Dante was kneeling before Waya, they had set themselves up a decent distance away from the cave, his eyes kept flicking up and looking into the dark passageway, waiting for something… anything to happen. But nothing did. Waya would repeat his actions with the same apprehensive look in her eyes, shuffle around a bit then settle down allowing Dante to continue his ministrations.

The smell of medicine soothed Dante’s mind as he finished rubbing the paste on Waya’s wounds, she had patches of missing fur with oozing acid burnt skin. By the time he had finished, she was covered in slabbed on blotches of the incredibly effective medicinal paste. Dante’s body was a complete mess as well, he was covered in scratches, bite marks and acid burned skin. He had managed to wash off the worst of the blood and grime that had covered him, yet he still felt unclean. Replaying the events that had occurred hours before in his mind, of what he had to do to survive his encounter with the goblins, no amount of scrubbing could rid him of those memories.

Once he had done all he could for her, he turned his attention to himself. Applying soothing ointment, he could already feel the instant refreshing sensation that travelled through his body. ‘Turns out that F did me a huge favour by providing this medicine to me…’

He hissed whenever he applied the medicinal paste to a particularly deep wound on his body, ‘those vicious little fuckers, whatever that hobgoblin did to them made them so damn persistent. I don’t like fighting enemies like that! Attacking you right until their dying breath, ignorant to their own injuries.’

Once he wrapped up applying his ointment he pulled out some prepared food, he held freshly cooked meat from his spacial ring. Waya immediately perked up at the sight of the food, they both sat on a rock sharing the treat. Dante started to worry about Otus, it had been a few hours since he had sent him off to request assistance. ‘How long are they going to take?’.

BOOOOM!

A cloud of dust and dirt was kicked up into the air, a silhouette of someone who appeared to be hunched over was slowly becoming visible as the debris from their arrival began to clear. Dante and Waya were readying themselves for battle. They saw the silhouette of an enormous person emerging from a hole in the ground. Once the dust had completely settled Dante saw the humanoid lion Krugeri standing proudly with a two-handed axe over one shoulder.

“Fucking hell! You sure know how to make an entrance!” Dante shouted at the overbearing guard for his obnoxious arrival.

Krugeri thumped the butt of the axe handle into the floor, the ground shook again as several cracks spread out from the point of impact, making it clear he wasn’t ready to mess around. “I was told there was a Hobgoblin Warlock! Show me!” His authoritative voice left no room for discussion.

“Yeah, I think you guys failed to mention that possibility! We almost died in there!” Dante stood his ground, he was still pissed from yet another near-death encounter and wasn’t about to let himself be bossed around. “What kind of people sends complete strangers seeking refuge in your village on a suicide mission anyway?!”

“We’ll talk about it later, We’ve got more important matters to attend. Where's the hobgoblin? Tell me what you know!” His authoritative tone was urgent. His face was a cloud of thunder, he was ready to lash out.

The lion relaxed a bit when he saw how injured Dante and Waya were, “Please, this is important. There are more than just your lives at stake”

Hearing that there was more at play, Dante felt a moment of shame at letting his anger get the better of him. They would have that chat later. “Uh yeah, he should be in the cave. He can shoot Acid bolts, raise a defensive shield and carried a shrunken head with glowing eyes. He seemed to cause the goblins to go berserk. When I scanned him it showed he was a hobgoblin warlock, I don’t know if it’s important but it also said he was a Priest of Witiko,” Krugeri stiffened when hearing the hobgoblin was a priest of Witiko.

“I think I managed to injure him and haven’t seen him leave while I've been waiting out here.” Dante finished giving as detailed an update as he could, he didn’t want any lapse in judgement to cause anyone else to get injured or die.

The guard nodded in acknowledgement at the information provided, he shifted his stance, lifting the large axe at the ready then shot into the cave prepared to confront whatever was in there. Dante looked towards Waya, shrugged his shoulders, then followed behind Krugeri, his claws already glistening on his fingers when Krugeri had arrived. His use of the ability was becoming almost instinctual, something he could use at a moments notice. Waya followed, sprinting to Dante’s side as they made their way back into the dark cave.

There was a deathly silence in the dark cave, the ground was littered with several dead goblins. Some were caught in friendly fire, others were killed by Dante’s hands. No sound of breathing or movement, he couldn’t even see Krugeri in the darkness. Dante searched around where the initial confrontation had taken place and was relieved to find his magic staff. He picked it up and placed it back in the sling on his back.

Dante wasn’t in a rush, he didn’t want to get ambushed so he slowly made his way forward checking his surroundings. Upon reaching the split in the cave, he took the path that the hobgoblin had initially arrived from. The pair continued deeper into the cave, they walked past two storage rooms. Peeking inside the room, all he saw were bundles of rubbish and waste, dead animal carcasses and nothing of use.

He kept cautiously moving forward until a dim orange light entered his vision, the cave walls began to expand until he entered a larger chamber, in the centre of the room was a stone fire pit. A cauldron was hanging over the fire bubbling away, he was surprised to find that there was an appetising smell emanating from whatever was cooking inside the cauldron. He peered inside and saw nondescript chunks of meat bobbing around, it appeared to be some kind of stew or meat broth, whatever it was he wouldn’t risk tasting it. So far everything he associated with goblins was unpleasant, so the pleasant smell caught him off guard.

