《Brothers And Heroes》 The Brothers Six brothers sat in their home, not realizing that their worlds were about to change forever. They were known for being uncannily tall, as well as being remarkably active, leaving most of them on the skinny side. This particular evening was common in their home. It was Friday, so their parents would be leaving shortly, and the brothers were allowed to entertain themselves. ¡°Hey Grant, do you want to play Minecraft? Aden said to his older brother. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s do it!¡± Grant replied. They both rushed to grab their laptops from the shelf and logged into the survival world they had been working on. Aden was the youngest of the six brothers at home, with blond hair and green eyes. He could easily give off a subdued demeanor most of the time but was passionate about certain subjects. The six brothers tended to gravitate towards two distinct appearances, half being brown-haired, and the other half being blond. Grant, the next oldest, fits the other mold. He has brown wavy hair and brown eyes. Grant was unique in that he had uncannily long arms and that unlike the rest of his brothers, had a disdain for athletics, though in his own right, was particularly good at them. ¡°You know you guys aren¡¯t as good at that game as I am right? I¡¯m number 1 on the leaderboards.¡± Their second-oldest brother Devin said as he walked by. Devin fit the brown-haired mold in the family and had green eyes instead of brown. He was the nerdiest of the brothers and could have an in-depth discussion about basically any fandom. That being said, he enjoyed sports passionately and had been diligent about basketball recently. ¡°Nu-uh, they don¡¯t have leaderboards in Minecraft. If you¡¯re so good, how do you make a cake?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to bother myself with such trivial matters in Minecraft, I don¡¯t make regular cakes.¡± Devin proclaimed. ¡°My cake making would simply surpass your understanding.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just saying that because you don¡¯t know¡± Aden replied ¡°Pfft, no, of course I know¡± ¡°Let him be Aden, he¡¯s just lying. You¡¯re not supposed to lie Devin.¡± Grant interfered. ¡°I¡¯d just code it up. That¡¯s why I study Computer Science in the first place.¡± Devin objected. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make you good at Minecraft,¡± Aden said. Grant and Aden ignore Devin and continue to play Minecraft. ¡°Hey Chase, do you want to practice throwing the football in the front yard for a bit?¡± Devin asked Chase as he was walking by. Chase was most aptly described as studly. He was the last brown-haired brother, and was meticulous in his appearance, and was nice and easy to get along with. Chase liked to grow his bangs out so he could style his hair. ¡°Uh, not right now, we¡¯re about to eat dinner, but after sure,¡± Chase said, pulling out his headphones. ¡°You need to work on your hands if you ever want to make Varsity,¡± Devin told him. ¡°My hands have been getting a lot better recently, last game I didn¡¯t drop a pass. ¡°That¡¯s good! You still need to work on your over-the-shoulder catches though. I saw you drop a few of those in practice.¡± ¡°Yeah, after dinner.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Hey everybody! Pizza¡¯s here!¡± Dad calls from downstairs. Bryce gets up from looking at stocks on his phone. Bryce¡¯s ambition is to be a pilot and make a lot of money. He¡¯s already made preparations and would be rich one day. He knew that time was one of the most valuable assets that he had, and the earlier he started the better. He was the third oldest home and fit the blond-haired mold in the family and was freckled from too many sunny days outside. The brothers all came to gather around the dinner table. ¡°If everyone here is all set, we¡¯ll be gone for the night. It¡¯s fine if you guys want to rent a movie or something.¡± Mom said on her way out the door. The brothers each grabbed a slice of one of the four large pizzas that had been provided for them. The brothers were not known for their small appetites. The last and oldest brother, Joshua, started to speak. ¡°Hey everybody, guess what. the firefighting department in Utah is allowing firefighters to start investing their pensions early. It¡¯s really nice, I¡¯ll be making almost as much as my salary just from my pension, and that¡¯ll be invested. It basically doubles my career pay. It¡¯s kind of a big deal. I¡¯m looking forward to when Devin and I finish school up next Spring. It might sound a little cheesy, but I¡¯m really looking forward to the next stage of my life. I¡¯ve worked so hard. It¡¯s kind of nice to see something on the horizon.¡± Joshua was exceptionally compassionate. He valued the connections he made in this life exceedingly and would be a friend to anyone who needed it. He was also blonde with green eyes. Acquaintances of his would often describe his behavior as puppyish. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s easy to think back on when we were so much younger. We all had silly nicknames. Dad still calls you guys by those names sometimes, right?¡± Devin asked. ¡°Yeah, he makes me do the dance too,¡± Chase said. ¡°Super embarrassing. I¡¯m a little too old to say I am huckleberry and do a little dance.¡± ¡°I like my name,¡± Aden said. ¡°It¡¯s sweet pea¡± ¡°Where did Chickadee come from, Grant? Brown Rice makes sense for Bryce, but Chickadee seemed a little random¡± ¡°I think it came from that turkey documentary that he liked,¡± Devin said Suddenly, Devin hears a rattling sound outside, followed by riotous laughter. The front door bursts open, and the hallway is filled with a horde of little green men, around three to four feet tall, carrying small spears and dressed in leather. ¡°Are those Goblins?!¡± Devin exclaims. The goblins surround the boys. Bryce gets visibly angry, and they all get ready to fight. Then through the front door comes a taller goblin dressed in silk, purple, robes and carrying a magic staff. A short goblin to his side announces ¡°You have the honor of addressing the great Bartok, the mightiest goblin wizard in the whole world. The great one has noticed your world and decided to grant you, humans, the glory of serving him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s dumb!