1 Hunter Tales: Trolls
By: Sage the Writer
Chapter 1: One for the Money
Morning time in a beautiful but strangely quiet forest there were many trees of various sizes and each tree stretched far and wide to absorb the rays of sunlight. There was also a dried up six-foot-deep riverbed that stretched out towards the horizon. On the bottom of the river were stones, leaves and twigs and a man who walked along the inside of it. The man stood tall at six foot three, he had a lanky body but, every step he took caused the stones underneath his feet to be crushed his complexion was that of a cocoa bean, his pupils were amber and his hair was dreaded and reached past his shoulders. He held his hair together into a high ponytail with a piece of thick twine. He also wore a blue short sleeved t-shirt, a pair of black faded jeans that were held up by a white leather belt with a buckle of brass and a pair of black steeled toed combat boots. He had three long and jagged scars that went down across his right eye and ended at his chin, walking along the man looked at his surroundings in relative awe, a loud feral roar echoed throughout the quiet woods. The man stared down the path and squatted down into a runners start position then like a flash he ran down the river leaving behind him a path of glass. The man ran for a few seconds until he stopped when the path dipped down to the bottom of a twenty-foot-deep dried lake bed that was in a complete circular shape.
A creature of incredible muscular mass was laying at the bottom of the lake. It was ten feet long and stood on tree trunk sized legs and feet, it had long shaggy and dusty blue fur that covered it from head to toe the only place not covered by fur was the face which was red and skull like with eyes that were forest green with onyx irises. The creature had four massive arms with no hands, the bottom half of its mouth housed nine six-inch-long and sharp teeth that were covered in specs of dried blood; the creature's stomach growled loudly. The creature looked up and caught sight of the man. It let out a high pitched screech as it beat its chest with all four arms. Dropping to the ground three twelve inch claws exited out of the stumps, the claws dug deeply into the ground as the creature arched its back unhinged its jaw and launched out a glob of green mucus toward him. The man ducked out of the way of the phlegm causing it to hit a low hanging branch it exploded and blocked the path in a green like web. The man looked back at the web and then at the creature and a smirk appeared on his face as his eyes glowed orange. He took a couple of steps back and ran out toward the cliffs' edge. The creature not expecting that fired three globs of mucus at the man who leaped into the air to avoid the projectiles with his hands cupped at his side a soccer ball sized orange flame appeared in between his hands, "My turn." said the man his voice deep and smooth he thrusted his hands forward and he unleashed a large pillar of fire that engulfed the creatures body. It let out a wail to as its body was turned to ash, once the wails and flames subsided he landed on the blackened lake bottom lithely, he stood up and the air around him started to distort once the distortion ended the entire scenery changed as the depth of the lake changed from twenty to six feet and a little grassy hill appeared in the middle of the area and sitting on top of the hill was a steel chest.
He walked to the top of the hill and saw that the chest was locked with an iron padlock and that there was only one path behind the hill, he stared at the chest he had no lock picks so, the man lifted his right leg high and brought the heel of his foot down hard on to the chest shattering the container upon contact littering the hilltop with tiny pieces of steel that glinted underneath the sun's rays. Among the pieces of steel there was a tiny corked vial of glowing blue liquid, he knelt down and picked up the vial. He turned it over in his left hand making the liquid slosh inside the glass. He popped the cork and downed the fluid in one gulp, a few seconds later he fell to his knees grunting in pain and his eyes started to flash quickly between blue and orange. He fell back on the hill half awake. He watched the clouds float lazily by and with the sun high in the sky he closed his eyes and fell unconscious. He awoke later that night, the man stood up on shaky legs steadying himself he let out a yawn as he stretched his arms upward and he looked on his wrist and saw a pair of steel bracers that had one blue gemstone placed inside each of them, he looked over his newest accessories and with a shrugged of his shoulders he looked over at the pile of ash that was once the creature. He walked towards the pile and spotted something shiny within the cinders. He brushed the ash away and spotted two orbs made of gold; he grabbed the gold and placed them into his right pants pocket and he continued to walk along the riverbed.
A few hours later the night sky gradually became lighter as the man trudged slowly on. He looked around and noticed a small grove of trees that was in the middle of a field of grass and to his left was a small dock that had a couple of small fishing boats that were turned upside down on the bank of the river. Further up from the docks was a tiny dirt path which led into a small forest. The man's nose started to twitch as he smelt the faint smell of baked bread coming from the forest, which caused the mans' stomach to gurgle slightly. He looked down the path that he had been traversing for a day and his stomach growled louder.
