The Brutal World of Gods, Demons and a Fallen Hero

Goblins

'Will Gurk be back?'

A certain small creature with green skin could be seen peeping its head outside the cave it was in and although goblins differ in looks and behaviour compared to humans, one could easily tell that the goblin seemed worried.

'Gurk promised to be back'

His name was Gork and he was feeling nervous since his friend that he grew up with is yet to return despite the sun already rising. He understood quite well what that meant but still strongly hoped that was not the case.

'Gurk will be back. Humans sleep when night. Perhaps he wandered further to find food and Gurk coming back. Maybe Gurk...'

His thoughts however where disturbed by someone grabbing his shoulder and he turned to look at who it was. It was an elderly goblin wearing slightly better clothing than him, with some paint on his old face and some feathers stuck in his hair. That was the clan's shaman named Gerk.

Gerk looked with pity at Gork and was shaking his head slightly. He was far more realistic than him and knew well that Gurk will most likely never return.

"Come back Gork. Sun up already. Humans can see and can kill Gork as well"

"What Gerk says must be wrong. Gurk alive coming back"

"Gork knows well that humans evil and kill poor goblins when see and when day already it must mean Gurk dead"

"No... Gurk..."

Gork looked very sad and he wanted to say that was not the case, that Gurk was alive, coming back with the food he found but... he knew the brutal reality and the fact that shaman was most likely right and this was the sad truth. Humans are evil and most often kill goblins when they see them, that is the first thing that young goblins learn after all.

They are the worst beings Gork ever heard of and he was feeling helpless since its even forbidden to fight back when facing them, that being the case since the not so distant past when other goblins naturally thought of fighting back and uniting other clans to do so but all that caused other even more evil humans to show up. They were called 'White devils' by the goblins because of their incredibly white armour with light blue crosses on them. They were also extremely brutal and merciless, killing and burning every goblin they spotted on their bloody path. Since that time they regularly visit the forest and hunt them for some unknown reason. All of that caused the goblins to seek refuge in caves, ravines and other dark places.

Gork started to accept what happened when he recalled the tale of the tragic goblin war and walked deeper into the cave, accompanying him was the shaman who was not looking to bright either. Gerk had a giant frown on his face since he will be the one forced to tell the hundred or so goblins that now there were ninety-nine of them left...

***

Some hours passed and Gork was sitting in a corner of the cave, still sad after what happened today. He couldn't understand why life must be so cruel.

'No! Humans cruel not life! Humans should die for what they did to Gurk!'

His sadness finally started to evolve towards more violent emotion. He had enough of doing nothing and watching his friends and comrades die one by one, he made up his mind.

'Gork will make humans pay!'

He rushed towards the centre and climbed a rock that made him see the whole cave. It was quite spacious and easily housed what was left of this goblin clan.

What Gork saw could be classified as extremely depressing. Every goblin looked malnourished and even children couldn't bear to smile in such a sad environment. That sight only reaffirmed his belief that things need to change.

"Listen to Gork!"

He screamed and everyone turned to look at him. What they saw was a young goblin with anger and determination in his eyes. They all walked up to him and wanted to know what he had to say.

"Gork tired of living like this! Humans kill goblins one by one. Gork can't stand it! Goblins should fight evil humans and change things!"

Hearing this the crowd was stunned. It was completely forbidden to fight human since the goblin war that happened around fifty years ago, still some young goblins agreed with Gork and started shouting as a response.

"Gork right! Humans kill goblins even when we peaceful! Humans should die!"

"Humans evil! Humans die!"

They crowd was starting to get restless and more and more goblins started to agree with what Gork proposed. Seeing this Gork also felt like he was doing the right thing, however the crowd went silent after hearing a certain elderly goblin reject the idea.

"Gork crazy! Humans too strong and will kill every goblin. Gerk understands Gork but that a suicide for goblins"

Gork however simply sneered when he heard the shaman talk.

"Humph! Maybe goblins will die but at least goblins die fighting not hiding!"

The crowd was once again in an uproar. Most of them agreed with Gork.

"This will not... Cough! Cough!"

The shaman wanted to refute but he suddenly started coughing. The other goblins shortly after also started doing the same. Gork was not an exception and understood that something was terribly wrong. Before he could guess however a screaming half-burned goblin ran in.

"White devils! White devils burning fire at the entrance!"

Gork's mind was instantly filled with anger.

"Goblins grab weapons! Attack white devils!"

After saying so he grabbed a small stone knife and started to rush out of the cave, other goblins that could fight also did the same grabbing whatever they had and running behind Gork.

"Roooar!"

Gork was roaring and running as fast as he could, soon he exited the cave and the first thing he saw was a human wearing a black robe. He was holding some sort of black stick and strangely aimed it at him. That was also the last thing Gork saw...