That would be your mother and father currently in the process of creating a suitable vessel for you.”

“They are human?”

“The woman is, at least for the moment. As a Saintess of Elara, certainly it would be unreasonable to ask you to be born to someone not of the same faith. The man, however, is something of an anomaly, but one who has willingly accepted the origin blood of my children and also seeks to show them a path to becoming more than the evil spawn you purport them to be.”

A snap of the fingers sped up the scene before them both. The human copulated with the two goblins present, then violated the human woman once more. While time passed over days, the woman underwent some kind of physical change until her body was somewhere between that of a goblin and a human.

“What manner of corruption is this…?”

“Why, love, of course.”

“Blasphemy!”

“Not at all. The human man wanted nothing more than to strongly save the life of that woman, and this was the result of his will. His seed planted inside of her belly will create a worthy vessel, a goblin vessel suitable to house the soul of a Saintess…”

“Lies!”

“Shall we continue to observe?”

Time rapidly sped up until an explosion of light happened in a small cave that four goblins occupied, and a small ripple in the fabric of the universe formed for a fraction of a second before time froze.

“Your passage back to the world, without loss of a single bit of yourself. Your memories, your faith in Elara, your hatred of my children, all of it shall remain with you. Only now, you shall become one of them. But, do keep one thing at the forefront of your thoughts… suicide shall not be permitted, not by Elara, and not by Me. Enjoy your new life as the first Saintess of the Bloodmaw Goblins. Ha ha ha ha!!!”

And like that, the intangible form of the one called the Saintess of Elara had been thrust through the small ripple in the fabric of reality, and catapulted at full force into the body of a strong-one growing inside of of a half-goblin Bloodmaw named Stella...

~~** Interlude | Ark Wyze **~~

Surprise childbirths are no longer something new and unexpected to me. Diana Artemis set the bar, and it hasn’t dropped an inch since. I had been forcibly awakened by Glace with her magically chilled water pistol to a scene I would have preferred been a nightmare instead.

I was being helped up by an extremely malevolent-looking skeleton goblin while Glace was busying herself with doing the things Old One usually would with a goblin about to give birth. Button was supporting Stella by keeping her body in an upright position, Mint was doing whatever Button told her to do as Bitey stayed firmly entrenched in the hair on her head, and the Great Protector had a bemused expression on its face while watching everything going on.

Yeah, it was essentially hell.

“Ark, you bastard! You said you wouldn’t make it come early!” Stella shouted at me once she realized I was conscious.

“It wasn’t me!” I retorted while on autopilot, having just awoken.

While I had become able to detect when the sudden pregnancy ability I possess would occur—a feeling of total exhaustion that preceded one of my many comically large ejaculations, followed by an almost magically enforced slumber afterwards—I made a promise to Stella that I would make every effort to not rush her pregnancy. So far, there hadn’t been any signs that it would happen… but why she was having it now, when I have no recollection of feeling that strange sensation which leads up to it, had left me bewildered.

Regardless, whether it was my doing or not, Glace had relayed it through Button to me that my newest daughter was on the way, and nothing was going to slow or stop her from coming into the world, and soon!

There was an issue though. According to Glace and backed up by a nod from the Skeleton, my unborn daughter inside of Stella was currently undergoing something similar to the Blood Fury which Prima underwent not too long ago. For whatever reason, there was a sense of unease that when my daughter comes out into the world, I may become a target for… who knows what.

Am I afraid?

Not in the slightest. How can a father be afraid of their own newborn daughter?

So, as Husband to Stella and daddy to what’s about to come, naturally it was my job to do what I could to support Stella right now. Which meant I quickly took over as standing support for Stella’s body which was in labor, and asked Button to go find the biting branch in Old One’s room if she had any idea where it was. Thankfully, she did, and left immediately to go fetch it.

“I know it can probably wait, but what’s the story with the skeleton?” I asked Mint, who would be the one to give me the best answer out of anyone currently present.

