Two girls were walking aimlessly in a forest that seemed endless. Well, in truth, Hannah was just listening attentively to what her neighbor was saying, and she was disagreeing.

"Wait, wait, slow down, you're saying that we need to find shelter? I am not going to sleep here, what if it's dangerous?!"

"Listen, I don't know how we got here, but staying in one spot for some hungry animal to find us isn't going to work. You can stay here if you want, and wait for help. I doubt it's ever going to come, I already told you there's no signal here."

"Okay, I'll come. I'm just... freaked out, I mean, this is probably some weird government teleportation project gone wrong, right?"

"Maybe... anyways we can't stay here, we have to find shelter and a source of water, then we can worry about food. Your water bottle won't last us forever.''

Hannah followed the girl's lead, studying their surroundings. Every little noise made her freak out, she had gone camping with her dad once, and vowed to never do it again. She hated the wilderness. To stay distracted, she initiated a conversation.

"So, let's start from the beginning, what's your name? My name is Hannah. We're in this together right, we need to get to know each other."

"My name is Esme."

Hannah waited for something else, but that was it. It looked like Esme wasn't very talkative. They reached an incline in the forest. Esme stopped.

"Good, let's get on top of the hill, we can maybe spot something"

"Right, good idea. Hey, how old are you Esme? I'm twenty-two."

Esme looked back quickly.

"I'm twenty-four, hey, can you climb trees?"

"What? No!"

Esme sighed, which made Hannah sigh too. They couldn't get a good look at their surroundings. The trees were tall, and Hannah didn't know what kind of tree they were. They stuck around the area for a few minutes, thinking. They decided to stay on the hill. They were lucky that Hannah's dad had taught her how to make a fire when she was a kid, even if it took multiple attempts. They gathered more fallen branches and pieces of wood. The night was coming fast and it was getting cold. Luckily they still had their coats. Hannah was starting to feel the reality of the situation, it was all sinking in.

"Hey... It's going to be okay..."

Hannah heard Esme's words and realized she was crying. She was thinking about her parents, about her friends. She thought about any ways she could go home and found none.

"I-I can't do this... I was supposed t-to spend New Years with my parents, they'll call the cops and they'll f-find us"

Esme stayed silent.

And they slept.

------------------------

Further away, a green creature was watching the two women. He was a Goblin [Tracker], a low level one, with no name, no importance.

But he saw, he saw the two humans appear out of nowhere while he was tracking rabbit, to bring food back to his tribe, the Deep Woods tribe. He muttered under his breath in the Goblin tongue.

"Bad magic. Powerful. Need tell [Chieftain]"

The humans were sleeping now. The Goblin could have killed them easily himself. But he was scared. Teleportation magic was bad news. [Mages] that could cast it were very high level, but he couldn't count that high.

He quietly ran back to his tribe, into the dark forest.

------------------------

Hannah woke up. She was a very light sleeper and needed to be in complete darkness to sleep. The sun was just rising. She sighed and yawned, took the water bottle in her bag that she had shared with Esme before finding the hill, and drank a little. They were almost out.

She was hungry, but she was too scared to go look for food and resigned to waiting for Esme to wake up. She took the first good look at Esme's face she had ever gotten. She had long, dark brown hair, and she had a small mole on to the right of her chin. She was pretty, and her mostly stoic behavior didn't fit her face.

Hannah decided they had no time to waste and shook her, trying to wake her up. Esme woke up and they created a plan of action. They were going to split and come back here when the sun was right above them, so when it was noon.

"Are you sure about this, Esme? What if I get attacked by a wolf or something?"

"Wolves are pretty rare. I doubt we're in Canada, the temperature makes it look like this is the U.S., I'd be more worried about bears if I was you. Whatever you do, if you see one, don't try to climb a tree. Remember the plan to not get lost."

"Alright, see you later then... be careful"

"I will."

The two girls walked in opposite directions. They were going to mark their path by marking trees with rocks.

They didn't know the Goblins were watching.

------------------------

Bearpaw was the [Chieftain] of the Deep Woods tribe. One of his [Trackers] had reported humans with powerful magic teleporting in the forest. He listened to his advisors, the four most powerful Goblins in his tribe, and their opinions.

"Magic powerful. Bad death. Should let Humans go!"

"No! Humans probably sent to kill tribe! Should ambush!"

But Bearpaw wasn't listening anymore, the issue was stuck in a tie among them, he needed to break it. So he was thinking, thinking about the casualties they would take attacking such mages if it was worth it. He was a weak [Chieftain], only level 9, and his tribe only had two hundred and eighty-one Goblins. He was the only Hobgoblin, he seriously doubted he could take them down. But if they had artifacts, and if he managed to take them down, he would level, and his tribe would grow in power. A sneak attack may do it. But... He sighed, and his advisors all looked at him, listening intensely, waiting to hear what they would do.

"Let Humans go. Too dangerous. Tell [Trackers] to come back."

"Yes, [Chieftain]"

Bearpaw got up and started walking. His tribe lay before him. He had always been satisfied to just survive, with his small tribe. But sometimes, he dreamed. He dreamed of being something more, like the Goblins of the legends, not seen in centuries. Someone to unify Goblinkind.

A King.

------------------------

Hannah had gotten back to the meeting spot, the search had gone terrible, she had not found anything of interest, or anything to feed, or save them. She felt like she was being watched a few times, but never saw anything when she turned back. She thought it must have been her imagination.

But right now she was worried about Esme, she still hadn't come back, and Hannah thought she would be the one to be late. She was starting to panic, if she was alone here, she would go crazy.

She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw Esme run up the hill.

"Esme, thank God! You scared the hell out of me, where were you?!"

"Sorry. I found a road and decided to follow it for a bit, and I didn't find much. It's outside the forest follow me."

Hannah jumped, feeling joy and relief like never before. She was finally one step closer to going home.

"Yes! Were there a lot of cars? We could maybe get a ride to the nearest city!"

"Oh, I forgot to mention."

"What?"

"It's a dirt road, I don't think there will be many cars here."

"Damn it! Where the hell are we? A dirt road?"

They walked in silence towards the end of the forest. They reached the road. It was made in the dirt, just like Esme said. Hannah let out a growl of frustration. They started to follow the road, being hopeful, to try and at least find a small town.

They found a man driving a caravan, being pulled by horses. The man looked at them worriedly.

"Good day, what are you two ladies doing here on your own? You alright?"

Hannah looked at him in disbelief, wondering if they had time traveled too.