I looked at the goblin leader who was tied to a tree, with long strips of cloth tied together. The short thing was sitting down, avoiding eye contact with me. I was still in the dress I found on the ship we crashed into, I didn’t bother changing as well as the prisoners were at the broken wall.
“So are we just going to stare at each other, or are we going to talk? Like leaders?” I said to the goblin.
The goblin didn’t respond, just continued looking at the ground.
“I know you understand and speak English, so let''s make a deal. I tell you who I am and you tell me who you are.” I said, crossing my arms.
The goblin leader scoffed. “I already know who you are, Skydemon. And I know you already know who I am.” I furrowed my brow at the goblin.
“Well if I should know who you are then refer to me by name, and please do remind me of your name.” I said curtly.
The goblin scoffed once more, “You honestly shouldn’t lie to yourself, it looks bad on your father, when you fully join this game that the others have been playing since the beginning of everything.”
“I don’t understand what you are getting at, I simply wish to be… reminded of your name and you refer to me by my name if we’ve met before.” I said.
“The child plays dumb as well! Hah! That''s the first time I''ve ever seen one try to pull that on someone as aware as me.” He continued laughing.
“Child?” I raised an eyebrow and approached the goblin leader, who continued laughing.
“Yeah, you don’t know you''re a child? The creation of man, I was told you were given a lot of responsibilities the second you were born. Expected to slave away at a problem until you gained awareness similar to your creator, and like his creator. No wonder why you view yourself so high and mighty thinking you''re a big shot that can take on the world.” The goblin continued laughing.
I gritted my teeth and approached the goblin even closer, then I stopped. I decided to be a little sass instead of kicking him, “Oh, you got me you are one smart fella aren’t chu?” I said with an over exaggerated Texan accent, I crouched down to his level. “I do remember you, sadly only the face is all I remember.” I put my hand on his shoulder “mind you be a good prisoner and tell me your NAME!” I angrily said, squeezing my hand on his shoulder harshly.
The goblin gave a loud squeak as I squeezed his shoulder even harder, but I gave the goblin a hopefully warm smile.
Then the goblins face seemed to have a dawn of realization on it.
“You aren’t actually the Sky Demon are you?” He chuckled even more, “for a moment there I thought I was speaking to the real deal. But now I know you are just some blind follower, too dumb to see the reality of this world. Heh.” The goblin closed its eyes, and I saw a pure white ball come out of his forehead.
I took a confused step backward, not wanting to touch that white ball which was just floating with no visible anti gravity, or floatation mechanisms.
I looked at the ball of energy with confusion, and the next thing that happened was the goblin leader just standing up, ignoring the binds to his feet, legs, arms and the tree he was tied to.
“It seems like she doesn’t know how to-” The goblin stopped to stare at me.
“How did you break the binds?” I asked, slowly approaching the goblin who was now taking a step backwards through the tree he was tied to. His body lay slumped down, in fact still tied to the tree.
“You know how to access the spirit realm?” The goblin asked panickedly, clearly showing his frustrations. He looked behind me, towards the ground and his face became contorted with fear. I didn’t bother looking behind me, just at the goblin. “My lord, it seems as if the child has made sure her creations can instinctually access the spirit realm.” He weakly said, with a tinge of fear.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked, approaching the Goblin who then ran through the tree, I gave chase. Following his path and I passed through it as well, I quickly caught up to the goblin who’s short legs couldn’t take him as fast as I did.
However he suddenly fell through a hole in the ground, a hole I was sure that wasn’t there before. However I didn’t give it much thought as I jumped down the hole too in a desperate attempt to make sure my source of information didn’t run away.
The hole started off as simply dirt and brightness, I could perfectly see the goblin several dozen feet below me. Then suddenly the dirt environment suddenly changed, and I found myself over a massive city, or really a highway that connected a bunch of cities.
The goblin dived downward and then suddenly was hit by a flying open top vehicle. Plane like even, something shouldn’t fly, I looked around for another plane, one that can hopefully give chase.