¡± Bryce exclaimed, ¡°Get out of our home! You¡¯re pathetic! I¡¯ll beat you all up¡±. ¡°Now that¡¯s no way to talk to your new master, human scum!¡± The shorter goblin protested. ¡°Now, now Gobta, that¡¯s no way to treat our new guests now, is it?¡± Bartok says, ¡°Weaklings can¡¯t see power. You have to show it to them¡± ¡°You have some nerve, calling us guests barging into our home the way you are,¡± Devin said. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to end well for you. This is a populated area, people will notice if you try anything. Just back off and think about it.¡± Bartok says nothing in response, and motions to the surrounding goblins to move towards the brothers. Joshua and Bryce suddenly leap from their seats, charging at the wizard. Bartok gently places his staff on the floor. Bryce and Joshua are stopped mid-leap by an unseen force. Bartok then taps his staff on the floor again. In an instant, all the brothers are immobilized and fall to the floor. ¡°You will learn that resistance is futile,¡± Bartok says. ¡°Let me show you to your new home¡± The goblins, laughing, carry the boys away, through a circular, blue, portal where the front door used to be and into the unknown. The Sweet Pea Aden awoke to find himself in a dungeon. Aden awakens first to find his older brothers still sleeping. Typical. Aden liked to get up earlier anyways. When they got up, they¡¯d be able to deal with these pathetic goblin creatures no problem. They reminded Aden of some of the monsters from Minecraft. If those weren¡¯t so difficult to defeat how hard could a few goblins be? Best to wait for everyone else though. That one goblin guy was a little scary, how he could put them all to sleep so easily. It was frightening to be so helpless against it. His brothers had been sleeping long enough. ¡°Hey Grant! Get up!¡± You have to see where we are right now.¡± Grant suddenly opened his eyes and got up. ¡°Hey Aden, where are we? Where is this place?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it sure doesn¡¯t seem like Texas.¡± ¡°I wonder what Mom and Dad think happened to us¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, we just need to get out of here and back to them¡±. Aden heard Joshua start to get up as well. ¡°Hey Grant, Aden, everything is going to be OK, I trained for situations like this in the military, everything will be fine. We just need to be patient and wait for a rescue team. If we can stay safe until then everything will work out. Bryce, Devin, get up, this is no time to be sleeping, we need to find a way out of here.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ What happened?¡± Bryce groggily replied.¡± ¡°We got abducted by goblins, that¡¯s what happened, and we need to find a way out of this cell here¡± ¡°This is stupid. I could come up with a way better idea to abduct someone than this. Seriously, how could we get captured by a few goblins, they were still carrying spears and whatnot, they¡¯re clearly primitive¡± ¡°It was that one goblin that got us, it just took us by surprise¡± ¡°Has anyone tried the door?¡± asked Devin. ¡°Not yet, but it¡¯s too thick, there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll be able to break through. Joshua gets up and tries the door. ¡°They¡¯re not dumb enough to leave it unlocked. Figures¡± Aden sat waiting there for the rest of the day, there was little to be done, none of them could break through the walls. They seemed to be inside some building, but what or where? It seemed more and more likely that they were no longer even on Earth anymore, if that was somehow possible. A guard came by later to give them food. He slipped it in a slot through the door. ¡°Hey what¡¯s going to happen to us?¡± yelled Devin, but no reply came. The food seemed to be relatively unappetizing, a simple dish of steamed sweet peas. Aden remembered Dad calling him that not too long ago. Aden grabbed his bowl and spoon, which were both wooden, and thought back to the pizza they had just a night ago and how much better that was. Aden hoped this was not all the food they were going to get for the day, he was hungry, and this would barely do enough to satisfy him. Aden grabbed a sweet pea and went to take a bite. To his amazement, the moment his teeth touched the pea, it turned into a diamond sword. It was blue, with jagged edges, just like the diamond sword that he found in¡­ Minecraft. ¡°Woah Aden! What is that? How¡¯d you get a Minecraft sword here?¡± ¡°Shhh¡­ Joshua said. Keep it down!¡± ¡°We still need to figure a way out from here. Now Aden, how did you get that sword.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I was just eating.¡± Aden shrugged. ¡°So try eating again then.¡± Aden grabbed another sweet pea, and the moment it touched his mouth, it turned into a diamond pickaxe. The sword was now gone, lying in its place was a sweet pea. Aden tried this a few more times, and each time, he could make a Minecraft object, but the old object would return back to normal. It didn¡¯t just have to be his mouth, he could touch it with any part of his body and it seemed to work. Aden grabbed a sweet pea. It became a pickaxe again. ¡°Do you think I could try mining with this? That was a huge deal in Minecraft, so maybe we could try and see if it works.¡± ¡°Yeah might as well¡± Grant replied. Aden gave the floor a few taps. The ground where Aden tapped vanished leaving a cubed hole about three feet across and three feet deep. In the hole floated a small block of concrete. Aden tapped it and the hole returned to normal. ¡°We could totally escape like this and no one would know. Is everyone Ok with that? I don¡¯t think anything good is going to happen to us if we stay here.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Devin said ¡°Any objections?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go then¡± said Joshua.