Cracked in the Illusion

Eliana, now in her orc form, stepped cautiously over the fallen Goblin Lord's body, her senses heightened. She had emerged victorious, but as she examined the underground kingdom, she felt a gnawing emptiness. Was this truly all there was? Had she fought to become the apex predator only to find that the world she'd been cast into was a mere fraction of something far greater?

The answer came when she ventured beyond the caverns where the Goblin Lord had reigned. Her heart thundered as she saw more goblins—more creatures just like her, yet vastly different in nature. They were stronger, larger, and faster than the ones she had encountered in her small colony. The hobgoblins she had bested were nothing compared to the giants roaming these deeper tunnels.

An elderly hobgoblin—one of the higher-ranking guards—observed her from a distance, his face twisted with both fear and curiosity. He had seen the change in her, felt the energy radiating from her like a storm. But there was no awe in his eyes—no respect for the victory she had achieved. There was only pity.

"Not enough," he grumbled, his voice rough as gravel. "You are but a fledgling. A child of the pit."

Confused, Eliana demanded, "What do you mean? I've defeated the Goblin Lord; I have risen beyond what any goblin here has accomplished. I am an orc, I've ascended!"

The guard chuckled darkly, shaking his head. "A mere orc? A strong beast, yes, but still weak. You think you have reached the pinnacle of power, but you're nothing more than a broken tool. You are still nothing in the eyes of those above us."

Eliana's chest tightened, her mind spinning as the implications of his words sank in. "Above us? What do you mean?" she demanded.

The hobgoblin guard looked at her with a mixture of disdain and pity, then motioned toward the distant depths of the tunnels, where the shadows seemed to warp and stretch. "Far beneath these caverns lies the true goblin kingdom, the place where real power resides. You've been living in a small colony, a mere breeding ground for our kind. The orcs? They are guards, soldiers. They protect, but they don't rule. The true goblin king doesn't reside here. Not even the Goblin Lord you just killed had the power you think he had. We are nothing more than the weak offshoots of a far stronger species. The real goblins? They live in the great colonies, where they evolve far beyond what you've seen."

Eliana's mind raced as the enormity of what the hobgoblin guard was saying finally hit her. "So.. I've been living in a lie? The kingdom I grew up in—the world I once thought was everything—is just a tiny corner of something much larger?"

The hobgoblin guard nodded solemnly. "Yes. You have a long way to go, Orc. You must ascend further if you wish to grow more powerful. You may have killed the Goblin guard of your colony, but the path to true power lies beyond that. A mere orc, even one with power, is weak compared to what comes next. You must evolve."

"Evolve?" Eliana whispered, still grappling with the weight of the revelation. "How can I evolve further?"

The guard's eyes darkened. "A goblin—or an orc—can evolve beyond what you are. It's not an easy path. But in the deeper colonies, in the heart of the true goblin kingdom, the most powerful among us undergo transformations unlike anything you can imagine. First a goblin our races first stage can evolve into a hobgoblin then a Hobgoblins evolve into orcs and orcs can further evolve into a ogre. Ogres can become Onis—creatures of such immense power that they rule entire regions of goblin territory. But even the mighty Oni is not the peak. The true rulers are the Kizin, an ancient evolution. Only a few goblins in all of history have reached that stage. The true goblin king? He is also a Kizin."

Eliana stared in stunned silence. The hobgoblin guard's words rang in her mind, churning the ashes of her dreams to dust. She had fought and bled to become an orc, only to discover that the very thing she had thought would give her power was still only a fraction of what was out there. The goblins she had destroyed, the orc she had killed—it all seemed so meaningless now.

The true goblin kingdom lay far beyond her reach, in a place where the strongest goblins—creatures she couldn't even imagine yet—ruled with terrifying strength.

But one thing was clear: If she truly wanted to take revenge, to destroy the kingdom that had once been hers, she had to evolve further. She couldn't afford to remain an orc, no matter how powerful it had made her. The orcs were weak in the grand scheme of this world. She needed to become something greater—something unstoppable.