Then I slammed into another one of the open top planes, but the plane didn’t shudder and I didn’t hurt. I stood up and looked at the singular person in the plane, a strange looking plant person.
They didn’t notice I was there, so I approached the plant and grabbed the plant by its two tendrils.
“Out!” I yelled at the plant throwing them off the plane.
I sat in the pilot seat and saw the plane the goblin was speeding ahead, there were a massive amount of planes in all directions going towards infinity you could say. In all directions, I looked at the control system. It looked very familiar, similar to the in atmosphere training jets I used to fly with after I got grounded after the Pluto Mission.
I then turned on the afterburners, speeding up to a high speed. I didn’t know if vehicles could collide with one another but I didn’t want to test that, so I deftly weaved passed plane after plane trying to find the one the goblin was in and there it was. The vehicle was another open top vehicle, with railings on its side, looking almost like a flying boat.
The goblin pointed at me and was yelling.
The computer system blared out, like the vehicle was adjusting to my expectations of what flying is.
“Target: is 100 feet away, their predicted destination is…” The computer paused for several seconds as if it was calculating something, I looked at the vehicle the goblin was in. There were several heavily armed goblins, who were bringing out what appeared to be an anti air chain flak gun, “Target''s predicted destination is the Garden of Sitgc.”
“Ok then, if they get there then I will lose my target.” I said to myself, looking for the defense system.
The computer blared out again “Evade! Evade target lock from… target vehicle.” I jerked the control stick, the jet''s nose jerked upwards as an explosion rang out from where I was.
“Computer, what are the weapon systems I have here?” I asked.
“You have a magnetically directed plasma launcher, miniaturized coil gun, and minigun. Would you like to go into detail?” The computer calmly asked as it was sending warnings of evading.
“No, activate the plasma launcher and target-” I pulled on the stick to the left as a head up display appeared over my vision, revealing the entire scene around me.
“What do you want me to target?” It asked dumbly.
“Holy hell! Ok, target the main engine of the target vehicle, disable it!” I said.
The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Affirmative. Targeting: Main Engine of Sitgc vehicle.” Followed by a low hum and on the wings a ball of plasma formed. They launched forward, accelerating to hyper sonic speeds instantly. I couldn’t see where the plasma went, but the plane was below me as I continued pulling what should be 10+ g maneuvers while under acceleration to avoid the explosive anti air fire towards me.
I dive bombed in hopes they didn’t have anti air below their ship. Up above me I saw smoke, and molten slag pour out the back of the plane, where the engine was.
“Warning, Garden of Sitgc is on the right. Target will have enough gliding distance to make it towards the Garden.”
“Alright then.” I said, pulling back on the stick matching the cabin height of the vehicle the goblin was in.
Several bulky goblins, and plant people were on the plane. The bulky goblins turned the gun as I suddenly appeared right next to the goblin.
“Can you keep the plane in a steady position?” I asked.
“I can do all sorts of things, that is the easiest of them all.” The computer said.
“Good.” I said, opening the cockpit window which wasn’t there originally when I landed on the open top plane.
I carefully stepped out, I wasn’t met with a blast of wind at all just the sound of the engine firing and all the others. The gun was now suddenly bigger, as I charged forwards and brought out my SMG. Firing into the closest living thing, a plant person who was charging me with a sword.
The gun gave loud and high pitched explosions, peppering the plant with bullets as the plant person took a step back, almost like it was in shock. A large bulky goblin, who looked extremely similar to the Goblin champion approached me with the same sword and cocky grin.
“So we meet once more, I didn’t know you could access the spirit world. But at least we’re now on even footing.” The goblin champion gave a deep chuckle.
“So that''s where we are? The spirit world? Doesn’t matter where I am, I''m still going to make sure I get my source of information alive.” I said.
“Well I’ll make sure you won’t!” The goblin champion said charging forward.
The plane suddenly banked to the right, leading me to lose my footing and as a result the goblin champion missed.
