Four people stood motionless, staring at a goat.
The goat, for its part, was slowly chewing what looked exactly like the plant from the illustration Lena held in her trembling hand.
Delicate white petals. Silver stem. Tear-shaped leaves.
A Summer's Tear.
The goat stared right back at them while it chewed. Deliberately. Slowly. Provocatively.
Silence stretched for what felt like eternity.
"Lena." Lucia's voice was strangely calm. Too calm. "Confirm. Please confirm that's the thing we've been looking for for HOURS."
Lena raised the illustration. Looked at the goat. The illustration. The goat.
"I..." Her voice cracked. "I don't even have the heart to confirm it."
This is why, Hiro thought, a vein throbbing on his temple. This is why there are so few Summer's Tears on this mountain.
The goat swallowed. Slowly. Its eyes never leaving the group's.
Then it turned and started walking away. Casually. Without hurry.
"We kill the goat."
Everyone turned to Cassian.
"Pardon?" Lucia asked.
"You heard me." Cassian pointed at the retreating animal. "That goat is too annoying to stay alive. It deserves death."
"I'm in," Hiro said immediately, hand going to his sword.
Lena nodded vigorously. "Totally agree. That goat has to die."
"WAIT!" Lucia positioned herself between them and the goat, hands raised. "We can't just... we're not going to murder an innocent goat!"
"Innocent?!" The three shouted in unison.
"It literally just ate the only Summer's Tear we've seen!"
Lucia took a deep breath. "Listen. LISTEN. Instead of committing goat murder, why not... use it?"
Confused silence.
"Use it how?" Hiro asked cautiously.
"As a detector." Lucia smiled. "There's not much vegetation here. This goat will head straight for Summer's Tears if it finds any. We just follow it."
The three looked at each other.
"That's..." Lena began.
"...smart," Hiro admitted.
"But I can still kill it afterward, right?" Cassian asked hopefully.
"NO."
"Shame."
---
They were following the goat.
At a "reasonable" distance. About ten meters. To the side, not directly behind.
Subtlety, Hiro thought. We're as subtle as ninjas.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The goat grazed peacefully. Then it stopped. Turned its head. Looked directly at the group.
Immediately, all four pretended to be deeply interested in something else.
Hiro examined a rock. "Wow. What fascinating rock texture."
Lena pointed at the sky. "Oh look, a cloud. Shaped like... a thing."
Lucia picked up a small stone. "What's this? A rock? Incredible."
Cassian whistled innocently, hands behind her back.
The goat stared at them for five long seconds.
Then continued on its way. But it kept one eye on them now. Wary.
"We're good," Lena whispered. "It hasn't spotted us."
"It totally spotted us," Cassian muttered.
The goat subtly veered left, watching their reaction from the corner of its eye.
The group subtly veered left. Totally by coincidence.
The goat stopped again. Turned fully this time.
Shit.
For three seconds, no one moved.
Then the goat ran.
"IT'S GETTING AWAY!" Lena yelled.
"AFTER IT!"
What followed was a chaotic chase across increasingly steep mountain terrain. The goat—apparently an Olympic athlete in a past life—leaped from rock to rock with insulting ease.
The group, meanwhile, stumbled, slipped, and cursed profusely.
"How... is it... so FAST?!" Lucia panted.
"It's... a demonic... goat!" Hiro replied between labored breaths.
The goat led them through increasingly dangerous cliffs. Narrow ledges. Slippery slopes. Paths that required clinging to rocks to avoid falling into the void.
"We're all going to die," Lena groaned. "Killed by a goat. What a pathetic epitaph."
Ahead, the goat vanished into a cave opening—dark, narrow, almost invisible against the rock.
"It went in there!"
"Of course it went in there," Cassian muttered, carefully climbing a rock wall. "Because why make things..."
Her foot slipped.
On a wet rock. Covered in moss.
"SHIT!"
She tipped backward, the void opening beneath her. Her arms flailed, desperately seeking a hold.
A hand grabbed her wrist.
"Got you!" Hiro pulled, but the sudden movement threw him off balance.
They both fell.
Fortunately, not into the void. Onto the rocky ledge where Hiro had been standing.
Unfortunately, in a position that would've made a shoujo manga novelist blush.
Cassian landed directly on top of Hiro, face to face, nose to nose, bodies tangled in a way that defied any platonic description.
Their eyes met.
Cassian's blue eyes. Hiro's eyes... whatever color they were—Cassian wasn't really looking, too busy panicking.
"I..." Hiro started, cheeks flushing.
"HIRO!"
Lena appeared above them like an avenging angel, yanking them apart with strength that suggested she could lift a truck if sufficiently motivated.
"Care to explain EXACTLY how this happened?!"
"It was an accident!" Hiro protested.
