The possibility of having multiple headaches at once was abysmal, but not impossible since at the current moment Marks could perceive a spinning world. His brain throbbing, hands shaky, he stared in silence at one large, round table before him.

The hobgoblin hissed. “Of all the thing you could wish for, why would you wish for being the Chieftain!” Hairs rising, Marks slammed his fists onto the table. The poor sealed oak wood table shuddered, it broke not though the black stone brick floor bore the full force of the ethics teacher’s anxiety filled fury, cracking similar to spiderwebs.

Marks eyes widened in horror. “Ethics and Disciplinary teacher my arse! Marks get ahold of yourself!” The short-grey haired goblin slapped himself, the quick sting of pain dispelled his roiling emotions.

For a brief second, he had let it get to him. The urge that all goblin kind inherently possess. The urge for throwing away logic, critical thinking and simply succumbing, letting all their twisted desires and emotions rule over.

Those emotions staining the race’s mind were commonly of rage, lust and pride. When something didn’t go along their wishes, they would feel annoyance and those emotions would seduce and tease.

The hobgoblin clenched his fist and took deep breaths. Fully composing him and returning his mind to utter calmness befitting one who had been taught discipline, and one who had been educated since young. “Lack of education and discipline is one hell of a recipe for disaster. I need to calm myself lest I lose my mind.” He mumbled then cast a glance at the surroundings.

Black stone establish the building’s foundations, serving as the floor to this special place Marks have no courage in visiting unless special situations call for it. Crystalline sunstones functioned as lamps lighting up the wooden plank walls of the room. Tanned leather sometimes substituted themselves as part of the roofing or walls. Large ivory tusks or bones became the pillars of the establishment.

It was the great chief’s house. From the outside it struck an imposing sense of power upon any who would gaze on it. The brutish style complemented by wooden stakes rising from the ground making a perimeter of spikes around the base further added to it.

Marks shook his head then sat up straight on his wooden chair. Clasping fingers together he patiently waited, on edge as if a calamity would soon come.

One by one multiple figures of men and women entered the Chieftain’s living room doubling as a conference room and took their seats. Their gazes varied, some looked tired, others wore teasing smiles.

Sporting the nastiest of shit eating grins was a hobgoblin with black spiky hair, a red bandana tied itself on his forehead, forcing the nest of black to stand up. “Afternoon rigid grey log.” He took his seat and greeted Marks casually.

Thump!

The table rocked under two legs being stacked ontop of it. The first new arrival had sat with their legs resting on the table, disregarding common courtesy or table manners. Seeing this, the ethics teacher’s right eye twitched, Marks muscles tensed upon the brash looking goblin’s arrival.

The others who came with Forge eyed the events on the side, interest and amusement unmasked within their brightening pupils.

Marks felt pain in his liver. “This workaholic…”

“Forge you nasty uncultured swine! Get your legs off the damned table!” Marks barked. Sadly, his words fell onto deaf ears. On the other side sat Forge leisurely scratching his neck while looking off to the side. He glanced at his fingers then blew on them and smiled at Marks. “C’mon no need to be so tense teacher Marks. You’ve taught little old me when I was younger and I know ya know I respect ya from the bottom of my beating heart.” Forge laughed, his tone full of joy and his eyes squinted at his former teacher.

All he did only poured fuel on the flame lit up inside Marks. Hands twitching for a beating, Marks reigned in his desires and composed himself once more. The hobgoblin pinched his nose bridge. “I really should’ve made sure to lecture and beat you up extra back then. If I did, you wouldn’t be so much of a delinquent!”

“Shame you couldn’t bring yourself to do it teach.” Forge shook his head with a snicker.

Before Marks could explode, a loud cough came from the group on the side dispelling all his thoughts. Sweet it was, it melted off the male ethic’s teacher’s worries, soothing his very soul and allowing oneself to forget things irking him.

“Marky… You’ve been overworking yourself these past few weeks. Shouldn’t you really rest?” The group of one woman wearing brown robes and two hobgoblins had finally taken their seats. One of them precisely sat beside Marks, a chiseled brown arm pulling him closer and making the stressed teacher rest his head on the woman’s shoulder.

Marks eyed his lover. An amazon woman with rich brown skin and an alluring body curvy at the right spots. Plus attraction points went into the toned muscles hugging her figure and her silky orange hair and golden eyes made for a wonderful combination. Marks entered heaven, he felt comfortable, as if the world couldn’t worry him any longer.

“Damn…”

“Stupid couples…”

“Marks yiu ar eh traytor.”

Cries of displeasure rang out. Forge stared at the scene of Marks resting his head onto a brown skinned woman’s shoulder and clicked his tongue. The other two hobgoblins felt annoyed seeing the sight, narrowing their eyes at Marks who sheepishly laughed.

One of the hobgoblins, the current tallest one out of them all standing over six feet tall and towering over others even while sitting snorted. If Grant was here then he would’ve recognized this mini hulk as the hobgoblin he saw on his first late day of school.

