Chapter 2: 'He'

'He' woke up.

The heavy sounds coming from the clash of metals alerted the arrival of intruders. The long-limbed great ones came from the edge of the jungle and deeper and deeper into the forest. Some carried long, sharp pieces of iron in their hands, thick plates in their arms, some carried sticks with fire, others long sticks with unusual vines that threw smaller, more pointed sticks. 'He' didn't know how to count, but if he did, he would understand that there were seven that went deep into the forest. Seven of those people who were called the human race.

Humans, a difficult word for that being. 'He' couldn't speak, any sound that required more than high-pitched growls was beyond his capabilities. 'He' himself was of a different people, those with the short limbs, the green skins. The race of invaders had a name for his people, a word too challenging to pronounce.

Goblins.

Goblin, monster, creature. Long-limbed ones had many ways of referring to him and his peers. 'He' also knew that humans had special words, unique terms for each human, as if each one was special.

Names.

'He' didn't have a special word, he was just one more goblin among many others, why would he have that? But maybe today he could have his, now that he wasn't the same as everyone else.

His thoughts were interrupted by the notion that humans were getting closer. 'He' was alone, on the banks of a small pond below the large trees with wide canopies. The forest was extensive and dangerous, if it had a special name, that was unknown to him. All of his knowledge on earth was just what he gained from his experiences. To the south it became colder and holes in the ground spilled out from which the innards of different races whose name 'he' was ignorant of came out.

To the southeast were the big forts and the fat green ones, they were brutal and violent, they destroyed everything they found and raped everything that moved. To the east were more large green creatures, the ones that never died, with limbs that grew when they were removed and a skin where wounds healed in a matter of seconds.

Many more made that forest their home, hundreds of other beings, however 'he' did not know which ones. His small courage only allowed him to go to the edges of other peoples' territories, never straying from his kind and never, ever going near the north where the long-limbed, humans gathered and lived. The monster could only think about what their land was like and lately he thought about it a lot.

He's been thinking a lot lately.

The goblin jumped into the water of the lake, near the shore there was a hole big enough for him to hide. A pleasant pocket of air formed at times of violent night winds. 'He' wasn't very big, the goblin was just under a meter tall, his limbs were thin and his body was thin. It wasn't difficult to hide to avoid being killed by humans.

I could never face them, they were unnaturally strong. They created fire and ice, controlled the winds, had fake iron skins and long pieces of steel. They were so preternaturally strong in a way 'he' couldn't understand but wanted to.

He needed to understand.

That's why he was now alone, his people didn't think. The little green ones with weak bodies only liked to reproduce, they procreated all day long among their own species and among others, nothing else occupied their hollow and tiny heads. One day 'he' was like that, but today he found himself unable to remain as in the past.

He was unable to say what was the catalyst for this intense change, yet he was aware of it in its entirety. Procreation was secondary, perhaps even tertiary. His curiosity moved him that much more, to understand how the northern long limbs were so strangely strong. Knowing why the greens inhabiting the forest were so different, knowing what lay beyond the territories along the edges of the forest and beyond.

His change was not subtle to those who were his equals and so he was expelled from the caves. Difference was unacceptable, individuality a crime. After all, they were goblins and not humans.

Humans these who passed by the lake without noticing him in his hiding place under the water. Now safe, he had two options, flee or accompany them and it was without hesitation that he chose the second. The long limbs always showed something impressive to "him", there was always something to learn and the weak goblin had recently fallen in love with this new sensation that knowledge brought.

He waited a few minutes (not that he had any notion what 'minutes' was) before following those intruders into the jungle. His tracks were obvious to someone used to surviving in that hostile land, following his footprints and the trampled leaves, he soon caught up with humans.

A curious scene unfolded, the seven were at a fork in the thick path, one path leading to the southwest and the other to the east. The fascinating thing is that between the two paths there was a girl. A young human, wearing dirty rags and with her hands clasped together, begging for some salvation.

The invaders didn't expect that of course, but their strategic minds soon sought some rational-sounding explanation. Unfortunately, it was normal that sometimes monsters attacked nearby human villages and some of them kidnapped people. Orcs particularly liked to rape women, trolls took pleasure in the taste of young human flesh, kobolds used people still alive for pagan rituals, arachnes used bodies as cocoons among several other cruel destinations that a kidnapped human could find in that forgotten hell by the gods.

One of the humans approached the girl who recoiled upon noticing. She took several steps back until she was leaning against a large dark brown tree. None of them paid special attention to this fact, with the exception of the goblin hidden several meters away.

It was sad, thought 'he', the invaders hadn't done anything impressive yet and were already about to die.

In fact. The first was the one who approached the girl, from above, a twisted branch advanced on his body as if it were a spear and pierced him, entering through his mouth and exiting through his groin. The tree moved then, the most rigid areas of its dry bark cracked and its interior bulged outwards in a mass formed of sharp slivers. The roots of the ground lifted that great creature and tangled with each other until they formed three large legs.

On either side of the monster, branches grew and joined together to become arms with thorny hands and piercing fingers. In the center of the creature a huge hole, on its edges, thick thorns made to crush everything that entered there. What once looked like just a helpless girl was now hanging like a rag from the end of what looked like a wall antenna coming from the top of that monster's head.

A pity, both for humans and for 'him'.