Stray Soul

“Urgh... Gob is tired...” Gob mumbled under his breath as they continued to walk through the forest.

Grok said that they were close to home, but Gob wasn’t so sure as Grok had been saying the same thing for the whole day and they still hadn’t arrived at the encampment.

But Gob also didn’t think they were lost, returning to home just took time, and Gob knew it, so he didn’t bother Grok or the others that much and kept to himself, after all, they should be back soon... at least that’s what Gob hoped.

And around the time when sun started to set, Gob was able to see the wooden walls surrounding the encampment, they were finally home.

“Scatter! All of you are free for tonight, do whatever you want!” said Grok after they entered through the gates, and started walking towards the temple and Gob pondered for a few moments if he wanted to fallow Grok, and listen what he and shaman said to each other as he knew of a spot where they wouldn’t find him, but...

“Gob’s feet hurt.” Gob said to himself, and retreated into the encampment, wanting nothing but to sleep and rest.

Then, Gob retreated into his hut, ignoring his roommates, and went to sleep while Grok continued to walk towards the temple.

Soon, Grok saw the temple, which was, other than being the temple, also the shaman’s home, so it was much, much larger than anything else in the whole encampment.

Quickly moving in front of the doors of the temple, Grok gave the door a knock, which always felt weird because he could never understand the necessity for such a thing.

I mean, why have a large wooden block cover the entrance to the temple when you could just use hides like the rest of goblins?

Grok never understood but shaman must have reasons for doing the things shaman did, so Grok never questioned.

Then, suddenly the doors to the temple started opening, and Grok was able to see the oppressive darkness inside the temple, and the figure of the shaman sitting on an elevated chair in the middle of the room, which he called ‘a throne’, but it was just a chair, was it not?

“Ah, Grok, you are finally back. I was worried for a moment when you were late from your mission.” the shaman said towards Grok in a calm voice, his voice a bit rough, but calm and kind, nonetheless.

“Yes shaman, I’ve returned, and I am ready to give my mission report.” Grok said, walking inside the temple, and heard the doors closing after him, so none could bother them.

“Shaman? Since when has my son been so formal with me?” Shaman—his father asked Grok.

“You know how it is, father. The others can’t hear me ‘disrespecting’ you, so I have to refer to you in your title—while the others can hear us at least.”

“I know, I know, how bothersome, aren’t they? Can’t even let us refer to each other without causing a commotion, not that their opinion matters much but, still.” Father said, and then continued.

“Now, while I’d like to have some father-son bonding moment with you... you seem tired, so, go ahead and give your report, so you can go and get some rest.” His father finished, and Grok quickly started talking.

“Yes father.” I said and quickly continued.

“The other side of the lake seems much the same since the last group went to explore it, there are still the big birds, hive bees, wolves, and all the other critters of the forest, but I’ve also found something that is... quite concerning.”

“Hmm? What is it then, spit it out! Did you find the thing I was sensing from beyond the lake?” Father asked, and it was clear from the tone of his voice that he was quite curious and impatient to learn of what I found.

“Well, father, I found undead night terrors on the other side of the lake, 2 to be exact.” I then quickly answered, not wanting to extend the suspense.

“Hmm? Night terrors? Like these ones?” Father said, and out of the oppressive darkness of the room a couple undead beings made themselves known, and they looked like a weird mixture of fishes and lynxes, but they had lost their characteristics wet fur covering them, probably due to the age of the corpses.

“Yes father, like those.” Then, father took a thoughtful pose for a few moments, probably thinking about what the reason for the appearance of 2 undead in the middle of the forest could be.

“Hmm... was there anything else?” He then asked me.

“Yes father, unlike the normal undead in the nearby dungeon, these night terrors escaped from us instead of attacking us in a mindless rage.”

“They escaped? Then how are you sure they were undead?”

“One of them had its organs removed, and the other had claw marks on its throat, near its arteries, so the only reason for them moving that I can think of is that they both were undead.” Then father seemed to thing for another moment, but before long he asked me another question.

“And?” He seemed to have been expecting something else but... there wasn’t anything else I noticed during my exploration.

“And? Were you expecting me to find something else father? Were the undead not the thing you sensed?” I then asked, wanting to make sure if he was asking about the exploration, and not something else.

“Yes, I was expecting you to find something else and, while I am quite flattered that you thought I was able to sense such small undead from so far away... that’s sadly just an impossibility for me, so, did you find the dungeon they came from? Or something else that stood out in the area you explored?” Father said and... I was really embarrassed. Because I failed father on what should’ve been a simple mission and also worried because I knew failure on a mission as simple as this wouldn’t be so simple in and of itself...

