And as a dark sun shined down upon them, blinding them and devouring all that is sacred, those that dwelled into the light could only pray to their puny Gods,t hat could only hide in the shadow of the harbinger of their demise ,hoping for their souls to not be consumed. But hope was useless and they could only scream the name of their destroyer in a last futile effort of resistance as they were burned, suffocated, impaled, sliced, eaten and crushed:Murgin

Ancient Chronicles, Forbidden Library of Kunnskap

"Where am i?"

Andrew said, after regaining consciousness

"I swear, if i find Murgin, i will kill him"

He stopped his train of thought to look around and saw black ruins, seemingly belonging to a temple, filled with mysterious writing, different from the ones on Mugrin's vest. There were many columns and the roof was almost completely broken. Lastly there was a multitude of small, green, pointy eared humanoids that were looking at him in a mix of shock and astonishment

"Goblins?"

"HUUUUMAAAAAAAAAN"

suddenly shouted one of them as everyone else took spears and bows

"KILL THE HUMAN!"

"DEFEND THE ALTAR!"

"DIE INVADER!"

Everyone of them was screaming his own war cry and Andrew had no idea on how to fight them yet, so he only tried to retreat to the back of the room while saying

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! I'M FRIENDLY!"

"LIES! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT AFTER GETTING THIS DEEP INTO OUR VILLAGE!"

Andrew was thinking on how to run when he heard an old man yell

"FOOLS! STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY! HE'S NOT AN ENEMY!"

"But Leader, this human appeared out of nowhere into our altar!"

The goblins weren't ok with what their leader said

"IDIOTS!"

His voice resounded through what remained of the temple

"He's our Savior!"

"Savior? What do you mean leader? He's a human!"

The others still weren't convinced

"He was sent hear by the Altar! It finally answered our prayers and this is how you thank it?!?"

The goblins fell all in silence and looked at Andrew, not with hatred, but with reverence and expectation and they all kneeled.

"What are you doing?!?"

Andrew asked, he knew his mission was to protect monsters, but Murgin was a Forgotten God,right? Thet shouldn't know about him nor his Champion.

"THE DARK MESSIAH HAS DESCENDED!"

"OUR SAVIOR!"

"FINALLY WE'LL DESTROY THOSE ADVENTURERS!"

The goblins said, their shouts filled with joy and excitement. They continued to celebrate for a while, but after their leader gave a sign with his hand, they stopped then he spoke.

"Savior, i know this is sudden, but could you tell us your name?"

Andrew stared at him dumbfounded for a second then he replied

"I'm Andrew Tenebris, and who are you?"

"I am Golind, leader of the humble village of Greyleaf, just to be sure, if i may be so bold to ask, what is your objective exactly?"

"It's to, well, protect any monster i find as long as they deserve it"

On the old goblin's face grew an immense smile and he screamed with the all the air he had in his lungs.

"MY BROTHERS, OUR SAVIOR HAS TRULY FINALLY ARRIVED! REJOICE! FOR THE END OF THE ADVENTURERS SLAUGHTER IS NIGH! ALL HAIL ANDREW TENEBRIS!"

The goblins got up and raised their weapons and hands to the air and screamed like madmen.

"ALL HAIL TENEBRIS! ALL HAIL TENEBRIS! ALL HAIL TENEBRIS!"

After a while they stopped and Golind returned to speak with Andrew.

"Lord Tenebris, now, please follow me, we don't have much time"

Andrew's face suddenly turned to one of stiff awkwardness, it really was too strange to be treated like a noble.

"Please, just call me Andrew"

Golind was surprised for a moment,then he began to cry

"WO,WO,WO, why are you crying?"

"My lord, to allow such a humble servant to call you by your name,i t is the greatest honor i received in my life, the only thing that gave me even more joy than this was seeing the birth of my child"

Andrew thought of telling him that it wasn't a big deal, but he let the old goblin have his moment of glory.

"So can i know what kind of relationship you guys have with this Altar?"

Golind wiped his tears then he answered.

"Of course Lord Andrew.We consider this Altar our protector, because its presence scares off animals, normal humans and even monsters"

Andrew was confused for a moment

"Wait, aren't you monsters too?"

"My lord, so you don't know? Well i'll explain.There are two types of monsters in this world"

Two types of monsters? Murgin didn't tell Andrew anything about this, but he just guessed he forgot or it was some kind of joke to annoy him

"First there's the normal monsters, who were created by Belua, the Deviless*of,well, monsters in ancient times, and then there are the Ferals, which instead are created by Miasma, a special kind of energy that comes from the depths of the earth. We normal monsters are intelligent and have a conscience but Ferals only act following their basic instincts. Unfortunately they are quite numerous in places that civilization hasn't touched, like the forest we live in, and we are at constant war with them, since they attack every non-feral creature they find and sometimes even fight between themselves. But they aren't a problem, since they're usually stupid and easy to deal with, at least here, the true problem are the adventurers that established themselves in the nearby town and that are attacking us every day"

"I understand, but, again, what relationship do you have with this Altar, apart from considering it a protector?"

