The Unbidden: A New World (1) (Short Parts)

Part 8

"So, why Thea?" I asked aloud as we walked the busy street.

"It means 'goddess' in Greek. I liked the sound of it over all the other languages, and since no one in this universe knows that language, I figured it would make a nice name. Do you not like it?" She asked, turning Her head toward me curiously.

"Hm ... It's not that I don't like it. Now that I know the origin of the name, I would deign to say it fits you well. Not only that, but it lets me call you something other than 'God'," I said with a chuckle.

I glanced over to see Her smiling at me ever so softly. Every time I saw Her smile, I swore I could feel my heart physically skip a beat. Maybe I have a heart condition, I mused.

It was quite a long walk to the nearest gate that put us in a direct approach toward the camp. The sun had moved well passed the high-noon point. I couldn't assume days passed the same, so I took a gander and guessed it was about four or five in the afternoon. Turned out, however, it was basically a carbon copy of the Sun from my universe.

"Be careful out there. There's a tribe of goblins in that direction, and they don't take too kindly to women," a guard said as we passed by.

"How do you mean?" I asked, stopping to hear him.

"I'm surprised you don't know. Must not be from anywhere near here. Goblins like to take women and use them to create offspring. They kill any males they since they don't have any use for 'em except as food."

"We'll be sure to be careful," I smiled.

I didn't bother letting him know we were the ones going to kill them all. Traffic along the road was almost non-existent near the gate we went through, likely due to the goblins. We entered the forest and went in the general direction described on the quest paper. It took us about half an hour of walking before we came across the camp. During that time, Thea and I had a conversation about some of the rules in this universe.

"What happens if you die in this world? I know when I did back in Johdpur, there was nothing," I shifted some brush as we walked the forest.

"One comes face to face with the deity they worshipped – or multiples if they were polytheist," She said factually.

"How does that affect those who followed Caed teachings?"

"I am unsure. 'Tis the first time I have been forcefully dragged into a universe in all my existence. Even more-so since I do not possess most my powers as of now," She teased.

In all the eons Thea had existed, I found it hard to believe I was a first. It may have explained why I sensed nothing after I died before though. If She was here with me, then there was no one to guide the souls of the dead that worshipped her.

As we came upon the outskirts of the camp, we started seeing the heads of men impaled on pikes and signs of fighting.

There had to be more than a dozen of the pikes strewn around the closer we got. The smell of death grew as thick as a liquid each step we took. I thought it strange that I didn't seem too phased by the impaled heads of unfortunate souls, but my mind wasn't focused on it all too much. I checked the area to see if there were any goblins hiding in wait, but it appeared they weren't expecting visitors during this time, which was odd.

We reached a tree line soon enough and saw a clearing about three-hundred feet in size. Goblins sure are ugly creatures, I thought. About sixty feet from us was the edge of the goblin settlement. I saw at least six of the little green creatures right away. There were likely more in the back.

The sounds women crying and screaming for help in the distance reached my ears. As I contemplated how to proceed with the situation, I heard rustling off to our side maybe thirty feet away. Thea and I crouched down quickly, peering through the foliage.

A couple goblins emerged from the tree line with a single woman in tow. She appeared unconscious, her clothes ripped to tatters and cuts all over her body. I could only assume the goblins had violated her before bringing her back to the rest.

I felt a little sick at the image. I need to rescue these people, I thought. But how do I do it? If I launched an attack right now, I would reveal my presence and put both Thea and myself at risk. Against my strong judgement to outright attack, I waited until the goblins dragged the woman passed the crude wooden gate and into the camp. The two that stood watch jittered excitedly.

"What do you plan to do?" Thea asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. I want to use a lightning bolt, but it's not overcast and I don't want to destroy the whole encampment. I might injure the women inside."

A couple minutes passed as I planned. If I waited too long, they'd just grow in numbers and become more of a nuisance, not to mention what'd happen to the women.

If I outright destroyed everything, I'd injure or kill the women, but at the same time, I thought it might not be the worst thing since the survivors would be freed.

In the end, I decided to try precision shooting.

I stood and leaned against one of the trees to my side. With a free hand, I snapped my fingers and whispered 'spark'.

A small mote of fire sparked into existence, floating a few inches above my hand. I vaguely felt the heat against my palm.

I wasn't sure if a single hit was good enough take a goblin down, however, I had to try. I had no weapons, and no real combat knowledge. Were I to get into melee distance, I'd lose quickly.

I stretched my arm back and threw the mote forward, hurling it at the goblin to the left of the gate.

The tiny ball of fire flew at an amazing speed. In no time flat it struck the goblin in the stomach and burst against its skin leaving a charred black spot around the edges of impact, and a small charred hole in the center. The goblin looked down in surprise before dropping to the ground moments later.

I repeated the attack, aiming at the other goblin before it had enough time to react. The second shot hit the center of its neck, causing it to fall immediately as its head flopped backward. That was easier than I hoped, I thought.

"Why did You create such nasty creatures?" I whispered aloud, entering the clearing and moving as quietly as I could toward the gate.

"This is part of a traditional fantasy world in your universe, I assumed you would be fine with that," She quipped back.

She's not wrong, I thought. As we neared the gate, the smell of burnt flesh assaulted my nose. Goblin meat doesn't smell good cooked, I mused. The screams of the women grew louder with each step, and when we got to the gate, we could hear the jittering sounds of the other goblins.

They had built a bunch of small wooden teepee huts, and a couple larger ones near the back with a large wooden structure at the very back – large enough to fit several women. Around the fencing they had small spikes jutting outward to stop anything from climbing over, not that a normal person couldn't sneak through.

The two goblins I saw dragging the woman were near the entrance of the structure, happily jittering to their fellow brethren. It looked like a sort of line formed outside the structure. A goblin wearing a headdress stood in front of the group, talking to them. Now's my time to strike, I thought.

I relayed my plan to Thea: to ignite some of the teepees to incite chaos, then sneak to the side and kill them in the midst of panic. She had no objections naturally.

With a snap of my fingers and a quick whisper once more, I created and gently blew on the mote. It drifted into a teepee, catching fire. I repeated the process a couple more times before we circled to the side of the camp.