ã€ŠLife, Death and Other Troublesã€‹


 Chapter 1 - End

    Life was stale.

    Ashton slowly rose out of his musty, hard bed just in time to see hazy sunrays bleed through the smog and pollution of the city.

    Life was dull.

    His mouth was dry, his lips were cracked, his eyes were pulsing in their sockets and his bones crackled and popped as he made his way over to the kitchen.

    He swore in fright as his foot fell through his rotting floorboards while the entire apartment shook as a train thundered past just outside his window, further burying him in his floor.

    After a few minutes of painstakingly climbing out of the hole and removing a few large splinters from his shin, Ashton lazily tossed a mat over the whole and continued with his usual morning routine.

    While he slumped down into a sitting position in his shower, savouring the feeling of the hot water raining down on his back, Ashton pondered his tiny existence and the mundane dull life he currently led.

    After washing off the blood from his leg and drying himself off Ashton got ready for work for what it seemed like the millionth time.

    He trudged outside into the bleak cityscape and marched along to work, joining the masses of mindless drones going about their business like himself.

    Twelve long hours of typing away at a keyboard later, Ashton checked out of work and walked back to his empty apartment, sleeping, and then continuing the entire process over again.

    And again.

    And again.

    There was only one reason Ashton could currently find in working and earning money, with the obvious exception of food, water and basic resources needed to survive.

    Ashton loved books.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    He loved to be swept away by their universes, their characters, their adventures and their lives.

    He couldn¡¯t care less about his own, he lived for other lives, fiction or not, it was far easier to read about others than to go out and risk everything to create his own.

    Because if he did go out to explore, chances are, he¡¯d lose his job, his apartment, his money and his place in society, be it meaningful or not.

    Without any of that, he¡¯d be stranded with nothing and he wouldn¡¯t even be able to delve into other¡¯s lives anymore, all that would remain is a cold, depressing, lonely death.

    Therefore he did what he enjoyed, he read, he read deep into the night and fell asleep peacefully with his book resting on his face.

    ********

    Years passed,

    then a few more,

    and a couple more after that,

    and little changed.

    Ashton grew older, the world around him changed, adapted, yet he did not.

    Ashton was too deeply involved in the lives of others he¡¯d neglected his own and fallen into a deep hole he couldn¡¯t climb out of.

    He¡¯d lost his job, struggled to find another, and then he lazed around, paying his expenses with the limited funds he created with years of draining work.

    Soon his health dipped and most of his money went towards medicine rather than healthy food, worsening his increasingly bad health.

    Eventually it came down to a choice, sell his enormous, valuable book collection to live a little longer, or continue to live through the life of others and never experience anything himself.

    Deep down, he knew.

    He knew he wanted adventure, he wanted to explore and create his own journey, but he was terrified of the consequences.

    Yet now, the consequences were already happening and there was nothing to do to stop them, so he figured he may as well go out and enjoy himself in his last moments.

    So after despairing for a while at the thought of his book collection going to other people, Ashton came to terms with it and sold them all, as well as his shitty apartment.

    Ashton cast behind his old self and promised himself to do something great in the end, something to be remembered for.

    After packing his bags and giving a teary farewell to his family, Ashton stepped out of his apartment for the last time and walked out into a beautiful city.

    The smog and pollution had cleared for the first time in months and the sun shone brightly in a bright blue sky completely void of clouds.

    Ashton smiled and took in a big breath, anxious of what was to come.

    Whilst breathing in the mildly clean air a small fly flew straight up Ashton¡¯s nose and he coughed violently, frantically blowing out his nose, attempting to remove it.

    As he flailed about stupidly he stumbled backwards and ran into the railing of his sixth story apartment, tumbling right over it.

    He fell in pure shock, unable to comprehend the situation he was in.

    His life didn¡¯t flash before his eyes as he had been led to believe and time didn¡¯t slow down or anything.

    Rather the last feeling he had before death was an incredibly irritating buzz in his left nostril and then intense, horrifying pain as he collided with the pavement below, turning into an unrecognisable human paste¡­

 Chapter 2 - Solitude

    Drifting in a sea of swirling darkness lay a bright, translucent, pale blue orb.

    Flickering, it struggled against the never ending waves of darkness crashing into it from all sides.

    The wispy orb of light grew dimmer and dimmer until the darkness consumed it, extinguishing the anomaly.

    The lone orb was a remnant of life, an unstable ball of thoughts, emotions and feelings.

    A soul.

    The soul was weak, struggling against the ferocious storm of darkness that swept it away, deeper and deeper into the depths of the everlasting void.

    Barely fighting back the dark, the orb grew afraid, terrified of what was to come, unable to comprehend what was happening with its limited cognitive functioning.

    The darkness wrapped around the orb, sucking it in, while simultaneously pushing it out.

    The dark had no laws, no physics and no limits or boundaries, it darkness was an untamed beast and the orb could no longer put up any resistance.

    So it stopped.

    It let the currents of the void sweep it away, further and further, deeper and deeper, hoping for change, hoping for an end to it¡¯s never ending nightmare.

    Later, the raging currents of darkness slowed down, leaving the orb to slowly drift amongst the dark, left alone to its thoughts.

    There was no understanding of time here, things happened as they came and that was all, no units of anything, no constructs and no constraints¡­ for the dark at least.

    The orb lost track of everything, including its own thoughts, it was as if it thought everything at the same time and yet, at the same time, it thought nothing, forever.

    Slow waves of darkness carried the orb elsewhere, they carried it everywhere, the movement was calming and all the feelings of uneasiness and distress vanished, leaving peace.

    The orb was stuck in a dreamlike state, reminiscing on its short life.

    It was if it was merely a very long dream that it¡¯d just woken up from, perhaps it was and perhaps it could have another?

    Yet now, it could recall each and every memory with accurate detail, from having his nappies changed as a baby to the most recent lottery numbers on television.

    It was¡­ surreal.

    At some point later or maybe it was at some point beforehand, the orb was plunged back out of its dream-state and returned to the everlasting waves of darkness.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Nothing changed¡­ ever.

    It was always the same, pure darkness everywhere, the orb grew worried, and would it be this way forever?

    Or has it been forever already?

    The orb sought meaning, it sought something, anything, anything but the dark¡­ and it happened.

    The darkness began to transform, the currents grew stronger, the orb sunk down deeper into their depths and the entire void shook all around it.

    The void intensified, pressure came down upon the orb from everywhere and it screeched in pain as the darkness crumple around it.

    Colour bled through the dark, browns, greys, whites, reds, greens and yellows seeped in from everywhere before they all collided and the darkness shattered around it, blinding its perception of everything.

    The intense pressure lightened and the darkness was swept away to reveal¡­ the orb¡¯s old apartment from his old life, exactly the same as always.

    Paint peeling from the walls, rotting floor, a terrible bed shoved in the corner of the room and the orb¡¯s massive book collection that went up the entire wall on one side of the room, with not a single speck of dust or dirt touching them.

    The orb slowly hovered over to the bookcase, shrouded in disbelief before the room shook violently.

    The books fell from the bookcase, the bed sunk into the floor and cracks rapidly spread across the walls.

    Plaster fell from the roof and directly through the orb, crashing through the rotting floor and into a world of white below.

    Walls crumbled, shelves collapsed and the entire apartment fell away down into the depths of a world of pure white, leaving the orb drifting alone, watching its former life fall away into an endless abyss of white light.

    Hovering, free, the orb wondered what to do next, there were no longer any forces controlling it and it could freely drift wherever it wished.

    Slowly it hovered, floating through the dead abyss for what it seemed like forever¡­ again.

    Gradually, an odd aura swept over the orb, and it could feel a slight resistance repelling it.

    Intrigued with the difference, the orb continued forwards and the resistance grew more and more intense.

    Soon after constant struggling in what it seemed as an endless, pointless struggle, something finally happened.

    A small spec of colour could be spotted far in the distance with no particular structure or shape yet, but a goal was finally in sight.

    Dutifully and gradually the orb progressed further and further, inching its way forward to its goal.

    ********

    In a world of white that lacked anything was a tall thin man, he had deathly pale skin and long black hair that went down to his shoulders.

    Other than that, the rest of his features were¡­ unclear.

    He had no features, only a body type and dull, he wore simple clothing and his face was just a blurry haze like somebody had tried to rub it off with an eraser.

    He sat in a simple wooden chair underneath an oil lamp letting off a pleasant yellow glow that was rendered meaningless by the intense white glow of the abyss.

    The man was completely absorbed in reading a book; it was a thick, heavy looking one with as many pages as he¡¯d have hairs.

    Abruptly, he stood up and stared blankly into the distance, apparently looking at something.

    He then just put his book down and walked off into the abyss, leaving behind his chair and book for he had gone to meet the books subject, a small blue orb of light that had wondered into the nothingness that he called home.

    ********

    Midway through its journey, the lonely orb froze in terror, unable to move as waves of vicious terror surged through him, pressure bearing down on him from everywhere.

    In the distance, he could see it, a tall figure slowly walking towards it.

    A variety of emotions were brought up by this new change, joy, unease, hope, terror, expectation but most of all, fear.

    The figure continued walking towards the orb, knowing not of its struggle, drowning it in his almighty aura.

    Pressure slammed into the orb violently and squirmed around, trying to seep inside it, the orb screaming out in agony.

    Right before the figure could be made out, the orb could no longer withstand the pressure and simple split in two, its weak blue light completely fading away in the white light.

 Chapter 3 - God

    In a world of bright white light Ashton awoke with the most excruciating headache he¡¯d ever had.

    His entire existence pulsed with agony that prevented any coherent thoughts from forming.

    The odd pulsing sensation continued for some time, perhaps minutes, possibly hours, and maybe even days until it finally faded away and he could barely perceive his surroundings again.

    ¡°He¡­ ¡­lo¡­ ¡­H¡­ ¡­o¡­¡± an odd, muffled voice whispered to Ashton.

    Pain muddled his senses and Ashton could just make out a blurry figure looming over him, calling out to him.

    ¡°HELLO!¡± yelled a suddenly crisp and clear voice straight in his ear.

    Ashton jerked back in recoil, shocked by the sudden noise and now a high pitched ringing buzzed in his ear.

    ¡°Ah, sorry about that, here let me help you¡­ and¡­ there,¡± the figure said, clapping his hands in success.

    The pain faded away instantly, his perception of reality returned and with that Ashton returned to the world of blinding white.

    As his perception adjusted to the light, the dark figure slowly cleared up and the blur faded¡­

    Standing over him, with a smug grin etched on his face and wearing a fancy suit was an exact replica of himself.

    Or rather and exact replica of his past self, his features exactly copied, right down to the small scar above his left eye.

    The mimic-Ashton cleared his throat and looked right at the original, now only a floating ball of blue light, and he said,

    ¡°Hello there Ashton, how¡¯s it goin¡¯? I apologise for earlier, that whole passing out from pain was kinda my fault¡­ I was just so caught up in reading I forgot that I kept my aura on, it keeps the lost souls away ya see. So yea¡­ um real sorry, how ya been?¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ashton hovered there in complete shock, overwhelmed by the man¡¯s eccentricity and unable to answer in the first place as he was just a floating ball of light.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t really care too much. So I¡¯ll let you in on the facts and you can hurry up and get out of here so I can get back to reading about you.

    Firstly, if you¡¯re not an idiot, which you shouldn¡¯t be, you¡¯d have realised you¡¯re dead, cause you are.

    Secondly¡­ what was it again? Oh yes, you just travelled through the void, it¡¯s a fun place where souls wait to be reincarnated, even the special ones like you, so that¡¯s that out of the way.

    Thirdly you are actually god. I know right, pretty cool! I¡¯m sort of the temporary replacement that you created during your absence. What are you doing in your absence you ask? Well you found creating and doing whatever you want forever to be kinda boring, so you sent yourself through your own system of reincarnation. Fourthly¡­¡± the god took a long sigh and paused for a few seconds or perhaps it was weeks, before continuing his long explanation.

    ¡°Ah that¡¯s right, fourthly, you¡¯re to keep reincarnating until you trigger a certain condition which you set yourself and as it stands now, this will be cycle thirty-seven million, eight hundred and eighty eight thousand, four hundred and twelve. So um, good luck with this one I suppose,¡± wished the god.

    ¡°Not that anything will happen anyways,¡± he quietly whispered underneath his breath afterwards.

    ¡°Anyway!¡± yelled the god, ¡°moving on, there¡¯s not much left, I promise, and I can see you have many questions to ask. Fifthly? No that sounds wrong¡­ Well next up is a quick question, you have the option to continue into the next life with your memories or not, so is that a yes or no from you?¡±

    Ashton knew what he wanted to say but just hovered there in silence, desperately thinking the answer towards him.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t actually need an answer because I know everything and anything that¡¯s ever happen in your life so I know what you would have said. Finally¡­ yes finally, the last thing, it¡¯s a bit of bad news, or I don¡¯t know it¡¯d not necessarily bad, but¡­ I kinda split your soul in half¡­ the you listening now is only like, Ashton point five, so yea, there are sorta two of you. So when you¡¯re reincarnated look forward to meeting your other half, he¡¯s like¡­ ten times more fun than you are. Well, I think that¡¯s everything, the rest you can pretty much work out on your own, besides we don¡¯t really have much time left till you¡¯re soul collapses in on itself, so see ya later sucker. I¡¯ll be here waiting until you die again.¡±

    The god winked at him before turning around and walking away into the distance, leaving behind Ashton, floating in the middle of nowhere.

    As he floated there, his mind trying to make sense of everything that the god said a wave of drowsiness hit him and everything slowly faded away and he faded away from the world of white and tumbled through the void again, unconscious the whole way.

 Chapter 4 - Ash

    Ashton awoke once again, finding himself in a dark unknown place and it was wet, warm and sticky.

    A strange slimy protective wall wrapped around him, preventing him from escape and Ashton could physically feel again as this time, he was once again residing in a body.

    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t a dream,¡± Ashton thought to himself, figuratively sighing.

    ¡°Sure fucking wasn¡¯t,¡± replied another voice, identical to his old one.

    ¡°Eh?¡± gawked Ashton as he twisted his head searching through the slimy place for anyone else before dismissing it, there wasn¡¯t even any space for anyone else, there was barely enough for him.

    ¡°Ummm, I thought you knew about me?¡± questioned the voice.

    ¡°Who is that, how can you hear me?¡± called out Ashton in his mind, he¡¯d discovered he couldn¡¯t actually talk normally for some reason, nor did he seem to be breathing.

    A loud sigh resonated in Ashton¡¯s mind before, ¡°I¡¯m you¡­ the other you. I would say I look forward to working with you, but that no longer seems to be the case¡­ Anyway, we¡¯re both stuck with each other for now so ya best be getting used to me.¡±

    Ashton¡¯s mind wandered for a bit as he tried to wrap his head around the idea that this person was him, or at least a part of who he had been.

    One part of him was glad that he had somebody to rely on and to talk to, the other part was unsure of this other entity, could he be trusted, just because he had been him a lifetime ago, did that mean he¡¯d just go along with everything he said?

    Another thing was would he take control over his body, could he make him do things he didn¡¯t want to and screw up his new life, perhaps his new family would mistake him as crazy and send him away, and all the books he¡¯d read with crazy psychopathic alter egos in them didn¡¯t help his mental state either.

    ¡°Nice to see you¡¯re so accommodating, I can read ALL of your thoughts you know,¡± interjected Ashton¡¯s other self, ¡°and just so you know, I want to get the best out of this new life as much as you do. I am you after all and while we are in away polar opposites, two halves of our former self made up of contrasting emotions and feelings, together we do make a whole person you know. In a way, we¡¯re just like a regular person, except instead of conflicting thoughts happening by one entity to make a decision or determine something and we can act out those conflicts like two separate entities, ultimately agreeing on one as a whole. I¡¯ve had a lot of time to think about this you see¡­ Well, that¡¯s at least how I see it anyway.¡±

    Guilt arose within Ashton, he¡¯d only just met this person and yet he judged him, he wouldn¡¯t have usually done that.

    Perhaps that¡¯s what he was talking about, he lacked conflict with his thoughts and simply did what he thought, no questions asked, he was lacking a entire half of himself and it was right there, just as another person inside of his head?

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Exactly, that is what I was talking about, at least you can recognise your own mistakes, I appreciate that. Anyway, while we¡¯re off to a rocky start, I do want to make a good life for ourselves, so let¡¯s put our heads together and work as one, no doubts,¡± proposed Ashton¡¯s other self.

    ¡°S-Sorry about that, I, I didn¡¯t mean to doubt you or anything, I certainly want to work well together with you too, I just wasn¡¯t too prepared for any of this. I-I mean, I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re so accepting and calm about it yourself,¡± responded Ashton, stuttering along the way.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about you, but that God-but-not-God guy seemed to take a liking to me and we talked for a while, I guess I got a bit more information out of him,¡± answered Ashton¡¯s other self.

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t think he seemed to like me very much¡­ and I t-think he said my soul would collapse if I stayed a-any longer in that white place,¡± stammered Ashton.

    ¡°Well that sounds like a bunch of bullshit, how could you die if your God, or at least half of God, and the whole soul splitting in two crap sounds a bit fishy too,¡± suspected Ashton¡¯s other self. ¡°I mean what kind of God can be injured to that extent, reincarnated or not.¡±

    ¡°I-I¡¯m not sure, but I think w-we should just try to work together, get to know each other, live our lives in peace and forget about th-that sort of thing, it¡¯s not like we can do anything at the moment,¡± suggested Ashton.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that, but I guess you¡¯re right for now, we can worry about that when the time comes, for now I think we should have a good time in this next life,¡± agreed Ashton¡¯s other self before muttering, ¡°Hopefully I¡¯ll be able to kill some people.¡±

    ¡°W-What was that!?¡± cried out Ashton.

    ¡°Hey, do think you could stop s-s-s-stuttering please? I¡¯m not even a stranger, if you can¡¯t talk normally to yourself like a normal psycho would, how will you manage with strangers? Why the heck did you have to get control of the body?¡± complained Ashton¡¯s other self.

    ¡°W-What are you talking about? You d-don¡¯t have control of our body and what did you say about killing people!?¡± yelled Ashton frantically?

    ¡°I-I-I-I was t-t-talking about you s-s-stutter¡­ing, also, yes, I do not have control over your body, instead I¡¯m like your guardian angel, giving you advice from, well not above, rather from inside,¡± teased Ashton¡¯s other self before muttering again, ¡°I also may or may not be feeling bloodthirsty all the time for some reason.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about the stuttering, I-I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s happening it¡¯s just coming naturally now, and what was that last bit you said, I swear it was something about you¡¯re bloodthirsty,¡± accused Ashton.

    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about, also, just thought I¡¯d inform you, I believe we¡¯re about to be birthed,¡± commented Ashton¡¯s other self.

    ¡°Birthed?!¡± cried Ashton in shock.

    ¡°Well yeah, no need to be so surprised, I mean we¡¯re obviously in a womb, what else would happen?¡± said Ashton¡¯s other self as a matter of fact.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t seem to get the memo!¡± screamed Ashton.

    ¡°Wow, okay, calm down, you¡¯re getting a little worked up there, just calm down, we¡¯re about to enter our new life, we wouldn¡¯t want you to scare our new parents away,¡± retorted Ashton¡¯s other self.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know what came over me, everything just feels so weird,¡± mumbled Ashton.

    ¡°Oh, I just realised something,¡± exclaimed Ashton¡¯s other self as a strong force suddenly began to suck them downwards.

    ¡°What!?¡± yelled Ashton as he was dragged deeper downwards.

    ¡°I just realised it¡¯s a bit awkward both being Ashton, so to differentiate between us you can call me Ash okay?¡± said Ashton as they were slowly sucked downward and a cold air stung their red, raw skin for the first time in their new lives.

    Ashton¡¯s heart beat erratically and his entire body pulsed and surged with waves of heat.

    His lung¡¯s cried for air and Ashton complied, taking in a huge breath of air before letting out a few cries of pain.

