Chapter 157: The Day the Fortress Fell

The fortress of Grumhold stood proudly upon a rocky hill, surrounded by towering stone walls and several watchtowers that overlooked the vast plains beyond its gates. Hundreds of goblin houses filled the settlement within, their roofs made from wood and hardened mud, while merchants gathered around the central market and soldiers patrolled the walls, protecting the peaceful lives of nearly thirty thousand goblins.

For the goblins living there, it was an ordinary day.

"Hey, Tiko! Hurry up, or there won’t be anything left!"

A young goblin with green skin and a pair of small, crooked ears ran through the crowded marketplace, clutching three copper coins in his hand.

His name was Rikko, and he was only twelve years old, an age when most goblins were still expected to learn basic survival skills before being assigned any serious duties.

"I’m coming! Stop shouting!" Rikko shouted back, weaving between merchants and other goblins as he hurried toward his friend.

The two boys eventually stopped before a small food stall selling roasted underground potatoes, one of the cheapest meals available in Grumhold. Rikko handed over his coins and received a steaming potato, which he immediately split in half before giving the larger piece to his friend.

"You’re finally learning how to be generous," Tiko said with a grin.

"Shut up. You owe me three copper coins from yesterday, so this makes us even!"

The two goblins laughed before continuing through the marketplace, discussing the upcoming hunting festival and arguing over which of them would eventually become a powerful warrior.

Rikko dreamed of becoming a knight someday, although his mother insisted that he should first learn how to swing a sword without hitting his own feet.

When the sun reached its highest point, Rikko finally returned home.

His house was small, with a wooden table, two chairs, and a collection of crude toys he had carved himself scattered across the floor. His mother had left to help a neighbor prepare for the evening meal, so he was alone, enjoying the rare opportunity to do absolutely nothing.

He sat down and began carving another wooden figure.

Then the ground shook.

At first, Rikko thought it was simply another minor earthquake, something that occasionally happened because Grumhold was built upon rocky terrain. However, the trembling quickly grew stronger, causing the wooden toys on his table to fall onto the floor as a deep rumbling sound approached from somewhere beyond the fortress walls.

"What the..."

The entire house suddenly shook violently.

Rikko fell from his chair as a wooden beam snapped overhead, sending pieces of the ceiling crashing toward him. Instinctively, he crawled beneath the table, covering his head with both arms while the walls groaned and the floor trembled beneath his feet.

"Mother?" He called out weakly, but no one answered.

The rumbling grew louder, accompanied by a sound unlike anything he had ever heard before. It was as if thousands of enormous objects were striking the earth simultaneously, and even from beneath the table, Rikko could feel the vibrations traveling through his bones.

Then, without warning, a brilliant light shone through the gaps in the collapsing ceiling.

Rikko instinctively peeked out. His eyes widened.

The house he had lived in for his entire life was gone.

There were no walls, no ceiling, and no familiar wooden furniture surrounding him anymore. The table beneath which he had hidden was the only reason he remained alive, its thick legs supporting a small section of the collapsed structure while everything else had been reduced to rubble.

Rikko crawled out slowly, staring at the destruction around him with an expression of complete disbelief.

"What happened?"

The marketplace was gone.

The houses that had stood beside his home were now piles of broken stone and splintered wood, while thick clouds of dust covered the streets. Farther away, the fortress walls had developed enormous holes, and several watchtowers were missing entirely, as though some gigantic creature had simply ripped them out of the ground.

Then a shadow passed overhead.

Rikko instinctively raised his head.

"A bird?"

It was the first thing that came to his mind as he stared at the enormous silhouettes moving across the sky. Their wings spread wider than the roofs of the largest buildings, and their bodies carried strange shapes that he had never seen in any illustration or story told by the elders.

But there was not just one.

Thousands of them flew across the sky, their enormous wings blocking the sunlight as they passed over Grumhold. Some were accompanied by riders, while others carried glowing objects that began shining with increasingly intense radiance.

Rikko stared at them, unable to understand what he was witnessing.

Then the sky exploded.

Brilliant beams of magical energy descended upon the fortress, striking buildings, streets, and defensive towers with terrifying precision. Enormous explosions swallowed entire sections of the settlement, sending rocks and burning debris into the air as the remaining structures collapsed beneath the overwhelming bombardment.

Rikko finally understood that something was wrong.

