Alex felt weight settle on his shoulders. Panic started setting in as looking around brought only vague shapes, at least until he had turned around and could see the silhouettes of treetops against pink and orange clouds. He held his eyes closed tight hoping they would adjust to the darkness sooner. He could hear the calls of birds and insects. The soft motion of slow moving water somewhere nearby. And then a scream made him jump.

Alex looked around somewhat blindly. A few of the vague shapes turned out to be buildings. Another was a tree and a large blob revealed itself to be a massive stack of reeds or straw. Another scream tore through the air along with shouting. Alex couldn't make out the words, but the strained fear was evident. He moved forward, stumbling over the uneven ground and out to a small clearing. He grabbed at the thing on his shoulder hoping it was something useful. Contrary to his normal run of luck, the thing turned out to be a large round shield. He started feeling around for the axe he hoped would be there when someone staggered out of a building with a lantern.

"Hey?" Called a male voice.

"Hello." Alex replied, a little unsure what exactly he should be doing.

More yelling caught the man's attention and he took off towards it. Alex was already heading that way so he followed. He made it nearly eight steps before something small came out of nowhere and slammed into the legs of the man with the lantern. The light hit the ground in a fireball that left a small area burning. Alex made it to the man who was rolling away from whatever attacked him, having not found an axe, Alex swung the shield at the short silhouette of the attacker. It shrieked in a high pitched voice as the shield connected. Alex wasn't sure if he had actually managed to hurt the thing as it immediately staggered forward and Alex recoiled from a stinging sensation in his leg. He managed to keep the shield between himself and the child sized creature, but had no idea what to do beyond that.

"I got the little fucker!" Yelled the man as he stepped around Alex and swung something that made a meaty thud on impact. The creature screeched and started to run.

Another scream tore through buildings. This one far more feminine, far more panicked, and not ending abruptly.

"Come on." Shouted the man Alex had been following. In the growing pre dawn light, Alex could make out a thin man with short blonde hair holding an iron banded club. He followed, finally finding an axe at his hip. Too long for a hatchet, and too short and light for a felling axe. It dawned on him that while he had chosen an axe because it was probably easier than a sword, he didn't really know if there was a way to use the thing in combat beyond swinging it like an idiot.

Too late to worry about that now. He and the man rounded a building to find several of the child sized things tearing at a… Alex wasn't sure what she was. He rounded on one of the attackers and swung hard with the axe, completely missing. The thing jumped backward and Alex managed to get his shield between himself and the thing before it was back at him screeching in anger as it drove a knife into the wood of his shield. The blonde man hit another with a satisfying crack. The woman’s screaming turned into a gurgling whimper while Alex swung his axe at the thing in front of him. It had large, solid black eyes. Two horns protruded from the right side of its oversized head. Large floppy ears and a sneering maw full of jagged teeth gave the thing a face not even a mother could love. Alex took another swing at it only to have it jump out of the way and then stab at him. Alex jumped backway only to trip over another one which squealed as he fell on it. The one in front of him took the opportunity to jump onto the pile knife first. Alex managed to catch the thing's arm, stopping the knife from digging into his skin beyond the tip. The thing under him struggled while the thing on top of him struggled a bit more effectively. Realizing it couldn't overpower Alex, it grinned wide and opened its sickly maw and dropped its head to bite his arm.

Alex gritted his teeth through the pain. A loud crack forced the thing to let go. The blonde man swung his club again, ending the monster's life. Alex rolled away from the other one. Happy to hear the crack of the blonde man's club and the thing's scream of pain.

"You okay?" Asked the man.

Alex sat on the hard ground panting. "I think so."

The man squinted at him. "Who are you?"

"Alex."

The man frowned. "Okay, I'm Liam. We can talk about where in the Hells you came from later. Right now we need to get to the others. You with me?"

"Sure, what about her?" Alex motioned to the mess that was a woman.

"She's dead. Let's worry about the living first."

Alex gave one last glance at the woman. She had horns, a tail, and an inhuman skin tone. She had been badly torn apart, her innards spilled onto the ground next to her. Alex looked away, suddenly less thankful for the light of the rising sun.

"What are these things?" Alex yelled after Liam.

"Are you fucking with me? They're goblins."

They passed the last building and into an open area where two other men were fighting off four more goblins. Noticing that the humans were getting reinforcements, three of the creatures turned and ran. The fourth hadn't noticed the others leave until it was too late and was cut down by the two who were actually outfitted for a fight.

A trench and a berm ran the length between two riverbanks. The bodies of several goblins lay on the town side of the ditch. Sadly the attackers weren't the only casualties.

"We need to make sure there's none left in the town." Said Liam. "Where's the captain?"

"Over there." One of the other men said pointing to one of the bodies. "Came running in earlier. No armor."

"Shit." Liam swore.

"Who are you?" Asked the other armored man.

"I'm Alex."

