[The Goblin-King]

Calm winds surge across the valley. The goblin-king stands there, looking out over the swarm at work beneath himself. Hundreds of goblins run through the forest, collecting materials and resources, delivering them to various stations of work. The craftsmen are busy day and night, creating weapons and tools for the work to come in days not far from now. They’re making coats of thick furs, for when the dark times come.

There are not just the remnants of his own tribe. But rather, all of the various tribes and clans and collectives of the goblins in this forest and in the many big forests around it have gathered together, understanding the purpose of their unified mission.

None question the goblin-king or his plan. After all, it is clear that these are the divine will.

“We will be ready soon,” says a voice to his side. He turns to look at one of his twelve advisers and nods, content. The work has been relentless and tiring. Breaks have been scarce and rare.

But it will all be worth it, once they win back the favor of the gods.

Then, the hard times will stop. The darkness that comes to cool many summer days will stop.

He turns his gaze back out over the landscape from the high perch atop the cliff. His vision is full of the sight of it, but also of all of the many lands far, far beyond the wood. These lands had once all belonged to the goblins, to the wild things, to the monsters of the world.

He will see to it that they do so once again.

[Gottlieb]

“Damn. Good job,” says Gottlieb, impressed as he looks at the stack of boxes and chairs that is atop the hatch on the right side of the room. Grunheide seems to have successfully not only locked the slime down in the tunnels, but also managed to avoid getting eaten by the looks of it.

It’s good to have reliable coworkers.

Gottlieb nods to her and then sits down on his chair, spinning around once as it slides along the rail, towards the console.

His eyes wander over to the monitor, getting ready to put in some work for the day.

— He doesn’t quite manage, however, feeling something watching him from the side.

Gottlieb turns his head, looking at Grunheide who is standing there, off to the side of the room.

“…What?” he asks.

The goblin points at herself. “Pitili?” she asks. Gottlieb has no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

“Uh…” He looks over towards the monitor. “Kai, do you speak goblin?”

[Answer]

- Negative.

“Huh…” Gottlieb turns back to the goblin and shrugs. “…Pitili?” he repeats, not knowing what else to say.

The goblin lets out an excited noise, losing her composure for a moment. She stops, clearing her throat and then calmly walks over to the other side of the console.

He has no idea what’s going on.

Whatever.

As long as she’s not eating any cables or him, everything is fine. “Kai. Where are we at?” he asks. “Can you light up the chicken-lady for me?”

[Answer]

- Negative. The ‘chicken-lady’ is present on another continent that we are currently not above.

“Ah, damn,” says Gottlieb, looking up at the continent on display here. “Who the hell is on this one then?” he asks, studying the landmass. “Ah. Wait a minute, isn’t this the one the farm was on?” he asks, leaning in. Gottlieb rubs his chin. “I wonder what’s going on there? It was a good show. Kai. Zoom me in.”

[Answer]

- Negative. The Orbital Weapons Platform is not to be misused as a television set to watch farm-life dramas.

“Look, Kai,” says Gottlieb. “Either let me misuse my god-given powers to stalk wholesome families living on remote farms, or let me wreak untold havoc on the world. But you gotta choose one,” argues the man.

The monitor shuts off entirely.

“Kai!” barks Gottlieb, leaning in off of his chair.

Kai does not respond.

What a dick.

Gottlieb sighs and looks around the room. Now what?

He doesn’t really see anything. There’s nothing to do in space after all. The hatch rattles off to the side as the slime continues trying to escape. He feels a little bad for it. But also not. Life is complicated.

Gottlieb looks over towards Grunheide. “Wanna get lunch?” he asks, nodding his head. He kicks his chair back, rolling along the rail until it slides back to the middle of the console. The man gets up, grabbing his rifle and waves for the goblin to follow him. “There should be another few nutri-bars in the canteen.”

The goblin looks his way, somewhat confused. But then gets up and walks after him.

Gottlieb makes a note to throw her in the showers and lock the door. The chair and her clothes smell like piss. Hygiene is going to be an issue here.

He turns around, noticing that Richter’s old photo is laying on the ground in an old puddle of wet.

The man thinks for a moment if he’s bothered, but then realizes that he isn’t.

He shrugs, feeling oddly excited about getting a nutri-bar. He needs to eat big if he wants to get big, after all.

Minotaur isn’t gonna fight itself.

“I think the harvest is going to be alright, paw,” says the girl, relief present on her sun-tanned face. Her father stands there in the middle of the fields, next to her, looking around at the crops growing decently well. Large clumps of the food growing here are draped over with coarse, heavy fabric, fastened to poles in the dirt. Currently these ‘tents’ are open and let sunlight in. But if the sunlight stops and it gets cold again, they can just drop these down until the light returns. “Even if the light stops now and then, the plants will be fine with this new fertilizer and these tents to keep them warm.”

