Chapter 4: Life as a Goblin

  The sensation of death was still vivid within my memories when I suddenly found myself inside a pitch-black darkness. I tried to move my limbs, and I realized that I was currently floating inside a viscous fluid. As I pondered on where I was, a deafening series of pulsations entered my ears. I groaned, but no sound came out.

  The pulsating sounds amplified, and I felt everything around me move and contract. Unable to move, I moved along with the viscous fluid as I was ejected. My body fell then slid down the ground.

  I opened my eyes, blinked thrice, then looked around.

  I was currently inside a limestone cave. Well, that was the closest thing to describe it. Above, silver-black spikes dripped down the ceiling, and the ground was rough and emerald.

  Even now, I could still hear the deafening pulsating sounds from before. I looked at its source and was stunned speechless by I saw.

  Not far from me, a gargantuan monster resembling an overly bloated ant laid on the ground. It was large enough to occupy half the cave. Its head was disfigured, somehow resembling an old man with numerous scars. Its body was that of an ant – numerous legs and a large, bloated belly.

  It took me some time before my gaze eventually landed on the end of its belly. Currently, numerous familiar creatures were being ejected from it one after another. They would come out after every third pulse, their bodies green and grimy.

  Quickly, my heart began to race as realization dawned unto me. I was pretty sure that that was the same place where I came from.

  Afraid and hesitant, I slowly looked at my body. Green skin. Numerous brown, patches. Rotting, long fingernails.

  “You’re kidding me!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  I touched my nose. Bulbous.

  I touched my ears. Long and pointed.

  Without doubt, I had turned into a goblin.

  I was in stupor as I tried to digest the things that were happening. Why am I here? What am I alive? Why did I turn into a goblin? I was pretty sure that I died that time. The sensation of my limbs being torn apart by the Minotaurs were still vivid within my mind. The excruciating pain as my head was crushed to paste was something I would never forget.

  I cried and wailed, with the pulsating sound from the overly bloated monster as background.

  As I kept rejecting the reality before me, the pulsations stopped. An eerie silence filled the cave as the newly born goblins started standing up one after another. They looked around, their ugly faces confused and surprised.

  I had this urge to kick them and punch their stupid-looking faces, but I held myself back. I still have no idea what was going on, what was happening.

  “Welcome, my brothers,” a deep voice reverberated.

  The goblins’ ears twitched, and they all uniformly looked at the source of the voice. It was a humanoid creature bigger than the goblins around me, probably twice their height. At the top of its head, a peculiar box hovered.

  I looked around realized that the same box also hovered above the heads of those around me.

  Currently, I was surrounded by more than a hundred Goblin Spawns, their ugly faces similar and indistinguishable from each other.

  The Goblin Warrior spoke, “I will make your instructions simple. We have currently obtained vast amounts of meat from the Portal. We need you guys to prepare them so we can give them to our Lords.”

  Surprisingly, this Goblin was intelligent, probably on the same league as humans.

  The Goblin Spawns nodded their small heads. And without further instructions, they started walking towards the end of the tunnel.

  I looked around in confusion. It seemed that I was the only one among us who did not fully understood what the Goblin Warrior had just said. Meat? Portal? Lord?

  There were so many questions within my head, and the fact that I had turned into this grotesque little monster still stormed my mind.

  But for now, I followed the group and we eventually reached the outside.

  Outside the cave, a view straight from a nightmare greeted me.

  The ground was barren and dry, with cracks crisscrossing into numerous veins. If I had known better, this place probably had not known rain for the past ten or so years. Dead, withered trees were seen everywhere. Beyond, a gargantuan mountain range filled with rocks and stones spread out into the distance.

  I would have mistaken this for my world if not for the three crimson moons above.

  It was currently night, but surprisingly, everything was clear and bright. I was not sure if this was because of the large moons, or if this was simply an inherent capability of a goblin. My intuition was telling me it was the latter.

  “Keep moving! Faster!” shouted the Goblin Warrior.

  And in unison, the entire newly spawned Goblins moved forward through the barren ground.

  We kept walking for god knows how long. And during that time, a familiar blue window popped up.

  Paradise? I looked around. There was nothing but dry, crack-filled land filled with dead trees. What a load of utter bullshit. Still, the last statement piqued my interest. I had played numerous games back in my youth, and I was pretty sure that at times like these, tutorials would be most helpful.

  “How do I activate this thing anyway?” I mumbled.

  And as though responding to my thoughts, options appeared below.

  “Yes.”

  As soon as I gave my confirmation, mellifluous music rang through my ears. It was the same music one would usually encounter at the start of RPG games. It was probably jazz, but the beat and rhythm quite reminded me of 90’s rock.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  A soft, Ting! sound echoed.

