The forest was quiet. It was the kind of silence that usually preceded a predator's attack, or followed a massacre.
"Hey."
The goblin didn't respond immediately. he just struggled with the ropes
"What?" he finally croaked.
"Do you want to hear a story? It's a good one."
"..."
The wind picked up, biting against my bare skin. I ignored the cold. I looked up at the canopy of leaves blocking the starlight.
"A long time ago."
My voice echoed slightly in the empty woods.
"A Demon and a God fell in love. It was a forbidden union. The laws of the world did not allow it, but their affection was strong enough to defy those laws."
They were prepared to slaughter their own kin to protect it. They were lucky, for a time. But luck is a resource that eventually runs out.
"Everything changed when a child was born."
I kicked a pebble. It skittered across the dirt, hitting the goblin's head.
"The Gods discovered the error. They decided to erase it. But even the absolute beings didn't have the guts to slaughter an infant with their own hands. So, they left him to his fate. They exiled him to the earth."
The child was cast out. The Gods despised him. The Demons rejected him. To the eyes of every other living thing, he was a freak.
But the Gods had made a miscalculation.
"They didn't know they had created a monster."
Because the child possessed the blood of opposing forces, he didn't just survive the wild. He dominated it.
Years passed. The boy slaughtered so many creatures that his existence became a symbol of terror. He became so powerful that even the Heavens and the Hell realized they could no longer touch him.
But eventually, the world decided to release the boy from his pain.
"They acknowledged him as a God. It was his right, after all. They gave him a special position."
I paused, letting the words hang in the cold air.
"They crowned him the [God of Death] and blessed him with true immortality."
However, peace is fragile. The world divided. Some hated him; others forgave him. And then, from no where the Outer-Gods appeared.
"No one really knows where they came from or why, the only thing every one knew is that they wanted to destroy everything. It was a war that ground souls into dust. So, the [God of Death] made a choice."
To defend the creatures he ruled, to save the few friends he had made... he decided to sacrifice himself.
"He tore off his own wings. He shattered his horns. He destroyed his own soul to annihilate the Outer-Gods."
It was a perfect tragedy.
"After the battle, his memory was immortalized. He was remembered as the greatest hero of all time. The one who sacrificed himself to save the world."
I looked down at the goblin, a dry smile forming on my lips.
"Dramatic, isn't it? I'm sure you've heard this legend before. But I have a little secret for you."
"..."
"I am that God."
The silence stretched out. A crow cawed in the distance. The goblin, currently hanging upside down from an ancient oak tree, stared at me.
His face was swollen from the beating. His eyes were wide.
"..."
"What?" I asked.
"First off," the goblin rasped, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I ain't never heard that rubbish in my life. And second... I'm pretty sure you've been eating the wrong mushrooms."
"How dare you?" I asked, genuinely offended.
"How dare I?" The goblin thrashed against the rope, his voice cracking. "Look at ya! You're stark raving mad!"
"A mad God?"
"You're a naked human!" the goblin screamed, spit flying from his mouth. "You're buck naked! You beat me half to death with a rock, tied me to a tree, and now you're tellin' me fairytales while your bits are swinging in the breeze!"
I looked down.
Indeed, the moonlight reflected off my bare chest. I stood there, stripped of dignity, holding a conversation with a low-tier monster.
"You..." I scratched the back of my head. "You have a valid point."
"YOU THINK???"
"By the way."
I bent down and picked up the bag of dried meat from the forest floor.
"Thank you for the tribute," I said, dusting off the dirt. "This God accepts your offering."
"I didn't offer jack shit!" the goblin howled. "You robbed me! You shameless fucker! At least untie me!"
I turned toward the dark, overgrown path. The cold was starting to seep into my bones. I waved my hand over my shoulder without looking back.
"Ah, yes about that."
I walked into the wood's darkness.
"No."