//------------------------------// // Chapter Three - Translation Error // Story: A Dream in Written Pages // by Mister Meowmerz //------------------------------// The tension in the air was thick as we… okay, I guess I was the only one actually nervous. The three little green people seemed pretty relaxed, simply standing there and staring at me with angry looking eyes, as more of them came out from the forest all the while. “Rada, rada rada?” The tall one questioned as it had before, this time sounding a bit more forceful. I just looked around, taking in the large contingent of creatures that currently surrounded me before I answered. “Er, sorry, I don’t speak your language?” Smooth enough. Though they might not understand me, either… The tallest creature gave pause, then turned to huddle with its two companions flanking it, their long noses rubbing together comically as they engaged in animated conversation. I could also see the others in the group whispering to their comrades and pointing with their fingers; I guess I was a bit of an oddity, to them. "Ryker?" I called out, nervously, hoping that breaking my silence wouldn't provoke the little green creatures to start charging at me, or something. I was relieved when all I heard was the rustling of sleeping bags from the tent, seeing Ryker climbing out of it with a huge yawn. "Yeah, what's up...?" He started, still half-asleep, until he saw the horde of little, angry-looking green people surrounding us. At that, his face suddenly lit up with a smile, as he waved at them happily and started chattering away in that same language I couldn't understand. "Rada! Rada rada rada!" He said with a grin, eliciting some stunned looks from the creatures. This time, the whole group turned their backs to us, starting to chat amongst themselves while me and Ryker simply watched. "Ryker? What are these things? And why do they look so angry?" I asked, tensely looking at my human companion for an answer. "Oh, these guys? They're goblins." He explained, "And as for why they look so angry... Well, they're just really angry. Like, all the time." I half-nodded in understanding, still watching the 'goblins', as Ryker called them, with a wary eye. After a few more moments of banter between them, they all turned back around to face us, small hands clutched tightly around their spears and daggers. They looked slightly wary, now; probably because of Ryker, but, hey, I was pretty nervous when I first saw him, too. The tall, bald goblin up front, who appeared to act as some sort of leader and was decidedly less intimidated, began pointing animatedly in our direction, jabbing its finger at us to punctuate its words as it spoke. "Radarada, radarada rada!" It exclaimed. Of course, I had no idea what it was saying. "What'd it say?" I asked Ryker. He just rubbed at the stubble on his chin, slowly giving me what seemed to be a shaky translation, at best. "Uh, she said... something like 'what are you doing here’?" He went on, hesitantly shrugging his shoulders. Great, so the translator barely even speaks the language. It was better than nothing, I suppose; I just hoped he wouldn't say anything... wrong. A goblin off to the side of the one in charge began to speak up, seemingly repeating its leader’s question, only to get laughed at by Ryker, who waved it off while replying with some gibberish of his own. This, of course, only served to peeve them off further, all of them letting out threatening, animalistic growls, and I tugged on Ryker’s pants leg admonishingly, hoping to stem his rude behaviour before they decided we were too much of a bother to deal with and attacked. "Ryker! Why don't you hurry up and tell them we don't want any trouble, or something?" I hissed, looking on in increasing panic as the goblins started getting rowdier and rowdier, beginning to shout and brandish their weapons. "Sure, sure, I gotcha." He said, smiling and clearing his throat, "Ahem. Rada, rada radarada, rada?" Instead of the words pacifying them, however, the goblins instantly became deathly quiet, the goblin leader just standing there with a stunned, indignant look on its face, and all of them silenced their cries and ceased their movement as soon as he was finished speaking. It was the kind of quiet you got when you said something incredibly awkward really loudly at a party, and I looked to Ryker as a nervous chill ran up my spine. "...What exactly did you say?" I asked, still watching the goblins in apprehension. "Hey, I just told their leader what you asked me to!" He answered, throwing his hands up in front of him defensively. He paused a moment, though, as he scratched his chin and looked up in thought, shaking a finger at me as he continued. "Actually, now that I think about it..." He trailed off, "I might have just insulted the length of her mother's nose. The two phrases sound oddly similar in gobbledyguck." He shrugged his shoulders in resignation, as the sinking feeling in my stomach grew just a bit heavier. This wasn't going to end well... A few moments passed, the silence unbearable as we all just stood there, before the lead goblin finally broke out of its stunned silence, its face slowly contorting into an expression of rage. Looking as if it was about to explode, it angrily pointed its spear at us and cried out something in its rambling tongue back at its buddies, and I