“Come on Tock, get moving,” Michael said as he casually jumped over a log. It was so much more freeing without his shirt or leather armor, even with his bruises. It was also a lot freer now that he also wasn’t carrying the heavy sack. Tock wasn’t so lucky. The poor little goblin was struggling to carry the sack through the forest, shuffling his feet as he made his way along the uneven dirt floor. Michael watched as Tock comically stumbled over his own two feet and almost fell, chuckling to himself at the goblin’s misfortune.

He hadn’t really thought the familiar he’d have created would have been a goblin. He pictured a human in his mind, though, so he probably should have guessed he’d make one with the amount of ‘materials’ he’d used. He sure was surprised when he saw it for the first time, though. The goblin was bigger than the others by around a foot, though that didn’t really say much since it was still pretty short. He was still happy about his creation, though.

Tock’s size wasn’t the only thing different about him. The other goblins had faces that looked like a pitbull and a human mixed together. Tockhad a smoother face than that, more like a teenager’s face, which was a blessing. He also had hair unlike the others, wild and long, knotted into a ponytail to get out of their face. It’s eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and it’s mouth was in a frown as it tried to make its way through the forest, making it look almost tough.

It was a bit weird to see it act like that. At first it had acted so despondent but as time went on it seemed to have gained a personality. A pitiful one. It wasn’t until it tripped onto its knees that Michael gave in. “...Goddammnit, Tock. let’s take a break. How about you stand guard and give me the bag?” Tock gave him a confused look before grinning and nodding furiously. Michael walked over and took the bag out of his hands, opening it and taking out a large dagger. He handed it over to the goblin and slapped it on the back. “That’s a real important weapon, ok? Don’t lose it.”

It wasn’t, just another dull blade that was barely good enough to keep, but the way Tock looked so serious about the responsibility made him happy to tell the lie. With a determined smile, Tock headed out. Michael took the time to study the notebook. He dropped the sack to the side of a tree and stuck the lantern’s staff into the ground. It was almost night and he was going to need the staff’s light at some point. He sat down carefully, making sure his stomach didn’t move more than it needed.

The bruise didn’t hurt that bad anymore but in the time it took for them to move it had turned into a dark purple, spreading over to his whole stomach in a web-like manner. It’d probably go away soon so he didn’t really want to pay it much attention. Though that’s probably bite him in the ass... With a sigh he took the notebook out of the sack and opened it, going where he left off. A few paragraphs started going off on the history of the forest he was in and he facepalmed. Why wouldn’t this be in the very beginning of the notebook!?

It talked about the origins and cultural significance, all things he skipped over. He almost cheered out loud when he found what he wanted, a page full of a list of “species inhabiting the area.” He grazed through the list and groaned when he realized there was no separation between the animals and monsters. In the bird groups ‘owls’ were right alongside ‘harpies’, followed by goddamn woodpeckers. Wait a minute… harpies were the scary bird creatures that looked like women, right? ...and they were supposed to be cute, right? …He’d try his best to avoid fighting them, the thought of having to kill one sent a wave of revulsion down his gut.

More monsters were shown. At least, he thought so. Some of the monsters had such weird names that he wasn’t sure if they blended with the animals or not. He saw one called a Jackalope and laughed, that must have been the thing he used to create Tock! He glanced over at the little monster as it stalked the area, holding the knife with both hands. He felt bad about the goblin having no protection but Michael was no better off. He had left the leather armor behind because it cut into him and his bruised stomach while he was shirtless. He’d also had given the bloodsoaked shirt to Tock to make him look less naked.

He could have given the leather armor to Tock but… Wait, why didn’t he do that? Fuck, he just left it all the way back there! That was almost an hour ago, why didn’t he think it through… “Shit… Tock! Get over here!” The goblin turned in surprise and scurried on over, the knife pointed dangerously towards Michael the entire time. Michael slapped him on the head. “Don’t point the knife at me you moron, that’s bad manners.” Tock moaned in pain and turned the knife around, awkwardly pointed towards his own chest.