“Ebony and Mint try make new friend like Bitey. Bones belong goblin Beast-talker.”

“Excuse me? The bones… belong to… Beast-talker?”

Beast-talker? As in, the one who died to the Black-claws over a month ago?

A glance at the skeleton who was observing me without any visible eyes had lifted her arm and waved at me.

“Are you really Beast-talker?” I couldn’t help but ask the Skeleton. Of all of my eventually-to-be wives, she was the one I knew the least.

The skeleton nodded. All supernatural creepiness aside, the skeleton had no vocal cords and so couldn’t audibly respond with words. I questioned how much awareness it had, since usually, aside from the ridiculously complicated magic required to become a lich and retain one’s sense of self, skeletons didn’t usually keep their personalities about who they were while they were alive. Or at least, that’s what the compendiums on Necromancy in my mother’s personal library stated…

“Not know how know.  Beast-talker… still think Husband.” Mint spoke further in her small voice.

So now I had a skeleton goblin as a wife? Isn’t marriage supposed to end at death do us part?

“Well, if it makes her happy to still think of me like that, then I’m fine with it. Glad to see you again, Beast-talker. Just to let you know, Diana Artemis and I took revenge on all of those Black-claws who attacked you. Their meat was delicious, and their skins and bones were put to good use.”

In lieu of a voice, the skeletal jaw of Beast-talker clacked with what I hoped was approval.

“Ark, why are you talking to a fucking skeleton?” Stella grumbled.

“Well, she’s technically my wife, so why wouldn’t I?”

“Because it’s a fucking skeleton!”

Stella took in a deep breath and made a slightly pained expression before speaking.

“Ark… just promise me you aren’t going to fuck it.”

“I’m not even sure how that would work.”

“I didn’t ask you to figure out how it would work, I asked you to promise me not to do it at all! GHHH…. Fuck… GRRRRH….”

While yelling at me for the most ridiculous thing she could, Stella entered into another set of contractions. Button had returned in record time, and with the biting branch ready to go, so was Stella.

A small pillar of dirt was raised underneath Glace and she assumed the duties of Old One, pressing down on Stella’s belly when she needed to and Button both helping me support Stella and repeating what Glace was telling her.

“Ark, I hate you.”

“I know.”

“You had better take responsibility for this!”

“I will.”

“She better not come out retarded like your other ones.”

“I’m sure she’ll be as normal as you want her to be.”

“I just want her to be smart and strong without being weird.”

“Can’t promise that. I mean, she’s half mine.”

“Fuck!”

After a small tirade of colorful words, mostly shouted at me in the human tongue, nature began to do what nature does best.

“Oh god, it fucking hurts! Ark, I’m never letting you put another one of these damn things inside of MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

As two clawed hands found their way outside of her birthing canal and plunged small, pointed fingers into the soft flesh of her thighs, the head crowned and a moment later, my daughter entered the world completely.

And what a daughter she was.

Though she was covered in a fair amount of blood, there was no mistaking that she had a similar skin coloring to both Stella when she was still a human, and of myself. In fact, aside from the pointed fingers, toes, and ears, along with the teeth, she was quite human in appearance. She didn’t have the tell-tale greenish gold eyes at all, and just a small hint of growing red hair on her scalp.

Rather than go for the placenta which came out a moment later with a final push from Stella, she stood up and stretched out her tiny arms, turning them over and clenching her hands into fists before looking around the room. She then raised her hand upwards, and a bright light began to gather in the palm of her hand.

I did not have a good feeling about what was coming next…

~~** Interlude | Lumi **~~

Elara! Answer your faithful servant’s call! I offer up my body to be a vessel for your grace and mercy so that your holy might may smite these abominations!

I let loose a smiting blast of holy energy at all the evil gathered in this room. To think that I had been sent back to this world only to be reborn as a goblin!

Inconceivable!

