Rapture

Unnatural howls and cries filled the landscape as three goblins delivered their herd to a group of rodentmen. They all scanned the dark, wary, with the rodents even taking out their weapons.

"Yo, Bongo," Ganga said, gripping his staff and sword.

"Y-yes?" the small goblin said, nervously staring at the source of the noises.

"I-I think it's time to leave... right? We've delivered the great sheep..."

"Y-yeah, sounds about right, our job here is done... right Boss?"

The strong goblin was sweating profusely, yet maintaining his cool composure as much as he could so as not to embarrass himself in front of his two friends. He was just finishing unveiling Malimali's bandaged leg.

"That's it, we're off!"

The rodents laughed at the sight of three pathetic goblins running like scared chickens. Malimali attached to its mother worryingly, not understanding anything. They then heard the howls turning into panting, unnatural moans, growing closer—and closer. 

Their leader growled and so they readied the sheep to move out, but then, on their rear, was a hulking monster that represented the worst of rodent nightmares. The great sheep bellowed at the horrific sight, not being able to fully see it, but sensing it was not from this world at all. They began to disperse, Malimali sticking to her panicking mother, as they all instinctively ran away in groups.

The rodentmen stood still, frozen, bewildered as Voidmaw's eye glowed. They twitched, they contorted, mutated... then their identities as proud rodentmen warriors were no more.

"Feast on these sorrowful beasts, my minions, practice your unforgiving brutality before lunging yourselves to the goblin warriors!"

From a distance, the three-goblin gang of shepherd kept their pace, panting and panicking.

"Yo Bongo!" called Ganga, "what was that sound?"

"Shut up and run, dammit, don't waste your breath!" yelled Bongo.

"B-but the sheep!"

"They're their problem now!!" 

"Keep running, idiots, don't fall behind!"  Boss ordered.

The goblins dropped their torches in the run, which burned the dry grassland. It took but a few embers to catch a small fire, and the unforgiving winds seemed to take notice, spreading the flames further.

Malimali struggled to keep up with the rest of its herd, its smaller legs failing to give strides as big as its mother. It pushed itself hard, though, as the chilling roars of ravenous rodentmen now loomed closer.

******

The Keshig warriors spotted the fire not far away from their position, and their distress caught the attention of everyone else in the troop. Chief Tulag stomped to the rear, pushing his warriors aside, boars and all. His squire followed suit. 

Tulag's eyes widened, "What is that thing?" he said, pointing at the giant figure walking on all fours.

"The rodentmen seem to be... obeying it?" the squire answered, unsure.

"Blessed winds," Tulag said, "what have they unleashed upon us?"

"Should we hurry and go back to the village?" a veteran Keshig wondered.

Chief Tulag shook his head, "If that thing is following our trail, we will have to defend ourselves and our families."

"Never trust a rodent!" shouted another Keshig, preparing her bow, "They care only about violence!"

"Chief!" a warrior said, raising his sword, "they're coming!" 

Tulag looked at the front of the company, looking for Mesui, who obediently remained in the front, "Squire, take my daughter to safety."

"My chieftain!" the squire complained, "I beg you, let me stay by your side!"

"I trust no other to deliver her safely, then ride towards the camps scattered, herding and hunting, tell them to rally for war..."

"Chief Tulag!" the squire insisted.

"Then go North, to the Koltans, and tell them that their bride-to-be risks death at the hands of the beastfolk!"

The squire hesitated, aching at the thought of leaving his master in such a dire situation.

"I said go! Protect my daughter!"

The squire cursed yet obeyed, riding towards a confused Mesui and her uneasy boar.

"Let's go," he said coldly.

"What about father?" she asked.

"He's fighting here to protect our families, we must go, NOW!"

"But—"

"Now princess!"

Mesui and Tulag locked eyes for a brief instance, and the goblin princess felt the weight of duty in his seasoned eyes. The guilt grew and gripped her throat once more, as she only cared about relieving some of that burden from her father's shoulders. She whipped the reins and the boar sprinted away with the Squire's.

