The goblin chef was still talking when I got out of my thoughts.

“… an’ there’s a whole lotta stuff she wants ta get, but most ‘f all is recognition.”

“Hoo?” I asked.

“Mmm? Were ya even listening?”

I shook my head sheepishly.

“Ah, no worries. I talk too much e’eryone says. There she comes anyways, food ’s ready ‘bout now, so I’ll get ta feeding this sorry lot. Hahaha!”

And with that, he turned away and called out a few other goblins to get bowls and spread the word.

I turned around as I heard steps approaching. Meeny was making her way towards me looking somewhere between embarrassed and apologetic. I rightened myself up and stared at her approach. She stopped two steps before me and sunk in on herself even more. Her left arm was grabbing her right elbow, she looked off to the side and was chewing on her lower lip.

I narrowed my eyes at her. When she chanced a glance towards me, she almost flinched back. Only after looking back at Roguk moving to get some food did she finally gather her courage.

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

I narrowed my eyes even further.

“See, I just thought, you know, I could… Ugh, why do I even bother? You may be sapient but you’re an animal, you won't understand anyways.”

I drew my feathers closer to my body and slightly opened my wings. From underneath them shadows seeped out in slow swathes. Meeny retreated half a step, but I caught up with two of my own. Then I jumped at her and exploded in darkness. I made sure to catch myself with my wings before touching her and drew a small half-circle to land near Roguk. The alchemist had been watching us with interest which had by now turned into worry. As I landed next to him and poked at his pouch, relief made its way onto his face. He pulled out some food for me and put it in a bowl.

“Meeny is a bit tricky sometimes, but she doesn’t mean bad, so don’t hate her, please?”

I looked at him sceptically. Then I shrugged my wings and dug in. I was hungry. Social considerations could be left for later.

After everyone had a meal the cooking pit was cleared out. Pot and heating crystals were put aside and the villagers gathered around. I sat on a rooftop next to the plaza so I could see what was going on. That’s when I spotted a group of goblins carrying the dead. The bodies were brought to the pit and laid down carefully. Finally, the carriers stepped back into the crowd.

Roguk and the chef stepped up. The chef held a clay urn in his hands. Once they reached the pit, Roguk stopped to speak.

“My friends, my family. We all have had three tough days and nights. Uncertain if our lines would hold against the monkeys’ onslaught. Our warriors did their best to keep us safe when they finally arrived. Let us remember them. And send them off to the beneath. They have given their lives for our safety. Now it is on us to keep moving. To stay strong. But first, let us say farewell.”

With that, he turned sideways and grabbed a handful of objects out of his pouch. They were small bones tied to strings. Chef opened the urn and stood one step away facing him. One by one the villagers walked up. They took one of the bones, dunked it in the urn and then threw it on top of the dead bodies. Some stood there for a moment with closed eyes or murmuring goodbyes.

As the bones accumulated, a sizzling sound started to spread from the bodies. White smoke rose in fine lines, where they had come in contact with the bones. From my elevated position, I could make out the dead dissolving.

As the line of goblins shrunk I stepped up at its end. A few goblins eyed me, but nobody told me off. Once my turn came around, Roguk handed me one of the bones. The chef lowered the urn so I could dunk it without trouble. I made out the purple goo from those mushrooms and hesitated just for a second, but then I dipped the bone and jumped forward. I took to the air and dropped it right on top of the pit.

I felt a little bit responsible for their deaths. That was why I had said my farewells. The goblins had formed small groups around the pit and were talking in hushed voices. As the sizzling quieted down and the white smoke thinned out, Roguk stepped up in front of the pit once more.

He lifted one balled hand and spoke loud and clear.

“As the dust settles, we still stand!”

As one voice the village replied.

“As the dust settles, we still stand!”

Half smiles spread on most faces. The mood had swung in one moment from sombre to not quite jubilant. Roguk once more spoke.

“I have good news for you. Most of you have already heard, but still. Thanks to Fio over there,” he pointed at me sitting on a nearby roof again, “the alpha baboon is dead. We also confirmed nearly half the normal baboons died in the assault on our home. This means we can expand our foraging and hunting in the white forest. We will have to risk far less for our continued survival!”

Cheers and clapping resounded. Some goblins stomped their feet. I did not feel like joining in and stayed silent and small on my rooftop. I just wanted to get some rest.

