I explored the village followed by my parents. My new found strength finally allowed me to walk on my own. My mother and father were impressed by how early in my life I was able to walk. Apparently, elf babies took longer to develop normally. My dad had commented I would be a great warrior but I had different plans. Why throw fists when you can throw fire? I thought.

Minutes after waddling around the village I knew there was nothing more. In a nice way, I would say its humble. Frankly, I would say empty and devoid of anything but trees. Oh god, I need a distraction! Some entertainment, or even some women's gossip. I told myself. I was beyond bored and I had things I needed to forget. I knew things that should be unspeakable and I wished I could drown my sorrows with booze.

I found out the hard way that elves are true hippies. They seem to be strong believers in" free love". One day my parents brought a woman into our home. It seemed normal at first, pleasantries were exchanged, and they let her see me in my crib. Then it got weird, and my mom and dad started kissing her. As soon as that happened I closed my eyes and started quoting passages from anything I could think of from books and television.

Luckily, they were in the tent farthest from me when they did the deed but mental damage was done. It got worse too. Another time it wasn't a woman, it was a man! My dad seemed to be very cool about it too! WTF! I thought. It felt like I was living in an elven brothel or a bad porno, to say the least. It put a whole new spin on the "lord of the rings" in my mind.

From what I gathered over time, elves don't have a traditional marriage. They have partnerships that last until the two cannot tolerate each other anymore. It's an open relationship and in some cases, there is even swinging. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse! I groaned mentally.

I couldn't keep vomiting at the rate I was, my mother had already started feeding me medicine for a "weak stomach". It tasted like what I could only imagine could be the flavor of "Satan's butthole". They couldn't seem to figure out they were the cause of my misery. One day I got a break as something caused alarm in the village.

My father and mother ran to go see what was happening. I followed as well, moving my little feet as fast as they could carry me. When I arrived at the edge of the village I saw what the commotion was about. It was a blond elven woman covered in cuts and bruises. She was stark naked and covered with dirt and other filth! There was a look in her eyes. Her eyes were dull and deadened looking. I had seen this once before in my previous life. This woman had been raped!

That's when I heard a word that I hadn't thought about for a long time. "Goblin's", my father and mother cursed simultaneously. My father covered the woman in a cloak. Even covered in filth the woman was beautiful but it spurred no feelings of infatuation in me. Seeing a woman like this is one of the few times a man is ashamed to be a man by association.

Defiling a creature in that way's always been wrong whether it's a man, woman, or other. I kept my mind open about genders as I live in a magic world and beings with multiple or no gender may exist. I never asked Zotherg but elementals may not have a gender but I did not want to pry. Knowing Zotherg... he would happily go into graphic detail. I would rather die first!

I saw the broken woman say something to my parents hesitantly as she touched a small almost non-existent bulge on her stomach. I immediately used [Soul detect] and [soul hack]. The woman was pregnant with a baby goblin. She had asked my mother about some kind of tonic as she did not want to give life to a monster.

Curious, I examined the thing in her belly. What I discovered was different than I had imagined. The thing inside her basically had no soul but there was unimaginably great power in its bloodline. It felt like I was putting my hand next to a kitchen burner. When [soul hack] touched its pseudo soul I knew what it I was looking at. A revelation that no one around me knew, not even Zotherg. Goblins weren't what people thought they were! There was a curse put directly on its bloodline that prevented a soul from fully forming and it was restraining the power in its DNA as well. I knew it was a curse as the dark magic involved reacted to my very being but did not harm the woman. This I knew from Zotherg, who had told me all curses were dark magic but even elves could be cursed.