Growing Lilies

“Time to wake up!”

Gull groaned and sat up. Hex’s smiling face was not really what he wanted to see at the start of a day. But what sleep! He had slept better than he had… ever, as far as he could remember. Like the dead.

“Thought you said any time fine.”

Hex’s smile grew bigger. Something about his expression just always made it seem like he was taunting Gull. Although, he was starting to accept that’s just how the kid’s face looked.

“Welllll, I did say that. But the truth is, I didn’t expect you to sleep so long! After about twelve hours I started making plans, and now that we’re getting close to 18 those plans will be starting soon enough we’ve gotta get going.”

“That many? Huh.”

He didn’t expect to be out so long. But he’d had a hell of a day. He was pretty sure he had been awake for at least 36 hours prior, and a lot of those hours had been climbing. It really was no wonder. 

“Are you hungry? I brought you breakfast. I think you’ll like it. “

Gull grunted and held out a hand. Hex just smiled for a second, and then spoke up again.

“Say pleaaaaseeee.”

Gull groaned, but acquiesced.

“Please.”

Hex handed over a two pastries. One was a muffin of some kind, the other a flat thing with some kind of cream and fruit in the middle.

“A blueberry muffin and a cherry danish! Pretty substandard fare on this planet if I’m being honest. But I think you’ll like ‘em so I made sure to save you some from the breakfast service.”

Gull took a bite. Sweet! It was so sweet! Even more than the bakery in the town square. It was almost sickeningly sweet. But just as that thought crossed his mind, something deep at the back of his brain shouted ‘More!’. He stuffed the rest of the muffin into his mouth. Hex laughed.

“You don’t have to cram it in there. Take your time. No one’s gonna take it away from you.”

“Mm.”

Gull slowed down a bit. Although his habit was to eat quickly. It wasn’t something he really thought about anymore.

Hex grabbed a small black rectangle from the bedside table, and pointed it at a larger black rectangle on the wall. Instantly, it sprung to life. Gull nearly choked. He started coughing, pointing at the thing. A small man was inside it! Yelling something! He calmed down when he realized Hex was laughing again, and glared.

“It’s just the TV. Eh… a sort of illusion? There’s no one there. It’s made to watch. For entertainment, or in this case news.”

Gull stared at the man on the wall. He certainly looked real. Although trapped in the– Well, maybe flat too. Gull swallowed the food.

“Why?”

“Because I want to know if there’s anything happening that will get in our way.”

Gull couldn’t follow what the man was saying. Something about numbers increasing or decreasing? He was very loud about it.

“Will it?”

“Probably not. I’d only be worried if they were talking about a tip off about our plans tonight.”

Hex pressed another button, and the rectangle changed to show a brightly colored scene of a cat chasing a mouse. They were clearly not real, or realistic at all, but Gull was intrigued. He’d never seen something like this before.

“This world is strange.”

“They’re all strange. That’s part of the charm. Although, you’ll get used to the patterns over time.”

“What patterns here?”

“Mmm. If I had to describe it, I’d say that we’re in one of the Earth Variant worlds. 27th century. One of the weirder ones as far as history has played out. Generic rules.”

“Don’t understand.”

“Don’t have any other way to put it. You’ll figure it out.”

“What is Earth Variant?”

“This place shows up a lot for whatever reason. You’d have to ask Lily if she has any idea why. Honestly, I don’t care. I come from an Earth Variant, and so does she I think. This planet is just one of the most common places to see. But other places are entirely different. One of the benefits of an Earth Variant is that a lot of the technology and history tends to play out in set patterns. Like, if you know where a treasure is hidden in one, it’s probably in the others.”

“Hm. Useful. “

“Yeah, well it’s not all positive. They’re pretty often super low on mana. So doing magic is a bitch and a half. An easy spell somewhere else will take three times as much prep in a place like this.”

“Mana?”

Hex just laughed again.

“Finish your breakfast, then let’s get going.”