Michael facepalmed at the stupidity. He wondered if the goblin’s he’d fought before were smarter than this one or if it just didn’t handle being under pressure well. He’d seen the types that were annoyingly smart only to act like toddlers when ordered under stress. Hell, he remembered when he acted like that when he first started, though he’d never tell anyone. He took the knife out of the goblin’s hands and threw it back in the sack. “Tock… do you remember where we came from? I forgot something back there.” Tock stood still for a second before looking down in shame, shaking his head. Michael sighed and put his hand on the goblin’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, man. It wasn’t that important. Just… watch out for monsters, ok? Take all the weapons you want out of the sack.” Tock nodded eagerly, running towards the goodies. He looked at the goblin pitifully, the knife was probably the only weapon worth using. Exhausted, Michael leaned back onto the tree, closing his eyes. They’d been walking for a while and he was exhausted. Maybe he’d meet the goddess tomorrow, or maybe she disappeared forever and he was going to live with Tock in a forest for the rest of his life.

He wasn’t that lucky. He opened his eyes to find himself in the void again, being shaken awake by Origin. He was on a fancy chair that looked expensive, details filling the sides, not unlike the grimoire he was given. He tried to turn his head but he felt the air restrict him, as if it were instead a thick slime. His brain felt just as thick, he could barely process what was happening around him. It was twice as bad as when he first came here, but it felt nice to his brain so it didn’t matter. Michael shuddered in pleasure as he gave a weak smile to Origin, who smiled back.

“Hello, Michael. Things are a bit different now. I can’t give you orders in the... your world without you either coming here or making a shrine. I would have told you sooner but you wasted my magic making a… hobgoblin. You even wasted all your magic gems. How are you going to feed it now? It was in the notebook… I think. Oh, wait… I ripped it out.” She kept talking to herself as he nodded along, the words eventually blurring together. At least her voice sounded nice, smooth and gentle, with a bit of strain behind it that told him she was annoyed.

She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him one last time before sighing in defeat and burning an insignia on his forehead. Michael blinked rapidly, finally conscious enough to talk. Though with a splitting headache. “Ugh, what did you do to me… I thought the magic didn’t work on me anymore.” He asked, rubbing his temples while trying not to throw up. He felt sick for some reason, nothing unlike the magic that entranced him before. Hell, if this was the second best option he’d rather go back to the brainwashing. Origin just smiled, happy to be finally getting his full attention.

“There you go, sleepyhead. I thought you weren’t going to be able to handle the spell.” She tapped the insignia on his head, which felt like he was being hit with a hammer. “I expected a lot more screaming, but you’re a big boy, huh?” The way she giggled at his pain and anger, he barely held it together with the headache. He almost wished the magic aura was back so he wouldn’t feel like he wanted to strangle her. Back to feeling like a brain-dead slug. The flashing spike of pain returned and faded, contorting his face into one of pain. His grimace turned into a grin soon after, though. The way her eyes looked too controlled, the way she fidgeted with her hands slightly before stopping the moment he paid attention to it. He had something on her.

It had taken her too long in the beginning to realize he wasn’t paying attention. It probably meant one thing. “...You can’t read my mind anymore, right?” He asked, his face calm, showing nothing. She had no big reaction, but her breath hitched slightly and her eyes strained, as if both angry and annoyed by him. “We have bigger things to talk about. What we need to do now is talk about your next mission.” He beamed at the response, the way she tried to so nonchalantly dismiss it meant it was true. That was a game-changer.

She snapped her fingers and summoned a giant book, bigger than the two of them combined. The cover was black and empty, almost maliciously so. It floated over and opened to a page, showing what looked like an extremely fat man with a pig’s head. It stood on hooves and had giant meaty fists, attached to huge muscled arms. It looked disgusting and deformed, like it lived with a constant pain nagging at it. There was no reason for something like that to be alive. At least, that’s what he thought. Natural selection would have thrown these things away long ago.

