Xolvion and the others stood over the girls that had been kidnapped. Looking down upon them with pity in their eyes at the horrors that had befallen them.
Crystal winced at the sight of the girls, seeing that they had been beaten and raped repeatedly, with most of the girls even dying from their wounds.
"Stacy!" Owen suddenly yelled, finding his friend among the girls that littered the cave.
"Oh my god, Stacy!" Gwen also shouted, trying to hold the tears back as she took in the sight of her friend.
Xolvion could see the darkness in her eyes, knowing that she had already lost her mind.
"Please, you have to heal her!" Gwen pleaded, no longer able to hold her tears back.
"I can heal her physically, but her mind is a different matter..." He said, knowing that all he could try to do was wipe her memory.
"Kill me..." A soft voice spoke, coming from the girl.
"Stacy! Please hang on, its me. Its Owen, we have come to save you." Owen said, trying to hold Stacy upright so she could see who he was.
"Kill me!!!" The girl yelled, reaching for the dagger that was strapped to Owens belt, trying to force the blade into her belly.
"No!" Gwen yelled, quickly grabbing her wrist, stopping her from stabbing herself as she wrestled the knife free from Stacy's hand.
"AGGHHRHRHHRHRH!!!" Stacy yelled, clearly having gone mad.
"Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!" She said, repeating the words over and over in a mad frenzy, wearing a look of insanity on her face.
"Master, can you do anything?" Crystal said, watching from a distance with pity and horror.
"No," Xolvion said, knowing that this girl was too far gone.
Suddenly Xolvion sensed something appear behind them, having failed to notice it any sooner due to the distraction in front of him.
"ARGHHH!" A wicked voice yelled, casting a magic spell in another language.
Gwen and Owen were helpless to the intense fire that followed, turning to ash before Xolvion's and Crystal's eyes.
Xolvion had only had time to place a defensive shield around himself and Crystal, being taken off guard.
"Darn it... I shouldn't have missed this!" He said, cursing himself for letting his guard down.
Xolvion could see that it was another goblin, however, judging from the fire spell it had just used, and the energy he could sense coming from it.
"This thing must be the boss." He said, smiling as he got ready to counter-attack.
Crystal could feel the heat coming from the spell, lucky to have been protected by Xolvion as she had had no idea the attack was coming.
She could also see that Gwen and Owen had not been so lucky, having been killed in an instant, knowing that she should have been able to protect them.
"You monster... I won't forgive you!" Crystal suddenly yelled, launching an ice attack from her staff towards the goblin mage.
The goblin raised its hand, using a magical circle that caused the ice to shatter against it like a shield.
"Foolish girl!" The goblin yelled, quickly spinning its own wooden staff before casting another fireball towards Xolvion and Crystal.
Xolvion could tell that this goblin could not tell that he was outclassed, clearly unable to sense his magical ability.
But instead of fighting, he had decided to see how Crystal would handle the situation seeing as she had already launched her attack. After all, this whole quest had been about seeing what she was made of and helping her gain better control over her magic.
Crystal watched the fireball flying towards her, quickly putting up an ice wall to block the magic attack.
She wasn't finished there though, quickly using her magic to create another blast of ice as she ran clear of her wall, shooting more ice spikes at the goblin as a distraction.
The goblin mage could see that she blocked his fireball spell, also attacking him with her own attack that he once again put up a barrier to defend against.
Xolvion could sense that the goblin was done playing around with weak fireball spells and was concentrating his magic to use something stronger.
"Interesting... I never thought that a goblin could become so strong..." Xolvion said, crossing his arms over his chest as watched the battle.
Crystal slid to a halt, watching as her attacks had been useless against the goblin's shield.
"Ice drop!" She yelled, pointing her staff into the air as she created a large block of ice above the goblin.
"Now!" She yelled, dropping it from the air as she planned to crush the monster.
However, the goblin mage slammed its staff into the ground, allowing a concentrated beam of fire to burst into the air, blasting through the ice block and cracking it in half, allowing them to fall away from him.
A large cloud of dust was thrown into the air from the shockwave of the ice crashing into the ground.
Crystal couldn't see due to the dust and tried to focus her senses as she waited for it to settle. However, the goblin mage had other ideas and shot a barrage of fireballs through the smoke, hoping that one of them would hit its mark.
Crystal didn't have time to react with magic and instead ducked under one of the blasts, thanking her luck that the others had all missed.
"GAWW!!" The goblin mage suddenly yelled as it burst through the smoke, drawing a dagger from its cloak as it tried to stab Crystal with the rusty blade.
