1 A Fantasy World With Goblins?

It all happened in a flash. My death, my rebirth, and the possibility of my second death. My name is Charlotte Castaneda and I am currently a baby.

How did this happen, you ask? Here's the answer: I don't know. I accidentally ran in front of a car and here I was! A forest!

When I tried to move my body, it didn't react as I thought it would. My body was bundled in a cloth. When I looked at my hands, they were soft and small. A fifteen-year-old with small hands? Anybody with common sense would realize that something was wrong at this point!

Before I could ascertain the situation, a goblin creature came towards me. That's when I realized that I probably reincarnated in another world. Wow, I'm going to die for the second time!

I shut my eyes in fear of the fate that would await me, but I was cradled by the goblin. Was it going to eat me after I fall asleep? Soon, the drowsiness overtook me.

When I woke up again, I was on a bed of soft straw and some goblins crowded around me. No way. Was I going to be shared among them?

The goblin from before was roasting some meat. Am I going to be a side dish? The goblin tore a small piece of the meat and placed it in a crude bowl filled with water. He approached me with the bowl and fed it to me.

Ah, I get it. They must be trying to fattening me up like the which from a certain fairytale. Despite these thoughts, I obediently accepted the food since that means that I would live to see another day.

•••

Five years have passed since I was picked up by a goblin and they don't seem to have the intent to eat me. In fact, they are fairly intelligent and communicate with me using gestures as well as grunts.

I really enjoy being with them. In fact, I consider them to be my family and I'm sure that they feel the same. One of the goblins grunted and pointed towards the direction of the pond. Oh, it seems that they need water. I nodded and headed towards the pond.

On the reflection of the water, I could see my appearance. I had long, light pink hair and sky blue eyes. I wore clothing made out of animal skin. Using the bucket that I had created out of branches, I scooped some water.

That's when I heard a shrill scream from the direction of the cave where my goblin family lived. I dropped the bucket and ran using all of my strength.

I saw the back of a man wearing leather and holding a bloody sword in his hands standing in front of the corpses of my family.

"No!" I screamed I rushed towards my beloved family in tears. They had taken care of me, who was left in a forest, for five years. I cradled their incapacitated corpses and I glared at the man that had murdered them. "How could you do such a cruel thing?!"

The man said, "Look here, girlie. I got a report that some goblins had kidnapped a young girl. Goblins are dangerous, you know."

"How would you know?! These so-called "dangerous goblins" had taken care of me since my birth! They had never done any harm to me or any humans!" I exclaimed. I was enraged. I was mad at the person who had reported about my family and at the man who had killed them.

"Well, that's not what I heard." The man scratched his head. "Look, how do you know that they aren't planning to eat you or anything?"

"They are intelligent creatures who have not once thought about harming a single hair on my head!"

The man sighed. "Okay, let's say that they are kind and intelligent creatures, but what are you going to do now?"

He makes a good point. Without my family, I can't do anything. My existence was very dependent on the goblins, but now, they're gone.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"You have three choices. Live in the orphanage of the city, be adopted by me, or live in the forest."

I definitely didn't want to live with the man that killed my family and who knows what the orphanage is like. That only leaves one option. "I'm going to live in the forest!" I declared resolutely.

He sighed again. "I expected that, but since it's mostly my fault for the situation, I'll leave some necessities weekly in front of the cave."

After he left, I buried the corpses of my family. "May they rest peacefully," I prayed.

Exhausted, I fell asleep on my straw bed. Too many things had happened in one day.