Enraged, feeling deceived, Tulag gritted his teeth as he saw his daughter depart, showing his fangs as he growled. He then took his chieftain spear with swift fury and thrust it onto the ground.

"Heed me! O mighty winds! Tonight, in the cold breeze of the steppes you ride forever more, guide our blades, O Twin Sisters, as we fight for the lands you gave us to nurture and steward!"

The roars in the dark, as the rodentmen crept and leaped slopes and rocks with bestial agility, were met with the war cries of the entire goblin troop, as the fire lifted and reached the night sky. The boar riders took their spears in front, while the archers hopped on the back and readied their arrows.

Mesui closed her eyes as her pointy ears caught glimpses of the entire column of goblin riders charging into the darkness with their torches in hand, furiously roaring to meet the rodentmen.

******

Arsec stood atop a rocky hill after braving a dark gorge with the heavy rhino's wool on his back. Somehow, such a heavy prize felt lighter than a backpack full of supplies, more so after covering a long distance from the rocky mountains and into the Tulag territory. He handled it with one hand while carrying his spear on the other.

There, he witnessed the fires in the distance and the sound of battle amidst the growing flames. Black figures, some riding boars, others savagely lunging themselves at them, coming and going between darkness and light. Arsec knew those boar riders well, and his heart began to beat fast.

"They're Chief Tulag's Keshig!" he said, looking at the strange creatures next, "what are they fighting?"

The thought of provoking a conflict with the rodentmen whose territory he happened to trespass made him shiver and fear what the chief would do to him.

"This new power better help me with the chief!"

He reflexively let himself fall by the steep rocky wall, not thinking about the height until he was midair.

"Blasted winds!" he yelled.

The young man crashed on the ground rolling, coughing dust and some grass leaves his mouth had instantly gorged with the fall.

"Great job Arsec, just... great job, what a way to risk your life after being miraculously healed," he complained, getting up.

 He quickly checked himself and realized he was completely unharmed, so he dusted his clothes and grabbed the wool and spear again.

"Not a single scratch... very nice!" he exclaimed, flexing his muscles, "thank you, O Red Fire!"

The sudden feeling of being watched from behind assaulted him. Arsec slowly turned around and realized he had been observed by a giant yet mortally wounded and very confused rodentman.

The maned bunny-like rodent gasped and struggled to keep his eyes open, but there was no mistake, Arsec could see glimmers in his darkened eyes aimed at him, oddly, they glimmered with a sense of hope.

They both stared at each other awkwardly, with the young man not knowing whether he should leave the dying rodent.

Gargag coughed and tried to remain as composed and regal as a chief would. He had witnessed the fire rising high in the distance, as well as the sound of his corrupted people shrieking in the night with unnatural voices and maniacal savagery unworthy of his tribe. It ached in his heart terribly, as his dreams--his musings--faded as his grip on consciousness loosened every second.

Then, as the rodentman chieftain's thoughts turned to silent, aching prayers, a young... goblin? He certainly did not look like one. He was clad in a cloak that somehow distinguished its red coloring even at night, and appeared as if answering his last wishes. At first, he did not make much of him other than his ears were round instead of pointy, and he lacked the goblinesque fangs. Perhaps this young goblin freak would finish him off for good, and his soul would finally rest in the womb of the ancestral lairs where the fallen rodentmen would rest for eternity.

The maned rodentman then glanced at the enormous fur the 'ungoblin' youngster carried... effortlessly and with a single arm. Gargag had hunted rhinos for many seasons in the harsh mountains, and each time he had witnessed the beast's fur wearying down four of his strong hunters during the trip back to their lair.

An intrusive, yet very appealing thought invaded his waning mind, as Gargag reached out to this youngster with his healthy hand. Perhaps... perhaps this boy was...

"Veg!" Gargag asked in pain, waving at the young boy who now looked at him, skeptical.

Arsec did not know what to do as the rodentman called him to his side.

"Veg!" Gargag cried, as his hand returned to his broken ribs and he trembled.

Arsec's confused frown softened, and he examined the terrible wounds the rodent had sustained. His legs began to move involuntarily, perhaps at the sight of a needy soul. His heart pounded fast as he gaped at the distance with the increasingly larger rodentman, whose ears now lowered, perhaps as a sign of showing weakness and openness to him.

