Chapter One: Nightstone, Part Two

Sorvex opened the door to the cottage. There may be some good loot in there for him to steal. He was welcomed with the smell of expired food, for the kitchen was on the first floor. In the middle of the room was the kitchen counter. Utensils were neatly hung from the ceiling by boxes and ropes. The counter, how ever, was messy and mixed up with utensils, rotting food, and just everyday items. There was a chest in the left corner and a brick oven to the right. Facing the front of the house where the windows were, the sink was overflowing with dishes with mold growing on them.

He went towards the chest, pinching his nose, and opened it. It was empty. "How disappointing," Sorvex muttered.

"It's the goblins mom! They're in our house!" a voice called from above

"Sush, my child, or else they'll hear us," another voice replied.

Sorvex heard two muffled voices up on the second floor. Civilians? How and why are they still there? He started towards the stairs with his hands up. There was a small crack in the door on the top of the stairs. He saw a pair of eyes there. "I mean no harm. I'm one of the adventurers here." He felt the tension in the air lessen as he told them who he was. He was going to save them, but he was saving them mainly because they might pay him for this heroic action.

Tiny voices spoke in front of the house in an unknown language. Sorvex knew they were goblins the moment he heard their little baby voices. Three goblins were approaching the house with one large wolf. The wolf was almost as tall as him. He faced the villagers in the second floor through the door and whispered, "Sush, there's goblins outside, stay here." He got a slight glimpse of a little girl nodding. He quickly went into the kitchen and wondered what to do. Should he fight? Or should he hide? He went to the back door, but it wouldn't budge; boulders have blocked the outside and destroyed what was the restroom. He turned towards the chest. "It's a bad idea, but it's the only one I have," he mumbled to himself.

He opened the empty container and filled it with his body and closed the lid, leaving a big enough hole to peek through. His plan was to wait for the goblins to come close and then to slit their throats, but he then had a question in mind. Why were the goblins here? Where did they come from? He should probably tell the rest of the party. The goblins entered the room without the wolf; the wolf stayed outside to guard the place.

They did almost exactly what he was doing earlier. Then the goblins approached the chest. He prepared to jump out and attack them.

The sneeze of a child shook the roof lightly. The goblins looked up and cackled. They started to speak in their language, something Sorvex couldn't understand, and ran to the stairs. Even though he was a good-for-nothing Rogue, he still wanted to be a "hero". He jumped out of the chest and yelled, "Over here!" hoping it would get the goblins attention. It worked too well, for the wolf crashed through the windows and started to dig into his armor. The goblins, seeing the downed Rogue, kept going up the stairs. They tried to open the door, giggling like crazy, but it was locked.

They then got out their daggers and started to break down the door. The little girl screamed as the Rogue was powerless to help. He felt defeated, he could already hear the bells of heaven ring... actually, he heard the crash of a huge bell in the distance. The wolf jumped from the sound and shockwave. With this open opportunity, he unsheathed his dagger and shoved it into the wolf's chest. It cried and whimpered in pain before falling limp on the floor.

"Bad dog. Sit," he told the corpse of the wolf. He felt victorious, but then he remembered the civilians in the second floor. He ran up the stairs and found the broken door. "No. No, no, no, no!" he yelled as he walked up the stairs. He entered the room… and found it empty?

To the right he saw the shattered windows and some blood and glass on the floor. To the left he saw another broken window with blood on the floor, but no glass. The room was the typical master bedroom, except it was broken and old. He looked out the shattered window to the left and saw Justin Time on the rooftops with the civilians running with him.

"That son of a gun, haha!" Sorvex cheered and yelled. In the distance, he heard the scream and roar from someone afar, but he ignored it for how happy he was that the villagers were safe.

Justin Time ran with the villagers saying, "Keep running no matter what, I ordered with a posed look!" The Villagers were too scared to wonder why he spoke so weirdly. He whimpered in pain as his arms, face, and legs were cut by the glass.

Earlier, Justin Time saw the goblins enter the house where the Rogue entered, but he also knew that two people, a little girl and her mom, were up there. He quickly analyzed the situation and decided that jumping through the second floor windows wouldn't be the safest way, but the most efficient and fastest way to do so.

He climbed up the water drain that was at the side of the house, a house that only had one floor, and climbed onto the roof. He looked through the window and saw a blonde little girl and her mother with deep black hair were up there.

"Mom, will we die?" the little girl asked.

