Chapter 5: Goblins

It has been a couple of days since Andy's magic mishap, he made some progress he didn't have many confetti blasts anymore. Sure he did turn the peaceful forest into a chaotic wind tunnel a few times. But there were improvements.

But today was….different.

As he flew through the dense trees, Andy felt a very odd sensation. It wasn't magic, not exactly, but there was a low hum in the air, around the forest as if some people were trying to hold their breath.

He paused mid air, looked around. It was quiet. Too quiet. It's unnatural. He hadn't even heard the usual chatter of birds or the scuttling of small creatures. The wind has died down, and all the usual sounds of the forest have completely vanished for a minute.

And then he saw them, the goblins. But not the kind of goblins you read about in stories the usually terrifying and ugly. No, these goblins look different, not ugly.

They were scruffy and disheveled, yes, but they were not the wild, crazy creatures who attack whatever they see. This is not what Andy was expecting. These goblins are walking in a line, talking amongst themselves in a language that Andy couldn't quite understand but that sounded more like grumbling than actual speech.

Before Andy could observe them for some more time, one of the goblins spotted him.

"Look!" the goblin shouted, its voice a mix of awe and confusion. "what that's? A shiny thing floating?"

Andy froze. Shiny thing? Was that supposed to be him? Wait they can speak normal language? He flickered, unsure how to respond to such an.. observation.

The goblin now called a few more of its friends, pointed up at Andy. "it's glowing look! It's got to be some kind of spirit right?"

"Maybe it's a god," another goblin said, its voice filled with reverence.

Andy's light flickered, nervously, a god? What kind of God does this goblin worship? He isn't exactly a god, he is a wisp, for god's sake.

One of the goblins cautiously came towards Andy, then suddenly kneeled in front of him with his butt high, his hands raised to the sky. "Oh! Great spirit! We humble goblins are blessed by your divine presence. Bless us, Oh! Mighty One!"

Andy hovered, completely speechless. This is insane. He was called a floating ball of light a second ago, now he is a god. But before he could even think of correcting them, more goblins came and they were already chanting.

"On, for the love of.." Andy could not hear it anymore, and stopped them. "heh guys, I am not a god!"

But the goblins ignored him. They started gathering rocks, sticks and half-eaten mushrooms. And started building a small shrine with the. They seemed to believe that by offering this to the god they would be blessed.

One goblin came forward with a bowl of something. And Andy wasn't sure what it was if it was good or something sort of ceremonial offering. But it smelled like wet dirt, the held it up with its hand. "our offering to the great god," it said with deep reverence.

"yeah? I think it's…nice?" Andy said, his voice uncertain. "but I am not the god as you think. I am just a wisp. Wisp, do you understand?."

The goblins pretended they didn't hear him. They just kept bowing and presenting random offerings such as sticks, berries, and even a squirrel which looked confused.

"Um, lira!" Andy called out, hoping his sarcastic forest spirit friend would come and rescue him from this situation. "a little help here?"

But there was no sign of the lira. After a few seconds, a familiar voice came from behind him through the trees.

"What happened now, wisp?" lira called out, looking around. "it seems like you got yourself some followers."

Andy looked at her with a helpless look. "I did not ask them to be followers, they just think that I am a god! And they started to do all this stuff themselves.

Lira, has been watching the whole time from a safe distance, casually strolling around. She looked at the goblins and Andy. They are performing some kind of strange dance around Andy, she shook her head.

"Well, this is certainly a sudden turn of events," Lira said with a wicked smile. "I got to say, I didn't expect you to get this much attention."

"Ha, they think I am some kind of God," Andy sighs "This is going too far. We need to stop them before it goes out of control."

Lira snickered, clearly enjoying herself with the situation. "yeah, I can see that. You are doing a great job so far. Look at them go. They have practically made you their new king."

Andy let out a small groan of frustration. "this isn't how it was supposed to go."

"Well, it looks like you got a different kind of power now," Lira said. Tapping her chin thoughtfully. " and you know I like the idea, maybe you should play along for a little while. Let them think you are some sort of deity. It could be entertaining."

"I am not playing along!" Andy argued, with her. "this goblin came out of nowhere and suddenly started talking and made me there god, they don't even listen when I tell them!"

"Wait a second," Andy thought of something 'when I first tried to talk no voice came out of my mouth that's what I thought, then how can Lira hear me' "how can you hear me?" asked Andy.

"What do you mean, why can't I hear you?" asked Lira confused.

"I mean no voice came out of my mouth, all that came is a little light," said Andy

"you seem to mistake something you can talk about, and I can hear you loud and clear," said Lira "You just seem to be in some sort of confusion"

Andy was confused 'I was clear at that time, was I just hallucinating?, let's think about it sometime later' Andy looked at Lira "Tell me what should we do with goblins, I don't want to act like a god."

Lira shrugged. "hey, what's the harm in acting? You might learn some stuff. If at the very least you could have some fun with it. You could be a god for a day. Who is going to stop you?"

Andy hoping that he would find a quick fix to his situation, looks around at the goblins, who are very enthusiastically building a shrine in his honour. One of them was carrying something huge, and another was singing some sort of chant that sounded like some summoning chant.

The absurdity of it all hit him hard. And then he realized, what Lira said was right. There wasn't that much harm in playing along with them at least for now.

"Alright, alright," Andy muttered. "fine. I will play along with them for a little while. But I am not a god okay?"

The goblins, hearing this, went wild. They began chanting louder, their faith in him seemed to be unshakeable. Andy sighed, floating lower as they started to construct even more elaborate shrines.

"This may be the easiest leadership gig ever," he said.

"Oh, definitely," Lira said, walking past him with a satisfied smile. "you have got the goblins, so don't worry about food, or labor in the future."

Andy blinked, watching the goblins cheer as they placed more of the unripe berry on the shrine. "I don't know whether I should be flattered or horrified," he muttered.

"Why not both?" lira asked. "it will be more fun that way."

And so, Andy, our wisp, now crowned in an absurd sea of add offerings, reluctantly accepted his role as the god of a rather weird group of goblins. It was chaotic, but It was working. For now, at least