Carbon Copy 5 - Karma

Dan woke the following day from soft poking in his chest and shoulder and groggily opened his eyes. Six pairs of green eyes stared back at him.

What the?

Startled, he scrambled to his feet. In front of him stood six of the small Goblins, now the size of preschoolers. He blinked, wondering if he was seeing things, as he tried to get the sleep out of his eyes.

He wasn't.

The goblins had grown the equivalent of a few human years in a single evening.

Damn, that stuff worked wonders, he thought as he inspected them. Glancing around the pen, he saw that the others were still sleeping, only slightly bigger than the day before.

"You are the ones that ate the wasp meat," he mumbled, not expecting a response. When one of the small Goblins nodded, Dan's mouth fell open in shock. He beckoned them closer and sat down, so he was at the same height as them. "Do you understand me?" A round of nods, and all six looked at him with roughly the same intelligence as most of the adult Goblins.

Dan tried to swallow, but his mouth was suddenly dry, and his mind spun like crazy. If they grew this big on wasp meat, he had to accelerate his not-that-well-thought-out plan.

After a few moments of trying to come up with something, he focused on the Goblins. Talking slowly, he tried to mimic the Goblin's speech patterns in the hope they would understand him even better.

"Outside are more Goblins. But bad Goblins, not nice, like me. They hit you. Try to make you do things. After you grow big they take you and make you hunt for them." Waiting, he saw that the Goblins seemed to think deeply about what he said before nodding again. I hope they understand this. Groaning as he realized it was doubtful, he still continued. "There is one female Goblin outside. Your mother. She is very bad! Kills your sisters so she can be the boss and tell others what to do."

As he said that, Dan blinked as a disgusting thing came to his mind. No, they wouldn't, he thought, pushing the horrible idea away with a shiver.

The Goblins still nodded, but he could see their attention trail off as they began sniffing. Looking for food, probably. It seemed they cared little for their sisters or had no idea what he meant. He snapped his fingers to get their attention. "She no help you find yummy food. No. She will steal the yummy food for herself! You want yummy food?"

That got their attention. Six tiny Goblins drooled as they looked at him in anticipation, nodding so hard that their black hair bobbed up and down.

"Then you follow me! When outside, hunt with me. I will teach you to find yummy food," Dan said.

The Goblins nodded again, and he quickly snatched some meat from one of his hiding spots. These things needed to be cemented as soon as possible to help them remember. Ripping it into six small pieces, he raised a finger. "This is super yummy food. Only I can get it! Practice talking today! If you can say words like me, I will give you more yummy food!"

He waited to let the words sink in, then gave the six salivating Goblins each a piece, which instantly disappeared into their mouths. Chewing a few times, they blinked and began yawning.

Does that stuff have sleeping powder in it?

Seeing them scramble over the enclosed wall and fall asleep, Dan shook his head. Now to find out where that bloody wasp came from.

Walking out of the nursery, he discovered that only a few Goblins remained, but to his distress, Tsir was there too. She was sitting with her legs apart, luckily away from him, looking at the forest, rubbing her large belly. How it had grown so much in one evening was beyond him, but she looked ready to explode. She hadn't seen him yet, and although he was reasonably sure he was the strongest Goblin around, he wasn't interested in any conflict. Besides, what if she managed to sick all other Goblins on him? He slowly began sneaking away.

"You! How you get so big!"

He barely managed two steps when Tsir's high-pitched scream broke the relative silence of the open spot.

Should he just walk off? No, what if she did rile up all the others? He wasn't sure he could fight ten fully-grown Goblins. No, who was he kidding? He was sure he couldn't!

He turned around, mind spinning as he tried to come up with a good reason. His eyes widened as he saw that Tsir had gotten up and was moving wobbly toward him. Her small beady eyes were sharp and piercing as she examined him. Seeing her gaze linger on his crotch, he shuddered.

Hell no. Not happening lady!

"What you eat?" Tsir snapped as she moved closer, only stopping when she was within arm's length of him.

"Bugs," Dan said with a shrug, then wondering if Goblins even ate those after they grew adult.

"Show me!" Tsir hissed, pointing at the forest. "Catch and bring back!"

