Gawd, it was going to be another long night. Ever since Akshay had taken over the ownership of One Comic to Rule Them All, he was having an absolute blast. He fought hard to make the shop work, to keep it the way it always was and to still make it a viable business. It was hard, honest work and he loved every second of it. Every second…except for nights like tonight. Tonight was an inventory night which meant that he had to go in through every single item in his shop to make sure that he was up to stock on everything. It was going to be a long night.

Normally he always had one of the other workers at least help him so that he would not have to spend the night. Sadly, he couldn’t find the help this time; people were busy, spending time with girlfriends, blah, blah! All just excuses!

So, not Akshay Malik was walking back from the around the corner, toting a bag of fresh Chinese food to keep his stomach full and his mind focused. It was going to be a lonely night but at least he was going to get a lot of work down.

The sun was low on the horizon, which meant that in a couple of hours, night would befall them. The setting sun peeked in through the buildings, illuminating alleys and briefly shooing away the darkness that tended to settle there. As the lanky, wordsmith passed one, he paused when he heard the sounds of giggling and click of something odd…almost like a lighter.

He tilted his head and turned to peer down the alley. It looked normal; just like any other alley in this city—garbage strewn, puddles of questionable liquid, faded and/or ripped posters, a gaggle of teens leaning over something covered in firecrackers and clicking a lighter…

…wait…what was that last one?

He blinked as he fully turned and peered closely. On the ground of the alley, with gleaming red firecrackers duct taped all around it, was what looked like a little stone statue. He shook his head as he peered at it. What is wrong with these tweens these days? They just loved to make things explode or fall in love with sparkly vampires! Insanity!

Well, the young wordsmith would have just let it go and decide to not get involved…until he clearly saw what the statue was…a goblin. His jaw nearly dropped to the ground. The statue had such impressive detail about it that he could only wonder who the artist was. Immediately it made him salivate because it was such a statue that he would love to display it in his shop.

Click!

Instantly he saw the flame ignite on the lighter and Akshay knew he had to act. He couldn’t let them do this so such a piece of majesty! The kids grinned and cheered as one of them began to kneel down, getting ready to light the fuse that would light all the firecrackers to produce one massive bang. Oh they were not going to get away with that!

“Hey!!!” Akshay shouted. He ground his teeth as he suddenly charged down the alley. “Hey!! Get out of here! Go on!!”

"Toad, give me the lighter." Demanded the tallest children in an unkind tone. When the request was not meet, he stretched his closed hand to dispel any attempt of rebellion.
Upon hearing the order, the frog faced child leaped in his place. His wide eyes nervously looked at his cousin with respect and admiration but essentially fear. A primal fear, almost animal. He knew what would happen if he did not give him the lighter, so without hesitation he extended his hand to deliver the precious object. But before his cousin could take it, her clumsy finger dropped it. The bright object opened with a loud click while the friends of his cousin laughed in unison.

Among the laughter of the group he could almost heard the sound of his own heart trying to escape from his chest, quickly jumping like a frog. But above all, he could feel the gaze of his cousin, silently commanding him to lift the lighter. With a speed that he did not know he had, Toad soon picked up the lighter to deposit it in the big hands of his cousin, who smiled foolishly. Pleased with his obedience. His hands closed like jaws on the polished surface making it disappear.

As soon as he gave him the object, he took a couple of steps backwards to get away from the small group of supporters. And from there he could see how the lighter produced a small flame. It was about to lit the fuse when someone shouted. Everybody froze in their places, holding their breath. The silent dominated everything for several seconds until Jimmy began to run, then Luke, then Sam. Even Toad ran away from the statue they wanted to destroy, all but his cousin.

Lenny the Giant, better known as Toad's cousin, stared at the intruder with hatred. Throwing imaginary daggers to the person that dared to ruin his fun but when it was clear that the stranger hero was not going to disappear, Lenny lit the fuse and then began to run.
He did not need to look back to know the firecracker started to explode, one by one, the explosive objects unleashed their fury in agonizing howls.