He stepped onto the docks and walked onto the path to satiate his hunger, weariness, and curiosity as to what is making that delicious smell. A few minutes later the grassy path transformed into dense woods. Trees with bark as dark as night stood tall on both sides, the branches intertwined with each-other creating a canopy that allowed no light to shine through. He exited out from the tree canopy and entered into an open field that was surrounded by trees in the middle of the field bathed in sunlight was a modest stone cottage the bottom half of the dwelling was circular in shape and made of gray stone. The roof was made of red stone and was shaped like a hill, little puffs of black smoke exited from a brick and mortar chimney that sat on top of the roof. The closer he got to the house the more details he saw such as; two circular windows that had red cloth rags covering it, an oak wood door that was curved at the top with a brass knob, and an iron placard hanging from a nail by a piece of twine. The placard read, "Mrs. Brisbane's Inn." He walked toward the door and the man was prepared to knock when the sound of the lock disengaging caused him to stand up straight as the door opened to reveal a four foot four female who had blue fish-like scales over her face and hands, her nose was straight and narrow and her lips were small and thin.
She had jade colored eyes that seemed wide and expressive, along both sides of her neck were three six inch long gills and she wore a red silk blouse that was tucked inside the waistband of a knee length polyester skirt. Clearing her throat, the man looked down at her. "Welcome traveler to Mrs. Brisbane's inn. My name is Tatianna, how may I help you?" she asked. The man looked at the short statured woman who stood before him, his left brow raised in confusion, "Mrs. Brisbane?" he asked. Smirking at his question the woman shook her head, "No, I'm not Mrs. Brisbane I just work here like I said before my name is Tatianna. I'm a water Elf." Said Tatianna as she extended her left hand in greeting he shook her hand and Tatianna stepped aside from the doorway to allow the man entry. He nodded cordially at her and ducked his head under the doorframe and stepped inside the tiny house. Looking around the shelter he took in every sight and smell of the hut. He realized that the roof of the hut was high up allowing him to stand to his full height. Along the wall on the left was a small two shelf bookcase filled with books of varying sizes and colors. On top of the shelf was the biggest book of all that had written on the spine in gold lettering, "Dragon Nest: A Dragon Tale.
Along the opposite wall was another two shelf bookcase, but this one was filled with steel framed pictures of an old fair skinned woman with kind eyes surrounded by two little boys, an old man and she was holding a shorter smiling Tatianna in her arms. He walked over toward the bookcase and he picked up the photo he showed it to her, "Is this her?" he asked Tatianna to take the picture out of his hand and nodded as she placed it back on the shelf. "Yeah that's her that was taken about fifty years ago." Said Tatianna, the man turned his head toward the sound of her voice with eyes wide as she sat cross legged on top of a large log desk.
She sat between an oil lamp and a clay inkwell with a white tipped quill placed inside of it. The light from the lamp casted her shadow across the back wall, reaching behind the desk with both hands she pulled out a pair of rectangular black framed glasses and a wooden clipboard with a few pieces of parchment clipped on it. She placed the eyewear on her face, uncrossed her legs and swung her legs as she placed the board on her lap, she reached over and pulled the feather out of the ink pot, the tip of the quill was coated in red ink. She stared at the man in front of her, the lamps' light casted a glare against her glass' lenses, "Name?" asked Tatianna as tiny droplets of the ink fell from the pen onto the paper. The man shrugged his shoulders, "I don't have a name per say, I grew up in an orphanage where things like names were not allowed there until we were adopted." He said Tatianna pursed her lips in thought and a smile appeared on her face, "Okay what did the children at the orphanage call you?" "Well, they called me many things but the one that actually stuck was the name Hunter." He said with a thoughtful look on his face, writing his name down in beautiful cursive, she placed the feather back into the pot and she put her glasses and the clipboard back behind the desk, "If you don't want to answer that's okay but, why hunter?" he let out a small chuckle, "The orphanage cared for three hundred kids and the people that ran the orphanage hunted the creatures that lived in the forest to feed the children in their care. When they grew older the responsibility of the hunt went to the eldest child, me. I was trained in both weapons and combat and was sent out to hunt three big and dangerous game, I killed all three creatures and returned with a souvenir." Hunter said pointing to his scar. "Well you have arrived just in time I was just about to serve lunch." Said Tatianna he put his hand over his mouth as he let out a massive yawn that caused her to chuckle in her hand he smirked embarrassed as he apologized for the gesture, "No need to apologize why don't I show you to your room so you can rest up and whenever you wake up there will be food waiting." Tatianna said as she got down from the desk and walked towards the entrance of the hut she opened the door and motioned for Hunter to follow her.