Crystal blocked the thrust with her staff, feeling the weight of the attack push her back as she tried to regain her footing.
However, her left foot hit a small rock as she stepped back, causing her to lose her footing and balance, allowing the goblin to press forwards for another attack.
"Mine!" It yelled, knowing that Crystal would not be able to defend herself at such close range with no balance.
Crystal watched as the dagger flew towards her face, knowing she had no way to stop it, feeling foolish and helpless that she was about to be killed by this monster.
Xolvion had watched the whole thing from the distance, knowing that Crystal should have the skills to defeat this goblin mage, even if its level and ability were far above normal goblins.
The only thing she was lacking was experience, and Xolvion couldn't give that to her unless he let her fight against an opponent that was trying to kill her, knowing it was the only way for her to grow as a mage and warrior.
Xolvion watched as her heel caught the rock forcing her to fall back and lose her balance, leaving herself wide open for a finishing blow.
"Darn it, guess I have no choice!" He said, about to make his move to save her from death.
"NO!" Crystal suddenly roared.
A powerful burst of magical energy erupted from her body forcing even Xolvion to defend himself from it, as everything it touched froze in an instant.
The goblin mage was helpless against the power of Crystal's sudden outburst, leaving the monster frozen on the spot with its dagger but a centimetre away from Crystal's eye.
"What was that!" Xolvion asked, keeping his defence as Crystal's magical energy started to settle back down before the girl fell to her knees.
Crystal was breathing hard as she tried to regain her breath from the sudden use of her mana, something Xolvion could see she had almost used up with that out burst.
"Looks like she didn't need my help after all." He thought, walking over to the girl before he offered her a hand.
"Well done, Crystal." He said, smiling at her as she looked up.
"I-I did it, master..." She said, clearly exhausted.
"Yes, you did, I'm proud of you," Xolvion said quickly helping her to her feet before he healed her wounds.
Crystal's eyes popped back open after a moment, feeling her energy back at 100%.
"Master!" She yelled, jumping into his arms and wrapping hers around his neck.
Xolvion smiled and hugged her back.
"Looks like you are feeling better." He said before placing her back down on the ground.
"I am, all thanks to you." She said, stepping back and looking him in the eyes.
Xolvion was pleased that Crystal had been able to fight the goblin mage on her own, impressed at how quickly she had learned to use her powers, with a little help from the others.
But his attention quickly shifted back to their quest, seeing that they had defeated all of the goblins in the cave now.
"Master, we should save as many of these girls as we can." Crystal also said, regaining her composure and remembering their quest.
Xolvion nodded as he walked to the back part of the cave where the girls were, already knowing which of them were alive and which of them were not.
Xolvion reached the back of the cave and pulled back a brown rag that seemed to separate apart of it, sensing more life inside. His senses were sharp, allowing him to detect all forms of life within the area meaning that nothing without the ability to hide its own life force would escape his detection.
"I see... Goblin offspring." He said, realising that this was the goblin nursey, filled with ten baby goblins that had been left in the back of the cave.
Crystal gasped as she looked at the baby goblins, knowing that they were the result of the poor women who had been kidnapped by the goblins.
"Oh my, these poor girls." Crystal said, clearly disgusted by the act.
Xolvion remained quiet, knowing that these monsters only wished to survive, and were willing to do whatever it took to do so.
"Crystal, you go and check on the girls, I will deal with this," Xolvion said, getting a slow nod from her as she knew what needed to be done.
Xolvion could hear the small cries that the small goblins gave off, being able to sense their fear at the sight of him.
"This I gain no pleasure in..." He said as he lifted his hand slowly into the air.
Xolvion used his magic so that the small goblin children felt no pain before he wiped them from existence, giving them a quick and painless death.
"Monsters they may be, but children all the same." He said to himself, walking out to see that Crystal had gathered all the surviving women and given them what water and clothing she had to help them.
Xolvion quickly created as many robes as needed with his transmutation ability and also healed their wounds, giving them a new spring in life. However, the damage that had been done to their mind and the experiences they had would never leave them.
"Alright, let's get out of this cave," Xolvion said, turning to look at Crystal before he took one last look at the bodies around them.
"At once master." She said, leading the girls out of the cave.
Xolvion turned his head towards the exit and took a step, only to feel the sudden sharp twinge in his mind that something else was alive in there.
"Surely not..." He said, turning back to one of the dead girls, feeling the energy come from inside her body.
"Is that what I think it is?"