Chapter 6 — The dark truth

Eldrin looked up suddenly and told the group to follow him. They followed him into a denser part of the forest where the ground reeked of blood and looked down to see a full goblin settlement sprawling within a ruined village. Eldrin pointed at the settlement and commanded all of them to team up and defeat every goblin.
Everyone stared in disbelief while arguing that there were too many and that Arin was already exhausted after his fight with the Orc Leader. Eldrin smacked all of them on the head and told them that if they could not defeat these enemies they would never survive the real thing. He ordered them to go and the first wave fell easily.
Arin shrugged and noted that the fight was not even a warm-up until a massive shadow suddenly fell over them. A Hobgoblin emerged but Sharo dismissed it as just a bigger goblin that they could easily handle. Suddenly a single massive hand crushed the Hobgoblin and everyone felt the blood drain from their faces. Behind the fallen creature stepped a goblin twice its size with a crown made of bone and muscle.
It was a Goblin King and the group froze in terror. Sharo clenched his jaw and saw no way to win head-on so he raised his staff and cast Sand Storm. The Goblin King roared as the swirling dust blinded him while Sharo screamed for everyone to run. They ran for hours until their lungs burned and their legs felt like stone. At last the steps of the Goblin King slowed as its breath grew heavy.
Arin shouted for them to strike now and they all attacked together. Slashes and spells and blades and arrows poured into the weakened body of the beast until the massive creature finally fell. They collapsed in exhaustion but Eldrin walked up slowly and remained unimpressed. He told them that their dinner was revoked which caused everyone to groan in despair.
For the first time in a long while Eldrin eventually allowed himself to relax. They ate and danced and joked through the entire night while letting the flames of the bonfire chase away the memories of blood and death. Dawn came too quickly and the group packed their belongings after waking up. They loaded the fallen warriors onto the carriage along with their gear while preparing for the journey back to Klorade.
The morning felt peaceful but it was far too peaceful. That was when the change hit them as a suffocating aura spread across the camp like a dark wave. An invisible pressure crashed onto them and felt so heavy that Arin and the others could not even lift a finger. Their knees buckled and their breaths trembled under the weight of the unknown power.