didn't even need to understand goblin to know we were in big trouble; the goblins, at their leader's command, all erupted into hysterical war cries and horrid yelling, brandishing their weapons in the air and stomping menacingly as if they were all caught up in some fiendish pep rally. "What do we do? What do we do?!" I started shouting, taking a few steps back as the goblins worked into their frenzy, once more. Ryker only grinned beside me, tightly gripping the handle of the battleaxe strapped over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I can handle this!" With a single, fluid motion, he un-holstered the giant axe from off of his back and into his hands, leaning as if to charge straight into the goblin horde. However, instead of simply running in, he kicked hard off the ground and launched himself forward, as fast as if he'd just been shot out of a cannon, and got right up in front of their faces with one giant, horizontal leap. He raised his axe high in both hands, ready to bring it down upon the shocked, little goblins... But, wait a minute. We were going to kill them?! It took me less than a second to understand his intention, but that was all he really needed, already flying through the air right above them and swinging down in a sweeping motion before I could shout any form of protest. I watched in horror as the axe blade came down, razor sharp edge only a hair's breadth away from the nearest goblin's skull... However, right before the axe hit flesh, a shining, red aura flared up around the weapon, wreathing the edge of Ryker's axe in what looked like some kind of force field. Whatever it was, though, its effect was quite... explosive. Instead of cleaving into the goblin's head, Ryker expertly diverted his axe to slam into the ground, creating a huge shockwave that I could feel back from where I stood and sending the unfortunate creature flying off into the forest. Other, nearby goblins were blown away from the force of the blast, as well, and with that, the chaos began. With a rallying cry from their leader, who had wisely jumped back at Ryker's sudden blitz, all of the goblins that hadn't already been swept off of their feet charged recklessly at the lone human in their midst, swords and spears held close in defensive positions. He didn't seem to care, however, laughing with glee as he drove them back with a couple of fierce swings from his axe, handling the massive weapon in just one hand with ease. The glowing field around his axe seemed to act as a blunt surface for the weapon, and those unlucky enough to get caught by his swings suffered much the same fate as the first goblins did, slamming against the trees and ruin walls in droves. There were a few goblins that managed to get past his axe’s sweeping arcs, but any that actually did so were quickly met with swift kicks and punches, Ryker even grabbing some of them by their armor and furs and tossing them back at their comrades with a wild grin. With their superior numbers, though, the goblins soon had the young man surrounded, but he seemed more amused than worried, if he was actually worried at all. There he stood, like a behemoth amongst their ranks, the not-quite-sane smile that'd been slowly growing on his face just daring one of them to make the first move. The goblins, clearly intimidated, but unwilling to back down, bravely held the line and waited for the perfect chance to strike. Well, okay, so Ryker could clearly take care of himself, but... where exactly did that leave me? A shrill cry sounded in my ears, and I glanced to my right to see about five or six angry goblins charging straight at me; I guess I had my answer. Letting out a none-too-masculine yelp of surprise, I turned to flee in the opposite direction, only to be met with even more goblins blocking my path, holding clubs and nets and looking just as angry as the others. I quickly dodged to the side of a hastily thrown net, then bolted off into the forest, the only way out I could see. The forest was dark, and I could barely even see where I was going, but I couldn’t have cared less as I stumbled through the woods, trying my best to keep my balance and not trip. The goblins were still right behind me, screaming and throwing things in my direction, but I just sped up even more, painfully ignoring my heaving lungs (I guess I was a little out of shape) and letting the adrenaline take over. It was as I was running, though, that a sound caught in my ears, a low rumbling that was slowly growing louder... Guess what happened next? No, guess... Alright, I’ll tell you: a bush started rustling, and all Tartarus broke loose. From my side, I could barely make out a blur of movement, and then the goblins behind me switched from screaming for my blood to just screaming in general. I couldn’t help but let out a scream, myself. Pushing my body past its limits, I rushed forward blindly, hoping that whatever it was decided to go for the multitude of goblins instead of me. And, for what seemed like my only streak of good luck, tonight, it did, and I beat a hasty retreat as the howls and sounds of shouting goblins faded off into the distance. I kept on running for a while before slowing down to an exhausted trot, looking behind me for any sign of goblins or hungry monsters. As soon as I was sure I lost them, I ground to a halt, plopping down to the forest floor and