"Master! My worthless self is not long for this world! I only wish I could see that punchable face of yours...one last time."
The faint whispers came from a tired tongue, powered by a trio of struggling lungs. A four-foot-tall figure knelt over a sarcophagus, bitter tears descending down her dark green face to drip onto the metal coffin ceaselessly.
She was inside an ordinary grotto, one of many in this nondescript forest. This cave was one of the innumerable burial sites her master had prepared for himself before his 'suicide', their sheer numbers meant to confuse his enemies if they ever wanted to desecrate his body.
On ordinary days, this forest was silent but for its tiny, harmless denizens. A nest of Mutant-Rank Bullfrogs was the most dangerous wildlife it could offer to a challenger. But today was an exception. Today, the forest was brimming with life, foreign lives, in fact. And this liveliness was diminishing each moment.
She was the target, the reason why the forest today was welcoming new life, and she had been the one to reap many of them. To reach this sanctuary, she had killed enough hunters to be remembered for her valiance. But like every valiant hero we hear of in epics, she was also at the end of her rope.
Valiance gifts you a name in an epic, but it rarely guarantees you victory; no, victory is guaranteed to those who have everything but valiance.
Her body carried the signs of her struggle to reach this cave. The prized armor her master had gifted her before his death was torn to its skeletal form, barely stuck together by damaged joints. Almost every exposed inch of her dark green skin was bleeding golden blood. Her favorite knife had been shattered into tiny pieces, leaving her with the hilt.
"I remember the day we met for the first time, master. I was bleeding that day too, wasn't I? I was still an ordinary Goblin, fighting for a lost cause. And you showed up when the bulletstorm was about to tear apart my last shield."
Turning around to face the mouth of the cave, she leaned back on the coffin.
"I wish I could go back to that day, and relive the years we spent together. I wish I could repeat that, again and again until whatever stands at the end of time."
Almost as an afterthought, she cast a simple shielding invocation at the cave's opening.
"See, master? It's that airshield, that same one. They'll find us soon. And this barrier won't last a second in front of them. Today I'm fighting for a lost cause, again, even though I should have known better. It's like we've gone back to that day again. I'll wait and see if you appear in front of me like you did at that time. I want you to be there even if it's a hallucination. I want your face to be the last thing I see. It would distract me from the pain."
Sounds of rapid, heavy footsteps surrounded the cave. Two ten-foot-tall orc warriors clad in the best warsuit money could buy walked up to the mouth of the cave, with a dozen more mercenaries of all four High Races following them. A relieved smile appeared on almost everyone's face upon laying eyes on the tiny goblin woman sitting inside cave.
"Finally! Rebel Goblin Sim, is surrender still under your consideration? Or will it be a fight to death like your compatriot rebels?" shouted one of the leading Orcs enthusiastically.
"No need to negotiate." The input came from one of three Elves in the team. "She's too slippery to be taken alive to court. Her head will be enough for the rewards."
"Careful, there's a trace of war-magic around the cave," one of the human mercenaries said in a low voice. "She seems to have cast an invocation, quite possibly of the air elemental class. It would be better to dismantle the invocation before entering."
"Let me do it. I know what this bitch could have cast. Goblins can't learn much magic outside shamanic tinkering. If it is a combat invocation, her options are limited." The gruff voice belonged to the only dwarf of the team. He took out the oversized crossbow from his back, pointing it at the cave's mouth.
"A Common-grade Airshield, isn't it? What a pathetic struggle to put out before dying!"
The first crossbow bolt shot out in silence, but it elicited a loud screech as it tried to penetrate the invisible shield at the cave's opening. The bolt did succeed in crossing that meter-wide region, only to lose its momentum and fall to the floor, rolling over to the Goblin woman's feet.
"The invocation has been weakened by 30% at least," the other Elf said while staring at a thin device held in his hand. "Shoot a few more, and aim all of them at her throat."
The dwarf complied with the order. Bolts after bolts crashed into the empty space in front of the cave. Those with affinity to air elemental magic could almost sense each indentation made by the bolts. By the fifth shot, the airshield barely put up any resistance, only serving to sway the bolt off its trajectory. It hit the metal coffin with all of its momentum and sank an inch, surprising the Goblin woman.
With some effort, she pulled it out, feeling indignant for her master. If these bastards knew whose coffin this was-
Her breath was caught in its path. A long crack had formed around the hole made by the bolt. It spread and spread, encircling the entire coffin within seconds.
Clang!
Another bolt hit the coffin, narrowly missing the right side of her throat, and it became the one to completely shatter the seemingly fragile metal box. The coffin broke into countless thin shards, akin to broken pieces of black glass, and revealed a naked human, a handsome young man in his early twenties, buried beneath the rubble.
And he had a boner.