Ashton drew quick short breaths, staring at the bodies before him, their warm blood painting the ground red. He could still remember the agonising pain from his neck as he held it, feeling the freshly healed skin. The goblin before him began to convulse, its head was caved in and an axe was still firmly planted in the remains. Ashton stared blankly at the corpses before him, memories of the time he spent in the cell years ago flooded back to him. Images of the dead goblin he first killed flashed through his head. His face grew hot and tears ran down his face, mixing together with the blood. An enormous impact slammed into him from the front, his throat grew tight ad he began to suffocate. Looking down Ashton saw one of the ogre trainers giving him a death glare with bloodshot eyes. Ashton’s eyes were slowly being squeezed out of their sockets and his face was turning an unnatural shade of purple. The ogre grunted, tossing Ashton to the ground, his head colliding with a rock, breaking off one of his horns and knocking him out immediately.

********

A day earlier…

“The monster has to go,” growled Grart. “Chief has gone mad with age. He has lost the edge he once had. We must take matters into our own hands before that monster does something irreversible. It’s practically human and yet we are letting it train with us, making it stronger! Now. Either come with me and let us purge the evil, or… leave and forget you were ever here,” declared Grart.

The ten goblins before him shuffled around, discussing the matter between them before settling back down again. Three out of the ten had left, leaving Grart deeply disappointed with them, but that much was within his expectations. The rest stared resolutely towards Grart, awaiting his words. Grart smiled to himself, their loyalty fuelling his rampart pride and ego.

“Well now that the weak have left, let us continue,” began Grart. “The plan is simple; during the next day of logging we shall invite him to our group. Then, we will take him out far into the woods, farther than any of the other groups. After killing him with our superior numbers, we will tear apart his corpse to make it look like a wild beast had killed him, while we leave, wash ourselves off and then go about our day as usual, forgetting such a thing ever happened. Any questions?” asked Grart icily.

A few goblins appeared apprehensive, but after a glance at Grarts toxic glare, and not to mention his muscle bound body and his inch long talons, they backed down. Grart smirked, laughing on the inside, high off the power that he wielded.

“Well, we shall start tomorrow. Be there,” Grart stated.

********

A clawed hand came down upon Ashton’s face. Startled he woke up looking around warily. His eyes fell upon a group of seven goblins and one rather beefy one right in front of him, looking down at him with malice in his eyes. The boss-goblin grunted gruffly at him and gestured to follow him before walking off with his group. Ashton quickly tottered along after him, his face still stinging from the strike, starting to show signs of bruising already, but it returned to normal instantly, preventing any need for first aid.

“What a dick!” exclaimed Ash.

“Yeah… and it was a large group for just cutting down trees. The largest I’ve seen before was five, either there’s a massive tree somewhere I haven’t seen before or something’s up,” determined Ashton.

“You’re probably right, that look in its eyes sure wasn’t one of, ‘hey, wanna cut some trees down with us pal?’ It was more of a, ‘I want to disembowel you and then make you wear your intestines as a necklace and your stomach as a hat’ sort of thing you know?” exaggerated Ash.

“Ah… Ummm, I know what you mean, but I’m not sure it was to that extent,” Ashton said nervously.

“Well, regardless, stay on your toes, I’m ninety-seven percent sure something shitty is going to happen,” advised Ash.

“Sure… Don’t worry, they aren’t fooling anyone anytime soon,” assured Ashton.

The merry groups’ walk continued for some time until they reached an area quite far out where Ashton was completely unfamiliar with. Growing increasingly anxious over time, Ashton was extremely jumpy, wary of everything around him. The goblin leader grunted something sending Ashton back metres away in fear. The other goblins just walked over to a large tree and got to work and Ashton let out a sigh of relief as the sound of axes chopping away reached his ears. The leader came over to Ashton and pointed at the tree, growling gruffly. Grasping his axes tightly, Ashton joined the others in chopping, slowly chipping away at the tree’s mana reserves. After a few minutes, the tree let out a loud crunching noise and it slowly gave way, falling in Ashton’s general direction.

********

“NOW!” roared Grart, as the tree crashed down in the monster’s direction.

Lorg and Rarg, the two closest, tackled the monster to the ground, disarming him and then leaping out of the tree destruction path. The monster rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding the tree before jumping up into a fighting stance. Grart ordered everyone to attack him at once, meaning to overwhelm them in numbers while he stood back and watched in safety.

The monster ran towards Rarg who was closest to it and ducked underneath the incoming swing of his axe. Parrying the second axe he pivoted behind Rarg, grabbing him from behind before using him as a shield to block an incoming strike from Golg who was swinging wildly towards them. Golgs axe sunk into Rargs collarbone, planting itself a few inches deep into his torso. Rarg screamed in pain as the monster tossed him to the side, picking up his axe and driving it through a stunned Golgs skull. Grart roared in anger and dashed towards the monster with the others. Two others swung for its head, yet it dived to the ground, rolling out of the way whilst slicing at their ankles with its axe. The two fell to the ground, unable to stand again, bawling like babies. Grart picked up Golgs axe, tossing it towards the monster. The axe lodged itself in the monster’s upper back, sending it to the ground. Screeching in agony, the monster stayed on the ground, paralysed, unable to move.