panting to try and catch my breath. Mental note to self: try and work out more often. With my luck, though, this wouldn’t be the end of things, so with great reluctance, I dragged myself up to my hooves once again... And froze, feeling more than hearing the presence that was now creeping up behind me. I suppose I was right. I hate it when that happens. No sooner had I gotten up than a low, animalistic growl sounded out from behind me, and I slowly forced myself to turn around, shivering slightly as I faced its source: a huge, grizzled, wolf-like creature with scars all along its elongated muzzle, standing no more than about twenty feet away within the hedge of white-bark trees. Its glossy, red fur shone dully in the gray-ish light of impending dawn, and thick, powerful legs pawed restlessly at the ground as it looked at me intently, a guttural roar sounding through its bared fangs. “Uh, y-you’re a friendly wolf… right?” I asked, taking an involuntary step back and stuttering in fear. Me and my big mouth. The wolf’s only response to my question was to lunge viciously, snarling as it tore through the air towards me at an alarming speed. I hastily dove to the side, feeling the rush of wind and a pain on my flank as the wolf soared past, and scrambled to pick myself up and run off into the forest depths, dirt flying everywhere in my mad rush to get away. Just like that, the chase was back on. The forest passed me by in a hazy blur as I crashed through the underbrush, my hooves just barely moving quick enough to keep me from stumbling to the ground. Oh, Celestia, what did I do to deserve this? I still haven't gotten the chance to ask a cute mare out on a date, yet! I wasn’t caught - the wolf was actually falling behind, somehow - but my breath was now coming in ragged gasps, and my limbs were starting to go numb from overexertion; I knew I couldn't take much more. I should've listened to Sis when she said my severe lack of exercise would kill me one day… “Just calm down, Scratch. Think!” A tiny voice in the back of my head shouted at me, the small part of my brain that wasn’t currently preoccupied with being scared senseless and panicking. Good call, brain - I’m glad I always have you to rely on. I shut my eyes for a second, mind working furiously while I ran as I tried to think of some way out of this. The first thought that came to mind was one of recognition: this thing was a narg, the creature Ryker had mentioned, as I’d seen in one of the books on wildlife I was skimming through back at camp. I remembered reading that it had a tendency to go for days without getting hungry and that it was extremely dangerous, so it should be avoided at all costs. The second thought that came to mind was of how utterly useless all that information was, as the narg seemed to be pretty hungry, right now, and it was already quite obvious how dangerous it was. Well, brain, points for trying. Shaking off the thought, I wracked my head for something else, something that would actually help me, but the howling coming from behind made it extremely hard to concentrate. “Dammit, what can I do?” I mumbled to myself as I ran, looking over my shoulder to see how far off my pursuer was. That turned out to be a big mistake, though, because as soon as I did, I stumbled upon a large root on the ground, tripping up my hooves and forcing me to slow down and catch myself. It wasn’t enough to make me fall, but I guess that’s all the beast chasing me needed. I heard its pounding footsteps grow louder and more rapid, and this time I did fall, startled by a sudden roar, the ferocity of which I’d never heard in my life. I felt my face hit the dirt, and then… well, it was mostly just a blur, after that. I have a vague memory of me turning round to face my assailant; its jaws were open wide as it pounced, an utterly primal cry tearing out of its throat, and then there was a splitting pain in my head. A flash, a scream, a sick, crunching sound… And then it was over. After that… I think I passed out, because I came to a few moments later. The taste of grit in my mouth told me I was still on the ground, but after a quick survey of my surroundings, all I saw was a small, crumpled heap a few feet in front of me. It wasn’t moving… was it the narg? ”What the heck just happened…?” I thought, glancing over my shoulders for any other signs of life, only to be met with dead quiet. Well, no, it wasn’t completely silent, there had been something… it couldn’t be, but… Hm. I tried to remember those last few seconds, but all my mind drew was a blank. So, instead, I settled for simply staring at the unmoving form before me. That is, until a sudden chill ran down my spine, and I remembered that I wasn’t in the clear, yet. I quickly turned from the sight and struggled to stand, but it was like my body had gone numb, my legs wobbling feebly as I tried to get them under control. ”Come on, better get out of here!” The tiny voice inside my head encouraged, but to no avail, as it was all I could do to even keep from falling back over with how badly my body was shaking. That chill I’d been feeling seemed to intensify, as well; seriously, what was that? Before I could ponder over my situation any longer, however, the shuffling sound of movement coming from behind me caught my attention, and I looked over my shoulder to catch glimpse of the narg slowly struggling