Goblins

(Dorrak POV)

I was sleeping peacefully until I heard a feral screech that would wake up anyone who wasn't under a powerful spell.

And when I opened my eyes, I saw that I was being carried away, tied up in some ropes, by goblins. Snorting I let out a small burst of lightning that incapacitated anything within a meter radius of me. After that I easily broke the ropes that bound my limbs together in an attempt to hold me.

Once that was done, I got up and looked over to see Cythistia struggling whilst a group of goblins surrounded her, trying to keep me away from her. Giving them a scornful look, I held out my palm and sent out a lightning spell towards them.

"[Lightning Chain]!"

I spoke out the name of the spell and a bolt of ever arcing lightning darted around the air as it made its way towards the hoard of grotesque little green creatures. When it reached the first goblin it encapsulated it in a flash of light that soon burned it to nothing more than cinders and ash. Before the lightning bolts aura completely, it suddenly shot out four more sparks to the four goblins next to the one it just burned, frying those goblins also. This repeated until there were no more goblins in the immediate vicinity.

Once I had made sure that there wasn't going to be a surprise attack from more of those detestable pests it made my way over to the tied up Cythistia to free her from her bonds.

"Ugh... What happened?" She asked as she slowly got up, rubbing her head.

"I don't know but that screech earlier must have been from Traytora. I'm not sure what caused her to scream like that, especially since she shouldn't be using her voice like that, if at all." I said worriedly.

"Ahh, those goblins seem to have either hit me on the head or didn't care how they treated us when they were dragging us away."

"Well, we should probably make our way back to the camp as that's where Traytora probably is, and if she isn't she shouldn't be too far from it." I said while looking at the floor for the tracks that the goblins left to help us make our way back to the campsite faster.

Once I had found the tracks, I led Cythistia down the path that the goblins had left. We hadn't gone far before we both heard an explosion in the distance. Looking at each other we could see worry in the other,s eyes.

We quickly rushed towards the place we heard the explosion, which was very easy because it wasn't too far away, plus it also emitted a dark and menacing glow, something I recognised from the destruction of Hunam, as Hellfire.

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Eventually we reached the place where the explosion occurred, but all we saw was Hellfire burning everything. And in the centre of it all, was Traytora, looking like a monstrous demon that sought only death and destruction to all who stood in its way, all while the Hellfire raged on all around her, consuming anything that lived. Her hateful, bloodthirsty aura that surrounded her just grew more and more powerful every second.

She looked over to us and the aura surrounding her instantly disappeared as she broke down and started crying, curling herself up into a ball, the Hellfire around her also started to dwindle as her mind regained its clarity. We went over to her and tried to console her as she let out whatever grievances she had but it seemed like she didn't even register our touch as she just continued to cry herself to sleep.

Once she fell asleep, I picked her up and placed her onto Cythistia's back for her to carry until she woke up again. While she carried her on her back, I went to inspect the damage caused.

From what I could see with just a glance, what I assumed to be goblins were turning into piles of ash that released a billowing charred smoke that just sailed upwards. The fauna that once littered the place was now just dead husks of their former image, reduced to nothing but a dried up and decrepit shell that once housed life.

Inspecting the still scalding remains of this dead clearing of death and decay I find that there were other forms of attacks, such as slash marks that are barely visible on the grey ashen bark of the few trees that still stood standing, along with a few small craters in the ground.

I breathed in the air to get the smell of the place and all I could smell was hot smokey ashes, with a slight hint of blood, but that was it.

"Hmm, seems like she just went on a senseless rampage and killed all the goblins here for some reason." I stated.

"But why? And did she really manage to kill all of them before they got away, because this doesn't seem to be where the campsite is." Cythistia said, pointing out something that I didn't notice.

Looking around the grey ashen clearing again I inspected it more carefully this time, seeing small footprints that led away and out into the darkness of the forests canopy. Heading in the opposite direction I saw that there were bloodstains and mangled corpses that smeared the trees and the ground. Bodies were caved in, skulls smashed into paste and slices of meat and bone sprawled all over the place.

I looked back and said to Cythistia, "Let's head back."

She nodded and the two of us walked back to the campsite.

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When we got back, we could see the signs of conflict, mainly from all the mangled goblin corpses that were splattered around the place. We placed Traytora next to the firepit and lit it to keep her warm, and hopeful give her some form of comfort that we weren't able to.

As the fire burned away, the two of us began clearing up the mess that was made, both because it was disgusting, and we didn't want Traytora to wake up seeing any of it in case she has another mental breakdown.

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As the sun rose into the sky, signalling dawn, and the beginning of a new day, I went off to go hunt something for breakfast while Cythistia stayed to give the tormented girl someone to keep her company when she woke up.

"Hahh." I sighed, knowing that this wasn't good for the poor girl, she's still young and shouldn't be going through these kinds of things. 'I hope things go well for that kid, she doesn't need any more trauma in her life, and yet, I can't help but feel something will go very, VERY wrong during our trip to Athenelos.'