My eyes... finally opened... to see something green. It was green even in the dark room.

  I thought I had a vision problem, but..

  My skin...?

  Is this really my skin?

  The goblin stared at his hands, turning them slowly in the dim light. What lay before his eyes was the rough, rotting wood of a hut's walls. The smell around him was a mix of damp earth and something like smoldering firewood.

  He rose and moved toward the door , but it was nothing like the doors he had known before. No handle. No lock. Just a crude slab of wood held by a leather strap.

  He pushed it open quietly...

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  The sound of cheering goblins filled the air outside.

  Their voices were less like cheering and more like a small brawl , rowdy, sharp, and chaotic.

  They turned to him for a moment, then continued celebrating.

  What are they even celebrating? the goblin thought, watching them.

  Then he tilted his head slowly.

  ...Actually, that's the least of my worries right now.

  "AAHA kree kree!" one of them shouted, hoisting a cracked bowl into the air. Some of the soup sloshed over the rim and splattered onto the dirt.

  The goblin rubbed his eyes once, thinking he would wake up from his dream... or at least make this horrible vision go away — even for just a moment.

  But instead, nothing happened. The smoke rose from the campfire, making the scene far too real for him to deny.

  "I'm doomed." he whispered.

  His body felt cold for a moment, unable to move , just staring at the scene.

  Then something warm touched his shoulder.

  The elder of the goblins stood beside him, rubbing his beard with a dry, wheezing laugh.

  "Wraka Wraka?" the elder said.

  Then, before he could react, the elder shoved him , harder than expected , toward the campfire, where the others erupted in cheers the moment he arrived.

  Is this my new life?