Dan hesitated. He could just capture something and pretend, but he guessed she had eaten most bugs already. Should he get her a sliver? No. But then she would grow stronger! Wait, did Goblins get stronger like him? He'd only seen the default Goblins so far.

While he was trying to come up with a reply to appease her, Tsir hissed as her face contracted angrily. After a dangerous moment, she licked her lips and began crooning. "You bring me bugs. I let you touchie!" She began massaging her sagging wrinkly breasts, and Dan took a step back, almost vomiting all over her. When he got his stomach under control, he shuddered before nodding.

"I try. They big and fast, and I only found one. It had long stinger."

Tsir stopped and cocked her head. "This big?" She held her hands two feet apart, which was about the size of the wasp.

Dan scrunched his eyebrows and nodded. So she knew?

Tsir cackled, pointing at a part of the forest he hadn't been to yet. "They stingies. Over there. Kill many Goblins. You can kill? Bring me!" Examining him again, she licked her lips before walking back to the others and gently sitting down. Her belly was wobbling all the time, and Dan thought he saw the shape of a hand at one point.

He shook his head, trying to get the picture out of his mind, and walked in the direction Tsir had pointed in. Let's hope there aren't too many. He prayed to no particular god that it would be only a few.

He entered the unfamiliar stretch of woods carefully. There was a thick undergrowth, but luckily the bushes didn't have thorns. Still, walking upright proved almost impossible and with a weary sigh, he began crawling through, keeping his ears open for anything.

The hell am I doing? This is far too dangerous. He hesitated. Perhaps he should just make do with insects? After a few seconds of staring at the leaves in front of him, he shrugged and continued. He didn't feel any fear, which should probably worry him, but for now, he'd just take a quick look. He could always just head back.

After a while, low buzzing noises came from above. Careful to make no sound, he created a small opening to see through. The undergrowth proved only shoulder-high, but as soon as his head poked through, he froze.

He was underneath an enormous tree, and attached to the trunk was a large yellow hive with a single large opening on the bottom. Wasps were swarming around it, sitting on nearby branches, and the large orange flowers nestled between the dark green leaves.

Fuck. That many?

Heartbeat surging, he quickly lowered himself back, hoping none of the dangerous things had seen him. When nothing happened, he quietly backed up until the buzzing was gone. Then he went in another direction, perpendicular to the open spot. After crawling for twenty minutes, the undergrowth suddenly gave way to an open, sandy area. It was perhaps ten feet across without a single leaf or branch marring its white surface. The trees and bushes surrounding it almost seemed to bend away from it.

Yeah, sure. That's not ominous at all, Dan thought.

He suppressed his anxiety which had finally caught up to his actions and crawled back. With some trial and error, he eventually circled the weird sandy spot, deciding to look behind it.

After another ten minutes of crawling and growing doubts later, the undergrowth finally began thinning, and he soon crawled out into a 'normal-looking' stretch of forest.

"So now what," he whispered as he rose and inspected his surroundings. There wasn't any movement but the gently waving leaves and branches, and nothing rushing him. He inspected the impenetrable wall of leaves and branches he had just crawled out of. It was too high to make out any of the trees, and there was no sound of wasps.

Now, why is this area so different? he thought. The rest of the forest had only sparse undergrowth, mainly yellow-leafed bushes no higher than his waist that covered the areas directly beneath the trees. Curious, he began walking along the thicket further into the forest.

A minute in, he saw a yellow blur move in a tree covered in tiny purple flowers.

There we go, he thought. Staying perfectly still, he waited until the blur moved out of the tree, heading to another nearby. This wasp was smaller than the previous one, and it moved slower.

A worker?

Uncertain, Dan looked around, suddenly realizing he had no weapons or means to defend himself! Damnit, how stupid am I becoming? he thought, wondering if the change into the Goblin body had made him dumber.

Looking around, he found plenty of branches and sticks, but they all looked old and brittle. A single good hit would likely break and do little damage to the wasp.

Disgruntled, he backed up. He was about to turn and leave when he spotted a young sapling. It was smaller than he was tall and growing nice and straight, with barely any side branches to speak of. Keeping his eyes on the wasp, he crawled towards it, trying to stay behind the cover of bushes and trees where he could.

