The little goblin had found his purpose. He decided that whoever owned this place was keeping him alive to maintain its cleanliness. He was essentially, what is the human word? An employee. So he spent the rest of the day sweeping, mopping, and dusting. He did his best to mimic the motions in his handbook, but his weak body and unfamiliarity led to poor efforts.

  Luckily, he found a bag in the closet to store his books in while he worked. Without access to daylight, the goblin could only rely on his level of exhaustion. His previous injuries and exposure to the elements had left him quite weak, so he returned to his sleeping spot. His limbs ached, and he collapsed into the soft blanket and drifted into darkness.

  And so began this stage of his life. He would awaken from his slumber and consume food from the underground lake. He would clean the stone chambers, scrubbing every inch clean and slowly becoming more skilled as the days passed. Finally, he would read before he passed into sleep. After a few days of effort, the goblin managed to finish reading The Habitation Handbook. Better prepared to live in and maintain his current home, he felt more confident in his actions.

  Regular meals and exercise increased his stamina, and the little goblin began to feel less exertion from his daily activities. Soon his work became easily completable in a short amount of time, and he had more time to read. Having returned his previous reading material to the shelf, he began reading another book, Fin-tastic Fishing Follies. The fish in the lake had been taunting him, and he was excited to expand his diet from just mushrooms.

  The tool room had more than just basic cleaning supplies; it included several other weird devices. After indulging in his newest reading book, he recognized one of the devices as a fishing spear. Excited by the discovery, he began to prepare for his next endeavor. He spent some of his precious reading time practicing his spear technique, following the illustrations in the book. He could be seen regularly in the cave testing his throws; first, he experimented on land but soon got into the water.

  His first attempt was a failure; the fish pretty much touched his legs, but his fidgeting scared it off. Every day, he devoted a fair amount of time to practicing his fishing skills. After several days of effort, he finally succeeded; the lazy fish, perhaps having grown arrogant from the goblin’s many failed attempts, got very close. The goblin, now extremely patient, waited for the perfect moment to strike, deftly impaling the fish on the prongs of the spear.

  He raised his catch out of the water and above his head, proudly displaying his efforts to the lonesome cavern. Wading out of the water, he finally reached out and grabbed the fish by the tail. The fish was longer than his entire arm and took quite a bit of effort to remove the flailing beast from the spear. Grabbing a rock, he struck it in the head, finally ending the ceaseless flailing. In excitement, he opened his jaw wide and sank his fangs into the fresh flesh.

  The sweet, salty, and chewy meat filled his mouth with a savory flavor that invigorated him. He ravenously continued, taking large bites of the fish. Soon all that was left was a skeleton, and the goblin patted his now-bulging stomach. A goblin’s gluttony knew no bounds. After it was all said and done, he was a bit embarrassed looking at himself in the reflection of the water. His face was smeared with blood and bits of fish.

  “I need to go take a bath,” he said in a moment of clarity. Despite his higher level of functioning, sometimes his urges took over all rational thought. Generally, humans considered goblins to be just like monsters, and they were correct. They were just slightly higher-functioning monsters. He was extremely exhausted by this endeavor, so he hurried and washed up.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  This encroaching feeling of sleepiness felt different from before; a sense of urgency was coming over him. He normally waited until he was dry to head to bed, but instead, he hurried to bed. The goblin even left his precious books in the satchel as he swaddled himself in the cloth and fell into a deep sleep.

  The goblin experienced an extremely unique dream; instead of his usual nightmares, he was standing in a field. In front of him were several objects: an assortment of rusty swords, armor, shields, and a bow and arrows. He looked over them, but none were particularly interesting. This would be a bona fide playground for any other goblin, but luckily, he wasn’t just any goblin. Bored of what was in front of him, he decided to explore.

  He turned around and was surprised to find a staff surrounded by stacks of books. “That is a much better choice!” he exclaimed as he reached out to grab the books. But as soon as his fingers touched them, the dream disintegrated, and he was transported elsewhere. The goblin was surrounded by various phenomena: blazing flames, a flurry of snowflakes, and numerous other elements.

  “What happened to my books?” The goblin was still at a loss as to what had happened, but he couldn’t help but marvel at the mystical surroundings. It was beautiful to see all the different phenomena coexisting. Was this like before? Was he supposed to choose one of them? He carefully wandered the environment, feeling the heat of the flickering flames, the cold of the snowflakes on his skin, and the warmth of the sunlight. He wandered through an all-consuming darkness, his hair raising as he passed by a thunderstorm, and he nearly drowned in an endless sea.

  He wandered the formless environment until he came across a stranger sight: a stone passageway that looked extremely familiar. He began to walk down the pathway and was greeted with the familiar hearth of his home. The goblin reached out and touched the purple flames, and the world slowly dissolved around him. He finally sank into the darkness once more.

  Finally, he felt his eyes open and was greeted by the stone walls of his current abode. Slowly sitting up, the goblin looked around, almost expecting to wake up in that dream realm once again. However, those worries quickly vanished as his stomach growled. “Yeah, this is the real world,” he muttered aloud as he stood up.

  He stretched out his sore arms and was stunned; his twig-like limbs had gained some shape. His pale green skin had darkened, and he could have sworn he had grown taller. Touching his arm, he was stunned to find a layer of dust settled upon his whole body. Inspecting the room around him, there was a thick layer of dust and cobwebs covering everything. Suddenly, the goblin remembered something.

  “The Hatching!” All monsters experience a unique process when they reach certain ages or complete certain milestones. They go into a deep sleep and become encased in a fleshy sack. After a period of time, they emerge from their “egg” as a stronger creature. Supposedly, all monsters originated from the Grand Mother, who took the form of a giant dragon coiled deep underground.

  Every time they grow in strength, the Grand Mother rebirths them closer to their true form. He had witnessed several other goblins undergo this process but never expected to undergo it himself. However, even with his increased bulk, he was still much smaller than other goblins who had undergone the hatching, but he was still excited.

  After leaving that train of thought, he looked around. Ignoring the cobwebs, he was greeted by another surprise! The room had several new additions: he recognized a bed, a dresser, and a comfy chair by the crackling purple flames within the hearth. The table and chairs had also grown slightly in size to better accommodate his new form.

  “The owner of this place is probably mad at my lack of care!” he scolded himself as he rushed to work. After a flurry of effort, the dust and cobwebs were soon banished. Sweat dripping from his brow, the goblin breathed a sigh of satisfaction. Normally, the pangs of hunger would have distracted him from his goals, but he felt like a haze had been lifted from his mind. His impulsive desires had significantly decreased. However, after another growl, he finally relented and grabbed the fishing spear, heading out to catch his food for the day.