"Well, we only know it has been here for centuries, maybe millennia, and it is an Altar of the great Belua"

Andrew finally knew the reason why even with all these monsters, Murgin still said he had no followers: they were praying to someone else. It's honestly kind of embarrassing, both for them and poor old Murgin.

"You know, this ,ehmmm, how do i say it ,is not an Altar of Belua..."

Golind suddenly panicked

"What, m-my lord, are you telling me we ha-have been pra-praying to the wr-wrong Devil for all this time?"

"Ehhhh, yes, yes you did. I'm sorry"

Golind fell to the ground, shamed that for all these years they had been worshiping a Devil in somebody else's Altar then he stopped and said:

"WE MUST CLEANSE OUR SHAME! LORD ANDREW! WHO'S THE DEVIL THAT RULES THIS ALTAR?!?"

Andrew fell on his butt due to the surprise of being shouted at in the face then he spoke

"Well, this Altar belongs to Murgin, Forgotten God of the Abyss"

"A God gave us a Champion, even when we were using his Altar to pray to a Devil? Such kindness can only belong to divine (divine can also be attributed to Devils, not only Gods ,just pointing that out) beings! We must pray and beg for his forgiveness! COME BROTHERS, WE MUST TELL THE REST OF VILLAGE ABOUT THIS!"

And so every single goblin ran outside the ruins, towards their village, leaving Andrew alone and letting him reassume what he had learned:

1)There are two types of monsters: normal ones, that are intelligent, and Ferals, that only act by their basic instincts. He, of course ,should only help the formers.

2)He's currently in a forest that is being assaulted by adventurers. The goblins need his help to defeat them.

3)The goblins have been worshipping someone else at Murgin's Altar, that's why he had no followers. Very embarrassing.

And so he went outside where he was blinded by the sun, due to being in dark places for so long, and then he observed the scenery around him: it was full of green trees and bushes and right to the sides of the temple's ruins there were two statues depicting some kind of demon. In front of it there was a small road, which Andrew followed till reaching the village, where they were already making preparations to pray to their new God.

Meanwhile,in the Abyss.

Murgin was busy drinking tea, or at least the Abyss equivalent of it, when he felt a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.

IT WAS PRAYERS! HE COULD FEEL FAITH ENTERING HIS BODY AND INVIGORATING HIM!

"NOOOOOOOOOOX!NOOOOOOOOOX!"

Nox ran to his master, thinking something had happened to him

"WHAT'S HAPPENING,MY LORD? HAS KANDRIA RETURNED?!?"

"WHAT?!? NO! PEOPLE ARE PRAYING TO ME! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I LEAVE THAT KID ON GHENDREL FOR FIVE MINUTES AND HE ALREADY GAINED ME ABOUT ABOUT A HUNDRED FAITHFULS! I KNEW HE WAS THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB!"

Murgin was giggling like a child and Nox was excited too, his master was finally getting the recognition he deserved

"Master, where are these followers from?"

"Uh? They're from that village in front of my Altar, but i don't understand why they're praying to me only now... I mean they were there for years and i can always feel that they enter often..."

Nox's suddenly froze and started sweating profusely, he knew the reason, since he went to check on them every full moon, when his power was at its peak and he could exit the Abyss for a while, but he always sealed that memory with magic so his master couldn't discover it .

"Wait, you know the reason, Nox? Tell me, i gotta know!"

FUCK! HE CAN READ HIS MIND RIGHT NOW!

"How can you forget something that important? And why did you hide it from me! Come on, tell me! Or think about it"

NOTHINGNOTHING NOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGABSOLUTELYNOTHING. Nox tried with all his strength to not let Murgin know the reason

"Oh, you're using that tactic? You know it's stupid since eventually you'll think about it,right?"

He would not! He could not tell his master that the goblins used his Altar to worship Belua....SHIIIIIIIIT!

"See? I told you, you wou-WAIT, WHAT?!? THOSE FUCKERS USED MY ALTAR TO WORSHIP THAT RASCAL?!? AND I GAVE THEM A FREAKIN CHAMPION IN EXCHANGE?!?

Nox answered, both his mind and soul filled with terror

"Ye-yes,my lord"

"I WILL DESTROOOOOOOOOYYYY THEEEEEEEEM! I WILL CAUSE AN ECLIPSE THAT WILL LAST FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, SUMMON MILLIONS OF DEMONS TO RIP THEM APART AND USE THEIR SOULS AS TOILET PAPER!"

Murgin's scream resounded through the Abyss,with such an intensity it would have made a mere mortal go insane and Gods and Devils quiver in fear. Nox could only hold his master, stopping him from damaging himself and destroying the world by trying to complete such great but useless threats. He also made a mental note to not seal, but completely erase such inconvenient memories in the future, but Murgin was too enraged to notice that thought.