    Bright light flooded his eyes, temporarily blinding him, blinking furiously he attempted to adjust to the light.

    Slowly, his surrounding¡¯s grew darker and clearer and he gained normal vision.

    He searched the large room he was born into, looking for his brand new parents, hoping for a cheerful bunch, only to come face to face with two miserable looking humanoids, standing on the other side of the room as far away as possible from him.

    Right next to him was a female humanoid, curled up into a ball, red-faced and shaking in fear on the bed he was born onto.

    ¡°What the hell¡¯s their problem?¡± commented Ash.

 Chapter 5 - Unwelcome

    ¡°@(*&#$$@(*&$%!@@#$&*^,¡± whispered one of the men at the back of the room in a strange language that sounded like nothing he¡¯d ever heard before.

    The tall, dark skinned whisperer rushed over to the sobbing woman next to Ashton, gruffly shouting something to her.

    Up close, Ashton could see the whisperer had two gnarled black horns that sprouted out either side from the top his head and extended upwards with a subtle curve.

    Seemingly etched onto his skin over his very muscular body were dark red markings that covered every inch of skin Ashton could see.

    Briefly the whisperer looked up from the woman who was presumably Ashton¡¯s mother and into Ashton¡¯s eyes with his blood red pupils, hatred evident in his eyes, before he quickly turned away.

    Ashton¡¯s mother screamed as the horned man scooped her up and carried her out of the room, shortly followed by the second man in the room, leaving Ashton alone with himself.

    ¡°What¡­ just happened?¡± thought Ashton, confusion clouding his mind.

    ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t go too well did it?¡± remarked Ash.

    ¡°D-Did you see the look in his eyes?! A-A-And their reaction too! It was like they¡¯d given birth to a demon!¡± shrieked Ashton.

    ¡°Well¡­ they could hardly judge them for that because they sure looked like fucking demons if I¡¯ve ever seen one,¡± guessed Ash.

    ¡°W-W-W-What should we do!? W-What if they abandon us?!¡± cried Ashton.

    ¡°Bloody hell, can you shut the hell up?¡± snapped Ash, ¡°We¡¯re a baby for fucks sake, it¡¯s not like there IS anything we can do, apart from sleeping or shitting there is nothing. So calm the hell down and just look around or something, it seems like we¡¯re on an entirely different planet so look around, see if there¡¯s anything interesting.¡±

    A bit taken back by Ash¡¯s outburst, Ashton did shut up and began to calm down, still terrified of what could happen, yet seeing as there truly was nothing he could do, he thought he may as well look around like Ash suggested.

    Focusing on his surroundings, Ashton stared up at the sandstone ceiling of the room he was in, and tried to turn his head too like at the side of the room, yet his neck wasn¡¯t exactly that flexible at the moment so he couldn¡¯t turn his head.

    In an effort to see the rest of his new world, Ashton began to rock side to side, aiming to balance himself on his side before he toppled over onto his front, his face squashed into the bed he was laying on.

    He began to rock gently again, trying to get back on his side before he realised he could no longer breathe and he was slowly suffocating, his face growing red.

    Upon this realisation Ashton began to desperately rock side to side as his energy was slowly drained from him.

    Just as his vision had begun to fade and he had lost hope in living a wave of energy crashed through his body and he sprung off of his front and finally made it onto his side.

    As Ashton hastily inhaled, filling his tiny lungs with precious oxygen, provided that¡¯s what it was on this planet, laughter flooded his mind.

    ¡°That was fucking hilarious! I almost wish we had died, just for the laughs later! I mean, we¡¯d have been reincarnated later anyway so it definitely would have been worth it!¡± burst out Ash.

    ¡°Shut up, that was scary Ash! I don¡¯t want to die again!¡± sobbed Ashton.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come then, stop sobbing and start looking around, I can¡¯t see it if you can¡¯t you know? Better do it quick too, I doubt when the others come back they¡¯ll all of a sudden be all accommodating for some reason,¡± cautioned Ash.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    With a quick scan of the room, Ashton could see a large desk sitting against the wall, about half the height of the whisperer from earlier.

    The desk was made of a very dark wood, one that he¡¯d never seen the likes of before and fairly cluttered.

    Spread across the desk was several piles of parchment and a bottle of ink with a quill, as well as a few leather bound books on their side.

    Mounted above the desk on the sandstone-brick wall was a mirror, reflected in it was a small, male dark-skinned baby with tufts of straight black hair on its head.

    He had a round, chubby face and dull golden eyes that stared right back at Ashton.

    Covering the baby¡¯s chest and arms were dark red markings similar to horned man¡¯s markings and poking out the top of his head were small black horns, only a few centimetres in length.

    Ashton studied himself in the mirror with great interest before moving along and searching for anything else.

    Failing to find anything else, Ashton rolled back onto his back and laid there, studying the markings on his skin up close, not daring to attempt to roll over to the other side in fear of suffocation.

    ¡°Oi, listen carefully¡­ I think they¡¯re coming back,¡± whispered Ash.

    As if on cue, shouting erupted just outside their room and several voices could be made out and soon the door swung open revealing three horned men different from before.

    One of them stepped forward carrying a small metal cage, he opened its small hinged door and cautiously approached Ashton.

    ¡°Hey! There¡¯s no way in hell that shit is baby proofed! What the fuck is everybody¡¯s problem with us, we¡¯re just a cute baby for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± objected Ash.

    The man reached out to Ashton with a gloved hand, disgust present on his face as he grabbed a hold of him and roughly shoved him into the cage.

    Ashton¡¯s face smacked into the bars, his head throbbing and he let out a generous wail to which his captor responded with a shake of the cage sending Ashton up into the roof of the cage, furthering his pain yet effectively shutting him up.

    After briefly discussing something, Ashton¡¯s captors departed, bringing him along in his brand spanking new cage.

    Freezing cold air stung Ashton¡¯s red, raw skin, hot tears ran down his cheeks as he tried his hardest not to let them hear his muffled sniffles.

    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re outside now! Look around, I wanna see this shit,¡± demanded Ash.

    Propping his head up on his tiny hands, Ashton looked out at the world through the bars of his cage.

    Suspended in space, taking up half of the sky was an enormous blue planet that lit his entire view and its luminous blue glow illuminated the small desert town he was in.

    Providing Ashton wasn¡¯t on the edge of the town, as he could only see in one direction, then the town was very small, as the number of small sandstone house could be counted on two hands.

    The town itself surrounded a small lake which reflected the beauty of the ocean planet above them in all of its magnitude.

    Residing in the centre of the lake was a slightly larger sandstone building, an orange glow lighting up a few of the windows.

    Sick of the small town, Ashton continued to look up at the ocean planet that was perfectly framed by an amalgamation of galaxies, constellations and bright lights, in pure wonder and amazement, temporarily swept away from his current, grim reality.

    However, that current grim reality returned quickly as Ashton¡¯s cage jolted awkwardly and he smacked into the back of his cage, his head colliding with the bars.

    Tears in his eyes, he looked up again to see they¡¯d entered a small wooden boat, made of the same dark wood as the desk from earlier.

    The men picked up some matching oars and began to row, slowly approaching the building at the centre of the lake.

    The boat was silent as they effortlessly paddled through the calm, clear water and the men spared not a single glance towards Ashton, instead staring onwards towards their destination.

    The ride may have been nice if Ashton wasn¡¯t freezing cold, naked, or in a cage, after all it was truly a beautiful night.

    With a crunch, the boat hit land and the horned men arose and exited the boat, one stopping to pick up Ashton to bring him along.

    Silent again, they walked up to the front of the house and knocked obnoxiously loudly.

    Almost a minute later, an elderly man with snow white horns opened the door, briefly glancing at Ashton with the face of a person who¡¯d just been made to swallow shit, before he motioned the men.

    Warmth flooded through Ashton¡¯s body and he sighed in relief while the elderly man and the others yelled about something, most likely him.

    Soon he was picked up once again lead away from the others and to an old, cracked wooden door.

    Lying behind the door was a set of steps that lead into pure darkness, something which Ashton was completely used to now.

    As his carrier walked down the steps into the darkness, light flooded the room as dusty old torches burst into flame all around them, illuminating the dusty, damp basement.

    His mouth agape, Ashton was shocked, every torch in the room had been ignited at the exact same time. It was if it were¡­.

    ¡°Fuck yeah! Magic, this might be more exciting than I thought! Well¡­ provided we aren¡¯t enslaved¡­ starved¡­ turned into the old guy¡¯s boy toy¡­ or incinerated, castrated and drowned.

    ¡°C-Castrated?!¡± yelped Ashton.

    ¡°Well, maybe not castrated¡­ yeah, forget it. I got a little carried away at the end there,¡± reassured Ash.

    Ashton shifted around in his cage, attempting to get a better look at the room before being hurled through the air.

    The cage collided with the ground¡­ hard.

    The cage landed on its side sending Ashton face first into metal bars, knocking him out on impact.

    ¡°Hm¡­ This is becoming a regular thing now,¡± commented Ash, the torches promptly extinguishing leaving them alone in the darkness.

 Chapter 6 - Exiled

    ¡°Rise and shine princess,¡± whispered a voice in Ashton¡¯s head.

    Groggily and dazed, Ashton opened his eyes, only to be met with more darkness.

    ¡°Hey! Come on, there¡¯s some stuff I wanna show you before we starve to death or something,¡± urged Ash.

    The newborn baby slowly gathered his bearings, lifting his battered head off the metal bars of his cage, still half asleep and badly bruised.

    Ashton¡¯s severe pain, empty stomach and the freezing cold temperature of the basement did not make for a great night¡¯s sleep at all.

    As he lay naked, face down in the bottom of his cage, Ashton tried to roll over, but simply lacked the energy to do it.

    In fact, he lacked the energy for anything and was still barely conscious.

    Suddenly a surge of energy crashed through his body, washing away the pain and exhaustion, his entire body glowed with energy and Ashton felt incredible, like he could do anything anywhere.

    Yet the feeling was temporary, and the energy slowly faded away, leaving Ashton stunned and also no longer bruised, starved or cold, a great improvement from earlier.

    ¡°Got your attention now?¡± beamed Ash.

    ¡°W-W-What was that?¡± questioned Ashton.

    ¡°Well, you know how that other dude from before used magic to light the torches, I tried to do so some while you were asleep. Seeing as you got control of the body I thought, hey, maybe I can do magic then, that would be pretty cool, and to my amazement I can!¡± boasted Ash.

    ¡°W-wait a second¡­ if you could do that this entire time¡­ w-why didn¡¯t you just do it earlier and I would¡¯ve been able to sleep peacefully, you know, not in agonizing pain!?¡± whined Ashton.

    ¡°As I was saying earlier,¡± ignored Ash. ¡°I practised while you slept. I don¡¯t know about you, but I can feel this weird energy in everything, it¡¯s like everything, and I mean everything, this room included. But everything has its like, own weird set of vein type things that carry mana and I can sense those.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t dodge my question! Why didn¡¯t you heal me earlier!?¡± Ashton cried out in annoyance.

    ¡°As I was saying¡­ I can sense these weird magic vein things in everything, also inside of us. So while you slept, I tried willing the energy around us, however unfortunately no matter what, it refused to move. So mucked around for a bit and instead, I tried to drag in energy from our surroundings and then pushed it back out and it bled out of our veins leaking into the air, then I could actually move it around. I also discovered that even the air has its own energy, it just doesn¡¯t have its own vein system, instead it just floats there, it¡¯s like the energy from the veins bled out and isn¡¯t contained in anything, I don¡¯t know about you but I found that to be pretty interesting,¡± continued Ash, intentionally ignoring Ashton.

    ¡°Hey!¡± shrieked Ashton who was trying to get his attention and failing miserably.

    ¡°So on closer inspection, it seems that these veins are actually like skin in away¡­ wait¡­ was it skin that breathed in air? I¡¯m not sure¡­ regardless, the ¡®magic veins¡¯ can ¡®inhale¡¯ the natural energy and at the same time, I can ¡®exhale¡¯ them back out and I can will it to do stuff like explode or something,¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ashton sighed, realising Ash was never going to answer him and instead asked another question,

    ¡°Wait¡­ then how did you do magic inside of my body, if that¡¯s where the ¡®magic veins¡¯ are?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I sent the energy from your ¡®magical veins¡¯ to your actual veins and willed it to give you actual energy and heal you,¡± explained Ash.

    ¡°Hang on¡­ d-didn¡¯t you say this stuff can explode? Why did you do it INSIDE my body?! What if it went wrong and I exploded!¡± yelled Ashton.

    ¡°Relax Ashton, I totally¡­ definitely, most probably kinda knew what I was doing,¡± assured Ash.

    ¡°A-Anyway¡­ check this out, it¡¯s pretty cool!¡± Ash hastily exclaimed.

    Before Ashton could respond he saw a strange little ball of glowing light in the corner of his eye.

    Curious, he tried to turn and have a look to be met with hundreds of the strange orbs of light.

    All of them slowly floated over to him and then entered his body and his blood red markings glowed brightly in acceptance.

    They gathered inside of his body, energy coursed through his veins, his muscles, his bones and organs, building up more and more pressure before exploding outwards and sending a ravenous wall of white fire into the side of the building.

    His cage had been instantly consumed by the flames, leaving behind a smouldering, melted mess and a suspiciously unharmed demon baby.

    The wall however suffered much heavier damages.

    An enormous red, glowing hole was carved into it and liquid glass ran off the edges like a waterfall, pooling together on the ground beneath it, creating a small crystalline pond of glass.

    Grains of white hot sand were sent flying through the air from the impact and they melted small holes into the ground.

    ¡°Whoops¡± joked Ash.

    Ashton looked down at himself in amazement, noticing a strange blue lustre covering his body and it shimmered as a few orange lights danced down the stairway towards him.

    Looking up, Ashton saw the old demon man staring angrily at him as a small orange flame danced on the top of his palm.

    ¡°Wow¡­ you know¡­ I really did not expect that¡­ like, not at all,¡± admitted Ash.

    ¡°W-What are we going to do?! He looks like he wants to kill us!¡± yelped Ashton.

    ¡°Rubbish, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be fi-¡± started Ash before a huge wave of blue energy slammed into their side, crushing Ashton half to death and sending him back to sleep.

    ********

    Ashton awoke in distress, he tried to squirm around but found himself strapped down by several heavy chains.

    His body was covered with nasty purple bruises and he had bloodshot eyes.

    With blurry vision he could barely make out the outline of another cage that seemed much larger than the other one but waves of exhaustion slammed into him, threatening him to send him back to sleep, perhaps forever.

    In the distance he thought he could hear Ash yelling on about something, yet he couldn¡¯t manage to process anything properly.

    Colours blurred into each other and sounds melded together, leaving only an annoying buzzing sound ringing in his left ear.

    He felt as if he were being carried somewhere, yet he was unsure, he was unsure of anything.

    A hot searing pain burned its way into Ashton¡¯s side, sending him into a fit of screaming, red crept across his vision and his back arched up in pain.

    The buzzing in his left ear grew louder and louder, the pain grew more and more unbearable and now all he could see was red, his eyes burning in their sockets.

    Unable to handle it for any longer Ashton blacked out, temporarily easing the agony.

    ********

    ¡°Hey¡­ Ashton! It¡¯s all okay now get up¡­ well¡­ maybe not ¡®okay¡¯, but¡­ yeah, I guess it¡¯s not that great at all really, but hey getting up might be nice,¡± whispered Ash to Ashton.

    Hearing Ash¡¯s whispering, Ashton awoke and found himself no longer in pain, rather back to normal, not a single bruise or wound of any kind.

    Instead he found himself lying on a small raft with a large transparent crystal embedded in the centre.

    The raft was small, roughly four by four metres and was made out of the dark wood that the boat and desk was from the town.

    A small sun, about half the size of Earth¡¯s, shone down on him, providing a tiny amount of warmth.

    Black fog drifted over the raft, impeding his view and sending ice cold chills down his spine.

    Ashton crawled over to the edge and gasped, they were floating above a huge black abyss with no bottom, was he back in the void?

    Looking up and across from him, he saw the desert they had come from, now kilometres away.

    The village was sitting next to the edge of several massive cliffs that dropped away sharply into the seemingly infinite abyss.

    The raft he laid on was hovering over the open abyss, slowly drifting further and further from the desert and deeper and deeper into the abyss.

    ¡°W¡­ What¡­. Happened?¡± mumbled Ashton.

 Chapter 7 - Experiment

    ¡°What happened,¡± mumbled Ashton in shock.

    ¡°Good question¡­ what indeed did happen¡­?

    I guess I¡¯ll start from the start then,¡± began Ash. ¡°After you got slammed by the old man¡¯s blue glowy thing, they returned later with some weird dark blue chains and strapped us down in a new cage. The moment the chains touched our skin though, I could no longer use any magic, which really, really sucked. So after that they left us in the basement, rotting away for a couple of days and my god was the smell bad, cause our body was still all banged up from earlier, a few bones were even peeking out of the skin here and there.

    Luckily, we somehow didn¡¯t die by that time and they returned and took us outside where a bunch of people all surrounded us like some sort of ritual. You woke up around then and started screaming and crying which really didn¡¯t help our case you know, but after you feinted we arrived at those massive cliffs in the distance over there and they chucked us on this raft, after taking us out of the cage and removing the chains of course. Finally the old, grumpy demon guy pushed the raft off into the distance and I collected some magic energy and healed you as soon as possible. That¡¯s about where we¡¯re at.¡±

    Ashton thought long and hard about their situation and what everything meant and what to do.

    Could they do anything?

    Would they simply die of starvation now instead?

    ¡°W-Wait¡­ How did you know all of that stuff anyway, I thought you could only see what I saw¡­ a-and w-why didn¡¯t why die of starvation too?¡± asked Ashton.

    ¡°Just cause I can¡¯t see doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t hear idiot,¡± retorted Ash, ¡°Also, I¡¯ve just been using the same magic that healed you to feed us whenever I could.¡±

    ¡°O-oh, that¡¯s pretty simple¡­ and m-makes a lot of sense,¡± replied Ashton.

    ¡°Bu-But wait!¡± exclaimed Ashton, ¡°H-How did you make that fireball though?¡±

    ¡°I did it the way I explained a couple of days ago, I could feel the energy inside of me and so I inhaled the energy from outside, which appeared as those golden orbs. Then I ran that though my body and exhaled it back out and manipulated it with my mind. I willed it to transform into pure oxygen and then willed it to move forward and ignite. I was surprised at how easy it is to use magic in this world,¡± answered Ash.

    ¡°T-Then can¡¯t you just use your magic to send us back to land?¡± questioned Ashton.

    ¡°No, the course of the raft seems fixed, for some reason it refuses to turn or do anything than simply drift gradually forward whatsoever, I think it¡¯s to do with that crystal, it has to be what¡¯s keeping us hovering too,¡± suspected Ash.

    ¡°W-W-W-What are w-we going t-t-to do?!¡± spluttered Ashton, ¡°H-How are we going to survive out here, what if it¡¯s just infinite darkness?!¡±

    ¡°Calm the fuck down!¡± roared Ash, ¡°Stop your stupid stuttering and shut it. Food and water isn¡¯t a problem, I can use magic for that. The only problem is that crystal, I can feel the amount of magical energy slowly trickling down, and you probably haven¡¯t noticed, but we are actually gradually falling down deeper.¡±

    ¡°H-H-How am I supposed to stay calm abo-¡± started Ashton.

    ¡°Stop whining so we can actually FIX¡­ the problem,¡± interjected Ash, ¡°Yes, the energy is running out, but there¡¯s lots all around us in this void¡­ so¡­ I¡¯ll just try refilling it myself. It would be a great help if you could touch it however, as I have tried to siphon energy directly into it, but it just bounces off, perhaps contact would help, which is why I waited for you to help. Actually¡­ I just realised, I can use magic, I should have just hovered myself over there and fixed the problem without even telling you about it, because your input in anything, has not remotely helped at all, yes I think I¡¯ll do just that.¡±

    ¡°¡­ sorry,¡± apologised Ashton miserably.

