Richard stared out the window of his Rolls-Royce, bored and stuck in traffic.

  Annoyed, he snapped at his driver. "Go around. I don't have all day."

  "Yes, young master," the old driver replied, though they both knew there was no way to avoid the gridlock at this hour.

  Frustrated, Richard glanced at the cars hemming them in, muttered a curse under his breath, and shoved the door open.

  "Meet me at six, near the Golden Bull Restaurant," he said before slamming the door shut.

  Casually weaving through the stalled traffic, Richard set his course toward his office tower, which rose a mile or so downtown.

  As he walked, he noticed people staring at him strangely.

  "Huh. Haven't they seen someone properly dressed?" he thought. He was used to drawing attention in lower-class neighborhoods, but this was the city center—people here should be less impressed by him.

  A little unsettled by the stares, Richard quickened his pace, telling himself he was just imagining things. But after a block or two, the pointed looks hadn't stopped.

  Debating whether to bolt, he nearly collided with a little girl. At the last moment, he swerved around her.

  "Sorry!" he called, waving an apologetic hand as he kept moving.

  The girl froze, her eyes wide with horror. She pointed straight at him and screamed in a shrill voice, "Monster!"

  At that, it was as if the crowd snapped out of a trance—people screamed and scattered, fleeing from him in every direction.

  Fear knotted in Richard's chest. Panicked and confused, he ran too, no longer caring about roads or sidewalks, just desperate to escape.

  Then his foot caught, and he crashed into the side of a parked car. Dazed and aching, he looked up—only to see a goblin's grinning face staring back at him from the car's mirror.

  Gasping, Richard awoke, glanced at the still-sleeping pups around him, and muttered a curse under his breath. It had been nearly a month since his reincarnation, and he was still trapped in this awful cave.

  With a sigh, he thought, 'Status', and the translucent screen appeared. His Body stat had risen to 5, which drew a brief smile—until his eyes fell on the unchanged Nones and stagnant numbers in the other fields. The smile quickly vanished.

  With another sigh, he dismissed the status screen and shut his eyes, hoping to steal a bit more rest. When he opened them again, it was nearly feeding time.

  Bored, Richard rose and wandered to the cave's entrance, pressing his ear to the ground to listen for the heavy steps of workers burdened with their gourds.

  For a while, he heard nothing but the lighter patter of pups. Then, suddenly, a foot nudged him.

  "Up, moron," barked a worker goblin—or at least that's what Richard thought it meant, given his still-limited grasp of Goblinish.

  Looking up, he saw the group of workers he had been straining to hear. But instead of carrying gourds, they bore long coils of rope. The ropes were clearly lighter; the goblins handled them with ease, nothing like the strain the heavy gourds usually caused.

  The workers wasted no time, herding the confused pups that had been waiting for food. Once they had gathered them, the goblins split into two groups.

  One group set about knotting the ropes into a chain of loops. The others grabbed pups by their feet, slipped a loop around an ankle, and pulled the rope taut from both ends, fastening it securely.

  Some of the pups struggled, trying to slip free or tear at the ropes. Their efforts were met with sharp kicks and heavy punches from the workers, each act of resistance beaten down without hesitation.

  Unaccustomed to such rough treatment, the pups soon cowered in silence, too afraid to move.

  When Richard's turn came, he offered no resistance. The binding was over in moments—quick, practiced, efficient. Clearly, the workers had done this many times before.

  Once the ropes were secured, the workers grabbed the ends and marched toward the exit. Any pup too slow to rise was given a sharp kick for motivation. The blows didn't seem to cause real harm, but the pups' quick response showed they were effective enough.

  This time, Richard tried to memorize the route, hoping to piece together the cave system. But to his dismay, the twisting passages all looked the same, and his mental map unraveled after only a short while.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Driven on by kicks and shouts, the group moved quickly, reaching their destination in barely twenty minutes.

  Richard found himself in a large cave, not unlike the one where he slept. The difference was the stair-like structures carved into its walls. Near the entrance, the steps rose directly from the floor, easy to climb. But the farther they went, the higher the first step became—so tall that it was impossible to reach.