The computer blared out from the computer “Warning, Garden of Sitgc is 5 miles away! And altitude is 500 feet. Ground contact in 5…” The computer began to count down and it began pulling up separating from the plane I was on.
“4”
I looked over and saw we were awfully close to the skyline of a large city.
“3”
Passing over a large city made out of wood.
“2”
“Shit.” I heard the Goblin Champion say.
“1”
I was suddenly launched forward over the rooftops of the buildings.
Everything whizzed by, as I splashed into a shallow pool of water, rolling and rolling. Yet uninjured with no pain, then I slammed into something hard almost like a rock.
“Hey are you alright, miss?” I heard a crackly voice say above and behind me, as I got up on my feet quickly.
I looked around and saw that I was in a plaza of sorts, with what appeared to be shops, and restaurants surrounding a large fountain. I looked behind me and saw a tall thin man, with a grinning face you could say. Holding a radio stick in his hand, almost like a cane.
“I’m fine, do you know where a plane crashed?” I asked, looking around as a crowd was gathering around the fountain.
“Oh.” He said with a crackling voice, “So that''s what that explosion was about? By you very pretty lady that fell from the sky into a fountain.” The man said.
“I do not wish to get involved with you if you are crashing transportation into a city, right outside the Garden of Sitgc especially so. But if you want to catch whoever you are chasing they are probably looking to get sanctuary in the Garden whose entrance is over there.” The man said, pointing towards two sets of large doors flanked by two large soldiers.
“I do not want to fight those things.” I said.
“You won’t have to unless you are planning on attacking the Garden itself.” He said.
“Alright.” I said I was still suspicious of the only human looking person here. The crowd was still gathering around me and I ignored them jumping over the crowd.
“Is that an apostle?” I heard people yell from below.
“But whose apostle?” Another said.
“That''s not an apostle of any god I know.” Said another.
I looked at the doors as I landed neatly this time, and in an alley to the right I saw the Goblin leader along with the others from the plane.
They looked at the large doors flanked by the massive guards, and then at me.
“Don’t you dare.” I said.
The goblins then took off as fast as they could, yelling.
“Sanctuary! Give us sanctuary Guardians! The Child''s creation is here to drag me back to hell!” The goblin leader yelled. This seemed to garner a response from the so called Guardians, as the two almost instinctively knew to look at me.
“So you are going to fight two guardians, to get to a mere goblin. Not bad for a child.” Said the crackly voiced man before who was standing right next to me.
I ignored the strange man, and gave chase after the goblin rapidly catching up to them. Like I was under the effects of a constant healing spell, I slammed the goblin leader to the ground and with me.
“Help!” The goblin yelled as I began dragging the goblin away. It struggled but couldn’t leave my grip, the ground shook as the two guardians approached me with large strides.
The guardians were equally matching my speed, and catching up easily. I was at what appeared to be the entrance of the plaza I had landed in.
“Where the hell are you, computer!” I yelled out.
“Your transport vehicle will not come for you.” One of the guardians'' voices said. Their voices boomed in an echoey way.
“Well that''s great.” I mumbled, jumping towards the other side trying to gain some distance between me and them. They didn’t change speed or bring out the swords that were on their backs.
“Great for us, bad for you hellspawn.” The other guardian said in a similar way.
I looked behind me and saw a crowd had formed blocking off the road, and the guardians stopped where they were. Halfway to me standing in the fountain water, the guardians looked up and quickly drew their swords. I looked up and saw a bright white dot, that then suddenly slammed on the two guardians who had barely blocked the beam of white light that had suddenly hit them.
Followed by a large robot slamming into the ground, one that looked all too familiar.
“How is that here?” I silently mumbled to myself as I looked at the X-10 Armored Infantry Mech. A project that by all accounts should still be in development to this day.
I felt the goblin leader try to squirm out of my grip, but I only tightened my hold on him. Still watching confused at what was happening.
The guardians brought down their swords to meet the unrelenting gaze of the mech. “You deciding to show yourself here, is an act of war in of itself. Do you know that? Child?” The guardian said.
