Dawn- An age of Darkness

I and the old man made some fishing gear and we waited patiently for the fish to take a bite on the bait.

Do I even want to eat fish?

"What did you mean by goblin mages?" I didn't look at the old man and he didn't look at me.

Humans couldn't really use magic, at least most people couldn't. And if goblins could, then wouldn't that make them better than- NO. I didn't want to think about that.

Jowy and the others were still setting up the nitty-gritty of the camp. They were far away to not hear our little chatter.

"Ever wondered why some of them look more like humans?"

"I once heard a woman scream and then the guys I was with told me things." I didn't want to think about it, and I didn't want to remember those thoughts.

The old man sighed. "It's as you'd imagine. From your descriptions, I can conclude that your land was peaceful. But it isn't the same here. People die all the time and some deaths are worse than others. Becoming an undead, or being a slave-" The old man paused. He didn't want to continue and I didn't want to hear the rest either. "To the goblins…" But he still finished.

"But even if that was the case, wouldn't it take a long time for humans to give birth-"

The old man chuckled loudly. It wasn't his sarcastic laugh. He was pissed. "Goblins take merry-making seriously boy!" He chuckled some more. "And it takes just four weeks to make a goblin baby." He glared straight at me. "But there are some abnormal goblins. You won't see them out in the fields. The small ones kidnap women and take them inside their den, where those things are. What's worse, once a woman experiences that merry from those abnormal things, she is lost forever. Humans, elves, demons- everything." There was pure horror in his voice. "Even if those women were given a knife to slit their throats, they wouldn't kill the goblins or themselves. Why? Because just one night, and that is it." He was serious. "The abnormal goblins have some sort of curse on them that makes the women their slaves and there's no way to break it: we call their children the goblin mages and some of these things have the potential to become the abnormal ones. It's a nasty cycle." It was as if he was living through some horror of his own.

I couldn't look into his eyes anymore. "I see." I knew it was bad for women outside the city but this; this was much, much worse than I had ever imagined in the darkest of my dreams. "Can't we just end them all?" It wasn't a question.

And the old man knew it. "Trust me, why do you think I've spent all my life being infatuated with mystic weapons?" He chuckled again. This time, out of amusement. "It's not possible to eradicate their species." His voice went flat.

I snorted. "To shove it down the prince's ass?" I tried to make him laugh to alleviate this atmosphere I created. I didn't like this mood. So I tried to change the subject.

"Yes and no." His sarcastic laugh was back. "My wife was taken by the goblins Daarc." I don't know if he'd ever called me by my name or not, but just this once, I felt like we were connected. "They took my wife. I searched and searched and after three months found her. But the abnormal was too strong and I barely made it out alive." He was almost in tears but those eyes were fierce. "I had to kill them all. All three of my half kids and my wife. I tried my best but she couldn't be saved." He sighed. "DO you know what she said to me before dying?"

"What?" I managed.

"Kill our kids and end their misery." The old man pursed his lips and banged his hand on the ground. "Because she knew they'd turn undead. And the mystic blade's-"

"What are you two doing? Aren't you done?" Brenda walked towards us. She probably didn't hear us.

The old man cleared his throat and jumped to the pond.

"What's wrong with him?" Brenda asked.

"A lot of things," I said.

Well, I suppose you really did have your reasons, geezer.

The old man did eventually get up and sat beside me with a rod again. This time, he didn't say a word and just looked like his usual self. I didn't have the guts to ask anything.

After an hour or so, our patience ran out, or rather, Alisa's did, as she jumped in the river.

"What the hell!" I blurted out

"Relax, there's no monster in there." The old man assured me but I still wasn't so assured.

Did she have a seizure-like the old man or something?

Before I could come up with a proper reaction, she jumped right back up, with a large catfish.

"How did you…?" I was sitting pretty for an entire hour and I got nothing. The old man didn't get anything either. And this kid just happened to fetch a catfish out of nowhere?

"Let's cook this up," she said, salivating. And the fish was pretty big too, at least bigger than my arm.

She didn't answer my question and the rest of the party didn't really say much about that. We just accepted it, just like that.

It was hot, even with the shade. And the fire didn't really help keep the temperature down. I was drowning in my own sweat.

Hey didn't I buy a soap?

I looked in my bag. I had a bar of soap. I'd bought it for fifty copper back in Jelosce. "I'm diving in!" I stood up and struck a pose. I was about to take my first proper shower in three months.

"What'cha got there boy?"

I got rid of my armor and shirt. I puffed my chest, showed it to them, and jumped into the pond. I didn't even wait for their reply.

The water wasn't as cold as I hoped but it was definitely better than nothing.

The soap was decent enough. I hadn't used one in like ages. My armpits were literally hell holes now, smelling worse than a frigging goblin's mouth. So this was more than a godsend.

Soon the old man and Brenda jumped in. The old man I understood but… Brenda?

She was down to her underwear but I was amazed at how shameless she must have been. Her body was covered in water as it reached up to her neck. "What? Why're ye staring at me like that?"

"N-nothing. Didn't expect you to jump in like that. Aren't you like-ashamed?" it was more of a request than an actual question.

"Why? It's not like I'm naked or anything. Besides I lived with pirates, remember?"

"But back then, you were a guy, and now you're a gir-"

She sighed and cut me off. "Doesn't matter. You don't have the guts to try anything anyway. And besides, if anybody tries anything funny…" Her grin wasn't comforting. Here I was trying to make her a little bashful about the situation and she just out of nowhere, insulted my manhood. Moreover, she had actually dived with a knife in hand.

I dived in and used the soap nonchalantly. It was less effective than I'd hoped but at least I still had something.

Before using it I had torn it in three pieces and shared with my comrades. I never asked about their hygiene and had no queries regarding them.

"Old man, didn't you shower already? You might catch a cold you know." I swam freestyle. It'd been ages since I last had this much enthusiasm for water. I did dive in with my knife too just in case but I didn't worry about monsters at this moment as there were none inside the pond, at least I hoped so.

"This soap thing works pretty good. I think I last used this ten years ago!" The old man started to laugh. Yuck!

Brenda didn't complain though. But now she did look a bit bashful. "I can't believe my skin is so soft!" And I couldn't believe she said that out loud.

"It's done," Jowy shouted. He removed his clothing and jumped in his baby suit. We all had at least some screws loose, but Jowy? He definitely had more screws loose than all of us combined.

"Wh-Why would you come naked?" I glared.

"I heard Brenda say something like you have to jump in naked and…" And he still didn't get to the realization part. Just how naïve was he?

"I think you might have misheard me there." Brenda giggled. It wasn't a hearing issue. This was a prank set up by Brenda and that was clear. The old man was enjoying himself. He didn't even look at us anymore. I sighed and was about to head back up when suddenly out of nowhere, Alisa too jumped in- also buck naked.

This day just keeps getting more and more…. I sighed.

The shower was over and I was clean. I dried my pants. I had one extra so clothes weren't a problem. And for once I didn't smell like shit. I too had an enlightened look on my face as I stared at the distant almost afternoon sky.. And I sighed again, this time, out of satisfaction.

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