Bleux had been gone for a while now. After Jaren said where Jaka's body was, his brother left without a word spoken. Bleux simply turned around, gave Karen one last look of disappointment, then walked away never turning back. Boxen, Eli and Arm followed him, and naturally so did their squads.
Just like that, in a single moment, Jaren lost 18 goblins of his group. Ever since that, Jaren continued sitting on his butt, looking in the direction his brother left in. He was still covered in the blood of the beast and started to smell of iron. Then very quickly it began to pour down. Washing his body. He did not notice.
He was still in deep thought. Cause it was now he was just starting to connect he dots. He had a gut feeling that Boxen never favoured him and would take Bleux over him any day. So he probably wanted Jaren out of the picture. That's probably why he said that Jaka wanted him to betray them. He was just playing on Jaren's suspicion.
His eyes turned into those of insanity. "He set me up didn't he." Jaren thought. At first he didn't want to believe that he got played like a fiddle. By some goblin that is a month old too. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The image of Boxen kept flashing into Jaren's mind pissing him off. With a clenched fist Jaren slammed the blood soaked ground. It had a soggy splash. "If I ever see that fat pig ever again." He murmured.
"Boss," a voice next Jaren called. The leader snapped out of his thoughts then turned his head to see Pipin next to him. "What is it?" he asked. "Lena had been tending to the cuts and bruises of the wounded for some time now. She says she is done now." "Lena? But what about Kara then?" "She left with Bleux." Jaren sighed, then said, "Well tell her she did a good job. We will rest here for a little longer. Then we will move onward." "Alright boss." Pipin said, he started walking away.
"Pipin," Jaren called, still looking into the distance. "Did you know Boxen was going to betray me?" Pipin stopped in his tracks, that was one question he didn't expect. H thought back to the night before he and Boxen fought. It was quite similar to this one, only the rain was more heavy on that night. "He did say he expected you and Bleux to split, and that he would join Bleux." "He expected that we would split? how?" "I don't know how he expected it, he said I didn't have to worry about that part."
Jaren lowered his head. This was more than enough for him to confirm that Boxen was behind the split happening. "Pipin," he said with a unusually deep voice, then he looked him straight in the eyes, "next time I see your friend, I will kill him." Pipin stared back coldly, "He is not my friend." "Even better." Jaren stood back up. "Now, next time you sense someone threaten my position, no matter how much you like them, you must tell me immediately. Now that Bleux is gone, your my new second in command. I must be able to trust you." Hearing that made Pipin feel excited. From a normal goblin all the way to the second in command. He kept on a cool face and simply said, "Understood." Jaren smiled, "Good, now go notify everyone we're Leaving."
Shortly after Jaren went to the body of the beast, or all that was left at least. Bones and patches of fur was all that could be seen. He took a patch of the fur. Big enough for it to be his length and tied that around his waist. The leaves and and cloth that he kept over his private parts were getting smaller everyday. He needed something bigger.
The squad leaders came and also started taking patches of the beast. Gooba, rolled the patch around his hand. Pipin tied it around his head like a bandana. Cycle -whom was now promoted to squad leader thanks to the promotion of Pipin- tied it around one over the eye he lost.
And so, the group started their way to the north.
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Their instincts guided them.
They walked for a few hours, with no dangerous creature in sight. Only the small ones. This made that the leader could occasionally hunt some food for him and clan. He wanted them to regain strength, to be prepared for the unexpected. This was cause the lack of danger bothered him. When he first felt the piercing gaze of the beast weeks ago, it scared him yes, but it also made him feel safer than before. Before he didn't know where the danger was, only that a dangerous beast existed.
After that night, he could tell were it was, what it was, and how to prepare for it. For him, the feeling of peace and quiet was nothing more than a hoax, a red flag. 'where is it?' he asked himself. 'where is the next one?' constantly he was looking around him. He needed an enemy. When he saw nothing more than a green forest, with a tinge of grey from the morning light, he calmed down. 'It doesn't matter.' he thought, 'Misfortune follows me everywhere I go. I just need to be patient.' What Jaren didn't notice the first time he saw it, was that it took the second moon a lot longer to rise and fall.
It's bigger mass probably had a part in that. So now it was the only moon that was in the sky. Even though the sun was already on the rise.
they walked for a few more hours until the night passed. Jaren was walking on the front, leading his group with a strong composure. Yet his mind still thinking about Bleux, and by association Boxen too. He looked beside him, to see Pipin walking beside him instead of his brother. He wanted to stop the group, maybe wait for a few hours. Who knows, maybe Bleux wasn't done with him yet. "He isn't coming lad, at least not in your direction." a voice said, with a very British accent. Jaren stopped, looked around him. There is only one other occasion where he heard that voice and it was the first night he spent on this new world.