At least he didn’t feel bad for what was probably going to come next. Origin walked towards the book and cleared her throat, pointing at the title above as if he couldn’t read. “This is a great pig orc. You need to kill one. Look for it in the forest and remember that they live in the center. They’re the apex of the forest and I expect you to get rid of them as soon as possible.” She flipped the page to a crudely painted picture of the forest, with a large drawing of a gem in the middle. He wanted to focus on the words but the insignia on his forehead burned hotter, giving him a bigger headache.

“Don’t think, only listen.” Origin said as she ran her hands through his hair, sending a cooling sensation into him that helped a lot. “You’ll delve deep into the forest and enter there camp, there’s a… building I need you to remove. It’ll help in destroying their population. I’ll give you another reward when you’re done. Any questions?” He gave her a blank look. Of course he had questions! “You said I only had to kill one, why do I need to enter their camp?” He asked, a bit frustrated. The last thing he wanted to do was be surrounded by an entire group of those giant and fat creatures.

She sighed at his obvious refusal to carry the quest. “Only one of them will be that big, the rest will be about your size, pretty handleable if you-” He interrupted, eyes shocked. “Wait, that thing’s going to be bigger than me? By how much!? I thought they were going to be half my size or something!” How was he going to take on something bigger than him!? He almost died fighting goblins for fuck’s sake. Origin only looked down at him with pitying eyes, probably disappointed in his resolve. He wanted to show resolve by punching her but he assumed that wouldn’t end well.

Oh crap, he was showing the emotion on his face. She couldn’t read his mind anymore, he had to use that to his advantage. He calmed himself down, contorting his face into something normal, making sure not to give anything else away. “I… I’ll try. It’ll take a while, though. Don’t expect this to be done until a week from now.” He saw her right eye twitch in annoyance, maybe that would be too much time… “Less if I find them quickly, but you better make the reward worth it.” He added, not wanting to ruin her mood.

He didn’t expect her to say her next words. “I’ll give you a greater reward if you can manage this in less than a month, you little brat. Don’t disappoint me.” “Wait, but-” He opened his mouth to ask another question but he found himself back in the middle of the forest, the sun beginning to rise and turning the sky a deep orange. His goblin (or hobgoblin, now that the goddess corrected him) was desperately shouting in front of him, looking distraught. Tock was carrying his sack and was turning his head left and right anxiously, looking for him.

It was almost endearing watching him squirm like that. He almost wanted to just silently continue watching but he didn’t have time for that. “Tock! What are you doing with the bag!” The hobgoblin jumped into the air and dropped the sack, the clanking of glass and metal being loud enough to make both of them wince. Michael released a slow breath of relief when nothing sounded like it broke. He had to hold back his anger towards Tock, it was completely his fault, after all.

Tock ran towards him and grabbed onto his arms, pulling him closer and inspecting him like he couldn’t believe his eyes. The poor hobgoblin had probably been alone while he chatted with the goddess. Him coming out of nowhere must have been quite a shock, but it was annoying how touchy the little green guy was being. He pulled his arm away from Tock and pushed him off. “It’s ok, Tock. We need to get going right now. The goddess forced something big on us to take care of.”

Tock nodded, but Michael saw the unsurety in his eyes and the downtrodden way he looked at the ground. He was probably still worried for Michael, and it wouldn’t go away anytime soon. It was understandable, Tock was a head and a half shorter than him, his species probably didn’t like to be alone. In fact, not once did he see the goblins he’d killed before alone. It must have been a harrowing experience. It sort of made him guilty about the entire thing, even if it wasn’t really his fault. It was the damn goddess. He rubbed the hobgoblin’s head, trying to rid it of it’s worries. “Don’t worry, tock. I’m not going anywhere, I just had some errands to run, ok?”

That seemed to perk him right up. He watched as Tock grinned widely in a kiddish way and gripped his knife tighter, raising his fist in the air and cheering loudly. Michael smiled as well, the hobgoblin had probably been the best spell Origin had given him, if only for the fact that he had a friend now. “Pick up the bag, we need to get moving.” If the goddess had given him a month instead of what he guessed he’d take then he’d have to act fast. It was a good thing he had an idea. When Tock came back with the sack he took his knife and stabbed his finger, letting it drip down onto the floor. “Blood, let me see.”