Using Keen Hearing he focused on what was ahead, the only noises he could make out were hollow knocks. Given what shades his surroundings were becoming or more precisely what the shade reminded him of he began to worry.

  As he got closer to the hollow knocks, they became clearer. Then the sounds of rattling were added. Within a few more minutes of moving forward his fears were realized.

  Two skeletons stood in the pathway up ahead but the knocks were not what he expected. Four goblins were surrounding the skeletons. The so-called “knocks” were actually from the goblins striking the skeletons with their shortswords.

  Initially what separated the skeletons was their difference in height. The left one being between 5 foot and 5 and a half feet tall and the other being roughly 6 foot

  The left skeleton had scraps of red cloth around its neck and blue cloth around its waist or hips. It was missing a few ribs as there were gaps in its rib cage. Ashton’s knowledge of anatomy was lacking but due to the missing rib bones, he was certain other bones were missing, it must be about which ones were necessary. The short skeleton carried a very rusty and clearly old sword, its coordination left much to be desired but its speed compensated for that as Ashton knew that pre-transfer he would not be able to dodge, and even now he had no clue if quick reflexes would be able to save him.

  The right skeleton also had scraps of cloth but this one had green around its neck and black around its waist. Across its face was a black mask well at least it was as it was torn and Ashton could see its teeth. This one also had a few missing bones but much more evidently was missing a few leg bones in its left leg. As opposed to the sword of the other one, this skeleton held a chain, obviously just as old and well used, it was a long chain that the skeleton was swinging around. Due to the chain swinging fast he could not tell quickly what was on the end but it seemed to be a ball of some kind.

  Each of the goblins wore the same outfit, green mask, black leather armor, and light green pants. The armor seemed to have a symbol etched into each set. A black circle with curved lines coming from out it in the same direction reminding him of a spiral. The shortswords in their hands may have actually just been daggers repurposed as shortswords due to their short stature. It was hard to tell due to the only other sword to compare it to was the decayed sword of the skeleton which was not the best representation. Each goblin was around 4 feet tall and the only things to separate them were the different hair styles and tattoos. One had a brown mohawk and a tattoo of a sword and what appeared to be some kind of a compass of his arm. One had a black ponytail, another was bald but had what seemed to be a hand drawn picture of a smiling face on his shoulder tattooed. The final one had messy short to medium length hair that was unkempt.

  Ashton hid behind a tree and some foliage watching the showdown go down. The left skeleton reared back its arm and swung the sword with great force towards the mohawk goblin, he watched as the goblin dodged striking the now wide open skeleton in the ribs. The sword went into the bone but only made it halfway through before stopping. The bald goblin which was now behind the left skeleton yelled at mohawk, it was in a different language. Ashton had traveled to Denmark once for college and the language the goblin spoke was awfully similar to the Danish he heard on that trip.

  Even though it was familiar he had no clue what he was saying. But he watched the goblin swipe at the skeleton’s arm that swung back from swinging with its sword. Striking the elbow right at the joint, the arm from that joint down flew off.

  The other set had a different approach. The ponytail made a move towards the taller skeleton, it responded by swinging the chain that it had been spinning. The end of the chain came with extreme speed at the goblin, who seemed to not know how the weapon worked as the ball struck him in his head, knocking him to the ground almost instantly. Hell even if he did, Ashton saw no way that he himself would dodge that attack. The sword wielding skeleton foretold its attack quite a bit but the chain skeleton did not make it clear until it started heading towards its target. It could decide to target any part of its target or even do an overhead or horizontal swing.

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  The messy hair acted without focusing on comrade and struck the skeleton in its tibia, as it did not have the fibula the sword went full through the lower half of its left leg. The skeleton fell backwards causing the already lacking momentum of the chain after the attack to fully stop.

  Without slowing down, messy hair swung his sword again this time decapitating it.

  After losing its arm, the shorter skeleton swung its sword towards the bald goblin. Him, seeming more experienced than the mohawk one, managed to dodge quite easily. But he let his ally attack, which landed in between two segments of the spinal cord dividing the top and bottom half of the skeleton. The bald one to be safe also decapitated the skeleton.

  They kicked the head away from the rest of each body and then all of them walked over to the one on the ground. The bald goblin checked the pulse of the ponytail goblin. The verdict was clear when he put his head down and shook his head. None of them must have been all that close as they were sad but not distraught by any means.

  Due to the action subsiding he looked to see where the heads ended up and found one right at the base of a tree, or at least it what he thought was a tree. It did not have bark, the tree-seeming thing instead seemed to be made of a large spine. Much larger than any human as it was the width of the trees in the forest. Finding no other word to describe them he referred to the extensions from the spine as branches, they were made with long and extended arm bones that separated as if they were normal branches ending with hand and finger bones, no longer having leaves. On the ground there were rib bones fused together, as if trying to be bushes. On the ground were now bones of different shapes and sizes, as if they fell down from the “trees” above.

  Ashton stood nervous taking in all that was ahead of him, as the screen appeared

  ———————

  Quest Completed: The Pallid Blight

  Reward: Common

  5 Free Skill Points Given

  ———————

  Joy about completing the quest quickly became overlooked as he saw different movement coming from the goblins than the somber processing of losing their comrade. They picked up the ponytailed one and set off back towards the forest but in a different direction than Ashton had come from.

  Ashton continued hiding as the goblins walked away, and until they were out of sight. He looked back at the where the fight took place and further into what the system called the “Pallid Blight.” Having not noticed before but there was a dense fog up ahead, one that seemed like a solid wall if it wasn’t for the smoke radiating off of it. Using his Keen Hearing he focused on listening to the fog ahead of him. At first the sounds were absent, but soon there was a faint distant sound that came closer and closer.

  He remembered the sound. It was not long since he had heard it last. It was the sound of rattling. Before long he saw another skeleton.

  Instantly, this one seemed different than the other two. It moved much more naturally, it’s walk was less dramatic than the movements of the other two skeletons.

  This one had garments on, ragged and torn but still it was at least an outfit. It had ash gray cloth draped around it like funeral shrouds. As it moved the fabric followed its body as though it had flesh underneath. Yet when the wind caught it perfectly the cloth moved revealing the bones underneath. Much more white than the others, as if its bones were cleaned. The rags flowed all the way to the ground covering its feet and making the ends dirty.

  Broad steel shoulderplates decorated across its clavicles connected by a thick metal brace arched around its neck. Though it seemed like it should be loose, it did not move. Without the use of straps or buckles. It was as if the armor was fused or even a part of the skeleton.

  The shoulderplates matched its metal gauntlets. Each finger came to a point as if it could stab something with just its hand.

  Atop its head was a crown decorated with iron spikes with the front one being the tallest. In the middle of the large spike was an inlaid faint blue gem.

  The only other sound nearby was the staff the skeleton was carrying hitting the ground. The staff was decorated in a similar manner as the gloves and shoulderplates, only growing in width near the top where a larger gem was fitted. This gem was also a faint blue like the one in the crown.

  Once it got near the bodies of the two decapitated skeletons it put its right hand out, causing the heads to return to its original skeleton. The arm also returned as well as the leg. Returning the bodies to being intact and whole.

  The next moment the blue gems lit up on the crown and staff, even the eyes of the skeleton faintly lit up. Rattling started coming from the bones on the ground and within a minute the skeletons were standing up again.

  The dressed skeleton after reviving the other two snapped its neck looking directly at Ashton.