What reflected on the water dropped his jaws in shock. Unlike the typical emerald green, he was darker, nearing royal green.
The part where he was in disbelief? He was in his youngest version, and he retained his exquisite, former human visage: gracious eyebrows, checked; delicate tall nose, checked; sharp jawline, checked; and a tidbit touch of femininity, unchecked, that part was not him.
'For real? M'Love! You have a strong resemblance to your past life, h-hold on— you have the mixture of my feminine features too, this!'
As if they were not enough, they were coupled to the new features: sharpened needle-like teeth inside the faultless tea-green big lips; elongated pointy ears that could pierce the sky; and snake-like green vertical irises.
The long description electrocuted his brains out, and almost got it short-circuited.
Wait, wait. He slapped his fluster off his cheek and made simplifications. How could he describe himself in a few words? He was, an extremely handsome, young green devil! That was the sum, that was right.
"The soul, I can only draw the conclusion that the Ameliermine formula, has gotten our souls powerful, so powerful, it can influence the holder of our souls, could this also mean..." He grinned from ear to ear, and his palms itched with sweat, he wanted an answer.
He patted the shoulder of the closest and clamped his eyelids shut, subsequently, he reminisced about the sensations, of the souls, during their past experiments. A thin string of silk tingled his fingers, and he tugged, and tugged, till it was cut off.
His poor green buddy froze and plopped, on the floor like an overcooked vegetable. Second passed, the goblin jolted in erect, sucked his finger quizzically, and there was no hostility afterward. It seems that it was a painless experience.
'M'Love, that was amazing! How come we can interfere with a living being's souls, without our machinery and tools?'
"Witnessing such mysterious phenomena, why was your surprise kind of underwhelming?"
'Duh, reincarnation, two souls in a body, green-skinned humanoids, a frame resembling past self, and I could go more on the list, absurd, what more can I be surprised by?' she retorted with a chuckle.
When her voice pierced his ears, endless possibilities knitted on his thoughts, and the ends of yarns tickled his lungs. He roared in laughter, his nose pointed to the sky.
"What a great life to be."
His laugh was supposed to be the sound of a scientist, who stumbled upon a shocking discovery. Funnily, he realized his laugh was so unconvincing, brimmed with innocence, and crisped like a baby.
Cheeks tinged in red, he halted when he found his laugh embarrassing, he was glad his Darling had not caught, but when he heard the other two imitated, he was infected. There they went, the cute babies' giggles had warmth the chills of the forest winds.
"From now on your name is Claus," he said.
"Wait, that's too human, not that I'm against it, we should just practice adaptivity even in naming, so, let's change it a bit, aha! Clux it is!" He added.
He shoulder-tapped the goblin with chipped ears, his lips pouted in smug.
"And you?" He glared at the goblin from head to foot, he became uncertain, because, unlike Clux's sharpened features of a beak-like nose, thinned lips, and squinted eyes.
The other goblin, although inhuman, had a tamer demeanor, and had the softness of the lady's from the forehead to chin, not to ignore her slightly protruded chest.
He came to think of it, he had not checked these kids' genders. Oh-oh! Better he checked them out, or else he would feel bad if he had named them poorly.
Excitement had giddied up his heart, for he had not experienced being a father in the previous life, so he took a quick peek, slid down both the goblin's leaf underpants, and rearranged them back. He was able to affirm that Clux was a goblin boy, and the other was a girl, so a change of name for Clux was unneeded.
He passed the naming opportunity to his Darling, Melantha, and allowed her to name the girl goblin.
'Help me derive a name from Alexa, M'Love.'
"Okay, girl, your name's gonna be Aleges, okay?" He shuffled her baby hair fondly.
In return for his fondness, they responded with incoherent grumbles.
"Now we hunt, but before so." From the puddle's sides, he scooped a handful of mud, and splattered them onto his body, like how he had rubbed soap during a bath.
'What're you doing M'Love?' Melantha asked.
