As the echoes died out in the cavern, Viktor fell to his knees, heaving, his body screaming in pain. His body, while still lithe, had after the carnage taken a more defined look, albeit now filled with white scars and missing his left ear afterwards.

The others had not gone down easily. While Viktor had slowly drained them one by one, the others had been scratching, biting, bashing and kicking him with everything they had. Barely defending himself with his other hand while he directed the other at the target of his newfound power.

 A pyrrhic victory. Yet a necessity.

The now lonesome goblin collapsed among the dried husks of his former foes and closed his eye, his breathing growing steady, slowly as he laid there.

“That was one hell of a first fight there...” said a voice belonging to Higgins in his head with a slightly awkward voice. “No take backsies on the whole contract thing, right?”

(Yeah… yeah.) His response made Percy interrupt with a cheer in the background.

“What made you change your mind anyway? That was kinda… quick?” Higgins asked carefully.

(A choice of which damnation I’d take. Be a plaything or accept the contract. I would’ve been an outcast anyway, so why not be one that potentially comes through power?)

“Spoken like a bloody veteran! You sir, and don’t mind me biasedly saying, has made a wise choice!” Percy cheered while clapping his hands. “ How did you like your new power? I can assure you it is but a taste of what is in store!”

( It was weird… that way learning it.. It just clicking in my mind and.. I felt vertigo after starting it for the first time. But then nothing till I finished using it. The whole body felt like it was in flames. Was that the magic fatigue that I’ve heard about? What was that power?)

“Life drain. The starting vertigo was the fatigue.

What you are experiencing is just growing pains. Your body got healed from excessive damage, not to mention grew from consuming their lives and souls, hence the pain.

The drain is a spell quite irregular for a budding necromancer like yourself. It is something that is a natural ability of Liches rather than a spell. Nasty stuff, consumes the target, leeching their being to the lich. "

After Percy finished the explanation, Viktor descended into his darkest corners of his mind as sleep took him.

Viktor dreamed of times near, yet they felt as they were far back in time. Times of milling and small adventures in the edges of the forest, times when he did not understand pain or the fear for his life. Soon his dream changed.

In a colourless world, he walked.

He walked eons, wearing the skins of others. Eternal and always by himself, yet he kept going, never looking back.

The world continued to draw bleaker as he walked and walked, through desolate cities devoid of life and forests rotten.

He walked till the world ended, and all became dark. Nothing engulfed everything. It reminded him of the place he held his soul, an endless void with neither warmth nor light.

Waking up, he gazed at the darkness of the well, reminding him of his dream. He sighed and raised his body from the ground and stretched, his bones crackling and shifting underneath his greenish skin filled with scars.

 

Nothing had changed in the well during his time in the abyss except for a slight hue of light descending from where he had fallen.

Though, nothing had changed in the well. There had been a change in Viktor. He was hungry and thirsty.

 

After scrambling to the small lake to quench his thirst and catching some crawlers that did next to nothing to satiate his hunger, he heeled over to a flattish rock near the water. He saw another bug crawling near him and gently picked it up. He inspected the centipede he had captured with his fingers. It struggled as expected from the unexpected interruption, swaying around the air and trying to get free.

Viktors' dull green eye watched as he called upon his newfound power.

The centipedes' struggle intensified to an abnormal degree as it thrashed between Viktor's fingers. It was seemingly in extreme agony, just like the goblins before.

This went on for around ten seconds before the centipede snapped still and began to slowly shift to fine ash that slowly glided to the cavern floor.

Viktor flicked his fingers clean of the motes of ash and pondered the feeling he felt as he drained the creature. It felt like… eating? Albeit it had tasted bland? Nevertheless, his hunger had subsided slightly.

Viktor stood up and walked inwards from the shore. Soon, high pitched, barely audible screeches of critters filled the air as Viktor combed the cavern with Life Drain.

 

As this was going on, a sudden splat from the lake disturbed Viktors' massacre as the goblin turned towards the sound, letting the surviving critters he was draining to skitter away with their lives somewhat intact.

 

A rope of vines too crudely made to be of proper craftsmanship had descended from above and soon it wiggled as something descended in to the well along with a familiar sounding “goblin speak” from assumedly multiple goblins.

 

Soon, an average-looking goblin's legs came slightly to view as it continued to argue with the ones that stayed up.

 Whatever he was doing here seemed to not have been his idea based on what Viktor assumed were goblin profanities directed towards the ones staying put and the constant nagging from the ones above.

Moments later the goblin's legs disappeared along with excessive grunting and the rope was pulled taut and rose slightly up from the lake before hanging loose again.

 A head popped to view from the masonry above the cavern. The head scanned the cavern warily before connecting gazes with Viktor.

A momentary stare contest, the other goblin screamed like a banshee and its head disappeared up above again.

 

“Evil spirit below! No kin! Up! Up!” it hollered to its compatriots as the rope thrashed quite like the centipede from before.

Besides the rope thrashing around, it was quiet for a moment before the ones above responded with a lazy and mocking voice that was higher pitched than one would assume from a goblin, “Reeeeeaaaallllyyyyyy?”

“Snek no lieeee~?” The voice continued.

“Why would Snek lie! Snek no liar!” The goblin hanging from the rope, who was apparently named Snek hollered back.

