Dorm let out a yawn as he remembered the party that he had attended the last night. It was an extravagant one held by the goblin tribe of Krav. There was an event where chiefs of each of the goblin tribes met annually to share news about events on their sides. He didn't want to go, but as a chief and as the warrior that went on an adventure around the world, he needed to attend to trade very important information.
"Hey Chief! What's with the yawn? Didn't get enough sleep?"
The one who asked this was a young goblin Dorm treated like his son. He had taught him a lot about fighting and survival skills needed and the young goblin looked up to him like a father. People who didn't know that Dorm had married a human woman sometimes thought that they were a father and son pair. (They knew him to act more like a human than a goblin)
"Of course he didn't. Did you see all those human women they had?"
"I know right. Who would sleep when there was an all you can eat buffet there?"
Those who were talking were the goblin escorts Dorm had been told to take with him. His people wouldn't want anything to happen to their strongest warrior, so he just shrugged and let them come with.
"Hey you two, get your heads out of the clouds."
Dorm warned them and they stiffened up. It was common knowledge in the village of Ooo that Dorm did not appreciate the common goblin action of kidnapping girls for sexual relief and reproduction. He believed that if they wanted to mate with the girls they should ask them. This was all due to the influence of travelling the world and witnessing what happened to his brethren who had committed such atrocities. He wanted to completely purge the actions from the blood of his brethren before they died.
And to make a point, he married a human woman who gave her consent. And using his power as chief, he released all the slaves his village had been hording. At first the males wanted to riot but it quieted down after Dorm showed an overwhelming difference in strength.
"That said, I can't wait to go back home. I'm sure Eren is waiting for me."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtDorm stretched while mentioning the name of his wife. He really missed her, although it had been only a few days since he had left her.
"Hey, chief?"
"Yeah?"
"What's that smell? Did a fire happen somewhere?"
Dorm looked at the youngster who had been sniffing the air.
"Well it did rain last night, lightning must have set a tree on fire."
He reasoned, but the youngster didn't take that for an answer.
"No. It smells more like traces of fire magic. A huge use of fire magic! Like big boom!"
"Fire magic? And on a large scale?"
Dorm's expression turned grim. He knew that the youngster's nose had the ability to sniff out magic and it was never wrong. If he said it was fire magic on a large scale, it meant actual fire magic on a large scale.
"Where?"
The goblin pointed in a direction near the village. Dorm's face tightened, then he picked up the youngster.
"W-woah!!?"
"You two! Head back to the village and make sure everything is alright. I'm going to investigate this."
He then dashed off towards the direction the youngster pointed. It didn't take long for him to reach the massive field, filled with scorched trees and an ash covered land. He dropped the young goblin and begun looking around. There wasn't much to see all except for one tree that had been left unscathed, and at the bottom of the tree, was a corpse. A human corpse, with a silver locket around its neck.
He could tell that it was Erens and tears came to his eyes.
The youngster stood up, scratching his head.
"Ugh chief, you re-"
He was about to complain but saw the chief had a sad expression filled with tears, so he kept quiet.
"Eren?"
His eyes fell on the chief's lover and he instantly realized why the chief was so sad. Why wouldn't he be? Lying there was the body of his lover, covered with blood and open wounds. From the looks of things she had died due to a loss of blood. He could tell from the lack of magical energy he smelt from her, that she was already dead. He was sure the chief also knew, so he just kept quiet.
Dorm steadily walked towards the body, tears streaming down his face. He was just hoping that he was mistaken.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe has to be alive, right? She was always the stronger one. No one could ever beat her. The Feisty Dragon, they called her.
Such thoughts begun to fill his head.
He grabbed the cold hands of his deceased lover. Her face had a gentle smile on it and he could only smile back at it.
What had happened? Had he been here maybe he could have done something.
Those were his thoughts on the matter. Until suddenly, a spirit emerged from the tree his wife had been resting on.
Dorm stumbled a bit. He knew that the spirits did not like the goblins because they were too barbaric. He had even heard of incidents where spirits actually manifested themselves just to kill the goblins, but those were very rare.
"Fear not, husband of this dead one, for I am not here to fight. I wish to relay some information to you."
Dorm could only gulp. She wanted to just talk?
"First, that woman successfully birthed a female child through fire and brimstone. She was a very strong woman loved by the spirits."
"...She... gave birth to the child? I wasn't here for that! So why is she dead? Where's the child!? What happened here!?"
The spirit raised her hand to silence him
"I will have you know that I see no purpose in talking to an evolved goblin such as yourself about this, least of all the chief of those imbeciles. I just felt obligated to at least let you know that the child is safe. You should ask your people about the rest. Farewell."
And with that, the spirit disappeared.
"My… people?"
He was silent at first because of the shock from the incident that had just taken place, but when he started to think again he was filled to the brim with rage.