Chapter IX: Gloom

The air was tense. Both cousins stared at each other in silence for a brief period, yet to Alakar, it felt like an eternity. He took a few deep breaths through the nose and out the mouth, and then some of Margrett’s wording came to him.

He puts his arms out and shows his palms in a welcoming manner and says, “Greetings Mel, I’m so glad you could make it.”

Mel keeps his wand pointed right at him and asks, “Thanks? It was a long ride here… But again, who are you?”

“I’m a very close friend of your cousin, Alakar. I help him hunt the best game around”, and he slowly puts his hands down to his sides.

He raises his voice, “You look suspicious, and he never had any sort of apprentice that I know of! You’re probably just a part of some bandit rabble that’s not worth my time!”

Mel was on edge and checked his surroundings. He was fearful and conjured a small fireball at the end of his wand. Before it continued to grow in size, Alakar spoke to him in a nervous voice.

“Wait, there must be a way to prove who I am. Why not ask me a question that only someone close to Alakar would know?”

Mel raises an eyebrow at the sack-man and says, “Hmm… Sure. I’ve done enough needless killing this week. And if you really are his retainer, then it would be a shame to off you”, and his fireball shrinks to smoke.

He scratches his head and asks, “Who is he is married to, and where did they meet?”

Alakar answers without thinking, “Margrett, and they met in front of Phil’s bakery. It was actually the exact same day I caught you spanking off to her from a window in the…”

He cuts him off and gasps, “Whoa, stop there! He swore he’d never tell that story to anyone… Wait… You must be him! Did you shrink yourself somehow? Is that why I’m out here?

His disguise shakes from left to right, “No. Well, kinda, but it’s a bit more than that”, he then removes the damp bag off his body.

Mel’s face went from shocked to horrified. The being in front of him was short, green, and hideous. He jumped off his cart and briskly moved over to him with wand in hand. Even though he approached his cousin, he still kept a fair distance from him and circled him several times. Alakar just stood there brewing with impatience.

Alakar then balls his fists up to his sides and complains, “This isn’t a circus act, change me back already!”

“Uh, you sure you’re my cousin? You look more like a savage than usual”, and he puts his wand away.

He yells at him, “Yes, I’m sure, Mel! Can you fix this?

Mel leans in super close and strokes his beard, only to say, “Well, you’re definitely a goblin, and more precisely you’re a bogart. They’re great for experimentation projects. But what’s even more interesting is that gemstone in your chest. I’d bet that stone is worth more than you’re settlement and then some.”

He almost starts turning red with anger and yells at him again, “Great, I don’t care! Change me back to how I was before!”

Mel shakes his head, “No can do. There’s no way I’m going to risk messing with some unknown artifact. I’ll need to run a lot of tests. First, you’ll need to provide me with some samples, such as your skin, blood, urine, and a stool sample if you don’t mind.

“Mind?! Just hold your hands out, I’ll shit right in them for yeah!”

He replies, “Oh, you’re just mad because you have a small green pecker now.”

Alakar kicks a stone, “Fuckin cousin, I don’t even want your help now. I’ll just go live out my days in the woods.”

He laughs at him, “But you already do! Maybe this is an improvement!”

“No, it’s not! My vision is all weird now, I’m weak, I need a chair to reach everything, and worst all, I’m fucking bald! You have to change us all back!”

“Us?”

Alakar’s rage disappeared, like water poured onto a fire. He looked down at the ground as if he was lost and hollow. From there he refused to speak, and they climbed onto Mel’s wagon. Mel found this behavior to be saddening in someone who was always quite lively, and he knew not to pry anymore. From there, it was a quiet ride through the open gates of the homestead.

They came to a halt, tied up the horse to a post, and walked to the front door. Alakar went up first and made three sporadic knocks.

A voice on the other side of the door speaks, “Passwordsss?”

Mel gave his cousin an odd look, and they both shrugged at each other.

He replies to the door, “Meats are da best…”

*Click*

The door flung open, and a small blueish goblin hugged his leg. Before he knew it, he had all three around him, diligently sniffing the new smells that were attached to him. He shook Boo off of him, and they all walked inside.

He looks at his children and says, “I want you all to meet your uncle, Mel. He’s gonna be staying with his for a few months.”

All three of them shift over and start grabbing and sniffing wherever they please. Their smell as goblins was keen and it was their first time encountering a human. They were so curious that Mel had to push them away many times, and it annoyed him. The boys were relentless.

“It smells funny.”

“Can I eats him?”

“Me wants to fight Mels!”

He shoved them all away once again and states, “Alright, we’re done with this. You’ll ruin my clothes, stay away from me.”

Alakar rebukes him, “Hey now, those are your nephews.”

Mel was speechless, and before he knew it, another goblin came out of nowhere and hugged his waist tightly.

“Mel, I’ve never been so happy to see you in my entire life!”

He looks down and mutters, “Mar… Margret?”

She cries into his robes, “Yes! It’s me, please change me back! I don’t want to look like this forever”, and her tears flow even more.

The kids gave each other perplexed looks over the situation before them, and their dad growled at them. He was mad about the situation in front of him and unconsciously projected his anger out onto them. They immediately disappeared out of sight to who knows where; in his perfect world, they went to finish household chores, yet they more than likely went to go play and horde items.

Mel puts his hands on her shoulders and speaks to her, “I’ll do everything I can, but first I must run some tests on Alakar to get a baseline for this… problem.”

She pulls away and says, “I really hope so… Every night I pray to Aryius to help calm me, and I’m not sure I’ll ever find peace as I am now” and she wipes her tears away onto her sleeve.

His heart ached at the sight of a once-beautiful woman turned into a monster. He was moved and on the verge of tearing up himself.

