"What?" Olaf asks, puzzled by Omer's behavior.

"The chieftain just committed suicide by shooting himself in the head!" Omer exclaims.

"So?" Olaf replies, confused.

"So, that means he didn't reveal anything! It means I can't interrogate him, let alone torture information out of him!"

"Don't worry about it." Olaf reassures Omer. "Now that we have a lead, we'll get the information out of this place somehow."

"Yeah, well I hope so, because  I sure don't feel like going through all the hassle of trying to  dig for the intel." Omer says.

Omer may has won the duel, but he failed to get the trophy, which is the information he wanted to force out of his opponent by subduing him since his opponent, the goblin chieftain, has killed himself to prevent Omer from getting any intel out of him.

It was a pointless victory, in the scheme of things. A fool's mission perhaps. Just like his  experience here. A bittersweet victory. The taste of victory in battle has become nothing but a bitter reminder of his  failure to save those people back when they first spawned here. 

It was after their immediate arrival,there were a few people in front their eyes who were getting massacred by the mealots. They couldn't even get to talk to them. It was too late. Olaf was busy protecting his friends and Omer was helplessly witnessing like a victim as he was shocked and terrified.

He's tired of fighting. He's tired of not achieving his goals. He is tired of  eating bland food and sleeping in a shelter sanctuary, which is always under attack of mealots or goblins.

He's tired of this existence.

With a limp body, he sits down on  the grass, closes his eyes as he feels a cool breeze on his face.

"I'm tired." he says aloud, followed by a few snickers from the trees.

The wind carries his statement to the ears of Olaf. Olaf, who is sitting down on the grass and leaning against a tree, hears his  statement. Olaf sighs and shakes his head.

"I know brother, I know." He says.

"Damnit Olaf, we've been fighting the hoardes of monsters like forever. When's it going to end?"

"When enough people stand up and do something about it. And, for that, we need to gather more survivors. More men."

"We need more women." Omer says as a sneaky smirk plays through his face, which he tries so hard to resist, but fails miserably.

Olaf looks at him as if he has  grown a second head. Then, slowly, he moves his face, gazing at the grass below that is covered with snow like white sand, producing a scenery that is picturesquely beautiful and yet deadly. It looks almost too pretty to be real as if it was some sort of painting rather than a living, breathing world.

He's witnessing this with tired  eyes that display hundreds of sleepless nights and frustrations. They are looking  so soulless. He had his fare share of missions and battles in life, enough for anyone to get fed up. During the military phase, many comrades died in battles in front him, many innocents were killed and he failed to save them. Even he had to kill innocents himself for greater goods. At point, he thought it was over and it was finally time to settle down, but then, his wife cheated on him. When he was about to pull himself together with the help of his sister and friends, he thought he was finally going to have a retired life where he can live peacefully. Life full of medals, awards, respect from civilians and good time with friends and his only family, his sister Rose. Speaking of Rose, he wants to go back. Go back where home is. It's been a year and no lead in finding way to return home. He questions   what is he doing now. Finding men to build a community?  Build better fortification? What? Just survive and fight? Dying gloriously  in a battle field is one thing, but fighting rest  of his life, suffering  and not finding peace, is that any life at all? He can't even afford to die in a battle now. The situation is different. Without him, his beloved friends have no chance against this world. 

And, it is tempting to build a community and start a new civilization where he will be remembered forever as the first leader. His name will remain immortal in history. However, history can be altered. It has happened a lot before. What does he want to do?  He is uncertain. Nonetheless, those are a distant matter of topic. Speaking of men, will he even find any more humans?  The day will be over soon and the night will fall like nightmarish fog.

Night is the domain of mealots where the terror rule the dark. It will become risky and dangerous to head back to shelter sanctuary. If they fail to find any human or survivors within an hour, today's mission is over. A sense of frustration hits Olaf like  a brick wall. He clenches his fists, grinds his teeth and even starts to make a snarl-like sound. After a couple of seconds of this display of emotion he calms down enough to speak.

"Hey, man!  You alright there." Omer

"Huh? Yeah. Sorry, just a minor annoyance." Olaf remarks.

"Might as well go check on the dead goblin chieftain and see what items we can find."

"Very well." Olaf says upset about the situation, but decides to keep it to himself.

"You don't seem too happy with the situation."

"I don't. We're stuck out here, unable to settle and enjoy the fresh life, knowing there is nothing we can do about it. I'm becoming restless."

"Well, with your combat skills, we might be able to get our lives back one day."

"I don't wish to fight anymore. I'm thinking about giving up."

"Gave up fighting and killed a horde of monsters in the boonies? You're mad."

"No. I've been thinking about leaving this life behind. I want a family."

"That's a pretty big dream, man."

"Yeah, it is. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Cold wind blows through the trees. The emergence of afternoon's shadows make olaf shiver as he realizes how late it is.

"We need to get back." he says, standing up.

"We really need more people, though. Won't you please stay Olaf? You won't regret it."

With those words, Olaf stands silent as Omer reaches out for the chieftains corpse to loot some remaining treasures or equipment that might come handy in future.

With those words, Olaf stands silent as Omer reaches out for the chieftains corpse to loot some remaining treasures or equipment that might come handy in future.

"Look what I have found after investigating the goblin chieftain!" Omer exclaims with joy and curiosity just like a baby who has found a new toy.

"What is it, man?" Olaf asks, knowing that he could find something of value.

Omer holds up a quiver, looking from it to Olaf.

"How about some arrows?" he asks cautiously.

"I thought you said it was empty."

"It is, but these are valuable for other reasons."

"What reasons?"

"They're magical. Or at least, they have some connection to magic."