The two of them walked to the back of the hut and Hunter was met with the sight of a beautiful courtyard that was filled with an abundance of plants and in the middle of the yard was a giant tree with multi-colored bark and the top of the tree was filled with giant colorful flowers. Tatianna stopped a few feet from the tree she reached into the pockets of her skirt and pulled out a diamond skull key. She knelt down and stuck the key into the ground. She turned the key clockwise and the ground started to shift like a slide puzzle. The earth disappeared to reveal a long set of stairs. Tatianna looked at Hunter and said, "That will be five gold pieces my good man." Hunter nodded his head, he reached into his pocket and handed her the one golden orbs. Tatianna looked at the orb her eyes wide; she nodded with a smile on her face, "This will do enjoy your stay." Tatianna said she pocketed the orb into the breast pocket of her blouse and walked back toward the hut. Hunter stepped onto the first step and started his descent. The further down he went the darker it got so dark that he snapped his fingers and medium sized flame appeared on his right index. The fire illuminated the dirt tunnel he stood in. Right in front of him a giant oak door that had swirls carved onto the surface. The swirls surround three giant red, green, and black gemstones and the door also had a steel handle. Hunter walked to the door and pulled it open to reveal a modest windowless room. In the middle of the room was a bear skin mat and a half lit candle. Hunter flicked his wrist to extinguish the flame. He walked over to the mat he yawned once more before he laid down and went to sleep. He awoke a few hours later not in the underground room but in a white void, Hunter rubbed his eyes sleepily but was shocked to find that the steel armbands were no longer on his wrists. He stood up and looked around the emptiness, 'What the heck is going on here?' he thought just then the void started to ripple and transform into a large field. Hunter looked around the new area and spotted someone in the middle of the field Hunter smirked and jogged toward them in an attempt to find out what was going on. Once he got to the person he stopped short eyes wide with shock Hunter stood and stared at himself. He rose an eyebrow in confusion and the copy did the same, just then a distorted voice sounded out loudly, "Welcome to training, Your Highness."
Hunter jumped and dodged a punch from his copy landing safely a few feet away "Your highness… look I am not Royalty I'm a simple hunter here on a stroll." The copy lifted his arms up to his waist and his hands were finger pistols. Hunter stared at the display confused until the copy shot out a jet of water from his fingertips. Hunter cartwheeled out of the way but, some of the water did go through his clothes. Hunter placed his hand on his right side and winced, he looked at the copy with a tiny smirk. "You must defeat the copy to control the elemental power held within the bracers Your Highness." said the distorted voice Hunter looked around and his smile grew larger and he jumped high into the sky. Hunter floated high above the clouds and saw white all around him. 'So I am still in the void, I wouldn't want to destroy a real field with what I'm about to do.' Hunter aimed his body downward his arms to his side and he dropped like a rock back to the field. Jets of fire shot from his hands and feet which boosted his speed tenfold. He entered the field with a front flip and slapped his hands together unleashing a giant wall of fire that was larger than the Great Wall. The flame wall burned the ground coming toward the copy. The doppelganger pushed his arms forward and he launched a large tsunami from his hands and it collided with the fire wall filling the entire field in steam. Hunter jumped out of the steam into the sky again his entire body was then engulfed in flames. The steam dissipated and Hunter lifted his arms up and a giant sphere about half the size of a planet formed above his head, "Stop this.", he said and he launched the sphere at the copy. The imposter Hunter started to sweat as he saw the ball of fire, he took a deep breath and wiped his brow with his right hand and he squatted low to the ground. The sweat from his head morphed into a tiny orb that rapidly grew to the size of softball.
Hunter two aimed the sphere at the incoming fireball and he unleashed a powerful jet of water at the attack. The two attacks collided sending out shock waves that caused the ground to crack, Hunter two then started to push the ball back, Hunter's eyes started to glow and fire engulfed his arm Hunter balled his fist and punched out a giant flame fist. The flame fist collided with the ball the extra attack caused the imposter to break his attack and fall to his knees. The two attacks crashed into the field and left behind a field of flames. When Hunter landed on the ground the fires died down. The copy stood with half of its body gone and the other half with severe third degree burns on his arm,leg,and half of his chest. He fell to the ground and he turned to steam. Hunter awoke with a gasp he looked around and he was glad that he was back inside the room he sat up on the pallet and rubbed his eyes. The door to the room opened up and fire light filled the darkness. Tatianna stood in the door a black oil lamp in her hands. "Oh, you're awake good. Whenever you're ready come on and get some food." Tatianna turned around and walked away. Hunter stood up and stretched his sleepy body. He let out a yawn and he started to bounce up and down on the tips of his toes before he followed Tatianna. He walked up the stairs and opened the door. He took a huge breath of the cool night air.
