The Goblin Nation

And it did not matter what those objects were; as long as they can be collected and stored within the confines of his vault, he felt content owning them all. Then suddenly, the dining hall doors burst open, and a sweating goblin ran to Horder bearing awful news, a city goblin has arrived to collect their tribute. "What?" Horder jumped off his seat, ran outside, and saw a tall goblin with short blond hair, deep green eyes, and blue feathers growing from his forehead and pointing to the sky.

The goblin wore long chainmail that reached his heels and wore boots with iron soles. And he was surrounded by three red conquerors wearing gambesons and carrying bronze mace on their hips. Horder ran to the goblin and dropped to his knees with tears flooding his eyes. "I thought I already explained everything. I can't give anything, that monster took it all!" He cried.

The tall goblin with the blue feather crown grabbed his head and raised him to the sky. "I heard enough from your asses." He growled.

"Should we kill him, Sir Knight?" One of the red goblins asked.

"No," Knight answered, "I have questions for you. First off, why should I care about your monster problem?"

"But the other city gobs came and they said they'll kill it and ask for something else," Horder looked away from Knight.

"How many were they?"

"Four, and they look just like you!"

"Are you braindead?" Knight threw Horder in the air and grabbed him by the throat. "Or are you just provoking me?"

"Sir Knight," Another of the red goblins spoke up, "The other tribe also mentioned four goblins with a similar form as yours. He may not be lying."

"There are only five of my kind exist! Are you telling me that four of them left the city without informing me, and that includes the king? I doubt that."

Horder grabbed Knight's arm to prop himself up, "Maybe they're outsiders?" He coughed out through his squeezed neck. Knight released him and began to pace back and forth. He knew that the statement is not entirely out of the question. Their king had made it clear that there will be more of their kind popping into existence. And the only problem arises if they appear outside the city and their control.

"Yes," Horder struggled to get back up from the mud. Blood flowed down his mouth. "Yes, Sir Knight."

"You have no right to address me as Sir Knight. You are to call me by full name, Harriman Knight. Now let's go and hunt those bastards, and we'll be sure to include that monster you want so desperately killed if it even exists." Knight said in a mocking tone. "Pawns, get these worthless goblins organized, and then we'll move out and find these fakes! And get our pet ready too."

"Yes, Sir Knight!" The three red goblins yelled. The pawns took the best warriors the Zackons could muster and divided them amongst themselves to command. Then one of the pawns walked across the river and stood at the edge of the forest. He whistled at the trees until a large figure as tall as the trees surrounding it walked out from the forest wrapped in thick linens and wearing a makeshift helmet.

The Zackons shook in fear at the sight of the giant figure because they knew what it was, a juvenile troll. A long steel chain kept the troll at bay, binding its arms together. The pawn pulled the troll out to the river bay, and they waited until the Zackons could muster the courage to walk towards them.

Knight led the hunting party across the frigid, icy river and to the direction of the supposed monster that haunted them. Horder followed closely behind Knight to hide behind him, scared that the troll will notice him. Knight had the goblins spread out. The pawns took a group a diverged from one another and began to walk forward, forming a u shape, while Knight stayed in the middle.

Two pawns walked on the east and the pawn with the troll walked on the west. To avoid the troll, Horder stayed with Knight. They continued south and to hopefully surround the invaders. It did not take long for Sun and his entourage to arrive.

Sun could sense a large number of hostiles ahead of them and had the group split up. Stick, Olhos, and Gever took the right side. Rock and Smoke took a left, and Sun continued straight into the net. Eventually, Sun reached the center of the net and saw a Horder hiding behind a tree. "There he is!" He called out. Leaning against the tree was a goblin, but not like any goblin. It looked just him.

"You must be a city goblin?" Sun asked, "That explains why things felt strange, you're hunting us."

"Yes, that's about right." Knight reached under his chainmail and took out an orange dagger. "And I'd like to end this soon. Would you like to join us? The city could use more goblins like us."

