I had just finished explaining what had happened the past few days to the chief. It was silent in the room. The chief was rubbing the back of his head, thinking. It’s a habit I’d never seen him do before. He must’ve been stressed. Who can blame him with everything that’s going on.

“Well”, he finally said, “This isn’t looking good. It seems war is inevitable”.

“No!”.

The room was silent again after my sudden outburst. I was as surprised at myself as he was. I felt tense and awkward. I felt like I had to say something.

“I… I don’t think we can win. We’ll just die if we go to war”.

“You underestimate us Kobolds, young one. We might be smaller and weaker than them, but our cooperation makes us stronger than the sum of our parts”.

“That’s not going to be enough. You should know that. They’re monsters. Even one could take out a large part of the nest before dying”.

“Well, let’s hope those are just exaggerated tales you’re telling me”.

“So… you’re just going to go through with it?”.

“We don’t have much of a choice. The only reason I even take your advice into account, is your intellect, young one. You’ve shown me often how smart you are. Now, use that intellect of yours to think what might happen if we wait”.

He gave me some time to actually think it over. The answer was obvious though. They’d learn how to kill us most efficiently and then annihilate us. That’s the human way. I don’t know what it’s like for the other races among them, but that heavily armoured dude seems to be leading them, and he’s Human.

“I know what you mean”, I began, “But wouldn’t it be better if we moved?”.

“So they can chase us away from our new home as well? What then, move again? Should we just let them chase us off Edar?”.

I fell quiet for a bit. There was nothing I could say to that. I knew I was right, but I had no arguments left. Fighting wasn’t going to work. Not against them.

“You’ve learned some new spells, yes? Master them so you can use them in battle. We’re going to need every spell slinger we have”.

“About that. There was 1 spell I learned, but I can’t seem to use it. Could you help me?”.

“I can try. What is it supposed to do?”.

“I think it’s supposed to translate languages for me”.

He started laughing when he heard that. The tense feeling in the room dissipated, though I still felt it in my heart.

“We discovered your magical talents because of languages, yet it’s the thing you’re having difficulty with! Can you tell me what goes wrong?”.

“I can feel the flow of the magic. I can feel it leave my body, as I get tired after trying it. It's just that nothing happens”.

“Maybe you’re just not capable enough yet. I know it took me years to be able to cast some of my spells. I wouldn’t worry about it. With a little training, you’ll…”.

Someone stormed into the room, yelling: “Chief, the enemy is nearby!”.

“This will have to wait”, the chief calmly said, as he walked out of the room.

I followed. When we arrived at the entrance to the nest, we saw tons of Kobolds standing at the ready with weapons. It was still daytime. The sun stung as we walked outside. We walked to the cliff overlooking the village. The shadows from the tree canopy filtered away enough light to let us see what had alarmed the scout.

There were far more people now. All the new ones wore different kinds of armour and had weapons. They looked like adventurers, but their equipment was of far lower quality than the original group. The best armour any of them wore were 3 guys with chainmail. Meanwhile, the original group seemed to be instructing them. The adventurers were setting up quick fortifications around the village and prepping supplies. Battle was imminent, that much was clear.

As I saw all this happen, my heart sunk. The feeling of dread crawled over me as it began to sink in what this all meant. We were going to die. Even with our greater numbers, our victory seemed to be a distant dream. I’d likely die. I wanted to run away, leaving all of this behind. But, I knew Vyth was going to charge into battle like the idiot he is. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon him.

It was funny, really. Having already died once, made staring death in the eyes even worse.

“It seems the situation has gotten far worse”, the chief said, breaking the dreadful silence, “Our only hope is to attack now, while they’re still preparing. Gather the shamans here! Send the warriors to pincer them!”

It was inevitable. But, those words still sent a chill down my spine. I’ll likely die again. Lose all that I managed to get in this life. Lose Vyth. For the first time in this life, I could feel tears forming. I’d almost forgotten what that was like. Well. I hope the next life will at least be peaceful.