I don't know what I could have done other than just appear out of nowhere in the goblin alley. I read that since goblins have once been considered monsters, or creatures of the earth at some point, they feel a special connection with the world around them that tells them something is wrong. Do I have that connection? Probably not. I'm not a real goblin. I don't have special characteristics like them. Only their basics. Their strength. Their speed and power. Their general features. But no home. No clan. No family. No origin. I come from nothing. If anything, I'm strange. I should have died in that forest peacefully. I shouldn't have come here if I was going to change so much in the past few months I've been here. I have to get to that alley and fix this somehow.... But how?
I lose my trail of thought the moment I reach the entrance of goblin alley. It suddenly felt menacing. I could see a black smoke fill the place like a barrier. Something was obviously wrong here. I walk into the cloud barely able to see. Everything was the same though. The goblins were going through their normal lives, but it felt wrong.
It wasn't like when I first saw everything. The families were shouting at each other and the children weren't playing but fighting. The air was sinister. Just as a goblin alley should be in most cliques. I almost thought I was back at my old neighborhood from my old world. I didn't notice earlier because I was used to seeing this way too often to the point where it was normal to me.
I walk farther in with a heavy sinking feeling suffocating me. No one was paying me any mind at all. There was no one watching. No one will notice you unless you are caught in something to make them hate you. That's how it is here. And the cloud tells me it shouldn't be.
I enter the inn and find it deserted. No one was going through it anymore.
"If one seeks keepers," a voice calls to me. I turn around and find an odd looking goblin with scary eyes looking at me. For some reason the cloud seemed to be avoiding him. "They be home through that place." He points to the space between the buildings next to the inn.
I had to take a better look at this goblin. I was amazed with how similar we looked. The only difference was his skin was darker than mine and his nose was more define and profound. His mouth was shaped funny, making it seem like he was smiling. Not like the other goblins. He sent chills down my spine but not in a bad way.
"... Thank you." I tell him. This time he does smile. Now I'm scared.
"You are welcome, miss golem." Correction. I am really scared. I can't think of this guy right now. I walk in the direction he points me and follow the path through. It didn't take me long to find out where they lived. I saw Rolba standing outside against the wall mumbling to himself and shaking his head occasionally. The cloud wasn't on him either, but it was getting there.
"... Rolba." I call shyly. He looks to me and his face went from irritation to shock when he sees me. He quickly looks to the door of his home then to the window and darts straight for me and we hide in a dark corner.
"Why Tessa come!? How Tessa find Rolba!? Where Toba!?" He panics.
"Whoa! Easy! I came because... Because I... I want to know something."
"... Know... something...?" He repeats to me in human. He was trying to learn. "....!! No! Tessa not come here. Tessa dies if stays. Stay and Starling destroy you. Make you golem clay again. Rolba must not have. Tessa kind. Tessa is good. Rolba knows Tessa good. Tessa must go back before hurt."
"I don't mind." I tell him. "I want to know what is wrong with Starling. Since I've come here, she's always been hostile to me. Toba told me she wasn't like this before, so her original reaction was odd to you, wasn't it? That's why you helped me before. And told me everything you understood. Am I right?"
"... Yes. Starling is pure heart. Would never argue if she knew things were helpful. Starling tell Rolba of worries. Tell of happy times. Never fights unless threatened. Rolba asked if Tessa threat but..."
"She wouldn't give you a straight answer." He looks at me with the saddest expression I've ever seen, then shakes his head and bows in regret. "... When did this all start? Around the time I came?"
"... No. Starling become harsh to other beings before. Chasing humans and beast kin from inn if found bad news of them. Starling not taken kindly to others with blood on body before, but not to Tessa extent. Before Tessa... Another came in blood sent. A faral with large eyes meant for darkness. Came with human intellect like Tessa but less advanced. This faral scared Starling and others somehow and was chased out. Returned one day with dieing goblin child at our door. Saying strange things in scary tone to it. Then left child at our door and not return since. Tessa... Tessa look like this goblin but not act like this one. Since gone, the alley filled with more fear. More hate for outsiders..."
