CHAPTER III : GOBLIN
The pride of the wizards was touched by the very death of their elder wizard. Rhizok was happy about it. "Bearded fools will soon wage war without notice" he thought.
He left his thoughts aside as his chamber doors opened. "Ah, Grufus. You don't have to go somewhere? Do you?" to which the bearded goblin simple nodded in denial.
"Come, have a seat." the warlock points him to a stone slab in the center. Grufus slowly walks towards the slab, winces when he feels the cold slab and reluctantly sits on it.
"Do you know why u were called here?" asked Rhizok. To which Grufus speaks, he speaks like no other goblin but like one of the learned scholars of the past. His profound knowledge for various tongues and experience was always kept a secret. He was a unique goblin.
"I assume that the Zero King wishes to see me, for which he conveyed the message to you. For him to know about me and gain interest in me means that you mentioned me in the past. That is why i am called here, for receiving a responsible role in the war that is to come forth in the near future." saying this, the goblin pulls out a small diary and begins scribbling something.
Accepting the fact that the goblin had more intellectual prowess, he comes to the topic at hand.
"So, shall we meet the king?" the warlock asks. To which the goblin gives an obvious stare, making Rhizok feel like a fool again.
"And that's how the purple mist poisoned him" saying this, Silvexor hands over the letter to Lord Daruis. After a moment of inspection, he dabs his eyes and looks up. " Son, its time i step down from the post of the warden" he said.
Silvexor listens silently, he had expected this, since Lord Daruis had already served more than 50 years as the warden of Enchantima.
Both wizards stared at each other for a while. They looked a lot alike. After all they were father and son.
Clean cut hair with a stylish beard that changes everyday. Wizards loved their hair.
Daruis gets up, " I shall leave to meet with other wardens to plan the future course of action. The new generation of wizards are foolish, impatient and will wage war if not held by our leash of rules."
Silvexor nods in agreement and silently opens the door for him to leave. Once Daruis left, he left out a small sigh and picks up the letter again. He blindly gazed at the paper as he thought of what will he do after becoming the next 'grand warden'
Grufus stood there in silence, observing his surroundings. The mighty king lived like a simple man. There was nothing extravagant about his secret residence.
Ragnarok, this city of warlocks was supposed to be believed as the exact replica of Enchantima, the city of red wizards. There were similarities, like there were elite warlocks for red wizards here but the color of the atmosphere is too dark compared to the bright there.
Grufus moves to the next room, which was a study filled with books, scrolls, weapons and what not.
A huge man sat quietly reading something at the corner. There was a calm aura emanating from him. Grufus felt himself strangely at ease. The man seemed like a friend long forgotten.
The man was aware of his presence, his aura grew more warmer. Beckoning him.
Grufus was sure, damn sure that this is non other than the king! To be able to control aura around him and intimidate anyone. Kings are dangerous creatures but at the same time beautiful. A weird thought, grufus shrugged and moved closer and bowed low.
The man keeps the book down, stands up and breathes heavily. Grufus looks up to see his face.
He was old, very old barbarian king perhaps, had a lot of battles and still didnt show a slight image of barbaric nature. He was gentle and calm, like a loving grandfather. Why would someone like him declare war over all creatures?
Grufus's head was whirling with questions and theories when the man broke the silence, "Yes, you guessed right. I am the king and this nature doesnt suit me. But it could very well be a mask to hide my true self?"
The goblin smiles weakly. The king continues, " Why i called you here? I believe we could be friends, as we both prefer knowledge over power or riches, but in todays age power cannot be neglected. I am waging war to unify different nations, to bring change to this boring civilization"
Grufus mumbles, "You, you can read minds?"
The king stares down at him, "If you think too loud, i can catch every word"
The goblin tries to calm himself down. The king offers him a seat. The huge chair was impressive and simple. The king seats himself, "Its too early and things are happening without any detail to it" he said. " I am going to lend you my power, make you the goblin king. Gather your folks and try to make them strong, you will assist me in bringing change. No more questions."
Grufus was trying his best to grasp the situation, he had a presumption of making himself an advisor. But a king! The goblin might be different from others but he still wasn't ready for leading men at war, thoughts bubbled up inside his head when a hollow voice of the king clears his head.
The king was in his mind, whether he closed or opened his eyes, he could only see white light. He could feel a rush of power surge within him. His body went from hot to cold then hot again. He felt no pain.
The kings voice was distant, he was giving instructions to him. He wanted to speak but his face was numb. After a couple of moments, his vision clears and he sees the king's hand place over his head.
There was something wrong here, he and the king both were on same height. He looks around him to find everything distant, the king had turned himself like a giant! He was 5 times larger than an average goblin. He looks into the kings eyes, "Your questions will be answered another time" they said.