"Tut..." Gargag said, pleased, as he slowly and respectfully reached for Arsec's chest.

The young man watched, always ready to jump back, allowing the big furry hand to bump his chest and rest it on his shoulder.

The chieftain's eyes trembled. Gargag knew he had but mere moments, yet his eyes were transfixed in this... this boy. Now that he had the non-goblin that close, his primal instincts, instilled in every rodentman and thinking beast in Gaia at birth,  tensed like an animal engulfed in fear. Something old and far more ancient than great grandfather was telling Gargag to run. It burned deep in his mind, the chieftain could feel the youngster somehow blazed brighter, fiercer even, than the sun itself. Somehow, this scorching fear felt even greater than witnessing Voidmaw's horrid figure moments earlier.

Maybe he was delusional, but even with all his senses crying desperately for him to get away from the boy, something boiled within Gargag beyond any primal fears he did not understand. 

His eyes looked at the fire in the distance, and he growled in rage as the image of Panagh... no, Voidmaw, flashed before his eyes. This boiling hatred was something he understood well.

"Tragh!" he requested, pointing at his chieftain staff a few meters away.

Arsec indulged the dying rodentman, hastily picking it up and making sure his new acquaintance could hold it well. 

Gargag tore hanging tufts of fur from the spear and then asked Arsec to stretch his arm. The chieftain skillfully tied the cord with the tufts in the young man's forearm like a bracelet.

"Tut... carkagh cogf mig vagha" Gargag uttered, coughing as his breathing grew heavier and weaker. 

Arsec examined the tribal trinket on his arm, just as a strange verdant wisp came out of the rodentman's mouth and entered the tuft, its soft hairs now glowed in acid green at the tips.

"Vahga!" Gargag cried, raising his fist to the sky, Arsec followed it with his eyes up, and then down as it slammed on the ground, lifeless. 

The rodentman was dead. For Arsec, he had witnessed the last rites of a culture he barely understood, so he humbly pressed the rodentman's gift in deep respect.

Gargag let out a last sigh, and with it, his vision of a conquered steppe had now been replaced by a prayer of vengeance, his last will be that it would live on through the inexplicable strength he had sensed in the boy. At last, he expired, and he went to join his ancestors in the primal lairs.

Arsec stood up, grabbing his spear once again. It had been a crazy day, and he was just scratching the surface of what had happened to him at the crater. However, he knew he had little time to ponder, as the fires from afar raged still.

As he was grabbing the rhino's fur, his ears picked a sound all too familiar, and his eyes widened as he stood up, sweating coldly.

A distant bellow he knew well ran away from the fire, followed by... no, layered beneath monstrous shrieks painted a clear image in his mind. He envisioned a running giant sheep with its little lamb, and dark creatures encroaching with each second, bearing their horrid claws on them.

"Malimali!" he cried.

He began to run towards the source, rhino fur be damned.

******

Malimali's legs hurt, especially the one that was once bandaged. It could feel its mother slowing her pace to protect her. 

The shadowy monsters did not attack just yet, merely following them and toying with their despair, as if wanting to consume them in their direst moments.

At some point, Malimali's mother understood her little lamb could not go further, and there was no sign of shepherds to protect them, so she covered her baby beneath her belly, hiding in her thick wool, to the point that Malimali did not see what was happening outside. There, in the middle of the night, the mother gave in to her horrible fate.

The mutated rodentmen cackled and mocked the mother from nearby rocks and tall grass, drawing closer and closer as they licked their teeth and savored their victim with their claws.

BOOM.

The rodentmen stopped and looked behind them. The earth had strangely trembled at the sound of that strong thud. Their enhanced rodent eyes saw the figure of an unimpressive young man who looked strange for a goblin, holding a pitch-black spear in his hands, and wearing a cape whose red coloring seemed unbothered by the darkness. 

The rodents hesitated at the strange sight, but as soon as one of them giggled and bounced at the new arrival the rest did the same. 

