I was awoken by a scream that pierced my soul.

Everything was warm but tight. I couldn't move, but I didn't want to. All I wanted to do was fall asleep once more. In fact, my mind was slowly fading away and I felt it difficult to conjure the simplest of thoughts.

But I was persistent.

After coming this far, after dying by being stabbed through the heart, I wasn't going to give up. I could tell I was being born again after my death and while I should be shocked and confused from such a thing, especially after what had happened mere moments ago in my mind, I was feeling excited. A new beginning awaited me.

Even though it was regrettable to have left my sister behind, a bright future was awaiting me where I can fulfill my hopes and dreams.

As the light became brighter, I grinned in my mind.

But the face that stared back was not something I was expecting.

With green skin, two pointed ears, a large pointed nose and horrible teeth, as well as yellow reptile eyes and a perverted grin, something was staring back at me.

I immediately regret being persistent in staying awake. In fact, I didn't want to leave the womb. I could tell I wasn't being born a human and was going to be something more monstrous and it wasn't exactly hard to figure out what it was I was going to be.

After a moment of severe tightness around my head, my little body fell to the ground in front of the green person. They were tall to me but judging by the roof of the cave I was born in, they weren't very tall. They were partly muscly, sure, but they had a small body that was scrawny and mustn't have been bigger than a small child's.

To put it in terms I could understand, this man was a goblin.

That would mean, being born from a person whose skin I could tell was that of a ghastly pale woman's, I was also a goblin.

Despair reached my heart as my mother screamed again, my future looking darker than the sky on the night I had died.

My first thought was that of a simple 'why'. I couldn't comprehend this cruel fate; mere moments before, I had died a hero protecting my sister from what would have been her killer had I not been there. My reincarnation as a goblin simply made no sense to me. Heroes don't deserve such a cruel fate, do they?

And then it struck me.

Having stabbed my sister's stalker in the stomach with the knife he used to kill me, he must have also died. Whether it was from shock or a loss of blood, it didn't matter to me. I'd like to believe my sister called the ambulance, but the chances that she was too shocked to do anything was too strong to ignore.

I almost bit my lip as I began to reject my reality. It was too cruel, after all. I deserved better than this. I deserved a meeting with the gods to congratulate my selfless actions, to see heaven, to enjoy my afterlife, or to die peacefully for not properly believing in any named gods.

I cursed the gods as their cruel joke was too much to be a mere joke.

The screams of the female, of my mother, became more intense, snapping me out of my thoughts. There were no words. Just pitiful, heart wrenching screams that made me want to curl up into a ball and cover my ears. However, there was nothing I could do in this body. I was just a powerless goblin child, a baby that couldn't even stand up properly.

I felt something heavy fall on top of me, another guttural scream echoing throughout the place I was in. This must be my sibling.

I managed to push my sibling off me and slowly crawl away from the woman, the equivalent of bile reaching my mouth as I resisted the urge to vomit once I had turned to face her.

Covered in blood, one arm missing and lazily bandaged and her body horribly scarred and burnt from what I could see, this woman, this innocent, seemingly human woman, had given to birth to me and was continuing to quickly give birth to more goblins. Excluding my sibling there was two more, making four of us.

The woman appeared to have passed out as her screaming stopped and her body relaxed.

I breathed a sigh of relief as her suffering had ended, albeit temporarily.

There was the squelching of flesh and liquid from beyond what I could see of the woman's body. I instinctually knew what the sound was and clumsily tottered around to where it came from, multiple goblins watching me with bated breath.

I held a hand over my mouth as the first thing I saw was a rusty, jagged dagger sticking out of my mother's throat, along with the blood sprays and pool that came with the removal of said dagger. Even though I knew she had been stabbed, I still wasn't able to deal with such a gruesome sight. I recoiled and fell onto my butt as blood spray directly into my eyes, forcing me to come to accept the fact that these goblins were brutal and unforgiving creatures.

And I was one of them. I have become a goblin myself.

A rough hand pulled me to my feet and grunted.

I instinctually knew I was being told to eat. But eat what? I glanced around the cave, at the other goblins, until my eyes meet the body of my mother. I backed away, frantically shaking my head from side to side as I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't eat her, a human who was still alive.

A goblin hoisted me off my feet and into the air, bringing me towards my mother. Her eyes briefly met with mine before blood began to run down her chin, her mouth overflowing with the crimson liquid. I held my eyes shut as tightly as possible to purge myself of such a merciless sight, my heart going out to the poor woman that had to give birth to me.