---

 

It was a two hour trek back through the sewers, but Gull didn’t mind it so much this time. He wasn’t nearly as worn out, and really this place was much easier for him to understand than anything he’d seen and heard above. He did miss the bed though. Once he settled down here, he wanted a bed like that for himself. Maybe he’d raid the hotel and take that one. Although if Hex was right and he would be able to live in the world above just by having one of these ‘chips’ he may not even have to steal.

That was a new thought. It filled him with longing and bitterness at the same time. Goblins were thieves. There was no real denying that. But goblins generally were thieves of necessity.

Among his people, it was known that there were two kinds of goblins. Rats and coyotes. His tribe had been a tribe of rats. They lived under the human city, and thrived on mostly things that had been discarded. Occasionally they’d sneak onto the surface and steal things, but the goal was to be unobtrusive. Sneaky. Because of their close proximity to the humans, goblins living like rats usually picked up on things like the human language, and the very basics of how cities worked.

Coyotes on the other hand lived outside of towns and cities. Usually around smaller areas that couldn’t fight them off as well. They were still scavengers by nature, avoiding direct conflicts where they could. But, like coyotes, they’d attack targets if they could get away with it. Small groups of people leaving town, farmers on the outskirts of villages, and so on. They would sneak into the town and steal too. Breaking into a chicken coop in the dead of night, or so on. 

These tribes had to be stronger than rat tribes. Because conflict with humans was inevitable. Not that the rat tribes Gull knew of ever managed to avoid human contact altogether either.

But, be it rats or coyotes, goblins were thieves. They had to be. It was a vicious cycle. Whenever goblins gathered, humans would come to wipe them out. So, goblins lived in small groups, and never settled down long enough to become established. Because of that, stealing was a necessity. Which made the humans angry. Angry humans killed goblins. That was just life. Gull wished it wasn’t, but he had never had the power to change anything.

The idea that he might not have to steal to live was tantalizing. The idea that he could be here and not be hunted was almost too much to bear. In the end, that was part of why he had decided to stay with Hex even this long. He didn’t like being led around by the nose. But, if he really could get one of these ‘chips’ and live like a human here…

“We’re getting close. Just a couple more blocks. The exit will come out right in front of the estate. We’ll have to climb the fence, but the security camera isn’t working, so we don’t have to worry about being seen. Basically, just follow me okay?”

“Mm.”

“You’ve been giving me non-verbal answers for a while now. Have you really been listening?”

“Yes.”

Gull lied. He’d been in his own little world. But Hex had been going on and on about nothing for nearly two hours. He’d been talking about how different styles of dance were popular here versus wherever he came from. It didn’t seem important to what they were doing.

In minutes they were in front of another ladder leading up. Gull wasn’t sure how Hex knew where they were. To his eyes the entire sewer was much more standardized than the one he was used to. Everything looked extremely similar, simply copied over and over again. Maybe he counted?

At the top of the ladder, Hex moved a cover and climbed up. Gull followed. Those covers looked heavier than Hex’s body ought to be able to lift, come to think of it. Gull hadn’t given it much thought up until now. Was that a form of magic, or was Hex just stronger than he looked?

Gull replaced the cover behind them. They were standing in a small side street. On one side was a very tall building. On the other, a wall. The wall was about ten feet tall, made of thick stone, and sheer. This was not a ‘fence’ as Hex had described.

“How do we climb–”

Gull’s jaw fell open as Hex leapt with a gentle ‘hup’ sound and landed nimbly on the top of the wall. After a second he turned and looked down at Gull.

“Well, c’mon!”

“I can not jump this.”

“Well, use one of your gadgets or something then.”

“What is a gadget?”

Hex stared blankly down at Gull.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Yes.”

With a sigh, Hex laid himself down on the top of the wall, and stretched an arm down.

“Can you reach my hand? I’ll pull you up.”

It was still quite a jump. But, Gull was at least that agile. He backed up a bit to get a running start, then ran forward, kicked off the wall and jumped as high as he could. He barely managed to grab Hex’s outstretched hand. Hex pulled him up seemingly without effort.

“Thank you.”

“I may have overestimated your abilities a bit. I forget sometimes how weak I was at the start of all this. I guess it was the same for you. Uh, no offense.”

