The morning was quiet. Idika watched her mother intently as she assessed them, changed their cloth diapers, and set them on the floor with cups of what she now assumed was milk. The blood stained apron had been discarded, the last hint of the violence that occured the night before gone. She drank her breakfast and pondered the woman who had given birth to her in a new light. The woman's ability to cleave men twice her size into pieces, as easily as she chopped vegetables, was both terrifying and awe inspiring.
She had known her mother was a strong woman, had seen it the day she was born, when fresh from labor she stood her ground against the midwife. But now knowing she had the skill to match her fearsome air was mind blowing. It made her wonder about their father. How strong was he? Idika couldn't imagine a woman like her mother settling for just anyone, and the armor she had seen him in seamed to indicate he was a warrior in his own right.
These were the thoughts that preoccupied her morning meal, engrossing her so completely it wasn't until the milk was gone, and cups discarded that Idika realized there had been a change in her brothers. While still chubby and uncoordinated, the ones that were struggling to crawl could now do so with ease, and the ones that had gotten the hang of it were now tottering around on shaky legs. But most striking was that they clearly had grown a good two to three inches taller, hair had filled out more and she could now see more distinguishing features that set them apart from one another.
One of her brothers padded up to her, doing the closest impression to a saunter a baby could manage. He had a wide face, deep red hair and yellow eyes and gave a smirk that she knew very well. It was Malkadian. Not only had he also undergone a sudden growth spurt he had clearly been hit hard as he was nearly an inch taller than the rest of them. The baby goblin stood proudly before her, hands on his hips, clearly aware of his new height and happily lording it over her.
Idika rolled her eyes, gave his round belly a firm push and watched as he toppled backward to the floor. A chorus of giggles followed. Malkadian responded with a slue of garbbled nonsense in an agitated tone, throwing his arms wide as if asking for a fight. She was about to take him up on the offer when their mother’s voice broke through their attempt at banter. The group was quickly corralled around the large pot, subdued by the savory scent emanating from it.
Their mother swiftly ladled the delicious smelling concoction into several small bowls and handed one to each of them. It was similar to a stew, the broth was a deep tan color and she saw a variety of spices floating in it, and the aroma was too much to deny. Greedy slurping filled the room and Idika found the meal contained starchy chopped vegetables similar to potatoes, in a pale greenish yellow. There appeared to be drumsticks from a small bird, though the cooked meat was a dull red color it was tender and juicy. Her meal was so engrossing she just barely registered she was chewing it with teeth she hadn't had the day before.
Food now gone, their mother collected the bowls' before returning with a small cup for each of them. Feeling somewhat drowsy from her full belly Idika drank the contents of her cup without much thought, only to find it was not milk. The liquid was thick, with a deep crimson color, and smelled of a multitude of strange earthy spices. It coated her tongue and she tasted the subtle bite of alcohol, covered in sweet and spicy flavors, but undercutting it all a dense metallic taste. Like iron. Images of founts of blood erupting from the intruders necks filled her mind and she instinctively went to spit the liquid out, only to realize she had drained her small cup.
She should have felt disgusted, sick to her stomach. But she wasn't. In fact she felt good, warm. Slowly the warmth spread through her body, then the warmth turned into a tingle, and then an itch. A faint glow came from beneath her skin, following the veins in her arms and legs, it was hot. Too hot. The itching now felt like dozens of bees were trapped beneath her skin and desperately trying to get out. Her breath caught in her throat, unable to breathe or cry out from the pain. Casting a glance around the room she looked for someone to help, anyone. But what she saw terrified her. Her brothers all laid prone on the floor, glowing streams of light criss crossed under their skin and they looked like they were in pain.
Their mother. She had done this. But why? Why go through all this trouble of taking care of them, protecting them from danger, if she was just going to poison them? Her brain scrambled for answers but the fog of pain overtook any critical thinking. Idika’s jaw clenched so hard she thought her new teeth would shatter and she heard a faint popping and snapping from her limbs. It was as if all her joints were being dislocated and then popped back into place. Underneath it all was that faint beeping sound. Every second felt like an hour. But as quickly as the pain had started, it faded away, leaving only a dull ache in her bones in its wake that was gone a few minutes later.
Idika took a deep gulp of air. She was alive. Her head shot up to check on her brothers. Were they ok? What she found shocked her. Not only were her siblings fine, with no visible sign of the torment they had just endured, but they were . . . different. They had grown, not just one or two but nearly six inches each. Their chubby limbs and torsos were longer and more proportionate. She watched, dumbstruck, as several of her brothers who had been crawling that morning now stood and walked with ease.