Tatianna sat on a chair next to an oak table that had a black cotton tablecloth on top of it and on top of the table was a black cotton table cloth and on top of the cloth were two plates filled with food which included; a baked chicken thigh and breast, rice covered with sausage gravy, and a side of green beans. Next to both plates were two forks, two knives, and a huge gold lined glass chalices that were unadorned with amethyst around the rim and base and was filled with a violet colored liquid. Between the goblets of liquid was an unlit candle. Two giant maple wood chairs which were painted red were on opposite sides of the table. Tatianna sat on one of the chairs wearing a blue a-line dress that reached down to her ankles. She sat on the chair, her back to him as he approached.
Hunter snapped his fingers and he lit the wick of the candle with his fire "What's with the formal set up?" Hunter asked before he extinguished the flame and occupied the empty chair, Tatianna stood up in her chair and gave a little curtsey "Welcome your highness congratulations on conquering the amazing water element, yahoo." Tatianna said unenthused Hunter looked down at the bracers the metal and jewels shined from the light of the flame. Hunter let out a small chuckle "What makes you think that I'm a royal hell I'm not even a peasant I'm just a wandering hunter." Tatianna stared at him with an eyebrow raised in suspicion "So, how did you unlock the chest that the water was in?"
"I shattered it." Hunter said, she smiled in relief she grabbed the shoulders of her dress and with deft movements she ripped off the attire, underneath she wore a pair of black sweats and a white tank. She chuckled "Good now to answer your earlier question I saw the bracers when you walked and then I felt the pulse of the bracers' energy when you were asleep so I just assumed you were the long awaited prince of prophecy." Tatianna said she picked up the goblet in one hand and took a huge swig of the drink downing half of the contents before she slammed her glass down on the table. "What prophecy?" asked Hunter Tatianna took a bite of the roasted bird she chewed and swallowed, " That's a long story but I will try to shorten it. The king and queen had a son, the son has a prophecy placed on him at birth that said he will be the savior of the world by killing the troll leader. The child trains from before he could walk to prepare him for the trolls then suddenly poof the entire kingdom was razed to the ground and the trolls have been ruling ever since. I was head maid at the castle the day of the attack came. Me and the rest of the staff managed to escape and I got separated from the rest of the group and wound up finding this place. I would've left but Mrs. Brisbane was the nicest person I've ever met. She got me a job, food and shelter.", she said. Hunter placed an empty cup next to an empty plate and belched loudly he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared Tatianna at with his hands under his chin.
"I'll do it." Hunter stood from his chair and he started to stretch. Tatianna stared at him in shock and confusion a few seconds passed and finally Tatianna asked "You'll do what?" Hunter stopped his stretches and hopped from side to side on the balls of his feet. "I'll take care of your troll problem." Hunter said Tatianna jumped on the table and with lightning speed she appeared in front of him he looked down at her, "You'll get yourself killed if you try." Tatianna said her arms crossed across her chest, "I doubt it but, your tale makes me want to help you to get you out of here and I get to fight creatures I've never seen hunted before so I'm pretty excited for that prospect and besides you fed me such an exquisite meal I'll do it for free." Hunter bowed to Tatianna and in a blink he appeared at the bottom of the ravine with one last yawn he looked at the bracers on his arms and he continued on the path.
CHAPTER 2 : Hunt twice as hard
A giant swarm of bats flew in between the low branches of trees. The bats produced a loud rhythmic sound that Hunter bobbed his head along to. Hunter started to sing a song with the sounds "Oh… I'm a hunter hunting for some prey. I'm probably sure I'll be hunting, hunting all day." The swarm flew off in the distance and the sound stopped abruptly which caused him to run and investigate why the music stopped. Hunter came to an abrupt stop at the edge of a cliff that dipped down into a large dry thirty foot deep lake. Hunter's eyes went wide with shock because sitting in the middle of the lake was a giant and furry troll. The troll was almost covered from head to toe with long white fur except for massive pale hands and feet. The troll also had two large heads atop its massive frame.