Gull glared at Hex, who gave him a shrug and hopped down on the opposite side of the wall. Gull stepped off the wall as well, landing on the soft soil on the inside of the perimeter. His ankles stung, but he absolutely refused to show it on his face.

On the inside it became clear that this space was pretty large. They were in a garden that was almost its own forest. It was beautiful, but Gull also found it somewhat off putting. Real forests didn’t look like this. Everything was too… perfect. He suspected someone must have manually cultivated it. But for such a large space?

In the distance through the trees he could see a large open space with a few buildings. One much larger than the others. Hex started walking casually in that direction.

“What about guards?”

“What guards?”

“Big important place. No guards?”

“I knew you weren’t listening!”

Gull gave Hex a sheepish grin. The boy sighed and explained.

“Due to an interesting little oopsie in the scheduling software, no one showed up for work today. The people who were waiting to be relieved all got notifications from their bosses to clear out early, and there was a bug with the security system that knocked out all the cameras. So, we’re alone here. Well, almost.”

“I– Did you do this?”

Gull wasn’t quite sure what all those words meant, but he understood enough to get the gist. Hex was being coy, but had done… something to mess with communications and keep everyone away.

“Of course I did. We shouldn’t see much resistance, if any. But, if we do run into trouble I’ll be glad you’re here. Two is better than one you know?”

“Mm.”

Gull wasn’t really sure he could do anything to help someone as strong as Hex. But, even if it was just to play lookout he’d do his best.

The closer they got to the main building the more clear it was a living space. But just… huge. Way larger than any living space Gull had ever seen, save for the castle. But the castle was a lot of things in addition to living space. Maybe this was too? Although, it didn’t look like it from the outside.

Sure enough, Hex walked right up to the front door and opened it without difficulty. Gull followed. Something nagged at the back of Gull’s mind. He wasn’t sure what, but something didn’t quite line up. Something was off. This was going far too easily, wasn’t it?

“We are here. What do we take?”

Gull looked around the gaudy entranceway. Sure everything was very fancy, but there wasn’t anything particularly interesting. Weapons, armor, food, or so on.

“Hmm? Oh, don’t worry. I memorized the floor plan. I know the way. We’re headed to the master bedroom. There should be someone sleeping there, so quiet down okay?”

Gull frowned. The bedroom? He still followed Hex, but spoke quietly.

“Why bedroom? Good things everywhere. Stay away from people.”

“We’re not here for random objects. We’re here for a reason, and that’s in the bedroom. So hush and follow me.”

It took a few minutes of walking down seemingly endless hallways and through rooms that seemed pointless other than to show off immense wealth until they ended up outside a large set of double doors. Hex turned to Gull and put a finger to his lips, then opened the door a crack and slipped in. 

The room was dark, but Gull could just barely make out a large bed against the far wall. There were some blinking lights and a steady beeping sound coming from beside the bed. To the left, curtains covered a huge sliding glass door that was only letting a tiny bit of light in from the night outside. To the right seemed to be a large lounge area. Hex was muttering something rhythmic. Gull got closer to hear, but still couldn’t quite make out any words. A song?

Suddenly, all the lights turned on. The room was decked out in red. Red floor. Red bed. Red couches to lounge on. Big red curtains covering the sliding glass door. A huge object lit the room, covered in thousands of glowing crystalline lights. On the bed lie an ancient looking human, hooked up to some strange… somethings. He stirred slightly. 

Hex strolled further into the room and spoke up with a loud voice.

“Time to wake up! Wakey wakey!”

“You said be quiet!”

“I lied! I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Now just watch the show, okay?”

“Show?”

“Shush!”

The man on the bed was stirring now. He did not sit up, but a withered voice came from him as he took a deeper breath.

“Who…? What is going on? Who’s there?”

“What, don’t recognize your own kid? How terrible mister!”

“Kid…?”

The old man didn’t seem to be entirely present. Gull tried speaking up again.

“What are you doing? You said quiet. You said steal!”

“We are stealing! In a manner of speaking. Something that rightfully belongs to me, remember?”

“What?”