I was met with stares from all around. A human, a human-like goblin, and three goblin children, unharmed, hidden behind shields of darkness. The remaining two abominations; the skeleton and the…!

“Hoh? Why does this little goblin have the taint of Elara upon it?”

My body froze in fear when I saw the creature with ashen skin, horns jutting out from its head, and two wings which unfolded themselves in front of me speak. It was something I had seen before, as I took my last breaths when I was still alive as a human…

…It was the thing which tore through the group of holy knights and pious adventurers blessed by the Church of Elara to cleanse the world of evil abominations that would bring it to ruin!

“Taint?” The male human who spoke in the common tongue asked the abomination.

“Ark, do you worship the Goddess Elara?” the Abomination asked him.

“I don’t worship any of the pantheon. I am a man of science.”

“What about your woman?” It said, pointing to the body of the half-transformed female goblin lying on the ground next to him.

The woman, a half-goblin from the looks of her and the one who must have begotten me just now croaked out an answer.

“The Goddess Elara has always been the patron deity of my village.” She said with a strained voice.

“I see. So that is how it was done! Marvelous!”

“What’s marvelous, Great Protector?”

“The Creator has given the Bloodmaw a Saintess.” It stated mirthfully. “I do believe this is the first time in history something like this has happened…”

“Do Bloodmaw not normally have them?” the male human questioned.

“What need have they for one? The strong live to become stronger, and the weak die as fodder for the strong. The Bloodmaw have no need for phony religions, or to worship any deity other than the Creator. Adherence to the ceremonies of blood is how the Bloodmaw show their worth in receiving the gifts the Creator has bestowed upon them, as the perpetual growth of the Bloodmaw is the only thing ever pleasing to the eyes of the Creator.”

The words that the high abomination spoke were pure Evil’s Doctrine!

“Does my daughter having some alignment with the Goddess Elara constitute a problem?”

“Who says she is aligned with Elara?” The Abomination said, which incensed me greatly.

“Well, you said there was a… taint.”

“There is. But that’s all it is. Did you not feel how pathetically weak her call to smite us just now was? It seems what blessings were given to her by Elara may have already been purged.”

The human got up and walked over to me, squatting down and looking me in the eyes.

“Hello, Lumi. I’m your daddy. I’m sure coming into the world with so many people around you was probably scary, huh? It’s okay if you don’t know what I’m saying yet. All that you need to know is that you’re my daughter, and I love you very much.”

The existence of this human was a sacrilege. How dare a human cavort around with goblinkind and think he is clean enough to lay a hand on me, let alone call himself my father! Being filled with righteous anger, and not wanting to believe that Elara had forsaken me, feeling no more divine power in my body at the moment, I saw fit to bite him on the arm.

Ka-thump!

I screamed.

I screamed but couldn’t remove my mouth from the arm of this despicable human male. The taste of his blood was like the ceremonial ambrosia given to me to drink at my baptism when I first became a Saintess. I felt my body burning up while my thoughts became muddy. In that moment, all I wanted to do was devour this man entirely…

~~** Interlude | Stella **~~

It’s been three days since my daughter, Lumi, was born. What was thought to be a Blood Fury turned out to be something else entirely. Neither the Old One nor that thing—the Great Protector—knowledgeable as they were on the history of the Bloodmaw, had an exact explanation for what occurred. A discussion involving Ark and Glace came up with some excuse that it must have been Lumi’s body undergoing some necessary change in order for her to be able to use divine magic as the Bloodmaw Creator’s first Saintess, but not since that one time using it after she was born had she cast any other holy magic.

With exception to myself and Ark, Lumi is actively hostile to all the other Bloodmaw. When it comes to Ark, all she desires from him is a mouthful of his blood… for me, she is willing to nurse, if begrudgingly, to continue living. She never ate the placenta, and as twisted as it sounds, I wound up doing it while she took a nap. If there was anything magical or divine within it, I felt nothing.