Hunter sized the creature up and a smirk appeared on his face 'He's a big one, this might be
fun.', he thought as he took a huge step backward. He ran and jumped off the edge. Hunter was then hit in the gut and launched backwards into the wall. The creature slowly stood up at twenty foot tall and it let out a loud yawn. The heads looked around and when they spotted Hunter trapped in the wall it let out a roar and the hair that surrounded it's torso rose up and started to sway like snakes. Hunter eyes turned orange and a huge sphere of flame surrounded his body and grew massive. The creature was knocked down from lava rocks that were launched from Hunter's trick to it's heads. He stood inside a massive hole and he stared at the downed troll. He shook his head and let out a sigh and he jumped down out of the hole and landed safely on the ground. He looked at the bracers and said, "Now how do I activate these?" The creature sat up and a pair of pale featureless faces stared at him and the creatures' shoulders started to bounce up and down and a deep rumbling was heard from the creature. Hunter rose one eyebrow up in confusion he then lifted his foot off the ground and the rumbling transformed into a high pitched cackle. Hunter looked around and noticed the ground was covered with white fur that
slithered about like snakes. Hunter leaped a thousand feet in the air then two of the strands from the ground impaled his hands he winced in pain. Like a flash the hair sunk into the ground, slamming Hunter to his knees, causing him to wince in pain. The hair from the torso parted to reveal a large ring of cobalt eyes that surrounded a white and leathery underbelly. The eyes stared at Hunter and the parted hair shot toward Hunter and wrapped around his entire body and brought him in closer. The belly opened up with a wet squelching nose to reveal rows upon rows of billion sharp teeth that dripped with viscous red saliva, the hair detached from the creature's torso and Hunter was dropped into the maw.
The mouth snapped shut and the hair fell back into place, and the troll sat down with a thud. A few seconds later the troll started to groan in pain just then the torso exploded in flames and viscera. Hunter jumped out in the midst of the flames as the creature fell back and he landed on the ground and snapped his fingers. The gems on the bracer started to glow and Hunter smiled, "I finally remembered what that copy did."
He turned around and the creature stood up with a giant hole in its torso. The creature stood up and it started to swayed from side to side. Hunter eyes turned orange and he held out his hands and blades made out of fire and water appeared before him. He grabbed the fire blade with his right hand and the water with his left, he held the element swords behind himself and he squatted squatted low to the ground and like a flash he took off in a sprint towards it. He ran under the creature's legs and held the blades out at in front of himself. Hunter stood up and the blades disappeared, the fur on the ground and on the creature tuned gold then the creature fell apart in tiny flakes of gold. The ground started to shake violently which caused Hunter to take a ready position spheres of fire and water appeared around his fists. The ground where Hunter stood started to crumble and he jumped backwards and landed in front of the boulders. A giant metallic spherical dome arose from the ground, it let out a loud hiss, and the dome split open to reveal a white platform with a white podium on it. Hunter's eyes returned to normal and the spheres vanished as he walked toward the dome when he got closer he saw that a wide black leather strap laid on it. The belt had six green gemstones on it and a gold buckle.
Hunter picked it up and the console started to glow red and a holographic image of a middle age woman was projected onto the rock wall. The woman sat inside a small metal room on a podium the woman cleared her throat as sounds of roars and screams of terror were muffled. "Well this is it my child if you made it out alive I hope you return and save this kingdom from this horror as the prophecy foretold. If you do return the stone wielder belt will help. The black smith who created it said that you simply put it on and stomp any foot to activate and deactivate it."
She placed her left hand on the screen as tears started to well in the corners of her eyes then the feed shut off. Hunter put the belt around his waist and fastened the buckle he stepped off of the platform and stomped his right foot, the gems on the belt started to glow bright. He lifted his hands up and the boulders levitated a few feet from the ground he moved his hand back from side to side
and the boulders swayed, Hunter sat the boulders back he sat down and lifted his hands up. A city wide portion of the ground that he sat on lifted out of the ground and levitated a few hundred feet out of the pit Hunter stood up and ran to the edge of platform and jumped off.
He landed on the ground in a squat spider web cracks appeared beneath his feet the gems stopped glowing as he stood up and the platform exploded. The sun started to peak over the horizon and Hunter started to stretch and yawn as long gold string fell from the sky and it landed on top of Hunter's head. Hunter reached up and took it off his head he looked at the string with a quizzical expression he then tied it loosely around the belt and he continued down the path whistling the tune of the bats.
Chapter 3 : Three, Two, One: The Hunt is still on.
Hunter stopped at the mouth of a large pond in front of a large cliff that stood tall at six thousand feet. He let out a sharp whistle as he stared at it. He squatted low to the ground and took off with a sprint up the cliff's face. When he made it to the top he jumped and landed in front of a dilapidated log cabin. The cabin sunk down on the right side, there were deep and tiny holes on the logs and a red door hung loosely from the frame on rusty hinges. Hunter took a step forward and a loud shot rung and a fast projectile came toward him leaving a golf ball sized hole through the door. Hunter ducked out of the way of it he stayed low and looked at the cabin with apprehension.