Arsec did not have time to think about what to do, and he reflexively swung the spear at his enemies like a stick or a hammer.

It connected once... twice... thrice!

The spear seemed to take on the weight of all the attackers, five in all, sending them flying tens of meters to the side. The rodents tried to stand after a few moments, confused, with the first rodentman, that one mocking instigator, lying dead amidst the tall grass. 

Arsec could not believe his eyes, he had just swept the steppe clean of rabid rodentmen. He stilled his racing heart as the hanging tuft of hair from that dying rodentman flew close to his eyes.

"These were your people... I see," he said, regretting his attack for a moment.

He did not have time to either admire his skills or weep for the fallen, as the four surviving rodentmen, crazed at the sight of one of them lying defeated by a single blow, lunged themselves at him, this time from four different angles.

Arsec braced himself and charged towards two of them, seeking to break the encirclement. Malimali was somewhere in the area, still in danger. His spear thrust toward his first target, faster than the rodentman's dodging skills, and the monster shrieked in pain before dying. The second grabbed him by the right, but as Arsec reflexively tried to brush his attacker, the rodent monster flew back against a rock, killing it instantly.

Even with his new enhanced senses, he could not stop the remaining two rodentmen from holding him from behind and bearing their fangs at his shoulder and leg. Arsec winced, expecting excruciating pain from being mauled by huge hungry rodents. 

Crack! Crack!

The rodentmen released Arsec from their grip, retreating in pain. Arsec opened his eyes and saw the two monsters examining their broken and shattered teeth in utter confusion.

They stood there, inarticulate, clueless as to what to do next. Arsec however, could not wait for them to resolve their issues. He leaped forward and stabbed one with the spear. The last one put its arms up, seeking to guard against the overwhelming strength of Arsec's attacks. The young man considered him.... wanting to put his skills to the test. He grabbed the remaining rodentman and threw him away like he would a pebble to the creek from a distance. The monster's figure lost itself in the dark as it flew beyond Arsec's sight, although he could follow its panicking screams as it kept flying for a few seconds before it...

BOOM.

"Huh..." Arsec said, looking at his hand in shock, "I'm sorry, rodent brother," he said, thinking about his deceased friend, "I just wanted to see if it could work..."

At last, Arsec relaxed his muscles and lowered his spear. He realized that after all this running and fighting, he was not tired, not even weary.

"Malimali!" he reacted.

Yet as he was about to turn around, he felt a small bump on his back. Once, that bump would push him a few steps forward or cause him back pain. This time it felt like a blowing wind but he recognized it nonetheless.

"Hehe..." Arsec giggled, "There you are..."

"Bah!" Malimali exclaimed, rejoicing in their reunion.

Arsec caressed and petted the lamb, hugging it and kissing it, "Winds! I'm so glad to see you again! How's your mom?"

The exhausted mother sheep walked towards them, similarly bumping Arsec's head with her head, "And that's you, you're a wonderful mother, never let that pesky trio tell you otherwise!"

An explosion from the fires called their attention, and the three saw how the steppe continued to burn. 

Arsec turned to Malimali, smiling, "Little lamb, go away, you and mom..."

"Bah!" the lamb protested.

"It's not safe for you here, go home, to those pleasant pastures, the tribe will take care of you," he said, looking at the flames once more, "You know Mesui might be there... in the middle of the fire... I need to help them... and I basically ditched costly wool next to the rodent brother to save you, so I need to make up for them somehow without that!"

Malimali still refused, but the mother, clever as ever, pushed her baby away from Arsec, away from the growing, raging fires. The lamb had little to do then, as it was compelled forcefully to follow mother.

"I hope I can see you again, at some point..." Arsec said in a kind, but shattering tone.

He then turned to the fiery landscape and started his run once again.

******

The fires spread in rows and columns across the dry grassland, slowly forming a maze difficult to navigate. Amid all the chaos, the goblin boar riders lay on the ground, defeated, their boars scattered and running away from the chasing mob of ravenous rodentmen who pinned them down as they tied them up. They bared their fangs, letting their drool fall on the subdued goblins. They licked their teeth, cackled, and mocked them as any sign of insubordination from Tulag's Keshig, even the slightest flinch of an arm or leg, was violently suppressed by drowning their faces on the ground of kicking them until they suffocated.

