The humans follow me as I make my way back to the cave system that I call home. All of us have our heads down, letting the gloom help us think--we all have a lot of thinking to do.

I have no idea what happened back there, all I know is that instinct took over, I had lost control of my body and it had moved to tune I know nothing about.

It was definitely Hex interference; after all, they had marked me, cursed me to bear their red tears and have a different race. Yet there is no denying that some of the gifts they had given are powerful and power makes all the difference.

It made the difference in the PIts and it is making the difference now. I could already see that I had grown in power under the system, and would keep on gaining power.

I would still kill them when given a chance though, I had seen what happened to Trolls under their rule and I couldn’t have that happening to me.

I look at the small forms of the humans besides me and wonder again about had happened. I had bonded them, a blood bond, any Troll knows that blood shared and an oath taken is a family bond. A bond that should never be broken.

Not that any of us ever cared. Blood bonds were never kept, it was a thing of honour, something long dead in Troll society. I remember the Brood-Mother telling stories of that mythical thing and what the Troll heroes of old had gone through to keep theirs intact.

I always thought it was stupid. Why wouldn’t you kill the whelps of the enemy? They would just grow up and try to kill you. Whenever Trolls have shown weakness in mercy they were hurt for it. I would not make the same mistake. Still, there’s something nice about the idea of honour, so the Broodmother always said, something nice about the fact that you don’t have to watch your back all the time, where you can rely on your fellow Trolls to help you.

Looking back on it I could see why a poor wretch like my pit born Broodmother would find something nice in honour, after all, she was betrayed.

In the pits, whoever crossed me usually ended up dying, the only thing I didn’t have was the favour of one who had the Warlords favour.

Now things look different. The humans are bound to me and me to them, whether they like it or not they are now family. They are now part of the tribe with me as their Warlord. Not something I want, but from what the system said, not something that I can refuse either. I had made an offer and it was accepted, I would suffer the consequences for my actions, I sigh, not that I have much of a choice.

I push down the anger that starts to come to fore, the humans could be useful and anger wouldn’t do anything to help. It wouldn’t help me or them.

We weave through the misty darkness of Cell together, and I begin to realise that they must’ve been here a while. They know all the places to avoid and almost all the places that’s safe. Then I realise that also am getting close to what they have, the Cell is starting to become my home. I think back to my time above and to my talks with the batlings. Would I be able to gain enough power to fight them? Was it possible to gain that power down here? I shake off the unwelcome thoughts. No purpose.

Eventually, we make it back to my cavern, Eye is standing guard chewing on one of my goblins. The humans draw their swords, arms blurring, I growl though and they stop. “This is my place. Eye is mine. Goblin is mine.” They sheath their weapons hesitantly, fair enough, Eye is dangerous and looks the part.

I walk up to It and backhand it across the face, a whimper escapes it and I growl into Its ear, “The goblins are mine. I decide when they are eaten.” With that I pick up the mutilated goblin and slam it across my pets face, a point needs to be made and this is the way to do it.

Another whimper escapes it and I walk past, motioning for the humans to follow. They’re a lot stiffer then they were before, maybe because they’re still nervous around me or because they don’t want to enter my place of power.

I shrug they could think what they wanted but they were part of the tribe now, bonded by blood and system, I had seen what the system had promised to any of us that didn’t abide by the contract. Something worse than pain.

The humans stop in the main cavern, obviously hesitant, I motion them forward, they are part of the tribe now, they would see what I had.

We move through the caverns and Boney appears in front me, looking surprised at the humans. “With me. They are blood bound.” His face takes on a look of even more surprise, a not a small dose of fear.

Why would he fear? Were the humans that scary?

I turn to the humans, “This is Boney. My goblin taskmaster. He is in charge of controlling and disciplining the goblins when I’m not around.” They nod.

“Boney. Find humans a place to rest. I will see the goblins today and present them tomorrow.” I say in the dark speech, with that Boney bows and turns toward his new charges. I turn to find the goblins.

“Over there master.” He points and I nod, the humans are lead the opposite direction. Goblins stink and would keep anyone other than me and Boney up. I go through the tunnel he pointed toward and come out into a mess. The goblins were covered in crap and spit, and humping each other in the corners. I snort, then narrow my eyes.

This room had more ‘secret’ entrances than the rest of the caverns combined, I can see the footprints leading to them, and I can see the disturbed dirt.

I roar and the goblins freeze, I motion them to get into a group and they comply. None of the strong goblins seems to have been taken, I would’ve noticed they’re different than the others and obviously had the genes of the big goblin I had killed before. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have missed a couple though. I would need to move them, no need for Boney to know I’m onto him. He won’t be as useful once he knows the game is up, besides he hasn’t bred yet from the looks of it and that would need to happen.

I grab the strong ones and herd them toward a cave right next to my own. They would be noisy but it is something that I am used to, after all, I had lived in the PIts for most of my life. I check the new cave to make sure that no holes had been dug, I find one or two but those are easy fixes, especially with the goblins. They always surprise me with how quickly they can work, and how well they can mine and tunnel.

I would need to take the picks and shovels away from Boney, I can’t have him ordering the gobs to dig in places they shouldn’t. Even gobs can’t operate without tools, though they do try.

Looking over the gobs I can’t help but snort, I wanted to make them look good, a show of force to impress the humans but I can see now that it wouldn’t happen. I would need to settle for the next best thing, I would need to take them out and bath them, I remember the mostly hidden lake that I had first found these gobs at and wonder again how exactly they managed to get there without dying.

I shrug, no point in wallowing over things I’ll never the know the answer to. I leave the useful goblins and go back toward the not so useful ones. They’re doing the same things as when I left them, I snort, the goblins are starting to look less and less like an actual good idea. They are a nice food source but that’s about it so far, the stronger goblins look like they could become kinda good fighters but they would need to be trained first.

I don’t know if I want to take the time and do the training myself. Maybe the humans would do some of it--they aren’t all that good fighters themselves though, they’re fast and they have some powerful abilities, they don’t have skill though.

Even whelps would be able to see the flaws in their fighting style, they rely on speed, strength, and luck. Maybe they could make something out of the goblins though after all the gobs would be starting from nothing.

I sigh and shake my head, then head for my cave and fall asleep.