Lucian stepped out of the manor, the cool air hitting his face and doing little to calm the adrenaline coursing through him. The stable was to the left, a large, musty structure that smelled of old hay and manure. He didn't have time for a groom. He unlatched the door and stepped inside, the gloom pierced by slits of light from the rafters.
Several horses shifted in their stalls, their ears swiveling toward the intruder. One massive black stallion kicked the wooden partition, baring its teeth. Lucian ignored it. He needed an animal that wouldn't bolt the moment he tried to climb on. He walked down the line, his eyes scanning.
"Too high-strung," he muttered, watching a chestnut mare back away. "Too old."
He stopped at the end of the row. A stocky, dun-colored gelding stood there, chewing on a mouthful of dry grass. It watched him with lazy, half-closed eyes, utterly unimpressed by the sweat-soaked noble standing before it. Lucian grunted.
"You. You look lazy enough to tolerate me."
He grabbed a saddle from the wall, his arms straining under the weight. It took him five minutes to figure out the buckles, his fingers fumbling with the unfamiliar leather. He threw it over the horse's back and hauled himself up, his breath catching in his throat. The ground seemed miles away.
The horse didn't move.
"Right," Lucian said, gripping the reins. "Forward."
He kicked his heels into the animal's sides. Nothing. The gelding just flicked an ear. Lucian frowned, frustration mounting. He kicked again, harder, and yanked the reins to the right. The horse snorted, annoyed, but finally took a step.
It wasn't graceful. Every time the horse moved, Lucian felt like he was about to slide right off the side. He didn't know how to post, didn't know how to balance. He just clamped his knees and leaned forward, reading the map he had tucked into his belt. The mine was marked with a crude 'X' perhaps two miles north.
"Okay," Lucian gritted out, smacking the horse's flank with the flat of his hand. "Move."
The gelding broke into a shuffling trot, the jarring motion rattling Lucian's teeth. He held on for dear life, looking less like a lord charging to battle and more like a sack of potatoes tied to a goat. But they were moving. They moved out of the estate grounds, onto the dirt road leading north.
"Close enough," he told himself, his knuckles white on the reins. "Just get me there."
Lucian's horse slowed to a halt as the stench of iron and wet dirt hit him. The mine's entrance gaped a disordered tangle of beams and rubble. About a dozen men huddled near the tree line. Some clutched bleeding arms; others just stared at the blocked opening with hollow eyes. When Lucian rode into view, a ripple of hope went through them. It died the instant they saw his face.
Lucian swung his leg over the saddle and hit the ground with a heavy thud. The mud sucked at his boots. He scanned the group.
"Who's in charge here?" he asked.
A man stepped away from the rock he was leaning against. He wore a leather cuirass and had a short sword belted at his hip. His face was streaked with soot.
"I am, my lord," the man said, his voice tight. "Foreman Carl. The tunnels... they collapsed in the lower shaft. Goblins poured out of the cracks. Seven of my men are still down there."
"And the goblins?" Lucian asked, his eyes fixed on the pile of rocks sealing the entrance.
"Still inside. We heard them screaming a minute ago. Silence now." Carl looked past Lucian toward the road. "How many guards did you bring? Another squad?"
"Just me," Lucian said.
The silence that followed was heavy. Carl blinked, his mouth opening slightly. "My lord? You can't go in there. It's a death trap. The ceiling is unstable, and there are at least twenty of those things."
Lucian didn't answer. He turned and headed straight for the entrance, boots sinking into the mud with wet, sucking sounds. The men flinched as he shoved past them. He reached the rockfall, grabbed a loose, jagged stone, and wrenched it free. It scraped across the ground with a shriek of stone on stone.
"Stop!" Carl shouted, lunging forward and grabbing Lucian's shoulder. "You'll get yourself killed!"
Lucian twisted out of his grip with surprising force. "That's the point, stupid," he snapped, not even bothering to look back.
He forced himself through the gap he'd made, granite biting into his shoulders, tearing at the fabric of his tunic. Then the light vanished, swallowed by the tunnel's throat, and so did he.
Carl stood frozen, his hand still hanging in the air. The miners stared at one another, fear and disbelief twisting their faces. None of them moved.
None of them followed the fat noble into the dark.
Lucian moved deeper into the tunnel, the light from the entrance shrinking until it was just a sliver of gray behind him. The air grew cold and damp. His breath came out in ragged white puffs, loud in the enclosed space. He placed a hand against the rough stone wall to steady himself, feeling the vibration of shifting earth beneath his fingertips.
"Are you watching this?" Lucian whispered, "I'm walking into a nest of goblins. I'm unarmed, unarmored, and I have the physical fitness of a beached whale. In five or so minutes, I'm going to be dead."
He paused, listening to the absolute silence of the cave.
"Here is my theory," he continued, speaking to the empty air. "You went through a lot of trouble to shove me into this body. You gave me a skill called Rebirth. That implies I'm meant to do something. I'm your investment. So, if I die right now, what does that mean for you? Cause it don't mean much to me!"
Lucian took another step. A faint skittering sound echoed from the darkness ahead. He ignored it.
"I'm holding myself hostage," he said, his tone conversational. "Either you tell me what the 'Rebirth' skill actually does or I walk straight into the jaws of whatever is waiting for me down here. If I die, I die. But you? You'll be back at square one, don't you?. Who knows what it cost to bring someone here."
A faint blue light flickered in his peripheral vision. The text hovered in the air, stark and unfeeling.
[You are bluffing.]
"I'm not," Lucian said instantly. "I have nothing to lose. This body is a burden. Death is a vacation compared to living like this without answers."
[The Rebirth skill is….]
"Oh, don't be shy now. I know I can't beat those goblins, I might die at any moment, maybe there is one behind that corner even." Lucian shot back, his grip tightening on nothingness. "You need me alive, right? You need me to evolve. So, give me the tools for it."
[Hostile entities detected. Distance: 30 meters.]
That new.