Chapter 114: King Path
The group left the orchard behind, children still carrying fruit in their arms, Builders arguing cheerfully over what kind of houses they might one day build, Hunters trading jokes as they walked. The mood had turned light for the first time in what felt like days.
The King’s Mark glowed on Arthur’s hand, and he followed without thinking much of it. The deeper they walked, the more the architecture around them began to look familiar.
Arthur blinked. "Oh," he said.
Sun looked over. "What?"
Arthur pointed ahead. "We’re back," he said.
Everyone looked confused.
Mithra smiled. "I thought it looked familiar," she said.
Athena nodded. "This is the district we explored before finding the Goblins," she said.
Silence. Every Goblin in the group froze.
"What?" one of them said.
Arthur nodded casually. "Yeah," he said. "We came here first."
Silence.
One Yan Goblin slowly looked around. "Before," he said, "before you found us?"
Arthur nodded. "Yeah."
One elderly Builder slowly sat down on the stone road. "...We searched these mountains for generations."
A hunter from Su Tribe trembled slightly as he looked around. "All this time... It was right beneath us."
Another elder quietly laughed. "We really couldn’t find it."
Raku had a bitter smile. "The King hid it well."
Arthur tilted his head. "Well I’m guessing you guys weren’t good enough... Is fine, there are things even I can’t do and I’m fine."
Silence.
The goblins stared blankly at him before looking down with dead gazes. And then they began trembling with some covering their face and the others had tears leaking down. Then they smacked their faces and nodded their heads as if coming to a realization.
Whispers began spreading through every tribe gathered around them.
"The Prophet found the Ancient Kingdom without a single Goblin."
"How?"
Sun sighed. "Honestly," he said, "I’ve stopped asking."
Arthur tilted his head. "Was it difficult?" he asked.
Everyone slowly turned to look at him.
Sun pointed dramatically. "YES!" he said.
Unlike the small group that had explored these ruins before, the Goblins didn’t stay together this time.
They immediately spread out across the district. Builders rushed toward buildings, running their hands along the stonework.
Hunters inspected the roads.
Children ran everywhere, ducking between pillars and peering into alleyways.
One little Goblin suddenly shouted. "I found something!"
Everyone hurried over.
It wasn’t treasure.
It was a tiny wooden spinning top with cracks and dirty all over it.
One child picked it up carefully. "...Someone played with this. I bet it was a lot of fun..."
Another child looked around. "...Do you think they had races?"
A third immediately spun it.
The old toy wobbled and then spun perfectly. To every surprise a golden light spread from the toy, each spin seem to illuminate the area.
"It can even glow!"
"SOOO COOOL!"
Several adults smiled.
Raja quietly laughed. "Looks like it still works."
The others continued to explore and inspect the area. Elders walked slowly, taking in every detail with quiet reverence.
Arthur smiled. "Looks busier now," he said.
Athena nodded. "It feels alive," she said.
A Builder found an ancient hammer nearby, broken at the handle, and carefully picked it up. "Someone made this," he murmured. Another discovered an old blueprint carved directly into a section of stone wall. Hunters found an underground watchtower tucked behind a collapsed archway. Children discovered tiny painted footprints along one wall, faded but still visible after all this time.
Every discovery felt personal.
Arthur walked past a familiar building. "Still empty," he said.
Sun sighed dramatically. "Don’t remind me," he said.
One Goblin blinked. "Bakery?" he asked.
Arthur pointed. "There," he said. "We checked it and nothing."
Sun crossed his arms. "...Worst day of my life."
Mithra looked at him. "You’ve almost died before."
"...False hope is way worse than almost dying."
Athena sighed. "You are exaggerating."
"Not enough."
Another Goblin looked toward a row of storage buildings nearby. "You checked those too?" he asked.
Arthur nodded. "Yep, they were also empty."
Sun pointed accusingly at the ceiling far above them. "Someone robbed us centuries ago," he said.
Athena pinched the bridge of her nose. "They cannot hear you," she said.
"You don’t know that," Sun said.
The Goblins simply stared. "They searched everything," one whispered.
Eventually they reached the broad roads beyond the forge, and Arthur pointed ahead. "I remember this place," he said.
Raku suddenly froze. "Wait," he said, his expression shifting.
Mara slowly looked around. Luka’s eyes widened. "No," she said.
Everyone noticed the change in them. Arthur looked over. "What?" he asked.
Raku walked slowly toward one of the giant pillars, running his fingers along its surface. "King Mu," he said quietly, "used to tell us stories."
Everyone looked over.
"One day... If you become strong enough... You’ll walk where I once walked.’"
Silence.
Mara nodded. "I thought he was just encouraging us."
Luka looked down the enormous road. "But he wasn’t."
Mara nodded. "He always talked about a place where only the King and the Guardian Spirits could gather," she said.
Luka added quietly, "Guardian Voro called it the King’s District."
Everyone looked around again.
The giant pillars.
The perfectly smooth roads.
The enormous braziers standing at every intersection.
The rune covered walls stretching in every direction.
Suddenly everything made sense.
One Goblin whispered, "This wasn’t just another district."
Mara slowly shook her head. "No," she said. "This was sacred."
Raku pointed farther ahead. "King Mu said the King’s Temple stood at the heart of it," he said.
Luka continued. "Guardian Voro always stopped talking after that."
Arthur blinked. "Why?"
Luka smiled. "He always said the King wanted some things to be discovered," she said. "Not told."
A Hunter suddenly stopped.
"...What’s that?"
Everyone looked.
Across an entire wall...
Tiny lines had been carved into the stone.
Thousands of them.
Athena walked closer and slowly traced them. "They are names."
