It started with a trip wire contraption. It was hidden in the shadows of the forest, so our driver saw it too late. The horse, hitting it, careened to one side. The rickety wagon fell on one side due to the horse's sporadic movements, which brought the horse to the ground.

Meanwhile, me, Lufis, and the driver were tossed from the wagon onto the forest floor. Lufis twisted his body, using his hands and his forward motion to propel himself off the ground to nimbly land on his feet.

I, meanwhile, landed on my back and got the wind knocked out of me.

The wagon tilted dangerously on its side. I scrambled backwards as the wagon crashed to the ground, now completely upside down.

Standing up, I winced, rubbing the small of my back which hurt from the fall.

That's when I saw the goblins.

There were five of them. They came running out of the forest from the opposite side of the overturned wagon where me and Lufis were. They were a dark green color, with pointy ears. They were thin, wearing loincloths. One was wearing a red headband too, which was probably the leader. They were armed with rusty knives and one had a battered chain mace. The saddest thing was that they were taller than me. They were about 4 feet(1.2 meters) tall.

As they got closer, I looked for the driver, the adult. Looking around quickly, I found him. He had got tangled in the spurs and was somehow trapped partly underneath the struggling horse. He was struggling to get free.

Me and Lufis rushed forward to help him, but we were interrupted as a goblin jumped on top of the wagon, snarling.

A xetral barrier formed around Lufis' arm, and he turned to face the one, now two, goblins on the overturned wagon.

"Watch my back!" Lufis shouted as he started toward the goblins.

Forming my own xetral barrier around my arm, I charged after Lufis.

As Lufis neared the wagon, he sped up and then somehow jumped on top of the wagon, startling both the goblins and me. The goblins retreated back several spaces, clutching their knifes. I clambered up onto the wagon as one of the goblins gave a shrill war cry, and stabbed at Lufis. He smoothly sidestepped the attack, and at the same time brought his xetral arm on top of the goblin's outstretched arm.

I turned my attention away from Lufis' fight as the goblin in front of me gave its own shrill war cry.

The goblin threw its arm back and attacked me with a downwards cut. I instinctively went to throw up my protected arm to block the attack, but at the last second stepped back a pace, playing it safe. I don't know if the xetral barrier around my arm could take the force of a downward cut from the goblin's rusty knife. Another thing I need to test.

As I stepped backwards, the very back of my feet reached the edge of the wagon. Before the goblin could try to press this advantage, I kicked out at the goblin, causing it to jump backwards. Stepping in close, I changed my tactic.

Dropping the xetral barrier on my arm, I quickly began to form two xetral barriers which started to encompass my hands. Obviously trying to create some distance, the goblin stabbed at me. Probably due to my stats, I was able to bring up my left hand, hitting the goblin's forearm and thus pushing away the attack. Seeing the opening, I closed my right hand into a fist and punch the goblin square in the face.

As I punched the goblin in face, I could feel its nose break under the force of my xetral encased fist. Blood spurted from its broken nose. The goblin fell backwards, and flopped off the wagon.

I turned towards Lufis, watching as he fought his opponent. The goblin slashed diagonally at Lufis, who stepped out of the goblin's range. He was definitely annoyed.

The goblin stepped closer and attacked with a downward cut. Lufis stepped forward and grabbed the goblin's wrist with his left hand. Pivoting his body, Lufis proceed to judo throw the goblin off the wagon.

As the goblin hit the ground, it screamed in pain. Lufis jumped down after it.

The goblin stood up and ran toward the forest, looking back at Lufis. And proceeded to run into a sword.

"You kids alright?"

It was the driver. He must have freed himself from the horse. He began to wipe off the blood on his sword using the grass nearby.

"That's the fourth one. I already got the one with the broken nose and two others."

Four. . . weren't there five goblins originally?

"Nathaniel! Watch out!" I heard Lufis scream as something moved at the edge of my vision.

Instinctively, I threw up my arms to protect myself, while throwing up as strong of a xetral barrier as I could.

Everything seemed to slow down as I could only watch helplessly as the end of a chain mace smashed into my arm, throwing me off the wagon and into the woods. I slammed into a tree and fell to the ground.

Standing up slowly, I analyzed my current bodily situation. The xetral barrier I had thrown up on my right arm had shattered, though it had kept my arm in one piece. It was bleeding though, and I couldn't move it without sending jars of intense pain through my body.

"Sssshhhhhrrrriiiiiccccccccc"

The noise of a charging goblin brought me back to reality.

The goblin charging me was twirling a chain mace and wearing a red headband, the sign of the leader.

Raising my left hand and condensing xetral over it, I faced the charging goblin.

I originally had a basic plan that involved dodging the first attack and going for a decisive hit, but that plan was quickly trashed. Swinging the chain mace, the goblin attacked me with a whirlwind of blows. It took everything in me to dodge the attacks. Left, right, sway backwards, duck, right, step left. It was useful to have trees around me, but unfortunately, the goblin leader had experience with using a chain mace, and didn't let it get imbedded into any trees.

An idea began to form in my mind. While I couldn't configure an etheric blade>, I should be able to pull off a cheap ripoff. Holding my left hand flat, I formed a xetral barrier around the natural form of my hand, creating a jagged edge.

Ducking, I felt the air ruffle my hair as the chain mace went right over my head. The goblin continued the momentum of the chain mace, changing its target for my legs, forcing me to step backwards.

And fall, thanks to a well placed tree root.

Stumbling, I regained my balance. But it was already too late. The chain mace was going for my head, and I couldn't dodge.

"Not even a day together and your already trying to get killed? I suppose I should give you a helping hand."

Time slowed down, but I didn't. Dodging the chain mace, I slashed out with my left hand at the goblin, slicing its throat. Time went back to normal as the goblin fell forward, dead, blood spilling out of its throat.

Dragging my bruised and bleeding body, I headed back toward Lufis and the driver.