    An invisible force scooped Ashton up and plopped him down next to the large crystal.

    With a closer inspection, the two could see the crystal was comprised of millions of tiny interlocking pentagons, making up the basketball sized dodecahedron.

    Even in the abyss, it shone brightly, actually managing to fight back the darkness surrounding the raft.

    ¡°Well¡­ I know I said I¡¯d do it¡­ but you can at least touch it can¡¯t you? Or do I have to make you do it myself,¡± hinted Ash.

    ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll touch it¡­¡± grumbled Ashton, reaching out to touch the crystal.

    Fatigue slammed into him like a brick wall as the crystal shone like a sun, blinding him as he slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

    ¡°Huh, what do you know, it¡¯s drained all of the magical energy from our body in order to replenish itself. It seems like we won¡¯t need to worry about falling into the abyss anytime soon then,¡± noted Ash.

    Meanwhile Ashton was too tired to enjoy the moment with Ash as he was barely conscious, and with a final huff of annoyance he drifted off to sleep.

    ********

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°Ughhh,¡± groaned Ashton in boredom for what it seemed to be the millionth time.

    Five weeks had crawled by since they¡¯d been sent off into the abyss and there was no sign of anything happening for a very long time.

    Ash however, had been very busy; crazily experimenting with his magic had kept him entertained, and would for months to come.

    Ashton waved his hands, swatting a small hummingbird entirely composed of ice out of the air, the bird shattered on impact, the fragments morphing into snow and raining down onto his face.

    ¡°Awwww, what¡¯ve you got against my pretty little birds, they weren¡¯t doing you any harm,¡± lamented Ash.

    ¡°It was made of ICE though, and I didn¡¯t appreciate it sitting on my face all that much,¡± responded Ashton gruffly.

    ¡°Hey, I get that you¡¯re all disappointed that you can¡¯t use magic and I can, but later when you¡¯re not a baby and can actually do things, I¡¯ll be the one that¡¯s disappointed, so let me have my fun while I can, and later you can have yours,¡± pointed out Ash.

    ¡°Yeah, sure, I have the body and ultimately later I¡¯ll get to do lots of things, but now, I¡¯ve spent five weeks just laying here, watching you have fun,¡± complained Ashton.

    ¡°Well, you won¡¯t let me do experiments with your body, so how can you complain, perhaps if you did, I might be able to forcibly grow you up,¡± reminded Ash.

    ¡°Sure, you MIGHT be able to do that, but there¡¯s also a big chance you MIGHT, accidently kill me, maybe,¡± argued Ashton.

    ¡°Hey, I was only saying if you want¡­ I never said you had to, but¡­ I¡¯m always here, so if you change your mind just tell me,¡± explained Ash.

    The two say there in silence for a few minutes, watching Ash¡¯s ice hummingbirds circle above them happily.

    There was no sky visible anymore, the black fog was so intense five weeks deep into the void that the only reason they could see was because of the golden light radiating from the crystal.

    As long as they refuelled its energy reserves a couple of times a week, they¡¯d stay afloat and wouldn¡¯t fall too far down into the abyss.

    ¡°Hey, wanna play a game,¡± suggested Ash.

    ¡°Sure,¡± answered Ashton thirty seconds later, his voice devoid of any emotion.

    ¡°I spy¡­ something beginning with¡­ a!¡± chimed Ash.

    Another ten seconds later Ashton responded with, ¡°It¡¯s the abyss isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°You got it! You¡¯re too good at this! Wanna go again?¡± asked Ash.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ********

    3 years later¡­

    ¡°You ever going to get up?¡± complained a voice.

    Blinding light appeared from nowhere and Ashton awoke right away, leaping out of his bed surprise.

    Clothes materialised out of thin air and wrapped around his body as he walked downstairs to the kitchen after calming down.

    He took a seat at dining table and waited for his meal as it was created in from of him from golden light.

    Within a minute an impressively sized plate of scrambled eggs was ready to eat and Ashton washed down the delicious meal with a cup of freshly materialised orange juice.

    After finishing his breakfast, Ashton walked out of the kitchen, through the entrance hall, down several twisting hallways and into the North Western Tower.

    After tough climb up twelve stories of stairs, Ashton¡¯s six year old body made it to the top and he began the usual process of strapping himself into dreaded metal chair.

    Ashton winced a little as several leather straps bound him down on their own and the bright spotlight shone down on him from above.

    ¡°Alright, here goes nothing,¡± murmured Ash.

    A swarm of bright golden orbs flooded in from the roof of the room and surged into Ashton¡¯s chest with surprising force and several loud crackling and popping sounds could be heard coming from Ashton.

    Ashton howled in excruciating pain as his bones rapidly expanded underneath the flesh and his muscles tore under the pressure.

    His skin tightened over his bones and his skin began to split violently all over his body, spraying blood across the bright yellow tarps hung all over the room.

    The bones in his hands and feet exploded out of the flesh, peeking far too much outside of his body.

    A brand new set of teeth grew from inside of his gums and violently ejected the old set out of his mouth, scarring his gums.

    His skull gradually expanded, his scalp tightening against it before it burst like a balloon, tearing down the middle, the flesh peeling away from his face.

    By this point Ashton had gone unconscious and Ash was left to work blind, and seeing as he could feel ice cold air cutting into his bare muscles and that he was beginning to feeling incredibly feint, he stopped the rapid expansion of their bones.

    A new wave of golden orbs flooded into the room and spread throughout his body.

    Ash hastily willed the magical energy to heal, muscles stretched and expanded to thoroughly cover the new skeleton, organs grew and then followed the flesh and the skin, the remaining energy was transformed into blood to replenish what was lost.

    Crisis over, the body was restored and had been efficiently aged by another few years, now to wait again for Ashton¡¯s consciousness to return.

    ********

    Ashton awoke again, this time in the splatter room in the North West tower, fresh blood covering the tarps.

    The bindings on the chair were no longer in place and Ashton stood up, his eye-level substantially higher.

    He looked down at his arm, his markings still the same as usual, yet the area it covered was fairly larger.

    He looked up to find a hand mirror hung on the wall in front of him, revealing his new appearance.

    Age-wise he appeared around ten, his hair was short, black, straight and well kept and his horns were about six inches tall with a slight curve backwards to them.

    His dull golden eyes stared back at him and he flashed the reflection a smile, his white teeth shining back.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± asked Ash.

    ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s certainly¡­ older, otherwise it¡¯s pretty similar, the blood covering my clothes could go though,¡± replied Ashton.

    ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot about that¡­. And¡­. Done, all gone now,¡± hummed Ash.

    ¡°Thanks, shall we continue building the South East Wing now?¡± proposed Ashton.

    ¡°Sure,¡± agreed Ash.

    Happy to leave the splatter room, Ashton hurried back down the long winding staircase back to the ground floor in his updated body, only a few stumbles along the way.

    Several minutes later they arrived at their destination, the building site the South East Wing.

    The South East Wing itself was going to be a large empty area built to be strong, made for the purpose of large scale magic experiments.

    The outside would take on the appearance of the rest of their house; a medieval castle.

    So far they had created a massive floating castle on the base of their little raft, it had many twisting corridors, dozens of towers and many rooms for the most pointless of purposes.

    Ash¡¯s favourite room happened to be the spiral room, which was entirely composed of spiral patterned objects.

    Every now and again the two of them would go out and tack on another building to their castle, as it was one of the only fun things to do.

    The first step of creating the new area of the castle was to create the foundations, which was what they¡¯d been working for the past couple of weeks, today was the day they¡¯d create the floor, which was rather simple with magic.

    The only really hard part was the foundations, because they didn¡¯t want it falling apart and collapsing into the void, but that was already done.

    South East Wing¡¯s floor choice was actually the crystal that allowed the colossal structure to move, the one on the original raft.

    A couple of months earlier, Ash tried analysing it for many hours and he was able to replicate it and then recreate it.

    Seeing as it was the hardest thing they¡¯d ever encountered before they figured why not use it as a floor, that way they won¡¯t accidently poke any holes in it later.

    The usual golden orbs were dragged towards Ashton to be processed inside of his body and spat back out, ready to be transformed.

    Ashton¡¯s dark red markings shone brightly as Ash transformed magical energy into crystal, tremors ran through the castle and the light shining from his marking fluctuated.

    Ash grew worried but persevered through the pressure and went on, fighting back the waves of exhaustion and after an entire minute of concentration, the lights faded away leaving¡­

    ¡­A crystal the size of tennis ball.

    ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s rather underwhelming¡­¡± mumbled Ash before both him and Ashton caved into exhaustion and collapsed onto the ground unconscious.

 Chapter 8 - EXPLOOOOOOOSION!

    BOOM!

    Ash and Ashton¡¯s castle shook violently as it hit something incredibly solid, rocks rained down from above and a loud screeching sound assaulted Ashton¡¯s ears.

    Startled by the noisy impact, Ashton awoke in a daze, incredibly confused and shocked before a large piece of rubble hit him in the gut, winding him.

    After a brief moment of pain Ash flooded his body with adrenaline and he leapt up into action, desperately trying to dodge oncoming rubble from above as he ran towards Central Tower.

    Fittingly named, Central Tower was the largest tower of their castle and stood over fifteen storeys tall, directly at the centre of the castle.

    Ashton¡¯s reasoning behind his destination was simply that they¡¯d constructed the castle in such a complex and overly detailed way that the only way to see its entirety from the inside was from Central Tower¡¯s uppermost floor.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to be a bit faster¡­¡± warned Ash as the castle groaned, its weight was no longer evenly distributed.

    ¡°Eh? Why!?¡± shouted Ashton, had he not been communicating through his mind then Ash would not have heard him over the sound of stone crumbling and crashing to the ground.

    However Ash did not answer as he simply didn¡¯t need to, it presented itself to Ashton.

    A large crack smashed its way down walls and into the floor, branching off into several directions before another ear-splitting boom sounded and the crack split open, exposing the empty abyss below.

    Ashton gasped as he ran towards the hole, it was over a metre wide and he was no longer running completely horizontally anymore.

    Instead it was as if he were sprinting up a hill, one that was getting exponentially steeper.

    Ashton no longer attempted to dodge the falling debris and left it up to Ash to prevent any collisions, proving to be a good choice as the rocks were batted away with incredible force, the stone disintegrating on impact.

    Arriving at the hole, Ashton jumped with all his might, desperately flapping his arms to gain just the slightest amount of height to make the now eight metre gap.

    Predictably, he failed miserably, he couldn¡¯t make a nine metre gap, not in his old world and certainly not in this world either, thus he plummeted towards the unknown depths.

    Luckily he did have one thing going for him, and that was Ash¡¯s magical ability since he floated back up to the hole and set him back down on the ground.

    ¡°Come on, we don¡¯t have all day, get to the top already!¡± yelled Ash as Ashton sat on the floor in relief.

    Responding to Ash he awkwardly rose back up and continued to run towards the Central Tower, looking back to find the entire Southern section of their castle to have dropped away into the abyss.

    Tremors ran throughout the building still and Ashton could feel the castle was beginning to tilt downwards, in fear he ran onwards.

    Arriving at the Central Tower Ashton ran up the everlasting winding stairs, cursing his own design choices while he tripped over constantly, still not fully adjusted to his aged body.

    Roughly three quarters of the way there another boom, the loudest yet shook the castle and bit of fragmented stone rained down on Ashton, blowing him backwards into the wall.

    Rocks rushed down the stairway like a waterfall as the upper section of the tower collided with something hard and caved in over Ashton.

    Another crash tore into the tower, knocking the section of concrete stairs above Ashton right over top, mincing his limbs and pulverising his lower body.

    Darkness washed over Ashton again as the intense pain rattled his brain and he was forcibly sent unconscious once again.

    ********

    ¡°WAKE UP!¡± screamed Ash in desperation.

    Ash¡¯s noisy screaming roused Ashton from his sleep and he groaned, mumbling nonsense as he longed for more sleep.

    For some reason his entire body felt incredibly heavy and he was covered with something wet and sticky.

    After of few seconds of coming to his senses, Ashton remembered what had happened earlier and attempted to get up right away only to smack his head into a rock hard object inches from his head.

    ¡°Ash what happened, why am I like this? Can¡¯t you give me a little help here?¡± asked Ashton before bursting into a fit of coughing, the air was barely breathable.

    ¡°Oh sure, just leave everything to me shall we?¡± snapped Ash. ¡°Well SORRY, I can¡¯t at the moment! I was too busy reconstruction your body again and again as you were pulverised by all of this rubble here, so how about you just give me a second so I can gather some more energy.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Oh¡­ um, sorry¡­ I-I didn¡¯t know¡­ ummm, what do you m-mean by pulverised?¡± mumbled Ashton.

    ¡°I mean¡­ that we¡¯re lucky to be alive seeing as the tower came down on top of us and pulverised us. I kept healing you over and over because the weight on top was too much and the moment I healed you, everything broke again until I managed to get you in this little pocket of space,¡± recounted Ash grumpily.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°I see¡­ t-then what do we d-do?¡± murmured Ashton.

    ¡°WE, don¡¯t do anything. You can wait a sec while I gather some magical energy to move this shit off us seeing as I only just finished saving our lives a dozen times over,¡± Ash stated.

    Unsure of what to say, Ashton lay there in silence, barely making out the debris inches away from his head until familiar little golden orbs floated in through the cracks and entered his body.

    Seconds later, dust, dirt and small rocks rained down onto Ashton as the larger chunks of stone were levitated into the air and tossed out of the way.

    For the first time in three years he saw land and sun once again, looming over above, staring back down at him.

    A large cliff face towered above him on his left and the sun, twice as large as he remembered beamed down on him, showering him in warm sunlight.

    The wonder and nostalgic joy of land and sunlight was cut short however, as he jolted downwards suddenly, the mass of land he was laying on was incredibly unstable.

    ¡°Ashton, get off that thing right now! It¡¯s not going to last much longer!¡± Ash yelled.

    ¡°R-Right! ¡­Off w-what exactly¡­ I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re on, a-and how do you?¡± questioned Ashton.

    ¡°It¡¯s our castle, we¡¯re lying on the ruins of our castle and it¡¯s shifting downwards, barely hanging on to the cliff so get off of it right now, and I can see it cause magic and stuff,¡± Ash explained quickly.

    After another sudden jolt Ashton leapt up and ran up to the cliff face, standing on a tower of broken stone and metal, unsure of what to do next as the cliff was too flat and there was nothing to hold on to.

    Seconds passed and dozens of small golden ovals burst into existence up along the cliff face, exploding apart into hundreds of tiny golden orbs that surged back towards Ashton¡¯s chest.

    Several loud crashes came from beneath him and Ashton clung onto the cliff, hanging onto the new holes that had been carved into the rock.

    A minute passed and Ashton calmed down, beginning to doubt whether anything would actually happen to the castle ruins.

    As if to disperse Ashton¡¯s doubts the heap of metal and stone groaned before crumbling apart, falling off the side of the cliff and dropping away into the dark abyss below them.

    As they hung there, watching their efforts of the past three years fade away into the distance Ash grumbled, ¡°It¡¯s not like I like it in the first place or anything.¡±

    ********

    Embers slowly spiralled upwards through the air as Ashton laid his head on crusty, blackened grass.

    Hours passed and the fire still burned brightly throughout the night, the charcoal logs at its centre refused to perish under the intense heat.

    Yet even with the pleasant heat of the fire, it barely fought off the icy winds digging into his skin as he shivered in his sleep, perhaps dreaming of the horrid climb from earlier.

    He was thoroughly worn out, his muscles screamed in pain every time he rolled over to the side and the surrounding decayed grass was drenched in his sticky sweat.

    Ash appeared to have gone to sleep earlier which Ashton still wondered why he needed such a thing in the first place, especially at such a time when his magic could really come in handy, he could have even make him a decent bed to sleep in or something.

    Surrounding their temporary ¡®camp site¡¯ was a small copse of trees with bark the colour of the abyss; pitch black.

    The grass was shrivelled and as dark as the trees and the entire area was littered with skeletons that looked like they were made of charcoal.

    SCREECH!

    An incredibly high pitched scream swept across the forest, waking both Ash and Ashton.

    Before either of them could react, a stone bladed spear arced through the air towards Ashton leaving him little time to think, let along dodge.

    Instinctively he dived forwards, yet the spear was merciless and sank into Ashton¡¯s thigh, shattering his femur, pinning him to the ground.

    Ashton broke out into agonising screaming as he tried to pull back with no thought, the spear digging deeper into his thigh.

    ¡°Quit your yapping! I need to focus so I can actually do something!¡± barked Ash over his screams.

    Ashton¡¯s screams turned to a soft whimpering and the surrounding grew noisy, bushes rustled all around them and the sound of many feet scurrying around from all directions could be heard.

    Putting the pain out of his mind, Ash tried his best to focus and draw in magical power before any more attacks.

    The copse was illuminated by thousands of golden orbs yet they wouldn¡¯t come to Ash, they refused to, he was to emotionally unstable.

    Ashton¡¯s intense pain and fear crept into Ash¡¯s state of mind, affecting his own train of thought.

    Pain surged through both of their minds once again as Ashton attempted to remove the spear from his thigh, yet it stubbornly remained in the ground.

    A low whistle could be heard as another spear soared towards Ashton, straight towards his head.

    Unable to relocate, Ashton tried to knock the spear out of the air with his hand, failing tragically.

    The spear firmly embedded itself through Ashton¡¯s outstretched palm and pierced his forearm.

    Ashton¡¯s hand bent back unnaturally as it was pinned down to his forearm and his back arched in pain as he wailed in agony underneath the beautiful night¡¯s sky.

    Noise erupted around them, foreign words could be heard as well as deep growls, everything growing increasingly louder, the tension building up and up and up, before¡­ silence.

    Ash had gathered himself, putting Ashton¡¯s shrieking and crying out of his mind completely, solely focusing on gathering magical energy.

    Golden orbs drifted towards Ash and he prepared for any incoming attacks.

    The sound of Ashton swallowing the bile that was building up in his throat was the only thing that could be heard in the silent forest.

    For what seemed to be almost ten entire minutes the intense standoff of mental tenacity continued before a deep growl erupted from Ashton¡¯s left.

    A shadow leapt towards Ashton from his left so quickly that he¡¯d barely perceived him at all, luckily Ash was prepared.

    Moments before the creature pounced upon Ashton, its menacing head toppled off, falling directly into Ashton¡¯s lap, its body crumpling to the ground a metre away.

    A pair of dull, blood red eyes stared right at Ashton and his horrified face reflected back at him, the deep red blood splattered across it was there too.

    Ashton quickly tossed the head away in horror, it crunched as it hit the floor and both Ash and Ashton got a good look at their enemy.

    It was a goblin, the most simple and well known fantasy creature, seemingly not usually too much of a threat.

    Yet in real life, with its leathery dark green skin, beady scarlet eyes, bumpy, potato like head, moles, scars, acne, weird growths and thick black hair it was incredibly haunting and far from fantasy, or simple.

    ¡°Hey! Get it together, look around!¡± shouted Ash.

    Fearfully, Ashton obeyed, he desperately searched around for any sign of the enemy, yet it appeared he needed not to as a loud horn resonated throughout the ¡®camp site¡¯ and countless grunts and growls echoed throughout the forest.

    A wave of naked green bodies surged from everywhere, dashing towards Ashton with mad looks in their blood red eyes.

    Ashton shrank down in fear, yet Ash let out a roar of stubbornness and a wave of golden light flooded towards him like a tsunami.

    Orbs oozed from the trees, the grass, the rocks, the skeletons, the soil and even the goblins themselves.

    Ash continued to drain the energy from everything, the trees rotted, the grass crumbled, the rocks shattered, the skeletons disintegrated, and the soil broke apart into mana itself, while the goblins slowed down all of a sudden, fear in their eyes.

    Yet Ash continued, unaware of his surroundings and he soon hit his limit, and he did it very quickly.