"Wild animals have a keen sense of smell, this will cover us of our scents, so we can hunt effectively. This world is magical, and there's a possibility that humans were not at the top of the food chain here, we can't be too careful, can we? Especially against the unknown."
'Oh, you're right about that M'Love."
------
The leaves shuffled as they scurried through the shadowed undergrowths. Together with their night visions, the blue hue that battled the darkness had become their lamp. The pitter-patter of their tiny feet came to a halt.
Mordred and the two finally spotted their first meat.
A cyan-blue lizard was leisurely positioned next to a green swamp. The lizard was half their body size in length with a knifelike horn on its forehead.
Without dilly-dallying, Mordred pulled a spear out of his leaf quiver from his back. Unconsciously, he grinned fiercely and javeled the spear with a force that aimed at the lizard's torso.
The result? It sank into the soil, missing the target.
Disturbed, the hostile lizard hissed in anger. Its huge front fangs glinted in sharpness, as it sprinted toward them like a galloping horse.
On its way, Clux, and Aleges rained down its pathways with spears as they glowered. While Mordred darted around the bushes for a flanked
A spear finally pierced the lizard's foreleg which made it hissed in pain. Sensing the impending doom, it turned around and scampered to escape.
Crouching behind a purple bush, two-handling the spear, he tightened his arm muscles. When the bolting steps whirred on his ears, he pounced and stabbed the lizard's neck, the crimson gush painted the soil and tree roots from the lizard's mouth.
"Waaah!" Clux and Aleges cried in unison and scuttled over with their happy feet.
"Food! This... is food." He clasped the lizard's tail and taught gently
"Fooh?"
"Faaawd?" They tilted their chins and tried mimicking.
"Not a bad start, we cook these, fill our tummies, then hunt for —"
A cloud of smoke seduced his view, steamed off from the lizard's pores, it drew into a ball and a wisp was formed.
Curious, he extended his arms, only to be assaulted by the icy chilling on his fingertips. His gaze fell down on the lump of smoke, gradually, it escaped into a colorless air, completely disappearing.
'A wisp of soul.' Melantha whispered.
"Foooh. Fowd. Fooh..."
The two slapped his dazed out, they were tugging his arms: repeating the word they had just learned, and as if they had felt he was the dumb one, they pointed at the lizard, and to their opened jaws. Their saliva dripped on the red soil.
He bet that if he was replaced by a different goblin, they would forcefully snatch the bloody food.
They might not had a system of morals, for they solely followed their instincts like animals, but goblins were still social beings. Bonds between each could still be built, similar to a dog and its owner or a circle of any animal that banded together.
"Speaking of cooking, making a fire will take some time, eating it raw, might only be the option as of now, glad we're genetically different from modern humans. Goblins might have stronger stomach acids for digestion or... whatever. I'll stop blabbering and experience it myself." After he thought aloud, he raised the lizard above his head and sank his fang.
A metallic scent smacked his nostrils and tongue, the sweetness and saltiness danced on his palate. Conquered by primal hunger, he hastily shredded off the meat, the bursting juices in his every chew were savored by his throat.
'Bland compared to cooked meat, but it wasn't so bad.' She voiced her opinion.
"Indeed, it's even somewhat... good? Goblin's taste buds acting up, I suppose. Could be better with spices!" He snickered and munched.
He bit for more, and then the fresh carcass was thrown to the wailing Clux and Aleges, the two gobbled the meat in delight.
"Take it easy, we'll hunt, till all of us get our own fill." He lazily sat down on a huge stone, his spear was pinned in his arm's reach.
As he waited for the gluttons to be finished, an oval object was launched into his vision. It was a rounded black ball the size of a tennis ball and was sluggishly slithering, through the uneven ground.
"Darling, look, what is that, a slug? Nah, it doesn't have tentacles for eyes, a moving slime?" He scratched his head, he could not comprehend the odd creature.
'But M'Love, there was no lizard, with a horn-like knife too wasn't it?'
