What a Soul Looks Like

The terrified goblin stood frozen for a few seconds while trembling, his heart beating faster and faster as he was stared at by a huge beast that had dried blood on its white body, with a pair of huge, focused, blood-red vertical pupils that felt like they could pierce its soul.

"GAHH!" The goblin let out a strong scream and immediately bowed down, screaming with a trembling voice filled with fear.

"Lord Beast, please don't eat Red Arrow! Gahh!"

The monstrous beast saw how the trembling goblin growled down on its knees while screaming something that it clearly couldn't understand.

"What the—? Why is this goblin kneeling like that and trembling? Am I really that scary? Well, I guess so, since I am a pretty big creature and clearly a predator. Oh, and the dried blood on me from that pig creature—I guess I am pretty terrifying for a small goblin."

"But did it just say something? Are goblins able to talk? That sounded like a language of sorts, but I don't recognize such a language. Damn it! This is a real problem. How am I supposed to speak with the intelligent creatures of this world and learn where I can find books like this?"

Then suddenly something caught my attention: a small blood-colored sphere that appeared to be inside the goblin's head. This small sphere immediately drew me in, my stomach starting to churn, and a strange feeling of connection began to appear as I continuously concentrated on it.

The growling goblin almost suffocated to death in the deafening silence that followed its scream while waiting for the monstrous beast to judge its fate. Then suddenly, a shock went through its very being, so deep that it felt like its body was opened and something deep inside it was being touched. A strange feeling of being absorbed by the monstrous being in front of it appeared, making it tremble even more, its bodily fluids giving out in fear. Its fear-filled voice cried out once again, even louder, "Please, Lord Beast, spare Red Arrow!"

This time, the monstrous beast had a different reaction.

"What? I can understand what it said?"

"Lord Beast! Is that what it called me? No, wait! How am I able to understand it all of a sudden? Is it because of this strange feeling of connection I am getting from the red orb in its head? Is that possibly its soul? Is that what a soul looks like? Wait, more importantly than that, how am I able to do this? Is such a thing normal in this world? I'll have to ask this small goblin. Anyway, this is great for me; this solves a serious problem. Let's try to get more information from this goblin first since I don't think it will be able to hold on any longer if I don't say anything. It seems to be thinking I'll kill it, and its name seems to be Red Arrow? Let's try talking to it first."

After waiting a few more seconds, the trembling goblin, who was about to faint, finally got an answer from the monstrous being, though in a way that it had never felt before. A powerful voice filled with malice and chaos echoed in its mind, making its heart tremble.

"I won't kill you, goblin. Now tell me, where is this place?"

"Gahh!" The goblin flinched because of the pain coming from its head, but when it understood what the voice said, its almost dead heart started to feel a bit lighter.

"The mighty magical beast won't kill me. I need to answer it fast before it gets angry," thought the terrified goblin to itself.

Hurriedly, with a terrified voice, the goblin answered out loud: "Lord Beast, we are in an ancient forest in the territory of the Re Estize Kingdom, on the Mountain of Death, the territory of the Death Snake!"

"Re Estize Kingdom and Death Mountain, hmm... It seems this world has kingdoms, which could mean it's a fantasy world of sorts. I wonder what the technological state is in this world. And this mountain seems to be the territory of some snake creature. I wonder how terrifying this creature is to have death in its name and make a whole mountain its territory..."

Deciding to learn more about the kingdom I was in and the creature, I asked the still kneeling goblin, "Tell me more about this Re Estize Kingdom and the Death Snake, goblin!" I tried to control my voice through the connection to the goblin's soul as much as possible since it seemed that it felt pain when I spoke.

Again, that powerful voice sounded deep within the mind of the goblin, making it feel pain, but this time less than before.

The now a bit calmer goblin, but still with a trembling voice, answered, "Lord Beast, I don't know much about the Re Estize Kingdom. All I know is from the chief. He said it's a powerful kingdom ruled by humans, and we should never get close to where the humans live, or we would be killed by adventurers! And the Death Snake is a powerful tyrant magical beast that rules this whole mountain—an extremely scary magical beast!"

Suddenly, the goblin thought that the monstrous magical beast might get angry if it called the Death Snake terrifying in front of it, so it immediately added in a panicked voice, "My Lord Beast, you are even more terrifying and scary than the Death Snake!" In its mind, the goblin nodded to itself, feeling like it had said the right words to not offend the monstrous beast.

After the goblin said the last word, the monstrous beast fell silent, seeming to be thinking about the information the scared goblin had spouted in its trembling voice.

"A human kingdom," I thought to myself. This would have been great news in a normal situation. But now, as I looked down at the huge paws, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth. If I went to the humans, I would most likely be killed by the adventurers the goblin had mentioned. I was well familiar with the term "adventurers." They were usually professionals who took tasks at guilds and hunted beasts in fantasy stories. And as for what the goblin called the Death Snake—a magical beast—I had a rough guess of what that was since this is also a common found term in fantasy books. I also think this is what I am in this world. I am clearly no normal beast, remembering the huge hole in the hard mountain I had created; my guess was almost certain. And as for what the goblin said last about me being terrifying, I didn't think much of it. I already understood that I was no cute creature in this world. Now that I had a rough idea of where I was, I finally asked the question I had been dying to ask. Without wasting even a second more, I impatiently inquired, forgetting to pay attention to the power I directed toward the goblin's soul.

"Goblin, do you have books, or the one you call chief?"

"Gahhh!" The goblin screamed hurriedly, hugging his throbbing head that buzzed in pain. But fearing that the monstrous beast would get impatient and kill it, he pushed through the pain and screamed out an answer with a plea!

"Please show mercy, Lord Beast! Red Arrow doesn't know what books are!"

The monstrous beast went silent, and simultaneously the atmosphere grew cold...