“Marks ye swore the four of us would stay single until everyone finally has thaer own potential pratners. How dare yiu betray us like that yuo bastard!” Forming nearly incoherent words, the large hobgoblin crossed his arms. Forge nodded and another lean looking hobgoblin to the side nodded.

The four of them swore a pact. That the four of them would be loners until everyone has a surefire chance of a relationship.

“Sorry lads… I can’t keep Mathilda waiting, can’t I?” Marks chuckled. Mathilda sitting on his side wore a proud expression, sending the stink eye to Forge, the large goblin and the other lean one in contempt. As if telling them to hurry up and go find a woman already.

Mathilda scolded. “If I were the three of you then I’ll get married already. You’re wasting time not making children by being single dogs.”

A round of curses rang out again.

In reality, the other three of the four friends could just go ahead, walk into any single amazon’s house and claim them as their woman and none would object and even be honored. It wasn’t everyday one of the few village heads would go and sweep a maiden off their feet.

Though the three had picky tastes. Mathilda eyed each one and her expression turned really ugly.

She focused on the lean looking goblin dressed in black silk compact clothes. Consisting of special black leather boots, gloves and a cowl-like scarf hugging his neck and obscuring the goblin’s mouth from view. A pair of tranquil green-blue eyes stared at the world without any emotion.

“Shad. Stop hoping that one day you’ll find yourself a wonderful beast folk woman as your main wife. It would take our Great Chief ten more years until he can safely take us out of this place and establish a foothold on the outside world. You can marry a nice girl now and get second one later. As a goblin its your duty to pass down your genes and you’re not doing it!”

Shad’s calm eyes gained a hint of emotion onto them as he craned his head to the side. Whistling and faint red hues stained his green skin. Mathilda eyed Forge and scowled. “I admire your dedication to your crafting work but you can’t marry your anvil and hammer!” Forge snickered and shrugged. “Why not?” the goblin teased and had a smug expression on his face.

“Because if you don’t get married in the next two years, I will come visit you, grab one of your forging hammers and shove it up your ass.”

Forge blinked, he shuddered upon imagining a forbidden scene he would not want to happen at all.

“And you! Drogus!” Mathilda eyed the last hobgoblin, specifically the large mass of muscle sitting on the convulsing wooden chair at the verge of collapse from his weight alone. The fierce amazon woman’s eyes softened and she sighed.

A somber mood fell upon the room and the others cast their glances at Drogus and onto the ground.

“Its not your fault Drogus. She doesn’t blame you for what happened.”

Drogus fell mum, he shook his head but inside his heart was trembling. He didn’t want to think about it, to think about the woman who he had slighted and the child who would often look for him and hug him with the warmest of smiles.

“I’m taking care of me kid Uno and giving em all they need. Linda deserves better than me.” For once, Drogus’ slurred chicken scratch speech became normal. “You are doing that. But drogus, they need and want you there with them.” Mathilda pursued.

Sensing that the mood would get worse, Forge cleared his throat and jumped atop of the round table.

“Whew! I don’t know about you guys but man am I wondering what the old cranky teacher called us in for!” Forge surprised everyone and pulled them out of their reveries, nodding inside in approval then shifting his attention at Marks with another grin.

The calm teacher was eerily staring at him with murder in his eyes.

“Alright. My bad.” Forge deflated and got off the table. “But really now, what did you call everyone here for?”

Marks threw the matter of Forge needing a personal beating from him to straighten his character out even more to a later date. He seriously debated whether or not he should divulge his concerns right now or until all of them were complete.

“Out with it already Marky… Chief won’t mind and we can just fill him in with the details quickly later. He’s taking an awful lot of time, probably out there occupied with a task.” Mathilda urged her husband and Marks finally relented.

“A goblin wants to succeed Scar and become the next leader when Scar finally retires.”

Silence claimed the room.

For a few moments everyone was stunned. And then came smiles and laughter.

Drogus seemed to be the happiest of them all and he was all smiles. “Daz great! Big chief won’t have to worri bout shouldering evrythin anymore! In a few yearsz Ortuz wiel have a co-Chieftain!”

“That goblin sure has balls. I’m curious about him, what’s his name teach?”

“I look forward to seeing his performance.”

Everyone were smiling, even Mathilda though only Marks had a frown and fear written all over his face. He stood up abruptly and slammed a hand onto the wooden table again.

“You don’t understand! What if he screws ups and causes losses when he finally helps lead the village?”

“What if he has ulterior motives and a rift forms between all of us? Courtesy of his actions.”

“Out of everything he could be why be another leader? Scar is enough! No one would be able to possibly rival his leadership!”

With all eyes on him, Marks held his arm and stared at the table. “I’m just worried things will go south. Its been so long since someone wanted this future.”

“Sure he can fail.” Mathilda started, staring at Marks and gesturing for him to sit down again and she hugged him to her side closer and tighter this time.