... It sounds like this place is in a state of paranoia. What is actually happening? I remember seeing that same goblin. He told me where to find these two. Yeah, something didn't seem right about him but that didn't mean he was a bad enough person to chase out was it? "Why did everyone chase him out?"
"The things he would say. He speak human language well like Tessa but like sailor human. What he say make Starling panic. And... He not just smell of blood. He smell of corpses. Death smell is often omen to goblin. Means chaos runs rapid. Some goblins sensitive to loss of balance in some places. Goblin will act strange if not stable. That one threw balance off for sensitive ones like Starling."
"... What was he saying to make everyone go crazy?"
"..." He leans into my ear. "... It was an odd way of speaking. But Rolba remember words in same way spoken." What he does next surprises me. He starts singing to me a very eerie song I've never heard before.
"Don't ever laugh as a hearse goes by
For you may be the next to die
They wrap you up in bloody sheets
To drop you six feet underneath..."
When he pulls back he notices my face of horror and surprise. He sang that whole thing in the human language with no hesitation. Now I see why Starling is freaking out.
"... Do you know what that means?" I ask him nervously. His innocent expression of sadness told me 'no'.
"...no. But words are reason Rolba wish to know human language." He looks away from me in shame. He can learn through song. This confirmed that I can teach them the way I wanted to but the song was indeed ominous.
"... Do you know what you just did?"
"... No." He looks scared to know but this isn't a bad thing he did.
"You did exactly what I wanted to show you." I say. I can't help but smile at him. I was smiling for myself though. I really can fix this. "And you just gave me a way to fix this problem."
He brightens up when I say this. "How? How fix?"
"Shh! ... What you just did was called singing. Its a way to amplify your voice and sends it as a type of wave that makes the body act in strange ways. I'm going to do that to get everyone's attention and fix this issue."
"No! Don't say words out there!"
"Not those words. It's called a song. I get that it's a scary song so I won't sing that. But its not the song that's bad. It the reaction everyone got from it that came out negative. So I will sing one more positive. Make everyone feel happier not afraid. Songs are very powerful when used in different ways."
"... You have good... Song?"
"Yes. And I will use it to help everyone. Will you try it with me?"
His face gave me a strange look of concern but he agrees to this and we start to talk.
After a while of discussing what to do and teaching him what words mean what in two different songs, Rolba goes back in his home leaving me in the alley. It got dark out and I don't want to go back home.
...Home. The Halliways must be worried right now. With me suddenly gone, I'm sure they probably are. But I don't feel right going back.
I sit against the wall in the dark clouds that surround the place. I still don't like this. I suddenly hear that song Rolba sang earlier echo from down the road where I came from. I go down the road to follow it. It was a pretty voice and cheerful but the song just didn't match at all. When I find the source, the goblin that showed me where to find Rolba was sitting in the alley I saw before sitting against the wall with his back to the opening.
He was picking at something. When I got closer, I saw why he sang this song. He was petting one of the children that was badly hurt from the fighting I saw when I entered. The child looked close to death. I rush to their side and kneel down next the singer to heal the child. The child looked at me confused when she saw my expression. The other stops singing and looks to me in surprise I think. Once I was done, the young one sat up and examined herself before looking at us both. I look to the other and he was looking at the young one.
"Child be heading back now. You be all right now, yeah?" He says to her. She doesn't answer and stands to leave back out still watching us until she takes off down the road. "Ya be a skilled one, miss golem." He tells me and gets my attention again. I could smell it now. What Rolba was talking about with his sent. He did indeed smell like a decaying corpse by it wasn't as harsh as the real thing. I would know. I've seen plenty.
"... Who are you?" I ask him.
He tilts his head like he didn't know what I said. "... Nothing to be calling this one." He answer. He doesn't have a name then.
"What sort of goblin are you? Do you know?"
"Dragonjaw." He answers. So that's why we look alike.
"What about where your from?"
He points down the dark alley over the buildings. "Behind many mountains there be a port by a river that leads ya to the vast waters in Arndail the port town. I be from said ports waterline." He lowers his hand. He seemed to be enjoying my questions a little.
I decide to sit next to him and continue to ask him many questions.