He looked around the chamber seeing several more stacks of rocks and bones made up into shrines, they looked like bloody cairns with skulls on top of them. Up against the far side of the cave wall were rocks stacked to make a throne, with animal hides draped all over it. Dante saw no sign of Krugeri, but looking around the chamber there were no more passages. He walked towards the throne, as he reached it, he noticed that behind it was a small passageway with a door blocking the way.

Dante walked closer to the passage door, noticing that it was ajar. He could hear movement on the other side of the door, reading himself for combat.

“Krugeri, is that you? is everything alright?!” Dante shouted, uncertain as to whether to continue forth.

He heard a pained voice softly reply, “I suggest you don’t come.”

‘What...is he alright?’, the sudden shift in Krugeri’s manner of speaking confused Dante, he threw caution to the wind and proceeded forward to make sure Krugeri was alright. As he pushed the door open he heard Waya whine, he looked at her, she started backing away from the passageway, tucking her tail between her legs. ‘Even Waya? What the fuck is going on?!’ He looked back into the passageway and hesitated, something bad could be happening and he might be able to help, “Ok you stay in the room, I’ll be right back”

Not deterred by the unusual behaviour everyone was exhibiting, he continued through the passageway. When he reached the end of the passage the sight that greeted him made his heart skip a beat, his stomach sank and his legs trembled.

Rusted chains hung from the ceiling of the cave, at the end of the chains were large hooks with the bodies of evolved beings impaled onto them. Some of them had missing limbs, others were bled dry. Many were horribly disfigured, it appeared that the hobgoblin had been torturing them. From the way some of their bones and muscles were exposed he suspected that hobgoblin had been using them for target practice or something related to his corrosive abilities.

“What the hell is this?!” Dante cursed at the sight, tears welled in his eyes as he took it all in. He knew and understood this world could be vicious, that nature was neutral when it came to violence, sometimes terrible things happened to good people but this was barbaric. He wasn’t close to prepared for the sight that met his eyes, he wanted to look away but his blood boiled rage and disgust, he forced himself to look on.

He spoke to himself, he had to acknowledge this was also part of his reality, “This is the world you’re in now Dante, don’t shy away from it. This fucking world, these monsters… these fucking monsters!”

Krugeri could hear Dante’s enraged words, “I’m sorry Dante, I warned you not to come.” His shoulders sank, the man’s whole demeanour had changed, his grip on the axe shook with impotent anger.

“It appears as though the hobgoblin has been storing people, keeping them alive to torture and use as a store of food, it’s been going on right under our nose. How could we not know? Why didn’t the other villages let us know?!”

Dante was disgusted by what he saw in the room, he now more than ever understood Otus’s feelings towards goblins. Looking around at the many dangling corpses. “Wait, Where is the Hobgoblin?” He asked worriedly.

Krugeri pointed his hand to a small hole in a wall that Dante hadn’t noticed. There were marks above the hole where the hobgoblin’s hand must have left streaks of blood, it would have had to have been kneeling down on all fours to crawl through the small passage.

“It appears to have escaped, it has been a few hours since you injured it. My guess is that it's most likely long gone.” He growled out the words in frustration, then punched the wall. Chunks of stone broke away and a few droplets of blood fell to the floor from his fist.

Krugeri turned around and faced Dante, “there should be more people arriving soon, Al might be able to track the Warlock if he hasn’t covered his tracks,” leaning his axe against a wall he turned to the victims of the goblins, “I’ll take care of the bodies.”

“Me too..” Dante said before being startled by a quiet sound of clinking chains not too far away from him.

“Hel...help…he…” A weak barely audible voice caught the attention of both of them.

Dante was shocked, he shouted with a small amount of hope in his voice, “Someone’s alive!”

Krugeri was already rushing to the source of the weak voice. There was a female dangling from one of the chain hooks, she appeared to have been bled out, clinging to life by a thread. Dante was right behind him. “Let’s get her down, I have some medicine, it might work on her injuries.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…why didn’t we know? I could have stopped this…” Krugeri whispered the words to himself as much as to the person who was hung up. Then as gently as he could, he lifted the woman off the hook. She let out a pitiful squeal as the hook was withdrawn from her chest. Coughing droplets of blood, her eyes rolled into her skull.

Krugeri felt Dante trying to hand him something, “try and give her this, it’s water.” He said as he handed the guard a fresh bottle of water. Dante then knelt next to the woman, looking over her wounds. Her wrists and ankles were bound behind her, they were caked in blood.

He cut the restraints, delicately placing her arms on either side of her. It was then that he noticed that there were numerous long slashes along her wrists, they appeared to be for the purpose of extracting as much blood as possible. Not enough to kill, just enough to weaken her. She had tufts of fur on the backs of her mostly human hands, with the exception of sharp-clawed nails. Instead of human ears, she had long ears extending high above her head. ‘A rabbit..or something?’ She had been stripped of any clothing or dignity.

