Chapter 24: The Pilgrimage

Fifteen goblins tribes stood alongside each other, such a sight was only common when goblins were low on food. They would often hunt in larger packs, or hordes as the mortal species referred to them as; the horde was meant to assure fewer casualties. What was uncommon was the sheer size of the horde and its purpose. These tribes out of all of the goblin tribes in the area had decided that they would enter the tainted forest together and look for the goblin god. The goblin elders of these tribes tried long and hard to convince the other goblin elders and their tribes, but most were too fearful of the Godless. The numbers were on their side and they knew they could win in a fight against the godless if all of them were together but just because Victory was a possibility didn't mean they were willing to die when it was easier to just avoid. The godless were very strong and would surely kill half of them before they would able to completely kill them. In the end, only fifteen elders and their respective tribes decided to go out on the expedition into the tainted forest, there were a few exceptions to this rule. Some goblins from various tribes went along with the expedition so that if the goblin god was real the chosen goblin could return to his people and tell them that it was worth the risk, there were five such goblins. A young goblin girl who had a sense for adventure, rare in goblins, a strong headed goblin who looked for respect from his fellow people, another young goblin girl who was quiet and reserved, the last two were older goblin men who were of the same tribe and were considered elder worthy in their tribe.

As soon as they entered the tainted forest, they could feel the mana being sucked out of their bodies, it wasn't enough to weaken them but it did cause great discomfort. This was one of the many reasons the Godless lived in the tainted forest, the forest was an area were mana was at a lower concentration and magic was harder to come by, it was a perfect defense mechanism against mages. Goblins, of course, didn't know this. They only knew that the tainted forest caused discomfort since it slowly sapped mana out of them, to fit the mana levels of the forest itself. This draining of mana was no different than when water moves from one area to another, it would not stop its torture until it found equilibrium. Many scholars had yet to decipher the mystery of depleted and overabundant mana zones for they were only common in the Great Divine Territories.

The journey for the Goblins would be long and there would be many deaths in the coming days. They all understood that, but what lay beyond the horror wood was hope, a God that would care for them and lead them, a God that would create a world in which they could live without fear.

The troubles for goblins began on the second day of travel, it began with a loud scream by one of the goblins in the front row. He screamed and in the next moment, he had turned to stone. Then the goblins heard a strange sound it was a mix between a chicken's clucking and bats screech, it terrified them. Their first trial would be the Cockatrice a fearsome animal no larger than turkey with grotesque molting feathers and a terribly strange slime that was spread all over its body. This slime was known to cause petrification.

The first to act was one of the goblins from out of the tribe, it was the young goblin searching for glory and respect, he took a log nearby and attempted to smash the creature with it, but it only startled the beast and in desperation it ran towards a young girl who had tried to run away. Her father looked on in terror as his precious daughter slowly succumbed to the petrification. This terror was soon replaced by blind rage and in this blind rage the Father beat the cockatrice to death with his own hands even after his hands had begun to turn to stone, even after his hands crumbled under his strength, he continued to crush the cockatrice until he was completely stone. The Cockatrice had perished but so had the brave father, leaving a mourning mother who had just lost two of the most important people in her life.

The goblins mourned for them and were prepared to leave their stone bodies behind but at the behest of the mother and wife of the two, they lifted their stone bodies in hopes that the goblin God could restore them, the headstrong goblin quietly carried the first victim to show his remorse. They didn’t know the full extent of a god’s powers some disbelieved the petrified father and daughter could be saved but they could not in good conscience leave the mother in her depressed state.

On the third day, by some tragic fate, the goblin horde entered a dead zone, the place was nearly void of magic, it wasn't just the goblins who were suffering, the entire forest appeared decrepit and rotted. The animals were weak and barely put up a fight when the goblins hunted them down. it was at that place that they would meet something strange, something eerie and uncomfortable. The first to find this oddity was the shy goblin from out of the tribe, she was near the front of the horde when she spotted a goblin not far from their location. He sat upon a large stone boulder, the nearby swamp attacked their nostrils with its putrid smell but the goblin did not appear to be affected by it nor by the depletion of its mana.

“Hello?” He spoke with a kind voice, but that didn’t ease the fears of the ones facing the goblin. The creature’s eyes were unnatural, they were more similar to an insect, they glowed a frightening shade of red, his movements were odd and almost uncomfortable; as if he didn’t know how to walk on two legs. And most suspiciously of all, he wasn’t weakened by the forest like they were.

"I no hurt." His voice hummed as he spoke, chilling the horde to their very core, whatever was in front of them, was not a goblin. Then, to ease the hordes anxieties, the 15 elders watched the goblin as the rest of the horde headed deeper into the forest, the 15 elders stared at the goblin and he stared back, unblinkingly and finally after the goblin horde was some distance away, the goblin slowly smiled.

"God close." The goblin told them, "scary monsters closer." The smile twisted into terrible shape, the goblin's mouth unhinged and from its jaw, out came sharp black pincers. Fear gripped their feet, their legs were frozen to the ground beneath them, they watched in horror as their fears of the goblin's true self came to light.

The front body of the enormous creature was coming into view as the remnants of what was once a goblin became an abdomen for an enormous spider with four yellow glowing eyes and two red eyes beneath them.

"God real, god close, scary monsters closer," It said in its eerie voice, the elders, after given some time to calm themselves, all backed away together, making sure to not lose sight of one another. The spider had not lied and did not harm a single one of them. He had only given them a warning of the impending dangers that the tribe would face. Why he did so was a mystery to the goblin elders, but they were glad that no one died because of it.