The mom, with sadness in her eyes knowing that she and her daughter may die, put up a brave face and said, "Honey, I will always be with you and protect you, so don't worry." She held her daughter in her arms, stroking her head. The truth was that her daughter was a burden to her. Before the castle went into ruins, she had to work 3-5 jobs just to support herself and her daughter. Occasionally, evil thoughts like, "I wish she never existed," and, "it would be so much easier without her," would pass her mind, but she would dismiss them, saying to herself in private that she loves her daughter, over and over and over. One time she even attempted to kill her daughter in her sleep.

To this day, it was still one of her greatest regrets. She wished that she would have never thought and tried to kill her, but it was just an alibi.

She wished for her child to die. As she was stroking her daughters head, faint whispers of her evil thoughts entered her mind once more. "Why don't you get rid of her now? Just say, 'The goblins killed her!' It'll be easier without her." She shook her head and tried to get rid of those thoughts. She mumbled under her breath, "I'm a good mom… I'm a good mom… I love my daughter more than anything else…"

Her daughter noticed and was slowly realizing what she was thinking.

The window on her right shattered as a blue elf jumped through. He bled from the cuts of the glass. They both screamed as the elf grabbed both of them and jumped through the next window onto the next building's rooftop. "Run! I ordered with a posed look," he said to the villagers.

Too shocked to react to what just happened, they got up and started running. Behind them the goblins finally got through the door, saw them, and jumped towards them. Two of the goblins made the jump, but one fell and broke its neck.

Behind the goblins was a happy as heck Rogue, cheering Justin Time on. Justin also heard a crash of a huge bell in the distance and a scream, but he had to ignore it in order to save them first. The villagers and the elf were parkouring over the roofs, but it was a little hard for the daughter. They had to catch her once they got across, slowing them down.

"Why don't you leave her? She is slowing us down from escaping, I suggest with a posed look." Justin Time suggested. The mother looked at the elf in shock and anger. "Our survival chances will increase if you leave her-"

"Shut up!" the mother screamed at the elf. "I love my child, and I would take her with me no matter the circumstances!"

Justin looked at her curiously as they ran. "You say that as if it's the truth, even though your heart differs, I stated in a posed look," stated Justin.

The mother stopped in her tracks and looked at the elf in the eyes. Her darkest secret had been exposed by someone who had never even acquainted with her. Not even her late husband knew, yet this random elf did?

"You say sugar coated words like, 'I will protect you,' and, 'I will take her with me no matter the circumstances,' yet your heart says," he leaned towards the mother's ear and whispered, "I wish you were never born, I said with a posed look."

The mother turned pale and faced her child. 'He's right… I never should've had this child… She's a burden to me…' she thought. Sick, corrupted words made their way into her mind.

'Leave her.' Her mind went blank as she turned towards her daughter.

"Mom, what does he mean?" the girl asked. The mother's hands reach towards the girl, slowly, with murderous intent. Her eyes were dead inside. "Mom…?" the daughter asked again, stepping backwards. Her eyes became wide open as she was pushed from the rooftop.

The mom regained her senses as she grabbed her by the hand. "I'm so sorry! I'm so...sorry…" Se started to cry as the child too also had tears flowing down her cheeks. She lifted her daughter up. The goblins were just two buildings away.

"I believe I understand human emotions a little bit better now because of you two. Thank you for being test subjects, I said in a posed look," Justin said. The mother stared at the elf with anger and tears in her eyes. She had decided to love her daughter unconditionally and to never think of those disgusting thoughts ever again.

"Here they come, I pointed in a posed look," said Justin. The goblins were just one building away now. Justin walked to the edge of the building, took a deep breath, and yelled, "Stop!" at the top of his lungs in the goblin's own tongue. The goblins would have stopped and looked upon the elf, had they not been mid jump. The shock of the elf calling to them in their own language was more than sufficient to disrupt their concentration as they missed the following jump and fell. After a moment, the sound of an audible crack upon what seemed to be pavement could be heard from the location where the unfortunate souls fell.

"It's safe now, I said with a posed look." They climbed down the building and sat there exhausted. Sorvex came running in their direction, cheering for him.

"That was amazing Justin! But damn, your all cut up, at least you got new battle scars, haha!" cheered Sorvex.

"Thank you very much for saving us, we're in your debt," the mother said with a truly grateful smile, but she gave a dirty look towards justin.

"Heh, what did you do to them?" Sorvex asked, but then Justin suddenly collapsed. Sorvex caught him in his arms. "Woah there bud, you need to rest."

"The church…" Justin pointed at the church, then fainted before he could end his sentence with, "I pointed with a posed look."

Sorvex looked up at the church. He hoped everyone was safe as he carried Justin towards the church.