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Aden started digging in the floor with the pickaxe. It was remarkably similar to mining in Minecraft. About 10 feet down they ran into groundwater, so they decided to move laterally. They were able to cover the escape by re-expanding the ground behind them. With any luck, they wouldn¡¯t be able to find them. The only real worry was oxygen. They didn¡¯t make very good time crawling the way that they were, but it was likely faster than carving out a tunnel for them to walk. Aden also feared that if they made an opening too big, that they would risk causing a cave in, or someone walking above would fall through. They would need to return to the surface at some point, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stay underground for long. They spent most of the rest of the day digging through the tunnels. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s safe to go above ground yet?¡± Bryce asked. ¡°We¡¯ve probably put in a few miles from the camp¡± Devin replied. ¡°We¡¯ll make better time on foot than we will crawling, with luck we¡¯re far enough away that they won¡¯t notice us, and we¡¯ll be able to put some real distance between us and them.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a quick look up above to see where we are¡± Aden agreed. Aden quickly made a staircase tunnel back to the surface. When Aden reached the surface, he saw a stone wall in the distance, it seemed that they had crawled out of the goblin camp. The best call was probably to run, then escape underground if someone noticed them. Up ahead, he saw a swamp. It was probably best that they surface now instead of having to worry about getting flooded by tunneling into a swamp. That would probably make running difficult though. ¡°Everybody come up! It seems safe!¡± Aden called. Soon the other brothers joined him. ¡°There¡¯s a swamp ahead? How are we going to get through that?¡± Chase asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± replied Aden. Suddenly they heard a siren start to wail.
The Wizard Bartok spat. ¡°Who could have allowed weak humans to escape? He asked to a quivering goblin general. ¡°I ¡­ I don¡¯t know how they got out! There were guards posted! There¡¯s no other way out of that cell. Please have mercy!¡± The general begged. ¡°I¡¯ll show you the same mercy that I would¡¯ve shown those boys.¡± Bartok replied. With a small wave of his staff, he sent a fireball towards the goblin general. The general cried in agony. Bothersome, he shouldn¡¯t have used fire, now this room would smell bad. Pity. Still, he wondered what abilities he now stood in risk of losing. How many people had he summoned over the years? Enough to make him the most powerful magic user in this world. The ritual for harvesting those boys¡¯ abilities had just been completed. It was bothersome that his subordinates couldn¡¯t keep a few children contained for a day. He¡¯d have to go find them himself, and then all the preparation he had just put in would be wasted. Still, it would probably be worth it, considering that they could escape from an armed fortress like this one undetected, without leaving a trace of where they¡¯d gone. He grinned in anticipation. He lacked a sufficiently powerful teleportation crystal. With a power like that, he would be able to really expand his kingdom. Bartok remembered when he was just a weak goblin like the rest of them. That was until he discovered the crystals. They allowed him to manipulate nature in ways that most people only dreamed of. It took energy from his staff to use them, but he had enough stored up enough energy there to shake the world. He just needed a few more crystals, and he would be ready. Bartok didn¡¯t like leaving anything to chance, when he finally attacked, the rest of the world needed to have no way to defend. Teleportation could give him that edge. His entire army, in the middle of a city, wreaking havoc. Bartok smiled again. The crystals were created by supernatural convergences of nature, such as summoning otherworlders here. How kind of the boys to provide them for him. It would kill them, of course, but Bartok didn¡¯t care. They would be inside each boy, though they were hopefully still unaware. Bartok had to catch them before they did, otherwise, things would get¡­troublesome. Bartok wasn¡¯t yet strong enough to launch his offensive, but this world would shake to the ground when he did. First though, he had to catch some children. Bartok approached the captain of the wall guards, Gobta. ¡°Tell me good news, Gobta¡± Bartok ordered. ¡°We just had an alarm sound in sector 12, Esteemed one.¡± ¡°Good enough¡± Bartok responded. Those kids didn¡¯t know just who they were dealing with. Stolen story; please report. Bartok made his way over to sector 12, walking along the battlements, goblins bowing to him as he made his way through. He made his way over to the sector commander. ¡°What news do you have for me, commander?¡± Bartok demanded. ¡°They were spotted entering the swamp, we have every search team scouring the swamp for hem as we speak.¡± Incompetent fools. Clearly unable to handle little children. How old was he now? More than he cared to count. ¡°Well I¡¯m thoroughly disappointed with your teams being unable to find those children commander. Let me show you what happens to those who fail me.¡± Bartok had no need for this swamp, did he? The search teams would deserve what they got, and he could harvest the children¡¯s abilities dead as well as alive. Bartok could use the magical power stored up in his staff, but he saw no need. He would simply harvest it from the swamp itself. He raised his staff and circled it in the air drawing power to it from the swamp. Rapidly, the swamp started to die. The marshland, rippling with life, slowly turned into a barren waste as trees shriveled in on themselves, fish fell to the bed, and birds fell from the trees. Bartok smiled. He hadn¡¯t even unleashed the spell yet, just gathering energy for it, and he had already transformed the once vibrant swamp into a dead wasteland. The commander and the surrounding goblins looked shocked. Perhaps they had known the goblins that went searching. They wouldn¡¯t be coming back anymore. The boys though, were a different matter, with their magical abilities and life force, Bartok wasn¡¯t sure that this would kill them. He unleashed the spell. Descending from the sky came a massive