Chapter 133: The Chiefs Cruelty
The sounds of battle still echoed throughout Dawn, but in one district, silence.
A group of Goblin Healers hurried through the streets while supporting wounded Goblin Hunters. Behind them were Goblin Archers who had exhausted nearly every arrow they possessed. Several Goblin children and elderly Goblins were protected in the middle of the formation.
Nobody spoke.
Everyone simply wanted to survive.
Then the temperature suddenly rose.
The Goblins instinctively looked up.
Forax landed on top of a nearby building, flames dripping from between his teeth, the light of his own fire casting long shadows across the cracked crystal lanterns lining the street. His crimson eyes slowly swept across every Goblin.
He smiled.
At nearly the same moment, the street behind them exploded. Crystal erupted through the road, and Silverline emerged from beneath the ground, her body catching the dim lantern light in sharp glittering edges.
The Goblins stopped. Their escape route disappeared. Their hope disappeared with it.
One Goblin Hunter immediately shouted. "Protect the civilians!"
Several Goblin Statues crashed into the street. Three Spectral Goblins descended from the rooftops. Without hesitation they charged.
The Goblin Statues attacked first, massive stone blades swinging toward Silverline. The Spectral Warriors coordinated perfectly, one attacking high, another low, one sealing every escape. It was the same teamwork that had effortlessly defeated countless ordinary beasts.
Silverline didn’t even dodge.
Crack!!
Its crystal tail swept once.
One Statue shattered into dozens of pieces. Another lost both arms. The remaining Statue was sent crashing through three buildings.
The Spectral Warriors immediately adjusted. One pierced toward Silverline’s neck. Another struck from behind. Silverline’s body blurred and to the shock of the Spectral Warrior, the spear missed.
Its crystal claws flashed, and the Spectral Warrior’s chest split open, golden mist scattering into the dark air.
Forax laughed.
A Spectral Goblin leapt toward him. Forax grabbed him by the throat, lifted him into the air, slammed him through the street.
Again.
Again.
Again until the stone road collapsed beneath every impact.
Still the Spectral Warrior struggled to rise.
Forax looked genuinely amused. "You don’t know when to stay dead," he said.
He kicked the Spectral Warrior across the street.
The Goblins watched as their strongest defenders were completely overwhelmed. The wounded Goblins tried escaping. Forax didn’t chase them and instead he slowly walked, like a predator enjoying itself.
A Goblin Healer stood in front of a crying Goblin. Her legs shook and she knew she couldn’t stop him. But she refused to move anyway. While she couldn’t save everyone, she could save one more person.
Forax stopped only a few steps away. He looked toward the pinned Spectral Warriors, then toward the trapped Goblin Statues.
He smiled.
"Watch," he said.
Without another word he devoured the Healer.
The goblin screamed.
Silverline calmly pinned another Spectral Warrior beneath the crystal. One Goblin Archer rushed forward. Silverline casually impaled him with crystal before slowly lifting him into the air.
The Archer looked toward the Spectral Warrior. He smiled weakly. "It’s okay," he said.
Then the crystal shattered his body.
The Spectral Warrior struggled harder, golden mist leaking from countless cracks across his form. But he couldn’t move.
Forax laughed louder. "We aren’t killing your people," he said. "We’re teaching them despair."
The surviving Goblins began trembling.
Some covered the children’s eyes.
Others couldn’t stop watching.
The Chiefs weren’t fighting.
They were playing.
The Goblin Statues and Spectral Warriors continued struggling. Every time one escaped, the Chiefs casually crushed them again.
Then they began moving, not towards the throne room but to various areas in the city. They reached the Harvest Fields first, the ground Arthur had helped restore, medicinal herbs and fruit trees and fresh crops stretching beneath the soft crystal glow overhead.
Forax unleashed a river of flames.
Everything burned, thick smoke rolling upward and choking out even the ambient light from the cavern ceiling far above. A Spectral Warrior roared, breaking one arm trying to escape the crystal. Too late.
Silverline smashed through the oldest forge next, the anvils, the furnaces, weapons waiting to be completed, the place where generations of Goblins had worked by lantern light long into the night.
Crystal spread across everything.
Hammers lay where their owners had left them. Half-finished swords remained trapped beneath crystals forever. An elderly blacksmith fell to his knees. "Our ancestors... They built this forge and left it for us..." His voice disappeared beneath the sound of collapsing stone.
Stone Statues trembled violently.
They reached the Children’s School after that.
Tiny wooden practice weapons.
Half finished carvings.
Lessons still written across stone boards.