"Do not damage the goods, my minions," Voidmaw said, inspecting all the captured warriors, "They need to be taken alive... but without hope or defiance in their eyes, so hit them in good measure."

At the center was the mighty Tulag, bruised and wounded, subdued like all his men. Three rodentmen had to stand on him to control his sudden outbursts of rage fully. He panted and grunted, especially at the sight of his fellow goblin warriors being mistreated this much, as he fought to raise his arms or roll around, just to have a new chance at killing rodents. His struggle ceased when a hundred teeth grinning at him leaned to examine him, and on top of them, a dark eye that twitched now and then as if representing madness itself stared at him with ill intent.

"Yes..." he said, "my master will find these strong warriors as suitable subjects for his work, especially this one."

"W-what are you, monster?" Tulag asked, trying to make sense of the horrid apparition. 

In all his years hunting anomalous steppe monsters, he had never seen one as unnatural, as mutated.

Voidmaw indulged him, placing his heavy paw on the chieftain's head and pressing against the ground. 

"Ku-ku, it is all beautiful, 'mighty chieftain'. I am the pencil, the brush, soaked in my master's ink, and you... you are my master's new canvas."

"Wha—?" Tulag said confusedly, "I don't..."

"Perish your thoughts, chieftain, a canvas needs not to understand, only to be molded... find solace in knowing your life will attain an eternal purpose."

 Voidmaw's unnerving black eye looked at his rodent minions, ordering them to move out on a whim. He looked at the flames as his eerie grin reflected their light as the rodents obliged, his eye always scanning the field in case anyone had been left out. Good riddance, the only corpses in the ground were slain rodentmen, unlucky enough to be in the way of spears, arrows, and swords during the initial clash—they were all unworthy of his grace. They thus had naturally been disposed of, like a worn-out brush or pencil.

As he turned to follow his men out of the increasing flames, he felt an excruciating pain drilling on the side of his enlarged head, which shook violently at the piercing hit. A sudden rage filled him; who dared to sneak up and attack him? His eye scanned the flames again, but no sign of any attacker jumping on him. Voidmaw was certain that no goblin warrior had been allowed to flee the battle. 

Then how?

Another dart hit him on his shoulder, an arrow, not as painful and right within his vision range. This time, he turned towards the flames that had danced and blown away from the incoming shot, as if the winds had carved the path to its target amidst the tall fire. There he saw a shadowy rider, a boar rider.

Voidmaw growled as another arrow hit his ruff, unable to pierce through. He began stomping the ground up the slope, running like a deformed spider, full of rage at the audacity and defiance of this little attacker.

The rider galloped away to keep the distance between them both, as they readied another arrow and shot it. Voidmaw dodged it, his eye fully cast on reading his opponent's every move. The arrow on his head hurt with every step, every movement, and that only made him roar as if embracing the darkness of ravenous rage would heal him somehow. 

He was getting closer, and closer. He could feel his claws already on the boar's hinds, his jaw opening wide to tear the animal and its owner apart. One dead goblin would not be that damaging for his hunt... Voidmaw felt he could indulge himself in a little act of violence and use his new body to dismember and devour.

His arm connected, and it managed to hit the boar's legs, making it stumble and roll. Voidmaw noticed the rider skillfully jumped away to avoid being crushed by their mount, trying to hide themselves in the tall grass and the darkness—it was all pointless.

Voidmaw ignored the boar and went straight for the goblin, his eye, and rodentman senses seeing the hunter in the dark. It was a female goblin, a teenager...

Mesui felt the encroaching monster that had captured her people almost on her, the dread of feeling its endless teeth on her skin tearing her in two. She nonetheless kept her tired pace, pushing the grass aside. She felt the monster slowing down as if waiting for her to fully give in and fall to exhaustion. Frustration took hold of her, and so she took another arrow from her quiver and shot it, aiming at the monster's eye. Whatever happened, her people would not remember her as a coward, but as the princess who died fighting to protect them.