pillar of fire, burning the swamp away. This white-hot column of destruction obliterated away everything in its path, leaving nothing left but a patch of blackened earth, all the water evaporating away in an instant. Not even a magic user would be able to withstand that. There crystals would survive, though, and Bartok would be able to merge them with his own. He scanned the area, sensing for any indication of magical power, which should be possible now that the hosts were dead, and all other life was gone. He sensed nothing. Bartok was in disbelief. No one could have survived that. Had the boys escaped? Not possible, he would be able to sense them outside the swamp. Bartok screamed in rage. The Chickadee Bartok clearly had no idea who he was dealing with. Grant thought his senses hyper alert to everything around him. Ever since they entered the swamp, Grant realized that he had been noticing every detail around him. He had been able to predict exactly where the goblins would search for them and guide his brothers to avoid them effortlessly. Joshua, being the military expert that he was, had correctly had them camouflage themselves using the mud in the swamp. They had made plenty of progress before any sizable number of goblins had rallied to search for them. For some reason, their search patterns seemed practically primitive to Grant. Predicting their every movement became effortless. ¡°Everyone, there¡¯s four goblins coming hide in the mud for 12 seconds and then reemerge. They¡¯ll never see us¡± The brothers proceeded to so as planned. The goblins could make their way through the swamp faster than the brothers, but thanks to Grant¡¯s sharp thinking and keen senses they¡¯d been able to avoid detection so far. Grant had noticed a bird, a chickadee, staying close to them, which was unusual for a swamp, but had more pressing issues on his mind. They wouldn¡¯t survive out here with goblins searching for them for an extended period. They needed food and shelter as well. Those sweet peas were a long time ago now, and Aden hadn¡¯t even been able to eat any. What¡¯s worse, that wizard could come looking for them at any time, and there was little they could do to stop him now. The brothers needed to get out of the swamp. This was still goblin territory, and they wouldn¡¯t survive here for long. It would be difficult to make an underground cavern for them to hide in now, due to the swamp, but finding food, leaving the swamp and hiding in a cavern was likely their best chance at survival. Grant was grateful that they had all grown up camping and that this wasn¡¯t overly strange for any of them. Sure, the goblins were strange, but wilderness survival was something that they had done every summer growing up. Grant tried to smell out something edible. He followed his nose to bushes full of red berries. The other brothers needed no prompting to pluck the bush clean. These would be very bitter raw, but it was much better than nothing. Now they just needed out of the swamp, and fast, Grant had the feeling that something bad was going to happen. The wizard would be coming at some point and who knows what would happen then. Grant had been putting them on a trajectory out of the swamp, far enough away to avoid detection from the walls. A few more minutes and they should be there. It was exhausting work, trudging through the marsh, but they made it soon enough. ¡°We should hided underground for now¡± Grant said. ¡°It¡¯ll be the hardest place for them to find us, and we need to rest.¡± They had been moving non-stop since leaving their cell, and that would wear out anybody given enough time. He was just glad that they had all seen the wisdom in staying together. Aden still had his pickaxe, thankfully, covered in mud as it was, and dug them a cave quick enough.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. They all entered the cave and split up the cranberries that they had found. It wasn¡¯t enough to fill them up, but it was much better than nothing. The chickadee had found its way inside with them too, which for some reason, Grant was thankful for. If Grant thought about it, his senses and predictive skill had increased around the same time that bird showed up. It might be a coincidence, but then again, it might not be. After not long in the cave, they hear a loud noise, shaking the ground around them, scattering any loose dirt all around the cavern, waking some of them from sleep. That must be the wizard, Grant thought. That explosion sounded truly massive. Grant was suddenly glad that they were no longer in the swamp. Shortly after the explosion, they heard a scream of rage, audible even underground as they were. Grant hoped that meant the wizard didn¡¯t find them. Tired as he was, he decided to go to sleep. Brown Rice Bryce woke up in a dark cave. He wondered how it had come to this. Life was going so well back at home. He was about to graduate high school, make it into pilot school, and start saving money to become rich one day. Now he was stuck in a cave, hungry, and covered in mud, which smelled none too good. There was no way he should have been taken by some weak goblins, no matter what magic rocks they used. If any one of them came at him in a fair fight, he would beat the crap out of it, and HE would be the one the goblins were scraping to obey. He just needed to get himself a magical power of his own and show that oh-so mighty goblin guy who was really the most powerful. Aden had been able to transform sweet peas into Minecraft objects, and Grant had been able to sense the Goblins coming from far away as soon as they entered the swamp, not to mention finding food for all of them, which Bryce was grateful for. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they all had magical powers. It would explain why that goblin guy was so interested in them. He didn¡¯t care as much about the magic as showing that goblin a lesson for dragging them out of their home and making them hide in the dark like weaklings. He was good at this, he could avoid those goblins for as long as he needed to, but he needed a way to fight back. This ate at Bryce. ¡°Is everybody awake?¡± Bryce asked, ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look outside.