to its feet, once more. Its matted fur was even more disheveled than before, and by the way it was staggering about, its legs must’ve been seriously injured. Still, the beast growled with renewed vigor even as it was coughing up blood, and I redoubled my efforts to get back on my hooves, only to fall flat on my face as I stumbled over stiff limbs. ”Not now. Don’t give up on me now!” I thought to my rebellious appendages, my breath coming out as a visible, blue mist as the air around me grew steadily colder… wait, what? Cold. The surrounding temperature was actually getting colder. While I thought that the chilling sensation was just my nerves failing me, at first, a quick glance at the surrounding forest told me that it wasn’t my imagination: the trees were actually withering before my eyes, frozen leaves falling gently to the earth, and what looked like the first traces of snow lined the now frosty undergrowth. “Wha…?” I breathed, slowly taking in the strange spectacle. But before I even made any sense of it, something small and fast hit me hard from the side, gripping me around my torso and pulling me into a nearby bush. "H-Hey!" I yelled out, more in surprise than any real pain, but the tiny hand of whoever was restraining me suddenly went to my mouth to silence it. "Quiet! Before you get us both killed!" I heard the stranger hiss, and there was a whispered sense of urgency in his voice that somehow told me he wasn't lying. Looking up, I could see the leathery, green nose of a goblin behind my ears, his face scrunched up in an expression of apprehension. Whatever it was he was afraid of, taking his advice sounded like a good idea. I instead looked out from the now-dying shrubbery we were hiding in, only to see the injured narg already on its feet, panting heavily in the sheer cold. The beast also seemed to be caught up in our terror, turning to whimper and flee from some unseen threat. Before it could even get anywhere, though, right before my eyes, the wolf-creature’s legs began… freezing, solid, a thin sheet of ice glossing over its reddish fur. The crackling ice slowly but surely arrested its movements, growing in thickness with each passing second, and as the ice crept up to begin encasing its entire body, the wolf glimpsed my way, eyes pleading as if for me to save it. “I can’t-… I’m sorry.” I muttered in breathless awe, momentarily forgetting this beast was the very same creature who was trying to kill me just moments before. The narg simply continued to freeze over in answer, until nothing but an icy statue stood where a living creature once was. Ohhh jeez. What the hay was that? For a minute, I thought it might have been the mysterious goblin occupying the bush with me, but looking back at him, he still seemed as tense as he was, before. Whatever he was so scared of, it wasn’t gone yet… and that could only mean we were next on the list. However, before I could start panicking again, completely, a chill wind blowing across my face stopped the breath in my lungs, filling me with an inexplicable sense of dread. Out of the corner of my eye, there was a… thing, creeping down from above. Yeah, real specific, I know, but it was hard to describe. It was some sort of branching tendril made of the clearest ice, slowly making its way through the air like how water would freeze across a window. It continued like this until it reached the icy form of the narg, connecting with the ice surrounding it on its spine - only, it didn’t stop; there was a sound like breaking glass, and then the tendril… entered, into the wolf, a clear spike wedging into the ice to carefully penetrate its skin just below its neck. I could see blood splurting out of the newly punctured skin, but that soon froze over, as well, turning into crystallized flecks of crimson all along the wolf’s back. While this was all happening, the body inside of the ice turned an intense shade of bluish-white, and, after a few moments of silence, fractured dramatically all along its surface. The wolf shattered, then, nothing left but a pile of pure, white, powder snow left behind as a rush of orange and white light went spiraling up the tendril, like a stream of flowing water. I immediately followed the strange light back up to the tendril’s source, but, boy, I wish I hadn’t. Floating right above us was a huge, monstrous… thing. Again, sorry for the vague description, but sweet Celestia, I’d never seen anything like it. It was as tall as a tree and floating right above them, the hem of its gigantic, billowing cloak just barely brushing the tops of the dying forest canopy. However, although the cloak clearly had shape, there was seemingly nothing under it, nothing but a deep, permeating blackness emanating out from its tattered, grey hood. The icy tendril that had been the narg’s demise slowly crept back into the darkness of its cloak, and I winced as a hideous wail of what seemed like agony sounded from underneath it. “Frost wraith…” The goblin behind me muttered under his breath, his voice shaking slightly, and I knew now why Ryker wasn’t so keen on traveling at night. ”Well, this is a great way to start the morning.” I couldn’t help but think to myself, even as I sat there frozen in fear. The sun was finally coming up, now, the frost wraith simply floating above the treetops and throwing a baleful gaze in our direction. That last