The Goblin Nation - 66 The Hole

White led the brothers inside the shed. Inside were dozens of boxes filed neatly on the shelves. At the end of the room was a trapdoor leading to the underground basement. Once the brothers climbed down the ladder, the brothers were astonished by how many trinkets were stored underground. “Amazing!” Stick exclaimed.

“You didn’t know any of this?” Sun asked.

“No, I was too busy reorganizing up on the first floor while preparing for the trolls. I only got to check the basement only a few times, and each time I can’t help but go ‘wow.’ I wonder if there’s a sickle I can use here.”

“This way Chief.” White motioned at the brothers to follow him. “Me found shield behind.” White pulled open the curtain revealing a large hole on the wall. Protruding through the hole was a yellow arm.

Sun walked up to the arm and examined it with his hand. The arm was made of steel coated in brass, and its fingers had tiny bumps that felt like rubber. Sun tried to pull the arm, but it did not move an inch. “Rock, can you help me pull this out?”

“Sure.” Rock and Sun pulled as hard as they could to no avail.

“How about we dig it out?” Smoke suggested.

The brothers removed the dirt around the arm until they reached its shoulder. The arm fell on its own. Its fall nearly cracked the wooden floorboard of the basement. The arm was about four feet long, but it was as thick as a human arm. Sun crouched down and rolled the arm over, revealing its underside.

Transparent plastic glass covered the underarm. Sun could see the wires and plastic pipe running down, leaving the armpit and traveling down towards the rest of the arm. Sun tried to pick up the arm, but it was too heavy. “Need help?” Rock asked.

“Yeah, this thing is heavy.”

The two struggled to lift the arm. “Ok, this is really heavy. It was easier to fight the troll than carry this.”

“I guess that’s our cue to help.” Stick jokingly said.

The four brothers carried the arm over their shoulders and carried it up the ladder. Once outside the shed, they dropped the arm on the snow and took a closer look at the metal wonder.

On its surface are engravings of an unknown script. Sun could not think of any language in his past life that resembled the characters, although that’s because he could barely remember any of them.

Rock took out his new buckler and compared it to the arm. “Why does something this huge carries a shield this tiny?”

“I don’t know. Give me a hand.” Sun and Stick raised the arm to an upright position.

“This thing is as tall as I am,” Stick commented.

White walked towards Smoke, “Sir Stick, what we do other stuff in ground?”

“Sorry, White, but I’m Smoke. That’s Stick.” Smoke pointed at Stick holding the arm.

White’s cheeks blushed from embarrassment. White could not believe he mistook Smoke as Stick. He got on the ground and apologized for his misconduct, which flustered the brothers in return. “Don’t worry about it. We don’t exactly look the same as we were before.” Smoke reassured him while pointing to his red skin before dismissing White.

Sun could not blame White. Besides Rock, Stick and Smoke looked like twins. In fact, Sun would argue that they are twins. Stick was thinner than Smoke and slightly shorter, but that was the only difference between them. Ever since they turned into the red variant, their hair had the same long, silky black hair and sharp arching nose. And their lower left canine sticks out of their mouth.

“So, Stick, what should he do with the other stuff?” Smoke asked Stick.

“Just leave them be. We’ll get through them eventually!”

“And if you need any help, just tell me. These muscles got your back!” Rock bragged.

Rock was taller than Sun, nearly reaching six feet and had a more robust body frame. Sun could not help but compare him to Mike Tyson, a boxer from his previous life, and he could not wait what Rock may look like if he transformed once more. While they were walking to the shed, Rock was bragging about his accomplishment. Sun was surprised to hear Rock used the Dempsey Roll to defeat the troll. The Dempsey Roll is a highly risky boxing style and best used against taller and heavier opponents. But Rock needed one more ingredient to defeat the troll, and that was mana.

Rock has no idea how he managed to accidentally use mana, while Sun had to learn it on the spot with his mom’s guide. But Sun knows he could learn more from his mom, and the mysterious man he met in his dream.

While they were looking at the arm, a group of women led by Dawn and Shuja greeted the brothers. Most of them were mothers who looked up to Dawn as their leading matriarch. A single mother overcoming all odds and transformed into a conqueror made her an appealing leader, but Dawn has no desire to take such roles. She found it distracting to her real responsibility, which was to be a caring mother for her child.

Shuja had no qualms about becoming one of Sun’s close aid and accepted the leadership role Smoke gave her. However, Shuja is a single lady and is comparatively young to Dawn, so she lacks the prestige that surrounded Dawn. She must rely on her strength in order to be a successful retainer. “What are you guys looking at?” Shuja crouched down next to Sun. “Also, who and what are you? And where is Sun?”

“I’m Sun.”

“What!” Shuja fell on her butt, “What happened? How did your skin change color? How did you change your face to look more like your mom?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“And are these feathers growing in the back of your ears?” Shuja took a closer look at Sun’s ears, lightly touching the feathers. Sun noticed her cleavage through her unbuttoned coat.

