Asher’s lungs burned, much like the city around him. His footfalls thundered in his head as he desperately held on to his goal, the destination. The sun had completely set now and if it weren't for the spreading fires, Asher likely wouldn’t be able to see more than a few paces before him.

                The buildings to either side of him felt as though they were beginning to push in towards him, pressing him down. The stress of the day was becoming more and more suffocating.   

                Bursting out of the narrow streets and into the market square,
Asher felt the relief of open air for a brief moment before that relief was washed away, restoring panic to its place at the helm. In front of him, Asher was coming face to face with the reality of the night, a huge horde of goblins was marching through the market district, heading towards the Tower. Now that he was seeing a large group for the first time, Asher was stunned to see the diversity of shapes of the creatures. He had assumed that they were all giants based on what he had seen so far, but what he saw now was a mix of goblins of all sizes. The giant ones were here in numbers, but there were also individuals who seemed slightly shorter, if stockier, than a human. Strangest of all were the small childlike goblins, who were dashing in and out of the crowds, these were no taller than a 5-year-old human child. Asher had to assume, based on their stature and behaviour, that they actually were children. Why a goblin warband would bring along their children was incomprehensible to Asher. 

                There was no time to be standing around pondering the motivations of the monsters invading his home. Asher scanned the crowd desperately searching for any sign of his brother. A few torturous minutes passed with Asher crouching behind a stack of crates next to a stall, examining the crowd passing by. They were less organised than Asher had first thought, what had seemed from a distance an organised march turned out to be a mess of individuals roaming around, but all generally heading in the same direction.

                Just as Asher’s body was beginning to scream from being forced to maintain his crouched position for so long, he saw what he had been looking for. A massive, muscular goblin was entering the outer edge of the/ market with the body of what looked like a young man slung over its shoulder.      In that moment of recognition, Asher realised he had already screwed up.

                He had spent what must have been ten or fifteen minutes between running here and crouching behind these crates, and in all that time he had not put any energy into coming up with a plan. He was a total idiot. Without any kind of plan Asher was left with very few options. Either he could just run in now, attack and almost certainly be killed. Or he could follow the target goblin and hope he could come up with an idea before it reached the Tower. Asher, mind numb from the day, chose the second option.

                Asher did his best in following the specific goblin he was tracking, he lost it in the crowd a few times, but thankfully its height plus the human slung over its shoulder made it fairly easy to find again.  Opportunities for Asher to do anything were growing increasingly limited by the second. He followed the horde as they entered the park district which fully encircled the Tower itself. He could see that ahead of them the wide-open flat space was enabling the goblins to spread out and disperse their ranks. It was now or never, if he waited any longer, he was going to be forced into the open anyway. 

                No opportunity presented itself. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but his worst-case scenario plan of running in and praying for protection was all he had left. Asher set his jaw and dashed into the crowd, running as fast as he could without losing balance, he dashed between goblins which dwarfed him by comparison, his only shield was the momentary shock and confusion his presence caused. Asher guessed that the beasts were struggling to make sense of a tiny human running directly into their midst, unarmed and unguarded. 

                The eye watering, musky odour of the crowd hit Asher like a brick wall. The impact of the smell caused him to miss a step and nearly lost his footing completely. The things stank of sweat and blood. 

                Swallowing and forcing down his disgust, Asher moved on, his eyes still fixed on his goal. A few short paces later and he was there; his target loomed over him in that briefest of moments before they collided. Asher threw the full force of his body weight into charging at the creature, he was hoping to catch it off guard, perhaps causing it to drop Ben in surprise. 

THWACK

Asher found himself crumpled on the ground. He began to doubt his own experience, surely, he had hit a wall or something rather than a living creature, there had been no give, whatever he had hit had not faltered an inch. 

                A half a moment later Asher, still dazed by the collision tried to pick himself up off the ground only to feel something strike him hard on the back. He slammed into the floor instantly; his breath was ripped away and did not return. Asher lay on the floor, a collapsed heap of skin and bone clawing at his own throat as he tried to recapture his breath. He slowly pieced together what had just happened. He had not missed the goblin. His target had turned out to be an immovable beast, more densely muscled than Asher could have even imagined. Following his pathetic attempt at an attack, the goblin had struck back with its own huge club. 

                Asher was just beginning to get in short, unhelpful breaths when he looked up, trying to catch up with what he had missed while groggy on the floor. Slowly his eyes began regaining their light, pushing back the dark tunnel of unconsciousness. 

                “Ash!” Ben’s shout broke through the fog of Asher’s delirium.

                Asher found Ben in the crowd, he was still draped over the shoulder of the same giant goblin. The brothers were able to see each other now, as the goblin walked away. 

                “Ben!” Asher cried, throat raw from smoke and voice raspy as he was still recovering from the devastating blow. He knew that Ben would not be able to hear him. He tried anyway. “I’m coming for you! Don't you dare die! No matter what!” he tried to roar, but instead his voice was pitiful and barely audible. 

                Ben’s face was a collage of pain, the clearest emotion shining through was fear, but confusion and grief were there too, as he was being dragged away from his family and home. Asher could just barely make out tears streaking down Ben’s face, leaving streaks behind as they cleared the smoke and dirt from his face. 

                “I’m sorry!” Ben cried. “I’m sorry!” 

Asher's heart ached, this wasn't Ben’s fault, this was his fault.

                “I tried to hide!” He shouted, “I tried but I couldn't get past them.” Ben was sobbing now, tears streaming more freely. He looked as though he were about to speak again when another goblin approached from nearby and slapped Ben in the face. Asher’s younger brother’s neck whipped back and forth from the strike, and just like that, Ben spoke no more.

                Asher’s silent scream tore his throat to pieces. He choked on flecks of his own blood when he struggled to inhale. His own weakness had brought him here, his frustration at his uselessness shifted the quiet scream to an enraged growl. He gurgled and groaned like a rabid beast; his rage was his only safety from the pain and agony. Slowly, his vision began to fade again, and soon Asher was unconscious. Everything was dark.