I think the only reason she’s even willing to interact with me was when I had told her that even though I was a goblin now, I was once human and still believed in the Goddess Elara, even after what had happened to me. I told her about my life as a village daughter, about the adventures I went on together with Ark and Kairos, and about how it was a goblin subjugation request of all things that landed us here as captives, and subsequently led to her being born.

So far, motherhood hasn’t turned out to be anything like I thought it would.

There is no such thing as a goblin infant. The closest point to that is the eating of the placenta and their first nursing. After that, it’s straight into being a toddler. Within a day or so they can pick up the goblin language and begin learning life skills, such as hunting. Their teeth are sharp enough by then to crunch the skull bones of a rabbit. By the end of the first week, if they are smart and strong enough, they are capable of hunting small prey on their own.

When Lumi finally decided to speak to me, it was to ask me for something.

“Elara.”

She had drawn a picture in the dirt on the floor of our cave-hole. It was the symbol of the Goddess Elara.

“You want this?”

My daughter nodded.

What she was asking me for was some kind of necklace. The symbol of Elara, the five-pointed star which represented the five virtues of the Goddess. I only know it because there was a stone statue of Elara in my village, and carved into it was the symbol.

I suppose Ivory could make something like that, but at the same time, I wanted to be the one to make it for her. Negotiating with Ivory, I was given some bones and string in return for a few rabbits I had hunted with my bow.

Lumi had sat down with me and watched as I tried my best to craft it for her. It was by no means perfect, and Ivory could have probably done a much better job of it, but Lumi was satisfied enough when it adorned her neck.  She had gotten down on her knees and clasped her hands together, praying, from the sight of it. I decided to join her, though I only knew the prayers for a good night’s sleep and for a good harvest.

Slowly, she warmed up to me, though she was no less independent than any of the other goblin children. And she still fought with them all, and still sunk her teeth into Ark whenever she got the chance.

It wasn’t until Ebony’s pet spider made of bones, Bitey—I believe, had paid an unannounced and unwelcome visit to our cave-hole, that I saw my daughter once more use the magic light she was possessed of, taking aim at the spider and unleashing her divine magic.

I don’t know what I expected to happen, but it wasn’t what did. I think Lumi was also unprepared for the outcome. Bitey, whose bones were dark in color, had been restored to a pristine white. Whiter than they originally were when it was first created. Spinning around in place, the spider then jumped and scurried out of the room, only to return some time later, dragging a dead snake in from god-knows-where and depositing it at Lumi’s feet and then saluting with its front bony foreleg before scurrying out of our cave-hole.

Lumi stared down at the snake and then sat down on the ground and poked it a few times.

She prayed again, tears streaming down her eyes, before grabbing the snake and taking a bite out of it directly. Lumi looked up at me and pointed at the snake. I sat down next to her and took a bite of it myself, enjoying how delicious it was… something that was only possible because I was possessed of the goblin’s instinct to eat raw and bloody meat.

It wasn’t easy for Lumi to be a goblin. The part of me that had become a mother understood this. But, for me it was. Oh, there were things I hated about being a goblin, still having the memories of being a human present in my mind, but I didn’t hate being a Bloodmaw, overall.

Aside from my beauty as a human woman, every other part of me had been enhanced. Including my physical properties and my senses. And so long as Ark gave me all that I wanted, there really wasn’t much of a loss for me to accept being one. So what I felt I needed to do for Lumi was to find out what it was she wanted in order to be happy.

Her reply to my question was short and simple.

“Want… chapel.”

A chapel. A room to pray to the Goddess Elara in.

When I next saw Ark, I brought it up to him, and he was entirely fine with it.

“I’ll make her one right away.”

It had occurred to me that I should have mentioned that it be a chapel dedicated to Elara, but it seems Ark was already well aware of Lumi’s faith.

Ark had enlisted the help of many of his magically inclined daughters to build some kind of stone building attached to the immediate outside of Goblinhome, opposite to the playground, that came equipped with an ornately carved wooden double-door. Inside was what looked like some kind of a small church with stone benches for seating and two statues present, though one had a draping over it.

