Corwin Benedict
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Risha Chapter 14
🕑 Added 2025-04-23 08:00:11 +0000 UTCLook! Love Dance! Love Music! Love being goblin!
-Risha, age 8
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Glo found Risha lying on the floor of her pit with heavy breaths, her grip on her sword held tight.
“Risha alright?” Glo asked as he jumped into the pit, landing next to her.
Risha nodded, too exhausted to speak.
Glo smiled warmly at Risha, warmth in his eyes. He sat on the ground next to her. “You’re strong Risha.”
Risha turned to Glo, only to find him looking at the sleeping spiders.
“I don’t think we would survive this without you.” Glo continued, his gaze turning to his hands. His usual smile was gone. “When you killed the overseer, and held his head high, I knew we would win. It wasn’t a question anymore, it was truth. I trust you… but I’m scared.”
Risha reached out, her hand touching Glo’s arm. “Risha was scared too. Risha is scared.” Glo turned to look at her, their eyes meeting. “But Risha will win. The goblins will be free.”
“Glo believes you.” The words came out slowly, his eyes holding an intensity Risha had rarely seen.
Glo’s smile returned, showing off every one of his sharp teeth.
“And Glo will stand with you when you hold the Chieftain’s head high.”
“Risha will hold it extra high, just for you!” Risha laughed as she moved to her feet. Her body ached, but she ignored it.
Glo stood up with her. “Glo will be proud to see it.”
“How are the Goblin Warriors doing?” Risha asked as she sheathed her sword and gathered together her bow and arrows.
“You should come and see.”
Risha tilted her head curiously. Glo made a motion for her to follow, then jumped out of the pit. Risha was a step behind him as he traveled through the village. Risha noticed that some of the villages were still divided from each other, but the differences were becoming less and less noticeable.
Glo led her to a large clearing right outside of the village, where goblins of all sizes were practicing with blunted sticks against each other, and hunters shot their arrows at markers drawn into trees.
Already, the difference in skill was noticeable to Risha. When last she’d seen the goblins that Glo led, they’d been uncoordinated, and still getting used to their evolutions. Now they fought with precision, thanks in small part to their systems skills and to the training they’d been undergoing every day under Glo’s leadership.
Armor was more common now, after the molt of many of the spiderlings not too long ago, and Risha knew that new armor was being made for her specifically out of the purple exoskeletons of her own spiderlings.
The goblins trained in their armor, all of them a matching brown since the exoskeletons had come mainly from unevolved spiders.
“There’s still more to do.” Glo said, “But with the [Goblin Spearmanship] skill, we’ve gotten stronger.”
Risha watched the goblins fight and prepare for a solid minute, something itching inside of her. Eventually, she couldn’t help herself, and she grabbed one of the blunted spears.
She walked up to the Goblin that had recently evolved into a Goblin Spearman. He was in the middle of teaching several other goblins, but paused when she approached. She pointed her blunted spear at him in a challenge, and a feral grin spread across his face, matching her own.
There was no preamble or words spoken as they both sized each other up. Without warning, he was on her with his blunted spear, his movements crisp and clean.
She blocked his first strike, twisting his spear to the side and responding with a swipe at his legs.
He stepped back, her blow missing by the smallest of margins, then he was on her again.
Every strike of his spear forced her back, and she quickly gave space to the skilled spearman.
It wasn’t long before one of his jabs broke through her defenses. The power of the stab sent her flying backwards, and she rolled with the strike onto her back.
She laughed as she stared at the dark clouds above her. It was fun! In a real fight, she would be dead, but she didn’t mind. Instead, she rolled back to her feet and faced off against the goblin spearman. This time, she adjusted her grip on the weapons slightly, her mind replaying every moment of the fight as she analyzed what she’d done wrong and the way that the goblin had moved.
The Goblin Spearman looked slightly worried, but relaxed when he saw her getting into another fighting stance. He also changed his stance and stood on the balls of his feet in preparation for another round.
Many of the other goblins were gathering around to watch, excited to see one of their best fighters versus the legend that Risha had become.
Again, the Goblin Spearman struck with his weapon, and Risha responded with a deflection followed by a strike of her own that he dodged.
His follow up was swift, but Risha recognized the pattern that the spearman followed, and every one of his strikes was blocked with a swift counter, almost as if she were predicting where he was going to be.
Again, his spear made its way past her defenses by the smallest of margins, but this time Risha moved her body out of the way of the strike, and stepped into closer range, the butt of her spear swiping the other goblin’s legs out from under him.
He rolled away from her, and stood up in a swift movement. His eyes showed the same excitement hers did and he looked at her with newfound respect.
There was a pause, as again, Risha replayed the previous fight in her mind, she remembered every movement and twitch of his muscles, the slight step to the left that he took before a slash, and the way he rocked back slightly before a thrust.
In the next round, Risha copied his movements, her own thrusts losing some of the extraneous movements they used to hold, and her footwork providing stability she didn’t have before.
The other goblin changed up his strategy for the next round, instead pulling more feints and trying to create openings with his weapons.
Risha, however, had reached a flow state, and every movement was exactly as she wished it to be. She even felt [Risha’s Swordsmanship] activating, despite the fact that she wielded a spear.
Every step the other goblin took, Risha was there. Every stab the goblin made, Risha deflected. It wasn’t completely one sided, but the Goblin Spearman couldn’t land a single strike. Risha’s spear found its way past his defenses, and this time, he was the one sent flying backwards.
