39 Towards A Meal

I turned my ethereal head in the direction of Hagitha and studied her. She was a cute little thing and had a look of wild concern on her face. I almost felt bad making her worry, but I knew better than to be distracted. Instead, I spoke directly into her mind.

"Gaze upon me. Behold my form. " I commanded, using this time to act like a powerful spirit that compelled obedience and exuded magnificence.

It felt strange since most of my interactions with living creatures had been ones wherein we were or at least I had acted like the people I was interacting with were my relative equals. Not this time though. I was obviously and demonstrably the strongest creature here, and I wasn't about to let them believe otherwise.

After commanding Hagitha to look at me I refocused on the whole scene in front of me. Calmly I opened my mouth to speak. "Enough. Calm yourselves." I told the goblin encampment, using my power and authority to project my voice throughout the collection of tents and frightened goblins.

While their attention was focused on me, Hagitha began to move closer to me. She sneakily walked in my general direction but avoided drawing overt attention to herself thanks to everyone's focus on me.

My voice silenced the panicked commotion that was audibly throughout the encampment. The goblins gradually calmed down over the course of a few moments, many of them stopping their running altogether, or approaching their mates and family members in case this was a prelude to a disaster.

A few goblins dared to try and grab their bows. I could respect such efforts, but I didn't stand idly by while they acted in a way that might endanger my allies or my scheme.

I locked my gaze on the goblins who used the moment of calmness to attempt to take a defensive stance and willed the earth to move in my defense. I didn't target the goblins themselves, as they weren't in a position to attack me just yet. Instead, I took careful aim at their weapons. I focused on the earth beneath their armaments and willed it to open up underneath their armaments.

Bows and arrows, lances, clubs, and inexpertly made axes all sunk into the earth, as if someone had dropped them into the ocean. And in order to truly cement my status as the top of the local food chain I quietly asked a question to the system.

"How do I use telekinesis? Do I just... reach out with my mind and will things to happen, like I do with earth control?" I asked the system, hoping to make use of my first real psychic ability to ensure that this conflict came to a decisive, and unpainful end for everyone involved. I heard an intrigued noise sound off in my head, and chuckled.

[Yes, actually. That's exactly what you do.] The system explained, evidently impressed that I was gradually making use of the full suite of powers I had at my disposal. I grinned, physically, and did just that.

________________________________________________

The goblins that had been attempting to rally a defensive force were the ones I targeted. I turned to look at them and reached out with my mind. I envisioned something like a network of invisible hands reaching out from my head and grabbing those few goblins who had the courage needed to move decisively in the face of danger.

The goblins, who were quite brave all things considered, suddenly made a number of unbrave noises as they felt my mind's "hands" reach out and slam into them. They were suddenly pushed back, inexplicably in their eyes. It made them even more afraid. I chuckled but was surprised, as that wasn't what I wanted to happen. I had meant to grab them, not knock them down.

"I may need... to practice this power." I muttered, very quietly. That said I gritted my teeth and reached out with another set of hands, three in total, aimed at that same number of goblins. And this time I aimed at their shoulders. The invisible hands extended forward and effortlessly found their targets, powerfully grasping the shoulders of the fallen creatures and then hoisting them into the air.

Their less courageous, and more intelligent, comrades stiffened as they examined the state of the few goblins with the courage to stand up to my allies and I. Two of them were stuck in the ground, immobilized and making exerted noises as they tried to free themselves.

And three more of them were floating in the air. The floating goblins were uttering curses and scratching at the air that surrounded them, but they continued to float helplessly. I turned my gaze away from the floating goblins and turned to face their comrades.

"I am not your enemy. Now, are you satisfied?" I asked, after having casually flexed two of my powers, in order to deal with the few goblins who attempted to stop me. A silence fell over the encampment and the creatures who had frightfully reacted to my presence looked despondent.

I looked out across the encampment and took careful stock of what I saw. It was... well it wasn't great.

The encampment was a messy, disorganized place. Tents were situated haphazardly throughout the area surrounding the hole in the ground that led to what could more reasonably be said to be the goblin's lair.

Not just were weapons strewn about, but so were conscious and unconscious goblins and goblin babies. As I studied it I got more and more annoyed. After a few moments of polite contemplation and careful examination, I opened my mouth to speak.

"I came here to present you with a gift and encourage you to worship me. But now it seems that I can provide you with an even better present than what I had originally come here to give you." I said, sounding somewhat exhausted even to myself.

"Now, allow me to introduce myself." I told the creatures, speaking confidently so as to maintain the impression I had undoubtedly impressed upon the souls of the lowly creatures I had cowed. As I did this, I freed the goblins whose feet I had trapped in the earth and lowered the goblins who I had suspended in mid-air for trying to organize a defense against my servants or me.

A part of me hoped that that would generate some goodwill towards me. That it would cause me to be seen as a powerful but also merciful entity. I knew better than to think that that was likely to occur though.

________________________________________________

"Goblins, my name is Cosecha." I told the goblins who were out of the hole and stood scattered around the encampment. Some of them muttered my name, the word escaping their lips quietly and fearfully. I chuckled, allowing the sound to not only escape my lips but to actually reverberate throughout the encampment.