The statue with no draping was of the Goddess Elara, as elaborate as ones found in bigger towns and cities I had seen after having left my own village. What had a draping was a strange statue. It was a poorly crafted statue of a goblin, like some kind of rudimentary wall-painting by someone with no artistic skill, wearing only a loincloth and the most pronounced point of it being an open mouth full of sharp teeth readying to eat a piece of meat.

I had asked Ark what the deal was with it, and he said it was something Mint came up with that Glace and Ebony also strongly agreed with. Elara was not the Creator of the Bloodmaw. Mint felt that if there was to be some kind of church or religion present in Goblinhome, then it was necessary for there to also be some representation of the Bloodmaw’s Creator, even if the chapel was only to be used by Lumi to worship and revere the Goddess Elara.

Seeing that it remained covered in her presence, as well as ridiculous to look at as an object of worship, Lumi found it acceptable, laughing mockingly at the pitiful statue.

Ebony and Mint would frequent the chapel and listen to Lumi speak about the Goddess Elara, and the three of them became somewhat friendly as a result.  Ark, on the other hand, would visit the chapel when Lumi wasn’t present and would remove the draping on the statue, clean the dust from it, and offer a prayer up to it, only ever asking for the continued safety, growth, and well-being of his daughters, before covering it back up.  I confronted him once about it, and all he had to say on the matter was, while he didn’t necessarily believe in any of the Gods, if one might be willing to listen to him, wouldn’t it be the one who most had some need for him?

I couldn’t find any fault in what he said.

For Ark to be the key piece in restoring an otherwise damned tribe of goblins, it might very well be the work of the Bloodmaw’s Creator to have brought him here. To have the power to change me from a human into a Bloodmaw… perhaps Ark was some kind of chosen one. But I didn’t believe that too deeply.

After all, Ark was an idiot. An idiot with excessively powerful magic who loved all of his children with his naively kind heart.

~~** Interlude | Lumi **~~

“Elara, have you truly forsaken me?”

I have never had reason to doubt the Goddess before now, but to find that the only magic being bestowed to me as a Saintess from the Goddess Elara was magic to heal and purify, naturally some concern would have taken root inside of me.

The one to answer my grievance wasn’t my Goddess, however, but the goblin elder they called Old One.

“I wondered the same thing once before about the Creator. When the Silver Skins and the Woman of Burning Light came to my tribe’s cave one day and mercilessly slaughtered my kin... My mother, Stone-feet, and my only daughter Spear-hand. I never forgot the feeling of terror and dread I felt at that human woman’s magic, dressed in those white robes, able to bring the dead back to life and to command a handful of goblins to die with but a single word from her lips…”

She walked over to the draped statue and pulled it down.

“It is a simplistic depiction of the Creator, is it not? Compared to the one you believe in, there is no need for elaborate decorations to conceal what is essentially the truth of our kind. We are born simple; some weak, some strong. But all can grow through consumption of the blood of those stronger than us. And it is all that our Creator asks of us. Not to war pointlessly with others, not to create things to worship, simply to live and grow, to take what is necessary to become more than we are, but to never forget we are simple beings with simple beginnings.”

I stared at the old one who then touched the statue, before putting the draping back over it.

“I know who you are. I was there when you came before I had to conceal myself and protect the last of my tribe. But that is in the past. You cannot give me back my maker, nor can you restore to me my irreplaceable Spear-hand. I take pleasure knowing her spear was what ended your life back then, but now you are a Bloodmaw, child. Shall I tell you why your spells of smite do not work on us now? I’m sure you are curious as to the reason.”

She was right. I was exceptionally curious as to why I couldn’t smite all of these damn abominations.

