The Good Goblin

Damn it… damn it… I can’t stop the tears from falling. She’s gone… she’s gone and I’ll never see her again. She helped me so much… she was there for me through everything… and now I’ll never see her again.

I know she was afraid… but she could have told me… she could have spoken to me. I would have helped her. Gods… I could have helped her. Maybe it didn’t have to end this way. There must have been something we could have done… some kind of alternative.

As I sat there… crying… wishing that things had been different… I noticed a familiar smell becoming stronger. I looked up and saw Clive had finished his healing spell and was now sat next to Kiyui, eating a folded duck pancake.

As I looked up, he offered me one.

Clive: “I do not believe the lady would wish you to cry.”

Dwynfel: “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Clive: “You are weak. I assume you have not eaten so far today. We have time before Kiyui awakes. I suggest you use it to regain your strength.”

Dwynfel: “I would rather use it find out about your involvement in this.”

Clive: “Those two things are not mutually exclusive. I suggest that you eat before asking what you wish to know.”

I glared at him with disapproval. But he is right… I haven’t eaten since last night. I have barely any energy left. And once Kiyui awakes we will need to get moving pretty quickly.

I reluctantly took the pancake from his hand. The smell of hoisin filled my nostrils as I devoured the thing in a matter of seconds. My stomach made a relieved groan and I returned my attention to Clive.

Dwynfel: “You knew… you knew this whole time. You knew it wasn’t me… it was never me. Why? Why did you let me believe all of this. Worse yet… you bloody well tried to convince me it was my destiny back in those ruins. Just… why?”

He took a deep breath. He looked pained and yet… oddly relieved.

Clive: “There is no such thing as destiny.”

Dwynfel: “Excuse me?”

Clive: “The events of today… and everything leading up to it. They have all been of my contrivance.”

Dwynfel: “What? You said that your family had all seen this. It is a prophecy that has been passed down for generations.”

Clive: “As I have explained before. Being able to see the future does not mean that that future is guaranteed. In fact, seeing the future often ensures that it does not happen in that exact way. Therefore, seeing the future does not make your vision a prophecy as it is likely to alter and change.”

Every time I talk to this man, I end up more confused.

Dwynfel: “If it wasn’t a prophecy, then how did you know it would be Phoenix. She says so in her letter. She says you spoke to her about it multiple times.”

Clive: “How old do you consider me to be?”

Dwynfel: “What?”

Clive: “Humour me.”

Dwynfel: “I don’t know… like ninety… ninety-five.”

Clive: “I am fifty-two.”

That’s not true. He looks absolutely ancient. The hair growing from his nose and ears… his massively droopy eyebrows. Mother of Mercy… the wrinkles… so many wrinkles. There is no way that he is around my mum’s age.

Dwynfel: “You can’t be.”

Clive: “I assure you that I am.”

Dwynfel: “You can’t be. Humans don’t look like that at your age. They just don’t.”

Clive: “Magic comes at a cost, Dwynfel.”

Dwynfel: “Then why don’t all mages end up looking like you? If magic has a cost, then they should all be decrepit and frail by the time they are in their late thirties.”

Clive: “The standard toll of magic use is simply the draining of mana. Something which the magically adept create steadily over time. It is something that rejuvenates. The magic of time requires a different price.”

Dwynfel: “And that would be?”

Clive: “Time itself.”

He sighed… as though growing weary. He took another bite of his pancake before continuing.

Clive: “Time magic drains your body of its life energy. Causing the body to age. Now… a little peak into the future here and there won’t cost you much. Indeed, my predecessors lived perfectly happy lives and were barely effected. I did not have the luxury of simply taking sneak peaks at small moments.”

Dwynfel: “I don’t understand… didn’t you just see the same things as your ancestors.”

Clive: “I did not. They saw what would be after all of the pieces were in place. I saw what would happen if I did not manipulate the board.”

Is that a chess analogy? He better not make any more of those. There are a couple of boards at Madame Laurent’s that customers can use… but I have never learned how to play.

Clive: “When I first looked forward to this day, I saw naught but death and destruction. I was unsure what to make of it. It did not match the future that I had been raised to expect. Then I realised that they had seen the future that I needed to create. But such a grand undertaking could not be taken on without knowledge. So, I changed how I used my magic.”

Dwynfel: “You can just change how you use it?”

Clive: “The change took me some time to work out. I experimented for a while. The vision that young Phoenix saw when she first touched the sword was one of my earlier experiments. Alas, it did not help the situation.”

Well, that’s an understatement. Based on her letter it put the fear of the gods into her.

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

Clive: “Standard prophetic magic is simply seeing the future as it would be if you had never seen it at all. Hence it being so easily changed by you seeing it. At the expense of consuming more of my body’s life energy, I was able to pinpoint key variables that would alter the events and ensure the future that I wished to create. Alas, it took a significant toll on my body. It shall be no more in two days.”