The door fell from the frame and a grey cloaked figure barrel rolled out of the tiny house aiming a slingshot at him. The hood of the cloak shadowed the person's identity, Hunter tried to stand up but stopped as the figure fired another shot from the sling at his feet. The shot left a nice size crater behind; curious , he looked inside the hole and saw a tiny white pebble inside. The figure reached inside the chest pocket of the cloak and pulled out another pebble. They loaded it into the sling and took aim, "Those last two were warning shots you move again and this one goes between your eyes. Now who are you and what are you doing here?" asked the figure in a deep voice "My name, I go by many, but the elf at the Brisbane inn decided to call me Hunter and I am on a job from said elf to kill the threat here.", he said. The figure lowered the weapon, and placed inside the chest pocket it removed the hood to reveal a dark skinned blind elf woman.
She had a short afro, two large gold hoop earrings in both of her pointed ears, and she had a pair of bifocal glasses hanging around her neck from twine. Hunter stood up and watched her cautiously as she walked closer towards him. She grabbed his wrists and a smirk appeared on her face which only grew when her hands trailed down his body to feel the belt. She took a step back and let out a long relieved sigh, "I see it's been twenty years since I felt my creations follow me." She turned around and walked back toward the cabin she ducked underneath the door frame and disappeared into the house he followed soon after. He entered the cabin and saw the woman standing in front of a red brick furnace, an oak barrel sat in the middle of the room next to an anvil and on top of the anvil was a small sledgehammer. "Now for introductions my name is Laura Rosina and I was the blacksmith and inventor of the kingdom before the attack. I created the items you are currently wearing. " she said.
Hunter sat down and asked, "How… How did you harness elemental power.?" Laura turned and reached into the furnace she pulled out a small gray burlap sack that was tied closed by a piece of twine. He opened the bag and emptied its contents out on the ground before him. The sack contained ; a pair of talons, snake skin, and the skeletal remains of a fish. "Me and Tatianna used our elven magic to infuse the elemental attributes of those items into the gems in your belt and bracers." He picked up the talons and inspected it, "What about the talons?" he asked. Laura let out a sigh and sat down, she reached out and took the talons from his hand, "This I used to infuse the element of air into a… I forget." she placed the talons back on the ground, "Now since you are here let's get started." Quick like a rabbit she jumped into a standing position, he looked at her with confusion "What are you talking about?"
She smiled "I'm talking about me making you a weapon for your journey, anything you want." He reached into his pockets and removed the golden eyeball and he untied the string he reached out and placed the items into her hands, "Dealer's choice." He said she nodded and placed the items on top of the barrel, Laura pointed toward the door, "You wait outside, I work better alone." Hunter stood up, bowed his head slightly and exited out of her workshop he walked to the edge of the cliff and sat down. He placed his hands on his knees, closed his eyes and started to meditate a few hours later Laura stepped out of the workshop with a burlap wrapped up and tied with twine. He stood up and walked over "So, how much do I owe you?" Laura shook her head, "It's in the house I want to help you in your mission." Laura reached out with her left hand and grabbed Hunter's wrist and placed the wrapped item in his hands.
Hunter nodded and carefully removed the twine and burlap to reveal a pair of golden grappling gloves. Both of the gloves had an ankh symbol etched on to the metal surface, "So, What do you think?" she asked Hunter to look over the gloves and smiled. Hunter stepped back and took a knee to her, "Thank you." Laura chuckled lightly, "No thanks needed. Now on the other side of my cabin a few yards out are some giant walls that lead to the troll's castle." Hunter stood up, shook Laura's hand and then took off towards the shack in a sprint. With a single bound he cleared a hundred yards in two seconds he landed on the ground in a barrel roll and sprung to his feet in front of a giant set of oak wood doors that were flanked by giant white walls. Different images of trolls of many different sizes and shapes danced around images of people tied to poles with pain and anguish on their faces.
"Halt!" yelled out two high pitched voices the ground in front of the doors started to crumble apart and a long two headed green snake like creature crawled out of the hole on eight giant spider legs it balanced itself on its tail and looked down at Hunter. "Who? You?" said the thirty foot tall black eyed creature sniffing the air and it stared at Hunter with hatred. The left and right head shouted respectively, "MURDERER! KILL!" the creature scurried toward him and head butted Hunter into the air from the end of it's tail it launched a string of gray webbing at Hunter. Hunter stopped his accent, his eyes glowing orange, a tiny flame appeared around his middle finger and he curled it underneath his thumb. Hunter flicked his finger and he unleashed a huge flame arrow that turned the web to ash and pinned the creature's tail to the ground. The snake-spider let out a yell of pain as the flames of the arrow consumed it. Hunter landed with a barrel roll to his feet and stared at the anguished beast, "It's time to end this." Hunter said he formed two flame swords in his hands and sprinted towards the creature.