"You sorry-looking girl," the monster spoke, its words creating an unseen weight on Mesui's shoulders, "you actually managed to hit me... Me! The master's blessed one! When no rodent or goblin chieftain could!"

Mesui roared, bearing her fangs, as she took another shot.

Annoyed, and enraged, Voidmaw brushed aside the new shot by bouncing it with his claw.

"That's enough of that, little imbecile," he said, "now you die!"

BOOM.

The sound and subsequent tremor made the one-eyed monster stop. Mesui turned to the source, and her eyes widened, tearing up almost instantly.

"Arsec?" she uttered.

The young human aimed his spear at the monster. The princess could spot a serious and confident look in his eyes, but her mind cried out that it was pointless... what could a throw from a weak slave do to a monster that resisted arrows and blades?

Arsec had the monster's full attention, his eye twitching with annoyance and an unstoppable rage.

"This night is getting more and more frustrating," Voidmaw said, "but defiance alone will not stop me..."

The young man took his chance and threw his spear. Voidmaw calculated its trajectory and placed his claw in the way, not giving it too much thought.

"In the end, you will all be consumed and put to use in a greater design—"

The spear pierced the claw cleanly, like pinching paper, through Voidmaw's mighty grasp. At first, his disbelief did not let him realize what had happened, and he cluelessly examined his wound for a few seconds. Then the pain kicked in, as his sense of invulnerability began to shatter.

The monster cried in pain as it shook its claw repeatedly to try and remove the spear without success.

Mesui could not believe it herself, as she looked at Arsec going her way. 

"Come on princess, get up!" Arsec called to her.

"You're alive!" she said, weeping, "How?!"

"Long story... I promise I'll explain later, right now we need to deal with this thing!"

"I can't, I've tried hitting it several times, and it only hit the mark once!"

"I'll try to distract it while you wear it down, I'll deal the finishing blow," Arsec said, clenching his fists. 

"But..."

"Mesui!"

The princess saw her friend grabbing her by the arms and lifting her effortlessly. It shocked her, but then she saw his eyes, at first looking at her desperately, but then in a calmer, gentler way. The two's breathing harmonized, and Mesui's panting attuned with Arsec's slow pace. 

Voidmaw still tried to take the spear off with his other claw, ripping it apart slowly. 

"We got this," he said, "the winds are on our side this time."

Mesui considered him, and then finally nodded, gripping her bow, "I don't know how, but I will"

Arsec smiled, "Yes, just..."

"What?" she asked.

Arsec giggled.

Just what?" she asked, louder.

"Just... try to count your shots this time, okay?"

She blushed, remembering the rhino hunt. She pushed Arsec aside. 

"Moron, don't tell me that when you wasted your single weapon on that thing's claw."

"Don't worry about that," he said, clenching his fists and guarding up, "I have more stuff up my sleeve."

Arsec's new air of confidence surprised her. She scanned his outfit, finally noticing his red cloak brightening in its pure red despite the night, and also... that strange tuft bracelet on his forearm. Yet solving those puzzles would have to wait, she prepared another arrow as both of them saw the monster finally taking off the spear and throwing it in their direction.

"Aw crap!" Arsec yelled, "Wasn't expecting that!"

"Dammit Arsec!" Mesui panicked.

Arsec nonetheless stepped in to protect his friend, seeking to block the spear to the side.

CLUNK.

With a single hit, the spear fell like a stick, as if it had decreased once it recognized the target was its master.

"What?" Mesui said, confused.

"Yeah," he echoed, "what?"

Voidmaw roared and closed the gap between him and the two youngsters, raising his claws as two big fists, intending to smash them and leaving nothing but goblin paste.

"Get back!" Arsec yelled, as he grabbed the spear and guarded against the incoming attack.

Fist and spear clashed, creating a shockwave, just as Mesui created enough distance to calmly aim her shot. 

"What is this?" Voidmaw said, confused, "Why are you stopping my attack? Nobody stops me... Voidmaw!"

Arsec felt the full brunt of that smash as the ground cracked beneath, placing him in a crater. For the first time since he was blessed by the Red Flame, he found himself actually putting considerable strength into his movements.

