Chapter 2: A little pinch of salt, and hate

"Guys? You there? Mathew? Robbie? Lathen?" I called, cutting my way though a dense patch of forest. Every step I took with my left leg stung to high heaven, not to mention I was leaving a bit of a blood trail.

"Shayna? Amylee? Hell, even Morgan would be good right now..." My voice trailing off, my blood starting to boil as the next name came to my head. I saw red, then a white-red flash, then next thing I knew, there was a nice, charred path through the forest, and wisps of energy rising from my raised hand. Shaking my hand and shaking my head to clear away the mountain of issues, I continued through the forest, sans most of the forest in the way (some of those vines grow bloody fast!)

"Where was I...? Oh yeah... GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU?" I shouted, at the top of my lungs. And, finally, I got a answer. If not the one I wanted.

"HELP! THESE THINGS WON'T STOP COMING!" I heard someone, a girl, shout.

"Teeth on edge. Hand twitching towards weapon. Anger levels rising. Has to be her..." I muttered, before running towards the source of the shouting.

Charging into a clearing, I saw a lot of things, but only took in three: My friends in one corner, backs against a rock face. The sheer number of goblins trying to have a go at them. And the three figures standing at the front.

Robbie, blonde hair in a ponytail, wielding a sword that should be impossible for him to lift, let alone use properly.

Mathew, red cloak flowing behind him, stabbing at the nearest goblin with a rapier, his hand glowing a bright blue, evidently magic.

And Shayna, of all people, smacking any poor goblin too stupid to have a go at her with a massive hammer, white travelling cloak covering most of her body, hood down. Her hand was glowing white, every once in a while shooting a white orb at the other two, healing any wounds they got.

All three looked at me at once, with a look that collectively read: WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG?

I shrugged in reply, drew my sword, and charged right on it.

Sure, they may be about 5 foot and dumb as rocks, but man, goblins are nasty little things in large numbers. I, very quickly, learnt that randomly slashing doesn't work, as the little bastards opened up a bunch of wounds in quick succession. All of which were quickly healed by Shayna, who, for whatever reason, decided I was worth healing. Whatever her reason, I thanked her by turning the 5 goblins that decided to gang up on her into electrified piles of nonliving ash. Spinning around, I slashed at a goblin, slicing its head clean off. Smiling, I pivoted away from another goblin and introduced its face to a Fire spell. Stepping back, I felt a goblin jump onto my back, and immediately went "Oh shit." before being yanked backwards and feeling the goblin pulled off my back, before falling flat on my ass. Turning I saw Robbie yanking his sword out of the goblins body, and then a gloved hand being offered.

"So, what took you so long?" said Mathew, helping me up.

"Oh shut it. I had problems as well," I replied, standing in line with the others.

"Better late than never, eh?" said Robbie.

"Yeah, that's tru-" I was interrupted by the one person I didn't want to talk to.

"Took your sweet time! Those things nearly killed us," said Kathryn, her voice all things sugar and spice. Normally, I would give off emotional sparks. Right now, I was literally giving off sparks.

"Kathryn..." said almost everyone except Mathew and Shayna, who were smart enough to turn me around and give me a new target. The goblins.

I swear, they were "Oh shit" when they saw my face. For in that moment, I was one mean mother fucker.

"Smile kiddies. FLARE!" I shouted, before raising my hand and sending balls of energy into the sky. The goblins laughed for a moment, thinking I had missed, until the Flares starting raining down on them, the explosive spell turning all the goblins into all sorts of red mist and bits and pieces, as well as igniting the grass. Turning and looking at the now shaking Kathryn, sword in one hand, Flare orb in the other and grinning like the madman I, truthfully, am, I said:

"Now look what you went and made me do."