Adrian had summoned an enormous sandstorm around him, yet he was only killing a fraction of the goblin sea. Res wasn’t good at singing, but he had to admit that he nailed the tone of the goblin drinking song. With his loyal followers shouting out their lungs, they ran towards the wave of base goblins. The enemy goblins seemed confused but continued their jog towards the city. Res had to admit that the song wasn’t as fear-inducing as they ran towards the line of base goblins.

He didn’t know what he had expected. Those goblins that were considering stopping, convulsed, and continued their jog. He answered their dull eyes with a dull look of his own and hardened his body. He didn’t want to hurt them, but he supposed he would need to give a short and brutal demonstration. It would all work out like with his squad. He would blast them away, then tell them about raping their mothers, and then they would follow him. Behind him, he heard a female cry of fear and turned to see Xenia, Akeem, and Serafina standing rooted to the spot. The sight of the hundreds of thousands of goblins was indeed fear-inducing.

It seemed like they had followed him and were only now realizing the danger of the situation. Akeem was the first to react. Akeem grabbed his sister, turned, and ran towards the gate in enormous bounds. Serafina cried out, but Res couldn’t make out her words above the stomping of the goblin’s feet. Akeem stopped dead in his tracks, having heard the call, and ran back to pick up Serafina. Xenia whispered something in his ear and Akeem stopped dead in his tracks. Serafina was now running at them while gesturing for them to wait, but Akeem only gave her a last mournful look. Akeem’s muscles inflated, and he bounded off in the direction of the gate. Res had no time to think as the first row of goblins hit him.

They clawed and bit at his skin and he would have turned into mincemeat without his hardened skin. Res pushed them off, just to be piled on again. Long fingernails scratched at his nose, tore at his hair, and tried to enter his mouth. Judging by their speed, the goblin front line had passed him already. It would be only a matter of time until they caught up to Serafina. An enormous aether push, coupled with the globe of darkness, freed him from being piled on. Finally, he was above the ... *PANG* *PANG* *PANG* Three jolts racked his body and Jason had to intervene so that Res didn’t fall back into the fray. When Res turned, he was faced with a bulky klengan with a barrel in his hand.

“Bro, push off …”

Res complied and three more jolts hit his upper thigh. Closer inspection revealed that three piping hot metal balls embedded in his hardened flesh. The klengan fumbled around with his barrel and Res took the opportunity to attack. An enormous aether … A chilling shriek of pure terror reverberated through his bones. It was filled with despair, anguish, pain, but also the will to go down fighting. The klengan was still fumbling around with several other metal balls.

With a heavy heart, Res pushed himself off as hard as he could in the other direction. He zipped over the heads of the goblins like an arrow honing on its target and reveled in the adrenaline rush. Serafina was like a battle goddess as she let her blade whirl around in deadly silver arks. Blood splattered her live, athletic form while she retreated. Yet, her face held only desperation as the goblins encircled her further and further and her sword strokes turned more and more frantic. With practiced ease, he positioned his arms to grab her off the ground. Like a hero from a fairy tale, he swooped her up into his arms while laughing delightedly.

“Woooaa. That was intense. Sorry for … ” His words got stuck in his throat when Serafina coughed up blood in his face. When he looked down on her, his entire body froze up and Jason had to jump in to keep them stabilized.

“No … That can’t be …” A cool part of his brain assessed: “Blood. Everywhere. Javelin. Stuck in the upper chest. Lungs pierced. Death imminent.“

Res breathing quickened. “No, this is wrong.”

Torrents of emotions assaulted him and his eyes rolled back in his head. When he regained sight, he laughed, but even to his ears, it sounded mad. He cradled Serafina’s head in his arms. “No, this is wrong. Serafina isn’t … ”

One of her arms went limp and he began to hyperventilate “No, I can fix this. Jason, you know something, right?”

Res was only met with silence. By now, he was breathing so fast that he was close to collapsing. He reached out to the wound and touched the blood as if in a dream. Frantically, he searched for a way out of this and reached back into the comforting darkness. In the emotionless void, he felt nothing, but that was better than going back to that horrible lucid dream.

He snuggled himself into that blissful nothingness like a warm winter coat: “I only wanted to save them.”

“Why me.”, “Grace brings destruction”

His thoughts were a whirlwind of questions upon questions and unsatisfying answers.

“Why did they do it?”, “Why am I here?”, “Why me”

The circle begins anew.

“Why am I alive?”

His being built up to a crescendo of tortured castings of help, of sense, of something.

“Should I be alive?”

He let himself go and followed the calming motion of the dark whirlpool. Still, a part of him cast about for anything. In that deadly spiral, a hand reached out to him. It didn’t grab him but offered itself up. Res knew that hand and he didn’t trust it at all.

“What are you?”

The hand didn’t go away, but also didn’t answer.

“Why didn’t you come to help me back on the battlefield. I know you could have done it!”

Still no answer.

“Fine, if you won’t talk to me, I won’t too. I don’t want you. You can go fuck yourself.”

Suddenly, the hand was gone. Res harrumphed, but the weight of his thoughts crashed down on him. For a moment there, he had been able to live with himself. Horror filled him at the thought of having rejected the entity. He couldn’t call out again, could he? The pull towards the dark center of the whirlpool was inevitable. The more he tried to think on how to get away, the more he was drawn in.

With his last shred of consciousness, he reached out again to that hand, knowing that he will be rejected, but hoping beyond hope. As he was about to give up, the hand once again stretched out towards him while holding no malice. With a roar of defiance, he grabbed it and found himself enveloped in immeasurable acceptance. Before he found himself back in his body, he heard the rumbling voice of the entity: “Who are you?”

He breathed in the scorching air mixed with the sweat of the goblins. “I don’t know who I am. I do know that this is not me.”

The empty void around him pushed down on him, but another consciousness supported him. ”Bro, you don’t have to go through this alone. We are brothers, man.”

He looked down at the masses of goblins and the glossy-eyed Serafina in his arms. A spark of defiance sprang up inside him. He pulled his head back and roared out his defiance to the world that wanted to crush him. He wasn’t alone. A kindred spirit was raging on aside him at the world. Res took a deep breath.