A few of the goblins immediately prostrated themselves when I said my name. One of them was Troik, who had emerged from the hole alongside Mawby and Mianthus, a male goblin who was one of Troik's friends. Seeing Troik fall and show submission to me inspired a pair of goblins who had silently stared at me in terror while I defended myself from their braver allies, to do the same thing.

"I am a spirit of the harvest, the earth, and abundance. As you can see," I told my future followers, stretching out my hand in the directions of the goblins I had defeated but then mercifully freed. "I am quite powerful. My power aside, I did not come here to be your enemy." I told them.

I allowed and caused my voice to flood not only their ears but their minds, by establishing mental links with them and echoing my words into their heads. I didn't make it overt enough to draw additional attention, but I did overlay my voice with my power.

"I came here to help you. I came here because I know that you've been struggling with food and because I possess the power to end your struggles." I explained, beginning to speak more excitedly the longer I talked. I worked to hide the excitement I felt as I spoke.

"I can create an unlimited amount of fruits. And any fruit I create is perfectly healthy and is all the food a creature needs to eat for an entire day." I revealed to the goblins as I rose my watery tendril in the direction of the goblins and willed a beautiful copper-colored apple into being atop my fluid appendage.

The sudden appearance of the apple at the end of watery tendril caused the eyes of the goblins to nearly universally widened. I smiled, my airy head being thankfully visible in the darkened forest and causing some of the goblins to begin to relax. I tossed the apple to one of the goblin children, a creature even smalled than Troik or Hagitha.

The creature's father, an older, fatter goblin, caught it in midair and glared at me, before muttering that I wasn't about to "corrupt his child." That made me laugh, but so as to not cause another conflict I laughed internally. Part of why it was funny was that it wasn't a bad instinct since eating food I created opened one up to my influence, which I was could undoubtedly use to corrupt someone. I wasn't done talking and began shortly after I tossed the apple to the goblin child.

"I would like for you all to serve me, eventually. And I believe you will. But I am here today to introduce myself and to offer gifts so as to begin a fruitful conversation between my servants and me, and you all. I am in no rush to acquire your service and devotion. I will earn it." I explained, smiling at the goblins.

It was at that moment that I entered the minds of my zombified stags and withdrew the reanimating sparks that gave them what limited abilities and cruel mockery of life they possessed. The two deers slumped to the ground, once again fully and truly dead. The goblins gasped as the long bodies of the stags clattered to the earth, once more falling like puppets who had just lost their puppeteers.

"I came bearing not only fruit, but also meat. I would like to talk more, but I am happy to do so after we feast. Now come. Show me your appetites, feast and make merry." I announced, before beckoning the goblins towards the deceased deer, so that they may claim their meal.

I had worked hard for it, and I wanted to encourage them to eat their fill. The goblins rose, swiftly, thanks to the impact of hunger burning a swift hole through their prior caution, fear, and restraint.

The first of the goblins to dash forward were Mawby and Troik, rising up from their subservient positions faster than I imagined positions and animalistically lunging towards the free meal I had just given the entire tribe. As they dashed forward they opened their mouths, causing copious amounts of saliva to vacate their maws and showing me their weirdly shaped and monstrous teeth.

While a frenzied and hungry pack of goblins approached the two thick corpses I had laid out in front of them, I opened up my inventory and pulled out a third layer of stag flesh, the very flesh I collected from the body of the stag skeleton who now had impressive intelligent, skills, and an intimidating appearance.

I threw the additional layer of skin and flesh onto the corpse of one of the deers and smiled as it seemed to urge the goblins to dash towards me even faster. When those of them who got to the food quickly got there they began to speedily and messily devour the food, spraying blood and flesh everywhere with every bit, nibble, and mauling they gave the bodies. It was something else.

________________________________________________

During the minutes that followed the goblins rushing towards me with famished looks on their little faces, I was mentally messaging Hagitha, Mianthus, Troik, and Mawby. My initial message was apologetic.

"Hello everyone, I apologize for first coming and meeting you this way rather than privately meeting with each of you individually." I told the little creatures, being somewhat sincerely in my apology.

I had decided to do this in a somewhat spur of the moment way, and though I was happy with the results overall I was doing my best to assess and refine my strategies for future moments when I have to do something like this. That said the messages I received back from the goblins weren't at all negative.

"You came! You're here! You're real!" Mentally shouted Troik. I grinned at him as I read his message.

"So it's true then... is it all true? Do you realize possess all the powers Troik said you do?" Asked Mianthus, clearly and understandably being shocked by all of this. I couldn't really blame him, I doubted I'd have believed Troik if I were a goblin in this tribe given the extreme nature of what he had most likely told them.

"I never doubted you'd come eventually! I just... never imagined that it'd be so fast." Said Mawby, delighted and understandably shocked to be in my company, in the same form I had adopted when I first met her.

"To think that Troik went out and met a servant of an actual spirit..." Hagitha mused, laughter in her voice.

And that was the beginning of a few minutes of relative peace in what had been a long and quite fulfilling day.

________________________________________________

It wasn't until several minutes later when the goblins had torn through much of the body-fat and flesh of the three stags I had acquired on my way here that things quieted down enough for me to talk to the whole tribe once again.