"Bleux is going to have to find his own way, so at this moment you should only be worried about yourself." The voice continued. This time Jaren didn't feel as panicked as before, so he looked to the sky. "Your the GOD of this world right? Je...Ja...Jeffrey?" Jaren said unconfident, moments later a unexpectedly heavy nut fell on his forehead. With a "Auch!" Jaren squatted down and held his bruised head. "It's Jafari thank you very much!" frustrated Jaren asked, "What do you want!?"
"Boss, are you alright?" Pipin asked. He had his hand on Jaren's shoulder and a worried look on his face. Jaren regained his composure, "I'm alright," He then looked to the extra's watching him from behind. All looked confused as to what happened, at this point the whole group stopped moving.
Gooba, who was in crutches, also noticed that Jaren seemed to be talking to himself. Jaren ignored all the gazes, listened again if GOD was going to talk again. Then a wind blew past him, whispering, "What I want is for you to follow me." Jaren turned to Pipin, "You and the group stay here alright. I'll be back in a minute." then he followed to were GOD guided him, leaving Pipin in the dust confused.
Jaren tried to keep up with the winds of Jafari. He saw it, swooshing past the trees, making the leaves fall out of them. He did the same at high speeds: jumping in over undergrowth, dodging the branches, leaping over the shrubs. Until he finally understood were he was being taken. To the forest edge. He didn't feel the need to follow the wind anymore, he knew where he was going anyway. Zooming past te last few trees till he was at the last one. Then he tripped face first into the ground. "F*CK!" he yelled out while picking himself up.
He stood up, turning around to kick whatever made him fall. Then he stopped. His face showing confusion: one eyebrow raised, his mouth open. "I don't get what's going on here."
It was a woman. She was laying on her chest, buried under plants, eyes closed peacefully. By her green body, pointy ears and sharp teeth he quickly figured out she was a goblin too. One Jaren found quite pretty. He went on his knees, took her shoulder, started shaking her. "He lady, wake up, your laying here has made me fall." he said. "Don't bother." Jafari said. Jaren pulled away his hand to see blood on it. "She has been dead for a while now." Jafari continued. Jaren turned the lady on her back to see a slash crossing her chest. She was wearing a dark blue leather dress that covered everything up until her legs.
But by the fact that she had hair up to her shoulders, her hips were wide, and she had breast, Jaren could tell that she was a adult.
Jaren stood back up, "Do you know what happened to her Jafari?" "You'll see, if you just look past the forest edge." That's what he did, walking past the trees and having a good look.
A few lights could be seen on the surface of the fields. The more he looked, the clearer it became. It was fire, blazing on a few spots of a village, smoke trails leading into the sky. But that was not all. There were other goblins that seemed like they were panicked, running around frantically with no end in sight. They were being chased too, by other goblins that had swords and spears. The running goblins were being picked off one by one.
"Jafari, what kind of world was I born in." Jaren asked. It was quiet for a moment then Jafari spoke. "Jaren, when you were born into this world I could sense something strong in you. A intense will to not ever be oppressed ever again. To even oppress if you had to.
That is why I came to you in the first place. To see if my senses did not lie to me. And ever since that, ever since your birth you've proven time and time again that you are willing to take out everything that's more powerful than you, and feels like a threat to you."
Jaren scoffed at that, "so? what does that matter?" "It matters because you've already lost lad." "What are you talking about GOD?" "The world you've been born in is one were your clan, your elders, and you are the weakest, most oppressed part of this kingdom. Just like your seeing infront of you."
"You've got to be kidding me." "Oh but I'm not, and it will continue to be so. Unless." "Unless what Jafari?" "Unless you follow my orders." Jaren laughed, "Why would I do that?" "Cause without my help you will die, but with me. I can make you the emperor of all the goblin's. And as emperor, you can be sure that no one will step on you ever again. All you have to do, is conquer the other goblin kingdoms and unify them." Jaren put his hand on his chin, looking at the village being attacked.
"Why do you care Jafari. Your GOD, you don't have to care about us." "I'll have you know that goblin's are my favorite creations. The last thing that I want is for them to have another hundred years of war. Just say you'll help Jaren. " "Well, i do want to be emperor. So sure." "Then go help that village Jaren, quickly. You'll need to find and save the town leader!"