"We can still tell it's a lizard, but that one." He pointed. "It's simply a breathing slime, does it even breathe? Looks harmless enough, Darling, wanna see what it can do?" He smiled in interest.
'Careful!' she reminded.
Armed with his trusty spear, he strolled next to it. The creature, as if it sensed his presence, the oddball twitched and turned darker.
A mild pain exploded in his head, followed by a cacophony of whispers that was jarring his ears, his sight darkened. He shook his head and cleared out the blurring in his sight.
"Damn! What was that?" He massaged his temples like a migraine victim.
'Ugh! Hateful! You okay M'Love?' She grumbled. 'It might be an intangible attack, a mental power unique to this creature, Albeit, weak. Seems like we're not the only unusual beings.'
"No kidding, then, we urgently needed to get powerful, desperately if we must." He said. "Of course, safety is still the priority.
"Fufufud!" Aleges blabbered as she treaded to his side.
She was holding her tummy, and her lips' corners were pulled down, he could read that she was dissatisfied, with the pitiful quantity of the food.
"You little glutton."
She noticed the slime and stared at it intently, the slime's whole body convulsed, nonstop as its black outline sharpened.
"Waah!!" Aleges wailed in pain, she hugged her head while tears and snot poured down her chin.
"Wha?— " He dashed in and spiked the slime with his spear, a hole was made out of its roundness, and he saw the slime deflated to death. "How is the effect so extreme on her?"
Still covered by her mucus, she gawked at him motionless. With her puppied eyes, she portrayed a bullied child after crying. To her rescue, Clux appeared behind her back, and like a friend in need, he shoved a meat to her mouth.
It was super effective! She devoured the piece and clapped happily, there were no more grievances, a yummy food was all it takes to switch her mood.
'Lookie them M'Love, cuties'
A smile blossomed on his lips under the affectionate display of the two.
"Not so efficacious on ourselves, yet for the others tho, these tiny trauma inducer slimes can be effective bioweapon stunners." He mischievously rubbed his hands together.
'We just can't depend on them too much, I bet willpower was a huge factor in its effectiveness.'
------
Inside the lightless cave where everything had begun. There were no more traces of goblin cries, only the plip plop of water droplets from the ceiling as the trio currently stood before them, their mothers.
"As expected, they're still pulsating with life." He tilted his head quizzically.
Before him, were the same first human women he had seen, albeit thinned in malnourishment, they had no signs of being near to their deaths. Miraculously, the bruised bodies had fewer wounds and scars.
'There's only one difference between these mothers, and a normal human mother, goblins! They're carrying goblins!' She paused. 'Remember, every fetus sends some of its own cells into its mother, through the placenta, then these cells travel via bloodstreams, and are lodged in various tissues.' she explained with passion.
"Oh! So they were passing their strong survivability genes, well, goblins really are wonders, they could grow to a walking child in a day without feeding." he agreed.
'Bingo! These women are used as breeding machines, continuously giving birth without further copulation, so goblin fetuses have to adapt and evolve, to ensure their mothers remain alive during these periods, for how long? That, we don't know yet.'
"What a fierce radical approach, just to keep the population high, and since I only saw goblin younglings, after finding the suitable nest, the paternal goblins must've left these women in the wild." He glimpsed at Aleges, "But don't we have female goblins too?"
"Umu?" She stared back at him while sucking her thumb.
After Aleges and Clux filled their tummies to the brim, they had become behaving babies that only followed him around.
"Let's leave that question for another day."
With his tiny hand, he struck one of the protruding woman's bellies. The vibrations from his strike sent out his senses to the womb, and a visual had formed, in his consciousness: a tiny goblin image, white and weak as the mist, and on between the goblin's legs were two little balls surrounding a shaft.
He repeated the process to every woman, till he found two female goblin fetuses. When he had chosen the older one, based on their sheer size, he spoke with his Darling to finalize their plan.
'M'Love, ready yourself, because I am.' she informed in a somber tone.