"Nevermind him for now." Liam ordered and started back into town. "You guys take the north path, we'll take the south. Meet at the shrine."

Alex followed Liam back into the town. Several people were poking their heads out of buildings, a few of the men were meandering about armed with an axe or club. Liam ordered several townsfolk to search the area between the path he was taking and one the other guards were on. Liam suddenly dashed forward and around a building. Alex followed close behind into what looked like a smithy. One of the horned and tailed people was swinging a large hammer at a goblin wielding a rusty sword. Liam was charging the one sneaking up behind the man. Alex charged the one dodging the horned man.

The goblin turned to meet Alex's axe. Slashing out and causing him to jump backward. It then had to sidestep the hammer. With the goblin flanked it took only a few more moments before Alex finally hit something. Only a glancing blow across the creature's right shoulder. Just enough of a distraction for the hammer to come down on its head. Alex then put himself between the horned man and the other goblin that had managed to get around Liam. He took a heavy blow to his shield, causing a jolt of pain to rage through his shield arm. Three to one didn't bold well for the little monster and it fell to Liam's club.

"We're not done yet. Let's keep going." Liam said, not even acknowledging the presence of the horned man who said nothing.

Alex flicked his attention from what might have been a face in an open window to a flash in the lower corner of his vision. He followed Liam somewhat disoriented, trying in vain to catch sight of the flash. It seemed to ignore his visual focus, instead reacting to his mental attention. Which happened to be rather difficult to use while running around looking for more goblins.

Alex found himself standing in front of a building made of sticks and covered in moss. It was attached to a large oak and surrounded by what he would have called a koi pond.

"Greymore! Get your ass out here." Liam yelled as the two armored men that had taken the north side stumbled in.

Someone stirred in the stick building. "What?" Asked an annoyed sounding male voice.

"We've been attacked by goblins. People need healing and I expect you to actually do something this time."

Liam didn't sound pleased with the man that came out. He was thin, old, had a black line that ran from his lip down his chin, and wore a thick black, for lack of a better word, dress. The new guy, Greymore, got right up in Liam's face.

"I don't deal with assholes."

"I suppose then, you lack a mirror." Liam retorted. He then turned to what Alex thought were the guards. "You two make another round through town. You," he paused, pointing at Alex. "Why don't you keep following me."

"Sure."

Alex followed Liam away from Greymore's… home? Again trying to focus on the flashing thing in his vision. He stumbled to a stop when he got it to finally come up.

-Defeated 1 Common Abyssal Goblin. +34 XP-

-Defeated 2 Common Abyssal Goblins. +90 XP-

"Whoa. It is a game." Alex said to himself.

"Check your notifications later." Liam reprimanded. "We need to talk to the Administrator. Before that, you mind telling me where you came from and when you got here?"

Alex took a deep breath in an attempt to stall long enough to make something up, but he didn't know enough about where he was to come up with a lie that might work. "Um. I'd rather not. I can't think of a convincing lie and the truth is… unbelievable."

Liam glared at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes?"

"Start talking. Give me the truth. As you see it at least."

"Okay. I died. Then I was reincarnated here next to some straw or reeds or something. Maybe a minute before I heard the first scream." Alex said, omitting the part about the construct in the white room.

"You're right. That is unbelievable… What's your level and class?"

"Oh ah… I have no idea. How do I find that?"

Liam stared at him with a half angry, half skeptical look. "Nevermind."

Liam opened the door to a wood building sitting in an area that gave Alex the impression that additions would be added later on. The inside appeared to be an office of some sort. A rough desk sat in the far corner piled high with papers. Next to it was a large cabinet, some of the shelves filled with ledgers. The other side of the room held a single door, bumping sounds and swearing emanated from the room behind it.

"Shapner!" Liam shouted, heading toward the door.

The door opened as soon as Liam touched the latch. A short balding man looked up at Liam with a surprised expression. "Li-Liam? What the hell is going on?" Liam stepped to the side, as did Alex, and let the man cross into the main room. "Who are you?"

"We were attacked by goblins. Tomlin and the captain are dead."

"And some girl." Alex added.

Liam sighed. "And some Tel'ani girl. I'm fairly sure the goblins are gone, but I'm having the others search the village."

"Oh no. That's terrible…" The balding man, Sharpener presumably, looked Alex up and down. "Are you ok? You're bleeding."

Alex looked himself over. His right leg and arm were indeed bleeding. "Oh." He hadn't even noticed.

"This is Alex. He seems to have popped in from nowhere. He helped with the goblins so I'm inclined to think he's not a threat."

"Okay. So what do we do now?" Asked the man.

Alex stopped trying to wrap his belt around the wound on his leg and looked at the two men staring at each other. They both had expectant looks as if waiting for the other to make a suggestion. "Um, could we get a headcount of people, and maybe do something about the dead?" Alex offered.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

Liam glared at Shapner, but nodded.