I didn''t get back up after Uru left my shoulders. Instead, I sat on the hard packed dirt, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from my eyes. There has been no conversation on the way back and after a short time of marching through the forest I had neither the time nor inclination to have a long winded discussion.


    What did go through my mind was the simple, yet profound thought, "What am I doing?"


    Sitting in the dirt, surrounded by hungry looking goblins only increased my hesitation. At the time, I hadn''t considered any other options. Their were actual monsters, there were actual goblins, one was bleeding, and I had no idea who or where I was. Personally, I considered myself far to calm given the situation. If only I could remember who I was, perhaps then I could figure out why I was not in an absolute panic...


    “Gor,” the tall goblin said, bowing to the old goblin, “we found another hero alive and brought him!”


    The other goblin added, “And we have food!” holding up the rabbit-like thing.


    Gor, addressing the two goblins, asked, “Is that what injured Uru?”


    “Yes,” they said in unison, “but the hero speared it, and we killed it.”


    “At least there will be something to eat in the village tonight. Come, hero, there is much to explain,” said Gor, turning around and heading down the dirt path into the village.


    My two companions left with the vorpal bunny (my name for it), so I felt as if I had no other option accept to follow the old goblin. With a tired sigh, I climbed back up on my feet and followed him deeper into the village.


    I couldn''t help but look around at the little village as we walked. The three largest buildings were long and low, built like primitive longhouses with sticks and bark. Woven reeds or tanned hides served as doors. Smoke escaped from a hole in the center of each, curling away lazily in the evening sun.


    A three posted tripod watch tower stood close to the single gate, manned by a goblin with only one leg. He sat on the single level made of lashed together logs that I could walk under without touching it with my head.


    Near it was a shrine of some sort made from white river rocks carefully placed in a pile and surrounded by enormous rib bones that equaled my height.


    At the top of the hill I could see goblins sitting around a large open fire or standing in line next to another hut for food. My stomach announced it''s belief that we should join them, but it was not to be.


    The old goblin reached his “house,” another hovel made of slightly larger sticks and thatching. Without pausing, he walked through the open door. I bent down, nearly in half, to look inside. Within the building, a crude fireplace had a cheery little fire throwing light into a single room. For furniture, large flat rocks and logs had been placed. Seated on one of the rocks was another human! The other human waved and looked excited for the company.


    “I’m Park Jinwoo, nice to meet you!” he said with as much of a bow as he could muster in the low room. I took a seat across from him, facing the fire. Jinwoo had short black hair and was definitely Korean. He looked very young, probably only a teenager, and a rather skinny one at that. Come to think of it, all of the goblins seemed rather skinny. My more-than-ample spread would stick out like a sore thumb in this village.


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    “Let me explain,” said Gor. “You are a human hero summoned from another world at the time of your death. The human kingdoms summon you to be used as weapons in their wars. The summoning is rather random; they never know what they will get. If you survive the summoning, an Assessor looks to see if and what type of abilities you have. If they don’t think you are useful, because of age or a skill not useful in combat, you are sold as a slave or tossed out into the forest to die.”


    “Jinwoo has the misfortune of having a skill that helps plants grow in a very small area. This is useful for a farmer, but not for a warrior.”


    Jinwoo gave a little shrug and added, “Unfortunately, I’m also from a city. I don’t know anything about farming. The only thing I’ve been able to do is grow some herbs and berry bushes, but they only give berries once or twice a year.”


    Gor continued, “Like you, he was abandoned. As the spirit-talker of our tribe, I was given a vision that showed me this—and that even though you are secondhand heroes, you could help us. As you can see, goblins are small and weak. It is hard for us to provide enough food or even keep the village safe. In fact, the only thing that keeps the other demihumans from raiding us is that they already know we have nothing.”


    “In our world, humans have taken most of the areas that are safe from the nodes. Nodes cause monsters to spawn, like that horned rabbit that attacked earlier. The bigger the node, and the closer you get to its center, the stronger the monsters that can spawn. Since we could never defeat a human army, we must live here between three nodes and the humans as best as we can. I would like to ask you to stay and help us. I know this is a lot to understand, so think it over tonight. Even if you have no skill, you are far stronger than a goblin and could help us.”


    "If this is true and I''ve been summoned to wherever this is, why do I have no memory of before?" I had to ask. I knew too many things, just sitting here, to believe I had amnesia.


    "It is both a blessing and a curse bestowed by the summoning ritual. Your former life is stripped from your memory, but not your knowledge. The spirits also tell me that you died in your previous life; that is how they can summon you to begin with. Your soul reforms your body as it remembers—this is why you are old with a beard, but Jinwoo is young.


    It takes the memories, but often adds strange skills and powers. It''s these additions that could make you helpful to us and why we tried to save you."


    Gor started to walk out the door. “Use my house tonight. I will attend to Uru’s wounds. She is a good fighter; we can’t afford to lose her.”


    A small goblin carrying two small bowls entered immediately after Gor left. In each bowl was a small lump of meat and some brown liquid. He gave the first bowl to me with a little bow and then repeated the act with Jinwoo. Without saying anything else, he scurried out the door back into the night.


    “You caught something today. It’s better than nothing. I still wish I could find some rice, but I don’t even know where to start looking,” said Jinwoo. “They really need help. I can make plants grow faster and produce more, but all they have are some blackberry bushes and medicinal herbs. Gor keeps me around for that, but I don’t know what else to do, so I try to help hunt. What is your name, and do you know if you have a skill?”


    “I have no idea,” I said, and then finished dinner with one swallow. It wasn’t bad—it just wasn’t enough. Park did the same.


    “We don’t really have any other place to go. In the woods, we would probably die. And you look”—he hesitated—“older than I am. The humans don’t want us,” he said dejectedly. Looking up, he added, “I hope you stay. They and I could both use your help.”


    Jinwoo got up from his rock and headed for the door. “I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep in the furs,” he said, pointing to some old furs near the fire. “It’ll keep you warm.” With that, he was gone into the night.


    I settled down on the furs as best as a human could on a goblin-sized stack. Luckily for me, exhaustion doesn’t really care what you are sleeping on. I passed out watching the little fire dwindle away.