¡± They woke Devin up, and they all agreed to go outside together. They should be out of sight of the Goblins now, provided they didn¡¯t look too closely and weren¡¯t out for too long. They made their way above ground and were shocked by what they saw. The swamp was gone. They had camped just outside it, and where the swamp should be, was just a black, charred piece of earth, covered in ash, roughly 3-5 feet deep. Nothing remained. Not so much as a single leaf from the tree was visible as far as they could see. This was shocking. What could have wielded such power? If it was that goblin, Bryce felt slightly less eager about fighting him. For a while at least. ¡°Aden do you think you could make us Invisibility potions?¡± Grant asked ¡°I can try¡± Aden replied. They had packed all the sweet peas they could, although it was tempting not to eat them all. Aden grabbed a sweet pea and focused. At first, it turned into a bow, then wood, then granite, then an invincibility potion, and then finally an invisibility potion. Aden repeated the process 5 more times, continuing to have to cycle through items before arriving at the desired one. They all drank one. Each would last for about 8 minutes. Though they were a few miles away from the fortress already, It wasn¡¯t worth risking someone eventually spotting them while they were jogging away, tired as they were. They started running as fast as they could away from the goblins. They had Aden remaking invisibility potions as they went, and Bryce wondered how far they would need to keep running. They needed to find something, they were out of food and water, and there was little to see. They hadn¡¯t been chased again, so it appeared as though the potions were working. It did seem a little hopeless though. They were stranded far from home, without a friendly face for miles. If only he had a plane, he could get out of this nightmare and hopefully back to somewhere civilized, if it even existed in this place. Even a car would be sublime here. Anything would be better than trudging through this wasteland, and Bryce couldn¡¯t help but wish for some form of transportation. Driving and flying was liberating. He could go where he wanted to go with just focus and concentration, things he excelled at. It was exciting to make a way through space at high speeds but running was just boring. It lacked the excitement and was draining. Bryce had gotten a stress fracture once running and it never held the same appeal again. Part of Bryce still believed that he had just been kidnapped by some roleplaying midgets. The swamp being destroyed was real though, little doubt about that. He just needed to see something other than this rolling packed earth in front of him. Eventually, his wish was granted. Bryce noticed a building up ahead, surrounded by what looked like rice patties. It made sense that the farmers here would grow rice, seeing how much marshland there was. Or used to be. The farm was likely run by goblins, but Bryce could deal with a few goblins. His first thought was to find food. Surely, they would have something. He began to make his way through the patty. The moment he entered the patty, Bryce experienced a weird sensation. It almost felt like he was in space. No, it did feel like he was weightless. It was different than just being in water. Curious, Bryce leaned forward. When he did, his feet came off the ground and he floated in the air. Woah. So, this was his power. He didn¡¯t immediately see how it could be used to fight off goblins, but he would figure something out. Bryce tried to think. Why did he start floating now all of a sudden? The rice maybe? It wouldn¡¯t be the water; they were stuck in a swamp earlier. Bryce noticed that some of the rice plants around him had started to wither. The rice then. To test his theory, he flipped right side up and started to walk outside the patty. The farther he got, the less weightless he felt. Eventually he was back to normal. The other brothers had went ahead and searched the shed, but they had left quickly, signifying that there was likely no food there. That was too bad. Somehow Bryce felt less hungry than he had before. He moved back to the rice. It seemed as if he was absorbing it somehow. He started floating again. He tried focusing the energy that he was feeling rush into him. He was able to gently float in one direction. He tried focusing more of that power into his body, and he started to speed up. Quickly he was zooming over the rice patties. This was just like driving, in a way, this energy that he felt was like gas, and he just had to focus it mentally to move. He navigated his way back to his brothers. They had seen more crazy things than they had cared to the past few days, but they were still amazed. ¡°Woah Bryce! That¡¯s so cool!¡± Joshua said. ¡°This is awesome!¡± Bryce screamed, grinning. ¡°I can go as fast as I want! It seems like I¡¯m absorbing energy from the rice.¡± ¡°That¡¯s way cool!¡± Joshua said. ¡°Can I try?¡± ¡°I think you would know if you could.¡± Bryce responded. ¡°It kind of just happened when I stepped in this field. You have to use the rice.¡± ¡°Show me¡± Joshua asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s that simple. Here, try using this¡± Bryce zipped over to Joshua and tried extending his energy to him. Sure enough, Joshua began to float. ¡°Now try drawing the energy into your body and focusing on where you want to go.¡± ¡°Whoa! This feels weird! What energy are you talking about?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t feel it?¡± Bryce asked, ¡°It¡¯s all around you.¡± ¡°Not a thing.¡± Joshua replied. ¡°It¡¯s like this.¡± Bryce focused his energy on Joshua and visualized him zipping over the patties. Joshua began zooming over the patties just as Bryce had. The farther Joshua went away though, the more energy Bryce had to send to him. He noticed the rice plants around him start to wither with the amount of energy he had to spend. He brought Joshua back closer, and the energy expended returned to an amount similar to what Bryce had been using before. ¡°I don¡¯t plan on running anymore.¡± Bryce said.