Despite my attempts to re-initiate conversation with my new goblin friend, the rest of the journey was spent attempting to minimise the amount of disturbance caused to the woods. I saw no particular reason for this discretion, but perhaps there was a hidden danger?

We marched in silence until we got to the edge of the woods, where Tobin explained to me how to avoid the traps they had set up to protect the perimeter of their camp. Demons are very straightforward people, and as I have never seen or heard of a demon using traps I was unprepared for such trickery. Some were obvious like trench covered in leaves, but it is possible I could have been caught by the more innocent looking snares if my new companions had not pointed them out to me.

It has been less than a day since I met them, but they have already demonstrated a way of fighting I had never seen before. I can’t wait to continue learning from them!

I now realise you also have some knowledge on traps, but you have to understand that our connection is too distant and bizarre for me to directly read your mind directly and instantly know everything you know. I can only glean small amounts of information each time we interact. Following the law of equivalent exchange, the more you learn from me, the more I will learn from you, and often about related subjects. Why else do you think I keep talking to you?

Going back to my story, we have arrived at our destination.

I'll be honest, when I saw their weapons, I was expecting to find a towering stone castle like the ones in your memories. Instead I was greeted by a small primitive camp of a dozen hide tents thrown up haphazardly around a wooden hut. The camp was protected by a flimsy fence and trench. There were no stone constructions at all, and the camp was only large enough to house about two dozen creatures my size.

As soon as we entered the fortified enclosure, everyone suddenly relaxed. I don’t see what kind of dangerous entity would be stopped by a few wooden sticks planted in the ground, but apparently the natives put a lot of trust in their defences, abruptly going from cautious and guarded to excited and triumphant. Everyone started pointing at me and loudly shouting in their weird language.

I saw no reason for such exuberance, so I kept glancing around and trying to understand their enthusiasm. The goblin must have noticed my bewilderment as he started to explain while leading me to the wooden house.

“This place has been blessed by the eyes of the gods. It may not be completely safe from outside attacks, but at least we don’t have to worry that any random stone, tree or hill we are approaching suddenly revealing itself to be some kind of terrifying slumbering monster. Besides, it doesn't really matter if the defenses hold, they just have to give us enough of a warning for us to flee. Additionally, since the power of god accepted you, it means you mean us no harm. This makes us one of the rare humans to build a friendly rapport with a fay.”

They tested my intentions? I didn’t feel anything. Are those “god’s” powerful enough to spy on me undetected? Is Tobin trying to trick me? Or did the god’s not notice me under my various disguises?

“What are those god’s you mentioned?”

Tobin was startled by my question, answering in a puzzled tone.

“Did you really forget everything? A basic understanding about the gods is usually instinctual knowledge for all intelligent creatures. How can it be forgotten?”

“How am I supposed to know? I told you, I don't remember anything before this morning. Can you fill me in on the common sense I should have?”

“We certainly have to teach you the general knowledge of this world, but for now we should focus on the situation at hand.”

I didn’t get time to argue before the goblin led me to the hut in the middle of the camp. He opened the door and pushed me inside a small dim light room. The room was very bare, with only a single glowing idol in the shape of a globe that was floating a few centimeters off the ground in the middle of the room. The worrying thing is that I could not feel what was causing it to levitate, giving credence to the idea that an unknown force is protecting the site undetected and may have already scanned my thoughts.

Tobin bowed to his deity and motioned me to do the same, before sitting down on the floor.

“In this room, we can safely talk without fear of misunderstandings, as it is impossible to lie. I hope you forgive me for my lack of trust, but this way we can converse without concerns.”

Impossible to lie? This could complicate things. I imagine my goals of discreetly assimilating into this world might suffer a tiny bit if I have to honestly announce my true identity to anyone that asks about it in front of a statue. I suppose the first thing to do is to test how this “impossible to lie” attribute functions.

"My name is Tadelia"

I felt nothing preventing me from introducing myself under a fake name, but Tobin glanced at me knowingly, looking as if he realised this I was testing his claims. Did he somehow detect falsehood? Or did he expect I would try to lie? If so, did he conclude I lied or was not able to?

“You have a beautiful name, but I am afraid we will have to skip the pleasantries. I have been tasked with finding the reason for the recent abnormality of this forest, and I believe you could be the key to solving this mystery. Could you please tell me everything you remember?”

He is acting as if he believed I had said the truth. Does that mean his spell did not work on me? Or is he playing along, lulling me into a false sense of security? Maybe he lied about his god’s power altogether to destabilize me? Just like those traps outside, is he trying to trick me? He asked for everything I remember, so what should I tell him? Should I just feveal myself and attempt to awe him into submission?

Forget it. I am making this way more complicated than it should be. Lies are not the only forms of deceit. I am just going to make do with misleading half-truths and leave the issue of a potential supremely powerful being watching my every move for later.

“My first memories in this body is of waking up under an old tree wreathed in black fire, which exuded a terrible aura of wrongness. It was sleeping and did not feel dangerous, but simply being near it was incomprehensibly uncomfortable. I was disoriented and lost, so when I felt it was slowly awakening I quickly chose a direction and fled, wishing to meet something or someone who could help me understand what was going on”

Let’s hope He focuses on the tree and not the awkward start of my sentence. I am trying to recount the story of my new body, without the additional input from my demon form. This way, I am not lying but being selective about the information I provide.

After quietly listening to my stories, letting me speak about all I could think of for a while, Tobin started to ask for more details about the tree. I was glad he was focusing on that instead of my identity, but there was very little information I could share without revealing I knew more than I should. I just kept repeating myself, sometimes acting slightly confused, trying to sell my ignorance. Eventually the goblin seemed satisfied he knew all I knew, and he became very friendly.

“I am sorry I had to put you through that, but this could be time sensitive. Don’t worry, I already know all I need, so we can move on to helping you. Tomorrow we will start investigating the patch of forest you came from, so hopefully we will find some information about you and your situation. In the meantime, I will show you around the camp and get you a place to rest.”

Should I actively ask about the gods again? Would that make me suspicious?

The gods, who may or may not have noticed, are not acting hostile, so for now let’s lay low and hope they either didn't notice or don’t care.