The creature started to chuckle menacingly and it's skin split open and Hunter was sent bouncing across the ground from a tail whip. In a flash the creature constricted itself around his body Hunter freed himself by unleashing a giant explosion of flames which sent the snake-spider through the door and walls Hunter popped his neck and activated the belt and bracers and walked through the hole. He entered onto a long paved road that was made of human skeletons. He looked forward and saw the creature surrounded by six million trolls all armed to the teeth and all staring at him snarling and gnashing their fangs. The creature headed over to the others and asked "What? Do?" Hunter smirked and slammed his hands on the ground causing a giant explosion of steam to erupt from the ground. The steam died down revealing gold statues of every last troll Hunter stood up and jumped over the statues he landed in a squat on the other side and continued to walk. A few hundred yards away Hunter walked up to a path that on either side were twenty concrete pedestals that had metal bat sculptures on top of all them. Hunter walked on the road toward a giant crater filled with rubble and a giant throne made of bones. On the right side of the throne was a great sword made from gray tungsten in the middle of the sword was a giant white diamond. A tall pale skinned woman with neck length long matted brunette hair and lifeless eyes sat on the bone throne. She looked to be in her late twenties and was clad torso to toe in tungsten armor when she spotted Hunter. She gripped the hilt of her blade, the diamond lit up and she stood up and she asked, "So! Are you to blame for killing my comrades?"
Hunter nodded and with great speed she unleashed a giant vertical slash towards him. He jumped up and landed in the crater and aimed a finger gun at her; he unleashed a fire hose blast of water at her. The water hit her in the chest knocking her into the throne two hundred thousand blocks of cement levitated from the ground and were launched at her in a blink of an eye the bricks turned to dust and fell around her in a perfect circle. She stood in the middle with her blade on her shoulders "So you sure are flashy but now I must cut you." In a blink of an eye she stood behind Hunter with her blade on her shoulders his body fell on the ground in fabulous gory fashion.
The armor clad woman jumped backwards over the bloody chunks and stood in front of her throne. Just then a loud snap rang out and the pile of flesh exploded in flames the shockwave from the explosion knocked her through the bone throne. Her body skipped across the ground and she slammed back first on Hunter's torso, the bracers and belt gone from his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up and slammed her down on the ground with a German suplex. Hunter got to his feet and the woman sat up and asked her voice full of confusion and irritation, "How are you still alive I chopped you up what are you?" He shrugged and replied, "I don't know I just don't die that's why I'm a hunter." The woman shook her head, "No! That's not an answer, what are you?!" Her lifeless eyes turned dark grey and in a graceful motion she removed his head from his body. His head fell to the ground and turned to ash and as his body fell flames shot out of his neck hole and a new head appeared which he then used to head butt the blade out of her hand. The sword landed a few feet behind him and then he kicked her in the chest and launched her backward a few hundred feet. She slid to a stop and stared at Hunter with a crazed look. Hunter took in a huge breath in and let it out slowly then his eyes turned orange. He snapped his fingers and stomped his feet and the skin on his waist and wrist glowed green and blue respectively.
A few of the stone blocks levitated off the ground and started to melt. He clenched his fist and the slag covered both of his arms up to his shoulders then turned to steam. Hunter slammed his hand on the ground and stood up then he flipped the bird to the woman. Her grey eyes showed anger and she sprinted at him. Hunter watched her get closer and closer and tilted his head from side to side chuckling. With the blatant show of disrespect the woman let out a roar and lunged at him just then a giant geyser of steam erupted from the ground and engulfed her melting the armor from her body. When the geyser subsided she fell to the ground soaked. She wore a leather tank top and pants that clung to her body she writhed in pain from the blisters on her exposed skin. She stood up, her hair was wet singed and patchy and her face full of blisters. She layed on the ground flailing her arms trying and failing to hit Hunter the blisters started to pop and thousand white and green tendrils shot out from the pustules and it cocooned itself around her.
The top of the shell exploded and a white and green striped creature that was two feet taller than Hunter stood inside the shell ankle deep in a slimy white and green liquid. It had three fingers on both hands and two toes on its feet. It had a great white shark fin on top of it's head, it's eyes were glowing with grey energy, and it's teeth were sharp and serrated like tiny saw blades. "To answer your early question I am the troll leader and I am your end." It said in a deep and raspy voice and in a blink it grabbed his neck tightly and lifted him up to eye level. Hunter ignited one of his hands in flames and he brought it down across the wrist of the creature. It yelled in agony and fell to its knees and whimpered as it cradled it's cauterized stump. Hunter landed on the ground on his feet and removed the hand from his throat and burnt it to ash. Three tiny holes opened up on each digit of the troll's hand and tiny sharp needles poked out of the holes the troll pointed it toward and fired a hailstorm of needles at him. Hunter performed a few backflips and dodged the fast moving projectiles. The creature ran toward Hunter with it's hand balled into a fist. When it got close enough a long tendril of stone shot out of the ground and wrapped around it's wrist and feet bringing the tall beast to its knees.
