The Misadventures of a Traveling Goblin

When Alp woke the sun was setting and he was still laying in the same patch of grass. He could hear voices somewhere in the distance, too far to discern any of the words being said though, the words spoken in hushed tones. It requires a few minutes for him to remember what happened to him. In just a few hours he had lost his home, his family, and almost himself. His body was still in pain, but far less excruciating than it had been earlier.

There were still long blue thorns sticking out of every angle from his right leg, skin now grown together around them. His left leg was every shade of black and blue, but the bone was now residing below his skin. He was fully able to wiggle his toes now. Noticeable traces of rubble sat inside and under the closed wound. The same went for his right arm, previously torn to pieces, most of the tares were now sealed along with the leftover greenery. A few small patches of skin were still missing, still the pain seemed as strong as a mosquito bite compared to what it had felt like before though.

Exhaling slowly, he finally looked at his left arm, or lack thereof, bits of scrap poking out across his skin. He turned away, upset at the sight. Eyes now on the ground, Alp realised the pool of blood that had been surrounding him not long ago was nowhere to be seen. It was more than a little odd, although waking up after losing that much blood in itself was odd. The crunching of leaves sounded closer, probably within 100 yards of him now, he had to get up and get away, there was no telling where or how far away he was from home. The thought made him anxious, he still had no idea where his family were or if they were in good health.
Before he could get up and escape, the thorns in his leg would still need to be removed. Grabbing a handful of ceilist, Alp shoved it into his mouth, clenching down hard to try to lower the volume of his cries. Pulling out the thorns while having ceilist in his mouth provided Alp the chance to see the biological reaction his body had with the plant. Still the boy had to finish fast, so one by one he yanked the long blue pricks out of his leg.

Midway, he had to swallow the chewed through grains in his mouth in exchange for new ones to bite down onto. Heat flooded his system, although this time it was more tolerable, he silenced all sounds of discomfort that threatened to leave his throat, still very aware of the approaching danger. Once the thorns were removed, any blood that had been spilt was somehow pulled back into his body, no matter if it had dripped onto the grass below, or got smeared on his hand, it went right back in all the same. The exit wounds closed after the blood returned also, the curiosity Alp felt while studying the effect of the plant helped dull the pain, making the burn much more manageable.

After some time, the boy finished plucking the foreign materials out, he took a moment to reassess his surroundings and himself. He tried to put pressure on his feet, hauling himself up with much effort, he was able to stand. Staying in a crouching position, he listened to the rumbling of voices in the distance, now within range.

“Yeah there were a whole bunch of monsters tossed up by some storm a lil’ north of here” one disembodied whisper said.

“I heard ab’t that, ripped right through the forest down there. Least the smaller villages near the border will have food now, with the war going on the king hasn't had resources to help keep them fed during this drought.” a second someone spoke.
"As long as they're dead the villagers will be alright. Not like in Lynrith, those people were fools" the first man said.

After that the voices stopped talking, footsteps quietly moving further away. Why would they mention eating monsters in the same sentence as Lynrith? Alp's father never said anything about something like that happening when he worked there.
Alp couldn't be sure whether the voices belonged to humans or monsters, if they were monsters, they’d have to be dangerous ones. If they were monsters they probably belonged to a kingdom that bordered the forest, Pergamos.  Only strong monsters were allowed into the Pergamos army, they were also the only monster clan with a big enough population to have such a strong social hierarchy. Most monsters wouldn't say they served a king, a lot wouldn't even know what a king is, in the forest it was eat or get eaten, only the strong and clever survive.