part was just my imagination, seeing as it didn’t have any discernible gaze to throw our way, but it was incredibly creepy. The seconds slowed down to a crawl as our little standoff continued, us cowering in fear while the frost wraith simply stared at us. But after a few more moments of tense silence, the wraith finally broke it off, turning around slowly and silently drifting away. It seemed to fade into the light as the sun started rising higher into the sky, and soon enough there was no trace of it left at all, no evidence of it ever being here other than the dead trees and snow surrounding us. I let out the breath I discovered I’d been holding, shakily trying to get back on my hooves now that the immediate danger had gone away, though I winced in pain as the wound on my flank reminded me it was there. The goblin beside me did the same, brushing some dirt off of his fur robe with a sigh. He looked a great deal less menacing than the other goblins back at camp, his features less harsh, his long, black hair tied up into a ponytail. “Uh, thanks… Mister…?” I trailed off, not sure how to address him. “Kirth.” He answered, shivering and rubbing his shoulders. “And don’t mention it. I just did what I had to.” “Well, thanks anyways, Kirth. I probably would have died there if you hadn’t come in and saved me from… well, whatever the frost wraith was doing.” I said, shaking my head. The goblin named Kirth looked at me for a second, then turned away, rummaging through the small pack wrapped around his waist. “Ice form aura.” He said, after a few moments, “A simple heating spell can stave off the effects for a while, but if I’d taken any longer getting to you, you’d have been a popsicle, by now.” I just nodded like I was in a daze, thanking my lucky stars for letting me live another day. Just then, however, a soft click and the feeling of something metallic around my neck shook me out of my stupor, and I looked down to see a strange sort of collar now attached to my person. “Wha- hey!” I cried out, brow creased into a frown. “What gives?” Kirth just started walking off, heading in the direction of what I assumed was the campsite. I followed quickly behind, walking beside him and trying to get his attention. “Hello? What is this thing?” I asked again, my voice taking on a slight edge. “That’s a null-magic collar. It prevents you from using magic.” He explained, simply. I just narrowed my eyes, then found he was telling the truth as I tried to conjure up a simple levitation spell to no avail, the magic fizzling out with a tiny spark of protest. Shaking my head, I hurried to get in front of him, spreading my hooves to block his path. “Well, that’s nice, but why exactly do I have this thing on, right now? Where do you think you’re going, anyway?” I huffed. Kirth stopped, a look of annoyance on his face as he spoke. “We are going back to your campsite, and you’re going to tell that friend of yours to stop his annihilation of my people’s Recon Brigade.” He said, crossing his arms. Oh, alright, I see how it is. You only saved me so you could save your friends from being destroyed by Ryker. Well, see how useful I’ll be without my magic, then, that’ll teach you! Kirth must have seen the defiant pout on my face, because he eventually sighed and shook his head, the anger slowly draining from his expression. “Look, try and see it from my point of view, here. Your friend is tearing through my comrades as we speak, and I have no idea what you two are capable of. If you help me, I’ll take it off of you once we get everything sorted out, okay?” He pleaded, the stress and exasperation in his voice clear as day. I paused a bit, looking down in thought. I guess I was being a little... immature about it; while he did slap a collar on me without my consent, it was his friends that were being beaten to a pulp by Ryker, at the moment. And I suppose that was a good enough reason for him to not trust me, completely. Still, the lack of trust kind of hurt... “...Fine.” I eventually grumbled, deciding to step aside and play along, for now. Kirth nodded, continuing forward while I followed behind. “Thank you.” He said. We walked on through the forest in total silence, neither of us having much to say after our initial encounter. I was still pretty shaken by the ice wraith, myself, and I prayed with all my might that we didn’t see another one. After a while, though, the silence began grating on my nerves, and I looked to the goblin in front of me, dozens of questions running through my head. “So, how did you find me out here, anyway?” I finally asked, trying to get my mind off of my feelings of irritation at being ‘imprisoned’. My magic might not have been the best around, but suddenly not being able to use it made me feel kind of… naked. “Your magical signature is very unique. It wasn’t hard tracking you down.” He replied, looking to me. “In fact, I’ve never seen anything like it, nor have I ever seen a unicorn quite like you. Tell me, where are you from?” “I’m… not from around here.” I answered in return, looking off to the side. Kirth seemed to pick up on my reluctance to answer, shrugging his shoulders and turning back to face forwards. “I gathered as much. Still, I understand if you don’t want to talk.” With that, more silence, as I was lost in thought. Magical signature, huh? I guess that made some sort of sense… not