The Rescue (2)

It is surprisingly spacious inside the cave but has the definite tell-tale signs of a goblin hideout. Crude drawings line the wall with a not-so-surprising amount of faeces and other unknown substances on the cave floor, every careful step causing a squelch.

"Now, where are they keeping him?" Garrick thinks to himself. He is relentless and focused, but nerves and uncertainty fight him for control.

The walls curve and twist, jagged and rough. Suddenly, talk is heard; it sounds like Goblin to Garrick and most likely is. He squeezes into a cave nook as two Goblins walk past, chattering away.

They walk out of sight before Garrick continues. The cave opens up further, this time into a vast expanse; a set of well-crafted wood stairs leads up to the right and a crowd of goblins ahead. Loud cries of cheering and screams can be heard, and Garrick assumes the worst.

Still unnoticed, he cautiously walks up the stairs. They are wide enough for three people to walk side by side and steep. Carefully edging his way up, the crowd grows louder. Once he reaches the top of the stairs, goblins are observed looking toward something and a giant ogre sitting on an elegant wooden throne.

Slinking off to the side behind some boxes, he spots a view of where the goblins are looking. A makeshift arena of sorts. A circular area carved into the stone with large wooden planks used to create walls. Four Cages with prisoners lay against the far end, with roughly five prisoners each. An ogre stands in the middle of the arena, standing approximately nine feet tall and around six hundred pounds, his skin dark orange, three fingers and a thumb on each hand, and a face no one could love.

The Ogre sitting on the throne shouts. Just as ugly as the other.

"Bring out another!" It commands.

In the arena, the Ogre moves toward the cages, opens one and grabs a prisoner from inside it. Its hand encases the torso of the female elf. It takes a deep whiff of them and utters.

"Some magic here...good enough." It says unhappily.

It throws the elf down on the ground, and the goblins swarm like rats, grabbing the elven woman by any limb they can, almost pulling her apart and taking her to the Ogre sitting on the throne. When they reach them, it grabs her, dwarfing her body in his hand like the other before taking out a blade and stabbing her heart with it, a sword in an average person's hand but looking like a dagger in theirs. The blade has etching and marking of a magic of some kind.

She shrieks in agony as their body ignites in a blue fire and quickly burns to a crisp, leaving a smoking corpse behind.

The Ogre throws their corpse down below as it slams into the ground; the goblins crowd the corpse and consume it like rabid dogs.

"Lazod, bring me another!!" The Ogre's commanding voice echoes, bouncing off the cave walls.

Lazod grabs another prisoner. A Dwarf this time and sniffs.

"No. None." Lazod throws the Dwarf behind, throwing them away like rubbish.

The goblins once more pounce, stabbing and tearing at their limbs, pulling them off. Faint screams are quickly silenced. The Dwarf is dead within seconds.

"Fucking monsters." Garrick thinks to himself.

Lazod rubs his head for a moment, then grabs another prisoner. A small gnome….Meetlemire!

Garrick, wide-eyed, in shock.

"Meetlemire! Fuck!!"

Lazod sniffs Meetlemire.

"Oh, a lot! A lot of magic!! We got a good one, Lord Morgal!" Lazod says, delighted.

Lazod throws Meetlemire down as the goblins swarm and drags him up to Lord Morgal. Meetlemire is kicking and screaming with tears rolling down his face. The goblins laughing and cackling at this pain.

"what do I do, what do I do, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, THINK, GARRICK, THINK!!!!" Garrick panicked and flustered. Distraught with no options to save him

The Goblins throw down Meetlemire. Garrick, throwing all caution and sense to the wind, flings himself at Morgal.

"One chance to kill him. It'll probably mean nothing, but it might give Meetlemire a chance to escape the confusion."

Garrick throws himself in the air, Morgal not reacting to the blade inches from their face, but something is wrong. Garrick doesn't get any closer, his body frozen in mid-air, unable to move.

Lazod has his arm outstretched, chanting a spell as he pulls his arms towards his body, and Garrick flies towards him before being slammed into the ground with great force.

Meetlemire is only just realising who it is.

"Garrick?! You fool! You shouldn't have come!!!" Meetlemire tries to get up but is grabbed by Morgal.

An intense pressure pushes down onto Garrick, and he coughs blood as he is forced by the magical force into the ground more and more.

"Insect" Weaklings should die!" Angered by the attempt at his life. "Lazod, check him for magic, then kill him".

Lazod releases the magic spell, allowing Garrick a respite to breathe again, gasping for air as he coughs up more blood. Lazod picks him up by his head and sniffs deeply, retching and violently coughing afterwards, dropping Garrick.