The goblins around them cheered, knocking Risha out of the flow she’d been experiencing. Her smile returned and she cheered with the goblins. Even the Goblin Spearman laughed and joined in. Against anyone else, perhaps he would’ve felt jealousy or anger, but this was Risha, the Grand Mother. She was the one who killed the Overseer, the one who killed orcs before she evolved. She was the protector of her people. He was just happy to have won his first match against her.
Risha turned her smile to Glo, who was also cheering with the rest. They shared a grin that said more than words ever could.
After that, many of the other goblins tried their spear against Risha, and she was happy to take every challenger. She lost a few more fights against those who had the [Goblin Spearmanship] skill, but with every loss, her skills improved.
Eventually she had to stop from pure exhaustion, her body was already worn out from practicing with her sword, and she knew that she was going past her limits.
She left the field exhausted, and returned to her spiderling’s pit. The fear that had filled her and many of the other goblins after the news of the orc army… was gone, as if it never existed.
The show of skill from their best warriors had inspired many of the goblins, telling them that they would not go down without a fight.
Risha luxuriated in the feeling of her bedroll, enjoying the ache that her muscles gave her. She was sure that she’d have bruises across her body in the morning, but she didn’t care. She felt good!
She wasn’t ready for sleep yet, despite the exhaustion of her body, and instead just stared at the cloudy sky as snowflakes began to fall. She replayed every fight in her mind, analyzing them and going over her mistakes.
Eventually, a calling from her skill [Council of Grandmas] brought Risha’s attention back to the real world.
She entered the skill, appearing in a familiar throne room. Shyanne sat upon her throne, her head held high in a serious expression.
“Hello Risha, it’s good to see you.” A small smile escaped before she went back to her stony expression. “There are some… people that would like to meet you.” A strange emotion flickered across her face, before disappearing.
Risha nodded, then waited for Shyanne to continue.
“Those old crones- I mean grandmothers, tend to isolate themselves from the rest of us. I wanted to warn you before you met them…” In a rare moment, Shyanne was at a loss for words. Her mouth closed in a thin line. “Do not mention Cala or Maya to them, and it’s best if you don’t draw too much attention yourself.” Cala was the Grand Mother who wore a scarf around her face, while Maya was the dark elf. “In fact, tell them that you gained a class. Don’t mention evolutions or anything about where you are. Don't-'' Shyanne let out a breath. “Don’t trust them.”
Risha stood straight, her hand subconsciously moving to the dagger she usually kept at her waist.
Shyanne stepped off of her throne, her small stature starkly contrasting the aura she so easily wielded. Her hand reached up and patted Risha’s head, and Risha felt a calm suffusing her. Her muscles relaxed from the tenseness Shyanne’s words had caused.
“Do not worry. I’ll be there. They won’t dare try anything under my watch.” Shyanne sent Risha a comforting smile. “Are you ready?”
Risha gulped, then nodded.
The world shifted around them. Risha and Shyanne became the only constants as colors ran into each other and light filled all of existence.
Marble appeared under their feet, while white pillars surrounded them. Risha’s mouth opened wide as she took in the glass roof that covered the ceiling. She’d never seen the material that looked like ice, but was not ice.
Trees were arranged in neat rows, leading up to steps. On top of the steps an ancient tree rested, it’s branches mixing with the walls. A moss grew up on the tree, glowing a beautiful white.
Standing with her hand resting on the tree was a woman. Two feathered white wings extended from her back, and her hair was a matching white that glowed in the same way the moss of the tree did. She turned to them as they appeared, her eyes a striking sky blue.
“Hello Sarah.” Shyanne said. “It has been too long.”
“Shyanne.” The angel smiled, her eyes seeming to pierce through Risha and see to the very depths of her. “So this is the newest Grand Mother to join us? Risha I believe?”
Risha nodded.
Sarah’s mouth dipped into a slight frown as she examined Risha, before quickly returning to the smile she’d greeted them with. “A High Goblin? Did you find a class stone?”
Shyanne cleared her throat before Risha could respond.
“Ah. Excuse my curiosity.” Sarah turned back to the tree, her hand gently running through the moss that ran down its side. “It’s been a long time since a Grand Mother has joined us. Freera was the last one, wasn’t she Shyanne?”
“She was.” Shyanne said through gritted teeth.
“Her story was quite unfortunate, was it not?”
Shyanne didn’t respond, but her eyes held an anger that made Risha want to get on her knees and apologize to the powerful woman.
“Do not fall to the pleasures of evil, Risha. It comes with many consequences.” Sarah looked up to the sky, then turned her eyes back to Risha. “I have to go, and I’m sure Lalaila is anxious to meet you. Stay on the path of light, little goblin.”
The world disappeared, leaving Shyanne and Risha alone in a void of stars. Shyanne stared into the spot where Sarah had stood for a long moment before turning her eyes to Risha. “Are you ready?”
Risha met Shyanne’s gaze. “What happened to Freera?”
“Sarah killed her.” Shyanne didn’t expand past that, so Risha just nodded.
“I’m ready to meet the next one.”
The world twisted again, this time they stood on the roots of the largest tree Risha had ever seen. Its branches held large homes that seemed to grow out of the wood itself, and its trunk was so wide, Risha imagined that it would take all the goblins in her old village to wrap their hands around it.
Another woman watched them both arrive with a neutral expression. Long pointed ears marked her as an elf, but the silver hair and wrinkles on her face pointed to her being one of the oldest beings Risha had ever encountered, not that Risha knew much about elves. This was the first one other than Maya she’d ever seen after all.