    An intense feeling of danger assaulted him from every sense of his being and the air around Ashton began to ripple, it was as if space itself was being torn apart.

    The goblins sensed the impending danger and fled away, deeper into the woods to take shelter.

    Ashton¡¯s eyes widened, their veins bulged and burst, filling the eyes with blood.

    The pores of his skin spewed blood, his muscles tore, tendons snapped, organs ruptured and bones cracked under the fierce pressure of the magic.

    Both Ash and Ashton passed out, no longer able to handle the pain.

    A deep blue wave of pure mana erupted from Ashton¡¯s body, exploding outwards, vaporising everything it came in contact with.

    In all directions, as far as you could see, the forest was devastated, completely wiped from existence.

    Nothing was left behind by the fleeing goblins or the kilometres of forest surrounding Ashton.

    There was¡­ nothing.

 Chapter 9 - Captured

    ¡°Hey! Wake the hell up already!¡± Shouted Ash, waking Ashton with a fright.

    A foul stench hit Ashton¡¯s nose, stinging his nostrils.

    It smelt of urine, faeces and rotting corpses all laying out in the sun to sizzle for a while.

    Unaware of his circumstances, Ashton sat up off a grimy, filthy floor and looked around.

    He was trapped in a small room, three times his length in side lengths and twice as tall in height.

    The floor was cold and blood soaked, the walls were layered with even more blood and presumably where the entrance was, there was a large boulder lodged in the entry way, blocking his exit.

    Bringing a hand to his face Ashton wiped off a thick layer of congealed blood and weird black gunk, gagging a little at the sight of it.

    Pleasantly surprised he was alive, Ashton looked over his body, the previous wounds from the spears were gone and in their place were a few bruises and grazes, hardly any cause for concern.

    As happy as he was with his state of¡­ aliveness, the accommodation wasn¡¯t exactly to his standards and was fairly lacking in the lighting department.

    He swore he could he something or other scurrying around the room, yet he could barely make out his hand right in front of his face.

    Hoping they were only mice or something similar, Ashton simply ignored it and tried to move the massive boulder blocking his escape.

    Ashton pushed as hard as he could, desperately launching himself at the giant rock, yet it would not budge no matter what he did, perhaps it was intended for him to starve to death, but surely it would be no match for Ash¡¯s magic¡­

    ¡°Yeah¡­ you¡¯d think I¡¯d be able to get us out of this one with my magic, however¡­ they slapped this fancy collar on our neck and since then I¡¯ve not been able to do anything, just like those chains back with the demons. We just have to hope they eventually come back and give us some food or something, although I doubt it¡¯s looking good, seeing as we killed like thirty of them,¡± informed Ash.

    ¡°W-What do you mean? T-They? W-We killed some? W-What are you t-talking about?!¡± babbled Ashton.

    ¡°Oh right, you don¡¯t know. Well¡­ they are the goblins and ogres. We were being hunted by a group of them earlier when we both passed out after a massive explosion of magic, not quite sure what I did, but it wasn¡¯t too good. I guess some more of them found us and locked us up here, cause when I woke up we were already here and in pretty terrible shape. I healed us, but they must have seen the orb things cause they came running. They burst in after I¡¯d finished healing us and slapped this collar on us and I couldn¡¯t fight back. Then a big ogre rolled the boulder into the door way and locked us in here, that was about a day ago,¡± recounted Ash.

    Ashton paused for a while and felt around his neck, confirming the existence of a collar before replying, ¡°I¡­ I see. T-Then what do we do? A-Are we just going to die?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, how about you just try and take off the collar? That would make sense wouldn¡¯t it?¡± answered Ash snidely.

    Ashton reached up and felt around the entire collar, searching for some kind of lock or loop, yet it seemed to be just a solid metal ring that went all the way around with openings or crevices, bringing up the question of how it was put on in the first place.

    ¡°Huh¡­ Never mind, I guess we die then,¡± joked Ash.

    Letting out a soft whine of defeat, Ashton slumped down to the floor, his eyes watered and a single tear rand down his face.

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    ********

    A loud groaning noise came from Ashton¡¯s stomach as he lay on the floor in pain.

    He¡¯d never gone too long without eating anything and it was now three days since he¡¯d had any food.

    The thirst however, was incomparable to his hunger, his lips were cracked, his mouth was dry and his eyes had sunken back into their sockets a little.

    Drinking urine wasn¡¯t very fun, he¡¯d anticipated it wouldn¡¯t be that great but it was far worse than he¡¯d thought it would have been and he hadn¡¯t been brave enough to try it again.

    Ashton¡¯s palms were all torn up from pushing against the boulder for hours on end and a far too much dirt and grime had wormed their way into his bloody wounds, an infection was inevitable.

    Just as it seemed as there was no hope and they wouldn¡¯t make it out alive, loud grinding and crunching sounds came from the giant boulder blocking the exit.

    Ashton looked up at it in hope, fear and anticipation as it slowly rolled out of the way, revealing a large figure as tall as the room.

    Freedom was right there in front of him for the first time, yet it didn¡¯t look very inviting when an ogre twice the size of you, was standing there, menacingly flashing its foot long teeth at you.

    The monstrosity lumbered forwards towards Ashton, giving him a wild grin.

    Stopping before Ashton, it bent down and stared directly into Ashton¡¯s eyes with its sickly yellow ones.

    Deep inside of Ashton¡¯s head, Ash was cursing away at the ogre, projecting his hatred and rage towards the beast which reflected in Ashton¡¯s eyes.

    The ogre¡¯s pupils dilated for a moment before quickly returning back to normal with lightning speed.

    Not a single other movement could be detected, but for an instance, it had felt fear.

    ¡°RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± the ogre bellowed, spraying spittle all over Ashton¡¯s stunned face.

    The ogre then turned around and left the way it came, grumbling a few strange alien words along the way.

    In response a small, sickly green goblin dashed in with a bucket of water, tossing it in Ashton¡¯s general direction.

    Almost half of its contents spilled across the ground after it hit the ground yet Ashton payed it no attention and drank furiously from the bucket, quenching his enormous thirst.

    After finishing the remainder of the buckets contents, he still craved for more and leapt to the floor, lapping up the bloodied water, the foul taste not registering in his mind.

    He looked up at the exit in hope, perhaps they¡¯d let him leave, yet it was too good to be true as both the goblin and ogre had left, rolling the boulder back in place after them.

    Ashton lay on the floor, sobbed for a little while before he drifted off to sleep, his stomach howling throughout the night.

    ********

    Three long weeks passed.

    Water would be delivered once every three days by the small goblin, accompanied by his large ogre friend who would every time without fail stare deep into his eyes each time.

    For reasons¡­ a single corner of the room was dedicated to Ashton¡¯s bodily functions, but seeing as the smell was so horrid already, it made little difference overall.

    Whilst he had enough water to survive and was only feeling like death every third day, waiting for his water, food on the other hand was a major problem.

    Ashton had lasted three weeks without food, but he doubted he could last any longer; he was at the point of wishing death upon himself.

    He wanted to die, over and over the thought of actually committing suicide but he couldn¡¯t make himself go through with it, no matter how hard he tried he¡¯d always freeze up and stop.

    ********

    For the eighth time since his capture, the boulder rolled out of the way and the usual ogre stormed in and following right behind him was the goblin.

    Like normal, the goblin tossed him a bucket of water and then dashed out of the room, leaving Ashton and the ogre alone with each other.

    The ogre looked into Ashton¡¯s eyes, snarling before sitting down on the ground in front of Ashton.

    After a crude snort the ogre pulled out a large chunk of raw meat from his back and began munching on it, right in front of Ashton¡¯s face.

    Ashton¡¯s already low morale sank down to an entirely new level and he couldn¡¯t imagine why this monster is doing this?

    To make a point?

    Blood sprayed across Ashton¡¯s face as the ogre took a big bite out of the raw meat and tears began to run down Ashton¡¯s face as he watched the ogre continue to eat.

    As Ashton begun to sob, his voice leaking out of his mouth a loud, gravelly voice yelled, ¡°Stop¡± inside of his head before¡­ SLAM!

    A rock hard, dark green skinned hand slapped him across the room, knocking his head into the wall.

    Ashton groaned as he slumped back down onto the floor, the wall behind him smeared with his own blood.

    ¡°Stand,¡± commanded the voice in his head.

    ¡°A-Ash? I-is that you? This isn¡¯t funny!¡± cried out Ashton.

    Before anybody could say anything the ogre barrelled towards Ashton, backhanding him across the face, sending him flying back towards where he was, knocking out a few teeth in the process.

    ¡°Last time. Stand Up.¡± Ordered the voice as the ogre stared impatiently at Ashton.

    Obeying, Ashton slowly got to his feet, where his frail and thin body could be seen.

    His skin wrapped tightly around his body, fully displaying all of his bones and his muscles and fat were completely lacking.

    His bloodshot eyes looked right up into the face of the ogre, its putrid eyes staring right back at him.

    It walked right up to him, breathing heavily, its hot breath stinging Ashton¡¯s skin.

    ¡°I own you. You are mine. Do not¡­ Resist. Obey. Failure¡­ means punishment. You¡­ must not die. You are¡­ nothing. I am everything. Obey. Now¡­ Fight,¡± commanded the ogre in Ashton¡¯s mind.

    And that¡­ was the point of no return, the start of a whole new life of pain, corruption and never ending suffering for both Ash and Ashton.

 Chapter 10 - Queen

    Sitting upon her throne of bones, the Queen of goblins sighed heavily, bored beyond measure.

    The stupid throne her minions had built was incredibly uncomfortable and impracticable, what were they even thinking?

    Queen arose from her throne, startling the goblin messengers kneeling before her.

    They had been reading the reports from the distant goblin tribes deep into the dark woods, their populations, number of able bodied fighters and trained fighters, etc.

    ¡°W-What is it your highness?¡± stuttered one of the messengers in broken goblin tongue.

    Queen, fed up with their bullshit, didn¡¯t respond, instead opting to stare menacingly into his eyes before kicking the throne behind her with her heels, rupturing the complex throne of bones, exploding small fragments throughout the room.

    Both goblin messengers slumped to the ground, blood gently oozed from the dozens of holes punched into their bodies.

    ¡°Get these fucking bodies out of here and bring me a goddamn chair I can actually sit on,¡± spoke Queen softly with a voice of an angel.

    The stone hall erupted with noise, dozens of goblins scurried about, darting in and out of several rooms whilst two abnormally large ogres slowly trudged into the room and dragged the bodies across the floor and out of the room.

    Queen, fed up with her responsibilities marched out of the room, paying no attention to the goblins dashing about the room.

    Harsh wind assaulted Queen the moment she left the safety of her castle and entered the withered courtyard.

    The castle itself was massive structure, constructed of dark stone, covered with numerous towers, spires, archways, walkways and not a single window.

    It reached up into the clouds and burrowed deep down into the ground below, located atop an enormous cliff on the human-goblin territory border.

    So while it was beautifully designed, it was designed to be impenetrable, not a single weakness and only one entrance.

    Queen looked back at her creation as she walked away and sighed before walking further out into the depths of the surrounding woods.

    Time passed, the trees got taller, the bark got tougher and the brush got thicker.

    Queen walked on further with precise steps, managing not to dirty her impractical four inch stilettos.

    This deep into the woods, nature was undisturbed and wild, not a single ugly green goblin or any giant smelly ogres either.

    Hours later Queen arrived at a small clearing, at the centre, a small pond with crystal clear water.

    Giant lily pads dotted the surface and strange blue, florescent flowers grew on the bottom of the pond.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Brightly coloured fish swam, proud birds sung and tiny water dragons hummed, circling the pond surface.

    The scene was enchanting and was the only peaceful place in the forest as the rest was filled with vicious predators and man-eating plants.

    Queen made her way over to the edge of the pond, removed her stilettos and sat on the soft green grass surrounding it, dipping her feet in the cool water.

    Tears welled up in her golden eyes and she wept silently by the cursed pond in the deepest, darkest depths of the dark goblins¡¯ forest.

    ********

    Hours passed by quickly at the pond, the sun had begun to set and heavy silence fell upon the woods.

    Queen dried herself with a burst of hot air after praying to the golden spirits and then got back into her stilettos.

    The journey back to the goblin infested castle was short and quiet, yet far less peaceful than the one to the pond.

    Countless foolish beasts had attempted kill Queen along the way, but of course, they were easily dealt with.

    Night soon came and the light of the great planet Lucidem guided her path, right back to her boredom.

    Every individual ogre and goblin bowed at her presence as she walked through her castle, back to the throne hall where a brand new throne was sitting.

    This time it was a much prettier mythril throne with actual cushions to sit on, a vast improvement from before.

    As Queen reached her new throne a goblin messenger nervously approached her before bowing extremely deeply and clearing its throat awkwardly.

    ¡°Y-Your highness,¡± it began, ¡°We¡¯ve suffered heavy damages on the frontlines, the third and fifth battalion were c-completely d-d-decimated¡­ a-and the humans are pushing us back. It seemed they had paid off several elite Elvin mages to fight for them. A-Also¡­ t-the goblin messenger we had s-sent out to the dwarves for the alliance¡­ w-well it seems th-they¡¯ve sent back his head¡­¡±

    Throughout the entire report a heavy miasma was building up around Queen and killing intent had surged throughout the entire castle while the messenger who took the brunt of it had soiled himself.

    ¡°¡­Retreat,¡± whispered Queen.

    ¡°B-Beg your pardon Y-Your Highness?¡± squeaked the nuisance.

    ¡°I said¡­ retreat. We shall retreat for now, we cannot afford to lose any more number, it¡¯s the only thing we have,¡± explained Queen.

    ¡°Y-Yes Your Highness, r-right away!¡± stammered the annoyance.

    ¡°Also¡­¡± continued Queen,¡± inform the entire territory that I¡¯ve come to a decision. Everyone is to lay low¡­ until I say so. We need more numbers and warriors¡­ so build up our armies, keep a minimum of soldiers on the border to ensure the humans don¡¯t do anything rash¡­ When I decide the time is right¡­ I will personally oversee each tribe and pick out the best warriors for the first battalion. That is all¡­ GO!¡±

    Queen gave her biggest sigh so far and walked over to the dead body of the frightened messenger.

    He¡¯d died from being in her presence for too long which happened far too often than she liked.

    ¡°Well, you all heard it, go!¡± Queen shouted to the rest in the throne hall before muttering to herself, ¡°I need a break.¡±

    ********

    ¡°Wow! That is sooo much better,¡± Queen thought to herself as she lay in a corpse angel.

    Corpse angels were a creation of her own that she¡¯d just invented.

    When there were enough corpses around you can lie down in their remains, limbs stretching outwards and then flap your arms up and down in the gore to look like the imprint of an angel.

    Queen thought they were very beautiful, but they were more of a sometimes thing because you get very dirty, but seeing as she was already layered with blood and guts, it seemed appropriate.

    Her guests on the other hand, didn¡¯t seem agree with her.

    Surrounding her was a massive battlefield filled with goblin, ogre and human corpses with a stray elf here and there in the mix.

    Earlier Queen had rushed out into the battleground while the goblins were retreating and blew off some steam.

    Getting in the midst of it, slicing, dicing and crushing really helped improve her mood.

    The goblins had rushed back to their territory in relief, thanking their saviour and Queen, whilst the humans watched in on fear and disgust as their fellow soldiers were brutally torn apart.

    Fun had to end however, and the humans brought out their trump card; their elf mages.

    The pointy eared bastards¡¯ magic was raining on Queen¡¯s parade, ending all of her fun.

    They had some sort of magic shield that she couldn¡¯t penetrate so no wonder the pitiful goblins didn¡¯t have a chance.

    Grumpy, Queen set back to the castle to have a good bath and return to her lonely rule.

    The entire way back, longing for someone else to help her, empathise with her, or perhaps someone just to be friends with that wasn¡¯t green or smelly.

    Nevertheless, it probably would never happen¡­ and scars etched in her mind still ached, threatening to push her over the edge, into the endless abyss, provided she wasn¡¯t there already.

 Chapter 11 - Pain

    ¡°FIGHT!¡± the menacing last words of the ogre echoed in Ashton¡¯s head ominously.

    Yet now he was left alone in his jail cell, the boulder no longer blocking the exit, what did the ogre mean, should he leave?

    His questions were soon dismissed as several spine-chilling howls and screaming echoed throughout the room, the source of them getting closer and closer.

    Seconds later the ogre lumbered back into the room, a wailing little goblin slung over his shoulder.

    On closer inspection, the skinny goblin was desperately digging its long, five inch filthy talons into the ogres back, but the ogre seemed not to mind it too much.

    The goblins obnoxious screaming did seem to matter to the ogre as it grabbed the green brat around the waist and slammed it into the ground with a sickening crunch.

    ¡°Fight,¡± repeated the ogre before marching out of the cell and blocking the exit once again, leaving Ashton and the goblin in silence.

    Now that the goblin was right in front of him, its face mashed into the ground, it seemed it was rather young and as starving as he was.

    The majority of its bones could be seen under its skin and eyes were sunken right back into their sockets like Ashton¡¯s.

    The goblin¡¯s eyes opened and stared right at Ashton who was squatting down in front of him, the sudden action sent him tumbling backwards in shock.

    Seeing the goblin¡¯s eyes made him gasp, the goblin looked at him as if here were prey, glowing with hunger.

    ¡°Move!¡± Ash shouted desperately, but it was a little too late.

    The goblin had already pounced onto Ashton, slamming into his front, knocking him flat on his back before mounting him.

    Its claws waved wildly and hastily, trying to slash at Ashton¡¯s face, perhaps gouge out his eyes.

    Ashton attempted to block with his forearms, the goblins sharp talons sank into his flesh, scraping against the exposed bone.

    A few screams of agony were thrown about and Ashton rolled over, throwing the small goblin off his waist.

    Ashton slowly retreated backwards before hitting the wall, the corner in fact while the goblin leapt up and prepared for another dash yet it suddenly screeched and doubled over pain.

    ¡°Quickly! Counter attack, the ogre must have injured him earlier, hurry!¡± urged Ash.

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    Hesitantly, Ashton followed Ash¡¯s advice, slowly approaching the goblin.

    Up close he could see one of the goblins ribs poking out of its skin, blood gushing from the wound like a hose.

    As he was about to strike, the goblin grabbed him around the waist in a bear hug and rammed him into the cell wall behind them.

    The shock reverberated throughout his bones and he quickly dived out of the way as the goblin ruthlessly lashed out its claws which collided with the wall, snapping the talons off at the base.

    The goblin howled in pain, dancing around stupidly to ward it off until Ashton ran at him, sending a well placed elbow into the back of its skull, the force knocking into the wall, tearing away into its leathery skin.

    Blood spurted from the new hole, leaking all over its left eye, partially blinding it.

    Ashton took advantage of the situation and sent a fist up into the base of its jaw, rattling its brain a little, but not enough to knock it out, only enough to knock it to the ground.

    Stumbling backwards and panting heavily, Ashton bent over and puked mostly water all over the floor, before he began to mumble incoherent nonsense to himself, thinking that he¡¯d finished the fight.

    But the suffering wasn¡¯t over yet.

    ¡°Duck!¡± yelled Ash, having noticed the goblin darting towards them in the corner of their eye.

    But of course the warning was too slow, or Ashton¡¯s reflexes weren¡¯t fast enough, probably both, regardless, the goblin Ashton grabbed Ashton by the head and kneed him will full force, splitting Ashton¡¯s forehead open too.

    Ashton dropped to the ground in front of the goblins feet, to which the goblin followed up with by stomping repeatedly on his head.

    The goblin lifted Ashton up by his hair and looked into his eyes, a smug look on its face as blood slowly trickled down Ashton¡¯s hair, seeping into his right eye.

    The goblin flashed his yellow fangs at Ashton and opened up right, ready to chomp into his face but Ashton responded by spitting into its right eye.

    The goblin dropped Ashton to the floor in shock and his ankles were grasped tightly by him right after.

