"You’re quite shrewd for a goblin."
The Matriarch’s voice rumbled low, vibrating through her claws still pressed against my skull.
Shrewd? The word bounced around in my head.
Was that a complint? Or the prelude to a slow, painful execution?
My brain scrambled for a response, every option sounding either suicidal or stupid. In the end, all I managed was a weak, awkward:
"Uh... thanks?"
Even I cringed at myself. Who in their right mind said thanks to a fox-god that could incinerate them with a sneeze?
The Matriarch tilted her head slightly, molten eyes narrowing in a way that made my stomach knot.
"Where is my daughter now?"
The question hit like a hamr. My chest tightened.
"She’s... safe," I croaked. "I left her sowhere after feeding her my last recovery potion."
My voice cracked, but I forced myself to keep going. Maybe honesty would buy a shred of rcy. Maybe the fox would see reason, recognize that I’d helped, and decide against turning into a scorch mark.
Her silence stretched long enough for my nerves to fray. I could feel the heat of her breath against my face, every exhale like a furnace.
Then her voice rumbled again.
"You fed my daughter your last healing potion?"
It wasn’t just suspicion in her tone. There was confusion. And underneath it, sothing sharper, sothing that could slice apart if I gave the wrong answer.
I swallowed hard, throat dry as ash. "Yeah. That’s right. I could have used it myself, but... I didn’t."
Her eyes narrowed, glowing brighter, drilling into like augers demanding truth.
"Why?"
The single word carried more weight than a boulder.
I flinched. My tongue felt thick in my mouth. I could barely think past the pounding of my heart.
"I... I don’t know." My voice cracked again. "I just had a bad feeling. And she looked pitiful. I couldn’t bring myself to..." I stopped myself, biting the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood. Admitting I almost killed her wouldn’t exactly help my case. "...I just gave it to her."
The silence that followed nearly killed .
Then, rcifully, the pressure eased. The claws lifted from my skull. The crushing weight pressing into the dirt vanished. Her aura dimd, just slightly, like a sun retreating behind clouds.
I exhaled in a shuddering gasp, dragging in air like a drowning man breaching the surface. My ribs ached with every breath, but at least I could breathe.
You’re still alive, Eli, I whispered inwardly, relief flooding like cool water. You’re still alive.
A hundred thoughts collided in my head all at once. Gratitude that I hadn’t killed the little fox. Gratitude that I’d given her the potion. Gratitude that I hadn’t warped straight back to the cave — because if I had, the Matriarch would’ve followed, and everyone there would’ve been slaughtered.
That thought alone made cold sweat roll down my back.
Shit. Encountering the Ember Fox was proving even more troubleso than I’d feared.
Instinct scread at to run. I tried [Warp] again, desperate, hoping against hope that the restriction had faded. Nothing. Still dead. My lifeline was gone.
Her nine tails swayed behind her, slow and deliberate, srizing in their lethality. Every movent radiated restrained violence. She lifted her head, eyes glowing with distant awareness.
"I can still sense her," she said, voice calr, almost reverent. "That ans my daughter lives."
Thanks to .
My chest loosened a fraction, a tiny thread of hope weaving its way through the fear.
"However..."
The word cut sharper than any claw.
Her eyes snapped back to , glowing brighter, sharp enough to skin alive.
"The fact that you had evil intentions for her in the first place... warrants your death."
My blood ran cold.
"What?" The word tore from , stunned, panicked.
Her voice deepened, guttural, dripping contempt. "You are a goblin. A vile race of vermin. Evil by nature. Your desires betray you."
Desires? My only desire right now was to not die. Maybe sleep. Preferably sleep without being roasted alive.
"You can’t just..." I choked, the anger bubbling up despite the fear clogging my throat. "You can’t just lump in with every other goblin. I’m different."
Please, trust .
Her lips peeled back in a snarl, fangs glowing faintly in the ember light. "You are all the sa. Vile. Corrupted. Dangerous."
The trees shook with her words.
I clenched my fists, rage mixing with the terror boiling in my gut. "I spared your kid!" I shouted, voice cracking. "I could’ve killed her. I should’ve killed her. But I didn’t. Doesn’t that count for anything?"
Please. Let it count.
The Matriarch leaned in, molten eyes narrowing further. For one heartbeat, I thought she might waver. But then her fangs glead in the ember glow, and her snarl deepened.
"It does not matter," she hissed. "You do not deserve to live."
One of her tails lashed forward faster than I could blink. Claws closed around my throat like iron bands and lifted clean off the ground.
I gagged, legs kicking uselessly, air cut off instantly. My hands clawed at her grip, but it was immovable, unyielding.
My vision blurred at the edges. Black spots swam across my sight. My chest heaved in frantic futility, lungs screaming for air.
So this is it? My thoughts spiraled. After everything? After clawing tooth and nail through fights I had no business winning, after nearly dying a dozen tis tonight — I’m going to get strangled out by a giant flaming fox because she doesn’t like goblins?
Ridiculous.
But the fox’s grip only tightened. The burning pressure around my throat flared, searing the skin. My ears filled with the thunder of my own heartbeat, blood roaring in my skull.
The Matriarch’s eyes bore into , rciless, endless pits of molten hatred.
And through the panic, the fury, the suffocating crush of death creeping closer with every second, one bitter truth lodged itself deep in my chest.
I don’t...
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