Dawn- An age of Darkness

  The hole was twice as much wide as me. I got in first. This place was at least half a story down and definitely lit. Servesta followed me. He was almost all the way in, but at the very last moment, his shoulder got shuck. 

Oh boy. 

I didn't think he'd get stuck. Just how the hell were the hobgoblins coming out of this place if Servesta was getting stuck?

Well, Servesta was a bit bigger than the hobs here, so maybe that's why?

But the thoughts weren't helping. But wait, I could see better inside here. I'd forgotten to take a look before I got occupied with the Servesta's crisis. I turned around and took a good look. There were pyres. 

"What the hell?'

And this thing looked more like a tunnel than a cave. And it was definitely dug with care. 

I didn't see any goblins around but one thing was for certain, these things had a lot more intelligence than typical goblins. Or it could have just been that our understanding of goblins needed a revamp. 'Why aren't there guards inside?'

Servesta was still struggling. His feet hadn't yet touched the ground. So I grabbed one of his and pulled. I didn't have enough strength but I put my weight behind it and pulled. 

Who knew I'd jump into the home of the purple things and start pulling of all things? It wasn't working, so it just felt stupid at his point. 

And then…. The whole area around Servesta cracked, broke down a second later, and his butt headed for my face in slow motion. 

'Oh shit.'

Oh shit, indeed. 

Argh!

Needless to say, what happened next was erased from my memories instantly, for all eternity. 

***

"I don't think the goblins know we're here yet, so let's try to keep a low profile and attack when necessary."

Servesta nodded. 

I gave him a blunt stare but didn't say anything.

Sigh. 

The first few arcs were straight and there were pyres everywhere. So seeing a goblin come for us would have been easy. But strangely, there were none. 

'Something doesn't feel right.' We kept on walking but still, nothing. 

Were the goblins out partying or something?

Eventually, the path split into two. 

"I'll take right," Servesta spoke after a long while. 

He didn't even wait for my reply and just left. 

'What the hell?'

Some help he was. Didn't he know in these times we were supposed to stay together? 'This isn't going to end well.'

But I didn't have time for all the drama. I had to move forward. But the lack of goblins coming for my throat was kind of irritating me. And my face felt a bit numb for some reason. 

'The potion wasn't enough?'

I didn't have any antidotes on me, so I guess I had roughly an hour before this thing kicked in. 'Won't the curse be enough?' I hoped it would, but last time it couldn't keep me awake more than six hours and those were some painful hours. So I doubted, this time would be different. 

But this could have very well been a different kind of poison or maybe just a plain numbing agent? The latter seemed highly unlikely though. 

I followed the left path but that led to a bunch of other paths. I took one of them and then another bunch of paths. The path gradually climbed down and down. 

I didn't know why but my eyes kept on twitching. And the paths kept on expanding. If I didn't know better, I was getting more and more into this place, and oh yes, did I forget to mention I might have been a little… how should say this, lost?

This place was like a literal maze and all I was doing was wandering around like it was nothing, like I owned this place or something. Well, I was kind of alone, so it did feel like that. 

The whole place was lit up and there wasn't a single sign of goblins. And Servesta had to galls to venture in alone. 

Maybe I shouldn't have come alone and brought at least Ve with me. It was too late to regret now though. 

But then… I heard small groans from my left. Shadows were growing taller and walking this way. 'Goblins.' I quickly hid in one of the other paths and waited.

A group of small goblins walked down the road, talking among themselves. To me, it sounded nothing more than just plan gibberish but I could make out a few words. Feast. Humans. Fun. 

After dealing with them for so long and with this curse, I could make out a few words. I really didn't want to though. And hearing those three words only made me feel terrible. 

I really, really hoped, it wasn't what I was thinking. But if it was, then that explained why I didn't see goblins around. 

They were laughing and all of them had small clubs. This was a new thing. I never thought I'd see plain goblins with clubs. They either had knives or stones, but only large hobgoblins had clubs. These clubs were more like thick twigs though. 

The goblins didn't notice me and just kept on walking. I maintained my distance and followed them. I imbued my armor and made sure to stay focused at all times. This was enemy territory and I was alone, I couldn't let my guard down. 

But strangely, my mana was a lot calmer now. And I didn't feel gradually growing tired either. I could even feel mana and with ease too. I guess meeting Anverosa wasn't as bad as Ve and Alisa made it out to be. 

The goblins just kept on marching without suspecting anything. And though this place was big and mostly like a maze, the goblins were short in number. So far I'd only seen a group of nine and that was all. 

But as I continued to follow them, slowly but surely, things become grimmer and grimmer.

The groans, the cheers, and laughter, I heard it all. And from faint murmurs to roars that shook this very place, it was all here. 

The path spiraled downwards and it stabilized soon. We were probably at least five stories underground now. The cheers were close, but seriously, what was going on here?

I wished I hadn't asked. 

After what felt like an eternity, I finally arrived at an amphitheater that was at least two stories tall and I was at the very top. The goblins were seated in their seats and no one noticed me. There was a ceiling but even so, with so many pyres, this whole place looked more like a coliseum of sorts than a cave for goblins. 

The actual place was at least a few hundred meters in radius. 

The floor I was on, had holes shaped the size of goblin heads and I could clearly see the stuff that was playing out in the open. 

The goblins might not have noticed me but I did notice the things down below. The scrawny regular goblins were far back in the crowd. The hobgoblins were in the middle and the goblin mages had the first row seats. 

What were they watching?

In the space down below there were humans. Women, men, and even children, all numbering at least thirty. There were only three goblins down there. But those things didn't look like goblins. Rather they were skinny, tall, and awfully humanoid. I could see their ribcage but I could also tell, those things were bad news. 

'Abnormals.'

I remembered all the horrors the old man told me about. The old man had barely made it out from just fighting one, and there were three down below.

But one of the abnormal was female. I guess that explained why they were capturing males too. 

Dick was among the thirty people. Most of the people were asleep. But one kid was not. 

She was just a child, maybe fourteen? She was too scared to even blink, let alone scream. But scream for what? There was no one she could ask help from. 

'Can I take them all?'

I grit my teeth. Taking on the typical goblins was one thing but with hobs and mages mixed in, this was going to be very close. But that was without accounting for the abormals. Meaning, 'I won't survive.'

Then what about my promise?

What about my dreams?

What about me?

Could I really forsake everything and give my life to save these people, here?

"Stay back!" A shriek echoed. I looked down. One of the abnormals was tearing the clothes of the girl, she punched him countless times, and yet, she couldn't even make him budge. "No! Someone! NO! NO!!"

I could see the horrors play right before my eyes. I could hear the old man's voice. I could feel my heartbeat. 'Go Daarc.' If I turned my back now, my regret would make me want to end my life. 

If I backed down now, how would I ever face the geezer? How would I live with myself?

I took a deep breath. 'If I can't even do this much, there's no point in hoping to win.'

I took a gamble. 'Please work.' I touched the pendant and it glowed. I had an arm and my body was rejuvenated. I had a glow too.  It worked. 

With a smirk, I kicked the solid wall and jumped straight down.