Akshay ran until his lungs hurt. That statue looked so exquisite, how could he let a bunch of no good kids destroy it for giggles?! It was just wrong! No, he was not going to allow something like this to happen! So he ran, he shouted, and for a second it seemed like it was going to work. They looked scared enough at being interrupted, but just as they turned and ran, he saw the fuse lit. He cursed in his head, especially at that tall kid, before he paused and ducked down behind a trash can.

There was no way that he would get there in time to stop it.

The alley screamed and echoed with the blasts of angry firecrackers. They burst in succession, shouting their unknown obscenities into the sky and reverberating on the close ways, bouncing back and forth until Akshay could feel the ringing reach a cacophony in his ears. He winced and ground his teeth , trying to keep himself from going deaf by covering his ears; but it barely did any good.

When it was finally over, the young wordsmith groaned as he uncovered his ears, wincing, and moved onto his two feet. He felt horrible that he couldn’t save that thing in time. From the last look of it, it looked so detailed, so real! Almost as if someone had grabbed a goblin and dipped him into stone. He grumbled as he kicked a can away in frustration and turned. Maybe he could at least salvage the head or somethi—

“Whoa…no…FREAKINGWAY!!” he grinned wide as he peered down, noticing that the statue was completely intact!

What a save! What a miracle! What a…what the hell was that thing MADE of? He shook his head as he crept closer to investigate. It was still perfect! All the firecrackers had exploded and most of the ducttape was burned away. He could only marvel as he reached down and, struggling, hefted the statue up into his arms. It was a heavy little sucker but he couldn’t think about that, it was just so damn beautiful! It need a good polishing, cleaning, and paint job, but it was gorgeous nonetheless! He sighed happily as he took off as much duct tape as he could and turned to head out of the alley. He needed to get this little guy back to his comic shop before any other weirdoes attempted to blow him up again.

***

A short time later, after the sun began to set, Akshay FINALLY arrived back in his shop, carrying one messed up back of Chinese food, and a very heavy goblin statue. As soon as he had walked in, he locked the door behind him and sighed at the feeling of the cool air conditioner. Though inventory was not his favorite thing to do, with his new find, he was skipping on cloud nine. He really was looking forward to cleaning and painting that little bugger. But first, he needed to take care of some…business.

Gently he set the goblin statue on his counter, his Chinese food next to it, and dashed for the back room. Nature was calling and he HAD[/b] to answer!

The world that his five senses showed him, changed radically in just one second. His memories insisted in vain that there should be a garden, which should be illuminated by sunlight and bathed in its melting heat but nothing of that was there, Gug had no choice but to accept that he had somehow traveled through time and space. Maybe he inherited some of his mother´s power after all...
Just a moment ago he was in a garden, playing one of his favorite games. He was chasing a fat cat that could hardly stand, let alone run, so the animal could not escape his torture. He spent the last hour chasing and poking him until after a blink everything changed. He was now in a place illuminated by some source of artificial light even whiter than sunlight, the heat from the golden disc had become a strong winter breeze that although unnatural was extremely welcome.

His first reaction was to search for the cat. The second was to try to understand where he was, but his questions were soon reduced to nothing when the delicious smell of human food emanating from a bag hit his nose. With uncertain steps, he moved to find the source of that aroma, always trying not to fall. Once he located the food, Guglin shattered the bag with its nails exposing several containers of different sizes. He took the biggest one and began to chew the cardboard until after swallowing several pieces of the delicious box he found something even more wonderful. Steam rose from the rice to let him taste the dish, so even before seeing its contents he knew what it contained. Putting the box aside, he put his mouth in white grain that attempted to hide the meat. Soon all the meat and half the rice had disappeared.

Momentarily satisfied and with no more meat to chew, he left the boring rice to peek in the other containers. None seemed to have anything interesting so he finally left the bag and its contents alone.
With an agile leap, he descended to the ground where a comfortable carpet welcomed him. From there, he had a completely different perspective of the man made cave. What once had been small now had become a gigantic so most things were out of his reach. Everything except for the little creatures who watched him from behind a protective glass.
Guglin watched the little creatures in amazement and they watched him in return. Silently. Some of them were human, even taller than the other tiny creatures, so Guglin did not pay much attention to them. He also found dwarves with long beards and giant axes and even dragons, but what caught his attention were the green creatures without name. They were a lot like him...
He had been so close that his face was pressed against the glass in an attempt to get closer to the creatures. When he failed, he tried to get their attention by knocking in the glass with his knuckles but the silent still remained untouched so he asked aloud in an extremely sharp voice. "You hear me?"