"I don't know. I'll have to ask my friends."

"Go ahead. Wait, where are they anyway?" Knight looked behind Sun and saw no one, nor could he feel any foreign presence nearby. Then suddenly, a large explosive sound blasted across the forest, originating to the west.

"That sounds like my friend, and I don't think he wants to join." Goblins could be seen flying above the trees and crashing back down the earth in the distance.

"I see, we're doing this the hard way then!" A blue mist began to converge around Knight's legs and coated his chain mail in a light blue color. Then he sprinted towards Sun. He ran so fast that he left after images of himself.

Sun's eyes began to spark in a brilliant array, and then he took one heavy step that produces a wave of fire crashing towards Knight. The fire burned the surrounding trees black, and Horder was nearly caught in the blaze. But Knight was not fazed by the flame and miraculously leaped out through the fire and prepared to stab Sun with his dagger.

Sun grabbed his sword with his two hands and unsheathed it. "Red Blade!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. The longsword's blade glowed bright red as if it was freshly removed from a clay oven. Sun swung the blade, releasing a turret of red hot mana at Knight, stopping him in his tracks.

When the air began to cool, the longsword's red glow disappeared, and its blade turned back into a polished black finish. Knight was a gasp seeing the ebony blade, for it had an uncanny resemblance to his king's old weapon.

"Where did you get that?" He asked

"What this?" Sun showed his sword, "I got after proving my worth."

Mana exploded out of Knight's body, and his stature grew larger, "Only the king is worthy of that sword and I'll have to kill this transgression!" Knight leaped to Sun and struck him with his dagger.

Sun's reaction time was far faster, and he easily parried the attack. Knight stepped back and attempted to stab Sun a second time, but he still missed. Sun grabbed the tip of his sword with his left hand and sidestepped to the right, dodging Knight's dagger. Then he struck Knight across the face with the pommel of his sword.

Knight was heavy enough to tank the attack and quickly slice across Sun's abdomen, cutting his gambeson. But none of that was enough, and Sun delivered a front kick to his face, sending Knight rolling back against a charcoal colored tree. Horder watched the fight unfold and could not believe what he saw. Or, more accurately, he could not see the fight at all. Knight was so fast it was so hard to follow his movement, but Sun casually dodged and blocked his dagger.

Knight yelled as more mana flowed into his legs and rushed on Sun. On Horder's eyes, Knight disappeared out of existence with the dirt cloud being the only evidence of his presence. But that did not matter because Sun will easily counter his attempts and slow him down enough for Horder to witness Knight's humiliation.

Knight tried numerous times to stab Sun, but he will always meet the end of his sword. Sun danced around Knight's attacks, slamming his pommel against Knight's back and chest. The knots of his chainmail continued to rain down on the ground as he gets hit repeatedly.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of running around, Sun grabbed the tip of his sword and took an odd stance. "Time to end this!" Sun tapped the earth with the pommel, "Batter up!"

Knight spat out blood and got on a running position. "Don't get cocky now!" Blue light ruptured behind Knight's back and began to wrap his body. The mana replaced the chainmail and formed an impenetrable armor, and he planned to ram Sun with this armor. Knight's legs sprung him forward, and like a charging unicorn, he raised his arms and pointed his dagger as the mana swirl around the blade's tip.

The speed at which Knight traveled was much faster than what Sun anticipated. Before Knight could reach him, Sun swung his blade like a baseball bat. The force of his swing sent a loud shockwave that uprooted the trees and blew them away. And Knight's body slammed against the wind, destroying his nose and jaw and knocking him unconscious. He fell to the ground with blood flowing down his shattered nose.

Horder hid from the explosive attack under the fallen trees and when the dust settled, he saw Sun standing victoriously. He crawled out the trees, ready to beg Sun to spare his life but then he heard the howl of the monster haunting his dreams across the distance. A howl so fearsome that even Sun's hair stood up. "Looks like the wolf woke up!" Sun smiled at Horder cowering behind the trees.