"Are you truly a goblin?"
My brow furrowed at once, the muscles pulling tight across my forehead. I stared at her, trying to decide whether she was mocking or if her words carried so deeper suspicion.
"What do you an by that?" I asked, my voice quieter than I intended, but edged with a sharpness that betrayed how unsettled I felt.
Her lips curved faintly, not into a smile exactly, but into sothing that carried a trace of wry amusent, as though she knew she’d struck a nerve and was gauging how I’d respond. She repeated herself, but twisted the blade in a way that made the air between us suddenly heavier.
"Are you truly human?"
This ti my brow knitted even tighter, the confusion clawing deeper into .
The way she asked it — calm, deliberate, and with no hint of jest — didn’t sound like a careless remark or so wild guess.
No, it carried the weight of certainty.
I rose slowly to my feet, unable to sit still under the weight of her question, my eyes fixed on Flogga as if I could dig the truth straight out of her calm, unyielding expression.
She didn’t flinch, didn’t so much as twitch. Her face remained composed, almost serene, while mine betrayed completely — muscles tightening, lips parting and pressing together again, a ss of confusion spilling across my features as my thoughts ran wild in a dozen directions at once.
"What do you an, am I truly a goblin?" I demanded, my voice sharper than I intended. I searched her eyes for even the faintest sign of mockery, of playfulness, anything that would make this easier to dismiss.
But she only tilted her head, her tone frighteningly casual as she replied, "What do you an, Chief? Aren’t you human?"
My eyes widened, the breath catching hard in my chest.
And then, like a knife twisting, an old thought resurfaced — one I’d buried the mont it had crept into my mind. The day I discovered the other Chosens were human like , the possibility had struck then: if I could be human in a goblin’s body, what was to say the others in my clan weren’t the sa? They laughed in ways too familiar, argued with tones that reminded of people I once knew, carried themselves with habits that felt far too human for creatures of the forest.
But I had dismissed it earlier, brushed it aside as nothing more than a passing thought born from fatigue and the strangeness of my new reality.
Now... now that suspicion was clawing its way back to the surface, no longer sothing I could easily ignore. The weight of it pressed down on until I could no longer keep silent. I steadied my breathing, forcing my voice to co out slow and deliberate, each word heavy with intent.
"Flogga... are you human too?"
For the first ti since I’d known her, sothing slipped through the cracks of her composure. Her brow twitched, the smallest betrayal of emotion, but I caught it instantly — because I was staring at her with an intensity that bordered on desperation, watching for the faintest flicker that might confirm what my gut was already screaming.
No way... The thought rippled through my head like a whisper I didn’t want to hear but couldn’t silence.
She said nothing at first. The silence stretched, thick and uncomfortable, and my fingers curled tight against my sides. A part of wanted to shake the answer out of her, to shout, to demand the truth before the weight of uncertainty broke . But I bit it back, grinding down on that urge and forcing myself to wait.
And then she sighed — not the kind of sigh that ca from weariness or frustration, but one that carried the weight of sothing she had been holding back for far too long.
"I suspected as much," she murmured.
The words hit like a jolt, and I stepped forward before I could stop myself.
"What do you an?" I asked, the question spilling out almost instantly, sharper than I intended.
She didn’t flinch.
Her response ca calm, steady, with none of the hesitation I had been expecting.
"Yes," she said softly, "you are right."
My mind lurched.
Right? About what?
And then she revealed it, clear and unshaken.
"I am human... just like you are."
The words tore through , stopping everything inside at once.
My body froze where I stood, my chest rising but refusing to fall, air caught sowhere between my lungs and my throat.
For a mont, it felt as though even the cave itself had gone silent, holding its breath with .
No way...
The thought thundered in my head, louder than anything I could force past my lips.
"I am a human... was human, Chief. A long ti ago."
The words cracked sothing inside .
My mouth fell open, but no sound ca out at first.
"I... how... what—"
I stamred, the words tripping over each other until they collapsed into nothing.
My mind grasped at fragnts of thought, but none of them held steady long enough to form into a sentence. I didn’t even know how to react. My chest felt tight, my pulse erratic, as though my body was lagging behind the reality that had just been laid bare.
"What about the rest?"
I finally managed to let out.
"Are they human as well?"
In fact...were all goblins human?
At this point, I didn’t couldn’t say otherwise.
She shook her head, the motion stiff in her thin neck, yet calm and certain, and that quiet weight alone grounded .
"No. Not at all. Only a select few."
My thoughts scattered, searching desperately for footing, for an example that might prove or disprove what she had just said.
"Zarah?" I asked suddenly, the na slipping out unbidden. I didn’t even know why I chose her — maybe because she had always felt so different.
Flogga’s answer cut clean through my spiraling.
"No. Zarah is not.
I am the only one in this clan who was human."
User Comments
0 comments from readers