Tyberius and Rhoda made their way down the gentle hill, heading toward the settlement nestled in the clearing below.
All the while, Rhoda kept pestering him, asking questions he considered meaningless, pointless, and downright annoying.
As they reached the bottom of the hill and neared the edge of the clearing, a blood-curdling scream tore through the woods. It echoed like a haunting cry for help, sharp and urgent.
They both froze, eyes wide.
Then, without a word, Rhoda darted forward.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Tyberius cursed, taking off after her as fast as his small goblin legs could carry him. "Not again!"
He burst into the clearing and what he saw made his blood boil.
The settlement was under attack.
Again.
Human adventurers.
Steel flashed. Swords sliced through air and flesh. Goblin screams filled the forest as red blood soaked the ground.
Chaos.
Panic.
Goblins ran in every direction, trying to escape. There was no order, no protection, no community, only survival. No one helped each other. No parent shielded their child. No friend reached for another.
It was every goblin for himself.
"Repulsive..." Tyberius muttered, his fists clenched.
It wasn't his first time seeing this. Not his second. Not even his third.
This had become routine.
Get hunted by humans. Run. Hide. Start over somewhere else. Then repeat.
Over and over again.
He was sick of it.
No matter how many times they rebuilt, the humans came. No matter how far they ran, they were found. No matter how many died, nothing changed.
And worst of all… There was nothing they could do to stop it.
The strength difference between goblins and humans was simply too vast. Goblins had small bodies, weak vitality, and fewer numbers. Humans were faster, stronger, and more organised. It wasn't even a fight, it was a slaughter.
...
"What about evolution?!" Tyberius asked sharply.
The scene shifted.
They were in the elders' hut, a dark and cramped space lit by faint firelight. Around him sat the other goblin younglings, all wide-eyed and silent. At the head of the room sat Gaius, the oldest goblin in the tribe.
Ty's voice echoed with urgency.
"Unlike humans, we monsters can evolve, can't we? If we can evolve… then surely, we can stand against them someday! Can't we?!"
Gaius raised a brow, looking at the young goblin with interest.
He was ancient, his saggy green skin hung from brittle bones, and wisps of white hair clung to his scalp like dying roots. But despite his appearance, Gaius had survived beyond the age of twenty, more than a miracle for a goblin.
Most didn't even make it to fifteen.
"Evolution..." the old goblin muttered, voice raspy. "Yes, a wondrous gift from nature... but not an easy one to attain."
He leaned forward slowly, his voice lowering to a solemn tone.
"Monsters like us are indeed capable of evolution. Orcs evolve into High Orcs. High Orcs into something even more powerful. Goblins... we evolve into Hobgoblins, stronger bodies, sharper instincts, strength that rivals humans."
Tyberius's eyes lit up. Hope flickered.
"But," Gaius continued, "it's not that simple."
He raised a crooked finger.
"To evolve, a monster must fulfil certain conditions. Trials. Requirements. Pain."
There was a heavy pause.
"We call it the Cataclysmic Effect, the moment a monster meets all the criteria for evolution to begin."
The fire crackled in the silence.
"But let it be known... the Cataclysmic Effect is rare. Almost mythical. Most monsters live and die without ever coming close."
Ty leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Is there anything at all, anything you can tell us about it? How to trigger it? Signs? Patterns?"
He couldn't let himself remain ignorant. He wasn't just a monster. He had memories, knowledge, thoughts that superceded what a goblin has, intelligence from the life he lived as a human on Earth.
Gaius narrowed his eyes.
"Curious little one…" he murmured. "You're not like the rest."
He studied Tyberius closely, then finally nodded.
"There is one thing..."
All the goblin children sat straighter. Even though they didn't understand much of what was being said, they paid attention nonetheless.
"The Call," Gaius said.
Tyberius blinked. "The call?"
"There are beings in this world," Gaius said slowly, "who can hear the voice of the world itself."
He paused again, letting the gravity of his words sink in.
"Those who hear the voice… they are no longer mere creatures. They become vessels of the world. Their every action can shift the fate of reality."
Gaius's eyes glowed faintly in the dim light.
"We call them Beyonders. Practitioners of powers far beyond what we, what anyone ordinary could ever hope to wield."
Tyberius's breath caught in his throat.
Beyonders?
"Their evolution isn't just physical," Gaius added. "It is spiritual, divine. If a monster hears the Call… if they awaken as a Beyonder… their chances of achieving a Cataclysmic Effect multiply several-fold."
Tyberius's eyes flinched with hope.
Gaius stood suddenly, groaning as his old bones cracked.
However, his hope was shut down as quickly as it had awakened.
His voice turned wild, almost unhinged.
"But alas, young ones… it is impossible for us monsters to hear the voice of the world!"
He flung his arms wide, cackling like a mad prophet.
"For we are abandoned by the world! Doomed to serve! Cursed to crawl to the humans and the other race! For we young ones..." his eyes trailed over to Tyberius, cold, "we are the Forgotten Kin!"
The room grew silent.
"And so I say again…" Gaius's voice dropped to a dark whisper, eyes boring into Tyberius's, "Never expect to hear the Call of the world... for it will never come."
---
Tyberius stared at the massacre before him.
His people... his tribe... his home, reduced to screams and dying cries.
The humans showed no mercy. Not a flicker of hesitation. Their blades swung without pause, without guilt.
And for the first time in his life… Tyberius was furious.
Boiling rage surged through him, rage he couldn't use. He had no power, no strength, no means of retaliation to act on his rage.
He was, after all, just... a goblin.
Helpless.
Weak.
But then, something shifted.
The world around him paused. His vision blurred. A strange warmth swelled in his chest.
And in the silence that followed…
A voice spoke.
[You have awakened...]
[Beyonder potential unlocked...]
AN;
... = making a reference to a past event, a recollection brought to the present
--- = shifting to a new scene, or event, but still related to the present or another character's point of view
[ ] = connoting the voice of the world
' = Expressing what the character is thinking
" = Used when characters are having conversations
That is all that needs to be known for now.