Grand Return

Flinch took a deep breath as he was plummeting down the cliff. This new strength was overpowering, his new body imposing, he had achieved what set you to do. His first pierced the rock and stopped his momentum, carving a vertical wound into the mountains flank as he slid down the final 20 feet to the ground. He didn’t wander or stroll on his way back home. No, this time he rushed, jumping from tree to tree, sprinting across plains with incredible speed. The same distance he had crossed in about a week on the way here, he had crossed by nightfall. He saw the forest… his forest, the home of his clan. Soon he would see them all again.

He approached the caves entrance and was impressed. They had built palisades, walkways and spikes to protect the cave and even a large gate. The goblins on the walkway were unfamiliar to him though, so he stepped out of the underbrush and spoke to them, “Who are you, little ones? Introduce yourselves!”. Immediately a dozen bows were aimed at him, ‘Good, they don’t look scared.’, he though to himself. “Who are you!?”, one of them replied, “Identify yourself immediately or die.”. Flinch’s laughter shook the wooden fortifications, “Identify MYSELF? You are a rowdy bunch to threaten ME!”.

They let loose a hail of arrows, which he skilfully evaded. He was about to say something, when his honed senses stopped him, something… or someone, was darting towards him from behind. He spun around and saw a goblin already mid-flight at his throat. He caught her wrist and spun her around, pinning her to a tree by the hand and leaving her dangling. ‘Another one?’, he thought as he caught an arrow aimed at his neck from a nearby tree. “Enough of your games, children. Do you really not recognise me?”, a part of him was genuinely upset, the rest was proud he changed so substantially.

He looked at the goblin he held against the tree and saw… Vix, one of the two daughters he had personally trained as scouts. In that very moment, recognition showed in her eyes, and she jumped into his arms when his hand let her go, “Father!”, she yelled, overjoyed at his return. Flinch laughed and spun her around when Zip, Vix’s sister, also hit his chest, knocking him to the ground. The three laughed and played in the grass for a moment until they had sufficiently shared their joy, then they all rose. Zip spoke to the goblins on the walkway, “Boys, meet your grandfather!”.

His daughters showed him around the cave and introduced all the new members of the clan to him. When he left there had been 15 of his children, Astra and Valery, along with the six paladin breeding slaves. In addition to that there now was a generation of 200 new grandchildren of his, and they were strong. His children had become much more skilled and fell over themselves when they greeted him, they refused to let go of him for quite some time. In his absence they had formed a sort of council with 6 members. Astra and Valery were on it of course, as his wives and mothers of the clan they reserved that right. Vix represented scout’s interests, Kang represented the warriors, Tharn represented the earth mages and Flick represented the healing mages.

They had not only formed the cave system onto both a home and a fortress, they had also secretly **** skilled artisans and learned from them. The clan now had woodworkers, leatherworkers, blacksmiths, stonemasons, butchers and even bakers. They produced plenty of good food, weapons and armour while building a pretty impressive home for them all.

Flinch praised them endlessly, but eventually excused himself to meet his wives.