"This thing... surely is... strong!" he said.

Meanwhile, Mesui had already the arrow up and was aiming. She scanned for Voidmaw's body as Arsec pushed the claws away and tried an attack of his own, as monster and human danced back and forth trying to hit each other. Arsec parried the attacks while Voidmaw cautiously avoided the spear's thrust. 

Mesui's head spiraled.

"Where? Just where?" she thought, remembering her last arrows had either bounced or simply pinched the monster... all but one. Voidmaw's side, right by the tiny hole of an ear.

"The head!" she yelled, taking the shot.

The arrow narrowly flew past Voidmaw, who had his undivided attention on Arsec.

"Dammit, I'm not cut for this!" Mesui said, remembering the rhino hunt, reminding herself of what had happened with Arsec hours earlier.

"Count your arrows..." Arsec's words echoed in her mind.

She gently inspected the quiver as she took a deep breath, she still had her father's squire's full rack of arrows minus a few she had shot. Beneath her frustration and blame, a new intense feeling boiled just as Voidmaw landed a hit and sent Arsec flying a few meters. 

"I will not leave you!" Mesui declared, preparing another arrow. Convinced the head still held significance as a target, her eye looked for an opening as Voidmaw was now dodging an attack from Arsec, who had fully recovered and was now slashing his spear left and right.

"Winds, O sacred twin sisters, please guide me," Mesui begged, as she saw the eye passing through her aim. 

Without second-guessing, she let the arrow loose.

A fraction of a second felt like minutes as Mesui's eyes fixated on the shot, struggling to keep up in the dark

Then winds blew from behind Mesui, joined by green dust that glistened amidst the breeze. She was unsure of what she saw, but that strange wind seemed to take hold of the arrow, slightly tilting it and redirecting it right beside Voidmaw's eye.

The monster shook his head, wailing, retreating a few steps. Then he looked at Mesui, still trembling in pain.

"You little... you again... you...!" 

Voidmaw tried to charge at her, but a strong grip had taken one of his hind legs, pulling him back and making him crash his head on the ground. 

"Here goes nothing," yelled Arsec, yanking Voidmaw up in the air, "YOINK!"

The monster had barely recovered his senses from the arrow when he suddenly felt his body up in the air and then violently smashed against the ground. 

"Inconceivable!" The monster thought, as he got up and prepared to attack this insulting young man.

Another arrow met its mark, hitting him right in the eye. Voidmaw retreated like a wounded, scared beast, feeling the pain of three well-placed arrows and the tension of his body being tossed like a mere sack of bones.

Arsec looked at Mesui, who was readily preparing yet another shot. She walked confidently by Arsec's side, as both of them breathed heavily but stood ready to continue the fight against the abomination.

"I wear it down, you strike him for good," Mesui said.

"Right," Arsec answered, tightening his grip on his spear.

"Did you say yoink?" Mesui asked.

"Shut up."

The pressure took a toll on Voidmaw listening to these relentless, arrogant fools, his eyes tired because of the wounds, and his ears did not work well now...

He rose his head like a wolf about to howl, yet a horrid and chilling roar came out of his maw. Arsec and Mesui covered their ears as it lasted a few seconds.

Then, the two stood back to back in dread of something coming, as Voidmaw coughed and growled with a smile.

"A higher being such as me should not concern himself with the acts of such low creatures," he said, "yes, you are but motes of dust in the face of my master... and his chosen."

Groans and snarls echoed across the desolate steppe, a cacophony of despair as mutated rodents, numbering twenty, emerged from the shadows. Arsec and Mesui exchanged grim looks, steeling themselves for the impending clash, their hearts heavy with the weight of the impending struggle.

"Maybe we'll see each other again, little imbeciles," Voidmaw continued, "but for now I shall retreat and fulfill my master's wish, in which I shall gladly take your warriors as payment for what you did to me tonight."

He galloped away to join the caravan of rodents who held the captive Keshig and, perhaps more importantly, Chieftain Tulag.

Mesui's eyes panicked, as she readily leaped to pursue Voidmaw. However, she felt the strong restraint of Arsec's hand.