Garrick takes this opportunity as he manages to land on his feet to pick up his sword and charge Lazod.

"BIG MAGIC-" Lazod cut off mid-sentence.

Garrick stabbed the sword into Lazod's gut and pulled it across, slicing his belly open, intestines sliding out.

Lazod shouts in pain before slamming his hand down onto Garrick's head, causing his knees to buckle as he hits the ground. Lazod grabs his leg and begins to rag-doll him, smashing him repeatedly into the ground; the sound of breaking bones and thudding reverberates through the cave.

"STOP! HE IS MINE! YOU ARE AN IDIOT TO GET CUT!!" Morgal bellows to Lazod.

The Goblins are silent and unmoving, afraid of Morgal's shouting.

Lazod stops and puts Garrick down.

"He likes this magic gnome, so we hurt him emotionally, not physically!" Lord Morgal says as he picks up Meetlemire by his right arm.

"Plea..se….don't….." Garrick barely gets out the words, his ribs shattered, causing great pain.

Morgal squeezes his hand tightly, snapping Meetlemire's arm instantly.

A horrific, pained squeal erupts from him.

"NOO!!! STOP!!!" Garrick roars.

He tries to fight against Lazod, but it's pointless; he is too weak to break free.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU!!" Behaving like a cornered animal, deranged and manic.

Morgal lets out a hearty laugh, which causes Lazod and the Goblins to join in, too.

"DISGUSTING FUCKING MONSTERS!!"

Morgal grabs another arm and stares directly at Garrick. Meetlemire crying profusely and snottering

"Please, I just want to see my family again, please!!!"

Meetlemire in hysterics. His right arm lays limp by his side, crooked and bent.

"You tried to kill me; I will make you realise why you don't do that." Lord Morgal says.

Garrick shouts out again, his throat bloodied from screeching and roaring, but he doesn't know what is said; it wasn't what he tried to say.

RUNESPEAK.

Large guttural screams fill the cavern, the runes glowing crimson red on his right arm as a glacial wall of spikes erupts from the arm, engulfing Lazod, the tips dripping blood from Lazod onto the ground.

Garrick, suspended by his arm trapped in the ice, begins to furiously kick at the ice, trying to pry himself free while staring at Morgal.

Morgal, stunned and unmoving, the goblins looking at him for guidance; silence fills the cavern, but then is filled with Garrick's roar.

"YOU'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD!!"

Fear fills Morgal heart as he drops Meetlemire, his head hitting the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Morgal can barely muster the words.

"G..gg..get him!!! Kill him now!!!" Morgal stutters.

The goblins sheepishly charge toward Garrick, sword and spears at the ready. As they enter the arena, a swirling mass of air swirls violently around him, sweeping up the goblins and catapulting them into the cave walls at great speed, splattering them.

Morgal, terrified beyond recognition, attempts to escape; everyone is dead, and he must live. But a voice speaks. It speaks calmly, but the weight of it causes him to freeze in fear, his legs trembling and heavy.

"You're not escaping me; you'll get the worst!" Garrick maddeningly states.

Morgal tries to walk, but as he manages a single step, everything turns black, with no one around him. Then, quick as a flash, he is back in the cave, but no one is around him, and the cave is different.

A creature hulks out from the shadows in front of Morgal, blue runes on his body, chains dragging on the ground from his wrist. Its back is covered in pustules, and they are seen writhing and moving as they pop; pus oozes onto the cave floor, causing it to sizzle and smoke. Spiders crawl out from the pustules and head for Morgal.

Fear is all there is for Morgal. No noise comes out from him except a small whimper as the spiders begin to crawl onto him. The creature splits in half down the middle, showing rows of teeth as they swirl and spin into a void within the creature.

It speaks in low guttural tones but is understandable to Morgal now.

"How unfortunate to find your way here, but you will be consumed no matter how measly your soul is."

It cuts back to Garrick, The monsters all dead, and Morgal missing. Meetlemire is unconscious, the prisoners are stuck in their cages unable to do anything, and Garrick's heartbeat slows down more and more.

A loud ringing noise fills Garrick's ears as the room goes silent.

"It's funny, isn't it? Such power at your disposal, yet no way to use it properly." inquisitively stated the disembodied voice.

It's a familiar voice to Garrick...one he has heard a lot before...the old man, Jarathus.

"You are my prototype, truly one of a kind. Are you scared of what you are now? Are you afraid of your potential? It matters nought because you WILL learn to use what I have given you.

His voice slowly changed to Runespeak.

Garrick falls unconscious, swaying from his arm trapped in the ice.

End Chapter