The mud elemental could feel the stench of his enemy getting closer and closer. The wind elemental, for it could not be anything else, was regulating poison gases in its body.
If there was something the mud elemental hated above all else, it was poison gas. It seeped into the earth, it poisoned it, made the living into the undead!
"He is strong," the mud elemental said, as a goblin helped him into his dragon steel armor.
"But you are stronger, right?" The goblin fastened the pauldron. Soon, his friend was going to fight for his life.
The goblin wished he could fight with him. But with only one leg, he knew he could not. A legacy of his younger years, a legacy of bravery and strive.
"Does it matter? I refuse to watch you all die," the mud elemental was a realist. His strength was in his limbs. He could split rocks with a punch, kick down a tree, bite off bones.
The wind element would not be affected by any of these things. No, this was going to be a battle of wits on the mud elemental's side.
It was not like he had the right to fail. The lives of the ones who had saved him from death so many years ago hung in the balance.
"I'll come with you!" Gog said, for he knew that the mud elemental was putting on a brave face for him. Already knew the fate of the brave protector who had saved them from more than one crisis.
"No, Gog, you can't. I need you to do something," the mud elemental leaned in, whispering the impossible task into his friend's ear.
It was too much to ask, the mud elemental knew. But if they did not go through this plan, then they were all going to die.
"That is just a legend!" Gog protested. Surely, there was no way that he could go into the desert fast enough to retrieve the flying pig!
"No, it woke up recently. Did some pretty messed up things. It is replaced with a flying cow, but that does not mean that it has no wish granting powers left to it. I will give you enough mana for you to find it. Gog, can I count on you?"
Gog bit his bottom lip. There were sand demons in the desert. Not only that, but there were also wind elementals, and…
"I know it is too much to ask of you. Do you know why I still did it?" The mud elemental asked, his gaze soft. He poked the wooden leg the goblin balanced himself on. "You care, Gog. You care about the tribe, about the future. If there is one person who would not give up before the fight is over, then you."
Gog blinked. Had he really considered giving up and saving himself? He looked at his wooden leg.
He could remember the bear who had taken his original leg so, as if he had fought it yesterday. The beast had been just a starved anima. It had tried to kill some goblin children playing too far from the camp.
Gog had saved all three, losing his leg in the process. The bear's pelt warmed him every night. The proof that he could do the impossible.
If only he tried.
"Besides, the flying pig exists," the mud elemental petted Gog on the head once more. "Karma is ready to let us do the impossible!"
Gog nodded. Yes, the flying pig was proof enough that there were no boundaries for the people in their world.
"You can count on me!" Gog finished fastening the pauldron and stepped back to look at his handiwork. The armor was fastened; the mud elemental could still move in it.
"Before I go…" Gog did not know how to ask this of the mud elemental. They had known each other for so long, and yet, they did not share this simple courtesy. "What is your name, friend?"
"I don't have one," that was the saddest thing Gog had ever heard. "Perhaps you can give me one?"
The goblin smiled a bittersweet smile. Knowing full well that this might be their last meeting.
"How about Amias?" The goblin was a coward, he knew. For he was sure the mud elemental might not think much of it. The being was always a step behind when it came to human or demi-human customs.
The mud elemental grinned, bowing his head.
"Then from this day until my last I shall be Amias."
The goblin and mud elemental exchanged smiles, each following their destiny.
0000
As the wind elemental found the mud elemental, it smirked.
"Hello there, friend," the wind elemental let his body be colored with red miasma. Its nature, slipping through.
"Hello, friend! My name is Amias, and you?" The mud elemental was not going to start behaving like a savage just because he was at war.
His life was already flashing before his eyes. He had not told Gog the full truth.
His duty was set in stone. There was no going back.
"Amias? Nice name. Who gave it to you?" The wind elemental filled the air with its poison. Not wanting to leave anything to chance.
"Who? The one who loves me the most, of course! And you, friend, do you have a name?"
The wind elemental blinked. Its eyebrows furrowed.
"I don't need one," the being snapped. The poison rolling out of it in thicker fumes.
"That is sad, friend. Would you like me to give you one?"
The wind elemental snorted. The mud elemental started to give its mana to the earth. The goblins had to survive.
Gog had given him the name Amias.
If that was not a proof that even monsters could find companionship, then the mud elemental did not know what was.
"Sure, but I might forget it," the wind elemental calculated the distance to the goblin fortress. It calculated how long it would take the mud elemental to build his barrier.
The wind elemental did not know why, but he felt like hearing what sort of name his foe would give him.
"How about Leo?" The mud elemental asked. "For you are brave, to have come here to face me."
Leo looked on, as Amias took a hold of the rune which kept him together, cracking it in his fist.
"For only the brave winds dare to batter at a mountain," Amias said, as the berserker battle fog took over his mind. "Not that their bravery means anything, Leo. No matter how hard a wind blows, the mountain remains."
Leo chuckled. Oh, now that was almost profound.
"Even the tallest mountain can erode," Leo bit back, already moving towards Amias.
"Yes," Amias agreed, as his mana began to strengthen his limbs. "But you won't live long enough to do so."
Leo was the first one to try to cut open Amias, Amias delivered the first blow to Leo's core.
Wind battered against a mountain. It was a story as old as time.
A goblin rushed towards the sand dunes, hope in his heart.
The flying pig got out of its hiding pace and continued ever forward.
It had no other choice.