“My prayers will be with you, do not fret please,” and he turns his back and walks out the door.

Alakar hugged her, and then promptly follow his cousin out, whilst shutting the door behind him. Mel kept his back to him and tried to steel himself before he spoke. It was a lot to take in for him, and he now regretted using goblins in past experiments that would have otherwise been unethical on a human. Common folk, similar to himself, often looked at goblins as pests who kill, steal, and rape when uncontrolled. He was torn.

“Cousin, I’d like to take a real look at your body and that stone. I also need you to answer some questions to the best of your knowledge.”

He walks in front of him while saying, “Sure thing, anything to get us back to normal.”

Mel took out his wand and started to slap the inside of his limps with the wand. Alakar eventually got the idea and found himself spread out, standing in the position of a six-point star. There was no given instruction, and Mel was usually stone-faced the entire time. He walked around him while occasionally touching parts of his body and the stone.

Finally, he speaks, “Your body is real, and this is no simple polymorphism. How did you acquire such a prestigious looking gem? What’s the story on that?”

“My memory is pretty fuzzy. It’s hard to remember how it all happened, but I know for sure that it was in my chest after leaving a cave. And every time I try to remember, it feels like I’m losing my memory.”

“Interesting… Now, I need you to hold still while I examine this further”, and he places the tip of the wand onto the stone.

They both stayed locked in their positions for about an hour. Mel’s eyes had been closed the entire time, and Alakar was finding it hard to hold his positioning. As more time passed, Mel’s face became ever more scrunched and contorted. It looked like he was in pain.

He felt weird staring at his cousin’s face for that long and closed his eyes as well.

Mere moments later, Alakar felt an incredible burning sensation within his chest, and then throughout his whole body. It felt like he was on fire, and he could taste ash in his mouth. Before he knew it, the brightest light he’d ever witnessed filled his vision and mind, and he screamed.

*Woooosshhhhh*

Cousin Mel was floating in a sea of black, and the only thing visible to him was his own body. The area was endless and so quiet to the point where it was becoming maddening.

Mel finally hears a scream and calls out in a pit of black space, “Who is there?! Where am I?!”

“It is I, Olmer, and you tread where you should not, mortal… Begone with you.”

*Boom*

Alakar suddenly felt energic yet as he opened his eyes, he saw a mage tumbling head over heels thirty meters away.

Mel spun and rolled against the dirt in an uncontrollable manner. He was seen trying to stop himself by grabbing the ground, but his efforts brutally skinned him and ripped his clothes. His body stopped rolling, and he laid motionless, face down on the ground.

Alakar ran over to his cousin in a panic with a ring in his ears.

“Mel! Wake up! Wake up!”

His cousin faded in and out of consciousness for a few minutes and eventually came to. Mel was covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. And the way he coughed, sounded as if he had broken a few ribs.

Alakar tried to get him to his feet, and even with both their efforts they toppled over in a heap. He looked at Mel with shock and he couldn’t make out anything of what just happened. There were so many questions, yet they’d have to wait since Mel’s condition was significantly more important to him.

Mel groans, “Uhg, I’m so thirsty…”

He props his head up and speaks, “It’s gonna be alright, we’ll get you some water.”

Margrett heard the explosion. And she was already running to their end of the property with the kids trailing behind her.

She makes it to them and shouts, “He looks bad! What the fuck were you guys doing?!”

“I don’t know! He was just looking at me, there was a flash, and he went flying!”

Right before the parents were about to issue orders for their children to fetch water and bandages, the pounding of hooves was heard in the distance. Everyone started looking for them and saw a massive cloud of dust being kicked up near the other gate.

Mel groans again, “The reaping… they’re coming...”, and he passes out again.

Both parents looked at each other knowing very well what cousin Mel had said. An organized force, paid to cull the forest of dangerous monsters was on their way; it was an annual event that they had even participated in themselves when they were younger, yet it never occurred to them that it would endanger their lives until now.

The sounds of what must have been over a hundred hooves became louder and louder. Everyone looked like they were going to panic and run in all directions, yet Alakar stayed focused and drew on something he’d always felt in the back of his head.

He puts two fingers to his lips and produces one loud whistle.

Margrett screams at him, “Hun! What the fuck are we going to do?! We need to leave now! They’ll kill us without a second thought! Get up!”

Alakar ignores his wife, and feels outwards for a fog-like connection, as it becomes stronger.

The pounding of hooves was so loud now, it was almost deafening, yet it came to an abrupt stop. And a small group of men on horseback could now be seen entering the far end of their homestead.

She screams into his face, “This is not the time to be daydreaming! We must leave! In the name of all the Gods, we have to get out of here now!”

*Plop*

A large frog leaped over their fence and landed right in front of them. It was much larger than when he first encountered it, yet his intuition had told him so already beforehand. Everyone was surprised to see such a beast appear out of nowhere, and they stared at it in disbelief.

Alakar stands up, points to them all, and says, “Everyone get on it. And Hun help me throw Mel on top.”

She couldn’t muster up any words, and both of them were able to toss Mell and the kids onto the back of the rumply steed in seconds.

He hoists his wife up last onto the beast and tells her, “There’s not enough room for all of us. But the frog should lead you to the swamp where they won’t follow you. I’ll catch up to you all there soon enough”, and he slaps the ass of his steed.

The frog then leaped back over the fence and his family clung to it for dear life. Margrett and the kids weren’t even able to get a final say on it, and they vanished into the forest.

From there, he digs under the fence and watches as more of the forces trickle onto his lands. He hides there, concealing himself in an impromptu fox hole, waiting to see if the small army noticed their escape.