“Are you done yet?” Sun cheeks turned red.

Shuja looked at Sun directly in the eyes. “Oh, sorry.” Shuja pulled back as fast as she could, “My bad.”

Sun was surprised. Before, he found it impossible to have any attraction to the goblin women. That is because goblins had the appearance of grotesque children between the ages of six and twelve. Now their appearance was closer to a teenage human body without the disproportionate features.

Sun only wished their face looked more human-like than their current looks. They still had pointy noses, large ears, and goat eyes. However, Sun found Shuja’s body to be beautiful despite it hidden under her coat, and he could not wait to see what her body may look like if she transformed another time. Shuja’s shoulders and chest were slightly wider than her waist, forming an inverted triangle. And her legs were long and slender.

Dawn’s body was much more feminine. She had an hourglass figure thanks to her wide hips and smaller waist. But she did not look weak. Her thick legs could support her weight, and Sun could tell she had a well-built upper body just from looking at her broad shoulders.

Smoke and Stick and looked at their brothers flirt with Dawn and Shuja. “When will I get to flirt with a girl?” Stick said.

“Haven’t you flirted with Pin enough?” Smoke sarcastically said.

“I don’t like her like that. She’s like a mom to me.” Stick tried to deflect the accusation, but it only made Smoke laugh.

“Excuse me?” Suddenly, an old goblin came forward.

“Oh, Lars, what’s wrong?”

“Sir Stick, followers gather all bodies. And hole dig up.”

“And is it six feet under?” Stick jokingly said.

“Yes.”

“And how many died?” Sun asked. Lars held his hands up and counted with his fingers. He stopped after he flashed both of his hands five times. “So we lost about fifty.”

“Our tribe only has about one hundred and twenty members now.” Smoke added.

After sulking for a few minutes, the brothers left the arm inside the shed, wrapt in wool, and walked to the large hole. Dawn returned to her tent, bringing most of the women with her, while Shuja followed the brothers as one of the tribe’s important leaders. Goblins surrounded the hole; some were there to see their dead loved ones, while most were there to watch, expecting a spectacle to occur.

The brothers’ followers gathered the bodies in a pile and were ready to move them. But before they could, Sun gathered his brothers and Shuja, “Before I start. I want to let you guys know about our future plans. I’m planning to relocate the tribe.”

Everyone responded with confusion. They did not know why Sun would leave the tribe while its still winter. They surmise it would be better to rebuild than start a new, but Sun was confident this was the right choice, and the group just had to trust him.

Sun over the hill made from the dug up dirt and gave his speech. “My dear tribe, I am sad to join you here today,” Sun’s voice cracked. He was still not used to his role as a leader, but he has no other choice but to carry this burden, especially now.

Sun cleared his throat and continued, “We should be celebrating. We won a hard-fought battle, but here we are outside of our town that is now in ashes.” The fire behind him was slowly fading away, leaving behind charred remains of the buildings. “But let’s not forget, that the odds were against us from the moment Cala angered the trolls and left us to die while he locked himself inside his cave. We won to live another day, while he died hiding without leaving any trace of himself.” Sun looked at the pile of corpses. “These brave goblins died with honor. Let’s not squander the victory they gave their lives for. We must live! Our homes may be burning, but we will live!”

“Yeah, live!” One of the goblins shouted. The rest followed, chanting live at the top of their lungs.

Sun waited until the crowd settled down. The goblins stopped when they noticed Sun standing over them without saying a word. Sun stayed quiet for a few more seconds, building suspense, before starting his speech again in a softer tone. “I have made plans with my commanders. I will be moving our tribe elsewhere. Once we bury and honor the dead, we will prepare to march south to Bona. And I will take Razin for you. I will create a stronger tribe, so when another troll comes knocking at our doors, we will not panic. We will not be scared. And most importantly, we will not lose! We will never lose another battle nor another war!” Sun paused and stared at the goblins. Then he ended his speech with a question, “Do you want to lose?”

The goblins looked at each with confused looks. Then a goblin in the crowd spoke up, “No not want lose!” The rest joined in, yelling to their Chief their desire to win. Sun ignored most of them because he transfixed at the goblin that raised his voice first. It was none other than Root. Sun smiled, knowing the goblin that used to run away just from bumping the Chief would be brave enough to lead the crowd.

After the goblins finished their applause, Sun walked down the hill and met up with his retainers. He wanted to talk to them privately to start planning their next move. But before leaving, Sun noticed Lars hiding behind Shuja with his legs shaking. He arrived in the middle of the speech and was mortified to hear Sun’s plan. “What’s wrong, Lars?” Sun asked.

“What mean move?”

“We are heading south.” Sun was about to leave the site to let the followers do their job when Lars grabbed his arm.

“But Lars weak. Me can no move.” Lars cried out with some tears in his eyes.

Sun got on his knees and told the old goblins, “Then I will carry you.”