“Haa... stop making that face, I am not going to whip you or something just because you couldn’t find a dungeon, after all, even though you are my son, you’ve always been quite bad with mana, so it’s only natural that you failed. We’ll just say I’ve already punished you if anyone asks, okay?” Father said, coming to his own conclusions from my face.

“Okay fath—” but before I could finish my sentence, someone basically threw open the door, and came inside.

*BOOM*

“You were calling the Shaman what?” came a harsh voice from behind, which I recognized to belong to Gram, my equal in ranking but stronger than all the other F rankers, nearing Father’s level even.

“Gram, who gave you permission to barge in to the temple like that!” father yelled at the annoyed looking Gram, wearing full leather armour with an iron mace in his hand that was covered in blood and pieces of rock.

“You did.” Gram turned to father with an annoyed look to him.

“You said I could enter whenever I wanted, however I wanted if I had business with you.” he then added, which made my father grumble under his breath.

“So, what do you want?” Father then asked.

“To report so I can go and rest for the day? You know I was in the dungeon leading the others, what are you so grumbly for?” Gram said, seemingly not understanding that throwing open a closed door as being rude... not that I could blame him though, it was quite hard getting used to the door.

“Oh... yes, it seems I’ve forgotten...” father then responded.

“Ahhh... Krone, I know you didn’t forget me, stop acting like a fool.” Gram responded, seemingly tired.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, who can tell?” father said, to which Gram wanted to respond to, but father beat him to it.

“So, tell me your report and continue on your day then.”

“You... hahh...anyways. I went into the dungeon by myself and with 8 others, so we had 1 F rank, me, 3 G ranks, and 5 H ranks. We cleared out floor 0, and then proceeded to the upper floor to give the H ranks easier targets to fight with, while me and the 3 G ranks protected them from golems and the few problematic monsters, then, after a few hours, we left the dungeon from the first floor, rested, then returned and went to floor -1 to give the chance for the G ranks to gain experience too, then after a few hours there we left and returned back to base with no casualties, and only light injuries.” Gram, said and stood there for father to answer, so he could rest for the day.

“Hmm... very well then, you may go res—” But before father could finish his sentence, 2 goblins waltz into the temple from the open doors.

“SHAMAN! WE BRING SACRIFICE!” they both said together, bringing with them a... corpse of a clearly diseased deer with a leg chopped off...

“WHAT ARE YOU 2 IDIOTS TALKING ABOUT!” Father than yelled at intruders and seemed to be quite angry because people seemed to just waltz in today for some reason.

“W-we bring sacrifice?” the goblins, who seemed a lot less enthusiastic, said quietly.

“And who told you to bring a sacrifice here? At this time of day?” father then asked them, and their answer left everyone in the room shocked.

“Umm... you did, Shaman.” the 2 lied through their teeth.

“WHEN THE FUCK DID I ASK 2 IMBECILESE LIKE YOU TO BRING A SACRIFICE!” father then screamed at them, probably not being able to contain his surprize and anger at the situation.

“Uh, well...”

“AAA—but you...”

“QUIET!” Father then told the goblins who were stuttering and clearly anxious. And then pointed at one of them.

“You! You tell me why in the name of the gods did you bring me the corpse of a clearly diseased animal, a dead animal if I may add. Just, tell me.” father said and, while he seemed calm, he was definitely angry from the tone of his voice.

“Y-you... umm... well, there was this... umm—u-undead, so w-we thought that—” the scared goblin started saying, stuttering, but father cut him before he could finish.

“An undead?” father said, glancing at me for a moment, probably remembering the undead I talked about.

“Tell me, what did this undead look like, and where did you see it.” father then continued.

“I-it was a deer, a deer with 4 eyes, with black skin and flying horns! Oh, and vines! It had vines around it!” the goblin said, still a bit scared.

And I could see father thinking about what the goblin was talking about because no deer had 4 eyes, and the vines indicated that it could’ve been a vine deer... but vine deer also weren’t known for their tendency to mutate another pair of eyes and dark skin out of nowhere.

Then father looked at me and Gram, and gave a nod, which we returned, knowing what he wanted to do.

Then father turned towards the still very scared Goblins.

“You 2! I am sparing you of any punishment today but know that don’t ever bring me any sacrifices or come to the temple unless you are called, or you were ordered by someone else to inform me about something, okay?” father asked the 2 in a cold voice, to which they nodded and one seemed to want to say something but was clearly too scared to do so.