Grufus the Goblin King bows down and leaves the king in silence. He knew what to do. His only friend and master was the Zero King!
It was almost a week after the day of the attack and death of the wizard.
Enchantima was about to greet an unusual guest; a Golem
The guards at the main gate stared in awe at the mystical creature. One thing was peculiar, this golem stood on 2 feet instead of all 4!
There were various drawings and symbols of ancient language on different places on them.
The golem was all by himself and asked for an audience with Silvexor. The guards quickly sent a word for him and Silvexor came running towards the gate to meet his unusual guest, "Great to see you friend, any problems on the journey?" he said.
The golem shifted back, and splits himself in several pieces revealing a goblin floating in side the core.
The rocks slowly whirled around him as the goblin pops out and falls flat on the ground. The golem reverts back to his form and holds the goblin by his ear and said, "This little green nuisance was scouting the area or something, was surprised to see a goblin so close to a place as secret as Enchantima"
Silvexor directs the guards to take the goblin in for questioning and moves back in with his friend.
"Why did they send you? Why couldn't your father come?" he asked the golem as they made way to the council hall.
"He believed i would learn a thing or two if i joined you. He is busy with preparing for the war. The other golems don't want to get in this mess, while we contacted other elemental golems too." he replied.
"So what was the reply?"
"Only the Infernos showed the will to help"
"Hmm, i hoped all elements would join us..."
"You know that our kind are for defense, we dont like wars. Its been a thousand years since the last war, where the dragons nearly crushed us"
Silvexor sighed, they were entering the warden meeting room. "The entrance is small, could you manage?" he looked on as the golem breaks apart and forms 2 smaller versions of himself and enters the room followed by Silvexor's amazement. " Golemites" he grinned.
Wardens from different regions had come to the wizard stronghold Enchantima, the grand warden now replaced by Silvexor was to come to a conclusion on what could be done to lock off the warlocks in Ragnarok.
A hand rose, "Grand Warden, i wish to speak on behalf of the others" said the warden in white. "Ah, Azazel, please do" said Silvexor.
The white warden rises. Pulls down his hood and takes a deep breath.
"Brothers, we must first thank the golems for showing us support in the war against the wretched warlocks"
All other wardens stand up and clap in unison. The golem didn't show any emotion.
"Our guest here is Exor Rye, son of Master Deus Rye who, also happens to be a very good friend of our then grand warden, Lord Daruis. "
The council spoke among themselves for a while. Azazel continued,"I propose that our army should also consists of barbarians and archers."
" We cannot afford to take responsibility of their lives too.. " Silvexor protested.
" You say just the golem and wizard alliance will suffice? "
" I am not saying that either... " Silvexor didn't seem the have the answer. 'Him proposing such an idea will cost the wizards big time'
He looked on as the white warden swayed others to agree with him. He was helpless here without his father.
Exor leans over to Silvexor, " This ain't looking good"
The grand warden stares blankly at the big window when a guard bursts into the room.
"My lord! The prisoner is on a rampage! He has 2 hostages"
Silvexor, Exor rush immediately to the scene along with Azazel following them. The other wardens didn't bother enough.
The green prisoner, the goblin who was caught earlier was grinning at his ability to take hostages. This was a thrilling experience for his puny mind. The runestone marked by the warlocks shielded him from almost all wizard spells, since they couldn't use their powerful spells on him without having a wide area effect.
Exor, weighing more than a ton, was moving faster than the wizards.
He barged straight in, the goblin had cornered two guards and knocked them out. Exor roars to intimidate the green wimp, the goblin froze on seeing the charging devil.
He feebly held the runestone before him, hoping he would be sheilded again. But, he knew he was done for...he mouth made a weak smile.
Exor jumps a few metres before the goblin with fist first. The sheild reacts and blocks the humongous force only for half a second or less, a squishing sound and the goblin is out. Out of the building through the stone walls and Plop!
The poor green thing gets carried away in the river nearby.
"You needn't make it a big deal Exor, it was just a goblin" Azazel said.
"Sir, that goblin was scouting the area when I arrived. I've never seen or heard about discipline among those creatures before. "
The golem replied as a matter of fact.
Azazel's mouth twitched, his speech was disrupted. He was close to winning the vote to become the army chief.
" Tell me you did find something useful from that goblin " Silvexor said to the guards.
'This is bad. First the elder wizard and now an enemy attacks within their territory' he thought.
The guards hand over the contents that the goblin had on him. There was a half burnt letter. Silvexor stared at one word for a while, trying to believe it was true. 'Goblin King'
The rest of the letter didn't make much sense, it was a request for supplies for the goblin army.
' Why do the goblins have to be in this? ' as a grand warden he already got his first big challenge, war seemed imminent. No way could he end this war before it even began unless he found who the enemy was.
Warlocks, goblins, who's next?