A flush and a sigh later and Akshay was thoroughly washing his hands in the back restroom’s sink. Soap lathering up and covering his hands, he placed them under the stream of water that poured out from the faucet and completed wiped away all the soap that had once covered them. He was definitely looking forward to his meal for tonight and maybe even getting some work done on that statue after he was done with inventory. Tonight was going to be a pretty fun night for him.

He sighed as he stepped out of his bathroom, wiping his hands on a bundle of paper towels. As he dabbed and dried them, he tossed the now ruined paper into a nearby wastebasket and turned to check his inventory list. There were a lot of new titles in and just in time for promotional day! He hoped that he would be able to get through them all and still have time to work on the statue.

Shaking his head, he grumbled as he went through his list, sighing at the idea of having to fish through so many Weasel Man comics (definitely not his favorites). But just as he was checking off the next issue on the list, he paused when suddenly he caught hear the sound of a voice.

>> "You hear me?"

It was loud, piercing, and it sounded like it was coming from the front of his shop? Had someone gotten in and needed service? He blinked, trying to remember if he had indeed locked the door after he had walked in. In confusion he stepped out into the front area and peered around his store…nothing…

So far everything looked exactly as it had before. From here he could tell that the door was indeed locked and there was absolutely no one in the shop so it was not like he locked someone in. He was caught off guard, though, by the strong smell of Chinese food wafting across his nose. Maybe he was hungrier than he thoug—

He squeaked when he noticed that the bag of his Chinese food, his dinner for the evening, was tore into and half gone!

“What the hell?” he mumbled to himself as he cautiously walked into the front of the store, eyes directly on the open bag of demolished food containers and nothing else. “Hello?” he asked, not bothering to look down at the glass case or the figures that stood in complete and utter silence—and especially not at the figure that was standing on the other side of the glass that futilely attempted to communicate with them.

Despite the noise penetrating from the outside through the glass wall, inside the cave was in a state of calm interrupted only by the occasional grunt of surprise and the constant rubbing of his feet against the carpet. Although he did not always agree with humans, who generally were noisy and annoying, Guglin could not help to enjoy the smoothness of the floor. It was a different feeling than the tickling grass, or the hard cement that is got hot with the sun, and although somewhat similar to fabric, it composition continued to be a mystery. A nice mystery. The goblin stared the synthetic carpet with curiosity, wondering how much time would take to get a sizable chunk to put in his lair but while he was doing the necessary calculations, his thoughts turned away from there to reposition themselves on the little people trapped in the glass box.

A distant voice, almost human, forced his focus away from his thoughts of vandalism to make him concentrate once more on the box where the creatures remained as immobile as before. Humans, dwarves and elves stared straight ahead ignoring his presence. Perhaps by choice, or perhaps they were under the influence of some spell. None seemed to have much interest in raising their tiny eyes and confirm the presence of the goblin that for them should look like a giant.
Very slowly so as not to scare the little monsters, Guglin moved his face toward the glass so his long ears were pressed on the transparent surface.
Almost when he was about to surrender, he heard another voice. Startled, he stared at the crystal cage in order to find the owner of that voice, but every one of those people seemed to be just as quiet as before.

He continued searching for that ghostly voice without so much hope, staring at everything with his big eyes. At least he was able to understand the message, so directing his voice toward the box, the goblin answered the greeting. "Hello." With his voice full of joy and security.
As he had learned with Dog, the words did not matter as much as the tone that seemed to carry more things than the words themselves, so he spoke very slowly, trying to project his concern to the multiple inhabitants of that little world. "Need help?"

>> "Hello."

Akshay was at such a loss for words that he could not even comprehend of what he was looking at right now. Just standing in his own shop, staring with eyes wide open, he watched what he could only assume was a living, breathing, goblin! It was just so wild that he really could not wrap his head around the concept. This was like something out of a movie or a comic book and yet, here he was, looking at this mythical creature that seemed vastly interested in his display case.