The old man’s voice came again.

“Security! Security!”

He was yelling, although it was pathetically quiet.

“Don’t bother with that, dad. I’ve made sure no one will come. The button is disconnected, and tragically no one showed up for work today!”

Hex walked over and flipped a switch on the beeping lit up device next to the bed, and the man suddenly went silent.

“I think that’s enough talking out of you anyway. No mechanical assistance needed. Thank you.”

“What are you doing? This is not what you said.”

Hex turned and gave Gull a big smile.

“I told you, shush and watch the show.”

“I do not find this fun. Explain yourself.”

The smile faltered, and with a big sigh Hex seemed to drop out of his role.

“Fine. You’re really ruining the performance I had in mind. Mostly for the old guy’s benefit. I’m his kid. We’re here to kill him. Then everything of his becomes mine. Including this nice house. Any questions?”

“No.”

“Good, let’s move on then–”

“No. I mean, no. We are not killing him. No.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. Why?”

“He is helpless. It is wrong.”

“Really?”

“It is wrong.”

Hex rolled his eyes and continued back a ways towards Gull so they didn’t have to raise their voices. The room was so large.

“Is it wrong? Gull, this guy is a piece of shit! I told you how this body grew up, right? Well, I’m his son. Not making that part up. Look how he lives. Look how I’ve lived. Isn’t that enough reason alone? It’s this kid’s story. To rise up and inherit all this. Killing him is the first step.”

“It is still wrong. Even if he is bad to his child.”

Hex and Gull stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before Hex tried again.

“You don’t understand the scope of things. See that chandelier up there?”

Hex pointed to the large crystalline object.

“You’ve seen the people outside this place. The ones you talked to in the sewers? The people on the streets? Living like rats. You understand how it is to live like that too, right? Every single one of those crystals would feed someone like that for life. There are over one hundred chandeliers like that in this home.”

Gull froze. It still felt wrong to take a life when someone could not fight back. The old man was writhing around on the bed, seemingly unable to sit up. Slinking into the home in the middle of the night to kill someone like that. But… really?

“Then take the crystals. Use them to feed others. No killing.”

“It’s not about the crystals, Gull. This guy is one of the people who make things like this. The world will be better off without him. By a lot.”

“Who decides that? You?”

“Gull, these are the same types of people that hunt goblins down in other worlds. I’ve seen it. People like him are the reason. You’ve seen human nobility, right?”

“Mm. That is wrong too. Murder will not solve. Kill human, more angry humans come later. Only makes things worse.”

“That’s not how it’s going to happen here. I promise.”

“Doesn’t matter. Killing for no reason is bad. He is not attacking.”

“Gull, he raped my mother and left her for dead in a gutter. Just because the attack isn’t happening right now, doesn’t mean he’s peaceful.”

That stopped Gull in his tracks for a second. This old man had done that? That…

“Deserves punishment.”

“Exactly, soooo…”

“Still wrong. Killing helpless. Just take power without killing. Die on his own.”

“You are so frustrating to work with sometimes. Drop the goody goody act. Some people deserve it. We’re not talking about innocents here.”

Gull didn’t have a lot to say about that. Hex continued, walking over to the bed again.

“You really took the wind out of my sails. I had a whole speech prepared about how I doctored his will to give everything to me, and how it looks totally legitimate because I’m his son. I was going to have a long back and forth with him, but the whole scene is ruined now.”

“Do not.”

“Why? You don’t have to help. Just close your eyes and look away and when the money comes through I’ll get you that chip, and a ton of money to do whatever you want with. Help people. Live comfortably. Whatever saccharine shit your little heart desires.”

“I do not want if it comes from this.”

“That’s stupid. You could use it to save a hundred lives that actually deserve to live.”

Gull hesitated again. Hex was making a lot of sense in some ways. But it still just… felt wrong. He didn’t like killing. Sometimes fights happened with humans, but his tribe always tried to avoid senseless death. This wasn’t a war, or a battle. He was stuck in a bed!

But, if killing him would really let them do so many good things…

“Oops. My knife slipped.”