"Of what?"
"Most likely names of important people in the city."
Everyone’s eyes widened.
"Could this be another way the Goblin King would honor and repay those who served him?" Vedas whispered in awe.
"Probably, nothing really says you were appreciated than having your name carved in a wall that many people pass by." Arthur says lightly. "Or maybe these represent the names of those who help build the city."
"That’s true... For a city this amazing, those who helped create it should definitely be remembered." A Goblin Builder said with a nod.
"I agree, it would be crazy if they didn’t!’
"Hahaha."
"Why can’t it be both?" Mithra says lightly, making everyone blinked.
And then they realize she was right. The point of the wall was most likely to praise and honor them.
...
The King’s Mark began reacting the moment Arthur walked forward. Golden crystals lit up along the walls. Doors that had stood shut for centuries creaked open on their own. Braziers ignited without anyone touching them.
Runes glowed brighter with every step.
Ancient fountains began flowing again, water spilling clean and clear over stone that had been dry for ages.
Dust fell from above as massive stone statues slowly illuminated from within. Then a deep bell echoed somewhere beneath the mountain.
Dong...
The sound rolled through the stone streets.
Across the rooftops.
Through every empty home.
Everyone froze and then another bell answered. Dong...Then another and another dong echoed out. One after another, bells that couldn’t be seen were ringing throughout the underground kingdom slowly awakened.
It sounded like a city announcing the beginning of a new day.
The echoes rolled farther and farther away until they disappeared into the darkness beyond the glowing crystals.
A little Goblin tugged on Raku’s sleeve. "...What’s happening?"
Raku couldn’t answer but his eyes had become wet.
Mara slowly covered her mouth. "...They’re welcoming us."
Luka nodded quietly. "...The kingdom knows its people have come home."
Several Goblins lowered their heads.
Others wiped quietly at their eyes.
Even the Blazefang Lions had stopped moving, ears flicking as they listened to the bells echo through the ancient streets. Vedas closed his eyes with a smile and Arthue could feel the surge of excitement, pride, and thrill coming from him.
Arthur looked around. "It’s nice..."
Sun stared at him. "...That’s your reaction?"
Arthur nodded. "It sounds peaceful."
Sun sighed. "Sometimes I forget you experience the world differently."
The bells slowly faded.
Further in, the Goblins discovered huge murals, not paintings but stone carvings, showing Goblin history stretched across entire walls.
One mural showed thousands of Builders carving directly into the mountain.
Another showed Hunters standing atop the walls while families evacuated underground.
Another showed children planting the first orchard.
Another showed Guardian Spirits laughing together around a long stone table.
Arthur stopped. "...They smiled a lot."
Mara looked up. "...They were a family."
Then it showed the First King. The mountain being built from nothing, the first Goblin children and the people cheering for the Goblin King.
Athena immediately began copying everything into her notebook as fast as her hand could move.
Arthur simply looked at it all. "That’s a lot," he said.
Sun stared at him. "That’s your reaction?"
Arthur nodded. "Yep."
One Goblin quietly said, "The city only woke after the Prophet returned."
Another nodded. "The Guardian Spirits chose correctly," he said.
Arthur looked around. "I think it woke up because it recognized that I completed all the trials."
Sun stared. "...Arthur."
"What?"
"...That’s exactly why they think you’re the Prophet."
Arthur blinked. "Oh."
Sun buried his face in both hands.
And then a goblin knelt. Soon several more knelt as well, heads bowed toward Arthur.
Arthur noticed. "Why are you kneeling?" he asked.
"They are overwhelmed," Mithra said with a smile.
"Oh, then it’s fine," Arthur said.
The pacing slowed after that. The laughter that had filled the district faded, and even the children grew quiet without needing to be told. Everyone walked together past huge pillars, massive bronze braziers, rune covered walls stretching endlessly upward.
Then Arthur stopped. "This is it," he said.
Before them stood the exact same gigantic door he had seen before.
Arthur smiled. "Oh," he said. "I remember this."
Sun looked at the others. "See?" he said. "He found the King’s Temple and didn’t realize it was the King’s Temple."
Arthur scratched his cheek. "I thought it was just another locked door," he said.
Every Goblin present simply stared at him.
Raku slowly laughed. "Of course you did," he said.
Arthur walked forward, and the King’s Mark glowed. The runes along the door answered faintly, but nothing else happened.
Arthur poked it. "Open," he said.
Nothing.
"Still closed," he said, frowning. "So I need to go through here." He paused. "Unless—"
Without a word, Vedas already understood. He reached into his bag and withdrew the restored crown. The instant it left the cloth wrapping it, golden light exploded outward from the crown. The King’s Mark shone in answer, and a beam of golden light shot from the crown straight into the center of the enormous door.
Boom.
The entire district shook. Golden runes raced across every wall in sight. Somewhere deep beneath the mountain, ancient gears groaned to life for the first time in centuries. The massive bronze doors slowly began moving. Stone dust fell from above in a fine curtain.
Every Goblin instinctively held their breath.
Raku whispered, "The King’s Temple."
Mara’s eyes filled with tears. "It really existed," she said.
Arthur smiled. "Guess we found it," he said.
The doors slowly parted, revealing only darkness beyond. No one stepped forward but they did feel a slow breath of warm air drifting out from the darkness.
It wasn’t stale.
It didn’t smell like a place sealed away for centuries.
Instead there was a nice smell that made everyone shiver in pleasure. And then the golden light from the King’s District spilled into the entrance. But it didn’t reach very far as the darkness seemed to swallow it whole.
Arthur looked inside. "...It’s bigger than I thought."
Nobody answered.