"An accident that lasted how long EXACTLY?!"
"Literally three seconds!"
Cassian forced herself upright, brushing off her clothes with more vigor than necessary. This isn't a romance anime. THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE ANIME. Why does it feel like a romance anime?!
She bit her tongue to keep from screaming.
Calm. Stay calm. Show no reaction. You're above this.
"Can we... continue?" she suggested in a surprisingly steady voice.
Lucia, who had witnessed the entire scene with wide eyes, nodded quickly. "Y-yes. The cave. We should... yes."
---
The cave interior was dark. Oppressive. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like teeth, and the air smelled of dampness and something more unpleasant.
Lena raised a hand, murmuring an incantation. A small orb of light materialized, floating above her palm.
"I'll keep the brightness low," she explained. "No need to waste mana."
"And the goat?" Cassian asked, peering into the darkness.
"Gone." Hiro sighed. "It probably knows this cave better than we do."
They stood at the entrance to what appeared to be a tunnel network. Passages branched in every direction—some climbing, others descending, many splitting further.
"It's a maze," Lucia whispered.
"We explore a little," Hiro decided. "If we find nothing interesting, we turn back. No need to get lost in here."
They advanced cautiously, Lena's light orb casting dancing shadows on the walls. The floor was uneven, covered in slippery stones and stagnant puddles.
Then Cassian stepped on something.
Click.
"What the..."
The floor beneath her feet tilted.
She fell into darkness, her screams echoing down a vertical shaft. Then she landed—painfully—on a pile of... something soft.
Moss? Mushrooms?
She didn't have time to analyze.
"CASSIAN!" Lena shouted from above.
"I'M OKAY!" she replied, standing with a grimace. "I'm... somewhere."
"WE'RE COMING TO..."
Click. Click.
"Oh no."
Sounds of mechanisms. Stones sliding. Traps activating.
Then the group's shouts—fading, in different directions.
Cassian was in some kind of underground chamber. Small. Rough stone walls. One exit—a narrow tunnel.
And she was alone.
"Fucking trapped cave," she growled.
---
The tunnel opened into a larger room. Faintly lit by luminescent mushrooms growing in the corners.
And she wasn't alone.
A figure stood in the center. Small—about her size. Green. With pointed ears and a hooked nose.
A goblin.
No. Wait.
Cassian squinted. Bigger than a goblin should be.
A Hobgoblin.
The creature turned, its glowing yellow eyes fixing on her. A smile—too wide, showing too many teeth—spread across its face.
"Intruder," it hissed in a grating voice. "You've entered my secret base."
Cassian immediately dropped into a defensive stance, ice forming around her hands. "Listen, green monster. We were just looking for a plant. We'll leave and..."
"Leave?" The Hobgoblin laughed—a sound like breaking glass. "Impossible. Now that you know about this place..." It rubbed its hands greedily. "...I can't let you go."
Its eyes scanned her up and down. Then it licked its lips.
Oh no. I do NOT like that look.
"This is a golden opportunity," the Hobgoblin murmured, almost to itself. "I've spent my entire life—my glorious EIGHT years—perfecting my strength. Not like those stupid other goblins who waste time raiding and multiplying."
Eight years? That's supposed to be... old?
"Most goblins die before their fifth year," it continued proudly. "The idiots die in their second. But me? I'm a survivor. Wise. Powerful."
It pointed a clawed finger at her.
"And you arrive just in time, elf. I'm going to use you to create an army of goblins. Send them to the four corners of the world. Find a way to make me immortal."
Cassian blinked. Then burst out laughing.
"You? YOU?" She pointed at it in disbelief. "A pathetic goblin who probably smells like sewers—you think you're going to... what exactly?"
Its smile widened. "Goblins are the superior race, elf. Our genes are ultra-dominant. You'll lay plenty of goblins for me."
Cassian's brain took three full seconds to process that sentence.
Then.
"WHAT."
"You heard me."
"No." Cassian shook her head violently. "No, I misheard. Repeat."
"You. Will. Lay. Goblins."
Ice exploded around Cassian's hands, forming a long, razor-sharp blade. She pointed it at the Hobgoblin, her voice icy—literally and figuratively.
"Listen carefully, you two-bit green freak. YOU, a fucking goblin who probably reeks of sewers—you think you're going to..."
She didn't finish the sentence. Too angry to find the words.
The Hobgoblin drew two daggers from its belt.
And spun them.
Fast. Too fast. Its hands blurred, the blades creating complex patterns in the air. The sound of metal slicing wind echoed in the chamber.
Cassian took a step back, slightly intimidated despite herself.
Shit. It knows how to fight.
The Hobgoblin stopped, daggers now pointed at her. Its smile never wavered.
"I never asked for your consent."