    Ashton clung onto it with all of his strength and sank his own teeth into the goblin¡¯s heel, severing the Achilles tendon.

    It clumsily flailed around, trying to support itself with one leg before crashing down grandly.

    Both Ashton and the goblin stared at each other furiously and the goblin crawled over to Ashton, foaming at the mouth.

    Ashton awkwardly shuffled backwards as quickly as he could, trying to create as much distance as possible before he slammed into the wall again.

    His view clouded over and one eye was too full of blood to see out of, he could no longer think straight and he now relied purely on instincts.

    Before the goblin could make it to Ashton, Ashton pounced onto it, mounting its back.

    The goblin knew it was in a dangerous position and squirmed furiously underneath Ashton, getting onto its back as Ashton wasn¡¯t exactly that heavy or experienced.

    Experienced or not however, Ashton could throw a punch, which he did, cracking down onto the goblins nose sending it into a panic.

    Ashton was now in control, he bent down and pinned both of its hands to the ground, limiting both of their movements in the process.

    Handed an opportunity, the goblin took the initiative and sank its fangs into Ashton¡¯s bare neck, his warm blood filling its mouth.

    Ashton let go instantly and desperately tried to tear the goblin off of him and while he panicked the goblin retook control, crawling out from underneath, tearing out part of his throat in the process.

    Ashton choked on the blood rising up in his throat and the goblin mercilessly stabbed its talons into his abdomen, spearing his innards.

    Ashton slumped over onto his back and laid hopelessly on the floor, his strength and consciousness leaving him.

    Yet life would not release him front its clutches and a strong impulse, or command shot through his body,

    ¡°You must not give up, you cannot die.¡±

    Prematurely celebrating its victory, the goblin was feasting, chomping into the thigh of the half dead Ashton, relishing its first proper meal since birth.

    But the match wasn¡¯t over yet, and Ashton lashed his hand out towards the unaware goblin¡¯s eyes.

    Blood sprayed all over both their faces as Ashton dug around the inside of the goblins eye sockets, diving deeper into its head before sinking into the soft, spongy organ that was the brain¡­

    ¡­and then collapsing onto the body of his first of many still to come victims.

 Chapter 12 - Delusional

    ¡°Oh hey, you¡¯re up, how do you feel?¡± Asked a familiar voice.

    Ashton slowly got up, his vision clearing, sounds rushed in and he had a lazy yawn. The familiar view of the cell roof blinked back into existence, as well as the nauseating smell of faeces and blood. Memories of what had just occurred slowly entered Ashton¡¯s head and he bolted upright in panic, looking around the cell for any danger. He gave a sigh of relief briefly before the blood rapidly drained from his face and it dawned on him what he¡¯d done. His hands shook, his veins pulsed and a loud ringing noise blocked out all sound. Ash tried to talk to him but nothing he said got through, Ashton¡¯s reality was crashing down around him and he didn¡¯t know what to do. His heart rate sped up, he found it harder to breathe and the guilt of murder slammed into him like a truck on a freeway. CRACK! After spewing up who-knows-what Ashton collapsed unconscious into his own vomit.

    ********

    The daunting sound of the boulder blocking the exit being rolled out of the way again irritated Ash greatly. Things were bad enough with Ashton flipping out after killing the goblin, but now the fucking ogre had to get involved. The obnoxiously loud footsteps of the ogre got increasingly louder until the ogre picked Ashton up by the neck with it¡¯s greasy hand and tucked him underneath it¡¯s foul armpit. Ash was genuinely surprised Ashton was still unconscious with the toxic smell of festering road kill that was the ogre¡¯s scent.

    CRUNCH! Ashton¡¯s body collided with the ground with great force and Ash felt one of the bones in Ashton¡¯s forearm snap. A light white glow appeared around the arm briefly as the interior rapidly mended and the injury was as good as new within seconds. Ash wasn¡¯t certain why he could now use healing magic, but he was pretty sure that ogre had now allowed it to ensure Ashton¡¯s survival. His surroundings go lively and Ash could hear several creatures talking in another language. More and more people flooded in to wherever he was now and Ashton could no longer perceive what was happening around him. Having no vision probably didn¡¯t help with that, if only Ashton had fainted with his eyes open.

    ********

    Hours passed, Ashton was still unconscious, the goblin/ogres or whatever they were, were still talking and hanging about in the same room as Ash. Ash had considered waking up Ashton by force, but considering the circumstances and his current mental state, he figured it wouldn¡¯t help the situation very much, if not make it worse. Abruptly someone shouted over everybody and the room went silent. The shouter spoke for around ten minutes, finishing his overly long speech with a short chant, to which everyone else repeated loudly. The noise level then subtly rose back to normal and business continued as usual. A few minutes later a few voices came over to Ash, having a heated discussion. Ashton was then hauled up by the neck and shaken around in the air furiously.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Here comes trouble,¡± Ashton thought to himself.

    ********

    An intense wave of heat assaulted Ashton¡¯s face, followed by a hot liquid trickling from his nose, down his face. The heat was shortly followed by pain and Ashton cried out in shock. Looking up he came face to face with a pair of scrutinizing eyes. The ogre staring at him was different from the one from earlier, it seemed much wiser. His nose began rapidly mending in front of the ogre, and it nodded in approval before tossing him to the floor and walking off with fellow ogres.

    ¡°W... What happened? I... I can¡¯t remember anything after being hit by the goblin,¡± remarked Ashton.

    ¡°Umm¡­ well¡­¡± Ash paused for a few seconds before continuing on, ¡°The goblin knocked you out and was taken out of the cell before you were eaten by the ogre.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ That¡¯s good then,¡± responded Ashton, who for some reason couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that there was something more. ¡°Ah! How did you heal me? I thought you couldn¡¯t use magic anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain, but I believe that the ogre gave me permission, or rather forced me to heal you when possible, since you almost died,¡± answered Ashton. ¡°Hmmm, that could be problematic in the future, I have this impulse to heal you as much as possible whenever you¡¯re injured in the slightest at the moment¡­ and since I¡¯m a little too good at magic, I could practically keep healing you forever.¡±

    ¡°Wha-¡° Ashton¡¯s question was cut short when a group of goblin¡¯s surrounded Ashton, chain in hands.

    The ogre who comes to the prison yelled over everyone to the goblins and they got to work, pouncing on Ashton before he could do anything. His hands and feet were bound together and he was carried over to a large marble table in the centre of the room. The marble structure stood out amongst the rest of the dirty room, with its grimy clay walls, dirt floor and timber roof. The goblins tossed Ashton onto the table and scattered into the rest of the crowd.

    A loud menacing voice spoke out over everyone; silence once again fell over the room. His speech went on for minutes and Ashton looked out over the crowd, panicking. Hundreds of green and black faces were staring scarily at him, their sickly, beady eyes not wavering a bit. The voice¡¯s speech came to an end and it chanted out something. Everyone else repeated the chant, over and over, the chant getting louder, more threatening and increasingly terrifying. A large ogre grabbed Ashton by the torso, holding him down to the table, while three dark skinned goblins crowded around his head. The tallest one pulled out a short dagger from nowhere and the other two pried Ashton¡¯s mouth open.

    Ashton looked up pleadingly to the goblin with the dagger, tears in his eyes, but the cold eyes of the goblin showed no hesitation. It yanked Ashton¡¯s tongue up and sliced it off with one smooth flowing movement. The chanting ceased and the only sound left in the room was the gut wrenching screams of Ashton. Blood filled his mouth and he grew dangerously pale. His mouth was pried open again, and the one who cut out his tongue snapped his fingers, lighting a small flame. The goblin held the flame against the bleeding flesh, cauterizing the wound. Ashton¡¯s screaming grew louder yet, as he thrashed in his chains, mad with pain. The tall dark goblin looked down at Ashton with annoyance, then it¡¯s fist connected with his temple and he was knocked out cold.

 Chapter 13 - Disappointment

    Ashton sat in the corner of the room, silently pitying himself, deeply absorbed in exploring the large amount of new space in his mouth that could no longer be probed without the use of his hands. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. Tears stained his face, or rather you could see where the tears had travelled because of the dirt and grime built up everywhere else. The pain in Ashton¡¯s mouth and gut had kept him up form more than two days now, slowly ticking over to a third. A feeling of deep guilt was carved directly into his heart, Ashton himself unaware of why, but nevertheless it gradually chipped away at his sanity.

    A small pile of human tongue¡¯s lay in the middle of the room. Totalling five they had slowly withered over time, the blood that had leaked from them had already dried, cementing the muscles to the floor. Every now and again Ashton would look over to the pile before quickly looking away and trying to stop himself from vomiting. Ash would attempt to put in some positive words sometimes, but Ashton thoroughly ignored him, blaming him for the majority of the pain. After all, Ash stubbornly healed the wound five times before admitting defeat, all the while Ashton was desperately begging him to stop.

    The daunting sound of the rock being moved echoed throughout the cell once again and Ashton cowered in the corner, making himself as small as possible. The usual ogre and his goblin sidekick strolled in through the ¡®doorway¡¯, thundering towards Ashton. The giant stepped directly into Ashton¡¯s pile of tongues, not giving them any notice. Minutes passed and Ashton grew progressively more anxious in the silence before finally giving in and peeking over his shoulder. The ogre¡¯s large, toothy grin met his eyes and Ashton scrambled further back into the corner of the cell in terror, once again trying to make himself look as small as possible.

    ¡°Cease your foolish resistance monster. Your training begins now. You will become strong or die. If you are not strong, we have no use of you. Now. Come or be punished,¡± growled the voice of the ogre directly into Ashton¡¯s mind.

    On the brink of tears, Ashton hesitantly stood up, his legs wobbling like a newborn calf. The ogre looked at him with eyes of disappointment. It then briskly walked off leaving behind Ashton and the smaller goblin. The goblin squealed at Ashton and beat him over the head and then proceeded to push him forward after the ogre.

    After a short walk out of Ashton¡¯s cell, up some stairs, out of a shabby wooden hut and down a dirt trail, the three arrived at a large open field. The field was covered with lush green grass, beautiful flowers and the freshly spilt blood of goblins. At the centre of the field was a large brown ogre carrying a hefty wooden club, or rather an uprooted tree with no leaves, roots or branches. The ogre in question was twice the size of the dark one next to Ashton and was merrily swinging its tree at a group of young goblins. The goblins relentlessly bolted towards the ogre with their small, rusty short swords, waving them wildly. But the ogre swung down its tree without holding back at the oncoming goblins sending them flying through the air. For most the long, soft grass had broken their fall, but a few unlucky ones died on impact, their blood coating the grass.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Wow, they sure look battered, am I right?¡± Joked Ash, only to be met with silence.

    An enormous force crashed into Ashton from behind and he was sent flying through the air, towards the ¡®training¡¯.

    ¡°Begin training. Now. I will return in one year to check on progress. Remember. Escape is impossible. Should you try¡­ You will never want to again,¡± grumbled the ogre.

    Just like that the ogre left, leaving behind Ashton, who was sitting dumbfounded on the grass. The small goblin which had always accompanied him remained behind with Ashton, its beady little eyes filled with a sense of burning curiosity. Ashton felt an uncomfortable prickling feeling all around his body and he looked around in panic, discovering that every goblin¡¯s eyes were glued to him. The goblins started yelling and screaming about something, presumably him, to the goblin who was left behind by the gore. It then yelled something back in reply, shutting the rest of them up instantly. The goblin then picked up a whip which it had at its feet the entire time and cracked it threateningly.

    ¡°Oi, Ashton. However grim it may appear you need to participate, otherwise I have a feeling that the consequences would be much worse,¡± advised Ash.

    Ash¡¯s words were once again met with silence, as Ashton stubbornly ignored his advice. The massive ogre coldly stared him down, twirling its club provocatively. A few goblins took that opportunity to strike from behind, lashing out at its unguarded ankles. However just as they were about to make contact, the ogres club cam smashing down from above, completely pulverising the hopeful newbies. Ashton stared, his mouth wide open in shock.

    ¡°To think that it would do that to its own allies,¡± mumbled Ashton in disbelief.

    ¡°Oh? So you¡¯re talking again?¡± Inquired Ash.

    ¡°Yes I can talk, but I have no wish to do so with you,¡± replied Ashton coldly, a tone which didn¡¯t suit him at all and came across more stiff than anything else.

    The goblin behind him cracked it¡¯s whip down on Ashton¡¯s back, as he groaned in pain another lashing met his back, before the ogre squawked something and pointed to the ogre.

    ¡°Come one, you need to do it, it¡¯ll be harder to do it after some whipping anyways so just go,¡± urged Ashton.

    Ashton looked back into the eyes of the goblin in fear. Ash was surprised to see a look of disappointment in its eyes, whilst Ashton seemed not to notice and was simply scared. He looked at the ogre who had returned to beating up the goblins and promised himself that he would survive this. Ashton then ran directly at the ogre with his bare hands, neglecting the short sword that the whip-goblin was about to hand to him. The ogre looked down at Ashton as if he were an annoying bug, slapping him away with his club, thus ending Ashton¡¯s training for the day as he was knocked out unconscious from the impact of a dead goblin¡¯s sword hitting him in the gut.

    ********

    Meanwhile back at the goblin village, two ogres were discussing things with great interest.

    ¡°Are you sure that thing can survive Ogakin? Usually he¡¯s only for the best of the best, at the very last stage of training. That monster may not last before it can be used to its full potential,¡± grumbled one ogre.

    ¡°Relax, you have not seen what it¡¯s gone through. That thing lasted three times longer than any other prisoner in that cell, with just half the rations. It killed a promising goblin warrior in its starving condition and that¡¯s without its tremendous healing ability. It recovered from a near death state in just one minute!¡± Bragged the second ogre.

    ¡°Yes, while that is true, just one hit from Ogakin could liquefy its brain, I think we should start it off at an easier training level,¡± replied the first ogre.

    ¡°Without any risk, there will be no reward. Was it not you who said that? Sure if the monster dies then it dies, but if it does not then we will be able to present her majesty with one of the finest warriors from these mountains,¡± boasted the second ogre.

    ¡°I can see where you are coming from, but my mind remains unchanged,¡± responded the first ogre.

    ¡°Do not fear, even without the monster we still have the ruthless one. That thing was just a bonus in the end,¡± reassured the second.

    ¡°Humph,¡± huffed the first. ¡°We shall see.¡±

 Chapter 14 - Hope

    In the deepest depths of the ancient abandoned mines, located just a few kilometres south from the goblin village, a small, weak, golden light illuminated a tiny underground pond. A small child¡¯s face was reflected in the water, his golden eyes burning brightly. Little golden orbs flew out of the pond, fuelling the golden light, its intensity growing brighter and brighter. Soon the entire cavern was lit up, wispy golden orbs soared through the air revealing the stalactites lining the ceiling and shadows darting through the water of the pond.

    ¡°Get ready to run,¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± conversed two people in dead silence.

    The golden light glowed brighter than ever and circulated around young calloused hands. The orbs gravitated towards the young demon, gathering at his hands, squinting, the demon struggled to see anything over the intensity of the light. The golden orbs spun faster and faster in the boy¡¯s palms, compressing them into one giant orb the size of a basketball. The boy let out a groan as he pushed out his arms, sending the ball of light into the cavern wall. The ball exploded on impact, temporarily blinding him, sending him backwards into the icy pond.

    The demon slowly opened his eyes, fearful of any more bright light; instead all that remained was complete devastation. The entire side of the cavern was no more, entirely erased from existence. Instead a hole that went seemingly forever downwards was present. The edges of the bottomless pit were scorched as if a massive laser had caved through the planet. Red magma dripped off the sides of the hole and slowly made its way over to the boy.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s about time we go I reckon,¡± said Ash.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to agree with you on that one,¡± agreed Ashton.

    Ashton leapt out of the water and ran out of the cavern, back towards the goblin camp around a kilometre away through a series of maze-like tunnels, following the arrows he¡¯d carved on their way there, but not forgetting to erase them afterwards.

    ********

    ¡°I¡¯d say that was a great success, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± asked Ash.

    ¡°Success?! That was a disaster, we¡¯re lucky that we weren¡¯t found on the way back, what do you think is going to happen when they find it? We¡¯re the only ones here who can use magic!¡± yelled Ashton.

    ¡°Bullshit, they know we can use magic, but only for healing. That does not look like a healed wall. It went much better than I thought it would too. Well, it may have been a bit too much power, but it didn¡¯t blow up in our face like I thought it might,¡± revealed Ash.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°What!? You said there was no chance of that happening! That was the only reason I went along with this crazy idea! Also, how can you be so sure that they won¡¯t think it was us? I doubt we¡¯re the only ones who have thought of overriding things with mana like that. They¡¯ve been around for who knows how many years, while we¡¯ve only been here for six,¡± argued back Ashton.

    ¡°Listen, we need to do something about this, unless you¡¯re happy with being these things slaves for the rest of our lives, this may be our only chance to escape. While it might not have gone as well as we¡¯d hoped, it¡¯s certainly promising. We¡¯ve learnt that we can practically erase something from existence if we shove enough mana into it. I¡¯d say that¡¯s something pretty good to remember. Sure, we can¡¯t use it to remove the collar for now; I¡¯d prefer to keep our head for the moment. After a while of practice, I¡¯d say we could vaporise that shit from existence!¡± proposed Ash.

    ¡°I¡­ I understand that we need to do something¡­ I just don¡¯t think we should do anything too risky¡­ I don¡¯t want anything like last time to happen as punishment. But¡­ I¡¯ll go along with this one, so you better promise to tell me everything from now on, okay?¡± question Ashton.

    ¡°Okay. You better stop being so wimpy though,¡± teased Ash.

    Grumbling, Ashton pulled his blanket up over his head and drifted off to sleep.

    ********

    ¡°Get up!¡± squealed a skinny, bony goblin, before chucking a pail of water at Ashton, soaking him from head to toe.

    ¡®Get up¡¯ were two words Ashton had managed to learn in goblin language. He didn¡¯t know many. The short list of words he knew, or rather assumed what they meant were; stop, get up, run, fight, go, work and Morath. He didn¡¯t know exactly what the meaning of Morath was, but it was what he was called by his fellow goblin trainees. Getting up drenched was a normal thing too. They did it to anyone who woke up late for work, so Ashton had experienced hundreds of wet, cold mornings already. After getting dressed into his animal hide chest-wear and his baggy trousers, he exited his humble abode, following the shiny bald heads in front of him; Ashton arrived at the latest worksite.

    The mines. They entered them around three weeks ago and had planned to stay for another twelve. They got up early in the morning in darkness, mined for twelve hours straight under the supervision of the ogres, and then went back to their one man tents to sleep, and then repeat. There were no mine-carts or anything of the sort, so they hauled all of the resources through kilometres of twisting tunnels in shadows, all the way back to the village at the end of each week (eight days).

    ********

    After four years of gruelling labour, Ashton¡¯s body had become rather muscular, for a six year old anyway. Well toned arms and legs, even a six pack, which looked rather odd on the body of a child. He was a tall as an adult goblin now, so he¡¯d blend right in with the crowd if his skin wasn¡¯t so dark¡­ and not so¡­ not green. Shaggy black hair covered the top of his head, then ends merging together, forming some rather thick dreadlocks. His pitch black horns curved upwards from his temples like bull, the points as sharp as the tip of a spear. He¡¯d lost the overall pudginess that he¡¯d had as a toddler and there wasn¡¯t an ounce of fat to be found on his body. The most impressive, or interesting thing about his appearance, was the wicket set of tribal tattoos that covered his entire body. His favourite was a simply designed dragon; it came up across his neck and curled around his left eye. As bizarre as they were, he still had no idea how, or why they were there.

    ¡°Work!¡± roared a slightly overweight ogre, spraying bits of spittle all over the back of Ashton¡¯s head, before lashing out with a whip across Ashton¡¯s arms.