I felt something soft under me and I opened my eyes to confirm what had happened. The goblin had placed me on my mother's body and had dug their nails into one of her voluptuous breasts simultaneously, tearing a large chunk of flesh out of it. The goblin held it out to me as my mother began to splutter and waved it around in front of my face, urging me to eat as my siblings began to crowd around us like dogs, their hands reaching out for the meat.

Blood was dripping off the tender flesh. A wave of nausea overcame me as violent feelings of disgust consumed my entire being.

I turned my head away and simply stared at the wall as the gurgles of my mother became increasingly louder and longer, almost as if she was trying to scream.

I sympathised with her and wanted to end her suffering. I stared into her eyes to offer at least a small amount of comfort and watched as a goblin roughly pulled the dagger out of her throat, tossing it to the floor immediately as my mother began to choke on her own blood.

I climbed off her body, making sure to not injure her further, and approached the bloodied dagger, its pale glare beckoning me in the darkness. A goblin that was twice my height and width snatched it off the floor as I reached out to grab it.

My plan had been thwarted, but there was no reason for me to give up just yet. If I make him believe I'm doing it for goblin things, he should give it back. I had to tilt my head back as far as possible to glare at him in a way that he'd see me as he was twice my height and width.

The goblin's willpower crumbled, or maybe he didn't care, as he offered me the handle of the dagger. I grabbed it with both of my tiny hands, a frown forming on my face as I knew what came next.

As the goblin slowly pulled his hand away, the muscles in my arms screamed as I struggled to keep the dagger in the air. I was able to hold it properly, and that was all that mattered.

Knowing this, I approached the skull of my mother, noticing her pointed ears, and stared into her lifeless yet simultaneously shining green eyes that were bloodshot and drowning in tears. I gently caressed her head, my fingers getting tangled in her beautiful blonde hair, and soothed her with a quiet, husky grunt that only meant one thing to her.

She seemed to mouth a faint word of thanks before I managed to lift the dagger up into the air with all my might, my arms threatening to give way as they were not strong enough to deal with such exertion. I used all my body weight to plunge the blade into her head with a hefty downwards strike that left me leaning on her, her sounds of pain halting in an instant as her body lost all signs of life.

A quiet, self-deprecating laugh of victory emerged from my mouth as I pushed myself off her. I mean, I'd done it. I had killed my mother, someone who was a human like me, to end her suffering. My expression soured as I finally came to terms with what I'd just done. Unlike with the stalker, I was feeling guilty and disappointed at the same time.

I wanted to hear her scream more, after all, so I had to wonder why I needed to kill her.

My conflicting thoughts were enough to make me sick to the core. Deep down, I wanted to hear her screams as I ate her, see her eyes tremble as I violated her dignity and honour and her lifelessness once everyone had their share of the fun.

I stepped away from her and hunched over as I vomited on the floor, nothing but bile leaving my mouth as tears began to well up in my eyes.

I shouldn't be thinking of such things. I know I shouldn't be thinking of such things, so that's why I was sick. It wasn't because I wanted to do those things. It was because the goblin inside of me was telling me to do such things. It was because of the monster I was inhabiting.

I released a shaky sigh as the goblins swarmed my mother's corpse, the squelching sound of flesh and blood barely reaching my empty mind as I felt my soul leave my body. Somewhere in the commotion, the dagger that was still in my mother's head landed on the ground next to me. I picked it up and cradled it in my arms.

If this was the beginning of my life, there were worse trials and experiences to come. I couldn't help but feel helpless at such a thought. I was a human in a monster's body. I knew the goblins had raped my mother to give birth to me because I knew that was my calling in life. I knew I was supposed to pillage and kill because I felt a desire to see blood.

But I couldn't simply stay still and accept my fate. If I don't act like a goblin, I'll die, but I'd rather try to make a difference than become a monster. Who knows, maybe I could save those who would have ordinarily fallen prey to goblins.

But you're supposed to rape and pillage.

Yeah, that sounds good. I like the sound of that. Being a goblin that rapes and pillages…

I held my head in my hands as a piercing headache struck me.

What was with those thoughts just then? There's no way I'd think of such things. I must be tired. I need to sleep, lest the goblin inside of me come loose.

You should eat your mother. It'll give you strength.

I needed to sleep. Yeah, I needed to sleep. I was thinking this way because I was tired and needed to clear my mind. Hopefully, the next time I wake up, I found out this whole ordeal was just a realistic nightmare.

