Chapter 25 One a proud, weakened warrior, and the other, a frightened, clumsy goblin.

But a soft sound caught my ear as I stepped toward the cave entrance, ready to guard us with the rapier that felt so wrong in my hands. It was faint, barely noticeable, like a gentle purr. My heart stopped, and I spun around, eyes wide with shock and hope. There, on the patch of moss, Lyn’s tiny cat form stirred. Her little paws twitched, her ears flicking as if waking from a long, deep sleep.

I rushed to her side, my knees hitting the ground beside her with a thud.

 "Lyn? Lyn, are you awake?" 

My voice trembled with desperation, the fear still gnawing at me. Her golden eyes - those mischievous, glowing eyes I had come to admire - fluttered open. They looked hazy at first, unfocused. But then recognition crept into her gaze, and with it, a faint but familiar smirk curled at the corners of her feline mouth.

“You got me inside? You... didn’t leave me. Not... bad for a goblin,” she murmured weakly, her voice barely a whisper but still carrying that teasing, sarcastic tone that made my heart flutter. Even now, in her shrunken, helpless state, she was still Lyn. Still so... magnificent.

Tears welled up in my eyes, hot and stinging, threatening to spill over. I quickly wiped them away with the back of my dirty hand, trying to act as though they weren't there. 

"Y-You're okay? Will you be alright?" I gasped, my relief overwhelming the tightness in my chest.

Lyn let out a soft purr, curling her small body slightly on the moss. 

“Just... give me a little more time. I’ll be back to my old self soon. And don’t get any ideas, Little Green. I’m still the boss here,” she added with a faint but playful edge in her voice.

I let out a shaky, nervous laugh, half from relief and half from the joy of seeing her cheeky attitude hadn’t gone anywhere. Despite everything, she was still Lyn - strong, full of life, and somehow always in control, even when she wasn’t.

As she closed her eyes again, drifting back into a deep, restful sleep, I crawled back toward the entrance of the cave. My heart was pounding, but for the first time in what felt like forever, it wasn’t just from fear. It was from hope. Lyn was going to be alright. She just needed time to recover.

I stood there for a moment, clutching her rapier in my trembling hands. The cold steel felt foreign, almost alive in my grip, a tool meant for violence that I had never wanted to touch. My arms quivered as I pointed it toward the small cave entrance, ready to defend us, though I had no idea what I would do if danger actually showed up.

I waited, my ears twitching at every sound, my mind racing with horrific thoughts of what could be lurking out there in the dark forest. The stench of the Flesh Golem’s remains might draw predators, and Lyn wasn’t in any condition to fight them off. I’m all that stands between her and whatever might come next, I thought, the weight of that reality nearly crushing me. A pathetic goblin like me - holding a weapon - trying to protect someone like her. It was almost laughable.

But being the wretched goblin I was, I soon failed even at this. 

As I sat there, clutching the weapon and staring out beyond the cave, I noticed the rain. At first, it was just a soft patter on the leaves, but then it grew, heavier and louder as if the sky itself had decided to open up and pour its heart out. The sound of the rain beating against the forest floor was deafening. It drowned out all other noises, making it impossible to hear anything lurking in the woods.

Exhaustion weighed heavily on me, my body still weak from the panic of everything that had happened. I should’ve been afraid. I was afraid. But the rain, in its relentless rhythm, began to lull me. The cold, wet air seeped into the cave, brushing against my skin, and the scent of damp earth filled my nose. I shivered, but not just from the cold.

 I tried to stay alert, to keep my focus on the cave entrance, but the sound of the rain was like a soft lullaby, and my eyelids grew heavier and heavier with each passing minute. Every few seconds, I glanced back at Lyn, still curled up on the moss, her tiny form glowing faintly in the dim light from the glow mushrooms.

My eyes started to droop, fighting against the pull of sleep, but it was no use. Slowly, without even realizing it, I slumped against the cave wall. The rapier, once held in my trembling hands, gently slid to the ground with a soft clatter, now resting beside me.

Before I knew it, my thumb had found its way into my mouth, instinctively, like when I was a goblin hatchling. I curled in on myself, trying to find some sense of comfort. A miserable whimper escaped my lips as sleep overtook me. My last thoughts were of Lyn, hoping with every ounce of my tiny goblin heart that she would be alright.

And then... darkness.

The rain pounded on, a steady, unceasing rhythm, as the two of us slept. One a proud, weakened warrior, and the other, a frightened, clumsy goblin.

I don’t know how long I had been asleep, but suddenly I felt something - a touch, gentle and firm, shaking me from my slumber. My body stirred, but in the fog of sleep, my mind didn’t understand what was happening. The instinct of a cowardly goblin kicked in before logic could take over. Panic surged through me, and, being the cowardly goblin I was, I did the only thing I knew how to do: freak out.

With a squeal that sounded more like a piglet than anything brave, I convulsed. My limbs flailed in every direction as if my body was trying to swat away whatever nightmare had dared to disturb me. My head swung side to side wildly, my big, floppy ears slapping against my face with each desperate turn. I hissed and squeaked, convinced I was under attack. The wet smack of my ears against my cheeks only made me panic more, and my half-asleep goblin brain concluded that I was being beaten - perhaps by some unseen monster that had snuck up on me in the dark.

