"Do you understand now, Rattan? You are not just endangering the Goblins. You are putting the entire foundation of this world's balance at risk. And you are placing your own people—your kin, your blood—in the path of extinction."
Vellok's voice grew quieter, almost reverent, as he gestured again toward the pulsating mass beneath them—Mother. The light in his eyes dimmed, but his words carried the weight of history carved in blood and secrecy.
"Mother is the continuation of our race… and our most sacred, most preserved secret. It is because of her—because of the lie we buried in silence—that we are able to maintain the illusion of a normal, functioning society."
He looked at Rattan, his expression unreadable.
"Our people—our entire race—no longer understands the concept of bloodlines. Of mother or father. Those words exist in stories, in formality, but not in meaning. They were erased—surgically removed—from the soul of the goblin identity."