On the fourth day of their pilgrimage, the true horrors began.

“HELP!!” A goblin screamed as a vine from a nearby plant grabbed him and began pulling it towards it. The horde attacked to only have more vines sprout from the ground and take hold of them. From the depths of the earth emerged a plant as tall as the trees, it had jagged spindles around what looked like a mouth, they were reminiscent of teeth, but their function was very different. The first goblin to be captured by just a mere scrape grew limp and was easily eaten by the enormous plant. The family of the goblin screamed in horror, the youngest son tried to attack the plant only to be slammed into the ground by his father. He could feel the tears on his back and he too cried as he saw his brother being gulped by the plant. The five other goblins screamed and begged for help, but they knew it wouldn't come because, from their height, they could see dozens of these terrible plants spread across the forest. The goblin tribes would have to run as fast as they could to escape that hell.

The elders led the charge out of the horrid place, one by one goblins were taken by the vines, their screams chilled the bone of every goblin there but they all ran not once looking back and of those few that did were swiftly taken by vines. This continued for what felt like an eternity to them. But finally, at the moon's peak, they escaped the terrible hell. It was unknown how many were lost, the goblins didn't know how to count, but what they did know was that two of the fifteen elders were lost during the escape.

On the fifth day, they would face the dread wolves. These wolves were often called undead wolves. Their fur was always disheveled, and patches of their fur were gone. Their eyes appeared to have rotted, parts of their legs had open soars, they were walking diseases. The goblins fought packs of dread wolves over and over again, each time losing a goblin at the clutches of the wolves. This time, The goblins superior numbers had given them the confidence of victory. In this part of the forest, apart from the dread wolves, there was little to fear, or so they thought. The wolves were torn apart by the enormous horde but at a cost and this cost would not become known until the sixth day.

On the sixth day, food had become scarce, the trees were all dead and barren, not a single bush of berries could be found. The mana being sucked out of them was always constant, causing fatigue to remain with them even after long hours of sleep. Then, as if to pour salt in their wounds, sickness began to eat at the tribes. One elder succumbed to it during the night and many children followed suit. The tribes were weak and disorderly. The could barely take a step forward before having a goblin collapse somewhere in the horde.

The goblin who wanted respect, still feeling guilt over the petrifaction of the father and daughter, lifted the weakened bodies of goblins spread across, by the end of the sixth day he had been carrying 4 people 2 on each shoulder, how he managed to achieve this feat many goblins asked and received no answer for he did not know either, but it was certain that he had saved their lives.

At the end of the sixth day the many goblins had collapsed from exhaustion, they slept, and many didn’t want to go any further.

“GOD CLOSE!!!” the elders yelled, they yelled at the top of their lungs as they danced the tribal dances. Many goblins didn’t have an ink of hope left, at this time the two older goblins the ones worthy of the position of elder. Danced and sang, their hope should have vanished along with their fallen brethren, but this simple dance gave them the speck needed to move one more day.

It was finally the seventh day.

On this seventh day, they made it out of the tainted forest only to be spotted by a human. It was an enormous woman who stood twice their size. A single woman wasn’t the problem for the horde, the problem was their exhaustion and the sickness that was eating away at them and the woman most certainly belonged to the godless. The woman stared at them, the elders stood boldly in front of the woman as they instructed the horde to move forward.

The horde trudged along weakly, hoping that she was alone. The elders were prepared to die, but at that time something odd happened. The woman smiled and pointed in a certain direction. The elders somehow knew that the woman was telling them the direction of the god. They didn't understand why, after passing by her one of these elders turned her head back to see the large woman on the ground full of tears. The elder nodded as if comprehending something about the large woman and handed her a small fruit she had picked up some time ago. The young girl smiled as the tears flowed down her cheeks as if being absolved of some great sin.

The sun beamed warmth upon their backs as if to say that the hardest part of the journey was meeting its end. It brought hope into the goblins who had lost all shine in their eyes, they pushed forward, even the sick walked with more energy in their step. It was on this day on the fourteenth hour of that day, when they met the red witch. She stood tall and smiled at the goblins, she was known to not kill goblins on sight, but it didn't mean she hadn't killed goblins.

"God this way." She took charge of the horde and led them deeper into the forest, her odd smile made the elders uncomfortable, but for the moment she wasn't a threat, she had even cast a healing spell on the horde to ease their suffering. Though she didn't tell them that it was only a temporary measure, the sickness would soon kill most of the goblins, but at least she could keep the healthy goblins from contracting the illness and curing the ones who had only light symptoms.

She healed them to gain their trust and she wanted to gain their trust to gain his trust; She told herself this as an excuse for her constant contradictory nature.

On the ninth day of the pilgrimage, when the horde entered the god's territory, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"I BETTER!!" A goblin screamed the second he entered the god's domain. Instantly the horde ran into the god's territory and soon they were covered in a black aura that healed them inside out. Their wounds were gone as were their scars, all signs of sickness were completely gone. The horde cheered there were smiles all around, the only ones to not be healed were the petrified father and daughter. But the red witch soon healed even them. She hadn't bothered to heal them, mostly because she didn't notice them among the horde, it wasn't until a goblin carried them to her that she realized their petrification.

The kingdom was now only a day or two away, the Goblin horde would soon see their god.

At that same moment, Scitus felt an enormous increase in his population.

Total population: 631

“What the hell just happened?”