Never did it cross his mind that this creature was a mutant or anything having to do with the real world. All he saw was a Monsters and Mazes being standing full of life. Just, how was it possible? It was not until then that he noticed that the statue he hauled all the way over from the alley was gone. The statue…that now that he thought about it…looked exactly like this creature.

No…wonder!

He almost wanted to slap himself for not seeing it a second ago. Goblins, when in contact with direct sunlight, turn to stone! That was probably what happened! Some innocent goblin was wandering, lost, in the streets of New York and as caught in the sun before he could get away. It was so obvious!

>> "Need help?"

The creature was still keeping its focus intently on the creatures in the case. Akshay could only wonder what it thought. Did it think that those other miniatures were is smaller brethren? Maybe it thought it was in the realm of some wizard that had turned all his friends into stone? The possibilities were endless!

Akshay was going to have to make contact.

Standing still far away (since he didn’t want to spook the beast), he cleared his throat and responded in his best and most polite manner of Goblin speech that he learned from his years of playing Monsters and Mazes…

“R'mmu! O us ouun vno't,” he said with pride. Roughly it translated to ”Hello! I am your friend!”[/u]. At least that is what he hoped it meant. Been awhile since he spoke goblin-ish.

The awe he felt for that miniature world soon became an extreme curiosity that filled his oval head with a thousand questions and his constant surveillance of that world did not give him any response, it just raised new questions. It was difficult to understand how they had managed to get into that box that seemed impenetrable, but more difficult to imagine how they could live in such confinement. A quick glance was enough for him to notice that there was no food down there, not even water. Without any support it did not seem possible for these people to live there but still, I had heard a voice coming from the other side of the glass so he ought to be wrong.

A not so far throaty sound put his ears on alert once again, causing them to move frantically in order to capture future sounds. It was then that he heard the strange chant. The first sound, wild and short that was almost like a growl soon gave way to new sounds, words in a language he had never heard before. Several disparate noises fused together to form what seemed words, separated by small silences. The speech was strange but clear.

While hearing those awful words his whole body tensed with anticipation, recalling the recent encounter with the magician in the big park. Guided by instinct, his hands descended to his waist, where his beloved sword rested. This time, his hands found nothing.
The player for Scora had been simple and pronounced in the tongue of humans. Instead, that new spell not only was indecipherable but also extremely long. Whatever would happen, Guglin did not want to be in the receiving end.

Feeling the power of the spell closing around him, the little goblin ran along the extension of the glass, up to one of the corners where he could avoid a direct impact. But even when he could see through the glass clearly, he did not find any traces of the devastating curse that these complicated words had called.
Relieved but still slightly confused by the non dramatic demonstration of magic, the little goblin turned on his heels looking for the voice. It was then, and only then that he discovered the man that was watching him.
The stranger looked extremely harmless but if that strange spell had come from him, Gug needed to deal with him quickly. Sadly, he could not just tear up his throat without really knowing if he was the sorceress... so again, he raised his voice, addressing the only person in the room. "You wizard?"

>> "You wizard?"

Common speech! Duh! Of course the little goblin would be able to speak common speech. More than likely he would have to make a lot of dealings with humans so he would need to be able to communicate with them. Whether as guides, to thieve from them, or something more nefarious, it would be important for goblins to know how to speak to a human.

Unfortunately, it never came into Akshay’s mind that this creature was a mutant. All he saw was a lost goblin that needed help getting back to his own realm of fantasy and magic. Maybe Akshay would even be permitted to visit! Now THAT[/b] would be an adventure!

He paused though as he actually tried to focus on what the creature had said. As it stood there, above his glass case, Akshay thought back over the words, was he a wizard? To be honest it would have been rather easy to correct the goblin, but maybe that was not the best decision. Goblins, depending on the mythos, didn’t always trust humans. They were creatures for goblins to fear and/or loathe because of their superior size and stature.

Goblins, though, were supposed to natural fear those of a more magical nature. That was power even they could not wield. Hmm…maybe there was nothing wrong with a little roleplaying?

Yeah, he would have to put on his best commanding speech to earn the little goblin’s trust.

