“What the hell am I doing?” Sio pressed against the house, the left half of his head peeking out at the house he’d been staying at for the past few weeks. He tried to steady his breath but his heart beat as fast as when he was running. The door was open and no matter how hard he tried, how he squinted, he couldn’t see the goblin that went inside.

How far away was Gustav? Did he even care to try and catch up to him? If he did, he’d have already been there by now. Sio cursed at his forced companion for not understanding the gravity of the issue. “Fuck!” he said under his breath as he realized how odd his behavior was. Why would he care so much about an empty house? If the goblin inside didn’t find his friends, Gustav definitely would.

Sio’s fingers dug into his head for acting so rashly. He’d hidden everyone well enough that Gustav couldn’t find them the first time. If a person couldn’t do it, there’s no way a stupid goblin would.

He didn’t hold strongly onto that belief. The goblins were much smarter than he originally imagined, the shamans most of all. It wasn’t the strength or speed of the goblins that killed two of his party members but their cunning.

Sio took a deep breath as he unsheathed his shortsword and stalked toward the house. The door was slightly ajar, just enough for him to slip through. He saw small traces of snow that led to the kitchen. One quick look and he knew it was no longer there. All the ground level cabinet doors were opened while everything else was left untouched. It was looking for hiding people.

He peered up the stairs refusing to blink even as his eyes burned and the muscles in his face twitched. There were two ways to go to places he could be attacked from. He hugged the side of the wall and the stairs to counter the old creaking boards. On the last step, his grip on the sword turned his knuckles white. He jumped into the hallway doing a quick spin but couldn’t find the goblin.

As an extra precaution, he left all doors in the house closed and at the moment only one was open. Sio held his breath as he entered and couldn’t stop himself from looking at the wide open closet door. He was on the verge of screaming. Each step became harder and heavier like there was someone pushing down on him.

The clothes were parted and he heard rustling in the deepest part of the closet along with ragged, breathing. His boot was in a puddle of blood. It couldn’t be. Why? Why didn’t he put Rainen with the others? He stopped bleeding the first time by himself, he’d be fine a second time. Now, a goblin had hacked away at him with a filthy stone knife. What would he tell the others when they woke up and saw his mutilated body? What would he tell Rainen’s sister?

Why am I the only one who didn’t go to sleep?

He raised his sword and tossed aside the clothes. He flinched at the sight of the body, laying on the ground, face completely torn apart with five finger-sized holes in the stomach. Sio’s eyes slowly peered deeper into the darkness. What would he see? He was afraid. Slumped over in the corner, a wrapped blade leaning against his shoulder, his hands covered in blood, Sio called his name.

“R-Rainen…? Rainen are you awake?”

There was no response. He stepped over the body of the monster and reached out for his comrade. He stopped an inch short. Rainen had looked at him but in his eyes were voids darker than that of the blackest night.

Sio fell back in terror, screaming. He felt something grab his arm and he stabbed at it with his sword, not even thinking of the consequences. What he saw, that thing, was not Rainen.

“Careful with what you do with that thing, kid,” Gustav swatted the blade aside and threw Sio onto the bed. “I knew you were acting strange. The moment you saw that goblin waddling toward this house, you took off.”

Sio grit his teeth. He hadn’t thought about his actions at all. But what else could he do but get here as fast as he could? Gustav dragged out the dead goblin and spit on it before pushing aside the clothes.

“Hey,” Sio shouted, “Don’t throw me.”

Gustav ignored him. Sio scrambled out of the bed and yanked him out of the closet. Sio’s head spun. He was staring at the ceiling wondering why his jaw hurt. He was losing consciousness. Maybe it was his turn to join everyone else in their sleep. They all looked so peaceful. It was unfair that he was the one stuck being awake while everyone drifted off happily.

Gods, this is the most relaxed I’ve felt since I left home. I’ll just close my eyes for a little bit. I wonder who’d take care of everyone if I drifted off too…

Sio’s head snapped back as Gustav pulled him up by his collar.

“You lied to me.”

His face twitched and he swiped away Gustav’s hand, “So what? You want me to trust someone who doesn’t trust me enough to show his home, keeps me at arm's length, and uses me as bait for the goblins? Well, you can go and-”

He stood behind Gustav with blood dripping down his fingers, back hunched, head hanging on one side. Sio glanced at the goblin with its neck torn out and back to Rainen’s empty eyes. There was something about him that scared Sio. He stepped back from Gustav, hiding his hand behind his back ready to cast a spell.

“Hey, Rainen. How are you feeling?”

Gustav turned around, “What are you looking at?”

For a moment he thought Gustav was talking to Rainen but he wasn’t. Sio rubbed his eyes and Rainen was out of sight. Sio pushed past Gustav and was quickly yanked back. It hurt. His arm throbbed but there was no time to think about it. He didn’t realize how much taller Gustav was until now.