Gottlieb munches on his nutri-bar and points at the monitor with an idle finger. He turns his head over to Grunheide. “That’s the daughter,” he explains. “She wants to run the failing family farm, but her mom wants to send her to the city instead.”

Grunheide makes a series of snarling, growling noises as she chews on the bar, this time without the wrapper. He’s fairly sure that she doesn’t understand a word that he’s saying. But it’s nice to talk to somebody who isn’t Kai.

“- Looks like things are going well for them though,” says Gottlieb. “Good for her.”

After they got back from the canteen, Kai had turned the monitor back on. Gottlieb isn’t sure what caused the change of heart, but he decided not to mention it. Kai is acting pretty weird these days.

Must be all the magic.

It can’t be good for you.

The hatch rattles to the side of the room. Gottlieb looks at it, chewing somewhat slower than before. He stops, looking at the rest of his ‘food’.

— He could give some to the slime.

Gottlieb blinks.

Nah.

He keeps eating. It’s fine. Feeding it is probably a bad idea anyway.

[Meridian]

Meridian sits atop the anqa, riding in near the head of the formation of soldiers as they return towards the city that now crests on the edge of the horizon. Smoke from fires that had burnt in days prior continues to rise, leaving the marks of the insurrection as clear scars upon the land and the architecture of what was once his home.

But he had left this place a long time ago. It was too much stress, too much politics, too much drama. He thought he had managed to escape it all.

He looks back over his shoulder, towards the regiment of soldiers and priests who are not so much following their formation, as they are simply following after him.

It’s true that he hadn’t wanted any of this. He hadn’t missed the games of power and the struggles involved. He had hoped to die quietly in that old refuge by the sea. However, it seems that this is simply not a choice that was ever his to make.

Fate is a strange thing.

His gaze turns back forward towards the city. They move towards it, all of them aware that his presence here, immediately after the fighting has come to an end, will bring an entirely new wave of forceful violence with it. Those who had just come to power only yesterday will fight to the death before releasing the reins of their new-found control.

— Yet everyone behind him follows without a hint of hesitation visible in their steps or their steeled, ready eyes.

Meridian sighs. He had just wanted to be an old man.

He supposes though that he should have known better, after all of these many years of his existence.

Life is never so simple.

The sun begins to flicker, hinting of a new darkness to come soon.

[Gottlieb]

Gottlieb moves the control-stick to the left, zapping the camera a ways off from where it was pointing before. “Anything?” he asks, squinting.

“Nix,” says Grunheide for the third time. Gottlieb nods, agreeing. He doesn’t see anything here either.

He moves the joystick further, zooming the camera to another random location in the world. It’s a meadow, full of vibrant flowers and grazing animals.

But no monsters.

“Nix,” repeats Grunheide.

Gottlieb sighs, zooming towards a new location. Monsters seem to be pretty hard to find when you actually want one.

The lights flicker.

He looks up towards Kai. “Ah, fuck,” says Gottlieb, seeing where this is going. The station hums. The emergency generators kick in as everything goes dark. The monitors die off. Kai’s light turns dark. The dying whine of hundreds of machines fills the room in a descending tone, like a disappointed sigh.

It would seem that the sun has gone out once again.

“Nix,” repeats Grunheide, staring at a completely blank monitor.

“Yeah, no shit,” replies Gottlieb, kicking his chair back on the rail. What the hell even is the sun’s problem? Somebody really should go and sort it out. Hell, shouldn’t the generators at least be enough to keep Kai running when the lights are out? Gottlieb rubs his chin, thinking.

…What does an ‘off’ sun even look like?

He realizes that he’s never actually seen the problem with his own eyes before, given that the monitors go dark every time this happens.

“I’m taking a walk,” says Gottlieb, grabbing his rifle as he decides to go to the airlocks, leading outside to the orbital gun. “Stay here,” he instructs, gesturing with a stopping motion as the goblin gets up to follow him.

It isn’t even just the station that is falling apart. Apparently, it’s the whole universe.

It figures.

Gottlieb shrugs, heading up the shaft towards the floor above. If gods are real, he supposes that they really half-assed the universe, which makes sense, considering that their creations, people, also always half-ass everything.

He nods. It makes sense to him.

The man exits the shaft and walks down the hallway, stopping as he sees something shuffling in the darkness.

Gottlieb narrows his eyes, looking at the odd shape in the darkness, silhouetted under the dim emergency lighting. It has a human gestalt, but it is of poor posture and shape. It is hunched over and dragging itself along. Gottlieb slowly grabs his rifle. “Kai…” says Gottlieb to the darkness, knowing that Kai can’t hear him as he lifts the gun and turns on the attached flashlight.

A decayed, rotting face attached to a body that wears a station-crew uniform turns his way and moans. “- ZOMBIES!” yells Gottlieb, firing off his first shot while also realizing that he doesn’t have many left.

Out of the dark, attracted by the extremely loud noise of gunfire, more of them shuffle out into the corridor.