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The Firefighter Soon enough, all 6 brothers were zooming through the air carrying bundles of rice. They reached an altitude where they felt safe avoiding detection. Grant¡¯s chickadee stayed perched on his shoulder, unable to fly as fast as they were. They zoomed over many miles of rice patties, stopping several times to replenish their supply. It got colder and windier the higher they went, but the cloud cover was reassuring in hiding them from any unwanted eyes. This was much better than running. They were all hungry, but at least they didn¡¯t have to run on an empty stomach. Bryce had to do all the work and he seemed to enjoy zooming everybody through the air. This would probably be good experience for when he became a pilot. This did seem to require a good bit less technical knowledge. Magic did most of the work for him. He merely had to focus and guide the energy and it did all the work. ¡°Do you guys see that? Chase asked. ¡°See what? Said Aden. ¡°Over there, there¡¯s a ton of smoke.¡± Sure enough, there was a pillar of smoke rising to their right. Bryce gradually steered over that way, careful to stay high enough to observe without being seen. What he saw was somewhat concerning. A village was burning. Bryce observed as he saw a large group of goblins gathered in the center of the town. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Devin questioned. ¡°We don¡¯t want to get close to that, there¡¯s too much going on. We¡¯re in no shape to put out a burning village.¡± Joshua chimed in. ¡°We might be able to contain the damage if we do it correctly. Aden, how many sweet peas do you have left? If we can get enough water on these, we might be able to salvage some of these buildings.¡± ¡°20, but will that be enough to do anything?¡± Aden replied, ¡°We could still use this for so much more, like swords or armor.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like leaving people to burn, we have to do something.¡± The brothers landed on the edge of the village. Not all of the buildings were completely flammable, thankfully, as some had been put together with mud and concrete like substances. It was apparent that over half of the buildings there had been scorched. What was more surprising though, was that the ground was broken up in other places, and a few buildings were completely torn apart, while some of the mud huts were collapsing from what seemed to be blasts of water. ¡°What happened here?¡± Grant asked. His senses had stayed sharp since the swamp. He was fairly confident now that it was from the chickadee that followed the everywhere. He noticed that his senses would fade the farther away that if got from him. The chickadee was right by him now, and he couldn¡¯t make sense of what he was sensing. It was as if a fire came through, along with a flood, an earthquake, and a windstorm. He extended his senses towards the center of the town and heard goblins talking. ¡°You have all been chosen to serve the Wizard King, the Glorious Bartok¡± Grant heard a goblin say. ¡°I am Ik, leader of the Udirk goblins. We have need for mine workers in our iron mines. You will all be coming with us back to Grumet. Your lives will serve as kindling for the rise of our new nation. Cruk here will oversee your transportation.¡± Grant turned to his brothers, who were focusing on putting out the fires. ¡°Aden, don¡¯t use up all those yet.¡± Aden had been turning the peas into water, which was easy to do, since it was such a common resource. The more complex a Minecraft substance was, the more concentration it took for Aden to generate it. ¡°We have a problem. There are military goblins here.¡± Devin groaned. ¡°I knew we shouldn¡¯t have stopped by. There¡¯s nothing we can do here. We¡¯ve barely affected the fires, and now we¡¯re about to run into more goblins.¡± Grant responded, ¡°It seems like they¡¯re here to hurt the villagers, we can¡¯t just leave them.¡± ¡°Sure we can. We¡¯re not military, we can¡¯t do anything against them anyway.¡± ¡°Speak for yourself, we¡¯re twice their size, we can beat up a few goblins, there¡¯s not that many of them here. Some are the villagers.¡± Joshua retorted. ¡°That¡¯s right, it sounded like there were only four we needed to worry about. The Udirks.¡± Grant reported. ¡°See? We can take them, easy.¡± Joshua said and smiled. ¡°Then the villagers will help us out. We need to find someplace safe, and we need food.¡± ¡°Suit yourself, I¡¯m not charging in there until I know what I¡¯m dealing with.¡± ¡°Me too. You guys go on ahead. I¡¯ll stay behind and be ready to get you guys out if we need to.¡± Bryce said. ¡°Everything¡¯ll be fine.¡± Joshua said confidently. ¡°Let¡¯s get some goblins. Aden, can you make some swords?¡± ¡°Sure¡± Aden said. ¡°But that¡¯ll be the last of the peas.¡± ¡°That¡¯s alright.¡± Aden made four diamond swords for them. Joshua, Chase, Grant and Aden made their way towards the center. They saw a huddle of terrified-looking goblin villagers, about 15 or so, surrounded by a group of 4 goblins with staffs that had different colored crystals put on top of them. The goblins turned as the four brothers got close. There went their chance for surprise. Thought Joshua. ¡°How nice of you to join us, we could use a few humans in the mines.¡± The goblin Grant recognized as Ik said. ¡°Wug, stop them.¡± The four of them suddenly had dirt come up and grab them up to their knees. That is, except for Grant, who somehow knew that the earth was coming and dodge out of the way. Another mound of earth started to come up from the ground, but Grant was already gone. He knew, somehow, where the dirt was coming from. It just seemed obvious what the lumbering goblin in front of him would do. Grant quickly realized that if they wanted to escape, he¡¯d need to lure this goblin away so the other brothers could free themselves from the dirt holding their legs at the moment. He dashed away as quickly as he could, and sure enough, the earth goblin followed him.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Bryce and Devin ran away as quick as they could. There was no use trying to save their brothers if they got caught themselves. Bryce lifted Devin and they started to fly away. To their surprise, one of the goblins took to the air to follow them. ¡°Crap!