Forge laughed and added. “But isn’t his possible failure connected to us as well?”

“Its oar job to teech hymm.”

“That child will shoulder the village together with the leader. Though while he’s still young, we will do our best in guiding and shaping him. Right Marks?”

Mathilda, Forge, Drogus and Shad eyed Marks with gentle expression son their eyes. They could understand the hobgoblin’s worries as all of them knew what it meant to pursue a path.

A goblin only wants sex and violence. The hobgoblins can admit they’ve been in that stage before and as of now sometimes they have the sudden desire of just letting loose. But they don’t.

“Once a goblin decides on what he wants to be at the end of the year. He’ll pursue it wholeheartedly and be happy doing that work for all his life.” Shad lectured.

And forged giggled again. “I love my work. Forging weapons and armor or even crafting new things is always a fun experience. Sex sounds nice, but have you tried making badass magical equipment?”

Marks was still unsure. “Grant is apathetic to life…”

“Once one of those deadly spiders two feet in height snuck in the class while I had to do something, the goblins couldn’t handle it. It would dodge anything thrown at it and spit poisonous webs. Any attempts at touching it would result in the corrosion of flesh.”

“But Grant… He didn’t care. When it lunged a him he grabbed it and slammed it onto the floor again and again until it died. By the end of things, his hands were already melted off to the point that all skin was gone and some bones stuck out.”

Marks broke away from Mathilda and hugged himself. “I asked him why he did that and expected him to say he gave in to the voices. He said he did it because it was in his way.”

“None of the students could form bonds with him. He would either not care or just absolutely demolish them if they tried harming him. Its already a miracle that in this past few months until graduation that Uno managed to become his friend.”

“He can’t see colors properly too. He always struggled whenever we had one of those color identification activities. No matter how much I present things to him, his answer would always amount to grey unless it was something from a magic beast, me and my clothes or something special like a sunstone.”

“Grant is my best student. But he is also the worst one out of them all. Cold and detached, I could leave him alone in a room for a day and he wouldn’t mind.”

“That’s simply because he’s broken.”

There were two loud steps that resonated from afar and a loud domineering voice shook the hobgoblins and the lone amazon to their feet. They bowed and a tower of green flesh even taller than Drogus entered the room.

He stood at eight feet tall, long white hair fell down to his waist like a waterfall. Muscles packed his robust frame and he radiated power.

The stone floor shuddered with each of his step. His attire consisting of furs, teeth and claws added onto the figure’s imposing aura. The most prominent parts of the person’s outfit consisted of the large, black furred-yellow striped tiger fur consisting of his chest piece. And on his head sat the black skull befitting of a bull’s yet its horns branched upwards like antlers. On his squarish right face ran down a scar, splitting his eye clean down to his strong jawline.

“Greetings Chief.”

The chief waved his hand and the people inside the room sat on their chairs respectfully. Even Forge was silent and behaved.

Scar took a step forward but halted. Black blood flowed from his lips. He wiped it off much to the horror of all present.

“Chief you.”

“Chief!”

“Its nothing.” Scar shrugged off their worries and stared at his fist while opening and closing it. “I took out a medium sized one this week and got a fruitful boon. The matriarch got lucky and bit me but I’ll recover in a few days.”

“Enough about me. Let’s talk about Grant.”

Scar pressed onwards and sat down on one of the chairs on the table. His straight posture and arms layered on each other atop the wooden table made his domineering air change into one of grace.

The chieftain resembled a well mannered noble while he sat on the table, gazing over his subjects with wisdom flickering inside his green pupils.

“That child is broken and special. His heart is closed to the outside world not because he does not care about anything.”

“Its that he does not know what meaning there is to his life as of the moment.”

The hobgoblins thought of their leader’s words but found it confusing. Even more so for Marks who was in charge of disciplining goblins at a very young age. “But chief… I don’t understand, how can he be broken when he’s still so young? The goblin shows signs of depression but nothing happened so far to traumatize him.”

Scar eyed Marks and shook his head. “The reason I do not know of even after watching him for so long. The only thing I know is that we should watch over him and let him do what he wants. No matter how eccentric, no matter how strange, he’s still one of us. Just like “him.” “

Scar thought about it even more and remembered the goblin that was the topic of the discussion.

Scar had noticed Grant’s demeanor long ago before he could even attend school. He would stare at everything else passively, thinking and thinking, seemingly contemplating the meaning of life.

And on one night while on a stroll, he had found the goblin sneaking out and making his way out of the mountain.

And Grant would sit upon an outcrop, staring at the moon and the skies for hours. Sometimes even until dawn would come knocking on the world’s door.

Scar traced the mark marring his face and his eyes grew softer.

“Since he wants to be a leader then we’ll let him take that test. Now let’s make sure that test would be extremely difficult but not impossible.”

Scar declared.

‘N-No…’ Horror nearly made Marks faint.

He didn’t want another “incident”.