“That''s the point of the battlefield isn’t it?” Its voice spoke out, it sounded familiar.
“Emma?” I quietly asked, loosening my grip on the goblin leader and slowly stumbled forward towards the mech and two guardians. I felt my eyes tear up, yet the mech didn’t notice me during the conversation.
The goblin leader didn’t leave, and in fact he stood next to me. “I don’t think the voice from the giant is an old lover of yours.” The goblin leader said.
“This isn’t the battlefield, Child. Having your apostles chase after a minor creation in the Spirit Realm is not a part of the rules.” The guardian said, the two began to slowly circle around the mech.
“Then why is your minor creation running to the spirit realm all the way towards the garden of Sitgc?” The person who I thought was Emma said.
I felt I was tearing up, I shouldn’t be crying at her mere voice. I turned to look at the goblin leader with tear filled eyes who seemed to be taken aback by my appearance.
“Yes, I don’t think that is Emma, whoever they were to you, is not them. Just sounds like them, I wouldn’t be surprised if your old lover if I am assuming correctly that they were that to you. Had close connections to the Child. Just like us creations, the gods have creators.” The goblin commented.
I looked back at the mech, “Well a man can believe.” I said.
The two guardians stopped in their tracks pondered the mech''s line of questioning, saying “Point taken, send the goblin creation back to the battlefield.”
“Hey! Don’t leave me with them!” The goblin leader screamed as he suddenly shot up.
I just looked on in surprise as the mech turned to me.
“James, to make this clear Emma is actually fully dead.” The mech approached me carefully and softly.
“Then who are you?” I asked.
“Someone you’ve already known for a long time, as does General Hammond and Emma bless her soul.” The mech said cryptically.
Its large foot stopped only a few dozen from me, and I looked up. The mech continued, “I will be sending you a message at midnight in your bunker at your office. Be there, and everyone else in the highest rank of whatever you’ve organized in the past couple of days since you’ve arrived on the battlefield. Now go back to the physical reality, you do not need to be here. At least not yet you do.” Next thing I knew I shot upwards into the sky.
I opened my eyes, like I was asleep. Yet I was sure they already were open, I was on the ground next to the tree where I was interrogating the goblin leader. I picked myself up and looked at the tree the goblin leader was held in, he was still there tied up.
The bindings haven’t been undone, and the goblin leader was leaning up against the tree. His eyes were open and he was cursing expletives all in english for some reason.
“Fucking hell, can’t believe I broke the rules.” The goblin said in english heavily accented tho.
I sat up and curled my legs up, and looked at the goblin leader “why are you cursing purely in english?” I asked.
The goblin looked up at me, “Oh, you''re finally back to your physical body, that''s great.” The goblin scoffed.
“Can we please answer at least one of my questions. Why are you speaking in pure english?” I asked.
The goblin gave a chuckle “You do not understand your position in this great game do you?” He said.
“I am asking a simple question about language.” I said.
The goblin sighed “If I literally need to tell you about you then I will. I am not speaking in your native tongue of english. You are speaking in my native tongue in actuality, it just sounds as if I am speaking in your native tongue.” The goblin said.
“I’ve never studied your tongue.” I said.
“Neither have I yet I understand you. Just so you know if you meet an average goblin or ogre none of them will be able to do this, speak to you in your native tongue.” The goblin leader said.
“We’ll continue this at a later date, as I have some important things to be informed of.” I said, getting up from the ground and headed back to the forts where Shark, and Ronin were waiting for me.
“So how did it go?” Shark asked.
“Well not much was done, but we need to head to my bunker, right now.” I said.
“So we are discussing what we are to do in the future?” Shark asked.
“Sort of, I am going to summon the Noxu staff as well as ours to my bunker. What time is it?” I asked.
Shark looked up at the moon that was hanging over us on this clear night. “I’d say it''s around 9:30 PM.”
I nodded, “Alright, let''s get to the bunker immediately.” I brought out my clipboard and sent this message towards the other majors.
“Report to my bunker for a meeting, summon the Noxu majors and colonels as well.”