"Let go!" Mesui ordered, "She's got father!"

Arsec blinked, "Chief Tulag—?"

They were suddenly interrupted as three rodents hurled themselves at the two young. Arsec swiftly slashed them away with his spear. Mesui reflexively readied another arrow and shot it at a fourth with it.

"Move, damn rats!" She roared, as she took another shot at another one charging at her. "Winds! Carve a path for me!"

Arsec closely followed Mesui's attacks, dispatching another two rodentmen by throwing a third at them. Five mobbed him and jumped on top of him, as Mesui's eyes fixated on the giant monster, each passing moment less visible due to the dark.

"P-princess!" Arsec called, as he threw one of the rodents only to be jumped by the rest of the group.

Mesui finished off one coming at her, but she still sought to give chase to Voidmaw.

"Mesui!"

The goblin snapped out of her desperation and looked back, seeing Arsec brushing off the attackers but being unable to land definitive hits on them due to their sheer number. Mesui glanced back to the steppe, looking for Voidmaw, then again at Arsec just as he kicked a rodent away, sending him flying into the tall grass.

She closed her eyes, breathed in, and shot a rodent on top of Arsec, who looked at her distraught.

"Hey!" he yelled.

The princess aimed another shot at fired, then another, and another.

Four rodents fell to her arrows, Arsec quivering behind his arms as he covered his face from the relentless volley. However, it worked, with the rodents jumping off him to deal with the goblin. Arsec took one by the arm, annoyed, and tossed him to the air, following with a punch at another's face, whose beastly face broke, teeth flying out, and the sound of its skull cracking. 

Mesui shot one that was already meters away right in the throat but could not prevent one from tackling her just as Arsec finished all enemies on his end.

"Mesui!" he called, desperate, as his friend rolled with that rodent down the slope. He rushed down while searching for her in the dark. The grass made it impossible to search everywhere, as the young man looked and looked.

A shadowy figure rose at a short distance, and Arsec calmed down as he noticed Mesui's long fiery hair so characteristic in her silhouette. However, Mesui went down again, raising and lowering her fist as if hitting something repeatedly. When Arsec drew closer, he found the goblin princess stabbing the already dead rodentman with a hunting knife repeatedly.

Arsec stood there for a few moments until he grew concerned enough for his friend's mental stability. He simply caught the hand holding the knife in midair. Mesui looked at him furious, but he remained stoic and resolute.

Mesui tried to force her hand down, but it only trembled as Arsec's newfound strength was too much. Nevertheless, she struggled for a few seconds while looking at the young man fiercely. She even let out a scream of desperation.

"All right, all right!" she yelled, "let me go!"

Arsec released the hand, and Mesui grunted and recoiled. However, the princess soon looked at her hands in the dark, feeling slimy and wet, then felt that same liquid in her face and bare belly. The sensation and sudden realization of what she had done as she noticed the rodent's pierced chest by numerous stabs widened her eyes. Tears flooded, and she recoiled further, scared of the violence she had surrendered to. She remained sitting with her knees drawn up, her face concealed within as she cried.

"What... what have I done?" she said, dropping the knife.

Arsec sighed, sitting by his friend's side.

"It's okay, it's over..." he said, bumping his shoulder against hers.

"Father... what have I done?" Mesui wept, "They took him, and I couldn't save him!"

Arsec's eyes looked upward, sighing once again. He reached with his arm and pulled Mesui to his side.

"I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere," Arsec said, patting Mesui.

Tears streamed down Mesui's face, a torrent of sorrow that carried with it the weight of a thousand burdens. With each sob, she released the pent-up frustrations that had long festered within her, the anguish erupting in a tumultuous outpouring of despair.

Arsec looked into the vast darkness of the night, spotting only what the moonlight could highlight. Voidmaw's shape was nowhere to be seen, nor were the prisoners.

With unwavering resolve, he fixed his gaze upon the moon, his heart brimming with determination, fortified by the newfound strength pulsating within him.

The two remained there until Mesui finally gave in to exhaustion, and she leaned on Arsec's legs to sleep.