"Hmm..."
"Grawgh..."
"Hmmm..."
"Grawgh..."
A goblin and a human were having a staring contest under a tree. It was truly a phenomenal scene. Dan was staring intensely at Graw, as he had named the dumber looking goblin. When morning came and the two goblins Graw and Gwar, as he had named the other more ferocious-looking goblin, went berserk as they were unable to find their companion. Their instincts took over and they momentarily tried to attack Dan.
But alas, they were bound tightly by Dan with the grass. After a while, they went back to normal as if they had completely forgotten about their rage from a while ago.
Dan had expected them to be more dramatic or not react at all but it seems their reaction was pretty moderate from a semi-sentient creature's point of view. Anyway, Dan wasn't an expert in Goblin psychology so he just subconsciously decided to treat them more gently from now on.
Dan was currently trying to make them move. He had tied an additional grass rope to their knot which he had affixed to both the goblins. But, no matter how he tried the goblins stubbornly refused to move.
He shook his head. He had expected too much of them yesterday, he thought. The goblins he had known in popular media had been rather smart if not as smart as humans but these goblins...
There was only one thing he could do... He decided with a nod to himself. He pulled out the club he had tied to his back with a grass rope and twirled it around with his hands.
The goblins might be dumb but they were true to their instincts and the almighty feeling of pain.
I had decided to be gentle but they are hopeless... It couldn't be helped. He thought but amazingly the goblins seemed to remember the pain from yesterday and also what had happened to their dead companion. They quickly became complacent.
Dan finally moved out from under the tree for the first time since yesterday.
The tall grass made it hard for him to move while the goblin moved very slowly. Dan was fed up in over an hour.
It had all just been trees, that's all it had been. No more clearings, no roads. He wasn't even sure if any civilisation existed on this planet. He was already hungry and thirsty. Will he have to have the goblins escort him to where they came from? He shuddered at the thought.
He had tried asking the goblins of water but they didn't understand him. Nor did they understand him when he asked them of food. They were just turning out to be useless.
Should I just leave them somewhere under a tree? They are costing me a lot of energy. If it goes on like this, I might die of starvation.
He chuckled to himself at the thought. He had never felt hunger like this in his life. He paused for a moment to the puzzlement of the goblins and stared at the sky which was covered completely by the trees, leaving only a few spots for sunlight to get in.
He looked down again with a burning gaze, he finally had a goal. To find food and water. Having decided this, he began to start moving again.
After moving for hours, he finally found the ground wetter than usual.
"Water...", he murmured.
"Gwagher...", Gwar imitated Dan as he stomped his foot on the ground.
"Yes!", grinned Dan, satisfied at Gwar's progress. He had been trying to make Gwar and Graw understand the concept of food and water so they could help him find them and it seemed to have worked.
Meanwhile, Graw was smelling the air intensely.
"What are you doing...?", Dan cocked his head at Graw.
Ignoring Dan, Graw pointed his fingers West from where they were facing. Dan's eyes twinkled as he understood.
"Haha! So you are useful as well!", Dan exhaled, delighted.
"Grawrgh...", Graw didn't seem to be amused.
They continued to move towards the direction Graw pointed to. After about 30 minutes, they reached a small lake of water. But something else also accompanied it.
"What the hell is that, now?!"
A giant pink mushroom grew out from the centre of the lake. It seemed to be as tall as the trees but its structure was a sharp contrast to the trees. Look at this, Dan was in doubts at whether he should drink that water.
"This isn't Earth, tsk... But, it's just a giant mushroom and... The water looks clear enough anyway. I would either die of poison or die of dehydration...", he said to none in particular(?) as he stared weirdly at the goblins.
He nudged Gwar with his club.
" Water.", he said pointing at the lake.
" Gwagher", growled Gwar, nodding.
"Drink.", nudged Dan with his club.
"Gwagh... Gogheh..."
"Go!", frowned Dan. He wanted to be gentle with the goblins but they just wouldn't let him be...
Gwar reluctantly moved towards the lake and gulped down a mouthful of water. He was still tied down so he drank directly with his mouth like some wild animal. As Gwar drank more water without stopping, Dan's face grew brighter. The water wasn't poisonous!
He waited for a few more minutes if by chance the poison took some time to take effect before gulping down the water himself. He had never felt so satisfied in his entire life. He could still survive! He thought to himself.
As for food... He thought looking at the giant mushroom. If the water wasn't poisonous then mushroom also definitely isn't poisonous, I will have the goblins eat it just in case. He thought. He had tried looking for fruits around the forest but he just couldn't find any. Dan's eyes filled with acceptance at this thought and he nudged the goblins forward.
"Food!", he told Graw this time. Graw, unlike Gwar, didn't seem to mind testing things out. Graw's eyes twinkled as he jumped into the water and-
Started to drown...
Dan subconsciously smacked his head. He looked at Gwar and Gwar knew what he had to do. He also jumped into the water but unlike Graw, it seemed he could swim. He managed to fetch his companion back ashore. Dan looked at Graw again, it seemed that it will have to be Graw again this time...
"Food", said Dan pointing at the mushroom again and so Gwar, though reluctant swam towards the mushroom in the lake.
Dan hoped there weren't any dangers hidden in the lake... And fortune enough for him or even more so for Gwar, there wasn't.
Gwar cut through the mushroom easily with his claws and quickly swam ashore with a small piece of it. Goblins were very light indeed. Dan thought to himself nodding.
Without waiting for Dan's nudging, Gwar cut off a piece from the mushroom chunk he brought and chewed it down. Dan was surprised at Gwar's actions. How did he get smarter? He thought confused. He waited for around another ten minutes before he decided that the mushroom wasn't poisonous. Nodding, he ate the entire chunk of mushroom, not evening bothering to cook it. That was just how hungry he was.
"I don't know how to make a fire anyway...", he said with a sigh.
Miraculously, the mushroom didn't taste very bad. Rather, it tasted sweet. It had a unique sweetness. And after an hour of having eaten it, Dan happily decided that he had found a source of food well.
Dan was rather proud of himself. He had managed to survive in the dangerous woods. He thought he was lucky that his first encounter had been these dumb goblins. He grinned looking at Gwar and Graw. The goblins just cocked their head in response.
In the end, Dan had once again hidden under a nearby tree to avoid any wild animals that might come to drink water from the lake. The two goblins had already gone to sleep in the meantime and it was already getting dark.
Dan wasn't sleepy so he just sat down observing the lake and the large mushroom. Something weird tugged at his mind whenever he looked at the mushroom from a while now. Dan didn't understand what it was so he just placed it at the back of his head for now.
The night came in a few more hours and at last, Dan finally accepted his fate for the third time.
"This is another world...", he muttered under his breath, looking at the serene lake which glowed red, however, it didn't look eerie to him at all. Rather, he thought that it was fantastical and beautiful.
He didn't think much of the phenomenon as sleep nudged at his eyes. He eventually fell asleep, embraced by the red light.
×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×
"Amazing..."
An old man stood next to Dan's sleeping figure, his hand placed on Dan's head. The goblins were already wide awake, growling at the old man.