  The stair-like tiers—perhaps seats rather than steps—were crowded with goblins, gathered in clusters of their own kind. Richard recognized plenty of workers and a few nurses, but there were also larger, meaner-looking goblins unlike any he had seen before.

  These stood out with tougher hides and bone ornaments accenting their appearance. Many carried weapons—mostly crude knives and spears, but a few bore what looked like real steel, though such arms were rare.

  The least represented were the shaman—or perhaps priest-like—goblins. They resembled the ones Richard had seen during the bead ceremony.

  Richard and the pups were herded into the center of the cave, where the workers quickly removed their bindings.

  Intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings, none of them dared to move or make a sound. For some reason, this seemed to greatly amuse the watching goblins, who laughed and pointed at the cowering pups.

  After a short while, a massive goblin armed with a heavy club leapt down from the seats and planted himself before the pups.

  He slammed the club against the floor, each thunderous crack drawing the attention of both the cowering pups and the watching crowd. After three sharp bangs in quick succession, certain that every eye was on him, the goblin spoke.

  "Welcome, pups. This, courage," the goblin boomed, his voice echoing through the cavern. Richard could only catch fragments of the speech.

  "Strong. Food. Not hungry," the goblin finished, his words booming through the cave. The crowd erupted in applause.

  The goblin raised a blue stone high for all to see. The stone was roughly round, about the size of his pinky finger. He pointed at it and declared, "Food." Then, hiding it behind his back, he snarled, "No food."

  His grin spread wide, teeth flashing, before he bellowed a single command:

  "Begin!"

  As if on cue, a wave of goblins poured into the cave—mostly the warrior types. First, they drove the pups farther from the exit, forcing them toward the center. Sensing trouble, Richard edged his way into the middle of the group.

  The warriors then formed a solid line, cutting off a third of the cavern near the exit and leaving the rest to the pups. The large goblin who had spoken earlier grinned wide and shouted something Richard couldn't understand.

  At his signal, ten burly goblins strode in, each carrying a heavy stick in one hand and a bulging sack in the other. The crowd cheered them on with adoring shouts.

  The newcomers spread out along the wall on the pups' side of the cavern. One by one, they upended their sacks, spilling piles of blue stones onto the ground—stones identical to the one shown before.

  Then the massive goblin roared again: "Food!"

  This time, a group of worker goblins marched in, burdened with huge sacks, cauldrons, and bundles of wood. Their loads were far larger than those carried by the warriors.

  The workers positioned themselves near the cave exit and began emptying the sacks. Out spilled a jumble of food—different kinds of mushrooms and moss, along with the small carcasses of rodents and bird-like creatures. Without pause, they set up the cauldrons, stacked the wood, and began building fires.

  Once the fires were lit, the workers began cooking. Before long, a rich, intoxicating aroma spread through the cavern. The pups, who had never smelled anything like it before, instinctively pressed closer to the cauldrons.

  But as they edged forward, they were forced nearer to the warriors' line. The boldest pups who crossed too close were struck with heavy blows from the goblins' sticks. Caught off guard, they stumbled back, clutching their bruised limbs. These strikes were far harsher than the kicks and punches they'd endured earlier.

  Agitated and afraid, the pups clustered back together in the center of their section of the cave.

  The crowd of goblins roared with delight, laughing, jeering, even bouncing in their seats. A few clambered down to the workers, trading small shiny stones for steaming morsels of food. Watching the goblins feast only sharpened the pups' hunger, but the memory of those painful blows kept them rooted in place.

  After a while, the massive goblin began pounding his stick against the ground again. The sharp cracks drew every pup's gaze.

  Striding toward the line of warriors, he raised the blue stone high for all to see. One of the warriors stepped forward, accepted the stone, and then moved aside—granting the large goblin passage.

  Crossing the line, the large goblin was handed a hefty portion of food. He tore into it with loud, exaggerated relish, making sure every pup saw just how much he enjoyed it.