Ahem…

“Ah, so you speak the common tongue,” Akshay said approvingly. “Good. Goblin tongue hurts my throat.” he sighed as he took a cautious step forward, never letting his gaze fall from the creature. “My name is Akshay…and yes, I am a wizard. One of the most powerful, actually.”

His mind raced as he tried to think of a way to prove his true power. He didn’t know exactly what experience the goblin had in this world, or what he may have already considered as feats of human science. So maybe, he would have to show him something that was beyond that realm, something that was more…mutant related…

He closed his eyes. The hairs at the back of his neck lifted and slowly he began to tap into the power that he was normally so scared of. It was like relaxing a muscle; his entire body felt looser as he calmed himself and opened his eyes, looking at the creature again. He smiled, in a most benevolent way and opened his mouth to talk. He would demonstrate his great powers to the little goblin.

“I am powerful. I breathe life into the very words I speak,” he said. Just as he did so, the words “life” and “words” began to flutter to life in the air between them. The white letters lined in thick black, shimmered and sparked with an iridescence that rivaled the brightest hummingbird’s wings. Carefully he reached out and plucked the two words from the air. He smiled as he walked over and very gently set them on the counter, but still keeping his distance from the goblin as to not startle him. “I am your friend…”

Again, once the word “friend” had fully come to life, he also set that down with the others. Hopefully the goblin would trust that he was not a threat to him.

When the sorcerer spoke again, the language he used changed from the incoherent noises to mimic the same dialect the little goblin used.
Almost without realizing, Gug started to nod to the first affirmation of the human, quietly confirming his ability to communicate in the language of humans.
Then, demonstrating an odd lack of interest in the language they talked, the man changed the subject to start talking about an exotic food that could damage the throat as if it were a dangerous hedgehog. If that goblin tongue was so difficult to eat, it was certainly delicious so Guglin wrote a mental note to a catch goblin later, if he could find one.

Then the man challenged him with a threatening step forward that Guglin replied with standing in the same place, otherwise he would have asserted his power and greatness.
But where physical intimidation failed, his words caused an irrational fear that made the little goblin step back while repeating the name of his opponent. "Ackashey." Even when spoken by someone with no magical abilities, the power of that word melted over his tongue to make it awkwardly heavy. Maybe that was a simple curse to combat other wizards.

In his first encounter with a wizard, all ended well. Although the battle had begun with long tongues of fire devouring his skin, or at least trying, at the end they had managed to establish a long and peaceful conversation. Instead, on this occasion they had begun talking so the battle could begin at any time soon.
The man closed his eyes but before Guglin could decide if that was a threat, he opened them again while giving him a genuine smile that made the goblin forget his tension.

Now undecided about the benevolence or evilness of the magician, the green creature remained still in a state of semi alert. His ears prickled again when he heard the wizard speak of his power while explaining its qualities. Guglin observed the human trying to discover who was behind that smile, but before he could find what he wanted, two objects materialized out of nowhere, bursting into what once had been empty. His amber eyes opened with astonishment as he stared these wonderful objects that the man put out of his reach.

Despite all his senses craved for the words, Guglin was strong enough to ignore these impulses and face reality. He was probably the magician that locked up all these creatures, so when he recovered some of his lost courage, Guglin interrupted the human. "If you friend." Pause to look at the box of glass. "Free them."

>> "Ackashey."

Hmm, yes, a goblin would have difficulty pronouncing his name. Goblins always had a hard time since they normally sounded like they were struggling with the human tongue. Though they obviously knew the merit of speaking it, they preferred to hold onto their own heritage and speak their own language. It was only in time of devilry or necessity that they deemed it wise to speak in the common tongues.

( Or, at least that is what he believed. He read a lot of comics and fantasy novels so that was what he was able to gather. That is not to say that is exactly how real goblins acted. He would have to find out by studying this creature’s habits.)

Anyways, he returned from his thoughts and regarded the creature closely. He was standing there, in awe at the power that he had displayed. In all honesty, in this city, his powers were really not the most impressive when compared to other mutants. But it seemed to do the trick for the little creature.

Maybe he could earn his trust just yet.

It was only when he was locking eyes with the goblin that it finally made a request. A request that would deem whether or not Akshay could be trusted…

>> "If you friend…Free them."