Forax slowly walked inside, looked around and then picked up a tiny wooden sword. He turned it over once. "This is how your feeble people taught your children how to fight? How ridiculous and weak."
He laughed and then snapped it between two claws.
One of the Spectral Warrior roared as she rushed over and thrust out with her spear. But Forax simply snorted before punching out with his claw and then an explosion blasted out. It crashed into the Spectral Goblin and sent her crashing through a well and into another building.
"Don’t interrupt."
Then one by one, Forax began crushing every practice weapon beneath his feet. Even as more Goblin Spectral Warriors tried to interfere, Forax simply swept them away and even Silverline joined in on the fun. And once all weapons were shattered into pieces, only then did he open his mouth. He watched the look of despair on their faces while they screamed and shouted.
Then Forax finally breathed fire.
The school disappeared beneath the flames.
A Goblin collapsed. "No," he said.
The Spectral Warriors screamed even more.
Finally they reached the oldest monument in Dawn, a long stone wall lit by rows of dim, ancient lanterns, thousands of names carved across its surface.
Every hero.
Every Goblin who had died protecting Dawn.
A Spectral Warrior finally broke free and he desperately charged. "No!!"
Silverline simply turned and its crystal tail swept once.
Craaaaack!!
The wall shattered.
Thousands of names disappeared beneath the crystal.
Silence fell in the area as every Spectral Warrior stopped moving and every Goblin Statue froze. All of them saw Generations of names that represented the countless sacrifices for the Goblin people.
All vanished in a single strike. Some Goblins instinctively reached toward the shattered monument and others simply stood frozen.
One Spectral Warrior slowly walked toward the shattered wall. His fingers brushed across the broken stone. Fragments crumbled beneath his touch and for the first time, this ancient dead warrior trembled.
Another Spectral Warrior slowly knelt.
He picked up another broken fragment and fingers traced one carved name. Then the fragment slipped from his hand. Golden mist erupted around every Spectral Warrior as each of them gripped their ancient weapon tightly.
The air itself became heavy.
For the first time the dead remembered how to hate.
One of them rushed forward and slashed down with his greatsword. But Forax snorted as he grabbed onto his face. "You protected this place?" He laughed. "...Pathetic." He smashed the warrior straight down into the pieces of rocks that still had some names.
These stones turned into dust before he hurled the Goblin Spectral Warrior away. And then as more Goblin Spectral came, Forax only laughed as Silverline went on to smack, crush, and drive the Goblin Spectral through the ground.
Forax laughed. "It’s best if everything about you all," he said, crushing another monument beneath one claw, "get buried and forgotten!"
The surviving Goblins cried openly because they had just watched their history disappear. One elderly Goblin slowly walked toward the shattered memorial. Even as Forax sneered at them, the elderly goblin swayed over in a daze.
Then dropped to the ground with tears leaking down as he began laughing. His hands trembled as he picked up one broken piece of stone. A single name remained carved upon it. "As long as one name remains... W-We aren’t–"
"Oh, my apology. It seems I should do better. It’s been a long time since I have done this, so I’m a bit rusty." Forax said as his eyes glowed.
And to the disbelief of the elderly Goblin, the piece began breaking apart and turning into ash.
The elderly Goblin froze and his trembling hands desperately tried to hold onto it. But the ashes slipped between his fingers. "No..." He dropped to both knees. "No..."
He clawed at the ground, trying to gather the ashes back together.
Trying to save a single name.
Anything!
But everything scattered into the wind as Forax smiled. "I prefer it this way. Now no one should remember you all."
The wind carried the ashes away.
No one moved to chase them.
No one could.
All of them just blankly stared at the loss of those who did so much for the city. And now they will be lost forever because they couldn’t protect their memories.
A little Goblin slowly stepped forward from behind his mother. His eyes wandered across the broken pieces of stone scattered everywhere even as he trembled. He looked up at the adults around him. "...Will anyone remember them now?"
Silence.
The elderly Goblin lowered his head.
The adult Goblins couldn’t answer.
Even the Spectral Warriors stood frozen as their fists tightened around their weapons. Yet not one of them spoke because they didn’t know.
The little Goblin looked back at the pieces on the ground. "Then... will they disappear forever?"
Nobody answered.
For the first time, the citizen Goblins felt anger at their weakness and the Spectral Goblin warriors felt a familiar despair.
And the Goblin State only felt rage which should be impossible.
One Goblin Statue suddenly roared before he rushed out. Not staying in formation as he simply wanted to crush the head of that laughing lizard.