He sprinted through the ruined streets, stumbling over broken stones while desperately searching for the underground bunker near the western district. His ears rang from the constant explosions, and the heat from burning buildings pressed against his back as he forced his trembling legs to move faster.

"Someone help me!"

Nobody answered.

He passed a group of goblins desperately trying to move a fallen beam, only for another explosion to engulf the building beside them. He wanted to stop and help, but the terrifying realization that he might die if he remained there overwhelmed every other thought.

Rikko continued running.

When another beam of light struck the ground nearby, the resulting shockwave threw him against a broken wall. His vision blurred, and pain spread across his body, but he managed to stand again before dragging himself toward the bunker entrance.

At last, he reached it.

Several goblins were already crowding inside, their faces pale and their bodies covered in dust. An elderly soldier grabbed Rikko by the arm and pulled him through the entrance just as another tremendous explosion shook the ground above them.

"Close the entrance!" someone shouted.

The heavy stone doors slammed shut.

Darkness swallowed everything.

There was no sunlight to tell him the time, and the only light came from a few magical lamps mounted along the walls. The goblins around him sat silently, occasionally whispering prayers or calling the names of family members who had failed to reach safety.

Every few moments, another explosion shook the bunker.

Dust fell from the ceiling, and the stone walls trembled as though the entire fortress were being crushed beneath an enormous hand. Sometimes, Rikko heard the sound of collapsing buildings, followed by a deep rumble that continued for several seconds before finally fading away.

Once, he thought he heard the sound of water rushing through the streets.

It was followed by an enormous splash and another violent tremor that nearly knocked everyone to the ground. Nobody knew what was happening above them, and nobody dared to open the doors to find out.

The hours passed slowly.

Rikko hugged his knees, thinking about his mother and Tiko, wondering whether they had managed to escape. He wanted to believe they were somewhere nearby, hiding in another bunker just like him, waiting for the terrible sounds to disappear.

He repeated that thought to himself countless times.

Eventually, the explosions became less frequent.

Then they stopped.

The silence that followed was so complete that Rikko could hear his own breathing. The elderly soldier approached the entrance cautiously, pressing his ear against the stone doors before turning toward the others.

"We should check outside."

Nobody objected.

The doors were opened slowly, allowing a thin beam of daylight to enter the bunker. Rikko shielded his eyes as he followed the others outside, blinking several times before finally looking toward the fortress that had once been his home.

Grumhold was gone.

The towering walls had collapsed into enormous piles of stone, and the watchtowers that once protected the settlement had disappeared beneath the ruins.

The marketplace had been reduced to scattered debris, while the roads were covered in broken weapons, shattered carts, and the remains of buildings that no longer resembled anything he recognized.

The ground itself had changed.

Deep craters stretched across the settlement, some large enough to swallow entire houses, while enormous trenches cut through the streets. Water had flooded several sections of the fortress, carrying broken wood and countless pieces of debris into the lower districts.

And everywhere, there were bodies.

Goblin soldiers lay beneath shattered walls, their armor broken and their weapons scattered across the ground. Merchants, elderly goblins, and children who had once filled the marketplace were now motionless among the ruins, their lives ending before they could even understand what had happened.

Rikko took a step forward.

His eyes searched desperately through the destruction, looking for familiar faces among the countless bodies.

He found the food stall where he had bought his potato that morning, now reduced to a few blackened wooden planks, and the road where he and Tiko had laughed together only hours earlier.

"Tiko?" His voice was barely audible.

He walked farther into the ruins, calling his friend’s name repeatedly, but only the wind answered him. The place where Tiko’s house had once stood was completely flattened, and there was nothing left to indicate that anyone had ever lived there.

Rikko’s hands began trembling.

He remembered the way his mother would scold him for returning home late, how she would complain about the wooden toys scattered across the floor, and how she had promised to prepare his favorite meal that evening.

He looked toward the remains of his house.

"Mother?"

The young goblin slowly fell to his knees, staring at the ruined streets as tears gathered in his eyes. He had dreamed of becoming a knight, of protecting his friends and family from monsters, yet when the disaster arrived, he had done nothing except hide beneath a table and run away.

He was alive.

But everyone he knew might be dead.

Above him, thousands of unfamiliar creatures continued moving across the distant sky, their silhouettes passing over the ruins without sparing a glance for the survivors below. For them, Grumhold was merely another fortress that had fallen during their invasion, one insignificant settlement among countless others.

For Rikko, it was his entire world.

And in a single day, that world had disappeared.