“But Sneeeeek isss a coward~” The voice responded sounding mischiefful. “Would lie to get out of scary work.”

“No coward! Yes, Snek scared! But Snek saw pale kin from beyond the shroud! No lie! Fafi please!”

Snek continued to holler and scream and Viktor could hear nothing coherent beyond its pleas, but soon a new rope fell down before wiggling oddly gracefully.

Suddenly Snek let out a feeble grunt, followed by a small thud before his head appeared from above again, momentarily later followed by a second goblin as it descended enough to be fully visible.

“See Fafi! No lie, no lie! Look pale one!” Snek continued his spiel, making Viktor sigh before locking gazes with the other goblin who was hanging on a rope.

The other figure was fully clothed in slightly baggy natural looking robes. It had a hood with holes where its ears came out and a mask on that hid most of its face, leaving only two large glowing yellow orbs visible that stared back at Viktor.

“Huh.” the newcomer muttered before turning to the visible head who smugly stared at the one called Fafi, seemingly forgetting his fear of the pale-skinned goblin in a well.

The hooded goblin shrugged at the head and turned back towards Viktor.

“Thisss one iss called Fafi, greeatest best forest kin ssshaman of the Pine Scab tribe.”

“The only shaman of the scab tribe.” The head added to Fafis introduction, earning it a kick in the head by Fafi. “And this is Ssnek. Only Snek.”

“Yes this is Snek, do not eat Snek pale kin.” Snek Said as it wobbeled around because of the kick.

 

Viktor eyed the intruders warily. Yesterday's events had not gone forgotten.

“What do you want?” Viktor asked as he tensed up in case something happened. He was afraid of what the hooded figure said about being a shaman.

While Viktor knew little about goblin society, he had heard of shamans. An odd bunch of hermit like magicians beyond his homelands who did not use magic to make magic happen.

Trinket users and charlatans was the common opinion of them in the empire of Pantheon. Albeit in the empire, most spell casters were deemed heretics if they did not receive their power from the gods.

 

The hooded goblin, Fafi wiggeled down from the rope and swung herself ashore before letting go, making Viktor's self-preservation instincts have an aneurysm due to it ignoring the question and just coming over.

 

Victor snarled at Fafi and crouched down as it came ashore. Fafi barely reacted to it while Snek had an aneurysm of his own while hanging around, screeching profanities at Fafi and Victor. Something about willingly feeding a revenant goblin meat and Shaman dung brains.

Fafi stared at Viktor for a moment with curiosity before turning its face aside and swiping off some dust off her hood. “Want to welcome you to tribe.” Fafi said as it turned back towards Viktor. “Came here after scout heard screams of kin, told chief, chief decided need more kin, so we here.”

Fafi looked around and added, “Was expecting more kin based on scout's tale. But one is better than none.” And gave Viktor a reassuring nod. “Seems like strong male as well.. won’t ask where other kin.. or where get scars.”

“Ask about skin Fafi! Not Natural, Fafi!” Snek added “And definitely ask about other kin!”

“Snek be quiet now, if nothing good to add. While color odd not our problem.” Fafi sighted and picked up a rock, turned around and threw it at Snek.

A Miss.

“What not here” The hooded goblin said and picked up another pebble

“Also, not our problem.”

A second miss. The target was small and kept swinging around the mouth of the well.

“Besides..” Fafi continued.

“Not ask stupid questions when face to face with predator. Like walking over and asking fuzzy honey muncher were got blood on its snout. Stupid Snek.” Fafi vented as it concentrated on the target and put its everything in this throw.

A hit.

Snek  screetched and covered its snout with its hands “Snek now quiet, not ask stupid questions! Promise! Fafi stops throwing rocks, yes?!”

Fafi ignored Snek and turned back around to Viktor, who had stood stupefied while the two goblins argued.

“So… Does kin have name or should Fafi call it pale kin?” It asked, while tilting its head.

“Vi.. Have no name.” Viktor, decided to not use his human name, while his knowledge of goblin names was limited, based on Fafi and Snek, Viktor did not seem as something a mommy goblin names its baby. Is there even mommy goblins?

“Fafi will then call you pale one, is fine?”

“Yes” Victor nodded, before hesitantly adding, “How did you know I did something to other forest kin?”

 

Fafi stared at Viktor in silence for a moment before shaking its head before pulling the hood down. The ears came out of their holes with ease and beneath the hood fell out messy long hair in between black and dark green.

“Not sure if want in tribe if stupid like Snek” she said while pulling off her mask. She was... feminine. In an odd goblin way.  Eyes larger than male goblins with an oval-shaped face resembling human woman’s.  “One should not admit such things.”  

She sighed, before giving a toothy grin showing her sharp teeth. “Tough if this is pale one bragging about it, then Fafi is impressed. Pale one might be muscle brain, but Fafi won’t blame him if it could take out rest of spawn after birth.”

Victor blushed at the female goblin's words, feeling dumb for admitting what he had done, causing Fafi to crackle a teasing laughter. Apparently, she had deemed Viktor to be harmless.

“Ssso paaale oneee, want to come out of your well?” She asked while smirking widely, showing her canines on one side of the mouth while crossing her arms in front of her, making the robe to cling closer to her, making her feminine, lithe body to show beneath the robe.

Viktor nodded while Snek chortled and pointed at the new blushing idiot of Tribe Pine Scab.