He wasn’t the only one.
Another followed.
Then another.
Every Statue charged at once.
Stone streets shattered beneath every step.
One Statue lowered its shoulder and rammed directly towards Forax who swatted him away. Yet even as he was being blasted back he hurled his spear towards Forax whose eyes shifted out of the way.
Then another statue smashed through the side of a building and swung down with their staff. While another ripped a broken bell tower from the ground before hurling it like a spear. A third leaped nearly thirty feet into the air, bringing its sword down with enough force to split the street.
The silent guardians abandoned all discipline.
Only rage fueled them.
Forax and Silverline only laughed in glee at this.
...
Elsewhere, a large group of Goblin Hunters escorted wounded civilians through the dark streets, moving only by the faint glow of scattered crystal lanterns still standing. Parents carried children. Healers supported exhausted soldiers.
Nobody looked back.
The sound alone was enough.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Titan Boulder Apes were running behind them with Crystal Serpents moving on top of the roofs. But what frightened them the most was the Behemoth whose every step shook the streets.
The Goblins didn’t even know where they were running anymore.
One little Goblin stumbled. His mother immediately picked him up.
A Hunter with a shattered arm turned around. "I’ll hold them!" he said.
Another Hunter joined him. "So will I!"
Then another.
Soon every injured Hunter had stopped and the Healers looked at each other. Without speaking they stepped forward too.
One Healer quietly smiled. "Looks like it’s finally our turn," she said.
Eventually the Goblins reached a dead end.
Collapsed buildings surrounded them with no escape. All of the rooftops were too big to be climbed quickly, no alleyways or another path. Only walls, lit dimly by a single flickering crystal lantern still clinging to a cracked archway.
The Beasts slowly approached. Titan Boulder Apes first. Crystal Serpents circled around the sides. The Behemoth blocked the only opening.
One Hunter looked toward the civilians. "When we charge," he said, "don’t stop running."
A mother cried. "There isn’t anywhere left to run," she said.
Everyone understood.
This was the end.
The Hunters lowered their stances and the Healers gathered beside them.
Every child hid behind the adults. The beasts advanced.
One Hunter screamed. "NOW!!"
Another Hunter looked back one final time.
Children.
Parents.
Friends.
He smiled. "Please get to the throne room or find Mithra... " He slammed his broken spear into the ground. "FOR DAWN!!"
Every Hunter roared together.
Every Healer charged beside them.
One tiny Goblin tugged on a Hunter’s sleeve. "Will you come back?"
The Goblin Hunter looked down and smiled. "...Of course."
Then he gently placed the child’s hand into another Goblin’s. He never looked back again. "Let’s go!"
Not one stepped backward, even knowing none of them would survive.
The battle erupted immediately, Hunters falling one after another. A Healer was thrown aside. Another was crushed beneath an Ape’s fist. The line began collapsing. The Titan Boulder Apes simply forced their way through.
The Crystal Serpents slithered past the defenders.
The Goblin children screamed.
One Behemoth slowly raised its enormous foot. Its shadow covered every child beneath it, blotting out even the faint lantern light.
The little Goblin slowly looked up as the Behemoth’s foot continued falling. His mother wrapped both arms around him. She never looked away and simply whispered. "I’m sorry."
The foot descended.
The Goblin mother closed her eyes and the child did the same. The foot fell closer and closer as the entire street disappeared beneath its shadow.
The mother tightened her embrace.
The child buried his face in her chest.
Then—
Boooomm!!
The child slowly opened one eye to see golden feathers drifting across the street.
...
In the Throne Room.
Athena slowly opened her eyes as the room seemed to brighten with a golden light.
Crack.
A tiny fracture spread across the cocoon.
Another.
Then another.
A single feather drifted from the cocoon and before it touched the floor, all of the lanterns in the throne room brightened even more.
As if they were welcoming something back.
Mara slowly lifted her head. "It’s," she said.
The cocoon trembled before then a larger section broke away. One brilliant golden eye appeared through the opening.
The pressure filling the room instantly changed.
Tiny shards of golden light floated through the throne room.
Then...
Everything inside Dawn stopped.
Stone Guardians froze.
Spectral Warriors stopped fighting.
Goblin Statues lowered their weapons and even the beasts paused. Every living creature instinctively looked toward the palace.
Nobody understood why but they simply knew. Something had awakened.
Then—
CRAAAAAAACK!!
One golden eye slowly opened.
It wasn’t filled with curiosity or confusion. But instead fury as it looked upon the city like a king returning to the throne he had never forgotten.