Akshay tilted his head. At first he was confused since he didn’t know what the goblin was referring too. Free who? Maybe the goblin was referring to himself and wanted to be released back out into the world? It was entirely possible because it was obvious that the creature was confused as to what was going on. Maybe he thought he was trapped inside of the room with the self-proclaimed “wizard”?

But he remembered back to what he saw earlier—the creature was talking to his glass case. To the other miniature monsters and figurines within! The picture began to paint itself that the green humanoid probably thought that if Akshay was a wizard, that he had cast a spell on his miniature brethren. The young wordsmith figured that he would have to play with this idea in order to further gain the creature’s trust.

“I…can’t,” he said with a heavy heart. “They…are under a spell I cannot break. So, I keep them here. Safe, inside my stor—err, my temple. At least here, I can protect them. Until, you know, until I can find a cure.” But, to show that he was not truly evil or mean, he walked over, slowly, and produced a key from his pocket. Carefully he unlocked the display case for the goblin and nodded to it. “Go ahead. You can check them yourself…”

Once he managed to direct his moral challenge to the wizard, his lips close tightly for the first time transforming his carefree smile into a thin line that lacked any expressivity but even when his expression was calm and quiet, his mind fought constantly with an ever growing nervousness. If the man´s reply was negative, it would be the end of the implicit truce and the beginning of a bloody battle.
In order to avoid giving him any him of his fears and concerns, he stayed as still as a statue. The only things in his body that were not made of stone were his long ears that were always in motion while waiting the man´s reply.

Even when his reply was exactly was he was expecting he could not manage to make his muscles respond to the "bite his legs" command that filled his brain. There was something in his voice... some sort of discomfort that made Guglin doubt again. Was he an enemy or a friend? He was still trying to find the answer to that question when the man spoke again in the same sad tone.

The following sentences uttered by the wizard shrink his heart with sadness yet it also gave him hope. Apparently there was nothing to do for those petrified creatures and that was very sad but at the same time, the magician's confession meant something more that Guglin could not ignore. The magician was not as powerful as he said, so if he really was an enemy, the goblin had a chance to win.

After the long explanation, the man moved to the glass box pausing there for a moment to produce a small key that made the surface slide aside for Guglin to take a closer look at the tiny persons.
Mesmerized by the priceless opportunity offered by the magician, Guglin took two steps toward the box, but before he could reach it, he stopped.
Even after his little speech about his great goodness and his desire to help these small creatures, Guglin still had doubts about the intentions of that man. Maybe if he walked close enough... that box would suck him without mercy into that tiny, static world. So the little monster stepped back away from the box and the magician. "You first." The goblin said, inviting the stranger to put his hand into the glass prison.

>> “You first.”

Akshay could tell the little goblin was suspicious of him. Who could blame him? Surrounded in a world of giants; his only brethren encased in plastic (insert awkward shifty eyed look); and standing before a powerful magician, of course the little creature would feel suspicion and disbelief. Akshay was not sure if maybe the goblin would ever fully trust him, but hopefully he could entertain the creature enough to at least not view him as an enemy any longer.

He was going to have to work hard for his trust, he knew that now.

The creature made him go first. Akshay was only too happy to oblige in order to show that everything he said and did was purely in good faith.

Nodding, he stepped forward, slowly and with no sudden movements since he knew that the little creature was watching him closely. As he approached the case, Akshay rolled up his sleeve and, very slowly, reached into the interior. Normally at this point he would have screamed and pretended his arm was being eaten in order to cut down on the tension. But, it was swiftly becoming aware that this creature distrusted him greatly. Freaking him out was more than likely not the best course of action.

Breath held, Akshay slowly reached out and picked up the largest statue, one that was close to the goblin’s size. It was hefty but still easily able to be lifted. The statue was of another goblin, but only of about half the size of the one that was actually living and breathing next to him. With care he lifted it and placed it on the counter in front of the living goblin.

The statue was well taken care of (Akshay always took care of his collectables). It was free of dust, shimmery from being wiped down with fine oils to preserve it, and not a single crack or missing piece could be found. This statuette was one of Akshay’s favorites, and now he was using it cast lie upon lie to earn the trust of its living brother.