that I understood how magic worked in this place. But the fact that he could sense me like that brought another question to mind… “Did you… ‘sense’ anyone else around me? When you first found me with the narg, I mean.” I asked, to which he rubbed his ear, a curious look in his eye. “Nobody except the narg. Why?” “Oh, well, no particular reason!” That was a lie. But if he didn’t know anything, then I must have imagined it, right? That voice I heard… After I woke up from my brief blackout, it’d be easy to assume I was the one who smashed that narg with some unconscious burst of magic, but before it all happened, I thought I heard a voice… My sister’s voice. ”Impossible.” I thought. But, then again, ‘impossible’ was a word that applied to a lot of my current situations, so I might need to change my definition of that... We continued walking, the forest becoming lighter as the sun continued its ascent into the sky. We were a lot farther from the camp than I thought; next time, I’ll remember to keep home base in sight when I run off in a panic. “...Do you think we’ll make it in time? To stop him, I mean.” I asked, more to break the silence than anything. The goblin scratched his chin in thought at my question, a grim look upon his face. “Stop him from pulverizing the entire squad trusted to my care? No.” He said, “But if we’re lucky, we can get there before he decides to execute them…” “Hey, Ryker wouldn’t do that!” I cried indignantly. Kirth only shrugged, shaking his head in deference. “Sorry, I wouldn’t know. It’s just that most warriors simply kill those who aren’t worth their time, and from what I saw, the squad wouldn’t even hold a candle to him.” I frowned, but kept on walking. Ryker wouldn’t kill them because of something stupid like that… Well, no. Thinking on it, I realized that I wouldn’t know if he’d do that or not. I’d only known him for about a day, now, and though I got the feeling that he was always pretty friendly, I couldn’t say for sure if that wasn’t some kind of warrior’s code with him. ”He wouldn’t, though.” I silently told myself. Sure, he seemed pretty eager to get the fight started, but if he wanted to kill them, he would’ve just done that from the start, right...? Which is what I thought, at least. After a while, we began to finally approach the campsite, and the first thing that hit me was the thick scent of blood in the air that only grew heavier the closer we got. I could see Kirth’s expression becoming steadily darker, beside me, and I swallowed down the lump in my throat, hoping Ryker had a good explanation for this. “It… might not be as bad as it looks?” I offered, unhelpfully, to which Kirth just grunted, continuing on his forward march. We were just about to break into the clearing, the trees slowly giving way to… Ryker, standing amidst a sea of bodies. His figure was partially obscured by the shade, but I could tell it was him, immediately, and even the dark shadows of the forest couldn’t hide all the blood dripping down his arm and off of his axe. He looked to us as we approached, face contorting into a maniacal grin… “Hey, Scratch! You’re alive, man!” Never mind, that was just a trick of the light. His grin was just as wild as it usually was, although the blood covering his face did make it fairly disconcerting. Looking more closely, I could see that the corpses were actually corpses of nargs, huge, gaping wounds covering the length of their bodies. “Ryker…” I started, “You’re covered in blood.” The human just kept on grinning, laughing a goofy sort of laugh. “Yeah, a pack of nargs came and attacked us while you were gone. Gotta love the smell of fresh blood in the morning, though, right?” At this point, I’d have said there was something wrong with him… if I didn’t already know there was something wrong with him. I only grimaced slightly in response, turning my head away from the grisly sight. Still, after all the excitement I’d just been through, the corpses didn’t faze me, too much; near-death experiences could do that to you, I suppose. “Where are they?” Kirth suddenly said in a demanding tone, cutting us off and boldly stepping up to the lone human. “Woah, you speak Common?” “Yes, I do. Now, where is the rest of my squad?” Ryker casually pointed a thumb over his shoulder, indicating towards a large group of goblins who were all tied up with rope. Kirth hurried to kneel over them and held out his hands, casting a bright, yellow glow over the lot, then sighed in relief, getting up and wiping his forehead. “Well, I can see they’re still alive…” He started, slowly, throwing a wary glance over at Ryker. “Yeah, put up a pretty good fight, too!” The human smiled, holding up his axe-arm to reveal the long gash running down its length. What he said before, though, made me suddenly realize something… “Wait a minute… if you speak our language, why didn’t you say anything before all this started!?” I shouted at the goblin in exasperation. “I was about to, but then your friend here went and insulted our leader’s mother.” Kirth said, crossing his arms. He scratched his chin and paused, though, looking up in thought as he reconsidered. “Then again, I suppose he might’ve been trying to tell us you didn’t want to cause any trouble. The two phrases sound oddly similar in gobbledyguck…” I just sighed, smacking a hoof to my face. Of all the gosh darn luck... *** “Haha, you