"Don't tell me… Your friends turned against you?"

"I don't have any friends."

"Oh, you poor thing…"

***

A couple of hours earlier,

"Huff… Huff…"

Branches lashed against her skin as Syl pushed forward, her breath ragged.

Her mind continually replayed the sight of the Fox girl, that timid and weak Fox girl, erupting into flames to fight against that strange creature.

She finally broke through into a small clearing where the rest of the Hobgoblins waited. Their broad figures loomed among the trees and tension was written across their scarred face.

One of them stepped forward, his jaw tightening.

"Syl? Why the fuck did you go back?"

"Yeah. Just when we all escaped, you ran back in there. What the fuck was that?"

Syl slowed her steps, brushing leaves from her tangled hair. Her amber eyes studied them calmly, almost coldly. "Why are you hanging around with Goblins?" She asked, aiming to change the subject.

"They're hanging around us, the little mutts."

"Should I kick them away?"

Goblins were always a surefire way of changing the subject.

At that, the Goblins nearby cursed, kicking dirt and hissing like feral dogs.

"We need to think about what we're doing now." Syl sighed.

The Hobgoblins spat on the ground and shook their heads.

"It's all fucked." One of the Hobgoblins growled. "We didn't get what we came for. And we lost the Fox too."

Syl held a hand to her chin. "Losing her doesn't matter." She said. "What mattered was assessing the importance of what the Goblins held. That was the mission, really. And we did just that."

Her casual tone earned narrowed eyes. The Hobgoblins exchanged suspicious glances. One of them let out a low growl.

"You don't sound too upset about it, Syl."

Syl shrugged, stepping past them, her body tense but unhurried. "Because I'm not. We've lost more than half our group, and all of our wolves. Surely that proves we've worked pretty hard, no? That Monster… The Goblins didn't tell us about it. There was nothing more we could do." She explained before turning towards them. "For anything further, the big guns are necessary. We did a good job, all things considered.

'Easy for you to say…'

The group shifted, falling in line behind her as they moved deeper into the forest.

With that out of the way, Syl's mind quickly started floating back to that place.

'They're still fighting now, probably.'

The vision of the weak, timid Fox girl locked in a cage, suddenly blazing with fire and fury, tearing into that nightmarish creature fearlessly… That memory dug under her skin like a thorn.

'The girl wasn't always like that. It's like… She's gone through some kind of awakening. Was it caused by that one…? The one that killed Ron?'

Pretty quickly, Syl found her mind wandering and converging towards a very, very dangerous thought.

'If I had stayed, if I had jumped into that fight instead of leaving, could I…' Syl thought bitterly, her nails digging into her palms. ' Have gone through some kind of awakening too?'

Her lips pressed into a thin line. She shook her head violently, chasing away the thought.

'No. Don't be stupid. I was special enough to be chosen as a Warrior. That's all. Not special enough for anything beyond that. I'm not even one of our Elites…'

Syl clenched her fists, but her mind refused to obey.

'For a moment, for a very short moment, an opportunity to leave that tribe, an opportunity to become more than I am, presented itself… And I just… Let it slip by-'

"Syl!"

Her name snapped her out of her spiral. Still leading the group, she turned around and-

Bam!

Pain exploded across her jaw, her vision shattering into white sparks. A solid fist had just slammed into her chin.

Her knees hit the ground, and the rest of her body shortly followed.

The Hobgoblins loomed over her limp, unconscious body, their shadows stretching long in the afternoon light.

Snickers and cruel chuckles rippled through the group.

Four Goblins slithered out from behind the trees, their sharp teeth glinting, their yellow eyes gleaming with sick delight.

"At times like these…" one of the Hobgoblins said with a grin, his hand tightening into a fist. "We have to think about ourselves."

The Hobgoblins had agreed on this only moments after Syl had run into the village.

"Just like we rehearsed, right, little Goblins?"

"Yea… Yes, of course, of course." One of the Goblins answered while rubbing its hands together. "And then… We will get females, right?"

"Isn't she female enough for you?" The Hobgoblin asked, gesturing towards the unconscious Syl.

The Goblins stepped closer with curious eyes.

"Ugh…" The Hobgoblins sighed before crouching. His knife cut parts of Syl's clothes, revealing a bit more cleavage and a bit more of her thighs.

The Goblins still seemed unsure.

"Fine, we'll get you your females. One female for each of you. How does that sound?"

The Goblins nearly had an erection just hearing that.

"Y-Ye-Yesh… Good…. Very good…"

"We'll have to get to our Chief first. You understand?"

"Of course." The Goblins were now immensely motivated. "Our Chief, Syl, and Ron all acted together to steal that thing and dupe your chief. They wanted it to themselves. Syl and Ron promised the female to our Chief, and our Chief promised that thing that the Hobgoblin Chief wanted."

The Hobgoblins exchanged looks, impressed by the fact that Goblin IQ wasn't at 0.

"You think this is going to help?" Another Hobgoblin asked, unsure.

"Tie her up. Wrists and ankles." The new Hobgoblin leader ordered the Goblins. "We can either come back empty-handed and get killed, or we can come back with a traitor held captive. I think the second option works much better for us, doesn't it?"

The Hobgoblins muttered between themselves, before nodding in agreement. They took a couple of steps away from the Goblins. The witnesses were necessary to ensure the lie worked.

"Are you serious about giving them Syl, though? Giving her to the Goblins? You know that the Chief…"

"Of course not." The Hobgoblin shrugged with a chuckle. "I would never let one of our Warriors get fucked, or worse impregnated by a Goblin."

His eyes narrowed on the unconscious Syl.

'Right now, our lives are in danger. When Warriors fuck up, they get killed. When female Warriors fuck, they…'

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