He drained his life energy to that extent. That’s… that’s insane.

Dwynfel: “Two days… you used up like forty years of your lifespan?”

Clive: “There were many variables. I needed to ensure your survival in the cave. I needed to protect you from the necromancer whilst ensuring the necromancer survived. I ensured that you did not have the sword stolen four years ago. I introduced Wynrun to Rosario six months earlier than they should have met, to ensure that his mechanical monstrosity was built in time. I have altered so many variables by this point that I no longer remember many of them. Phoenix was not even the only individual who could wield the sword…”

Dwynfel: “Excuse me? Then why her? Why not make one of the others do it? Why did it have to be my friend?”

He looked at me through those thick eyebrows of his. He looked… sorry.

Clive: “I truly wish that there was another option. Mana is attuned differently in different people. All the sword requires is for the user to have a specific attunement. Through my visions, I discovered three other people who could wield it. A farmhand in one of the farms to the north. He was too afraid and could not bring himself to use it when it mattered and got everyone killed. The second was a crime lord from the southern district. She was not willing to die for anyone other than herself. She took the sword and ran. She eventually used it when Laezel caught up to her, but by that point most of the world had been destroyed. And the third is a five-year-old feline boy from Purresia. I have had to allow many unfortunate things to occur in order for all of the pieces to end up in the right places. But I would not sacrifice a child if there was another option. Phoenix was the only remaining choice.”

He looks truly upset by that. Upset… and exhausted.

Clive: “It was not simple with Phoenix. Through my visions I tried convincing her to take up the sword at various points in her life. When I talked her into it when she was young, it made her push against it more. She ran and never took it up at all. When I tried again when she was older, I succeeded. But the power of the sword in her hand is significantly larger than when she passed her mana through you. The nobles pressured her to use its power on a lesser threat, earlier than today and then neither her nor the sword were present to prevent this event. Instead, I had to simply reassure her that she was in the right place and that when she needed it the sword would be brought to her. Which is what I needed you for.”

This is too much. He’s been in the background… fucking with everyone… changing our lives.

Dwynfel: “You said you had to make sure that we survived in that cave. Then why arrive when you did? Why not arrive sooner? You could have saved Agaroth and Keith. Kiyui didn’t need to go through all of that. Why the hell would you let that happen?”

Clive: “It was necessary.”

Am I allowed to hit him? I am so angry right now. He could have prevented so much.

Dwynfel: “You could have saved them! Agaroth was one of my oldest friends. What happened nearly destroyed Kiyui!”

Clive: “Do you think I would not have saved them if it were an option. If things were so simple, do you think that I would have let Carter take a morning star to the neck? I tried arriving earlier in that cave. I saved your friends and you were much happier. But you did not use the sword. As a result, you believed that the incident with the incubus was an isolated incident. So, when the Lamia took your sword, you made no attempt to retrieve it. You stood at the front lines with Chloe and were killed. You never passed the sword on to Phoenix and everyone died. I had to wait until after you resorted to using the sword.”

Gods… they had to die because of me… they went through all of that because I didn’t believe in myself enough to think that I could be the one to save the city.

Dwynfel: “There had to be another way! Why not just stop that bloody cult from raising Laezel in the first place?”

Clive: “I tried that… the church of Laezel has chapters all over the world. If I stopped this one then another one would succeed at the summoning soon after. But then she would not be near to the sword and could not be vanquished before decimating almost the entire planet. She had to be raised so that she could be killed. And to keep loses to a minimum, she had to be raised here. I hate the way that things had to play out… the pain that I allowed people to go through in order to bring this about. I tried so many different things… so many different combinations… so many different variables… but the way things have played out was the only way that worked. The choices that I have made… they have weighed on me terribly. But in the end, they were choices that I needed to make. I had to let a small group suffer in order to save everyone else on the planet. I truly hate this expression, but the ends justify the means.”

He looks so tired… he just seems so incredibly done with all of this. This has clearly taken a very heavy toll on him. And I’m not just talking about him sacrificing his life energy. I mean emotionally. I can’t imagine having to make so many horrible choices. Having to allow others to suffer to ensure that others live. And despite this… despite deep down knowing that what he has done was right… I am still so incredibly angry with him. He allowed my friends to die… he could have prevented so much… but in doing so, he would have doomed us all. I’m going round in circles here.

Kiyui gripped my hand and started to open his eyes. He was groggy and it was taking him some time to adjust. Clive stood up off the bed.

Clive: “I apologise for what I have put you through. There truly was no other way.”

Dwynfel: “Where are you going?”

Clive: “I have two days left. I have somebody that I must see. You need not worry. You shall be free from my interference from here. Look after each other.”

He walked towards the door. He knocked on it and Carter opened it from the other side. The tiny prophet looked up at Carter and spoke in such a frail manner. As though the fire within him was all but extinguished. He knew he had but one last thing to do with his life.

Clive: “Carter… it is time.”