Chapter 131: A new form (1) (1/2)

After the brutal demise of their leader, and the loss of their empowered state, the rest of the humanoid creatures lost their will to prolong the fight and turned tail to run for their lives.

Unfortunately for them, this was a fruitless endeavor, as neither Sam nor Biggy was willing to let the prey go. Their master, Lily also continued to fire arrow after arrow, ending lives one after the other. In a manner of seconds, the entire group of the small humanoid creatures was lying on the ground, dyeing the emerald sward with their dark green viscous, thick fluids.

With their work done, the two black hounds leisurely walked back to their master's side, sitting down on the ground. They were looking ahead panting happily completely ignorant of the carnage all around them. As for Lily, she immediately rushed towards Aiden, with her bow still in her hand.

Arriving next to him, she hurriedly knelt down on the floor. Looking at his grinning face, she grabbed her right shoulder and gave a good strong shake.

”Brother, are you okay? What's going on?”

While keeping his eyes closed and the satisfied grin still plastered on his face, Aiden slowly shook his head. He spoke between breaths.

”Nothing… I'm… going to change… Don't worry… I am going… to be okay...”

Having said that, Aiden turned his head towards the sky. Although his eyes are still closed, still, as if he could still see, his face had a gentle, calm expression. The satisfied smile changed, the nasty curve became gentler, gradually turning into a calm and serene happiness.

Lily sat down on the floor, not moving from his brother's side even an inch. Her two guardians sat right next to her, snuggling next to her, yowling for her gentle caress and attention.

”Oh, you two… Come here, let's wait for brother together.!” Lily smiled at their shenanigans, pulling their heads into her embrace. Their heartfelt moments became a bright contrast to the cruel scenery around and behind them.

Meanwhile, Aiden wasn't sleeping, despite what others could have thought of seeing his expression. At first, he just wanted to enjoy this addicting feeling of the surge of power. He also received a string of new System Notifications but before he could take his time to open them up and read them, images started flickering inside his mind, clouding his visions with scenes of the past.

Just like with the Guard and the Warden he 'absorbed' last night, Aiden saw the life of the humanoid creature playing for him. The creature, who was called 'Zart', was part of a species commonly referred to as 'Goblins'.

All across Eora, the goblins were ugly, evil creatures that were hated by most other civilized races. Just like other goblinoids, they had a short and nasty temper. Due to their incredible breeding rate, individual lives were not valued amongst their species. Their leaders usually came to power through betrayals or coups. Sometimes, just like with the now-deceased Zart, they were born under lucky stars, became mystics, or shamans, leading their folk through their ritualistic zeal.

Zart was such a goblin. He was special from the moment he was born. As the first-born son of his father, who was the previous leader of the tribe, he was destined for greatness. During his early years, he ventured into a cavern with his group and found the dead body of a human male. He was wearing ugly and useless dark brown cloth robes. In his hands however, he had the gnarled wooden stick that had a shiny red gemstone at the top.

As he wrestled the stick from the dead man and came in contact with the gem, he heard a deep, unnatural voice call out to him inside his head. Zart didn't know first what or who this person was, but it promised great power to him if he would pledge himself to his servitude. To show his power, the voice taught him how to evoke the spell inside the magic wand, urging him to try it out on his companions who were still nearby.

Tempted by the thought of power, Zart made his way out of the cave. Seeing as how the rest of the team were just a few meters away still fighting over the remains of a deer, he grabbed his stick with both hands, and just as the voice taught him, raised it above his head. Focusing on the gemstone at the top, he repeated the seemingly jumbled mess of words. First, he was quite skeptical about how these meaningless phrases could do anything, but after just the first few lines he chanted, his eyes caught the weak flickering light deep inside the gemstone.

Continuing the chanting now with more faith behind his spoken words, he could see as the small flickering light grew bigger and bigger until the red gemstone could no longer contain it. Dark red thick smoke escaped from its crystal surface and as if it had a mind of its own, oozed towards him, shrouding his figure, leaving only a blurred visage.

Noticing the pulsating strange light, the team approached Zart, looking at his new treasure with greedy eyes. As if coming to a tacit understanding, they all pulled out their weapons, and with a loud cry lounged themselves at him. As they got close, using their crude, primitive weaponry, they sliced, mauled, and bludgeoned, already thinking about how to distribute the new shiny spoils.