You should do fine, he thought as he gripped the sapling. Taking a deep sigh, he tugged it as hard as he could.

There was a soft, surprised yelp, but before he could even react, a green face, twisted in a snarl of rage, appeared inches from his face. He let go of the tree and dropped back, falling on his ass as he gaped at the tall green woman with long, dark brown leaves running down her head, glaring at him.

"How dare you! Don't just put your hand on my home!" A soft, venomous voice came from two beautifully curved lips. Dan stared at the figure, naked except for some leaves covering her private parts, and suddenly realized what was happening. He quickly averted his eyes but not before he saw her leafy eyebrows furrow.

Wait, she might be dangerous, stupid! he jumped up and back, but she showed no sign of moving.

Getting the feeling he was supposed to reply, Dan scrambled for something to say. "Sorry? I didn't know this was someone's home," he managed to say, his voice faltering midway.

"Of course this is someone's home! Where else would I live?" the young woman snapped.

Still, Dan saw that the Dryad, for that was what he reasoned she must be, seemed a little less hostile. She looked at him as if he was a complete idiot, which, given that he was in a Goblin body was probably a reasonable thing to think.

Wait, why is she even talking to a Goblin?

"Aren't you afraid of me?" he asked, feeling somewhat ridiculous.

She stared at him wide-eyed before scanning him. "Why? You are just some silly Goblin. Although… How come you can speak this well?" Her eyes turned to slits, and she seemed on edge again.

You only realize this now? Dan scratched his head, about to try his hand at lying, when he saw a yellow blur rushing at her from behind.

"Look out!"

He stepped forward to push her out of the way when the Dryad disappeared, leaving behind some tiny leaves that drifted down. He didn't have time to be surprised about it, as the wasp arrived, rear stinger slashing forward to impale him.

He jumped aside and felt the wings beat against his arm as the thing flashed past him. Still, as close as it got, it was much slower than the previous one. Or I've become faster, he thought as he swung at it.

He missed, but if he had timed it better, he would have definitely hit it. His fear lessened as he got ready. The wasp turned around and rushed toward him again, and curving his fingers in claws, he waited till the last moment. Like a matador, he stepped to the side and slashed at the soft transparent wings. His nails slashed through without any effort. The wasp tumbled out of the air and rolled over the ground while buzzing like crazy.

That was easy? As soon as the thought came, he wanted to banish it, but it was too late. More high-pitched buzzing made him dive forward, rolling over the ground and getting up in a reasonable display of finesse. Two of the bigger wasps flashed past him. Give me a break already!

Cursing in fear, he scrambled up, realizing they were blocking his way back to the dense undergrowth.

"This way!"

Startled, he turned to see the Dryad beckoning him. She was pointing deeper into the forest. "They don't like water! Go to the river!" Then she disappeared again.

Wishing he could do that, Dan ran in the direction she had pointed in, trying to squeeze every ounce of speed from his limbs. Within ten steps, his movements went from worried to smooth and sure as his bare toes dug into the soil, propelling him forward. His muscular body readily obeyed like a well-oiled machine, and he felt a thrill as the world streaked past. He hadn't been this fast during his best days at the track!

A quickly approaching buzzing caused his elation to evaporate, and he dodged around a wide tree. There was an instant collision, causing his heart to shoot up in his throat. To close!

Something sparkled between the trees in the distance, and he rushed towards it. Using the trees to hinder the pursuing wasps, he was almost in disbelief that he managed to reach the edge of the forest.

Sprinting towards the rapidly flowing river, he took one look back. The two wasps dodged out of the forest and rushed toward him. Fuck it! He turned and jumped feet forward into the current.

Cold water wrapped around him, and the powerful current instantly dragged him away. He flailed around, trying desperately to keep his head above the surface. The river was deep, but sharp boulders sat on the bottom, and his legs beat against them so hard that fear of breaking them managed to wake his fuzzy mind.

Swim!

Trying to get level into the water didn't work, and as he struggled, he didn't even notice that the wasps had gone. He attempted to get to the shore. Swimming had never been his thing, but he finally reached the shallower waters. Sadly, the round boulders made it impossible to get a good grip, and the current kept knocking him off his feet. After a few tries, he felt his energy dwindling and all he could do was keep his head above the water.