"Oh no! They got me! I'm being slapped to death!" I shrieked, my eyes still squeezed shut in a blind panic.

I thrashed in my spot, heart racing until suddenly I heard a sound that stopped everything.

It was a laugh. Soft and familiar, but unmistakable. Lyn’s laugh.

I froze mid-flail, one arm stuck awkwardly in the air, a leg kicked out to the side, and my tongue hanging out like a dumb dog. My brain snapped out of its sleep-induced terror. The haze of confusion lifted, and I remembered everything - the cave, the rain, and most importantly, Lyn. Slowly, clarity came back to me. I wasn’t being attacked at all. The only thing hitting me was my own ears.

I blinked rapidly, my vision sharpening as I focused on the figure crouched beside me. It was Lyn, her golden eyes glinting with amusement, her face - now back to its humanoid, cat-girl form - lit up with a teasing smile.

"Good evening, my guardian angel," she purred, still chuckling softly. 

"Quite the sleeper, aren't you? I see you were having a wrestling match with yourself. Honestly, it was quite a show. You’ve got some moves, Little Green. A one-goblin slap-fight, by the looks of it."

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out at first. Panic surged through me again, but this time, it wasn’t because I was scared for my life. It was because I felt stupid.

I had fallen asleep. I had been guarding the cave. Guarding her while she recovered, and I had failed miserably. I felt heat rise to my face - whether from embarrassment or guilt, I wasn’t sure. The whole point of me staying awake was to protect her, and instead, I had curled up like a pathetic whelp and fallen asleep, sucking my thumb no less!

"I-I’m sorry!" I squeaked out, scrambling to my feet in such a rush that I tripped over my toes and stumbled right into the cave wall. The impact sent a dull thud through my body, and I winced in pain, rubbing my forehead.

Lyn leaned back, smirking as she tilted her head, watching me with that same playful, almost mocking, glint in her eyes. 

"Oh, don’t beat yourself up. Literally, I mean." She pointed to my ears, her smile widening.

 "You did enough of that in your sleep. Seriously, you were giving yourself quite the smackdown."

I could feel my face burning hotter now, probably the brightest shade of green any goblin had ever turned. I fumbled over my words, "I... uh... I w-was supposed to be watching the cave, protecting you, but... I... I fell asleep." 

My voice wavered as I spoke, and I could barely look her in the eyes. Lyn waved her hand dismissively as if my failure didn’t bother her in the slightest.

 "Relax, Hermit. You got me inside, didn’t you? That was enough." 

She stretched her arms above her head, her muscles visibly more relaxed than before. 

"I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to fight anything else right away. A nap was probably what we both needed. Besides, we are in cat people territory now, there are far fewer monsters around. There was no actual treat anyway. We hunt often around these parts so there are less of monsters in this part of the forest."

Her words should have reassured me, but instead, I felt even more foolish. I wanted to protect her, to be useful, but here I was - a bumbling fool who couldn’t even stay awake.

"Even so, I... I was supposed to guard the entrance," I mumbled, staring down at the ground, my feet digging into the dirt. 

"But I... I messed up. Again."

Lyn’s laughter rang out again, but this time it was softer, almost... kind. She reached out and flicked me gently on the nose.

 "You’re too hard on yourself, Little Green. We all mess up. You’re still standing, aren’t you? And so am I. So it’s fine."

I stared at her in disbelief. Fine? She was so... forgiving. I had never known anyone as powerful and beautiful as Lyn, to just... brush off a mistake like that. In the breeding farms, any slip-up was met with pain and punishment - sometimes worse. The fact that she wasn’t angry only made me feel more bewildered.

"But... but I fell asleep," I stammered again, my mind still struggling to process how she wasn’t upset.

"And now you’re awake," she replied smoothly.

"We both are. So stop moping and come sit down before you trip over your feet again."

I hesitated for a moment, glancing toward the cave entrance, feeling the guilt still gnawing at my insides. But Lyn’s golden eyes were locked onto me, and the way she looked at me - calm, patient, even playful - made it impossible to argue. Slowly, I shuffled back over to her and plopped down onto the moss.

Lyn let out a soft sigh, her body still recovering from the transformation and the battle before. 

"Look," she said after a moment, her voice lower now, almost thoughtful, "you did good, Hermit. You brought me here, you got me some water... more than most goblins would’ve done. You may not be the best guard, but you’ve got a good heart."

Her words sent a strange warmth through me. A feeling of something I had never experienced before: pride.

I gave Lyn a grateful look, my thumb still hovering near my mouth out of habit, but I stopped myself before I embarrassed myself again. 

“Thanks, Lyn. For... y’know, not laughing too hard at me.”

"You're welcome, Little Green."

"Now," she added, her voice back to its teasing, playful tone, "let’s try and get through the night without any more self-punishment, okay? I don’t need you knocking yourself out before we even get to the village. It's dark time already so we might as well spend the night here and leave in the morning. To pass some time we can talk a bit if you like."

I nodded quickly, still feeling like a fool but also filled with an odd sense of happiness. Even if I wasn’t the strongest or smartest, Lyn didn’t seem to care. For the first time in my life, someone saw more in me than just a weak, cowardly goblin.

And that made me want to try even harder for her.