¡± Devin exclaimed. ¡°This is not good. Bryce, is there anything you can do to fight him?¡± ¡°If we make it to the rice fields, we¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± Bryce responded. The goblin was rapidly accelerating towards them. Even with their head start, the goblin was closing the distance, carried apparently by giant gusts of wind, causing the buildings and grass around him to shake violently. The goblin didn¡¯t appear to have as fine-tuned control as Bryce did, but he made up for it in terms of raw strength. Joshua, Chase, and Aden were left facing the remaining two goblins with their diamond swords still. Ik smiled. ¡°None of your friends will escape. All humans will submit to goblins very soon. You happen to have the good fortune of seeing our might first hand.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Joshua replied. Joshua¡¯s experience with weapons was mostly with guns, but he knew enough hand-to-hand combat to be useful in a melee fight. If he could land a strike on these goblins half his size, they might be able to escape. They would need to act quickly though, judging by the village, these goblins were no joke. This just increased Joshua¡¯s desperation. He wouldn¡¯t let his younger brothers be taken by some thugs. Joshua moved as fast as his long legs could carry him and swung his sword towards the smug goblin¡¯s neck. Just before it would¡¯ve connected, a fireball erupted from the goblin¡¯s staff. Joshua was knocked back by the force of the eruption. He fell to the ground writhing in pain and covered in burns. To Joshua¡¯s surprise, he was still alive. A blow like that should¡¯ve been enough to kill him. The goblin looked somewhat confused as well. Joshua then began to notice that the burn marks that had blackened his body were becoming pink and were fading away in some places. All the hair had already burned off his body, but to Joshua¡¯s astonishment, he felt fine. Joshua and Joshua got back up and faced the smug goblin again. The goblin left off any banter about his superiority and launched another fireball at Joshua. Joshua had no time to dodge, but the fireball, though still stinging, seemed to be largely absorbed by his body. The goblin looked outraged. ¡°How? What is this? Who are you human?¡± This time the other goblin launched an attack, no longer seeming amused by the situation. A wave of water exploded towards Joshua. Chase stepped in front of him, taking the brunt of the attack, and was slammed into the next building, breaking the thin wall and landing in what appeared to be a pile of berries. Chase immediately sprung out of the building, moving supernaturally fast, and rushed towards the goblin that had attacked him. The goblin summoned a wall of water in the nick of time that Chase rebounded off of. Chase then ran away, causing the water goblin to follow. Not stopping to process what just happened, Joshua focused on the fire goblin that had been attacking him. The goblin glared at him at summoned another fireball. This time, Joshua was ready, nimbly sidestepping and continuing his advance. The goblin moved to the defensive, summoning a large wall of fire between him and Joshua. Joshua stopped, instinctually not running into flames, though he was getting a nagging suspicion that he had developed some sort of immunity to fire. Testing this, Joshua extended his hand towards the flame. The effect was even more reduced than it had been the last time, there was still a vague sense of tingling, but he felt very little pain. He extended his arm to the same effect. He then felt a sharp pain in his hand and realized the mistake he had made. Ik, the goblin he had been fighting, had cut him with the short sword he had been carrying. Joshua cursed his stupidity. When he drew his hand back, he saw fingers repairing themselves. Joshua charged through the flames, slamming into the goblin, knocking it back through sheer force. The goblin fell over, unconscious, it¡¯s tiny body not able to withstand the impact. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with my family.¡± Joshua said, flames disappearing from behind him. The Huckleberry Chase wasn¡¯t really sure about what just happened. Jumping in front of the water like that was nothing but sheer idiocy, as far as he was concerned. He was lucky to be alive right now, let alone feeling as good as he was. Chase felt GREAT, which was weird, considering he had just been knocked through a wall and into what appeared to be berry reserves. There was mild bruising on his side, but it wasn¡¯t hurting much. He felt like he could run up a mountain without breaking a sweat. Maybe it was just the adrenaline running through him, but this felt different somehow, there¡¯s no way that his body would come out of that unscathed. It appeared as if his other brothers were quickly developing strange new skills as they arrived, so maybe this was his. It was triggered by what exactly? Berries? That fit in line with what triggered Bryce¡¯s and Aden¡¯s powers, but it was hard to be sure. Chase assessed the situation around him. He was currently dealing with a water user, while Joshua was facing off against the fire user and seemed to be doing fine on his own. He¡¯d have to ask him about it after, why his body was fine when his hair and clothes were burnt. Chase still doubted Joshua¡¯s ability to take on two magic users at once. After all, they were trained military, and despite their size and strength advantage, they were still just kids, or at least he was. The best thing to do right now would be to draw his opponent away from Joshua. The goblins seemed to have no hesitation about taking a kid on one-on-one, so if Chase could just delay for long enough, they might have a shot assuming they could start teaming up on the goblins. