Y:7 D:18


    Argos


    The city’s stage 1 was nearly complete. This meant that now more time could be


    invested in research and exploration. Multiple species had been identified, with some


    of them living in isolated islands and other continents. A meeting was organized to


    discuss the strategy with which they would approach the Goblins and finally begin


    seeking answers.


    “Are we really going to keep calling them with names from creatures of our


    mythology?” asked Juuda.


    Dimitri stepped up. “Well, according to the most popular theory among our


    citizens, it is the correct way.”


    “You mean that we got visited by the civilization of this world tens of


    thousands of years ago, and we sprung up legends after meeting them on Earth?”


    “Precisely. It ticks many boxes and answers many hard questions. How else


    are you going to explain the similarities we see here with our legends?”


    “There is a bigger problem to answer, and this is how they made it this far.


    What destroyed them and whether there are still weapons available to any of them,”


    said Jain.


    “Exactly,” added Alex. “We need to focus on one step at a time. Today we are


    planning the first. Jain, are you ready to present your plan?”


    “Yes. We have figured out that their most valuable animal is this gazelle-


    looking animal.”


    “I call them gazortis,” interrupted Gakuto.


    “Right,” said Jain with a smile. “These gazortis are important to them. They


    are very fast, and they hunt them with large groups. They even have a ritual when


    killing one. Our plan is to get Clive flying around and pick the largest he can find and


    trap it. We will approach them from the air with the Eagle right at sundown, when


    they begin their night, and present them with the animal alive. Then Konoya will


    proceed to try and communicate with hand gestures and pictures of items.”


    “Sounds like a plan. Does anyone have any comments or objections?”


    “Since we are going with the Eagle,” added Bara, “let’s plan to leave some


    heavy supplies that Anais has requested.”


    “Who will take part in this mission?” asked Juuda.


    Konoya replied, “Bara, Clive, and myself should be enough. We do not need


    to go with a big team. We need to appear harmless to them.”


    “Then it’s settled. Bara, inform Clive to pick the … gazortis, and in the


    meantime, get ready,” said Alex, looking at Konoya.


    Later that night, with a large gazortis on board, the team left for Anais, and


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.after leaving her supplies, they proceeded to visit the large cave, which acted as the


    main opening of the underground city of the Goblins. Clive remained hovering on


    standby while Konoya and Bara began walking the last three hundred meters to the


    opening. The large gazortis was making sounds as it was being pulled from Bara.


    The scouts around the area had begun pounding the ground with metal pistons as a


    way to inform the city of the approach, since the Eagle was a kilometer away in the


    air.


    “Continue walking as if you haven’t noticed them,” said Konoya to Bara.


    “I am not very comfortable. We are amid vegetation, and Clive cannot pick us


    up fast enough. We need to get to the opening faster,” said Bara while walking.


    “Don’t rush. They will not attack,” said Konoya with confidence.


    The area around the cave had a fifty-meter radius of no vegetation. They


    arrived ten meters away from the opening and stopped.


    Within seconds, they were surrounded by a large number of Goblins. Clive,


    seeing this unfold, began moving toward them. He hovered with the Eagle less than


    fifteen seconds away. Some were yelling; others were looking scared. Some were


    armed with glass swords, spears, shields, and other weapons, while others were


    completely unarmed. There were small ones there as well, children who had come to


    see what the commotion was all about. Konoya looked around and smiled.


    She pointed at the gazortis and tried to invite them to take its ropes. Then a loud yell


    made all of the commotion stop. Amid the silence, their leader began walking through


    the crowd. While a male Goblin was approaching from the cave, a younger one stood


    up and began marching toward Konoya. It was visibly scared, but something led it to


    act brave and approach. From behind, a female Goblin stormed with her weapon


    high toward Konoya. Bara raised his weapon to the air and shot a bullet. They all


    cowered down from the sound—all but the mother. She flinched but did not lose


    focus from her child. Seeing the young one as it cowered in fear made her attack


    more ferociously.


    As Bara watched the young creature approaching Konoya, he felt he had no


    other choice but to turn the weapon toward the Goblin mother. He stepped forward in


    front of Konoya and shot from a distance of less than two meters, right when the


    mother was over her child. The Goblin placed her hand on her chest. A tiny would


    that was barely bleeding but causing a lot of pain was all that the weapon could do.


    The Goblin, which momentarily looked like it was there to only remove her child from


    harm’s way, now had a reason to attack. She once again raised her weapon and


    jumped toward Bara. In his panic, Bara picked his plasma weapon from his side and


    shot at her. The bullet went through a couple of Goblins before becoming a bright


    spot on a rock, slowly dimming. Before leaving her last breath, the Goblin mother fell


    on to her child and tried to push it back. The younger Goblin held the body of his


    dead mother and with a loud scream, took his mother’s axe and charged toward


    Bara.


    In the second that followed, Bara took a flash grenade and yelled, “Flash!”


    while Clive had reached almost above them. The flash went off while the Goblins


    were ready to attack.


    Everything happened so fast. The whole team was in shock. Argos was


    breathless while watching the unfolding of these events. With a faint voice, Alex


    almost whispered, “What are we doing?”


    Bara opened his eyes after the flash to see the young Goblin at his feet, while


    all the others were trying to clear their eyes. He grabbed the young one and held it to


    the hook that Clive had dropped down from the Eagle. A hostage! They had a


    hostage with them. Bara was holding the little Goblin so tight that in his shock he was


    hurting him. Something made him feel that they needed one to communicate, so he


    took the young one.


    While just a few meters off the ground, the team saw the leader looking at the


    dead bodies and at the team who had kidnapped one of their own. His scream of


    rage brought a feeling to everyone that they have never felt before.


    Fear.


    His rage made all the other Goblins raise their spears and axes and scream with all their


    might. The small creatures somehow looked very large now. What was coming was


    now obvious.