    Ashton dropped his rusty pickaxe in shock and Ash quickly followed up with a heal. The ogre¡¯s foul stench wafted over to Ashton and he gagged, trying his best not to bring anything up. The last time he did that he received several generous lashings as punishment. Ignoring the pain still burning furiously in his arm, Ashton picked up the pickaxe and continued smashing away in the dark, determined to escape, willing to do almost anything to escape the life of endless labour he was heading towards.

 Chapter 15 - Preparations

    ¡°P¡­ Please! I¡­ I¡¯ll do anything you want, just as long as you don¡¯t hurt my family!¡± begged a rather pale human sobbing on the floor.

    ¡°That depends on what you do from here on Minister Alastair. If you follow my instructions exactly, then no harm will come to any of them. However, if you tell anyone about our little deal, or try to resist in any way, you will most definitely come to regret it. Understand?¡± questioned a tall, muscular human with a scar running vertically down his face.

    ¡°I¡­ I understand,¡± sobbed Alastair.

    ¡°Excellent! I¡¯m glad you understand. Now, here¡¯s what you have to do. It¡¯s simple really, kill the king. Any way you can. Better yet, take out the entire family, but that¡¯s just for bonus points, although I might even let you live if you can manage that. You see this is really important to me, I¡¯m really trusting you here and you really do not want to betray my trust. Okay?¡± asked the man.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ The king¡­ I¡­ can¡¯t do it¡­¡±mumbled Alastair.

    ¡°Oh shit¡­ Did you really just say what I thought you did. You really did not just say that did you? Please tell me you didn¡¯t Minister, tell me. Cause I really don¡¯t want it to come to this. I really thought I could put my trust in you. SO SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME FOR ME!¡± roared the man.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it¡­¡± sobbed Alastair quietly.

    ¡°Okay. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you Minister. BRING IN THE WIFE!¡± the man yelled down the empty corridor next to them.

    Scraping footsteps and muffled screams echoed throughout the corridor, the Ministers face grew paler and paler by the second. An orc dressed in shining armour from head to toe rounded the corner carrying a very frightened female human over its shoulder.

    ¡°Elizabelle!¡± cried out Alastair desperately.

    ¡°Shhh¡­ Minister, compose yourself. This is a very important moment for you and I don¡¯t want you ruining it by crying out too soon. Now. This, all of this, is a direct result from your stupidity, you forced my hand, I don¡¯t enjoy killing people for fun you know? Actually, scratch that, I do, but¡­ I have to be reasonable don¡¯t I, and you wouldn¡¯t do shit if you lost your entire family. Luckily for me you have so many wonderful children, so I don¡¯t have to worry about running out of hostages any time soon. Also, I¡¯m warning you now, if you keep this up, it will only get sooo much worse each time. Now¡­¡±

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°Please¡­ P¡­ Please, I¡­ I¡¯ll do it, I¡¯ll do anything you want¡­ so¡­ so please don¡¯t hurt her,¡± begged Alastair.

    The man bent down next to Alastair and whispered right into his ear, ¡°It¡¯s too late now Minister. You should have listened to me earlier. So¡­ watch closely and remember this¡­ is what happens when you don¡¯t listen.¡±

    The man got up and walked over to the teary woman, pulling out a knife from his belt. He looked at her in the yes and said, ¡°Now this is nothing personal, it¡¯s just business for me and seeing as it was all your husband¡¯s fault and that I¡¯m feeling extra generous today, I¡¯ll let you off with a quick, hopefully painless death. No need to thank me.¡±

    With the quick slash of the knife the Minister¡¯s wife was no more. The knife tore straight through her throat, embedding itself in her spine. The man looked down grumpily and used both hands slice through the bone, lopping off the woman¡¯s head. Her warm blood rained down on both the man and the Minister. The orc had stepped backwards, avoiding the splash zone; he didn¡¯t want any stains on his shiny armour.

    The Minister stared at his wife¡¯s head, horrified, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. He knelt in silence, tears pouring down his face. The man turned back to the Minister and softly said, ¡°Now we have taken care of that, let¡¯s continue. My lovely associate here in the fancy armour is going to stay with you here and let¡¯s say¡­. advise you. He¡¯ll tell you what to do and you do it. Understand? Cause if not, I¡¯ll be happy to do this all over again, but I won¡¯t be so kind to the next victim. What¡¯s the eldest one¡¯s name again?¡±

    ¡°Lucy,¡± answered the orc.

    ¡°Yes Lucy, that¡¯s the one. If you don¡¯t keep up, Lucy¡¯s heads the next one on the chopping block. Then the second oldest, then the third and so on. Why that order? No reason. With that in mind, we¡¯ll be taking the remainder of your family with me. I trust there¡¯s no problem with that?¡± teased the man.

    As the man walked down the hallways of the Minister¡¯s mansion he admired the beauty of the staff¡¯s corpses, so much prettier than when they were living, no longer thrashing around and igniting chaos. With a smirk, the muscular, seven foot giant vanished from existence and standing there in his place was a six foot female demon. She had smooth, pale skin with a slight tint of blue, long dark violet hair that went down to her sleek, metre long tail that ended with a deadly point. From her thin, well proportioned body to her stunning face, she was beautiful, without fault. She wore short black shorts, with several leg belts, holding a variety of blades, her heavy black jacket was left open, and underneath she wore a simple, dark red singlet. The sound of her stilettos hitting the floor echoed throughout the mansion as she strode out.

    ¡°Hmph, stupid human,¡± muttered Queen, smirking as she left the house and faded away into the shadows.

    ********

    Tied up and gagged on her own bed, Lucy sat in silence, glaring at the goblins who were lustily staring at her and her siblings. Next to her were her five younger brothers and sisters, all tied up and gagged. Lucy¡¯s mother was dragged away by an orc while ago. She was absolutely petrified when it came in, orcs were creatures of myths and legends, and nobody thought they existed anymore, yet there it had been, wearing a set of shining armour. Lucy was getting worried about her Mother, it had been too long since something happened and the goblins were starting to get restless. A quiet sobbing could be heard next to her. Lucy looked down and saw her younger brother Arthur, who was only five years old, tearing up and frantically looking around. Lucy looked him the eyes with a strong piercing look that said clearly, I will make sure to protect you. Arthur sobbed a little more and then nodded back and looked back down at his feet.

    Suddenly the goblins went into a frenzy, running around the room, grabbing Lucy and her siblings and put them on their knees. Lucy grew vigilant as familiar scraping footsteps echoed throughout the house. The orc entered the room, pointed at Lucy and her siblings then grunted out in some language. The goblins screeched back in compliance then one went up to Arthur and smacked him on the top of his head, knocking him out.

    Lucy cried out in shock, along with the rest of her siblings. The goblin grunted at them and then one by one it knocked them over the top of their heads. Lucy stared into the eyes of the goblin with defiance as its fist cracked down on her head, sending her to the ground unconscious.

 Chapter 16 - Timber!

    Vibrant golden light reflected brightly off a pool of dark blood. The blood oozed slowly out of the still warm body of a giant wolf. It¡¯s once proud silver fur was now dyed red with its own thick blood. A young boy¡¯s heavy breathing could be heard in the otherwise silent forest. The silvery light of the planet hanging above the sky merged with the golden radiance of the boy¡¯s magic. Golden orbs were dragged out from the surrounding nature, gravitating towards a large orb of light hovering above the boy¡¯s hand. The boy gritted his teeth, sweat gushed from all of his pores and he went bright red in the face. The orb shook violently as it was slowly crushed from all sides, gradually being compressed. The light flickered intensely and the boy unleashed all of his energy, blocking out everything but the orb. The small orbs dotted throughout the forest came to a halt and fell to the ground as the orb¡¯s light dyed down slowly. All that remained was a small translucent orb the size of marble that let out as much light as a light bulb. The boy looked at the orb in his hands and broke out into a massive, relief filled grin.

    ¡°Yes!!¡± cheered both Ash and Ashton in their head.

    Ashton threw his hands up in victory, sending the orb flying up into the air like a helium balloon. His heart sunk as he watched it slowly fly away as if gravity didn¡¯t affect it, right up until it reached the limit of Ash¡¯s area of control and exploded, blasting miniature golden orbs in every direction like a firework. Falling to his knees, tears in his eyes, Ashton cursed his own foolishness.

    ¡°YOU FUCKING IDIOT!¡± bellowed Ash. ¡°You have no idea how much mana we just wasted. It¡¯ll take months before we can try again!¡±

    Ashton remained unresponsive, lying on his back looking up at the golden orbs slowly drifting back to the ground like a group of fireflies dancing through the sky.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?! Get the fuck up! They definitely saw that you idiot!¡± yelled Ash furiously.

    ¡°Ah¡­ yes, sorry,¡± murmured Ashton dazedly.

    Ashton slapped himself, slipping out of his daze. As if a switch flipped on somewhere inside of him Ashton suddenly got very serious and dashed off into the woods, running along with the wind. It was as if the trees in the forest parted for him as he bolted through, not getting caught on a single branch. In the corner of his eye Ashton spotted several torches drifting over to where he was earlier. Climbing up a nearby tree, Ashton continued his journey from branch to branch, eventually arriving back at the goblin camp. Waiting by the perimeter Ashton leapt into motion when a gap appeared in the night patrols guard, weaving through the tents silently like an assassin before reaching his crappy tent and diving into the bundled up grass that was his bed.

    ********

    Footsteps approached Ashton¡¯s tent, rousing him from his sleep. An old goblin covered with scars like he¡¯d been mauled by several tigers entered, carrying a pail of water. Their eyes met and the goblin huffed, walking away with disappointment, sad he couldn¡¯t drench Ashton with the water. Thus began Ashton¡¯s morning routine, beginning with the packing up of his tent. Following that he searched for a water source to bathe in and attempted to scrape off the plaque that was building up on his teeth. Practising his set of morning exercises with his fellow trainees came next and then finally the months task began; cutting down trees and delivering them back to the village.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Chopping down trees was surprisingly difficult for Ashton. He figured after all that mining it would be a piece of cake with his rock hard biceps. However the trees were far more ¡®alive¡¯ than they were on Earth, they could manipulate mana within their bodies, compressing certain areas, petrifying the wood. The larger the tree, the more mana it could circulate through its system, allowing more area to be petrified. Some trees could flood so much mana to the area it could become as hard as diamond. To combat that, the goblins split into groups, chopping at the same time from different directions, only the oldest and most skilled trees could protect themselves from so many attacks from so many directions.

    All of the goblins at the camp shunned Ashton, refusing to work with him, forcing Ashton to improvise. Ashton walked up to a large tree, axe in either hand. The tree was twice as wide as he was and as tall as a four storey building. Ashton leapt up as high as he could, driving each axe into the bark, suspending himself in the air a few feet up. From there he continued to climb up by driving his axes into the tree, swing as hard as he could. The tree tried to fight back, only managing to stop Ashton from piercing the bark every third swing. By the time he reached the top, half an hour had passed and Ashton was drenched with sweat, barely conscious. Crawling a metre out onto a large branch he stopped to take a rest, only intending on a ten minute break, yet it was too relaxing at the top of the tree, away from all the worries of his new life and Ashton drifted off to sleep within a minute.

    ********

    ¡°Ahem,¡± huffed Ash.

    Ashton woke up startled, tumbling off his branch, only just managing to hang on by the end of his axe. Fiddling around foolishly, Ashton attempted to hook the other axe on the branch for more stability. However¡­ CREAK! The branch suddenly collapsed for no reason and Ashton was sent flying towards the ground.

    Ashton screamed helplessly as he sped faster and faster to his horrible fate. The world began to spin around him, faster and faster and faster. Colours blurred together and Ashton felt as if someone had punched him in the nose. His senses got weaker and weaker until he lost complete control over his body. Then, as if he were a well crafted puppet on strings, his body moved on its own, throwing one axe at the tree, lodging it in place and then quickly hooking onto the end of the handle with the other, all in less than a second. Colours, sounds, smells and pain all rushed back into Ashton, so dizzyingly fast, he almost lost his grip on the axe. Intense throbbing pain surged from his shoulder and Ashton looked up to find it was barely attached. The force of the fall had dislocated his shoulder and then torn away at the flesh leaving it dangling by a little bit of muscle and tendon. The pain crashed down onto Ashton¡¯s mind, wave after wave, he couldn¡¯t think straight at all. The arm was barely holding on to the axe now and Ashton made a quick decision. He pulled up with all his might then grabbed onto the axe with his other arm and as the broken arm gave away, still clutching the handle of the axe.

    ¡°G¡­ Get it! I can fix it, just bring it close!¡± cried out Ash who was experiencing the same pain as Ashton.

    Ashton grabbed his arm and held it next to his shoulder socket. The muscles and tendons weaved back together, tugging the arm, fixing it back into place, followed up by the blood vessels realigning, the flesh stitching together and then finally the skin bound itself back together.

    ¡°Never gets any better,¡± grumbled Ashton.

    ¡°You¡¯re bloody lucky I took control before. If not, it would¡¯ve been a lot worse than just a single arm. That fucking tree though. Thinks it¡¯s sooo clever, sacrificing a branch to kill us,¡± spat Ash venomously

    ¡°W¡­ Wait. Since when could you take control of my body like that?!¡± question Ashton.

    ¡°Not that long ago, I got bored while you were sleeping and gave it a go. Wasn¡¯t that difficult really, I can¡¯t last that long though, only up to an hour,¡± admitted Ash.

    ¡°W¡­ Were you considering telling me any time soon?¡± asked Ashton.

    ¡°What? You have a problem with me taking control? Or is the body only good enough for you?¡± accused Ash.

    ¡°N¡­ No! I¡­ I¡­ I just thought it would be helpful to know that,¡± stammered Ashton.

    ¡°Well now you know and that¡¯s that,¡± concluded Ash.

    Wary, Ashton continued with the task at hand. He worked his way all the way back up to the top of the tree, not stopping to take a break this time. He then savoured the feeling of hacking off every individual branch as the tree desperately tried to stop him. By the time he¡¯d clipped off all of the branches the tree had exhausted all of its mana and could no longer stop Ashton¡¯s chopping. Eventually, after two hours of hacking away at the trunk, the tree fell, knocking over another two rather large trees in the process. Happy with himself, Ashton then walked over to the ogre in charge back at camp and told him what he¡¯d done, requesting assistance to drag them back to camp through a rather long, overcomplicated game over charades. To which the ogre answered with a fist to the face. Another three hours of hauling trees back to the village, Ashton was finally permitted to rest, drifting off to sleep once again within a minute.

 Chapter 17 - Monster

    Ashton drew quick short breaths, staring at the bodies before him, their warm blood painting the ground red. He could still remember the agonising pain from his neck as he held it, feeling the freshly healed skin. The goblin before him began to convulse, its head was caved in and an axe was still firmly planted in the remains. Ashton stared blankly at the corpses before him, memories of the time he spent in the cell years ago flooded back to him. Images of the dead goblin he first killed flashed through his head. His face grew hot and tears ran down his face, mixing together with the blood. An enormous impact slammed into him from the front, his throat grew tight ad he began to suffocate. Looking down Ashton saw one of the ogre trainers giving him a death glare with bloodshot eyes. Ashton¡¯s eyes were slowly being squeezed out of their sockets and his face was turning an unnatural shade of purple. The ogre grunted, tossing Ashton to the ground, his head colliding with a rock, breaking off one of his horns and knocking him out immediately.

    ********

    A day earlier¡­

    ¡°The monster has to go,¡± growled Grart. ¡°Chief has gone mad with age. He has lost the edge he once had. We must take matters into our own hands before that monster does something irreversible. It¡¯s practically human and yet we are letting it train with us, making it stronger! Now. Either come with me and let us purge the evil, or¡­ leave and forget you were ever here,¡± declared Grart.

    The ten goblins before him shuffled around, discussing the matter between them before settling back down again. Three out of the ten had left, leaving Grart deeply disappointed with them, but that much was within his expectations. The rest stared resolutely towards Grart, awaiting his words. Grart smiled to himself, their loyalty fuelling his rampart pride and ego.

    ¡°Well now that the weak have left, let us continue,¡± began Grart. ¡°The plan is simple; during the next day of logging we shall invite him to our group. Then, we will take him out far into the woods, farther than any of the other groups. After killing him with our superior numbers, we will tear apart his corpse to make it look like a wild beast had killed him, while we leave, wash ourselves off and then go about our day as usual, forgetting such a thing ever happened. Any questions?¡± asked Grart icily.

    A few goblins appeared apprehensive, but after a glance at Grarts toxic glare, and not to mention his muscle bound body and his inch long talons, they backed down. Grart smirked, laughing on the inside, high off the power that he wielded.

    ¡°Well, we shall start tomorrow. Be there,¡± Grart stated.

    ********

    A clawed hand came down upon Ashton¡¯s face. Startled he woke up looking around warily. His eyes fell upon a group of seven goblins and one rather beefy one right in front of him, looking down at him with malice in his eyes. The boss-goblin grunted gruffly at him and gestured to follow him before walking off with his group. Ashton quickly tottered along after him, his face still stinging from the strike, starting to show signs of bruising already, but it returned to normal instantly, preventing any need for first aid.

    ¡°What a dick!¡± exclaimed Ash.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ and it was a large group for just cutting down trees. The largest I¡¯ve seen before was five, either there¡¯s a massive tree somewhere I haven¡¯t seen before or something¡¯s up,¡± determined Ashton.

    ¡°You¡¯re probably right, that look in its eyes sure wasn¡¯t one of, ¡®hey, wanna cut some trees down with us pal?¡¯ It was more of a, ¡®I want to disembowel you and then make you wear your intestines as a necklace and your stomach as a hat¡¯ sort of thing you know?¡± exaggerated Ash.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Ummm, I know what you mean, but I¡¯m not sure it was to that extent,¡± Ashton said nervously.

    ¡°Well, regardless, stay on your toes, I¡¯m ninety-seven percent sure something shitty is going to happen,¡± advised Ash.

    ¡°Sure¡­ Don¡¯t worry, they aren¡¯t fooling anyone anytime soon,¡± assured Ashton.

    The merry groups¡¯ walk continued for some time until they reached an area quite far out where Ashton was completely unfamiliar with. Growing increasingly anxious over time, Ashton was extremely jumpy, wary of everything around him. The goblin leader grunted something sending Ashton back metres away in fear. The other goblins just walked over to a large tree and got to work and Ashton let out a sigh of relief as the sound of axes chopping away reached his ears. The leader came over to Ashton and pointed at the tree, growling gruffly. Grasping his axes tightly, Ashton joined the others in chopping, slowly chipping away at the tree¡¯s mana reserves. After a few minutes, the tree let out a loud crunching noise and it slowly gave way, falling in Ashton¡¯s general direction.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ********

    ¡°NOW!¡± roared Grart, as the tree crashed down in the monster¡¯s direction.

    Lorg and Rarg, the two closest, tackled the monster to the ground, disarming him and then leaping out of the tree destruction path. The monster rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding the tree before jumping up into a fighting stance. Grart ordered everyone to attack him at once, meaning to overwhelm them in numbers while he stood back and watched in safety.

    The monster ran towards Rarg who was closest to it and ducked underneath the incoming swing of his axe. Parrying the second axe he pivoted behind Rarg, grabbing him from behind before using him as a shield to block an incoming strike from Golg who was swinging wildly towards them. Golgs axe sunk into Rargs collarbone, planting itself a few inches deep into his torso. Rarg screamed in pain as the monster tossed him to the side, picking up his axe and driving it through a stunned Golgs skull. Grart roared in anger and dashed towards the monster with the others. Two others swung for its head, yet it dived to the ground, rolling out of the way whilst slicing at their ankles with its axe. The two fell to the ground, unable to stand again, bawling like babies. Grart picked up Golgs axe, tossing it towards the monster. The axe lodged itself in the monster¡¯s upper back, sending it to the ground. Screeching in agony, the monster stayed on the ground, paralysed, unable to move.

    The others ran towards it, axes in hands, ready to kill, ¡°Stop!¡± Grart yelled to them, ¡°Stop¡­ Let us make him suffer for the others first, he must be punished for Rarg and Golg¡¯s deaths.

