They were getting closer and closer, we ran as fast as we could. The screeches of those creatures, the screams of those who fell or could not run anymore, feet and pants of those next, the beating of my heart, the incest chirping all mixed together to formed a symphony, a symphony of both horror and excitement. A smile crept up onto my face as I ran, I couldn't help but enjoy this, all of this. The excitement of being chased, the risk of death hounding me down! Those who are weaker than me, those who give in to their fear or exhaustion dying, it was just all too exciting! Just as the smile crept onto my face something grabbed my ankle, causing me to fall. "Fuck, this can not be happening right now!" I thought as I turned around to see a girl, about 10-13 years old grabbing onto my ankle, with a goblin latched onto her legs crawling up, with a disgusting smile, licking its lips in anticipation of what is next. The girl was kicking desperately and screaming for help, but no one seemed to care to stop, I mean why would they? Who would give their life to save a stranger? And kicking the goblin did nothing more than make it more excited and annoyed. The only thought that came across my mind at this sight was, oh these creatures are disgusting....

I tried to free my leg from the girl's grip, prying her fingers off, even kicking her like she did to the goblin, yet none of it worked. It was like she had a vice grip on me. The girl just looked up at me while I was busy kicking her as hard as I can, trying to free myself so I don't follow her to the grave, and smiled as she spoke, "If I do, you are going with me, mister~" And with that I thought how did this all happen to me, where did everything go wrong. I looked around as the memory overtook me, the creatures, not the goblins, were upon us now. They were pouncing upon those who were now in the back of the group, planting their knives into their prey's chest or gut or cutting their throats. A few goblins licked their blades before plunging them back into the already lifeless bodies, stabbing over and over in a frenzy, with the setting sun over them. Finally I remembered our village legend. The very story my grandmother told me every night before bed.

Earlier that day, I was sitting at the table about to eat a simple breakfast with my grandmother, my only living relative, and also my biggest support. "Now, Alice, my precious granddaughter." said grandmother with a big smile on her face as I plopped a stack of pancakes onto her plate before her. "Yes, grandmother? You are laying it on kinda thick this morning, so what do you want?" I replied. To which my words were met with her laughter, "Are your new pills working? Or are you still in all that pain?" I froze as she mentioned my pain, the pain that never stops no matter what, and always got worse than the day before, ever increasing. And was one of the things I hated talking about, like being transgender, so I did as I always did and changed to her favorite topic, "Hey, Grandma, what was that old legend you use to tell me again?"

"It's not a legend, it's history! So you better remember it, it could save your life one day," grandmother said with a smirk and a sly wink, then she continued, "How did it go again? Hm, oh yes! That's right, it starts like this! In times of old, long ago, the creatures we call myths or horrors walked alongside us. They ruled this earth, and preyed on humans as well as each other, but there was order amongst them. Humans who could not widely use magic unlike some of the other races were considered to be the weakest of the creatures, even goblins could use magic and did not discriminate against those that could. But humans not only did in various parts of the world, they also took to hunting anything not human, friend or foe, with their iron and steel weapons. Now of course, many so-called heroes rose amongst the humans, saving the villages, towns, and cities but when guns came into the picture, hunting the nonhuman races became easier, so easy that many of them that couldn't blend in with the humans or hide from sight nearly died out. Now, that is something the gods couldn't abide by, a single race wiping out many others just from fear, and even turning their weapons and words against them. No, that would not be tolerated, so the humans had to be punished but the other races had to be saved, and the gods, though strong as they were, their strength was not unlimited. So they bound together with all the nonhuman races, and together made a world just for them, one free of humans. And as they left the gods used the last bit of magic from making the world to change humans memory and the world's history. Turning fact into legend and legend into myth." As grandmother finished speaking she cleared the last of her food, and sat back in her chair. My breakfast consisted of a single apple as I half heartedly listened to grandmother's story. I laughed as she gave me a sterned look, " I gotta eat light before I go for my morning jog, besides it's hard for me to keep stuff down, you know this." And with that I left as quickly as I could putting grandmother's dishes into the sink on my way out.

During my morning jog I ran my normal route, through our little village, to the river next to it, into the forest and up the base of the mountain to a nearby temple. The village was small and everyone know everyone, so the fact that i came out as transgender was well known. The village was split on people who supported and did not and the rare few who believed that since it's not their body what do they need to care for. Honestly, living in this small village was tiring, everyone knew everything about everyone, no one could have secrets. The river was a beautiful, well, river, not really much else to explain there, it's your standard river, with trees on either side of it and occasional animals stopping by for a drink. The mountain was too big to be a hill and not big enough to be impressive or for people to climb barely at 1,001 feet. The temple I always stop at to take a break is an old temple suffering from wear and tear of its age. The temple itself is beautiful despite its age, or maybe because of its age it's even more beautiful. The other villagers don't come up here due to how it looks and the rumor that it's haunted. I spend most of my day up here in the temple due to this fact. Just spent sweeping the temple and cleaning it of dust and making sure it won't fall down randomly. It's also the place where I learned martial arts from an old friend of my grandmother. When I finished cleaning and checking for any maintenance that was needed, I laid down on the platform right before the steps, and closed my eyes for a bit.