OFFERINGS

Ahhhh…. Fuck this… fuck them. All of them. Those fuckers can go to hell… and I'll make sure of that. To dump me in this pit of darkness. A cave of ruins. No light can enter here even with the skylight from that hole I was thrown in. it's so far up… how am I alive even? It was so far down… so deep down… I think I'm in my own pool of blood. I'll die soon like this. That's obvious. It's so painful… I'm so tired…

… hmm?? … I'm awake. I'm alive… but I can't move. I feel warm. It's dark everywhere. Is it night? Hm?

The goblin turns his head to see a light on the walls of the cave. The blue light made tracings along the wall that looked like people moving. He looks around and sees the rest of the cave was the same. Moving pictures that seemed to be dancing and fighting.

… I still can't move. This place is strange… I wish I could move. I should just rest. I should be dead, but I'll just rest. I'll get up soon… I'm alive after all.

The sun is high today… I wonder how long I've been lying here for?

"*sniff sniff*"

Hmm? Food?? Where is…?

The goblin looks around his surroundings to find the food below him. He couldn't see what it was though.

Am I on a platform?

*Stomach rumbles loudly*

… I need to move…

The goblin struggles to sit up and his body cracks multiple times, making him too uncomfortable to move. The goblin cries in pain and finally stops struggling to catch his breath. He stays still for a long while to rest from his struggle.

It's too painful… but I need to eat to gain strength…

The goblin waits until the cave turns red with afternoon sunlight. He still smells the food, but it has gotten cold. The goblin tries to sit up again and his body starts to stiffen and crack in odd places again.

Come on… move… please…

The goblin tries to force himself to roll over on the platform he was on and manages to lay on his shoulder, with one hand hanging from the edge. He catches his breath and looks down at the food he was smelling. It was a wooden bowl of cold stew with sweet bread and water that had gotten lukewarm. He reaches for the bread and tries to eat it. It was a bit tough to chew from how weak his body was. He was able to get it all down with a drink of water before he tried to eat the stew. It was mostly broth so he could drink it with ease.

As he drank the stew his body started to feel like it was heating up despite it being cold. The heated feeling filled his body from his chest and spread out like a fire inside him, but he felt no discomfort from it. He finishes the stew and lays on his back again to rest from his struggle to eat. He falls asleep to the continuously warm feeling he was feeling.

He wakes again to the sun high in the sky and the smell of food again. He looks over the platform without trouble this time.

… it's not that hard to move anymore… What was in that food?

The goblin looks at the food that was placed under him and sees it's the same as before. Fresh bread, clean water, and warm stew. The stew was red this time and had the smell of iron in it.

… blood?? Is that what's in it this time? Before this was herbs… forget it. I'm too hungry to care for details.

The goblin sits up and eats the food. His body reacted the same way as before to the stew; warming up from his chest to the rest of his body. This time felt more tingling and energizing. As he breathes in the warmth welcomely, he finishes the stew and cleans his bowl until not a drop is left. He stays seated cross legged on the platform he was on and decides to look around. It was quiet and dark all around and because he was directly under the skylight, his vision was limited to the light around him.

The goblin decides to try and stand, but notices one of his legs shaking and decides to stay seated instead, leaving his legs hanging off the edge of the platform he was on. He lays back down to rest and falls asleep again.

The sound of birds calling wakes him from his peaceful rest. His body was feeling cold now and he didn't smell any food this time. He wasn't hungry either. He looked around and the cave was darker than before he fell asleep. It was night outside. He tries to look around the cave walls remembering that he saw pictures moving in lights. He did see them again, but they weren't moving, but posing. The goblin rubs the sleep from his face and looks around again. Nothing changed.

… what strange pictures…

The goblin decides to follow the pictures on the walls with his eyes for a long while until he falls back to sleep.

Morning woke the goblin this time with the smell of food. The stew was green today. He eats everything without complaints and feels a chill run through his body as he eats the stew, giving him goosebumps until he is finished. He felt his strength returning to his body and decided to try and stand again. He was able to walk around now, but only for a little while before his stamina ran out and made him sit back down. It was quiet except for the outside wilderness echoing into the cave from the skylight. It was peaceful. The goblin takes a nap and wakes again later that night. The cave walls were lit again. The goblin decides to study the walls again before falling asleep.

Morning rose with a new meal. The food was completely different. The stew had chunks of meat and vegetables in a milky broth, a small plate of scaled meat that smelled of sea water, a small bowl of steaming rice, and a small cup of murky, milky green water was steaming hot. It was all fresh and warm. The goblin tries the scaled meat first.

Fish!? How?? I don't smell any water from anywhere.

The goblin tries the rice next with the fish still in his mouth.

Hm? That's a nice combination.

He continues to eat the food in portions. The stew was a strange flavor to him, but it made him want more of it until the bowl was clean. He didn't get any strange feeling from it either. He looks at the cup that came with the food and tries it. It was sweet like fresh milk and made him sigh in relief as if he finally had a break from a day's labor and worry. As he drinks it slowly a minty flavor filled him with a fresh warmth that quickly filled his body until it felt like it was escaping him. When he was done with the cup he noticed his body leaking a brown oil, but he felt no discomfort from it. So he let it be and continued to let the warmth fill him with ease.

The goblin didn't realize he had fallen asleep sitting up until the cool night fell on him. He was surrounded in the brown oil that left his body. He stood up and he instantly noticed his body felt much lighter than before. He trips over his own feet and falls forward. His fall didn't hurt though, so he stands up again and dusts himself off.

… hm… I should get used to this new feeling soon… but what do I do about… "Prrruh!?"

The goblin watches the brown oil trace a pattern on the platform he was on. Once the oil fills every crack in the platform, it turns red and starts to glow for a while then returns to normal again.

"… You know what? I don't want to know."

The goblin sits where he stood and watches the walls again for the night.

Morning rose and he found himself on the platform again with more food again. He doesn't remember returning to the platform. The goblin looks at his meal for the day. Today was more fish with fruit slices, a bowl of rice with a sour sauce drizzled on, and a vegetable stew with a tangy tea green broth. He eats his fill of everything and decides to walk around the cave, following the walls. He came to realize that the cave was closed off all around. The walls were smooth like carved marble, so there was no way to get out of the cave or in without falling the same way he did.

"... who's feeding me all of this? And how?"

Night fell again and the goblin simply studied the wall for as long as he could. He had the energy to spare, so he decided to follow the images on the wall until the sun rose and erased the images. He was about to go to sleep once realizing there was nothing left to do, until the food suddenly appeared by the platform as if it were an offering. Today's meal was simpler than before. A large bowl; half filled with rice, the other a stir fry beef and different onions with herbs and a lemon sitting on top, three small cups; one with crustaceans, one with eggs, and one with multiple small round dumplings and a cup of the same warm, milky brew from before. He remembers some humans drinking the same thing once and they called it tea. There was no stew today. He didn't mind though.

The goblin eats everything and goes for a walk around the room, then naps until the sun falls. He wakes and follows the walls again. He finds something on the wall that shows a person sitting with the lights clumped in different places of the body. Four small clumps; one at each joint of the limbs, three medium sized clumps; two at the shoulders, one under the naval, and two large ones; one on the chest and one on the head. The clumps were connected in streams; The small ones connected to the medium ones, the mediums connected to the chest and the chest connected to the head, and the head broke into different streams that connected to the joints again. It looked like a strange flower.

The streams seemed to move the longer he looked at the image. He looks around and sees the same image with what looked like air flowing into the nose and out of the mouth. He wasn't imagining things when he noticed the image actually breathing.

He decided to try the breathing the image showed and stayed that way until morning.