    Grart, Lorg and the other two who were still standing, Furg and Walg, all stood around the monster, glaring at him with pure hate. The two that had their ankles sliced were still on the ground, tending to their wounds, watching the monster groan on the ground with satisfaction. Grart rested his foot upon the monsters face, slowly crushing down with more and more force. It began to tear up and cried out in pain, only increasing Grarts pleasure.

    SLICE! A hot burning sensation exploded from Grarts left foot and he looked down to find his leg missing from the knee down. Grart stumbled over backwards, screaming in pain. Furg and Walg looked down at him in shock, distracted as the monster leapt back up, suddenly able to move again. The axe Grart had thrown was in his hand now, and seconds later buried in Lorgs neck. Lorg crumpled, his dead body falling on Grart. The monster swung at Furg who jumped back in the nick of time, only to step on a sharp rock, tumbling backwards to the ground. Leaping down upon him, the monster sliced at Furgs throat, spraying his blood across the glistening grass. Grart struggled underneath Lorgs dead body, his leg pulsing with heat, pain surging through his body.

    By the time he¡¯d gotten back up, barely stable, the monster had Grarts axe embedded firmly in Walg¡¯s shoulder. Walg screamed out in pain, lashing out with a punch, hitting the monster in the eye. It bent forward, holding its eye in pain and Grart took the opportunity to tackle it to the ground. The monster thrashed around, attempting to break Grarts hold, but Grart held on firmly around its waist, refusing to back down. Grart roared in pain as the monster bet down on his neck like a rabid animal, temporarily loosening his hold on it. Breaking free, it rolled them both over, mounting Grart and staring fearfully into his eyes. Grart reached out with both arms and clawed at his face, one arm stopped by its arm but the other raked across his face, finishing at his neck where Grart thrust forward, gouging his talons as deep as he could into its neck. Flailing around, it tried to hit him, eventually its fist finding Grarts face, repeatedly bringing it crashing down on his nose.

    Blood sprayed everywhere from the two, Grarts claws still digging through the monsters neck and the monster¡¯s fist still pummelling his face. Grart looked around desperately for the two who had their ankles cut, hoping for some help, only to find them both dead with their heads caved in. Walg, who took the axe to the shoulder, was passed out from blood loss, slumped against a tree. Grart looked at the creature on top of him, still struggling away, its neck was practically hanging open like a door on a hinge now, yet it still continued to pound away at Grarts face. Grarts vision was clouding over and he could feel his own skull creaking, about to give way. With one last triumphant glare, Grart flicked his hands outwards, tearing out a large portion of the monsters neck, spraying its putrid blood across his face, the two¡¯s blood, light and dark, pooled together creating a bizarre artwork on the canvas that was Grarts face.

    The monster roared in pain, bringing both hands to its neck, trying desperately to stop the blood from escaping. Grart leapt up at the chance he was given and kicked him off of him, slowly crawling away to Lorgs axe. He turned around, trying to locate the monster only to be blinded by a bright golden light. The light died down and Grart was stunned as the monster emerged from the radiance, healed, axe in hand. Grart clumsily tried to block an incoming swing with his axes handle, the monsters axe easily cleaving through the handle and Grarts forearm. The pain from his arm and leg was reduced to a light prickling feeling as his adrenaline kicked into overdrive and Grart ignored everything but the monster. Kicking off the ground with his remaining leg, Grart head butted the monster in the stomach with the force of a bull. He looked up from the ground, expecting to see the monster down with him, yet it still stood, grasping its axe tightly and looking down at Grart with pity.

    A surge of emotions overcame Grart and he looked around at the forest surrounding them. Covering the beautiful trees and luscious grass was the blood of his friends. He was at fault and their deaths were caused by his foolishness. It was his fault they¡¯d died, nobody else¡¯s but his. The axe headed towards his skull seemed as if it was travelling in slow motion, but Grart no longer panicked. Instead he cried, upset at his own selfishness, upset at his massive ego and pathetic pride. His arrogance and weakness had cost the lives of his friends and for what? Nothing. It was all in vain and for the first time in Grarts life he experienced regret. He regretted his decision to attack the monster. He regretted he had become arrogant over his superior strength. He regretted he had left behind his old family and friends and most of all he regretted that he had caused the death of his friends.

    ********

    The sun burned brightly over Grarts head. In the silent forest undisturbed by any animals or insects and surrounded by the beauty of nature and spilt blood, Grart at age twenty-two died, an axe was driven through his skull by a real life monster.

 Chapter 18 - Blood

    ¡°Regardless of the circumstances Chief, it killed nine of our own and for that he must be punished accordingly. It has to the follow the rules just like everyone else!¡± yelled a rather pointy ogre. Spikes lined his spine, shoulder blades and joints.

    ¡°Yes¡­ while it¡¯s regrettable you¡¯re correct Captain. For now lock him up and in a few days we¡¯ll go ahead with the proper ritual, I just hope it survives it,¡± lamented the old Chief.

    The captain spat on the ground in annoyance. ¡°Why? Why do you want to keep such a monstrosity alive, it¡¯s practically human and not even the strongest here. We don¡¯t need such a thing in our tribe and now it has gone and killed nine people. You should want it dead too!¡± roared the Captain.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong Captain. It is most definitely the strongest here. You were not there when it exploded, and with such pure mana which, mind you, instantly disintegrated over two hundred of our own already. Even without that, it has tremendous healing capabilities that can completely restore itself from almost death in seconds. That by itself makes it a strong asset, one that Queen will reward us greatly for. Well, provided it survives this, so please try not to kill it,¡± asked the Chief gloomily.

    ¡°You know I can¡¯t hold back anyone for this one Chief. They want blood and I do too,¡± answered the Captain, walking away and ending the conversation.

    ********

    Drip¡­ Drip¡­ Drip¡­ Drip¡­ Drip¡­ Drip¡­ Drip¡­ DRIP! Ash woke up, roaring with anger to find himself in a very familiar place. The distinct smell of blood and faeces entered his nose and he belched. Ash curled his fists, relishing the feeling of once again having a body, taking in all the senses, with the exception of smell of course. Ashton however, failed to respond to anything, he was completely out of it. The combined feelings of shock, horror, regret and disgust that came from killing had erupted into a mass of stress and anxiety, knocking him back into the furthest depths of their consciousness.

    The feeling of cool stone and rough dried blood felt pleasant on his palms, giving him a sense of firm existence. The dreaded feeling of misplacement and lack of being that the lack of a body gave him was no longer there, now he could do as he wished with nobody to interfere. Little did Ashton know, but whenever Ashton was unconscious, Ash had total control over the body and could do whatever he wanted and it was only when he was conscious that he was forced to use mana to take control. Ash was hesitant to reveal the truth to him, as he felt him knowing could only cause more harm than good overall.

    After a long set of complex exercises and stretches, Ash had once again adjusted to his physical body and was pumped for some action. As if responding to his thoughts, the nostalgic sound of the exit blocking boulder rolling out of the way reached his ears. Ash sat himself down in the corner of the cell and made himself look as frail and scared as possible. A huge ogre covered with dangerous looking spikes walked in, staring at Ash like he¡¯d just shit on his birthday cake. Taken aback, Ash let a look of genuine look of surprise show on his face before he quickly reverted back to his weak and helpless act. The ogre grunted at him before¡­ CRACK!

    Its meaty fist connected with Ash¡¯s jaw sending him flying across the room and into the wall, leaving a large bloody smear. Ash promptly healed his shattered jaw and fractured skull, still sticking with his weak and helpless act. Storming over loudly, the ogre loomed over him and hissed a few raspy words at him, Ash didn¡¯t even need to know what they were to figure out they were really toxic insults. The ogre then yanked Ash up by his neck and walked out of the cell, carrying him like a child would a teddy bear.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    As the two ascended the stairs of the jail house, Ash could hear a low rumbling noise in the distance, as they got higher and higher, the noise got increasingly louder. Over time the rumbling noise gradually transformed into an eerie chant comprised of roaring and screeching. After they left the safety of the building the noise exploded into a frenzied bloodthirsty death screech. Ash looked straight ahead at the monumental sight of hundreds of goblins and ogres all surrounding a large ring on a section of flattened hill. As the two approached, Ash identified the substance that constructed the ring as blood and the entire tribe was squashed up against it as close as possible, but taking care not to cross it. The spiky ogre abruptly threw Ash to the ground and kicked him in the back, grunting madly. Ash quickly leapt to his feet and walked forward to the ring, the tribe chanting again, with twice the ferocity.

    Spiky, as Ash had called him, lead him through the crowd, their passionate screeching sending saliva all over his face. Once they arrived at the centre, Spiky slapped him across the face, knocking out a few of his teeth in the process and then stripped him of all his clothing.

    Ash¡¯s face paled, ¡°Oh dear¡­ I didn¡¯t think it was one of these types of events,¡± thought Ash grimly.

    Spiky walked away, leaving a naked, apprehensive Ash in the centre of the hundred metre diameter circle, the chanting slowly coming to a halt. A smaller, older ogre, with furry white hair on its shoulders walked out from the crowd and rambled on about something, using no words that Ash could recognise, and when he finished a loud roar, or perhaps cheer erupted from the crowd. Elsewhere a gong crashed loudly, silencing the crowd and a large goblin, or perhaps a hobgoblin emerged from the audience and approached Ash. He wore no clothing just like him and many painful looking scars lined his body. Other than that, and his venomous smile, nothing else separated him from the others to Ash. The goblin cracked his knuckles threateningly and Ash let out a sigh of relief knowing it was just an ordinary battle to the death.

    The gong¡¯s obnoxiously loud clanging sounded from behind Ash and the goblin leapt into action, lunging towards Ash¡¯s throat. Smirking, Ash parried its wild swipe, closed the distance between the two, grabbed its furry ear and kicked it in the back of its knee, knocking it to the ground while simultaneously tearing off its ear. As it screamed in pain, clutching its bleeding ear hole, Ash hopped on its back, ramming its head into the ground. Ash listened to its repeated cursing and hissing as he repeatedly lifted its head as far back as possible before smashing it back down into the ground with as much force as he could muster. The satisfying sound of its screams as its head was driven into the dirt was pleasant, washing over the unpleasant screeching of the crowd.

    The clanging of the gong was mere white noise to Ash as he brought the head down again and again. Blood, bone and brain piled up on the soft grass, a stray eye could be found rolling though the bloodied blades.

    Ash looked down at the goblin paste before him and sighed, ¡°Only nine times before it gave way. Well, hopefully these others will do better!¡± he thought to himself as two more naked goblins ran towards him, frothing at the mouths.

    Clamping down on the corpse with his legs, Ash rolled over, bringing the corpse above him. The enraged swipes of both new goblins were deflected by their dead friends¡¯ stomach, tearing open the organ and spilling its stomach acid out all over the grass, instantly liquefying it. Ash looked at the powerful acid and thought to himself he should play with that later on. Ash tossed the corpse at the two goblins, one tumbling over backwards and the other rushing towards Ash. A powerful stomp narrowly missed Ash¡¯s skull as he rolled out of the way, leaping to his feet. The goblin charged forward intending to tackle him to the ground and Ash simply side stepped and ran to his friend on the ground, stomping on his head, its brains bursting out of its skull like a party popper. Ash huffed, annoyed at the easiness of the fight as the other goblin came charging towards him again. Instead of simply dodging the charge again he ducked down and flipped the goblin over his shoulder, sending him flat on his back. The goblin¡¯s head hit the ground, sending it into a daze and Ash smiled, ready for another round of playing. Regrettably, after a simple kick to the side of the head, the skull caved in, spearing the brain and killed it instantly.

    CLANG! Ash looked around, searching for his new toys, already associating the sound of the gong with more victims to play with. It seemed as if they¡¯d stopped going easy on him as a group of fifteen naked goblins emerged from the crowd. Ash could feel his blood buzzing underneath his skin from excitement and he quickly thought up a plan to take care of them. The feeling of warm blood and the soft squishy texture of flesh as he wriggled his arms around, elbow deep in a corpse for no reason invigorated him. After satisfying his temporary craving, he peeled away at the flesh of a goblin¡¯s thigh and tore out its thigh bone, or femur to be precise. The group of goblins looked horrified at Ash, a slight tinge of fear evident in their eyes. Before they could spread out and surround him, Ashton ran towards them, bringing the bone down onto one of their heads, killing it instantly. The next closest to him swung at him with its long, menacing claws, but Ash ran underneath it, driving the bone upwards through the bottom of its jaw, either killing it or knocking it unconscious.

    ¡°Two down, thirteen to go,¡± laughed Ash, staring lustily at the remaining goblins.

 Chapter 19 - Agony

    Squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ splat¡­

    Squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ splat¡­

    Squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ splat¡­

    Squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ squish¡­ splat¡­

    The arena was silent, the only exception being the sickening sounds of goblin remains being thrown about and an eerie madman¡¯s laugh. The front row of spectators stood perfectly still, their bodies splattered with warm blood. Nearly a hundred bodies, or what remained of them, were scattered about, dismembered bodies, disembowelled bodies, crushed heads, mashed organs, warm blood, battered flesh, minced meat and splintered bone. Lying in the centre of the bloodbath was Ash, face down in the gore, laughing into the carnage, the laughter being more gurgling than laughter, the blood bubbling and frothing around his mouth. In his left hand, he was holding the jaw of a dead goblin, swinging the bone into the warm paste over and over, pieces of fragmented skull lying nearby. The gurgling stopped and Ashton rolled over and lathering himself in the warm soupy mixture of blood, guts, viscera and bone. Seeing Spiky in the distance, who was giving him a glare of hatred and astonishment, Ash waved merrily to him, still clutching the jaw with a haunting smile plastered on his face.

    Ash could feel blood slowly ooze its way down his forehead and build up in his eyebrows, before dripping down, nestling in his eyelashes. The warm liquid gradually seeped into his eyes, dying his vision red and blurring the surroundings. Ash clamped his eyes shut, preventing any more from entering and wiped away the thick substance. He then shook his head wildly, flinging drops of blood through the air from his hair. After slicking his now red hair back, Ash opened his eyes to see a blurred fist, centimetres in front of him before a few spikes entered through his open eyes, sending him flying backwards.

    SPLASH! Ash collapsed into a pile of bloodied mince meat, his head bled all over him as he screamed in agony. His eyes had burst on impact and three dangerously long holes had been punched into his face. Ash tried to heal his mashed face but with possession of the body came no access to magic, so no matter how hard he tried he couldn¡¯t heal himself. He writhed on top of the pile of gore, struggling to think over the pain. A brain-rattling impact assaulted him from below as he felt his jaw give way. Spiky¡¯s fist had collided with his jaw, his bottom teeth were sent into his upper teeth, pulverising most of them, the few that were intact pierced the roof of his mouth as his entire jaw collapsed from the force and flapped about pointlessly by his neck, dangling by a small amount of skin and muscle tissue. The sounds of the cheering audience and heavy grunting of Spiky slowly died down, drifting away as Ash slowly drifted out of consciousness. Yet Spiky would not let him go that easily as¡­

    Crunch! Spiky drove his fist through Ash¡¯s ribcage, plunging through the flesh until he reached his spine. Ash groaned as Spiky crushed his spine with his fist, grinding it into powder. Ash lost his the feeling of his lower body, but it didn¡¯t make much difference with the indescribable pain assaulting his mind. Still, Spiky went on, plunging his other fist into Ash¡¯s chest, digging its way through his muscle tissue before reaching his heart. Spiky grasped the heart softly at first, before gradually tightening his hold, tighter and tighter until it burst¡­ and Ash screamed for the first time ever, in his entire life.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ********

    Drifting in a sea of darkness, with no boat, destination or any water was Ashton, lost in an abyss of despair lacking any senses or body. No sensations. No feeling, no sight, no smell, no taste and no hearing, only his thoughts. The guilt and shock of murder trapped him at the bottom of the sea, it was like an anchor tying him down to the ocean floor, except there was no anchor and there was no ocean or floor. The emptiness inside him slowly dug deeper and deeper into his figurative head and Ashton just let it happen, to him, he deserved it all. Murder was the worst possible thing he believed anyone could do, ending a life, and he ended ten. All with their own aspirations, dreams and memories. All with their own thoughts, feelings and emotions. Yet he had placed himself above them, he had deemed his own survival more important and he now had to carry those lives on his shoulders for the rest of his life, and they were truly heavy.

    ¡°They¡­ deserved it,¡± hissed a venomous voice.

    ¡°W-What? A-A-Ash was that you?¡± Ashton cried out to the endless darkness.

    A long silence followed with no answer.

    ¡°A-Ash?¡± sobbed Ashton.

    ¡°No¡­ I am you¡­¡± the voice hissed in response.

    ¡°A-Another one?!¡± Ashton burst out in surprise.

    ¡°Another one¡­?¡± the voice questioned momentarily. ¡°...Yes¡­ another one¡­ I am you¡­ You must listen to me¡­ leave this place¡­ it will only cause you more harm¡­¡±

    ¡°W-W-What do you mean, c-cause me harm?¡± hastily questioned Ashton.

    ¡°These petty emotions of yours¡­ regret¡­ guilt¡­ sadness¡­ they do not help¡­ anyone¡­ you¡­ were¡­ not at fault¡­ they¡­ attacked you¡­ You¡­ were going to die,¡± the voice answered hesitantly.

    ¡°No!¡± Yelled out Ashton suddenly. ¡°No¡­ I-I-I¡­ I killed them! It¡¯s all m-my fault. W-W-Why should I live instead o-of them?¡±

    ¡°Foolish¡­ why so¡­ foolish¡­ you ¡­ are the¡­ creator of all¡­ are you not¡­? ¡­You can do anything¡­ could you not¡­ just grant all life again¡­ in the¡­ future¡­? You¡­ can do¡­ whatever¡­ you want¡­ a few lives lost¡­ here¡­ and there¡­ should not¡­ matter¡­¡± assured the voice.

    ¡°B-B-But¡­ I-I¡­ ¡­it¡¯s¡­ ¡­wrong¡­¡± murmured Ashton.

    ¡°Nonsense¡­ staying¡­ here¡­ will only¡­ cause harm¡­ what good¡­ are you here¡­ to anyone? Even now¡­ the other one¡­ is suffering¡­ needing assistance¡­ dying¡­ ¡­Yet¡­ what¡­ are you doing¡­? Grieving¡­ over the loss¡­ of¡­ a few¡­ goblins¡­ who tried¡­ to kill you¡­ ¡­You¡­ the creator¡­ of all¡­ without you¡­ they¡­ wouldn¡¯t have lived¡­ in¡­ the first¡­ place¡­¡± hissed the voice calmly.

    ¡°The o-other? Ash? H-He¡¯s dying?!¡± yelled Ashton in shock.

    ¡°Yes¡­ while¡­ you stay¡­ here¡­ at this¡­ moment¡­ his spine... ¡­ or rather your¡­ spine,¡± corrected the voice. ¡°¡­ Is being ground¡­ to¡­ dust¡­¡±

    ¡°W-What?! What do I do?!¡± wailed Ashton.

    ¡°Accept¡­ to leave¡­ you must¡­ accept¡­¡± echoed the voice, slowly getting quieter and quieter.

    ¡°Accept?! H-How can I do that?!¡± cried out Ashton.

    The abyss, once again, returned to its endless silence, however, this time it was only for a brief moment before¡­

    An ear-splitting, gut wrenching, spine chilling scream echoed throughout the darkness, the voice was one he recognised. The screaming echoed, over and over and over. He could hear the pain in the inhuman scream, and time stood still. The guilt and despair clung onto him, trying to pull him deeper into the darkness, away from the screams, yet the venomous voice¡¯s words continued to circulate in his head, playing to the background of Ash¡¯s screeches.

    He killed them¡­ but he gave life to them. He killed them¡­ but he could bring them back¡­ He killed them¡­ but more could die without him.

