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Your forehead, your right hand, your left leg, your torso, and your left ankle were burning hot. Your belly was aching in a way that you hadn't felt in a thousand years, and then the pain came in waves that shot straight up into your heart. Your ears rang with a high-pitched whine, and the sound of the goblins crunching shells filled your head.



Your eyelids were heavy, almost lost from the pain, and you turned your head to the right so that they could have a break from the lights above. There, above you, a man in a long blue robe was casting a spell. In your barely coherent state, you noticed that the position of the stars in the window behind him should be doing great things for his magical energies, but he seemed to be using a lot of green fire instead of green energy. It helped you to realise that you must be in the tower of the wizard.



Slowly, you tried to piece together the memories of the last few hours. Your mind was fuzzy, but you knew that you lived in the small village down by the river. You had memories of squirreling away some of your treasure before the goblins arrived, and you vaguely remembered setting fire to some of your non-essential treasures. The memories were clear, but they were all taking too long to make sense.



"They're coming back!"



A young boy had run into the room, his voice cracking through the doorway with the screeching of the goblin gate. "They're back! They're back!"



It was strange, but you couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange. Getting off the floor, you made your way to the door, where you could see several goblins with torches running across the floor. They ran past you without stopping, but you could hear them yelling.



"They're not here anymore! We're back to looking for more coins!"



Just outside, there were half a dozen goblins, but near them was one that looked quite strange. It was about the same size as you, with a strange red hat on its head, and big raspberry-striped pants with a long coat and a skirt made out of fine green fabric. Underneath the coat, it had a strange green and grey body and strange purple hair. Despite how strange it looked, it was with the group of goblins, and you could see it pointing at you.



"There he is!"



Not taking any chances, you jumped out of the doorway and into the next room. The pain was like fire now, and you had to stop for a moment to let it subside. Looking about, you could see six goblins with torches running towards you. Every fibre of your being was telling you to run, but you remembered how the goblins had come to your house. The bodies of your neighbours were probably at the centre of where the goblins were working.



"We found him!"



Standing up, you knew you had to at least try to defend yourself. The goblin mob was approaching the staircase, but you were in the centre of the tower. You looked around, but everything was strangely at peace. There was even a bird perched in the window behind you. You stepped up to the window, which seemed larger than it should be, and you started to move over to where the bird was. You looked out from the window, only to find that the bird had been a little man. He had been sitting on a very large turtle, and you wonder if they could help you.



"They'll get me through the window," the turtle said to you.



You'd startle a bit, due to the big surprise, but you knew that the turtle was talking. It could have been fate, or the fact that the bird had sat on your shoulder, but either way, you opened the window and let the turtle enter.



"I would prefer that you get on my back," it said.



You jumped up on the back of the turtle, and it started to swim through the air.



"The bird's coming with us."



"We'll go faster if he doesn't."



"I know. That what makes it exciting."



You would smile at the turtle, but the pain in your heart felt like a blade. The turtle turned a corner, and you could see a goblin with a spear standing on a balcony. It seemed he had seen you, and he was actively trying to stop the turtle.



"Halt!"



A bolt of flint-grey energy shot through the air and hit the turtle, but it kept swimming. The bird started to attack the goblin, and the turtle swam faster.



"If you want to come with us, we're going to need to stop."



You agreed with the turtle, and you could see it gliding back to the ground. There was a wooden hatch on the side of the tower, and you climbed down as quickly as you could. You felt the water of the river, and the frog paddled off. The door on the other side of the room put on a show of being locked, and the bird flew through the keyhole and opened the door. The goblin had blocked the inside of the door, and you were free to run on.



The village was alive. There were people out, but no marauding goblin army. It was almost like the battle never happened, but you knew that there were bodies left behind. Green vines climbed our walls, but no one was worrying about climbing your walls.



You stood up, but your legs were wobbly, and you sat down right before you hit the ground. The bird flew over to you.



"Your health is low."



You lay face down on the ground, slowly accepting death. You have served the wizard faithfully for almost a hundred years, and you are the only one that knows the location of the prophecy. The wizard will not be happy if he has to pay the goblins.


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