He had no idea how long he was pulled along, but eventually, his clouded vision spotted a large tree toppled over and partially in the river. With his final bit of strength, he swam to it and grabbed it as he slammed into it. He felt his ribs bruise from the impact but ignored the pain and dragged himself to the main trunk. Once there, he climbed up, his nails digging deep into the soft pulpy wood. Finally out of the water, he dropped on his back, dead tired and shivering from the cold while gulping in air.

Stay awake, stay awake! he kept chanting in his head, and as soon as he felt his breath come back, he shakily rose to his knees. He was still surrounded by water, and his first priority was getting back to the shore. Climbing across the slippery wood, he was grateful for the long and sharp Goblin nails, which allowed him to keep himself from slipping back into the water. Arriving at the shore, part of him noticed that the sand was a light brown color, different from the black he had seen.

Trying to stand, he stumbled and fell forward, his hands stretched out just in time to prevent himself from getting a mouth full of sand. He looked around and saw he was in a clearing in the forest, and he had no idea what way he should go. Everything looked roughly the same, with trees all around. Still, one side had less undergrowth and seemed easier to move through.

His mind drifted off as he looked into the distance, shadows long and deep, and-

No, stop getting distracted, he told himself.

With a quick shake of his head, he managed to clear his head slightly. He needed to get warm and find a place to rest! Do Goblins get sick? Shaking his head at the fleeting idea, he pushed himself up, finally managing to stay on his feet.

After a short moment, he began staggering forward, and his body immediately started warming up a little. Insane, he thought. How would a human ever win against something like a Goblin? Were they indestructible? Or was it just him and his mana skills?

When he arrived at the nearest tree, he looked around. The forest wasn't exactly the same. It was darker, the canopy of leaves almost completely blocking out the late afternoon sun. The lack of undergrowth wasn't the only oddity, as dark tree trunks littered the ground. It was also quiet. Very quiet. Standing still, he held his breath but didn't hear any bird sounds. Even the roaring river seemed to have quieted.

An influx of adrenaline gave him enough energy to stand upright again and he looked back from where he came. The river was barely visible between the trees. Didn't I only just enter? How can there be that many trees behind me?"

Adrenaline and fear flushed away the weariness, and he stumbled back. As he did, he glimpsed slight movements in the trees. A soft noise came from multiple locations, like fingernails tapping on wood.

Please no…

As his stringy goblin hairs tried to stand upright, Dan watched something moving from between the tree toward him. Shadowy and long, it wasn't as fast as the wasp, but much faster than he knew he was.

Shit, shit.

A large centipede burst out of the shadows so suddenly he almost screamed, and he turned around, sprinting towards the edge of the forest. From the side, he heard more ticking legs, and he looked, fear growing. More centipedes were coming out from between the trees, running towards him.

With energy he had no right to have, he sprinted out of the forest and continued along the river's edge.

"Leave me alone," he screamed.

With no trees to block him, his speed almost doubled and the tapping from behind slowly faded. He didn't stop, though, even when the sounds of pursuit vanished. Only when he was out of breath and to the point of vomiting did he slow down.

He walked for a few more steps, almost tripped, and stopped. With his hands on his knees, he looked to the side. The forest was still there, dark and dangerous, while the roaring river blocked his path on the other side. It took him a while to get his breath back, but when he did, he noticed he was hot and sweating.

At least I'm not cold anymore. Noting he had been running upstream, he sighed. At least he had been running in the right direction.

Tired, with sore legs, he began trudging forward towards the slowly darkening sky.

It was pitch black when he finally reached a familiar part of the forest: the small sandy outcrop of the river close to where he had once fought the cats. Staring into the dark woods, he sighed, tired and hungry.

Keep going.

He walked on, heading where he remembered the game trail to be. He found it within minutes, a little luck on a bad day. Following it, he kept looking over his shoulder and all around. With his luck, he'd be ambushed by another of those cats.

Halfway to the Goblin camp, he heard something from inside the forest to the side of the trail. He froze and listened, picking up a muted shout.