ran into a frost wraith? You’re pretty lucky to be alive!” The bright, morning sunlight reflected off of the blood-slick grass as Ryker, Kirth, and I sat around the crackling campfire, updating each other on what had happened, cleaning our wounds, and generally trying to clear up the initial misunderstanding between us. “That’s one way to look at it. I’m more alarmed by the fact that we happened upon a troop of goblins, a pack of nargs, and a frost wraith all in the same night!” I said, a testy edge to my voice as I pressed a damp cloth against the many cuts and bruises covering my body. The wounds were a bit deeper than I’d first thought, and now that I had time to actually sit down and relax, they stung. A lot. Kirth simply shrugged his shoulders, playing with the null-magic collar he’d removed from my neck absent-mindedly. “That’s not the weirdest thing that could happen here…” He started, “Though, you’re right in thinking something’s wrong. That’s actually part of the reason my people and I are in the area.” Ryker and I looked to him expectantly, curious as to what he was going on about. “Yeah, you guys are pretty far from your territory, ain’tcha?” The human asked through a mouthful of the bread he’d pulled out for breakfast. “It’s a long story. The best place to start, though, is probably the beginning.” The goblin took a deep breath, steadying himself before speaking once more. “As I told you before, my name is Kirth. I’m the apprentice shaman of my tribe, and it was my master who sent me into the forest with the others to investigate a strange anomaly within its boundaries. She sensed a presence ‘so wicked and vile, the very forest screamed out with fury’; I’m sure you’ve noticed the imbalance, yourselves?” I had no idea what he was talking about, but Ryker seemed to understand, nodding and scratching his chin in thought. “Well, I’ve seen a lot more monsters and a lot less animals than usual, around here.” He said, to which Kirth nodded, continuing with his speech. “We’ve reason to believe the presence my master felt has something to do with that. Take these nargs, for instance.” The goblin motioned to the piles of bodies littered around the campsite. “They’re supposed to be skilled hunters that proudly walk the forest during the day, but here we see them skulking around at night, desperate and weak from starvation. Most creatures know better than to roam about when the frost wraiths awaken from their slumber. What is it that could have caused this sudden change in behaviour?” The question seemed aimed more towards himself than to us, and I remained silent as the goblin mulled over his thoughts. “We seem to have lost our lead, though; the device my master gave me to track the presence’s source has gone silent. I haven’t gotten any readings from it since the night before last.” At this, my ears perked up. The night before last? That was just about when I got here… The thought that this ‘mysterious presence’ could have had something to do with my sudden trip to Balance crossed my mind, though I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. If only things weren’t so weird around here, I might have some actual clues! “In any case,” Kirth spoke up, “I’m... sorry things became like this between us. My compatriots and I were on our way back home when we stumbled upon your camp, and I’ll admit we were a little irritable. Though, from the looks of things, you two didn’t have much to worry about.” He added, wryly. “Well, we’re all still alive, so I guess we’re good...” I said with a sigh. Even if I almost died three times over. Ryker simply nodded his agreement beside me, grinning all the while. "Yeah, we're cool." Kirth smiled a bit at that, getting up from his seat around the fire. "I'm glad we could settle this without too much fuss.” He breathed in relief, “I suppose I'll go and rouse the rest of my comrades; hopefully they won't be too sore about it, themselves." I sighed as the apprentice shaman walked away to awaken his friends, while Ryker turned to look at me, chin resting upon his hand as he grinned. “So, exciting first night, huh?” He asked me, that smile never leaving his face. “If you consider almost dying ‘exciting’.” I replied with a frown. I haven’t even been here for a whole day, and I’m already finding myself just barely getting away with my life. Was this whole world like this? All the time?! The human only let out a laugh, throwing an arm around my neck and giving me a friendly shake. “Ah, you get used to it. But, hey, maybe I can teach you a few things, make it so you don’t almost die all the time!” I shrugged, unsure of what kinds of ‘things’ he wanted to teach me, but if it was anything that could help, I was sure as heck taking it. Anyways, after Kirth succeeded in shaking his comrades awake, we spent rest of the morning hours in talks with the goblin leader, Kirth translating for us while the other goblins went about and did their own thing. Their leader took the whole thing surprisingly well, considering what happened, though that might’ve been because she didn’t want to incur another beat-down from Ryker. In the end, all hostilities between us were thankfully put aside, culminating in a handshake between Ryker and the goblin leader, whose name we learned was Tiluya. All the other goblins wanted to shake hands with Ryker, as well, and Kirth explained to me