I opened my eyes in a strange place. Rubbing them, confused, I felt as if I had just woken from a very deep sleep and couldn't remember where I was. Everything was dark, so my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dimness. Everything felt muffled and distant, as though my mind were waking up slower than my body.
The air was cold and damp. The humidity in the air was suffocating my lungs.
As my eyes adjusted to the dark, shapes began to take form. Looking around, I realized I was in a line with four other people beside me. We were all facing the same direction, looking at a small, fat figure. Examining my surroundings more closely, I realized we were at what appeared to be inside a rocky place, in the intersection of two cave passages. Behind me, I could barely make out the broken shapes of what seemed to be an underground village, though without much detail. In front of us, where we were all facing, nothing could be seen behind the plump figure because of the darkness.
"You know your mission, my warriors," the man said proudly. "I, your king, Goper, send you to fight against the intruders."
A shiver ran. King? I narrowed my eyes and noticed he had two small ears sticking out from his head. There was also something strange about his face, something my brain just couldn't fully process. I was struggling to make sense of everything, and it felt like my mind couldn't quite start up. Those ears… Was he even human? And if he wasn't… then what was he? More importantly, what was I?
Panic washed over me when I looked at my own hands and saw their green color. My ears felt different too, they felt longer, thinner, pointed. Everything about my body felt wrong. We were small, green, with pointed ears. "Am I… a goblin?" I thought, feeling slightly dizzy.
"Being as magnanimous as your King is, I have brought some of the finest weapons from my personal collection!" He had trouble moving due to his belly, but he managed a clumsy gesture toward the ground while a little goblin placed the "weapons" at his feet. The second goblin was about half the size of the king, so I assumed I was looking at a child.
My heart sank. They weren't weapons. Not even close. Once the "weapons" were laid out, I realized that all that lay before us were several rusty tools, none of which truly looked like weapons. A couple of dull, corroded knives that might have been useful once, but were now little more than scrap. A broken shovel stood out as the sturdiest option.
I was still lost, but if I had to fight something, I'd better have something to defend myself with. I moved toward the shovel, but before I could take it, a figure slightly larger than me shoved me aside and grabbed it.
"Mine," the goblin growled.
He was bigger than me, though that didn't mean much. I couldn't be sure of anything, but I doubted I was even a meter tall. I had no sense of what was the normal height for goblins. His eyes challenged me, daring me to try to take the shovel back. Still in shock from everything, I hesitated. I stepped back, yielding. Right now, I needed information, not a fight. That seemed to satisfy him. He snorted triumphantly, took the shovel, and returned to his place.
The rest of the soldiers were trembling, and none of them said a word. They all seemed as unsure as I was. To avoid drawing attention, I stood aside and waited for the others to choose their weapons, or tools. I didn't care about being last. Finally, stepping forward, I saw the only thing left: a small blacksmith's hammer. It was so tiny I assumed it had once been meant for children, probably stolen by these goblins. I picked it up and returned to stand with the others.
The King clapped his hands happily. "Good, good! Now take the magic potion and march to battle!" King Goper commanded.
It was then I noticed a hunched figure walking toward us from the dark part of the cave, leaning on a staff. The figure was covered in talismans and the bones of different animals. He had to be a wizard, or perhaps a shaman, of the goblins. The shaman clapped once, and two tiny goblins, almost babies, by the look of them, hurried forward carrying a rusty cauldron filled with a yellow brew.
The shaman motioned for the first goblin soldier to come forward and began serving the brew, starting with the brute. The ladle, roughly carved out of wood, surprised me. It was the first thing I had seen that actually looked like it had been made by goblin hands. One by one, the others took a sip, until it was my turn. The smell of the brew was horrible, as if someone had left rotten eggs for months and then decided to turn them into soup.
I hadn't seen the shaman do anything unusual to the others, but when he brought the ladle toward me, he stopped abruptly. The shaman raised his head and looked directly into my eyes. I felt my heart stop for a moment. Why was he treating me differently? Had I done something wrong? He gave me a sly smile, lowered the ladle again, then turned toward the king.
"All done," he proclaimed in a calm, raspy voice.
If the King had noticed that I hadn't been given the potion, he said nothing. Next to me the attitude of the rest of the goblins started to change. The brute was drooling and his gaze seemed lost. Another one was jumping on the spot restless. The fear in the eyes of the rest disappear, transformed into rabid fury. They were eager to fight.
The King let out a loud laugh and pointed towards the destroyed village. "Go and kill them all!!!".
Without hesitation, the other four goblins plunged into the darkness. I stood there for a moment, lost in thought, and glanced quickly at the shaman and the King. The King didn't even bother to say anything; he simply waved his hand at me, as if shooing away a dog.
I turned and followed the other four. They moved with dizzying speed, like frantic, aimless beats. I didn't even know who or what our enemies were, or, more importantly, where they were. I lost them very fast and I decided to go with more caution.
I moved slowly between the rocks, keeping my head low, each step cautious. My bare feet made almost no sound against the cold ground, but every tiny pebble felt sharp against my skin. The air down here was damp, heavy with the smell of mold and decay. Somewhere deeper in the tunnels, water dripped rhythmically, echoing through the cavern like a heartbeat. I could also hear my companions, but I couldn't locate them. All I could hear were their frantic footsteps as they moved around me.