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a few more magic in powers at their disposal though. Chase still had his sword from Aden, but Devin still hadn¡¯t manifested any abilities. Chase still wasn¡¯t sure what his ability was yet. Chase bolted for the edge of the square, and sure enough, the water goblin followed. Chase moved much faster than he anticipated, his feet bolting over the broken earth with surprising ease. The goblin threw another wave of water at him, strong enough to partially topple a building in-between them. Chase dodged, using his now expected superhuman speed to aid him. However, the goblin didn¡¯t let up, and quickly followed the wave with another wave, carrying the goblin with it this time. As Chase tried to run, the goblin let out another burst of water, this one much smaller and more focused, and hit Chase mid-stride. The rate Chase was moving this was no small feat. Chase was blasted back, performing a reverse somersault, and eventually stopping by hitting a building. Chase knew that he should¡¯ve broken bones, but he felt fine. The skill difference between the two was huge. Chase had never really been in a fight before, and this goblin was clearly a skilled mage. Chase¡¯s only hope of success came from the abilities that he seemed to have just gotten. It seemed as if he had super speed and invulnerability. No, it didn¡¯t feel quite like invulnerability. He still felt the hits, it¡¯s just that his body was strong enough to take it. ¡°The names Ebs.¡± The goblin said. ¡°We¡¯re not monsters. In most ways, we¡¯re just like you. Humans tend to think of us as monsters just because we look different. They lock us up, enslave us. You have no idea what conflict you¡¯re getting into.¡± Chase thought about how much he didn¡¯t care and would settle at the moment for just getting away with his life. The goblins here seemed pretty determined not to let any of them go. Each one of the brothers had been chased. Maybe he could use that to find an environment that would give him an advantage. Chase was used to forests growing up, and there was a patch of trees off to the edge of the village. They weren¡¯t huge trees, more suited to the marshy-like environment they had found themselves in. The village was slightly elevated, and one of the dryer spots around. That didn¡¯t seem to bode well for fighting a water mage. An open field covered in water was probably the worst possible environment, slowing him down, but not the mage. Chase didn¡¯t want to stay in the village either, where one of the other goblins could come and assist, really putting a damper on Chase¡¯s chances of coming out of this alive and free. Chase darted for the trees, and sure enough, the water mage followed him. A wall of water emerged in front of Chase, double his height, and several feet thick. The goblin clearly wanted him to stay close to his backup. Chase leaped over the wall, which still amazed him. What he wouldn¡¯t give to do this in a football game. Chase imagined jumping over a defensive back to catch a pass. That sounded much more fun than running for his life from a murderous, magical goblin far away from home. Chase landed on two feet, grateful that his body could withstand the impact of the landing. The jump seemed to take a little bit out of him though. Whatever was giving him this enhanced physical ability was not infinite. Chase¡¯s best guess was that it was tied to the berries somehow. Chase would have to win this fight before he ran out of energy, or it would not go well for him. Chase drew closer to the trees at the edge of the village. A water ball exploded next to him, narrowly missing. Chase leaped over the final hut and landed in the wrangled branches of a tree. Chase had no time to stop, as the goblin was quick behind him. Chase bounded to another tree, hoping to get lost in the foliage. A few leaps later, Chase¡¯s strategy seemed to have worked, and the goblin behind him stopped and looked for him. The goblin couldn¡¯t move as fast as he could without riding on a wave of water, which the trees here impeded. The goblin stood, water coming to his mid-shin. Chase realized that with his current strength, he could end this fight in a single blow if he could get close enough. Chase tried to circle around behind the goblin, moving as quietly as he could through the undergrowth. Chase got close enough th hear the goblin again. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°If you have any decency, you should just give up. Bartok will use your lives for a noble purpose. You can bring the world to its rightful order and correct all the injustices that have been thrown upon our race by the humans. This is a noble cause that you would be serving.¡± Chase dropped down from his tree as quietly as he could and inched close enough to the goblin to be able to make a final leap. Confident that the goblin didn¡¯t notice him, Chase lunged. At the last possible second, the goblin dodged, raising his staff and slamming a massive wall of water into Chase. Chase flew backwards, flying through the air until colliding with a tree. This one hurt a lot more that the others, his energy must be wearing off. The goblin smiled. ¡°All will serve Bartok in one way or another. There is no resistance. You never had a chance of escape.¡± Chase was desperate, he was almost out of magic, his sides ached and he had no current plan for dealing with the water mage in front of him. In an attempt that he would¡¯ve considered ludicrous just minutes ago, Chase, attempted to wrench the tree that he ahd hit from the ground. He felt the roots begin to groan under the strain. The goblin summoned a ball of water to encircle Chase, but desperate, Chase punched through, and with his dwindling strength wrenched the smaller tree from the ground, picked up at his side, and threw it towards the goblin. The branches of the tree scraped the ground, but the tree was moving fast enough, that it didn¡¯t significantly alter its course. The goblin summoned a wall of water to protect him, but the tree burst through anyway, and the goblin was unable to move entirely out of the way in time, getting clipped in the head, by some of the branches and fell back, unconscious. Chase hunched over, panting. His entire body ached like it rarely had before. It was like he had just finished the most intense workout of his life. Now that his energy was up, he was starting to feel some of the effects that his superhuman feats had had on him. In short, he was exhausted. The walk back over to the village did not all appealing. ¡°I hate this world.¡± Chase said.