“Quite simply, should you somehow be able to cast those spells again, you would also be killed by them. It’s not that you can’t cast them, it’s just that your very blood prevents you from killing yourself in such a way. It would not be a noble self-sacrifice to do so, but both murder and suicide. I’m sure your Goddess doesn’t wish to see you die in such a useless and wretched way, which is why she has made it so your divine magic can only restore and repair. However, should you find yourself willing to pray to the Creator, perhaps that will change. Of course, I don’t intend to try and convert your beliefs… nor do I plan to stop you trying to convert any of the tribe to believe in your Goddess, should you somehow find success in that. You are free to do as you like, Sunless-saint. Whether you accept your new fate or not, you are now a Bloodmaw Goblin, and all the hatred of the human world you came from, that you held onto so firmly in your heart, and that you brought with you to destroy us, is now yours to shoulder. Time will pass, you will eventually undergo the ceremonies of blood and become more Bloodmaw than you could ever wish to be. And that is the just revenge the Creator has bequeathed to me, at the cost of the lives of my precious tribe at your hands, and those of the Silver Skins. Now you may begin to atone for all that you have done, and your forgiveness will only come once you have done what all other Bloodmaw are tasked to do with their lives… become more.”

A hand patted my shoulder and the Old One walked out of the chapel. I was left staring up at the statue of the Goddess Elara, and I felt broken. I couldn’t find the words inside of me to continue my prayer to the Goddess, simply sitting down on one of the stone benches and clutching the holy symbol made of bones around my neck that my new mother had made for me, in an attempt at making some peace between us.

A short while later, the human male that was my new father had come into the chapel and sat down next to me.

“Hello, Lumi. If you’re done praying, want to go play on the swings?”

“Why… do you corrupt yourself with these goblins?”

I had never asked him the reason before, but after listening to the Old One, I wanted to know why this Human would help restore these evil abominations.

“Because I could find love nowhere else in the world, Lumi. As for marital love, I remain unsure that all but Vera is capable of feeling that way about me. But there is not a sliver of doubt that all of my daughters are innocent young girls who, with proper guidance, can become as civilized and proper as the children of any other goodly race. And so long as I live and breathe, I will do all that I can to see them live happy lives away from the hateful stigma that follows all of the so-called evil races.”

“What about my mother, who was once human?”

“What about her? I would love to tell you that we love each other, but I would be a fool to think that she could ever love me for all the pain I’ve inflicted upon her, knowingly or otherwise. Instead, she’s given me a chance to atone for my sins by giving her the best life possible within these circumstances, and that is what I have chosen to do. In return, when I have a rare moment when I desire to be with a human, she offers me it as a small mercy. The fact that both she and you are the most human-like among the Bloodmaw is something that brings a little peace to my heart.”

“So, you’d rather be among humans?”

“Not particularly. As I said before, I could find love nowhere else. The ones to accept me as I am were the Bloodmaw Goblins. There are two adages from where I originally hailed from that may explain why I am comfortable here, and do not think of escaping. The first is home is where the heart is. All that I love is within Goblinhome. You, and all my daughters. The second is the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. I have shed blood and taken lives, granted they were only big nasty black wolves twice the size of me, for the sake of protecting these goblins and it’s more than any human might have ever done for me on account of just being another person from the same race.”

What he said felt profound, but I needed time to understand it further.

He offered his arm outstretched before me and I took it, biting into his flesh and savoring his blood. It was surely an impure act, but one I couldn’t help but take part in. Only in those moments were my thoughts free of torment, and once more could I feel divine power course through my veins.

When I was done, he wiped my mouth and then picked me up.

“Swings?”

I didn’t feel like arguing with him and agreed to letting him enjoy his role as my damned father.

Leaving the chapel, it was a few steps to the swings where Ebony and Mint were being pushed by Beastie, the goblin skeleton who was partly responsible for my imprisonment in this human-like goblin body.

“Lumi!”

“Came to play with us?”

