The Goblin Nation

Stick explored the wall that protected the Razin tribe from the outsiders. The walls were painted dark-brown and had foliage hiding its fake cannons. And on the walls were pulleys and ropes attached to the movable platforms with spears attached on its top. When the ropes were poled, the platforms would rise. There were also levers that, when pulled, will drop large rocks. These rocks are tied together with rope and are attached to another moving platform with its set of spears attached on its topside. This platform had wheels on the bottom, and it sat on a railing that slightly descends. Once the rocks are dropped, the platform gets pulled by the falling rocks' momentum, and from the outside, it looks like a small troop of goblins running down the wall.

Stick wanted to learn more about the intricate design from the carpenters, but most of them could barely speak and the ones that could have trouble explaining their methods. Stick always wondered why there are goblins that could speak properly and those that couldn't and what caused this unnatural disparity of intellect among them. Its almost as if something is blocking them, but it was hard for Stick to grasp the severity of his race's plight. For now, they start with baby steps.

After investigating the mechanizations that run the thick walls protecting the tribe, Stick met up with Smoke, Rock, and Cossack outside the wall. They gathered today to learn how to control mana the way Smoke did during his duel with Cossack as well as learn how to summon fire like Sun. Rock, Stick, and Cossack sat in front of Smoke, standing on top of a large boulder. "Alright, let's get down to the basics first." Smoke said.

"Wait, don't start yet!" Sun ran to them with his forehead covered in sweat.

"Sun, you are late." Smoke said.

'Sorry, teacher!" Sun smiled, "Won't happen again!"

"Please don't call me teacher."

"Why not, aren't you teaching us?" Rock asked.

"Teacher Smoke, is today's lesson difficult?" Stick asked

"Screw you guys," Smoke whispered in annoyance. "And sit down already, Sun!"

"Alright teach,"

"I'm starting to regret this," Smoke said to himself. Cossack stared at the brothers, bewildered by their behavior. Cossack watched the brothers for the past two days, and their relationship seemed unshakable and unbreakable. They were thicker than blood, and not a single one of them was antagonizing to one another.

There was still a clear hierarchy, but Cossack could not see a clear power struggle between the brothers. They all felt equal, and yet not at the same time. Sun is the apparent leader of the group, sharp and headfirst, followed by Smoke, the resourceful older brother. Rock is the gentle giant unless you're in the way of his fist, and Stick is the runt of the liter, but after watching Stick practice slicing targets from far away with his sickle, Cossack guessed he could bite as hard as the rest of them.

Cossack felt out of place sitting next to them, listening to their banter. Sun sat next to Cossack, and Smoke started his lesson. "Ok, so let's start with the basics." Sun raised his hand. "Wha-What?"

"Why do we have to start to the basics teach, we already know it!"

"Seriously," Smoke said unamused, "Fine, we are starting with the basics because Cossack doesn't know anything about mana, and how to use it."

"Mana? What's that?" Cossack asked.

"Mana is some mysterious power or energy that every living being has within them. And from what we learned and experience first hand, this strange power grants strength beyond our bodies could actually have. And could even grant you abilities that should not be possible." Smoke lit his hands, and the yellow light shined on Cossack's eyes, "But there is one problem, and that is we don't know how to awaken, so to speak. From our experience, mana seems only comes out when we are in the brink of death."

"Death? Isn't that a bit exaggerated." Rock said.

'Maybe, but it's no coincidence that we began to use mana after going through an extremely dangerous experience. An intense shock could also be a factor."

"Um, you're not suggesting anything dangerous, right?" Cossack asked with concern. The brothers looked at him and smiled. Their smile was childlike, but for Cossack, those smiles were coming from devils.

Rock got up, "Alright, let's learn how to use mana!"

"Hold on, let's go easy on him." Sun held Rock back, "First, we need to know if you can control mana consciously. Teacher, how should he goes about that?"

"I hoping we ended that a long time ago." Smoke released a small amount of mana from his body, letting it climb towards his left palm and covered it with a blue veil of mana. "To do this, you need to recall the feeling of mana. The coldness of it, the texture of the blue mist, and once you get the most perfect recreation of that feeling in your head, imagine a blue light swirling towards the palm of your hand, wrapping around it like a glove."

"And what if I don't remember the exact feeling?"

"Do you really think we remember how mana felt the first time, too?" Rock interjected, "When I first started using mana, it was cold, but when I was covered in that blue fire, it felt like I was covered in ice. That shit is hard to remember, but my body knew that feeling instinctively that just imagining the cold mana flowing down my arms is enough," Blue flames burst out of Rock's right arm before being blown away by the wind, "To draw the mana out of me. But these are just the things we can understand."

"So, you think you can do it?" Sun asked.

"I'll try," Cossack closed his eyes and recalled the moment he transformed. He remembers the cold, bitter feeling that drowned his body when he was transforming beyond the red conqueror and into the unknown. Before he knew it, his muscles began to pulsate in time with the rhythm of his heart. Just as Rock said, his body remembered the feeling far better than his mind. His skin felt the freezing cold, and his blood froze in place. Then he imagined this freezing sensation crawl its way to his palm. But when he opened his eyes, none of the mana stayed on his palm. They dissipate as quickly as they appeared. "It worked! Well, sort of."

"Maybe something is missing?" Sun clapped his hands together, igniting his palm, "When my mom was teaching us about light spells, she told us about how we can trick the body to think it's hot so the mana could replicate the heat and in turn become light. But when I happened to learn, I guess we can call it fire spell, my body was not only hot, but my mind was also filled with anger. And that anger manifested into flame. Is that similar to how you learned to control your weight with mana, Smoke."

"You didn't say teacher this time," Smoke remarked.

"Ah, I forgot. Sorry te-"

"Anyway, when I was fighting Cossack, all I could think about was how to win. Then I remembered the time we fought the trolls. My body was heavier than it was now and combined with the weight of the tribe's expectations, and I started pulling in all the mana on my body in the center of my gravity."

"So Cossack is missing something crucial in his memory," Stick said. "Was there something on your mind? Maybe your body was changing, and the sensation was separate from the chilling mana."

Cossack eyes lit up, "The poison in my hands." Cossack remembered the stinging sensation from his hands, how the poison began to seep out from his pours as it gets pushed out by the mana circulating in his body. Cossack remembered that moment, and his body remembered it too, and like a baby swimming for the first time, controlling mana came naturally to him despite being such a foreign concept.

Small blue lights sn.a.k.e.d around towards his c.h.e.s.t, colliding with one another to form a rotating disc. The disc was so small, the brothers could not see, but they felt its cold presence. "Am I doing it now?" Cossack asked.

"Rock?" Smoke motioned for him to carry Cossack.

"Alright," Rock grabbed Cossack on the hip and tried to lift him up, but he could only get him a few centimeters above the ground.

"I did it!" Cossack released the mana from his body and celebrated with a dance around Rock. "So what's next?"

The brothers looked at each other before looking back at Cossack, "Practice!"