"Courage boys, courage!"
'Huh? I forgot the TV on again... where's the remote?
"There aren't many of them, we'll manage!"
'Too loud... the alarm hasn't gone off yet, but it's already so light... what time is it?'
[Ding!]
[You have received a heroic mission]
[First Task: Goblins are attacking your house, survive until reinforcements arrive.
Main objective: survive (reward: choose a heroic class)
Secondary objective: kill five goblins (reward: a basic skill)
Bonus objective: beat back the attack before reinforcements arrive (reward: 20 silver coins)]
'Mission? What the hell is this?' I decide to open my eyes and stand up, only to be momentarily blinded by the intense blue of the sky. Opening my eyes again, slowly this time, I see what looks like a barricade in front of me. Screams echo around me, mixed with the clang of steel and the growl of beasts. The smell of blood is overwhelming.
Before I have a chance to understand what the hell is going on, a strange creature climbs over the barricade, looking around with small cruel eyes and a bestial smile full of pointed yellow teeth.
The creature's smile seems to occupy its entire face when its gaze meets mine, and with a bestial scream, it throws itself at me.
I move to the side, narrowly escaping. Before I can recover, the creature was already on its feet, coming towards me, frantically swinging a bone blade.
Except that the creature's head changes direction violently when it is hit with a wooden club, leaving a mist of blood in the air.
"Are you all right, son?" The man with the club runs towards me, and after making sure I'm not hurt, he picks up a wooden spear that I dropped during my escape and puts it in my hands. "I know you're scared, Jon, but we need to protect your mother and brothers... When the goblin climbs the barricade, you just have to push him with the spear, and we'll be fine." The man tries to give a reassuring smile, but all he shows is a tense, worried smile.
'What kind of crazy dream is this?' I look around, seeing about ten people of different ages around the barricade. The youngest is a child who looks about ten years old at the most, carrying a sharp piece of wood bigger than him. The oldest is a gray-haired man who uses a piece of board as a shield and an old rusty sword.
More and more goblins climb the barricade, quickly overwhelming the adults. The screams begin to sound more and more desperate. I use my spear, which is not unlike the spear wielded by the child next to me, and try to help the man who called me son. He makes a powerful swing with his club, knocking down two goblins and killing a third, and as he smashes the head of one, I approach and pierce the second.
[You killed a goblin slave nv 01]
"Well done Jon!" The man says proudly, before a shout drowns out the sound of battle.
"OLD TOM'S DEAD! THEY'RE COMING INTO THE WAREHOUSE!!!"
The man in front of me pales, before gritting his teeth and shouting, "NOW JOANA!!!"
I grip my spear tighter, and the adrenaline in my body surges as I watch the man run in desperation. I thought his scream was a signal for some miraculous plan, but all it does is make the fight more desperate. The number of dead goblins grows, but their numbers don't seem to diminish as more and more of them jump the barricade.
The child next to me has stopped moving, his makeshift spear lying at his feet. I see a goblin leaping at the child, its mouth open, ready to tear a chunk out of him. I step between them, receiving the goblin with the tip of my spear, the green freak is impaled, and the spear breaks under the weight, bringing the creature down on me. I hear my father's voice trying to reach me, but a goblin arrives before him and adds his weight to the body on top of me, I try to push him and the body aside, but he's faster and hits my head with a bone weapon.
The first blow blurred my vision as I felt a pain I'd never imagined before. The second blow follows, and I swear I see a red star falling on me. The pain has disappeared, and even the sounds of battle have fallen silent. I see the red star slowly approaching my face, fighting for space with the surrounding darkness.
—---
As Jon lay dying on the ground, he remembered fragments of a dream he thought he had forgotten.
He lived in another world and was known by another name... a tropical cyclone hit his town as he was returning home. An unexpected storm, followed by a flood... a woman trapped in her car screaming for help... children crying...
[Why did you do that?]
A being made of light asked while showing the scenes of his death, as if it were a movie.
"I realized that their lives were worth more than mine"
[We disagree]
"We?"
[We offer you a second chance to understand how valuable your life is, do you accept?]
"I just want to move on..."
[Watch this before you make your decision]
The film showed how he jumped into the torrent of water and garbage and went to the car, his action attracting the attention of other people who soon came to help too, and together they managed to get the woman and one of the children out. The other was trapped in the back seat, and while he was trying to free her, the car began to be loaded. He picked up the child, who appeared to be three years old, and managed to hand her over to someone else, but before he could escape from the car, he was swept away.
The film has changed, now showing a newspaper's coverage of the flood, one of its photos taking up half the screen. Then it switched to a cemetery, thousands of people waiting to pay their respects.
He saw his parents and siblings at the center of the crowd, the family he had saved was also there.
[Your sacrifice attracted the attention of the whole country. Even other countries around the world have talked about you. Many people see you as a hero]
[No one can calculate the value of a life, because it only takes a second for something seemingly worthless to become something of incalculable value]
[Very few people in your world are given the same opportunity as you. What is your decision?]
"Am I going back to my world?"
[No, you'll go to a world you've always dreamed of. In a way, it's a reward and a punishment]
"What do you mean?"
[It will depend on what your choices will be in your new life]
"I'm not coming back as a baby, am I?"
[You'll be a young man of twelve]
"I... accept"
[Well done, enjoy your new life, Jon... I'll also give you a reward for your actions in your old life]
[You've received a blessing]
[Lucky: Double the reward for heroic quests (00/05)]
—---
My consciousness returned a few moments later and I was graced with the sight of the goblin that had struck me being pierced by a spear.
The child used all his strength to push the goblin aside and then came to help me. My body shudders as I use my fingers to investigate the extent of the wound, my fingers sinking into the bloody mass that part of my forehead has become... sure there's something broken there. Blood trickles down my face, staining half the world red... I honestly have no idea how I'm conscious, let alone alive.
Apart from the child, no one else came to my rescue, everyone here was trapped in their own hell.
The child wastes no time and runs to retrieve his weapon, in my case I grab one of the bone knives used by the goblins. I crawl to the wall and manage to get up with the child's help, just in time, as another goblin approaches us from the side. The child tries to keep him at bay with her spear, but he easily dodges and charges at her, for some reason trying to overpower her rather than kill her. I throw myself at him, knocking the three of us down. An explosion of pain hits me, but I grit my teeth and resist. I try to grab the blade, but I can't, so I put my arm around his neck and try to hang him.
The goblin squirmed, drowning my body in agony, until finally the child pierced it.
It was hard to get up again. It was hard to take another step. The slightest impact seemed to drive thousands of nails into my head, each step seeming to hammer the nails in deeper. The sticky feeling of blood on me was nauseating.
'Damn lying being of light... when did I dream of a hellish world like this?
The time it took me to get up was enough for the child to get involved in another deadly battle, and it took all my willpower to take a few steps, reach her and somehow kill yet another goblin.
A gentle breeze touched my body and I heard the rustling of leaves in the distance.
'I... heard?' The sound of the wind brought a chill to my body, making me realize that there were no more sounds of battle.
Looking to the side, I saw a gray wolf full of scars, riding on top of it was a goblin carrying a whip in his hand and a sinister smile on his face.