The Goblin Nation

On her foot was her book. She picked and began flipping through the pages until she reached the chapter showcasing the different anatomies of the races. She flipped one page after another, skipping the humans, the elves, and the beastkins until she found the ill.u.s.tration of the unknown race she saw long ago. The race had short white feathers growing out of the back of their ears, muted green skin, rat-like ears, and eyes nearly twice as big as a human"s eye. She looked back at Sun in amazement. He transformed into this unknown race.

And now Mari"s head was spinning out of control. How did he transform, and why did he turn into this particular creature? She rationalized that maybe the race that once ruled these lands saw the other races at the same level as the goblin"s final form. But that doesn"t make any sense. Mari kept staring at the page until a teardrop landed on the paper. Mari realized she was still crying and wiped her eyes. "Mom? Are you ok?" She looked up and saw Sun walking towards her offering his hand.

"Sun, you idiot!" Mari leaped forward and hugged her son, "Don"t make me worry like that!" She cried. Tears continued to flow out while her mind tries its best to process the many emotions that suddenly attacked her.

"I"m sorry I made you worry." Sun could not help but giggle, "But I"m ok." He hugged her tightly.

"Your slightly taller than me now, and your, well hair or feather, are so long. I think we need to cut it."

Behind him was the troll, rubbing its eyes with snow. Once its vision returned, it roared at the sky then looked at Sun hugging his mother. Sun glared back at the troll. "Mom, you need to let go of me now. We still have a troll to kill."

"Alright."

Mari towards the injured goblins while Sun and the troll stared at each other. Sun was moving his fingers and toes, trying to get used to this new body. The troll could not believe the red goblins grew larger and had green skin like the lesser goblins. Behind the troll was Sun"s sword. He needs to get past the troll, but his larger size means it"s going to be more difficult to dodge the troll"s attacks despite his height barely pa.s.sing the troll"s waist.

Then there was the gambeson and helmet. The helmet was far too difficult to remove, but he could still stab through the gambeson. The pants would still be easier to cut through because its shape gives the sword a larger surface for the edge to cut through. But when Sun tried to slice through it, the sword just glided on the surface. The surface was far too slippery, and the coat itself was very thick, but the gambeson was not.

Sun did not know why the troll did not have plate armor. The gambeson is excellent for a small body that could not carry a full plate armor. But steel armor may be too expensive and rare for trolls.

"Chief!" Spat yelled in the back, "We ready fight!" He and other goblins waved at Sun with their bows.

Sun grinned, "Archers! Shoot on my command!"

Suddenly, the troll sprang into action, charging towards Sun. The troll opened its arms as it plans to give Sun a bear hug. Sun, noticing the opportunity, jumped over the troll just when it was about to hug him. He landed on its strangely hardback, turned around, and started grabbed the troll"s helmet. Sun felt string on his hands and noticed the strings are tied on the helmet and was attached to the coat. Sun tried to unravel the strings as fast as possible.

The troll rolled over on the snow, throwing Sun off its back. While it had its back on the ground, Sun ran to his sword. Sun picked up his sword and pointed at the troll, "Shoot now!" The troll saw the volley of arrows and instinctively moved its arms and legs to shield its body. None of the arrows managed to penetrate through its defenses, but the troll felt angry regardless. The troll could not believe it was scared of the little arrows when it never even did anything to its gambeson. It opened its arms, ready to receive the next wave of arrows to show the goblins how their weak archery could not hope to pierce through its armor. Instead, the troll saw Sun in the air.

He jumped on top of the troll. The troll covered its neck, believing Sun would try to cut its neck once more. Instead, Sun stabbed through the gambeson and peeled off its outer skin revealing spare clothes and wool that were used for padding. The troll punched Sun off of it, sending him flying towards Mari and the goblins. The goblins managed to catch Sun and helped Mari heal Sun"s right arm. Mari"s forehead was covered in sweat and was coughing. Sun sensed something was wrong, "Mom, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I"m fine. Just running out of mana, it"s no big deal. You should worry about that instead." Mari pointed at the troll, pushing itself up."

Before the troll got up, Sun yelled to his archers, "Shoot!"

The volley of arrows struck the troll"s chest and belly. The troll could feel cold tips of the arrowheads barely touching its hair on its skin. Another wave of arrows was in the air, ready to land on their target. The troll rolled forward over its head, dodging the arrows.

After landing on its knee, the troll turned to Sun and his mother. The troll launched itself off the ground and ran towards them and terrifying speed. Sun carried his mom over his shoulder, and a goblin with his one hand ran to the side.

Sun expected the troll to stop and turn, but it continued to ruin forward. He looked at the direction the troll was heading to and saw its gleaming sheild lying on the snow.

The troll picked up its oversized shield and covered its front. It blocked all the arrows coming, protecting the troll"s entire body. While the troll hid behind its shield, Sun charged at the troll after putting his mom and the goblins down. Sun thrust his sword on the troll"s back only to hear a loud bell sound coming for the back.

Underneath the coat was a broken plate armor attached to the back of its gambeson. The troll realized Sun was behind it and turned around. It slammed its shield against Sun"s body. Sun barely managed to place the sword between himself and the shield.

Sun slid on the snow, maintaining his balance. The troll turned its head and saw that the archers ran out of arrows. A blue mist began to come out of the troll"s coat then began to swirl around the troll"s shield. "Sun, get out of there!" Mari screamed in panic.

Sun turned around and started running. The surface of the shield began to glow in blue light, and then the troll slammed the air with its shield. A large blue wave traveled on the ground, pushing snow and dirt with it. The wave eventually reached Sun, knocking him off his feet.

The troll nearly collapsed on the floor after releasing the devasting attack. The troll wanted to savor the goblin"s suffering, but it could no longer keep up the fight. It needed to end the battle now. Another blue mist began to swirl around the troll, traveling towards the shield and its legs.

"What the fact is that?"

"That"s mana. Its using mana." Mari yelled at Sun while running towards him.

"Mom! What are you doing? Get out of here." Sun tried to push his mom out of the way.

"Stop, just stand still!" Mari grabbed Sun"s arms and made his body face the troll, "Mana is very complicated to understand and more confusing to use. But if your dumb serf mother and this troll could use it, so can you."

"What do you mean?"

"Concentrate. Remember when I healed your shoulder. That cold yet soothing sensation."

"What?"

"Imagine that sensation traveling along your arm and sword. Here, I"ll release some of my mana for reference. Can you feel it?"

"Yeah."

"Now concentrate. Keep visualize the mana like syrup and cover your sword with it."

"Ok." Sun closed his eyes.

"Don"t close your eyes. You have to visualize the mana on your arm until your entire body is hot enough to melt the snow on the ground."

Sun stared at his arm and doing what his mother was telling him. His breathing started getting slower, but the beating of his heart grew faster. His body grew hotter and hotter when, finally, the cold blue mist rose from his arms and traveled to his sword. The blue mist swirled around the sword before painting the blade blue.

Mari pulled back, "That"s my boy. I knew you could do it." Then she fell on the floor. Fortunately, the goblins caught her mid-fall.

"Mom!"

"I"m ok! Now go and kill that thing." Mari tried her best not to pa.s.s out because she wants to see this moment, Sun"s moment.