The village ahead was disturbingly silent. What little light filtered in from cracks in the ceiling painted everything in dull shades of gray. It was clearly abandoned—long ago, by the look of it. Small wooden cabins leaned precariously against larger, sturdier stone houses, as if the builders had been unsure what they were doing. It was strange: two completely different architectural styles side by side, one primitive, the other almost… human.
Everything had happened so fast with the goblins, but now that I was finally alone, the weight of it all crashed down on me. Something I'd only ever read about in novels had happened to me, I had traveled to another world. But instead of becoming the hero of a grand fantasy adventure, I had end up as the weakest kind of monster, the kind that existed just to die.
One moment, I had gone to sleep after putting my daughter to bed… and now this.
If I followed the logic of the stories I used to read, that meant I must have died in my human body. But the only question that truly mattered to me was whether I could go back. I had to go back. My wife and daughter needed me, though more than anything, I needed them.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. Panic wouldn't help me. Not here, not now. I needed information. I had to understand where I was, what had happened to me, and what kind of situation I was trapped in.
The first step was surviving this so-called battle. And for that, I needed to explore the abandoned village a bit more.
Most of the cabins were in ruins. The wood of their walls was swollen and cracked by moisture. Some roofs had collapsed entirely, leaving splintered beams sticking out upward like ribs of a corpse. Only the stone buildings remained mostly intact, though even they bore deep scars of time with cracks running down their walls, doors missing, windows shattered. Whatever had happened here, it hadn't been recent.
I crept toward one of the cabins, its door was laying rotten inside. The air inside was dense, filled with the stench of rot and animal musk. My eyes adjusted slowly, revealing piles of debris, broken furniture, scattered bones, and the unmistakable droppings of rats or worse. There were faint claw marks on the walls, and something had chewed through the corner of a wooden chest. Nothing of value remained.
I backed out quietly, trying not to disturb the silence. The hairs on my neck prickled. The emptiness of the place wasn't natural, it felt watched, like the shadows themselves were holding their breath. I realized that the sound of my companions now sounded far away from me.
As I approached another building, one of the stone ones this time to check the difference, I caught a new sound. Muffled voices. Metal striking metal. Then a scream.
Instinct kicked in. I dropped low and rolled behind some rocks near the entrance. My heart hammered in my chest. Peering carefully through a gap between the stones, I saw them, humans.
A group of four humans, armored in leather and steel, moved cautiously through the ruins, their torches flickering wildly in the darkness. They were fighting one of my goblin companions, not the big brute who'd taken the shovel, but a smaller one. The little goblin slashed wildly with his rusty dagger, making broad, desperate swings toward the humans.
The humans, however, were calm and disciplined. They fought in formation. At the front stood a figure I assumed was male, clad in steel armor and carrying a sword and shield.
Behind him, another man in a leather suit aimed an arrow toward the goblin, trying to find a clear shot without hitting his ally. Next to him stood two women, which I recognized by their long hair. Both carried staffs and wore long robes—one white, the other blue.
Using the knowledge from my old gamer life, I realized immediately, the front figure was the tank. Then the rest…
The ranger, the cleric, and the wizard?
The realization hit me like a lightning bolt.
I crept closer, hiding behind the scattered rocks. From my new hiding spot, I could see the fight more clearly. The goblin's attacks were frantic and uncoordinated, each slash easily blocked by the tank's shield. The human countered with heavy swings of his sword, but the goblin's erratic movements kept him from landing a solid hit. The ranger circled behind the tank, trying to line up a shot.
With a sudden shove of his shield, the tank pushed the goblin back two steps. In that instant, an arrow flew—striking the goblin square in the abdomen. He didn't even flinch. Instead, he charged again, drool flying from his mouth as he shrieked.
I moved to another cluster of rocks, finding myself much closer to the fight than I intended. From this distance, I noticed something surprising, the human warriors were barely more than teenagers.
The woman I assumed was the wizard pointed her hand toward the goblin, murmuring under her breath. A faint light flickered in her palm for a moment before fading.
"Did you really fail again to cast it?" asked the cleric.
The wizard's expression darkened. "Oh, sorry! I didn't know you were an expert in fire spells. Why don't we swap roles, you can cast Fire Blast, and I'll stand here criticizing everyone?"
The cleric shot her a sharp glare, then stepped toward the tank. She raised her staff, and the head of it glowed softly before releasing a small ball of light that struck the tank.
Immediately, his fatigue seemed to vanish, and he pressed forward once more, shield raised. The cleric turned back to the wizard with a mocking smile.
"Whatever…" the wizard muttered, beginning to cast again.
The battle didn't last much longer. I crouched behind the rocks, frozen, watching as the goblin stumbled backward, arrows jutting from his chest and arm. The tank was panting, but with one final strike, he drove his sword through the goblin's torso, pinning him to the ground.
I froze completely, my fingers tightening around the small hammer in my hand. My mind screamed at me to move, to run, but I forced myself to stay still, to stay hidden. If they didn't find me, I wouldn't share my companion's fate.