  I shivered after reading the brief history of this world. It explained everything. Why the grounds were barren. Why this place called “Paradise” had turned into a dried, withered land. And the reason why those damnable monsters suddenly appeared and invaded my world, killing innumerable lives in the process.

  Food. That’s what we, humans, are.

  I clenched my small fists as anger boiled within me.

  I once again pressed the affirmation button, and another blue window popped up.

  As time went by, this reality was starting to really resemble an RPG game. So, it was possible for me to evolve, huh? The Goblin Warrior leading us was level 5. If I went by that logic, then a level 1 like me would need to attain 4 more levels before I could evolve into the same rank.

  After reading the brief history of this world, I knew that there should be a way for me get back to my previous world. There was this so-called portal these monsters use to get to the other side. Once given the chance, I will search for my son and wife. I tucked this thought inside my mind.

  My eyes widened after reading this one. Indeed, this would be just like those RPGs. I immediately said yes.

  After checking out my status window, I came to a conclusion: I was fodder, a creature probably even weaker than a human. I wanted to complain of how absurdly low my stats were and how frail this body was. Even a simple stone throw could probably kill me right now.

  The two skill I currently have seemed useful, especially the one called Scurry. The name felt a bit stupid, almost like a joke, but I knew that the increase movement speed would come out handy in life-or-death situations.

  But for now, I would like to test Identify first.

  I used it on the goblin in front of me.

  “Identify!”

  I was bothered by the last line. For now, I should probably keep a low profile and play it safe. I did not want to die from some stupid cause like a falling rock or a slap from some random creature.

  As I was browsing through the tutorials just like what a decent RPG player would have done, we finally arrived at our destination. The Goblin Warrior told us to enter through a large crack inside the mountain, and we found ourselves inside a cave resembling the one we spawned out from. But this one was probably ten times bigger. Large enough to fit four football fields in.

  Inside that cave, numerous Goblin Workers, Goblin Warriors, and Goblin Spawns moved about. And they were all dragging with them the corpses of creatures I was very much familiar with.

  Human corpses. Females. All of them.

  My non-existent hair stood on their edge as this scene perpetuated before my very eyes. I trembled in utter rage as the thought that my wife could be among those piles of corpse entered my mind.

  If someone told me that this was what hell actually looked like, I would immediately believe him.

  An imposing goblin shouted at us, the newly arrived Goblin Spawns. It told us to start moving the corpses into the large plants nearby. After checking the box hovering about that Goblin’s head, I learned that it was a Goblin Leader. A level 10 creature larger than the Goblin Warrior from before.

  I had a bad feeling about this quest. Just the name alone reeked of death and savagery.

  But the reward experience caught my eyes. If this was indeed like those RPG games, then I would need experience points to level up.

  As I deliberated whether to accept or not the quest, most of my fellow Goblin Spawns had started to help move the innumerable corpses towards the plants. The Goblin Spawns were incredibly small, probably a sixth of the size of an average human. Four or more Goblins Spawns were needed just to move a single human corpse.

  Should I do it? I somehow have an idea of what I was supposed to do and its consequences, but what remained of my former human self shouted at me that I shouldn’t do it.

  Like a statue, I stood there, pondering. And I eventually arrived at a conclusion.

  Screw it. These humans were dead anyway. I needed to evolve and become stronger. Otherwise, there would be no meaning even if I did find the portal towards the Human World.

  With hesitant steps, I joined a group of Goblin Spawns and help move a corpse. It was a beautiful human, probably in her late twenties. Her left arm was missing, but her entire body was intact.

  We dragged her corpse through the rough, emerald ground, then threw her into the mouth of the large plant in front of us. With swift movements, the plant swallowed the corpse in an instant. I was shivering the entire time. Not because of fear, but because of the idea that I had just thrown a fellow human into this carnivorous monster.

  The carnivorous plant, which somehow reminded me of a sunflower with teeth, burped. Its leaves glowed for a full second, and a small fruit fell down its vines. Two Goblin Workers immediately ran and grabbed it, then escaped just before the plant tried devouring them too.

  I discreetly used Identify on the fruit that the carnivorous plant had just dropped.

  “Identify!”

  The description of the fruit was disgusting. So, that was made of human meat? If I was still human, I would have vomited on the ground by now.

  I smiled wryly. This was a living nightmare. A normal person would have probably resigned himself to death by now, but I simply cannot do that. Even if I have to grind this body of mine to dust, I will emerge strong from this hellhole.

  I will find my familiy one day. Definitely.