He carefully presented the statue to the goblin and smiled warmly as he stepped back, letting the goblin look it over at his own accord.

“I do my best to take care of her, of all of them,” he said gently. “Until I can break the spell, of course. Go ahead and take a look,” he said as he gestured to the statue. “You can talk to them all you like. They like being spoken to.”

Although this time his request was much simpler and therefore much easier to execute, Guglin expected the young sorcerer to refuse as he did previously. But to his surprise the magician immediately accepted his challenge and put his hands inside the glass box. With that simple action his theory about a trap in the box collapsed, creating new doubts about the wizard´s morality that at the same time tilted the scales slightly towards goodness.

Driven by curiosity, the creature advanced a few steps toward the box to see more clearly the process. The world behind the glass looked almost the same without the glass in front of it, only now the creatures seemed to be more exposed to the dangers of a world many times larger than themselves. That concern for their sizes achieved to form a smile on his lips. If anyone knew that size did not matter, that was him. So these creatures sure knew how to defend themselves... if not for the paralyzing spell.

Even though his golden eyes did not want to miss a single moment of the process, Guglin forced them to concentrate on their surroundings. The first thing that their eyes looked for were the doors, they were not far from where he was standing, neither close... he could took advantage of that moment of inattention to reach the exit easily. But what will happen with the wizard and the creatures? The timing was perfect to escape, but still, Gug forced himself to remain there. The little creatures may need help from him so he stayed. Partly because of the immense curiosity he felt but also because the man was breaking the barrier of mistrust that he had created.

The pale of human hands soon removed one of his green brothers from the insides of the box, and carefully placed it on the surface where he had found the food. Forgetting the possible threat posed by the human, the little goblin moved with haste to the counter, where he stopped to stand on tiptoe to watch the petrified creature that looked a lot like him. "Her name?" Asked the goblin with a questioning glance directed at the magician. "My is Guglin." He said cheerfully to the mage and the statue, remembering too late that he should had presented himself much earlier. Sometimes he just forget certain social customs.

While waiting for the human to reply, Guglin extended his hand to touch the other creature. To his surprise his fingers encountered a very different surface that what he imagined that he could not fully identify. It felt quite strange. His mind imagined touching the warm skin of a living creature but his fingers retrieved completely different information. Unable to contain his curiosity about that strange material, the goblin asked again with its distinctive high-pitched voice. "Is stone?"

Akshay could say nothing. Of course all he could do was just stand there as he watched this marvel of an experience occur in front of him. He was witnessing something that probably his old Monster and Mazes crew from college would have give their right arm to be a part of; he was watching a real goblin standing in his comic shop and talking to another creature. It was such a surreal sight that Akshay had to keep pinching himself to try and make sure he was awake.

The creature was so magnificent that he had to try and keep himself from fawning all over it. He needed to gain the little monster’s trust first. So far he seemed like he was gaining some of that but he really didn’t know how long it would last.

>> "Her name?"

Akshay paused. He didn’t look like he was at a loss for words, but the man was. He tried to keep that fact hidden from the goblin since he didn’t want to let on that he was making all this up. But, finally, he managed to pull some name from some past game he played or book he read…

“Edmée,” he said with a nod and smile. “Her name is Edmée.”

>> "My is Guglin."

Akshay beamed and nodded to the beast. So it did have a name. Of course it did, but, Akshay really didn’t know what to expect here. In all the fantasy books, movies, and comics, creatures like Guglin had names. But would that also apply to reality? He just didn’t know and had to keep playing this situation by ear.

“I’m honored to meet you, Guglin,” Akshay gave a tiny bow.

>> "Is stone?"

He shot up. Apparently the goblin had been inspecting the statue that Akshay had shown him. He had to admit that if he were a primitive creature, he probably would have assumed that the statue was stone too. In reality it was diecast metal. It was not a shiny as metal, so it was easy to assume that it was something like stone.

So he shook his head in response and tried to weave his storytelling even more.

“No, she has been turned to metal,” he said with a nod. “That is why the spell is so powerful. Hard to get past. But…one day, one day I’ll be able to break her free.”