At least these two goblin children were reasonable to deal with. I took my seat on the swing being pushed by my father and the other two being pushed by the skeleton who, somehow, seemed pleased to see him. Bitey, who had been sitting on Ebony’s head, leapt from there onto my lap and spun around before sitting down and gesturing for me to pet it.

“Want to go hunt with us later?” Ebony asked me.

“Hunt?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah. Something easy, like squirrels. Bitey is good at finding them.”

“Why bring me?”

“Because I’m a big sister goblin and so is Mint. It’s our job to teach a little sister goblin like you how to be a goblin!” She whimsically claimed.

I felt my father’s hand ruffle my hair for a moment before being pushed again.

“Why not give it a try, Lumi?”

“I… don’t know how!”

“Didn’t Stella teach you how to hunt?” Father asked me.

“She tried, but I’m no good with the bow. If I had a staff, maybe....”

“Hmm, a staff…? I suppose I can make one for you. But you should go along with your sisters for now and just listen to what they need you to do. Even if it’s only to be an extra pair of eyes to watch out for danger.”

After spending some time on the swings, I reluctantly did as he suggested and went out into the forest with Ebony and Mint. Bitey and Beastie came along and it was less a hunt and more of a massacre. Mint would use her Druidic magic to ensnare animals with grass and plants while Bitey would land killing blows, usually a snap of the neck, on whatever they came across. Beastie would carry all the spoils, and at the end of it, when we returned to Goblinhome, a number of them were dropped off at Melon’s Kitchen where they were converted to decent quality food for us to enjoy eating.

Father had come to find us there and had brought something nearly the same size as I was.

It was a staff made of bone, from the last remaining femur of a Black-claw which Ivory still had to trade with, or so I was told. It had an etching of a snake twining around it with an open mouth trying to consume the symbol of the Goddess Elara, the five-pointed star at the head. Coupled with the twining of the snake was some kind of formulaic magic that ended at the top with a magic Rune I was entirely unfamiliar with.

“What is this?” I asked him.

“I call it Aurora. It's a staff meant to channel light magic. It might not be as effective as yours since it’s inlayed with Runes instead of some divine charge, but I have a feeling you’d be the best qualified to use light magic among all of my daughters.”

“GWOH! Lumi just got a grand weapon!” Ebony said with admiration.

“Mint, you should ask Husband for one, too!”

“I don’t need one right now.” she said quietly.

“Let’s go test it out on a hunt tomorrow, Lumi!”

It was decided to do so. After eating, Father brought me back to my cave-hole where Mother was in the middle of making me something along with Pepper. It was a familiar thing, too.  When asking what it was, Mother said that it was something Old One brought over to her a little bit earlier. But there was no mistaking what it was to me. The white vestments I was given to wear when I became a Saintess. The robes I still wore when I died in that cave while purging goblins from this world.

“Why?”

I threw a complete fit when I saw it. I’m sure it bothered my Mother to see me do that in front of the other goblin, but I was filled with anger and hate upon seeing it. The robes were a sign of purity, and being a goblin now… how could I wear such a thing?

I knew I was being selfish, but Mother and Pepper stopped mending it and Pepper took it with her when she left.

“I’m sorry, Lumi. Old One was sure you’d enjoy wearing it.  I thought you might as well...”

I truly despised that Old One in this moment. Mother was quick to shift the subject to that of my new staff.

“Did Ark give that to you?”

“Yes.”

Mother scooped me up and put me in her lap, I helped myself to some milk while she caressed my head.

“I’m sure he knows what he’s doing if he’s given you a weapon already. I must have failed in teaching you how to hunt as a goblin…”

The caressing then turned into a hug, which then turned into her carrying my tired body to our bed where she snuggled up with me under some warm covers… I had no idea where things would go from here, but I was sure of one thing at least. My mother and father were prisoners here, and it was my job to help them escape. Only then might the Goddess Elara restore us all to what we should truly be…

As such, I will never offer up a prayer to that twisted Creator of the Bloodmaws…

Never.