At first, she thought she was having one of those dreams again. The reoccurring dream where the paladin would sit in her favourite armchair, grab a pack of cigarettes, and light one up. But before the cigarette even touched the tips of her swollen lips, sparks would emit from its tip, and soon it would burst into flames. She would only throw what was remaining of the blazing cigarette onto the floor before it burned her hand. She would stomp on it numerous times, but it seemed the flame would never die. In fact, it grew stronger with each impact it took from her foot, and soon the smell of burning tobacco and thick smoke rose through the empty room. The smoke would be in much more larger amounts than expected- you could almost say that the house was burning down. The thick smoke would shroud her vision, and soon she would wake up from this awful dream.
But this time there was no cigarette, and a loud booming had caused her to stir.
She woke to smoke. Thick billows of greyness, just like her dream, but she knew for a fact she had already woken up.
The smoke flooded her nostrils, causing her to cough uncontrollably. She waved her hand, though this was a useless movement to preform, and squinted. Her vision reconstructed itself, and she could see the slightest bit clearer. She spotted her door, directly across the room, and rushed towards it, turning the doorknob that protruded from its wooden stature, and entered yet another room with smoke. Tears ran down her face as her eyes began to sting unbearably, more fumes entered her lungs, activating another coughing fit. She covered her mouth and nose with her arm, continuing to feel around the area blindly with her opposite hand.
From the other side of the corridor, a gruff cough beat against the walls. Though she had not heard the man cough such as this, she knew who was in this building and who was just across the hall. Mustering up enough oxygen to speak, she removed her arm and yelled through a croaked voice.
“Zephos!”
Through the endless smoke, two light blue orbs shined through to her, light a lighthouse guiding her through a storm. She walked straight ahead, covering her mouth again. Soon the orbs were no longer floating in the smoke, but they were in the depths of Zephos’ skull.
“What the heck is going on, Honeydew?” His voice muffled from behind his grey arm. Honeydew shrugged. Zephos sighed impatiently, then coughed. “Last thing I remember is a massive bang, and then…” More coughing.
A shriek sent the two flinching, looking towards the source of the sound. Zephos and Honeydew reached out their hands, finding the cold thin structure if the wooden railing. They followed it, their hands grazing it until they reached a corner. Gradually, they made their way down the long set of stairs, finding quickly that a smaller amount of the smoke decided to reside on the bottom floor. Honeydew quickly moved past the furniture that made up the living quarters, and spotted the two goblins they lived with.
Tina violently grasped the pale green wrists of Snurk, who stared wide-eyed back at her.
“You did it on purpose!”
“No I didn’t! Let me go!” Snurk flailed her arms about, making Tina grasp them harder.
“What the heck is going on here?” Zephos yelled. The two goblin’s heads snapped towards the two humans. Tina immediately let go of Snurk, taking a few short steps back.
Honeydew turned to her small angered goblin persona, folding her arms across her ribcage. “Somebody explain, now.”
Snurk suddenly sniffled- it caught the two humans off guard, actually, as Snurk really wasn’t one to cry or even fake it. Honeydew watched her carefully, surprisingly finding that tears were quickly staining her cheeks. Instead of annoyed, Honeydew now felt she should be concerned. She took a short run, then fell to her knees, sliding to a stop beside the goblin, who shamefully wiped her tears with the back of her small hand.
“I didn’t mean to. I got up and grabbed the doorknob and then I felt my powers starting up again-”
Snurk couldn’t seem to gather the strength to continue, and Honeydew recognised this. She hugged the goblin, shutting her eyes so her askew hair wouldn’t damage her vision. Honeydew was pretty sure by what Snurk had explained that she understood what had happened. Snurk, being a shaman and at that time unable to control her powers, put her hands around a brass doorknob, which caused her electric abilities to unleash.
Well, it explained the loud boom and the smoke.
As Honeydew held onto the sobbing goblin, Tina scowled. Zephos looked over at her in question.
“What? Don’t believe your best friend?” Zephos questioned. Since when did Tina not believe in somebody she’s spent so long with? Since Snurk accidentally interrupted her sleeping schedule. Tina only growled in response. Her eyes slowly swept across the floor and the scene before her, and then she sleepily trudged back down the hallway, where her quarters were located. Zephos frowned at her attitude. Shaking it off, he knelt beside the two females.
“What could have caused this?” He asked immediately, trying his best to maintain his impatience.
“I-well-I mean… I don’t know.” Snurk sighed, backing away from the paladin’s grasp. Snurk’s eyelids drooped over her swollen red eyes. “I can’t think right now- I’m too tired. G’night.” The goblin whirled around on her one foot, then began to walk down the same hallway that Tina had. Honeydew stood, followed by himself.
“We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” Honeydew muttered. She began making her way up the long staircase, slow and steadily.
Zephos bit his lip, then moved to follow her pursuit. But, as he crawled back into the comfort of his bed, sleep did not rescue him from the questions running through his mind. Why had something like that happened?