    The darkness swirled around him, a cold feeling assaulted his very being from everywhere and the screams got incredibly louder. The anchor that sank him to the bottom no longer trapped him at the seabed and Ashton shot up like a rocket, flying to the surface, closer and closer. The darkness faded away, a low rumbling sound slowly reached his ears. A horrid stench slowly made its way towards him and he could taste a foul mixture of rotting meat and vinegar filling his mouth before¡­

    PAIN.

 Chapter 20 - Encounter

    Consistent, continuous clanging tore through the countryside, trees were ripped out of the ground and bushes were flattened. Hundreds of ogres and goblins marched in uniform, all of them suited up in thick, heavy, plated armour coated in mud and blood. Their tired grunts were silenced by ten foot tall battleaxes that threatened to swing down upon their necks from above and the owners of such weapons were enormous trolls. The trolls were nearly nine foot tall and had wrinkly, leathery, furry tan skin wrapped around their rock hard muscle that could easily mash an ogre head or two. At the centre of the group was a large red carriage lined with smooth golden edges. It had an elaborate arched window in the centre that was covered from the inside by an equally elaborate red curtain. Extending from each corner of the carriage was a long pike, three of said pikes four were currently occupied by severed human heads that stared forward in horror.

    ¡°Rest!¡± screeched a burly troll who was nearly two foot taller than the rest and who was carrying a battleaxe that matched his height as well.

    The entire army exhaled at the same time as if they¡¯d been holding their breaths throughout the entirety of their march before collapsing to the ground creating a thunderous clanging sound as their armour hit the dirt road. The trolls remained standing, parading over the fallen troops, the3ir menacing stares sending the ogres and goblins back in recoil. Meanwhile, resting inside the carriage sat Queen, quietly waiting, drinking tea and eating biscuits, paying no attention to her armies struggles outside.

    A few kilometres away on the horizon was a small brown dot. The dot gradually grew in size and as time went by, more and more details could be made out. The dot was a small merchant¡¯s wagon surrounded by a group of tired looking men wearing weathered leather armour and carrying blunt swords at their waists. A troll lounging around at the back of the group spotted the incoming wagon and informed the others of their guests. The army arose in sync and slowly and wearily walked off to each side of the road they had been resting on and into the forest that lined either side. This was a usual routine for the army now and they did their best to stay unnoticed to prevent any information leaks. They didn¡¯t want any words getting out that they were mobilising a small army along the edge of the human-goblin border and the easiest way to do that was to make sure there¡¯d be no chances for witnesses to escape.

    The humans approached the red carriage, cautious of the vehicle as there were no horses to pull it. As they slowly and cautiously closed the gap between the two, one of the humans leading the wagon spotted the severed heads mounted on the carriage and screamed out in alarm to the rest, but it was too late. Trolls, ogres and goblins poured out of the woods and formed a ring around the terrified humans, slowly shrinking the circle as the humans fell to their knees in fear. The large troll from earlier stepped forward and signalled to a group of goblins, they snarled back and then slowly approached the humans, hands on their swords and ready to lunge forward. The humans quivered in horror, clambering at their own weapons, shakily holding them out in defence. Within seconds twelve new human heads fell to the floor and were then mounted on pikes, later strapped to the side of the carriage. Within a few minutes the army was mobile once again, right after a few ogres had tossed the merchants wagon into the forest, leaving only a few bloodstains ground into the dirt road.

    ********

    Days passed and the army had reached their first destination, a large goblin tribe that lay on the human-goblin border. The entire tribe lined up in rows in front of the red carriage, standing tall in attention while the tribe¡¯s finest warriors kneeled at the front awaiting their Queen as sweat poured down their faces. The carriage door swung open and Queen strode out, casting a judgemental eye on the kneeling goblins, their eyes widened in fear, yet they stayed strong and focused, not moving a muscle. Queen huffed and walked over to the tribe¡¯s chief, whispering a few words in his ear and then walking back to the carriage. The chief, a rather young adult goblin who¡¯d just taken on the role paused for a few moments before bursting out to the tribe,

    ¡°A-Ah¡­ set up the arena! W-we will battle her highness¡¯ troops and those who are worthy will j-join!¡±

    The tribe ran around in preparation, preparing for a tough battle while Queen returned to her cabin, a look of disappointment evident on her face. After shutting the carriage door behind her Queen sat down and slumped over her table, letting out a large sigh. She lay over the table for a while, curling her hair, pondering things and groaning in boredom. She was regretting personally coming to oversee her army when she could have just left it to her troll unit her were perfectly capable on their own, yet she had come, she had hoping that there may have been something interesting or dangerous to come and see, but so far it was incredibly dull. She hadn¡¯t killed anything for weeks to let the new troops gain experience and the trolls wouldn¡¯t even let her leave the carriage for anything because they were far too overprotective and didn¡¯t want anything to happen to her. So, she waited, and waited, and after weeks of travelling to get to the first tribe, what did she find? She found a bunch of skinny, weak little goblins and not even a single ogre. It was a complete waste of time, but that wasn¡¯t even the end of it, there were still over a hundred more tribes to visit and it will end up taking years to get to them all!

    Queen sighed again before whispering to herself, ¡°Fuck it, I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    Queen burst into shadows and disappeared with an eruption of hazy black fog, her figure lost to the darkness. The carriage door opened and a slight disturbance in the grass could be seen along with the quiet crunching of soil compacting. A single note was left behind in the carriage reading, ¡®I expect completion in my absence,¡¯ as she did not return for years to come and during that time, only a single being encountered her and lived to tell the tale.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ********

    Lucy rolled over in her massive bed which was so large that it occupied half of her bedrooms space. The ridiculously large bed was paired with multiple ridiculously large pillows that were as tall as she was. Her room was rather simple however, other than the bed and door, all that was there was a chest of drawers with nothing in them, a tiny window too high to see out of and a few lamps fixed onto the blood red walls. This had been Lucy¡¯s bedroom for the past few weeks now and she¡¯d begun to grow used to it, praying that her siblings got similar treatment. The room was the only room she¡¯d seen since she and her siblings were ¡®escorted¡¯ out of their parent¡¯s mansion and driven away somewhere that took over a week to arrive to. Since arriving there had been no contact between her and her family, so nerves were high and Lucy hadn¡¯t been able to relax whatsoever regardless that she¡¯d been given such surprisingly good treatment.

    Everyday a meal arrived at around noon, usually delivered by a rather creepy, rather hairy goblin wearing a tuxedo, however no such person had arrived today so Lucy was anxious, waiting in anticipation.

    A grating, scraping sound came from the door as it was unlocked from the outside and pushed slightly ajar. Gut wrenching screams, cries of anguish and groans of agony slipped through the crack as a tiny, delicate head the size of a grape (but not the shape of course) poked its little head through the gap. I had eyes the colour of the sea and bright aqua hair tied back in a loose plait, cute pointy ears poked though its hair and its cheeks were tinged with pink. With tears in her eyes a minuscule female fairy entered the room wearing an equally minuscule maid outfit.

    Lucy looked up in surprise at the fairy, wondering what happened to the usual goblin, but she definitely welcomed the new addition.

    ¡°Ah¡­ U-Um! J-Just a s-second, let me get y-your food!¡± squeaked the fairy, her delicate, semi-transparent wing beating furiously behind her to keep her in the air.

    She turned around and dashed back outside leaving Lucy still staring at where she was in wonder. Moments later the door swung open and the fairy entered the room ¡®carrying¡¯ a large tray of food. The tray seemingly levitated in front of her, yet if you looked really closely you could see that the underside of the tray was supported by a hand composed of clear, flowing streams of water that twisted together elegantly to form the shape of a hand with the base of the hand trailing behind the tray, slowly fading away like a smoke trail. The tray drifted over to Lucy and softly landed in her lap, not a single drop of liquid spilling from the cups resting on it. The fairy then bowed and dashed over to yesterdays dirty dishes, picked them up with her magical hand and began to fly back over to the door.

    ¡°Hey! W-Wait!¡± Lucy called out to the fairy, to which she responded to by squeaking in shock, causing her magic hand to dissipate and send the dishes crashing to the ground.

    The fairy looked at the mess in horror, her eyes widening in dread and her face paled drastically. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, her bottom lip quivered and she shook nervously, her little wings slowing down before stopping. Lucy looked at the now falling fairy in shock before she leapt off her bed and snatched the fairy out of the air before she collided with the stone ground. Lucy looked down at the unconscious fairy in her palms. Her cute face was distraught with unease and terror as she squirmed around erratically. The little fairy¡¯s eyelids fluttered a little and then slowly opened, she looked up at Lucy¡¯s face in fright and then quickly clamped her eyes back down and curled up into a little ball, trying to make herself look as small as possible as she quietly half muttered and half cried something incomprehensible.

    ¡°H-Hey there¡­ Don¡¯t cry! I-I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you or anything, I¡­ I just wanted to talk to you. S-So please stop crying okay? I promise I won¡¯t do anything to you, I mean it! I¡¯m just a prisoner here anyway, I can¡¯t do anything. So¡­ please¡­ stop crying,¡± whispered Lucy apologetically.

    The little fairy slowly uncurled herself and got up into a sitting position in Lucy¡¯s hands. She slowly brought her teary face up to Lucy¡¯s until their eyes met and she quickly looked away, staring at her feet.

    ¡°H-Hi there¡­ Um, I-I don¡¯t mean any harm... Really, I don¡¯t. Allow me to introduce myself, I¡¯m Lucy Alastair, and you are?¡± questioned Lucy.

    ¡°..ly,¡± mumbled the fairy.

    ¡°Sorry, what was that? I couldn¡¯t hear you,¡± asked Lucy.

    ¡°Lily¡­ I¡¯m Lily¡­¡± answered the Fairy quietly.

    ¡°Lily, nice to meet you Lily, it¡¯s a shame it had to be here. Anyway I don¡¯t mind at all that the dishes were dropped and I¡¯m sure as long as you pick them back up and take them away like usual nothing will happen. I am sorry for calling out to you all of a sudden though. I was just wondering why such a cute girl like you got here,¡± spoke Lucy quietly.

    ¡°T¡­ That¡¯s okay. I-I¡¯m sorry for g-getting so teary,¡± stuttered Lily.

    ¡°That¡¯s certainly no problem with me,¡± said Lucy, giving Lily a smile. ¡°So¡­ Why are you here in such a place Lily?¡±

    In response Lily simply pointed towards her neck where there was an intricate black collar on her neck, presumably a slave collar.

    Lucy sighed, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about bringing that up. I just didn¡¯t notice it earlier. I guess not many people here want to be anyw-¡±

    Lucy stopped talking as a miniature finger was poking her index finger repeatedly, Lucy looked down to see Lily looking back up at her nervously.

    ¡°Umm¡­¡± started Lily nervously, ¡°I¡­ I have to leave¡­ The-They¡¯ll be l-looking for me. I don¡¯t wan-want them to do anything¡­ bad again¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah! I¡¯m sorry for keeping you! Go then. I¡¯m so sorry!¡± burst out Lucy.

    The fairy flew up into the air, bowing repeatedly to Lucy and then dashed over to the dishes, picking them back up with her magical water hand. After some more bowing and apologies Lily darted out of the room leaving behind a still rather bewildered Lucy who wished to know more about the odd, pitiful fairy.

    ********

    A cool breeze brushed past Queen¡¯s cheek, pleasant sounds of trees rustling all around her and the sweet scent of the forest pleased her greatly, but not to the extent of running a blade through somebody¡¯s midsection. Queen continued her pleasant afternoon stroll through the forest, not paying attention to much of her surroundings. For the past few months she¡¯d been strolling through her territory, spectating other¡¯s battles and fights, spying on nature and occasionally decimating a town or village to soother her building bloodlust. Currently, she was walking through an area densely populated by living trees, a few of which had tried their luck against her and instantly regretted it as only smouldering piles of ashes were left behind.

    In the distance Queen could hear heavy breathing and fast footsteps that were quickly approaching her. She smiled, it had been a while since she¡¯d had a bite to eat and whatever this was, it smelt good. It approached faster and faster and soon she could smell a distinct smell of burnt flesh and fleshly spilt blood, only deepening her hunger. That was, until she saw what was approaching her, which at the same time, it had apparently seen her too. In the middle of nowhere, Queen had met something she¡¯d longed for her entire life¡­ a being like her. Standing in front of her, slumped over, intestines spilling out of its midsection and severe burns to its face and neck was a horned being¡­ a being she thought she¡¯d never get to see. As she stared at him in shock and wonder, an arrow flew though the air from behind him, almost as if it were in slow motion, it twirled slowly through the air, arcing towards the injured being¡­ and¡­ the arrow pierced his heart, knocking the boy flat on his face. Queen erupted into a rage she¡¯d never felt before. For the first time, she¡¯d found another like her and he¡¯d been killed seconds after they¡¯d met¡­ then¡­ there was blood. A lot of it.

 Chapter 21- Escape?

    Pain.

    Pain like he¡¯d never felt before, and after taking into consideration what he had felt before, that said something.

    Ashton¡¯s entire body felt as if it were being torn apart from every direction, like being turned inside out, like being dissected whilst being conscious or like hundreds of hot metal hooks violently twisting and jerking around his insides.

    The pain was relentless, merciless and cruel, refusing to loosen its grip on Ashton¡¯s mind.

    His mind desperately attempted to shut it out, process what was happening and what could be done, yet the agony dispersed any cohesive, comprehensible thoughts or emotions.

    Everything but pain faded away from existence, it was if he¡¯d been plunged deep into the depths of the ocean.

    Deep into the sea where its depths had yet to be explored, nothing for hundreds of kilometres in any direction but him and his failed attempts to fight back the pain.

    Only pain, it consumed him, flooded his mind, tried to shred it from the inside out.

    Only pain.

    Deep down, in the furthest depths of his mind a voice yelled on about something, his voice swept away by the unrelenting waves of endless agony.

    While intense agony triumphed over Ashton, washing away any voices or thoughts, there was one thing it couldn¡¯t stop; magic.

    Ashton¡¯s blurred and fading vision was illuminated by thousands of tiny golden orbs engulfed his field of view, they surged into his chest and into his body like rapids, flushing away the agony.

    Slowly the last remnant of pain trickled away and the world opened up around him, a blood red world filled with corpses, the distinct smell of metal in the air was so overpowering his could taste it.

    Ashton choked on the foul air, leading him into a coughing fit, his thoughts flying all over the place as he tried to assess his situation.

    Suddenly his brief moment of rest was rudely interrupted by a spiked fist slamming into the side of his head, three long spikes digging into his jaw and cheek.

    The spiked fist then swung outwards, the spikes slashing through bone and tissue, sending bits and pieces of his mangled face flying through the air.

    As Ashton shrieked in pain the wound quickly healed itself, tissue knitting back together with magic in seconds.

    Terrified, Ashton leapt up to his feet and immediately put as much distance between himself and the spiked ogre as he could.

    Pure rage was evident on the ogre¡¯s face and Ashton stared at it in fear, still desperately trying to make sense of the situation.

    The ogre bolted towards Ashton, its fist pulled back ready to lash out onto Ashton¡¯s face once again.

    As the fist hurtled through the air towards his face, Ashton instinctively leant back, yet not nearly enough to dodge the incoming strike, ¡®luckily¡¯ he slipped on a stray severed limb and fell backwards, narrowly evading the blow.

    Taking advantage of the situation, Ashton kicked upwards, right into where he assumed the ogres testicles were located, only for his foot to drive itself up into another deadly spike, pinning himself to the ogre.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Unsurprisingly the ogre didn¡¯t really appreciate the gesture and grabbed Ashton around the waist before tossing him through the air and over the crowd, his head breaking the fall with a loud crunch.

    While Ash struggled to fix Ashton¡¯s badly broken skull and neck, the ogre charged through the crowd towards them and proceeded to punt them through the side of a stone hut.

    Both Ashton¡¯s ribs and spine exploded apart on impact, the fragments piercing his internal organs as heavy rubble built up on top of his motionless body.

    Meanwhile the ogre leisurely approached the ruins of what was once a hut, assured of his eventual victory.

    That was until he spotted another swarm of golden orbs drifting towards Ashton body though.

    Ashton burst into a fit of traumatising screams as his bones were set back into place and the blood building up inside of his organs was forcibly ejected.

    ¡°Ashton!¡± yelled Ash over the loud chanting of their audience, ¡°The only way this is headed at the moment is towards our deaths, I reckon we¡¯re just going to have to go for it!¡±

    ¡°That will end in our deaths too!¡± screamed back Ashton, ¡°We simply aren¡¯t ready yet, we¡¯ll kill ourselves!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I gotta do it, Spiky¡¯s too strong, we don¡¯t stand a chance, at least we¡¯ll have one if we do it, even if it¡¯s a slight one,¡± responded Ash.

    ¡°Spiky?¡± questioned Ashton.

    ¡°Yeah, the one who¡¯s standing above us right now,¡± calmly stated Ash.

    ¡°The one who¡¯s¡­ OH SHI-¡± cried out Ashton as Spiky grabbed him around the throat and lifted him up into the air with a single arm.

    Ashton thrashed around, his limbs flailing violently as he screamed his head off before Spiky effectively shut him up by squeezing gently, crushing his windpipe.

    Spiky slowly walked back to the crowd and lifted Ashton¡¯s limp body up into the air triumphantly.

    More orbs of light flooded towards Ashton from everywhere, but Spiky thought nothing of it, he¡¯d already won and he could kill him with the slightest amount of pressure applied.

    The orbs kept coming, thousands upon thousands rushed towards Ashton, many sucked right out of the goblins and ogres themselves.

    As more and more continued to swarm Ashton, Spiky grew suspicious, tired and frustrated.

    Why?

    Why did this monster not back down?

    It was cornered, the only magic it could rely on was for healing and that couldn¡¯t help him now, so why did he still push on harder and for what purpose?

    Spiky¡¯s questions were immediately answered when a blindingly bright golden light exploded from Ashton¡¯s neck, completely disintegrating Spiky¡¯s left arm up to the elbow.

    Everybody within a hundred metres of the blast was temporarily blinded, sending them to their knees in shock.

    Ashton¡¯s body crumpled to the ground, a dangerously large amount of blood sprayed from a smouldering hole in his neck.

    Exposed spinal cord was quickly covered back up as muscle and flesh threaded itself back across his charred wound, yet the healing came to an abrupt halt as Ash was completely drained of all mana.

    Ashton arose from a pool of his own blood and sprinted as fast as he could into the surrounding forest, not looking back at the very cranky goblins and ogres that had been left behind.

    He ran and he ran and he ran, then he ran some more.

    Angry roars and hisses could be heard somewhere in the distance behind him so Ashton pushed on further, unassisted by magic.

    His throat pulsed, eyes throbbed, legs ached and there was still a rather large wound bleeding away from his neck.

    Hundreds of golden orbs chased after Ashton, just out of reach and while Ashton was aware of them, and needed them, he dared not slow down in fear of his pursuers.

    After ten minutes of all out sprinting, the roaring behind him had faded away and Ashton collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion and the amount of blood he¡¯s lost along the way hadn¡¯t helped much either.

    The hundreds of orbs that had been trailing behind him finally caught up and dived into his chest, flooding his body with adrenaline, reminding him to keep on pushing further, he wasn¡¯t safe yet.

    Obeying his body, he rushed forward with new found energy, sprinting almost twice as fast as earlier.

    Then, in the distance¡­ he saw something¡­ or rather he saw someone.

    Too far to discern any prominent features, Ashton could only just make out that the figure wasn¡¯t green, a colour he¡¯d come to despise over the past few years.

    Too late to alter his course now, he ran onwards towards the unknown figure, hoping for the best, surely anything was better than another goblin or ogre.

    He stopped.

    Standing in front of him, almost one and a half time taller, was a beautiful woman, adorned with a set of impressive black horns much like his own.

    Fascinated, he stared at her, perhaps a bit too long, astounded at her beauty before¡­ Thump.

    An arrow lodged itself in his chest, piercing his heart¡­ and he crumbled to the ground darkness overwhelming his vision once again.