Retrieving the pot of medicine from his ring, he started to apply the medicinal paste to the worst wounds, liberally applying it to where the hook had pierced through her back and out of her chest. Krugeri meanwhile was attempting to get her to drink from the bottle of water, carefully lifting her head up and allowing her to take sips of the refreshing liquid. Occasionally she coughed up some more blood and water, as the miraculous medicine began to take effect she was able to relax before losing consciousness. Her breathing was already slightly stronger than before.

“I think she will make it,” Dante said, he looked around at the other dangling bodies. Then stood up, dusting himself off before checking all the other bodies for any potential signs of life. He took in the details of every dead body that he saw, the dismembered limbs, the dried out husks that had been bled out and left hanging.

Each of the evolved that were dangling from the chains had different animal characteristics, it amazed him to see so many different species of humanoids. At a glance, they appeared to be human yet upon further scrutiny they had distinct characteristics that revealed their origins. After inspecting over twenty different dangling bodies, he was done. There were no other survivors, he felt numb inside now, the horror of it had worn off and now he just felt empty.

Making his way back to Krugeri, he stared at the ground, the dangling feet in the peripherals of his vision. “How is she?” Dante asked. Krugeri was still taking care of the survivor.

“She’ll pull through. Her pulse is weak, so I'll take her back to Greenhill to get proper medical attention. As much as I want the bastard to pay for what he has done, I am not confident that we will have a chance of catching the hobgoblin now. I’ll see what Al has to say.” Krugeri stood up and looked around the room, clenching and relaxing his fists. Shaking his head then looking at Dante, “I’ll send people to take the bodies to be cremated.”

“Go on ahead with her, I'll take them down. I can’t stand seeing them like this. I’ll return with the people you send.” Dante replied.

Krugeri knelt, picking up the woman in the crook of one of his arms. The enormous axe slung over his other shoulder. He silently left Dante in the chamber.

Dante started taking the bodies down one by one, he would remove each body from the hooks, then carry them out of the cave. Then lay them down and close their eyes.

Otus had arrived back at the cave, he saw Krugeri in passing and understood the situation. As Dante was removing each body Otus made sketches of each face, which would allow them to be identified by any family or relatives later. These unpleasant truths were normal in the ascended universe, monsters were real, terrible things happened to innocent people every day all around Earth, and everywhere in the Universe.

Eventually, other villagers from Greenhill arrived, they carried the bodies back in a solemn procession. Once they arrived back outside Greenhill they began to erect a pyre. Dante helped with the construction of the pyre. Almost no one spoke, there was a sombre atmosphere and everyone just went about their business.

By now it was long into the night, the flames of the pyre cleansed the bodies, erasing any sign of their last dreadful moments on the planet. The bodies turned to ash, the smoke and sparks rose into the sky, their energy and atoms returning to the universe. Dante stayed until the pyre had burned down to almost nothing.

Waya remained at his side, she stared for a long time at the sky.

This was the moment that changed everything for Dante. He realised he had been feeling a profound emptiness since he arrived in the ascended universe.

Being a person who had no identity, not remembering who he used to be or what drove him forward, he acknowledged that he was just reacting to stimuli and responding without much forethought. He was just a person stumbling around this world trying to answer the burning questions of why he hadn’t seen any other humans, where his memories had gone, why so much time had passed, why the angels and demons would drag a planet’s population into their universe to help them fight their war.

In the moment of raw reality that he had experienced today, he realised if he continued to pursue his own selfish agenda to get answers, he would remain hollow. The answers would most likely not satisfy him, he would drag Waya into his fights and further away from her interests. Would he do that to any other companions he met along the way? To what end? None of it would achieve anything of substance. ‘What is my purpose?’ Dante continued to dwell on what he had seen today, staring into the fire, not blinking, not moving as if he was hypnotised.

While he had spent time watching the pyre burn down, the emptiness inside him gave way to a spark of rage. This spark was almost a feeling of comfort, it gave him a sense of purpose, the spark was a foundation to build upon.

The burning ember of rage gave way to a moral sense of duty, that he had to stop these kinds of things happening in the future. He was in the early stages of his developing power, it was just a seed of potential at the moment. Dante thought about how he would be able to do so much more if he could just gain more power, become stronger. But not power for its own sake, power with a purpose.

Dante ruminated on how he could possibly prevent the same horrific and pointless deaths like this from occurring, the priority he placed on getting answers about why he was in the ascended universe, where his memories had gone, concerns about the war between Angels and Demons, they all began to fade away.

He was a new person in a new world, a blank canvas by which he could paint the picture of the person he wanted to be. Dante felt it was more important to consider this new reality, take advantage of the system and ascension points. He didn't have grand delusions of being able to turn the system on its head, but he thought that if he could make the smallest impact on this world, that would be all that mattered.

Knowing the dangers out there in the world, having knowledge of people in pain and that he was doing nothing about it. That's not the person he saw himself as, he wanted to make people's lives safer, he wanted to give tangible purpose to his fledgling powers.

This was his turning point, in future these feelings which had started as tiny embers would be stirred into flames that would make him a monstrous person on the stage of the ascended universe.