it was because their tribe held power as a great virtue, and they were recognizing his strength. “Rada, rada rada rada.” The goblin leader, Tiluya, rattled on, Kirth turning to us to provide a translation. “She said, ‘Thank you again for sparing our lives. We’re sorry we’ve caused you this trouble, and I hope that you will not hold this against us in the future’.” “No worries. Maybe we can have another friendly go at it next time we meet?” Ryker asked jokingly, having just shook the hand of an enamored goblin who wanted just one more shake. Tiluya simply averted her gaze, mumbling something under her breath. “She said, ‘That won’t be necessary’.” Kirth translated, smiling a bit, himself. The goblin leader and her translator exchanged some whispered words for a few moments, before they both got up, Tiluya nodding and meandering back to her squad while Kirth came to stand beside us, waving after the other goblins. “I’ll be coming with you two, actually; it’s a tradition of we of the Orka tribe to escort guests home when negotiations are done.” He explained, turning to us as Tiluya and her goblins retreated back into the forest depths, “It’s supposed to ensure our guests don’t do anything suspicious within our territory, but seeing as we’re not on Orka grounds and I couldn’t really stop you from doing anything, anyways, this is more me helping Tiluya save face. I’m sure you don’t mind?” “Not really, I suppose,” I began, slowly, “But will they be okay? Without you, I mean.” Kirth just let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “I’m not exactly an essential to their ranks. It might not have seemed like it when they were up against this monster,” He pointed at Ryker, “But Tiluya’s squad is more than capable of handling anything within these forests. And if there’s something they can’t handle... well, they’re rather skilled at getting away.” No arguments here, I guess. With that, Ryker and I nodded, the human getting up and starting to enthusiastically pack up camp, prompting me to follow suit. “Well, time to get going, then!” He exclaimed, quickly taking down our tent. “Avvy’s probably in town waiting for me, already, so let’s hurry!” We quickly set about getting ready to leave, and in a few minutes we were already on our way. In the calm, morning air and brilliant sunlight, I couldn’t help but let out a humongous sigh as we left the confines of the clearing, the initial shock of being alive subsiding and reminding me that… we took lives. I took a life. Maybe I didn’t kill it, myself, but it was because of me that narg died. Though I suppose… it was us or them, and I’m scared to admit that I’m glad it was them. After everything was said and done, my mind was still running over the events of last night: the pain and exhaustion and cold-blooded fear. If bloodthirsty animals and horrific monstrosities were the ‘norm’ around here… then, boy, I couldn’t have been anymore out of place. I looked to my newfound companions in front of me, both of them joking and chatting up ahead as if we weren’t walking through a deathtrap of nature. How could they be so carefree? Blood. Death. There was a whole pack of once-living creatures back in the area we’d just left, and Ryker was the direct cause of that. I wasn’t a total stranger to the concept of death - I read some pretty bloody stuff, sometimes, and it’s not like things don’t die in Equestria - yet I see Ryker smiling and laughing like it didn’t even happen, and I wonder what exactly it meant to him. Was that just how things were here? I suddenly felt the strong urge to simply be in my bed at home, right now. “Hey, Scratch, c’mon!” I heard Ryker shout from further along. He and Kirth were quite a ways away, and I realized that I was falling behind. “Coming!” I shouted out after him, breaking into a swift trot to catch up. The two of them were waiting patiently by a big boulder, Kirth with his shaman staff and Ryker carrying our huge camping backpack. “No time to space out, man. We gotta get moving!” The human said with a grin, though Kirth gave him a questioning look, calmly leaning against his staff. “We’re not going to be out of here, that quickly. What’s the hurry?” He asked. “Well, there’s a ton of stuff I wanna show Scratch before we leave. I was thinking we could check out the Frostfall Caverns, first.” Kirth just stared at him skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “...Are you crazy? You might be fine, but we wouldn’t last five seconds against all the creatures in there.” Ryker only laughed, waving him off and slapping him on the shoulder. “Nah, it’ll be great! I mean, we just gotta see the crystal chambers…” He trailed off, before leaning down and throwing an arm around my neck. “Come on, Scratch, it'll be fun! Stick with me, and everything'll be just fine...” "Things won't be 'just fine'!" I just sighed, shaking my head in resignation as Kirth and Ryker began to renew their argument. No use getting worked up about it, I guess, this place was just… different. These two were born to a completely different world; they didn’t think the same way I did. At least it was somewhat comforting that they could keep their cool with all this chaos, and I couldn't help but smile as I thought back to what Ryker told me on the we’d first met; whether it was lots of fun or pure terror, though, one thing’s for sure - I’ll never get bored.