Yeah, a dream…I hope that this is all one big dream and that the next time I open my eyes, my sister is leaning over me, telling me that breakfast was ready.

I found a large, empty space against a decently smooth wall and lay down on the ground. I curled up into a ball and resisted the urge to weep as the fate of my mother reminded me of what I had become.

That night, I dreamt of my old life, of the smiling face of my sister, and relished the small bits of comfort these thoughts gave me.

The next time I had opened my eyes, all was silent. It wasn't dark, and I was met with the sight of a rocky ceiling. My expression darkened as I immediately figured out I wasn't dreaming. I vividly remembered having dreams, after all, and as far as my experience went, I never dream inside of a dream.

A small part of me was still hoping that this was all a dream, but my logical side was depriving me of the strength that hope would provide me.

The cool touch of metal against my chest reminded me of a way out of this situation. But it was a last resort. An absolute last resort if things start to go south.

You're going to become a monster, eventually. Don't resist your urges.

I glanced down at the dagger and gripped the handle tightly with both hands, my teeth grit as these deformed thoughts entered my mind. I had to realise that I simply wasn't delusional and that a part of me was more goblin than I thought. I had to realise that the only way for these disturbing yet seemingly natural and pleasant thoughts to disappear was for me to die.

My grip on the dagger was tight enough for my hands to go numb.

I could die now, knowing that my fate as a monster is likely, or live and challenge my natural instincts in an attempt to make a difference; I felt a humanitarian instinct to save those would fall prey to these goblins in the future, after all, and it seemed as if that was the path the gods had set up for me, assuming I was able to resist my monstrous urges.

My grip on the dagger loosened as I managed to convince myself to live if only for a while longer. A hand shook my shoulder moments after and I glanced up at the monster with tired eyes.

They're not a monster. They're a goblin, just like you.

The 'monster' in question was a goblin, most likely an adult, that wanted to check up on me. It must be strange to them, after all. A goblin gave birth, mercy killed its mother and didn't feast upon her flesh. That appears to be the tradition here, yet I didn't follow through with it because it was disgusting and revolting and a monstrosity.

…Yes, that's right.

I had to remind myself that I was no longer human. I was a goblin, so it would be strange for me to act more human than monster.

Yes, that's right. You're not a human. You're a monster.

But I couldn't accept such a notion.

I had died for my sister and was reborn as a monster that serves to kill people. Is this a cruel twist of fate? A bad joke by the gods? If I could, I would have snickered. I was too weak to do so.

Eat. You'll need the strength in the future.

The goblin was encouraging me to eat my mother's flesh once more in tandem with the goblin in my head. I glanced at her corpse and felt the strength leave my body as most of her flesh had already been consumed. All that was left was her fully intact face that had been frozen in an expression that described the despair I was feeling.

I had changed my mind upon seeing my mother's body; it wasn't worth living if all I was supposed to do was capture women against their will, rape them and then feast upon their flesh. I was too human, after all, and such a notion was absurd to me. I'd rather die before committing such heinous crimes because I was too weak to resist my urges, or I was not strong enough fight back against the goblins.

You don't yet know the pleasure of taking a girl's virginity. It's the best pleasure known to all goblins.

I glanced down at the dagger I was holding against my chest and then at the goblin as the overwhelmingly sweet scent of a coppery iron entered my nose. The goblin tilted its head to the side and grunted as I managed to point the tip towards myself. I felt the tip faintly pierce my skin, but I wasn't strong enough to push it in any further.

I was too hungry. There was no energy left to put in my arms, let alone scream as a searing hot pain covered my midsection in an instant. I resisted the urge to sob as I was forced to accept my fate.

There's no need to cry. Just let yourself slowly fade away. Let the pleasure overwhelm you.

In the next instant, the goblin pulled the dagger out of my stomach and tossed it away with a shriek before it forced the flesh into my mouth, the pain of my skin tearing clearing my mind in an instant. I tried to spit the flesh out, but the goblin didn't want that to happen. It held my mouth shut and forced my jaw to move, my body going through the motions like a mechanical robot.

I hadn't noticed, but I was born with teeth. Small, yet viciously sharp and jagged objects that easily tore the flesh apart.

I gagged several times.

Another goblin fetched a water sack and forced the contents into my mouth, forcing me to swallow my mother's flesh.

It tasted raw and bloody and like a tough steak but to a goblin like me, it was a delicacy. Deep down, I enjoyed the taste.

Did you enjoy the taste? It was good, right?

I felt revolted and disgusted.

I felt trapped.