“Listen here, I don’t know what’s wrong with that friend of yours in the closet but you better not be hiding anything else from me. Another whiff of a lie and I’m done helping you. I expect to see you tomorrow at the same time. Be ready to lure another hunting group.”

Sio’s face soured as the man left the room. How could someone be that insufferable? If he didn’t need him, if his friends weren’t like this, he’d have already left. A piece of shit like Gustav, so high and mighty, deserved whatever terrible fate was coming to him. He was probably the reason all his party members died.

Sio dug around in the closet.

Who was that bastard to be angry at Sio? There’s no way he’d tell the truth to a guy who’d use him as meat for the goblins the truth.

When Sio saw Rainen, he snapped back into reality. Rainen’s hands were covered in blood. Sio wanted at his neck for a wound but he knew the blood belonged to the goblin. Ellar’s scarf was wrapped around Rainen. Sio had used it as the first thing to try and stop the bleeding, he felt a bit bad for using her scarf and covering it in blood but he had nothing else to use.

“Lucky for me all that blood disappeared.”

Strange as it was, Sio didn’t care to question it. The bleeding stopped, the wound closed, and everything was okay. From that day on, he kept Rainen close by in case it happened again. He didn’t know what he’d do but he’d do something.

He went to the attic checking the breathing of each of his friends, lingering a little longer on Fia’s, before closing it off and shutting the closet. Unlike Rainen, the goblin’s blood didn’t go away. He could see reddish-brown stains against the wood. If he didn’t get the body out of the house soon it would start to smell, not that it didn’t already.

The goblin was surprisingly heavy despite its rather thin looking arms and legs. Dragging it outside and burying it in the snow would take a lot of effort. In that time, one of the goblin’s friends might come looking for it and see it being buried. Maybe instead of burying it, he could cook it and eat it instead. He’d never had goblin meat before and as dirty as it was, he needed the food…

He shook his head and dragged it down the stairs. He heard goblin meat didn’t taste very good and it more often than not left a person with some troubles afterward if not cooked correctly. He sighed as he dug through the hardened snow. Whether or not a goblin saw him burying their friend, they’d notice the tracks and investigate the houses if they came this far.

When he finished he ate a small snack and headed off to bed early. It’d been a long day. But he couldn’t fall asleep and just kept turning in the bed. He sunk his face into the pillow and screamed out his frustrations.

“Why? Why the fuck am I the only person awake! Why did those two only leave me? Goddamnit! Curse everything! Why couldn’t it be someone like Rainen who can take care of himself? Why?”

Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why?

He slammed his fists against the bed, kicked at it, threw the pillow at the wall, wrestled with the sheets all while yelling and screaming. By the end of it, his throat hurt and he was out of breath, left to stare at the ceiling and to wonder where everyone else was. Where were their minds? How come they didn’t need to eat? They didn’t get cold, they didn’t need to relieve themselves, nothing. Maybe they were all having a nice dream where they didn’t have to worry one bit about the things Sio had to worry about.

He envied them. He envied them so much he thought about throwing them into the snow or slapping them to wake them up. Then, when they did, he would ask them how they felt while they slept so peacefully and he was out there in the real world dealing with the goblins and trying to survive on his own.

He eyed the pillow he’d thrown across the room and cursed. He didn’t want to get up. He looked at his fingers and sent his magic through them, creating a connecting arc of lightning. Sio concentrated on the pillow across the room and with a flick of his wrist, the pillow bounded through the air and into his hand.

He looked at his hand again in dumbfounded amazement. He sat up, “I-I did it! I can’t wait to tell-” he sighed and laid down once more. He knew his magic had gotten stronger, the marks on the trees and rocks he’d practiced on were larger and against monsters like goblins, his magic seriously hurt them. He just never had the time to think about it until now.

He noticed it little by little all starting back when he recovered from his sickness in the healer’s house. He faded in and out of consciousness as his friends carried him into a cabin in the woods. The healer, Gideon, gave him various medicines throughout the night that eased his pain and helped him sleep. He remembered as everyone rushed into the room, everyone but Rainen. Gideon quicked used the shimmering flower in his hand and the next thing Sio saw was a dream.

Right. A dream. He had a dream during that time. In a time long ago, a land far away, nestled in the shade of a mountain was a small shrine. There he saw people sleeping so peacefully. He gazed at their faces and recognized none of them.

“Here,” a quiet voice said. “Come closer.”

He followed the voice to the shrine, kneeling before it.

“Do you have a wish?”

He thought for a moment, “I want more strength,” he said.

The shrine was silent for a moment. “For what purpose?”

“So I can fight,” Sio answered.

The voice laughed, “Sure.”