“Ah, for god’s sake... what do you want to say?” father asked the goblin.

“W-well... what should we do with the deer?” the goblin asked, still quite intimidated.

“Oh, the deer... well, just bring it to the cooks—wait a fucking second...” father said, his eyes lingering on the carcass of the deer for a moment.

“Are you serious?” father then added, starting to massage his temples with one of his hands.

“Umm... did we do something wrong, shaman?” asked one of the goblins, to which father just pointed at the deer.

“Oh! Uh... you see, we got hungry and...” the goblin tried to say, but father cut him.

“Are you blind!” father yelled.

“Eeek! W-we are sorry shaman! We didn’t know that you wanted to eat the deer—”

“NO! I don’t want to eat a diseased animal or want to do anything with a diseased carcass you fucking imbeciles! Can’t you see? Have you gone blind? Are you incapable of understanding that eating a diseased animal is a bad thing?!” father continued to berate the goblins, cutting them from speaking.

“ARGH!” Father screamed, clutching his head.

“Oh gods, why must you test me so?” Father mumbled under his breath, but everyone in the room could hear him clearly, then he looked up at the goblins.

“You 2! Take that corpse, skin it and take its hide, then burn the corpse and its bones, and you are to not go outside of the encampment for the next 4 days, okay? And, you are also to visit me for the next 4 days, at least once every day, and you can come here whenever you want to, if you feel sick that is, just knock before you enter, understood?” father then asked the goblins, to which they just nodded, grabbed the deer, and left the temple with haste.

“AND DON’T BURN THE CORPSE INSIDE THE ENCAMPENT, OR ANYWHERE NEAR ANYTHING FLAMMABLE! AND ASK A FRIEND OR 2 TO ESCORT YOU OUTSIDE, SO THEY CAN HELP YOU BURN THE CARCASS, AND BRING YOU BACK INTO THE ENCAMPENT IF YOU FEEL BAD!” Father yelled after the running goblins, to which they just turned their heads around and nodded to.

“Argh... what a bunch of imbeciles.” father then added, clutching his head.

“Soo... another dungeon?” Said Gram, to which father nodded.

“Yes, that seems to be the case... Gram, can you take a group and search the area beyond the lake for a new dungeon? I’ve been feeling something weird from there for a week or so now, but I am not sure what exactly it is...” father then said to Gram.

“Will do.” Gram said and stood there looking at father.

“Ugh, you can go, you know you don’t have to just stand there like an idiot, waiting for orders, right?”

“And since when was fallowing orders a bad thing?” Gram said, turning around to leave the temple.

After he left, father turned towards me.

“Grok, we haven’t set who will be escorting a group into the dungeon tomorrow so... you go there, you need to get stronger if you are to succeed me.” Father said.

“Okay, Shaman, but I need to ask, has any other discoveries been made with the dungeon since the day I left?” I asked father, referring to him as the shaman now that the doors were open, and people could hear us.

“No, nothing new. We are only aware of 3 floors in the entire dungeon, and while I’ve alerted the great one to the weirdness of the dungeon, and the area which it covers... the ‘great’ one has just decided to ignore me, so we will not be having any support to learn from it, and my imperial is non-existent so I can’t even translate the texts found inside... what a shame.” father said, lamenting the fact that he couldn’t do anything with the books and such taken from inside the dungeon.

“Hmm... a shame indeed... though I wish we knew why the dungeon rejects to expand outwards, or whatever the imperials build there.”

“That’s something I wish to know too but... sadly that will not happen in my lifetime. Maybe after I die and you become the warlord of the tribe but... we’ve been basically thrown away here without any hope of accomplishing anything at all, so I doubt the ‘great’ one would allow you to journey out, or send a warband out, to bring someone that knows imperial to here.”

“Father, I am curious about one thing... isn’t it a problem for your class when you are being sarcastic about the great one?” I whispered to father, to which he whispered back.

“Don’t worry son, the gods do not listen unless we are showing them our devotion and giving them sacrifices, so I can shit talk behind Krax all I want and he won’t do a thing.” father whispered back to me, smiling, but I wasn’t smiling at all, on the contrary, I was terrified that he insulted the great one by shortening his name to just 4 letters, making it seem as if he was at the same rank as I, and lower than him.

“Oh, don’t be such a scaredy cat and go take some rest Grok, you deserve it.” father said, slapping me in the back, to which I didn’t have anything to say and just went to my personal hut, and laid in my bed, quiet.

“I just hope the gods really do not listen, father...”