Parallel Vol. 4 [LEGACY EDITION]

Chapter 32.1: A Goblin's Fear

Derium Plains, Daggerfall.

00:23 a.m. 18th Banem 1092.

Crackle! Boom!

While the monsters army in Kirkcour Woods trembled under the lightning tribulation wrought by the vengeful daeben, disaster encroached upon a small goblin tribe across the continent beneath the cover of a rare thunderstorm.

Crackle! Boom!

Within one of the run-down buildings in the dilapidated village, Bok comforted a litter of scared goblin newborns who wept in fear as the heavens rumbled and roared. The young goblin looked at the pouring rain with unease and trepidation. He had intended on fleeing the village immediately after Rudega left, but the thunderstorm had forced him to halt that plan. The little goblins could not travel in such a heavy storm, besides the pursuers would most likely have taken a break to hide from the thunderstorm.

"Don't cry little ones, it's just a little lightning," Bok comfortingly said as he squatted over the children and patted their heads. "It'll pass after a short while." The goblin could understand why the babies were so scared as this was probably the first thunderstorm they had ever experienced.

'It'll also be the last for most of them.' Bok's gaze lowered as he thought of the most likely outcome for these scared babies. Goblins were not recognized as humes and as such did not receive any protection from the civilized nations. Adventurers often hunted their kind either for sport or for 'righteous causes.'

This all started who knows how long ago...

Apparently, some desperate goblins somewhere had taken it upon themselves to rob and kill humes for food and resources. These crimes, coupled with the goblins' high birth rate and short maturity period led to a common fear among humes that one day, the savage creatures would proliferate across the continent like locusts and destroy everything they touch.

The humes, in response, labeled the entire goblin race as savage monsters that should be cut down on sight to preserve the natural order. This order led to the near extinction of the goblin race as they were hunted down to the fringes of the continent. These savage executions eventually caused the desperate goblins to resort to cruel and sinister methods to ensure their survival. The entire race devolved into madness over several generations of constant persecution and retaliation, which ultimately resulted in the current reality where goblins either hid at the edge of the world or committed the worst of atrocities on hume settlements both as retaliation and to gain resources and strength to survive.

Bok snorted, rage burning in his eyes as he thought of the stupidity and futility of the entire situation. The humes persecuted the goblins out of fear. The goblins retaliated out of desperation to survive. The humes, angered by the goblins' atrocities, oppressed them even harder. Unfortunately, all this did was push the goblins to the end of their ropes, and their subsequent atrocities were even worse. Be it the humes or the goblins, both sides had created a tail-eating serpent that would never end.

Bok, although born with intelligence that was light years beyond the average goblin, knew he could not do anything to change the current state of affairs. As such, once he became the chief, he took his tribe to Daggerfall where those abandoned by the continent came to hide. While there, he planned to start a small community and see if it was possible to teach regular goblins to be self-sufficient, if only through hunting.

Bok looked up at the goblin mothers who sat by the litters with reluctant pouts. He sighed as he realized this was something the goblins needed to work on. The complete lack of empathy between these mothers and their children was a severe weakness which also impacted how many of these babies would live past their first year on this continent. However, this kind of thing could not be forced. Bok decided he would do some further research into how to fix this particular trait. For now, though, the tribe needed to keep working on becoming self-sufficient.