Looking down at her own body she saw the same changes had afflicted her as well. Hesitantly she stood up, and found her legs not only more than capable of supporting her weight, but her balance was leaps and bound better than it had been the day before. Idika experimented by standing on one foot, then the other. The change was truly staggering, the phrase ‘level up’ kept bouncing around in her brain. Her brothers were also indulging in their new physical prowess and were clearly trying to see who could jump the farthest. A line had formed and a random nicknack was set on the floor next to where someone landed. Malkadian proudly stood by his marker, having made it the farthest by nearly a foot.
Unable to help herself Idika joined the line right behind on of her brothers. She was less familiar with this one, but he was one of the youngest judging by his smaller stature. He was so preoccupied by a leaf he had found that it took the other boys several attempts to get his attention. The small goblin blushed and shrank a little when he realized they were waiting on him, and began his running start. Unfortunately, it appeared his sudden growth spurt had not given him the same level of coordination as the others, he tripped on his own feet and skidded face first over the floor.
Idika winced, but the others erupted into fits of laughter. The smaller boy sniffled, hands covering his face, his leaf lying next to him. The scene sent a pain through her heart and she quickly made her way to him and helped him to his feet. His pale green nose was raw and red and it looked like his small tusks, which just barely protruded from his lower lip, had bit a gouge out of it that was bleeding. Tears streamed down his face and he looked embarrassed and dejected. So she did the only thing she could think of, she scooped up the leaf and she held it out to him.
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Her little brother sniffed and gently took the leaf from her. Idika smiled and patted his head. Behind them the others were still laughing and she caught site of a couple miming a dramatic fall with exaggerated facial expressions. Making a sound more akin to a bark than a word she got their attention, then let out a low growling hiss, sending a glare their way that she fed with every violent intention she could muster. The group fell silent, most shifting their gaze away from her. There were two major exceptions. One of her brothers sneered and rolled their eyes, and the other held her gaze. It was Malkadian. The look on his face was not contempt though, it was puzzlement and maybe a little respect.
Taking the younger boys hand she led him away from the group. After several minutes of searching she managed to find a rag, and dipping it into a small water basin in the corner, used it to clean his bloodied lip. He smiled at her, nodded and wandered off to a secluded corner, leaf clenched tightly in his hand. Idika then felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Malkadian, he guided her back to their makeshift long jump corse and gestured to her with that same smirk. She noted that all of them had made an attempt, but he still held the record.
She looked at her brother and felt something flare in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to beat him. Idika flexed her new limbs and made note of the distance she had available to run, and at what point she would need to jump. Her limbs tensed and muscles flexed. Then she launched herself forward, pouring every ounce of strength she could into her legs, pushing as hard as her new body would let her. The cut off approached quickly and just before she stepped past the makeshift line she leapt forward, trying to channel all of her momentum into the jump. She was surprised by the height she had achieved, below her markers whipped past, one after the other, further and further.
Then her feet made contact with the floor. But while they stopped the rest of her did not. Idikas head careened toward the ornat rug and she just managed to tuck her shoulder enough to roll twice before skidding to a halt. Her shoulder throbbed slightly as the sound of excited cries filled her ears. Looking up she saw one of the boys place what appeared to be a small sculpture of a wolf where her feet had landed. Almost six inches past Malkadian’s marker. Pride bloomed in her chest as she got to her feet. Her brother was frowning as he looked between his marker and her, she approached him, her own smug smile plastered across her face. Malkadian rolled his eyes and gave her a shove, no malice in it. Idika laughed and shoved him back.
The next few days blurred together, as they were very similar to the first. Idika and her siblings used their new bodys to explore the space more thoroughly. Though they still were not allowed to leave the main yurt. But no arguments or tantrums were lodged against their mother. This was likely because they all remembered, at least to some extent, the night of the attack and knew better than to cross their mother. With what little they had access to explored, they looked for ways to pass the time.
While attempting to make sense of the scripts from one of her mother's journals, Idika noticed her brothers had set up an impromptu tournament. They had paired off and started wrestling. She watched them roughhouse, finding the way each boy approached their moch fights interesting. Unsurprisingly the youngest, the one who like to look at leafs and plants, was timid and ended up pinned immediately. Most of the boys would flail their arms in wild attempts at strikes, their lack of fighting knowledge apparent. But a few stood out.