Hex’s hand flashed out. A spatter of blood.

“There, now it’s a moot point. Let’s argue the morality of it some other– woah!”

Before he realized what he was doing, Gull had grabbed one of the large plush seats and hurled it at Hex. Hex dodged without any difficulty, and the chair crashed into the device beside the bed.

“Hey, calm down. It’s not like you’ve never seen someone die before right?”

“You! Before we were done talking!”

“I mean, we don’t have all night. People are gonna show up eventually.”

Gull was done. He stepped forward and threw a punch. The world spun. Hex caught his wrist and flipped him straight over onto his back.

“Look, I promise this was the right thing to do. But I wasn’t going to let you ruin our first project together.”

“You ruined! You!”

Gull scrabbled up onto his feet when suddenly he smelled… smoke. Both him and Hex looked over. The machine and chair were now up in flames, and they were already spreading to the canopy over the bed.

“Oh hell. That ain’t good. Talk about this after we have the fire out?”

Gull took another swing. He was beyond finished with this. He’d gone from helpless situation to helpless situation since this all began and he was done. This was one step too far. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until he at least knocked Hex to the ground just once.

“Are you serious right now? We really need to stop the fire.”

Another swing, another miss.

“Our new home is gonna burn down!”

Another swing. This time, Hex scrabbled over the top of a sofa to get away from him. He flipped it over after the boy, who jumped to the side.

“Okay, fine. Have it your way. Let’s at least get out of the burning room.”

Gull dove. Hex moved out of the way, and ducked out of the door.

“Catch me if you can!”

He was… Enjoying this? Gull exploded from the room, hot on the boy’s heels. Down the hall. Around a corner. Down some stairs. Hex was always just out of reach. Gull was done being toyed with! Done done done!

As they approached the foyer, Hex got a bit more distance, and just as Gull turned the corner he saw the boy standing still. Out in the courtyard, lights were flashing.

“Oh. Uh. Shit.”

“Humans?”

“Humans.”

Gull stopped dead.

“What do we do?”

He watched as Hex pulled out his knife, and suddenly gave himself a deep gash in one of his arms, followed by a nick across one of his cheeks. He smiled over at Gull, and tossed him the knife gently.

“Here, catch!”

Completely shocked, Gull juggled the knife for a moment before getting a grip on it.

“What? What is–”

“I really am sorry for what’s about to happen. I think they noticed the fire. Told you we should have put it out.”

“What is about to happen?”

Hex was tearing up. Was it the pain? He hadn’t thought Hex would be so… easy to damage.

“I really hic, I really did want more time with you. I’ll see you in the next one, okay?”

It almost hurt his heart to look at. Just then, the door blew open. Humans in uniform entered in a swarm. Shouting. Yelling. Violently spreading out. Before he knew it, Gull was on the floor, pinned by countless hands. He could hear Hex screaming. He couldn’t breathe. The world went dark.

---

 

When he came to, he was in chains. In the back of some kind of large box on wheels. There were countless humans around. Gull spun wildly, searching for Hex. His eyes didn’t see any other boxes like his, but then they landed on the boy.

Wrapped in a blanket. A bandage on his face, and tears threatening to wash it away. He was sitting on the back of a vehicle of some kind, with two of the humans talking to him. What was he saying? Gull tried to focus beyond the ringing in his head.

“--scary man. That was when… right in front of me. The knife! There was blood. I- I couldn’t do anything!”

Oh no. He wouldn’t. But he would.

Gull listened as the boy recounted their entire adventure a second time for another pair of officers. How Gull had come out of the sewers and grabbed him off the street. How Gull had threatened him, and brought him here. How Gull had kept him at knife point, and stabbed his arm when he wouldn’t be quiet enough. How Gull had killed the man in the bed. How Gull had started the fire.

That little liar! How could he! Gull couldn’t believe what he was seeing!

He threw himself against the bars of the cage he was in.

“Hex! You! I will! You will not get away!”

Everyone turned to look at the screaming goblin.

And in that instant, Hex met his eyes. Hex met his eyes, and smiled. He mouthed a word.

‘Sorry.’