Chapter 234: Comrade

Walking the distance towards the strange, bioluminescent clearing with the overgrown lichens took less time than expected, as Aiden's thoughts continued racing trying to find some answers to his most pressing identity questions.

Arriving at the magical barrier that seemed to withstand and block all outsiders from taking a step inside, Aiden, just like before crossed through with ease. Once done so, he quickly found himself at the other side, the barren wasteland, this horrific, another world with the lone tent-like shack not too far away from him.

In front of it, there was already a large bonfire lit. Its long, tall orange flames danced their rhythmic dance against each other, wiggling and squirting towards high up the sky. The fire was much bigger than what they set in the camp, reaching the heights of the yurt behind it.

Next to the bonfire, the decrepit, old man was already sitting in a stump twiddling the ends of his long silvery beard with what seemed to be a bone from a humanoid's finger…

His gnarled stick, which he mostly used as a traveling aid was resting next to him. Seeing the old man again confirmed his last suspicions; Aiden was now absolutely certain that it was he who kept monitoring them and sent those two on them previously.

Still, from the memories of the absorbed orc, he knew that the old man wasn't the true mastermind, he was merely a pawn, a tool to be used by the being behind him. Although he couldn't see more, he was also fairly certain that even with getting his memories wouldn't reveal much more than likely it would be the same as the goblins leader's. 

With that, another thought came to Aiden's mind, his eyes snapped on the very same gnarled, ugly and useless-looking branch with the unusually large red gemstone placed at the top. It was almost the exact same as what the goblin leader had, the same 'holy relic' the entire tribe almost worshipped. He also clearly remembers that the gemstone was 'talking' to the deceased and absorbed goblin throughout his life and pushed him to the top of his tribe and to join the horde as well. It also provided strange, mystical, magical powers to him, and to the warriors with him, turning their frail, weak bodies into fearsome, brutal, bloodthirsty killing machines.

Could that item sitting next to the old man, that walking aid be serving the very same purpose for this old man? Could the source of his powers, this strange barrier surrounding their tribe, his inexplicable methods of keeping watch, whatever other powers yet to be revealed be coming from that same gemstone? What type of connection was this? Where and more importantly: who they were connected to?

Letting his eyes linger a bit longer on the resting walking aid, Aiden, still donning his goblin form calmly approached the sitting old man.

"[Goblin] We meet again, old man." Despite the anger he felt, he still forced his usual calm and friendly tone towards the old man. At least for now.

Not minding the obvious fakeness in his voice, the old man nodded at the little, green guy's approach. 

"[Goblin] Come, take a seat. We have much to discuss and got so little time to do so." The old man's raspy voice filled the air between them. He gestured towards the second small little tree stump a bit further to his right.

"Hmm…" Giving a light nod, Aiden took the offered seat and looked at the old man. "[Goblin] Please, begin." He asked, the friendly, kind smile not leaving his face as he looked at the shaman.

Instead of giving a straight answer, the old man simply smiled. Stopping his current action of combing his beard with the strange piece of bone, he reached out for his walking stick with his frail, bone-like left arm and threw the gemstoned branch in front of Aiden, surprising him with action by a great deal in the process.

Not expecting that he would just simply hand over the staff without any fuss, Aiden was at a momentary loss for words. Silently reaching for the ugly piece of wood, he grabbed it and raised it in front of his eyes, taking a closer look at the scarlet gemstone adorned at its top.

"[Goblin] It is just as you think. They are connected." The old man's raspy voice once again could be heard as he continued to put all his attention on his own combing. 

"[Goblin] They? What do you mean?" Raising his eyebrows, Aiden averted his attention from the gemstone. 

It was as if something or someone was waiting for this exact moment because as soon as he shifted his focus back to the old man, a small stream of gaseous substance began to escape through a thin trail of translucent trail of smoke from the crystal.

Unfortunately for him, her or it, such an attempt wouldn't be able to escape Aiden's senses. He flicked his hand, and to the great shock and surprise of the old man, the entire staff suddenly vanished without a trace. The small, minuscule amount of smoke that already escaped, faded a few moments later as well without the support of the gemstone.

Seeing his staff vanish into nothingness with a flick of this goblin's wrist, caused great shock and surprise internally to the old man. Still, on the outside, barely, just barely he managed to retain his calm and collected outlook, albeit now all his previous planning has gone to smoke, he still had many back-up plans for outcomes even such as this.

His face began to contort, and a grimace-like smile started to reveal its ugly sight on the edges of his aged and wrinkled face.

"[Goblin] Nice trick there, young man!" He first gave honest-sounding applause for the vanishing trick he did, lifting his gaze from the action he had been continuously doing, then before Aiden had a chance to respond he continued in his raspy voice.

"[Goblin] I have to admit, I severely underestimated and misjudged you. Not once, not twice but multiple times by now. That is a mistake I sincerely regret." He spoke slowly, the smile not leaving his wrinkled face. His hands stopping in their tracks, he slowly pulled out the finger-bone he was using as a comb from his long beard. "[Goblin] Luckily I have found these flaws and will now correct it before it would be too late…"

Grabbing the edges of his seat, he slowly pushed himself up to a standing position. Slowly, as he had just lost his aid, he paced closer to the sitting goblin, with the same smile stretching those aged facial muscles of his. Arriving only a few steps away from his guest, he looked deeply at the little goblin, both smiling kindly, unafraid of each other. 

Although the whole notion of this simple goblin being so brave was brisking against his orcish nature, due to his age and experience he knew that he should never judge a book by its cover, never look down on a creature just because they looked weak at a first glance. There are way too many mysteries in this world than one could imagine.

Looking at the old shaman's actions, Aiden wasn't entirely sure how to react. Still, even if he planned to launch a 'surprise' attack, he felt that he was more than enough in his current form to hold him back. Aiden knew that the old man had tremendous powers inside those frail, wrinkled body of his, so before he would be able to correctly judge his power level, Aiden would only be staying on the defensive. 

Attacking without understanding your opponent correctly would be a really unwise thing to do after all.

In the next moment, however, to Aiden's great surprise, the old shaman suddenly bowed deeply in front of him.

"[Goblin] I apologize for my earlier actions comrade! I have now realized that you are just like me, an agent of them, a herald walking amongst us! I should have realized it sooner, as you did carry their symbol with you earlier, but I was blind! Please forgive my blunt and barbaric actions that may have caused you inconvenience earlier."

For the first time, Aiden could only hear pure honestly, a heartfelt desire to apologize for one's mistakes and get closer to his 'comrade-in-arms', whatever that may have meant… Unsure of what to do, he simply nodded, accepting his apology, as simply that seemed the best course of action currently. 

"[Goblin] Thank you, comrade!" His hideous grin curving higher and higher on his wrinkled face, the old man fervently shook the small goblin's hands before he sat on the ground next to him.

"[Goblin] Comrade, are you here for the sanctum as well?" The old man asked, looking at the goblin in a much different light than even just a few minutes ago. Before he could ask, the old man continued. "[Goblin] If you do, I hope you know that you can't simply enter their Grotto like that! You need to provide the necessary sacrifice, so the ritual can judge if you are worthy of their boon or not!"