Malkadian was clearly the strongest physically, could quickly overpower any of their brothers. The next in line physically was a brother she hadn't really noticed, she vaguely recognized that he was often energetic and appeared to instigate their activitys or corral the others. He was clearly weeker the Malkadian, but the way he held himself in a fight was much more self assured. The third one she did recognize, though for unfavorable reasons, he had rolled his eyes when she had stood up for their youngest brother when he had fallen.
His strength was nothing spectacular, nor was the way he held himself in a fight. In fact at times he almost looked as nervous as their baby brother. What he did have was a devious streek. Idika noticed he would overplay when a strike hit, making his opponent concerned, and when they dropped their guard he attacked. He also used a lot of feints and attempts at distraction or misdirection. Despite their differing tactics, in the end all three were victorious. But the true surprise was that after emerging victorious their veins glowed brightly and their bodys seized up.
After just a few minutes their contorting stopped and they stood, now towering roughly a head taller than the rest of them. Idika was floored. She had attributed their physical change to something in the blood drink their mother had given them, but she wasn't even in the room. Her mind raced a mile a minute. If their growth hadn't been the result of their mother that meant something else was triggering it. Exhilarated she ran over to the now gawking group of boys, and with some prodding managed to get one of her brothers to agree to a match.
They were roughly the same height, and much to her surprise fairly matched in physical strength. But the main difference between them was knowledge. Vague experience from a different life filtered through her mind. Half foggy images and half muscle memory. While her opponent flailed his arms wildly, she clenched her fists tight and kept her hands close to her face. She was much quicker and was able to duck and dodge his sloppy attacks. When he slowed down she threw a quick jab right at his jaw. Her punch was slow and felt weaker then it should, but it was leagues more effective than her siblings awkward flailing.
Her strike landed directly on his mouth, blood gushed from his lip as one of his small tusks cut it and he crumbled to the floor. Idika stood looking down at his crumbled for is shock for a moment before rushing to grab a cloth and returning to his side. Tears slid down his face as she pressed the cloth to his lip till the bleeding stopped. Their siblings had gathered around them, gawking at the scene, she shooed them away with a glare. One the bleeding had stopped and she had cleaned the wound out, she took her brother to a corner to rest and gave his head a pat. It was the best she could manage for an apology.
Once things had settled down it dawned on her she had clearly won the fight, but nothing had happened. There was no glowing or pain and taking a quick measure of herself found there had been no change in her body. This left her frustrated and confused. Her brothers had undergone a change immediately after they won their fights, so why hadn't she? What had she missed? It couldn’t have been how she had won the fight, each of the three boys had succeeded in different ways.
Her eyes drifted over to the far side of the room, near the main entrance where the three of them sat close together. She noticed they were gesturing and looked to be . . . Speaking? Curious she crept near the wall, not wanting to alert them to her attempt at eavesdropping. Idika was so focused on her brothers, trying to read their expressions and make sure they didn’t see her creeping up, that she completely missed something crawling along the floor till she felt a crunch under her foot. Surprised she pulled back to find a roach. But this was no ordinary roach, it was at least six inches from its beady head to the end of its shiny winged body.
There were cracks along the bugs back from where she stepped on it and one of its legs lay dismembered on the floor next to it. The creature pivoted its shiny black head at her and hissed. Idika reeled back in a mix of fright and disgust, the sight of the creature making her skin crawl. Her hands flailed around her looking for something, anything, to fight it off with. Her fingered grazed a metal Handel and without hesitation she seized it and held her makeshift weapon up in front of her. The ‘weapon’ turned out to be a ladle. As she hesitated, unsure if the cooking tool would do much good, the roach took the opportunity to lift its front legs and hiss once more before spitting a strange green goo at her.
Idika was quick enough to dodge the gloopy projectile, and decided to say screw it. She lifted the metal spoon over her head and brought it down with all the strength she could muster directly down on the roaches shiny winged back. When the metal scoop made contact a sickening crack rang out and the roach let out a piercing screech. The sound was shrill and high pitched, making Idika’s ears ache, but she was undeterred. She raised her makeshift weapon and smashed it down on the roach again and again, sending sprays of red orange blood and sickly yellow ichor. But she didn’t stop till the roach fell silent and stopped wriggling.
Idika let the ladle drop, and attempted to catch her breath. But she felt her skin start to burn. Was the roach blood corrosive? Panicked she swiped at her arms but there was no sizzling blood or goo on her skin. What she did find were glowing veins flowing along her arms and legs. She barely had a moment to register what was happening before she collapsed to the ground in pain.