"You sure?"

"Well... I'm not sure of anything, but I know these isn't an ordinary quiver."

"How can you tell?"

"Well, look at here in inside the quiver. There are many sigils written on the inside layer. Plus, there are some colorful stones engraved in it."

"What does it all mean?"

"It's hard to say. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps something. I'm guessing wizards use quivers like this, so they don't waste magical ammunition when shooting. Come to think of it, I was really frustrated during the fight because there was no end to the Goblin Chieftain's arrows. I thought it would end eventually. That is where my calculation got wrong and I was so worried."

"Calculation?"

"Yeah, I was doing a lot of math during the fight."

"About?"

"How many arrows did the goblin chieftain have?"

"Uh... I don't know. Hundreds?"

" This quiver is too small to hold over hundred arrows. It seems like it has some kind of an inventory or a pocket dimension hidden inside it."

"How do you know these things?"

"It's just a guess from simple deduction. Also, it has so many symbols and stones engraved in it. Must be for something."

Omer says with a satisfactory smile " That's what I am assuming as well. I think it's quiver that can hold many arrows in it. Even possibly many items. If that is the case , then it will be super handy for us to collect stuffs."

A gleeful grin spreads on Omer's face.

"Are you thinking what I think you are thinking Omer?" Olaf asks cautiously.

"I am thinking that we could easily fill our pockets with valuables."

"That would be very risky. What if there is a curse on the stuff?"

"Oh, I don't think there is anything bad about it. I know these stones are valuable, so I am sure there must be much valuable stuffs in this world too. Even if it is cursed, first we need to learn how to open this quivers full potential. The Goblin Chieftain must have been using some sort of spell or key as a password." Omer replies.

"Yeah, but how are we going to find that out?" Olaf asks. 

Omer says " Let's check his other items first. Maybe we will be able to find a key or a solution to this." Saying this, Omer reaches for the goblin's armband.

"I still don't like this, you know." Olaf says.

"I understand your concerns, but I am sure we are being careful."

"Well, I guess you are the expert. I just don't want us getting killed for no reason."

"Trust me, we will be fine." Omer remarks and takes the armband.

As Olaf slowly backs away, Omer can hear Olaf muttering "Cautious Omer, cautious" under his breath.

As soon as Omer wears the armband in his hand, a faint light glows around him like  a halo. The light also causes runes to glow on his body.

"This is weird."

"What is happening?" Olaf asks nervously.

"These runes on your arm are actually causing the light! They must be some sort of magic runes. This is actually making my body feel weird."

"Your body?"

"Yeah, my body is tingling a bit. I feel taller, stronger."

"You sure that's a good thing?"

"Well, I'm not complaining." Omer laughs a bit nervously.

The tingling sensation goes away and Omer stands back up.

Then , suddenly a hologram window panel screen pops up in front of Omer's eyes. Only he can see the window panel. Olaf doesn't notice it.

"Hey, you have got to see this." Omer exclaims and takes a look at what's displayed on the screen.

It's an inventory, and the goblin weapons' category. Several strange symbols and runes can be seen on the screen.

"Now this is really weird."

"What are those?"

In the screen , a robotic female voice starts to speak. 

" Automatic translation has been initiated. Processing. Complete." 

Then , it follows by saying -

"The following items were found on the body of dead goblin. They all contain magical runes and symbols. Judging by their shape, they seem to be of magical origins."

 "That's some pretty fancy technology." Omer remarks.

Olaf can't see it. So, Omer explained it to him.

"What the... That's a lot of stuff."

"Indeed. It would be able to raise you some powerful allies indeed."

"Is it magic?"

"Correct. Magic. I think."

"Come to think of it , what was that syringe you used to drug yourself during the battle against the goblin chieftain? How did it make you so powerful? You never told me about it before?" Olaf asks Omer with a baffled look.

"Hm? Oh, that was the old school tactics." Omer says and strokes his hair. " Actually, during my experimentations with the dead mealot bodies and the ones we captured alive, I found something interesting."

"What?"

"The mealots bodies have a certain fluid inside them. It's perfect for creating drugs."

"You mean like painkillers?"

"More powerful than that. Imagine the strength you would have if you injected this stuff, and you had the body of a monster. That's what the fluid did to me. I wouldn't even need to meditate for it to take effect. I..."

"Wait. That stuff was toxic and could easily kill a weaker man." Olaf says interrupting Omer's story.

"Oh, yes. I nearly died from taking too much of it. You see it has allergic effects in other animals. I tested it on rabbits and other smaller animals that I could find here. However, my estimation is that a human can take two syringe of it at best. More than that, and it gets life-threatening. Besides, even if you take it within limitations, there are immediate side effects.."

"Like what?"

Omer smiles and continues with the explanation " like your body will get super tired and you will be immobile for couple of minutes. And, it's just the spinal fluids of them. However , their blood has different utility."

"What do you mean by that?"

Omer reaches into one of his large leather bags "I got some of those mealots blood in a jar there."

The duo looks at each other. 

" They can help produce certain type of special gas that might come revolutionary helpful for Hanks inventions. It would be a great fuel for power supply similar to gas for cars or diesel, or perhaps even far better."

"No wonder the mealots eat each others dead comrades." Olaf says.

"Exactly. This stuff is very useful. We should take as much as we can."

"Looks like we got a nice resourceful info in our hand. From now on , it will be easier to  get new loyal follower if we have this stuff to work with."

"Yes! I was right to take this risk!" Omer says.

"About time you show some initiative."

"However, we have a problem. I am out of fluid syringes."

 

Then, suddenly, the duo is attacked by human corpses, risen from the ground, and dozens of goblins from multiple directions.