The others ran towards it, axes in hands, ready to kill, “Stop!” Grart yelled to them, “Stop… Let us make him suffer for the others first, he must be punished for Rarg and Golg’s deaths.

Grart, Lorg and the other two who were still standing, Furg and Walg, all stood around the monster, glaring at him with pure hate. The two that had their ankles sliced were still on the ground, tending to their wounds, watching the monster groan on the ground with satisfaction. Grart rested his foot upon the monsters face, slowly crushing down with more and more force. It began to tear up and cried out in pain, only increasing Grarts pleasure.

SLICE! A hot burning sensation exploded from Grarts left foot and he looked down to find his leg missing from the knee down. Grart stumbled over backwards, screaming in pain. Furg and Walg looked down at him in shock, distracted as the monster leapt back up, suddenly able to move again. The axe Grart had thrown was in his hand now, and seconds later buried in Lorgs neck. Lorg crumpled, his dead body falling on Grart. The monster swung at Furg who jumped back in the nick of time, only to step on a sharp rock, tumbling backwards to the ground. Leaping down upon him, the monster sliced at Furgs throat, spraying his blood across the glistening grass. Grart struggled underneath Lorgs dead body, his leg pulsing with heat, pain surging through his body.

By the time he’d gotten back up, barely stable, the monster had Grarts axe embedded firmly in Walg’s shoulder. Walg screamed out in pain, lashing out with a punch, hitting the monster in the eye. It bent forward, holding its eye in pain and Grart took the opportunity to tackle it to the ground. The monster thrashed around, attempting to break Grarts hold, but Grart held on firmly around its waist, refusing to back down. Grart roared in pain as the monster bet down on his neck like a rabid animal, temporarily loosening his hold on it. Breaking free, it rolled them both over, mounting Grart and staring fearfully into his eyes. Grart reached out with both arms and clawed at his face, one arm stopped by its arm but the other raked across his face, finishing at his neck where Grart thrust forward, gouging his talons as deep as he could into its neck. Flailing around, it tried to hit him, eventually its fist finding Grarts face, repeatedly bringing it crashing down on his nose.

Blood sprayed everywhere from the two, Grarts claws still digging through the monsters neck and the monster’s fist still pummelling his face. Grart looked around desperately for the two who had their ankles cut, hoping for some help, only to find them both dead with their heads caved in. Walg, who took the axe to the shoulder, was passed out from blood loss, slumped against a tree. Grart looked at the creature on top of him, still struggling away, its neck was practically hanging open like a door on a hinge now, yet it still continued to pound away at Grarts face. Grarts vision was clouding over and he could feel his own skull creaking, about to give way. With one last triumphant glare, Grart flicked his hands outwards, tearing out a large portion of the monsters neck, spraying its putrid blood across his face, the two’s blood, light and dark, pooled together creating a bizarre artwork on the canvas that was Grarts face.

The monster roared in pain, bringing both hands to its neck, trying desperately to stop the blood from escaping. Grart leapt up at the chance he was given and kicked him off of him, slowly crawling away to Lorgs axe. He turned around, trying to locate the monster only to be blinded by a bright golden light. The light died down and Grart was stunned as the monster emerged from the radiance, healed, axe in hand. Grart clumsily tried to block an incoming swing with his axes handle, the monsters axe easily cleaving through the handle and Grarts forearm. The pain from his arm and leg was reduced to a light prickling feeling as his adrenaline kicked into overdrive and Grart ignored everything but the monster. Kicking off the ground with his remaining leg, Grart head butted the monster in the stomach with the force of a bull. He looked up from the ground, expecting to see the monster down with him, yet it still stood, grasping its axe tightly and looking down at Grart with pity.

A surge of emotions overcame Grart and he looked around at the forest surrounding them. Covering the beautiful trees and luscious grass was the blood of his friends. He was at fault and their deaths were caused by his foolishness. It was his fault they’d died, nobody else’s but his. The axe headed towards his skull seemed as if it was travelling in slow motion, but Grart no longer panicked. Instead he cried, upset at his own selfishness, upset at his massive ego and pathetic pride. His arrogance and weakness had cost the lives of his friends and for what? Nothing. It was all in vain and for the first time in Grarts life he experienced regret. He regretted his decision to attack the monster. He regretted he had become arrogant over his superior strength. He regretted he had left behind his old family and friends and most of all he regretted that he had caused the death of his friends.

********

The sun burned brightly over Grarts head. In the silent forest undisturbed by any animals or insects and surrounded by the beauty of nature and spilt blood, Grart at age twenty-two died, an axe was driven through his skull by a real life monster.