Should he go look? He was weary, but at the same time, he expected that if he came back empty-handed, Tsir would try and make his life miserable. Besides, he wasn't as tired as he knew he should be. Sighing deeply, he snuck inside the forest, slowly moving towards the yelling. A few minutes later, the yelling became loud enough that he could pick out individual words.

Based on the few he heard, it almost sounded like Goblins fighting something.

That can't be... they always head back before dark!

Sneaking forward carefully, he reached the edge of a clearing, thick bushes around it. Please don't let something jump me, he thought as he gingerly stuck his head through.

Ahead of him lay an open area with a single enormous tree in the middle. Beneath it, with their backs against the tree, was a group of Goblins. They were using their spears to keep three dog-sized insects at bay.

Two unmoving Goblins lay a short distance away from the combatants, and Dan spotted familiar, crappy spears next to them. Should he grab it and help?

"Small, stupid. Leave! We no want eat!" A familiar voice came from the Goblins, and Dan looked up in shock. That was Bur! Since when was he hunting with the others?

He watched for a few moments, noting that the Goblins were uncoordinated and slow but still managed to hold back the three insects. If they can do that, I should be fine, he thought.

Making up his mind, he rushed towards the downed Goblins and picked up both their spears. They were just sturdy branches with sharpened ends, but at least they were better than nothing. Holding one in each hand, he snuck forward, hoping the Goblins would not give him away.

"Dan! Save Bur!" Bur's high-pitched scream made Dan grind his teeth.

He glared at Bur, who was staring at him, yelling and waving. One of the insects, a colossal stag beetle, turned around. He had seen those when he was young and always marveled at their size and shape, even finding them somewhat beautiful. Now seeing the bulldog-sized thing rush him, he just found it frightening and dangerous.

Even then, he quickly realized that it wasn't as fast as either the wasps or the centipedes. As it scuttled towards him, a plan formed, and before he could second-guess himself, he charged.

Just before the arm-sized horns reached him, he jumped out of its path and rammed one of the spears inside the wide-open maw. Without even a scream, the insect's legs gave out, and it thudded to the ground. It twitched a few times, then Dan felt a familiar warmth come from his palm. At least one thing went as planned. Proud of himself, he grinned, cracked his neck, and stared at the other Goblins as if it had been the easiest thing in the world and he hadn't been afraid for his life at all. He had always wanted to do that!

To his chagrin, the Goblins didn't even look, still focused on the remaining insects. They probably hadn't seen how he took care of the stag beetle. Instead, with only two bugs left, they were now overpowering their smaller enemies. They laughed as they forced their armored adversaries back, trying to find a way to bring them down.

Dan sighed as he saw how they kept uselessly poking the strong chitin plates covering the insects. Fine, I'll do it. He trudged towards them. With the adrenalin gone, his weariness had returned with a vengeance. Kicking a stone against one of the beetles, it turned around to attack him, and he rammed one of the spears inside its maw. Either due to his weariness or his overconfidence, he had less luck this time. The beetle's large mandibles shut close in its dying throes, shearing the spear through.

Dan dumbly looked at the remaining piece of wood in his hand, then sighed, threw it at the last one, and finished it with his other spear. His hand heated up twice, showing they were indeed dead, and he stepped back, hungry and tired. The Goblins surrounded him, and Bur prodded his shoulder, eyes wide. He and the others were almost a head smaller than Dan and scrawny. "You big and strong! Why?"

Dan ignored the question and moved forward to pick up one of the insects. He staggered, his arms and back straining under the weight, realizing he was lucky they hadn't hit him. As compact as they were, he might have been snapped in half. Taking a look at the other two corpses, he felt some regret that he couldn't carry all three. Then his foggy mind began working again, and he looked at the other Goblins.

"Bur! Bring that bug. Tsir will let you touchies if you give it to her!"

As he said it, he regretted it. What if Tsir grew much stronger after eating this meat?

Bur and the other four Goblins had stared at him slack-jawed for a split second before rushing towards the remaining corpses.

Bur arrived first and tried to pick up the insect, but no matter how he strained, he couldn't lift it more than a few inches from the ground. One of the larger Goblins pushed him aside, laughing, but didn't do much better. In the end, it took all five to drag the two carcasses back to camp, and they arrived in the dead of night.