“For now, we will have two scout teams going into the white forest. The lower passage will be used by the third. But that is not necessary yet, we got enough meat from the monkeys. Next hunt is three nights from now. Let’s all get some rest.”

Nodding and murmuring met Roguk’s announcement. The goblins split off in small groups and retired to their homes. One of the scout groups I had not gone out with got into the pit and picked up the bones. They carried them towards the forest cave, or maybe the river. I did not find out because Roguk waved me over to his hut and we entered.

The goblin turned to me again once the curtain closed. He bowed a full ninety degrees at his waist.

“Thank you, Fio, I mean it. This really helped us. The losses hurt, but we are much safer now.”

I tilted my head. I was too tired for this. So I simply accepted his thanks with a hoot and went to my sleeping place.

Roguk nodded once more to me and also got some rest.

The next two nights went slow in the village. Nobody really worked. Most of the goblins gathered in the square and stayed there talking in small groups or just keeping each other company. I retreated from the downtrodden air. My actions might have made the assault worse, but maybe the large baboon would have come out anyway. I decided to not feel sorry for what I did. This place was nice, but it did not feel like a long term home. I would stay for a little longer though. Mostly to check out those dark crystals in the forest again. And I was curious about the ‘lower passage’ and what dangers lurked there. Dangers that had to be far worse than a horde of baboons able to easily overrun the village. Targets for my growth.

For now, I spent most of my time in the forest. The barrier had been repaired but I simply took the river tunnel which led directly to the waterfall as I had expected. As I surveyed the trees I found the baboons had not all returned to their cave. In fact, most of them strolled around the branches in small groups of four or five. The cave itself held another group about twice that size. They sat on the crystals and looked somewhere between drugged and epileptic. A few cramped their limbs in weird positions, frothing from their lips and wide-open eyes. Others just lay there looking half asleep and sometimes moving an arm or leg with excruciating tardiness.

I decided to stay away from the cave for now. The nearby trees had enough crystal for me to check out without getting drunk on mana or whatever happened to those guys.

I carefully closed in on a cluster of black stone surrounding a tree’s base. They looked like elongated spikes, tetrahedrons, pyramids, decahedrons and other geometrical shapes pointing out of the cluster in all directions. At their base, smaller versions were just sprouting forming a rough and uneven surface looking almost like a nest. They had a deep black colour which gave off a soft glow. Where the light met the trees the white wood was darkened as if in shadow and at the same time reflected a calm shine. It was absolutely magical.

Carefully I got closer and touched a crystal with my foot. Immediately I felt a soft energy flow into me. The point of contact had turned even darker on the crystal and it was as if a liquid flowed inside it towards my talons. Quickly I became dizzy and took my foot back. The feeling of energy going into my body stopped immediately but there was still a rivulet of power moving deeper into my body from my foot.

This was actual magic. Mana. Raw power flowing into me. I wanted to control it. The energy flowing through my body quickly dissipated and my dizziness went with it. It seemed I could touch it without issue for a short time. So I went again. This time my focus was on the flow in my feet. The energy going in, funnelling through my talons and then slowly going up my leg while losing itself. It felt as if moving through a saturated funnel and getting filtered out. When I looked at my leg on the third try I even saw tiny wisps of darkness leaving my body without me doing anything. The dizziness also started as soon as the first wisps formed. This had to be connected.

I continued trying to get a better feel. Only a few moments per attempt, so I could keep my focus. Somewhere after twenty, I lost count. It took me at least twice as much again before I got the first reaction. The flow dissipated just as before until only a tiny thread of energy was left halfway up my leg. The last few tries it had gone only about a centimetre further, this time though it kept going and going. When it reached my chest area I did not know where to lead it and before I noticed it was gone again. So I tried again. And again. And again.

I must have spent the whole night down there in the forest. Only when my stomach complained did I wake from experimenting and checked on my surroundings again. There were two monkeys nearby eyeing me carefully. They sat next to another cluster of crystals closer to the cave and both held a hand to it. And then they switched hands. All the while stealing glances at me.

I slowly backed off and covered my retreat in shadows. As the darkness seeped out of my feathers the monkeys shuffled away from me as far as they could without letting go of the crystals. I tilted my head. They were… scared of me?

An interesting find. But for now, I would get food. And then I would return to the crystals to learn more magic.