<Your tribe has increased to 6580 members>

This time, the procession was much larger. Banners and trumpets preceded the prince, along with a column of armored knights—humans, this time. A few dragons, as well. I spotted the black bulk of Gyrfax, along with two smaller striped breeds with blue and white skin. Behind, I could see our boosters spread across the backs of several wagons chained together. Several robed wizards walked alongside what must have been the prince atop Rava's version of a horse—remarkably similar to ours, except that it sported four eyes instead of only two, and its feet terminated in four stubby toes rather than hooves.

The prince himself was young, mid 20's maybe, with a neatly trimmed beard and a sword at his hip. I was surprised to see he was only level 27. Not the most powerful human I'd encountered, I suppose you don't gain a lot of levels doing statecraft. Conversely, his inner circle were all at least level 35, and two of the mages were over level 40. I glanced back at the bivouac, for the recoilless rifles trained on our position. While we'd reinforced, and I now had 30 members of my secretive service here with plate carriers made from null devil hide, the majority of our number still waited behind the meager wooden walls.

Attendants worked to erect the pavilion again, and the prince took his place beneath it. I took a deep breath and left the majority of my troops behind, taking only a small retinue. The prince was the largest obstacle still in my way. If I was going to leverage Habberport's deep water docks in order to get materials from the Midnight Queen, and continue the rocket program without a major war, this might be the most important conversation I'd have in my entire time on Rava.

History wasn't on my side. Habbe had a long, bloody story with goblins. A goblin king had ravaged their country in times past and they hunted goblins for medicinal components. Looking up at the calm, stoic face of the prince I could still sense some energy, some sense of anticipation brewing beneath the surface. He rubbed his fingers together and then turned to his retinue.

"Leave us," he commanded. His voice was steady and commanding, the voice of someone used to giving orders. "I will speak with this creature alone."

"But, your grace…" said one of his attendants—the low-level lord who had treated with me the previous day, I realized. The prince held up a hand that silenced him. "I have spoken," he said.

Reluctantly, his retinue retreated to a moderate distance, ready to come back in if I made any errant move. The prince glared down at me, easing forward until his elbow rested on his knee. The stare he gave me was so direct, so intense, that all my hopes for the success of these negotiations began to drain away.

"They tell me your name is Apollo," he said.

"That's right," I said.

The prince leaned in even closer.

"Alright, Apollo. Before the bug people get here, level with me: you're from Earth, right?"

I stopped, mouth falling open. "I, uh… yeah, I am."

The prince sat straight up and snapped his fingers, grunting.

"Mmm, I knew it, bro! As soon as I heard your name I freaking knew it! And then those rockets started launching, and those weird jets." he leaned back and put his palms together. "Thank you Baby Jesus, I knew I couldn't be the only regular person. When did you get here?"

I ran a hand over my head. The Prince of Habbe, the boogeyman of my months on Rava, the scion son of a house notorious for their hatred of goblins, had just referred to me, the goblin king, as a regular person. "A few months ago. I'm an astronaut for NuEarth. My rocket blew up and I woke up here. My real name is Chris, by the way."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Sick, dude! I'm Ben. I crashed my truck, like, years ago, coming home from a UCF Mixer. I had a couple too many, and I'm pretty sure I went through the windshield. Seatbelts, am I right? Should have worn one. Anyway, I woke up in a big-ass bed with servants and stuff. I figured I was someone important, so I told them I had lost my entire memory, and they actually bought it! They sent me out here to 'recover' while they taught me how to be a prince."

UCF. University of Central Florida. Ben was a college student. System, what is it with you and kidnapping people from Florida?

"You sent hunters after me."

"Bro, I was trying to talk to you! But these people, they're like, super weird about goblins. Like fixated. I guess there was like a war or something. And then there's the alchemists and stuff. You know what those little Keebler-looking gooners do with goblin ears? It's gross, dude."

"Yeah, that's definitely something we need to talk about," I said.

The prince, or rather, Ben, continued. "But this place has like, levels and skills and stuff, so we're in like, a game or a computer program, right? Like that really old movie with the robots and the dudes in the weird clothes?"

"Tron?" I asked.

"Nah, The Matrix," he said.

Putting aside our differences in what constituted a really old movie, I nodded along. "I thought that at first too," I said. "But no. Rava is real—though whether it's another planet or a whole other universe is up for debate. I only recently learned from the Midnighters what's really going on here and what the System is."

"So what is it?" he asked, eyes earnest.

The Midnight Queen had said the prince would never understand, that humans would never understand. Well, Ben wasn't a human like the local stock. He'd seen sci-fi movies. He knew about technology. I decided to lay it all out for him.

"Alright, so there's basically a psychic celestial space dragon asleep in the moon. It was supposed to wake up a few hundred years ago and fly off, but these alien parasites stumbled by the planet and they're keeping it asleep while they feed off its psychic energy. But it's getting so big it's starting to break the moon apart, and if it does that, it's probably going to destabilize Rava's orbit, but huge chunks of it are going to destroy all life on the surface first. So this space dragon figured out a workaround to the parasites, and that's the System that manages levels and skills. It worked with the Midnighters to summon people from Earth hoping we could reach it and wake the thing up before it destroyed both planets."

I took a deep breath.

Ben leaned back. "My guy… That literally makes so much sense. It's like that sweet movie where they gotta go to space with the fat dude and save the world."

"Armageddon?" I asked.

"Nah, Moonfall," he said.

There was some commotion as a buzzing sound mounted in the air. I spotted one of the Midnighter priestess palanquins being hauled between a handful of the flying beetles, and a handful of elite guards, beside. The human retinue was wary as they landed, but my goblins—despite having just fought Midnighters the previous day—were still used to having them at Canaveral and mobbed the delegation as soon as it landed with excited squawks and greetings and offerings of snacks.

This palanquin was massive, and I spotted the elite general who had held us on the deck of the flagship. I swallowed. The Midnight Queen had come herself. Her servants erected what I can only describe as a portable tent, and yes I know all tents are portable. But most are at least staked down. This one was a black fabric canopy that a dozen servants moved across the grass while their mistress walked within. I was surprised that she'd come herself, but then she was probably powerful enough to tear her own way out of the area if negotiations went sour. She still had a level too high for me to see, and I wondered if Ben had set his menus up to display levels the way I had.

Even through the thick fabric, I could see the silhouette of the queen shifting within. The attendants unpinned and folded down a panel of fabric, leaving a thinner screen that would allow communication.

"King Apollo, Prince Habbe. I have consulted the stars, and I—"

"Hold up a minute," said Ben, standing and raising his hand toward the panel. "Chris, er Apollo," he winked at me, "already filled me in on the thing with the moon and the space dragon and what's at stake. Whatever you guys need, I'm in. I don't know anything about space stuff, but like, if I can make something happen I'll make it happen. Let's do this thing."

The queen went silent.

"Just like that?" I asked.

"Hey man, I like this place," he said. "I was a medieval studies major. This is kind of my jam, if I'm being honest. I don't know about orcs and elves and magic and all that other weird stuff, but this planet is pretty cool and I got to ride a dragon. I don't want to see it get destroyed. Especially not while I'm on it."

I turned to the tent of the Midnight Queen, grinning. "Humans, right? So impossible to work with."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.