Hunter lifted up his arms and chunks of stone enclosed around the troll's body leaving only the head exposed. It struggled and shouted expletives at him. Hunter walked closer to it and stopped in front of the captured troll. It started to gnash, snarl and bite at him "What the hell are you I killed you, you come back it makes no sense!" The troll yelled in frustration. Hunter's eyes and arm started to glow brightly and two giant flaming wings exploded from his back and two water spikes formed on the back of his wrist. The troll's eyes widened in shock, "You're …." It was quickly silenced as Hunter jammed his water spikes in it's temple the water entered the creature's body then his wings exploded and entered into the rock that surrounded the troll. The rocks exploded in a pillar of flames and the creature yelled in agony. When the flames and screams subsided there was nothing left but a ring of liquid gold that surrounded a sphere of water that was enclosed around the armored lady. Her leather outfit was in tatters and on her left cheek was a faint scar.
He lowered the sphere to the ground and snapped his fingers and the glow on his arms deactivated. The water around the woman dispersed and layed on the ground on her back coughing up water she rolled onto her stomach and she slowly stood up. Hunter walked over to help her up but she held up her hand and stopped him. He took a step back and the lady got to her feet. She tilted her head to the right and tiny droplets of water splashed on the straps of her top. She looked around and she fell to her knees bawling loudly. She looked at her shaking hands and she started to vomit. Hunter ran over and held her hair back as she barfed a few minutes later Hunter and the lady sat down on the ground sniffling. Hunter stood up and he held out his hand, she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet ``Anything's wrong?" he asked she nodded and said "It's my fault." "What's your fault?" he asked she waved her hands around, "This if it wasn't for that stupid prophecy none of this would've transpired."
"What happened here?" asked Hunter the lady chuckled "That's a long story but first my name's Gwendolyn Elysium princess of this wrecked kingdom and I would like to thank you for killing the troll menace and saving my life." She said with a curtsy Hunter waved his hands in front of face and said, "Don't mention it I was on a job anyway and when we fought I noticed something off when I didn't answer those questions." "Yes I was possessed by the troll king on my eighteenth birthday my mother and father the king and queen had two children me and my little brother Atticus. On his second birthday about sixty of the kingdom's armed guards rushed inside the throne room with a woman who was completely covered from head to toe in a red shawl only a pair of red eyes were visible and she came with a prophecy that said that the trolls will rise and be defeated by a person of royal blood and his protector. When the woman was finished my mother and father started to ask her questions which were which one of their children were the savior. She pointed to the both of us and then she was escorted out of the throne room. So for a few years me and my brother trained to protect our kingdom and we received gifts from our parents for our training: the gems, my armor, and my greatsword with a note that read these will help in the future." Gwendolyn looked at Hunter's glowing limbs and said "I see that the gems are in your body." He looked over himself and chuckled "Yeah it happened when you chopped me into pieces." She shook her head and said, "You are a strange man. Anyway while we trained our bodies and minds my father took a ferry to the blacksmith and were she infused the gems with elemental power and embed the diamond into the sword." . Gwendolyn walked past Hunter toward her sword and she lifted the blade up with one hand and placed it on her shoulders she took a breath in and out before she finished "So on mine and my brothers eighteenth and sixth birthday respectively we were by the river we were both supposed to read a book about how the gems worked, I finished my huge book and started to lift weights while my brother read from two giant books. A few minutes into my session a three legged, flea ridden, and malnourished dog hobbled over to me. It looked at me with lifeless eyes and spat a small drop of white and green phlegm on my arm. The mucus started to burrow itself in my skin painfully. I dropped to my knees but I managed to tell my brother to run before I blacked out. When I came to I could only look on in horror as I slaughtered the entire kingdom." The ground started to shake and a giant slimy muscled arm emerged from the shell and came down toward Hunter and Gwen. They both jumped out of the way as the hand crashed down onto the ground. Then a large white skinned green striped muscled creature emerged from the shell and it stood tall at thirty feet, "DIE!!!" The troll yelled. Gwen launched herself at the troll with a gust of wind. She grabbed the blade with both hands and with a powerful slash she unleashed four tornados that surrounded the troll on either side. The tornados converged on the troll pulling pieces of it inside and shredding the slime unleashing a geyser of gold. The wind tunnels dispersed and the woman dropped her blade and fell to her knees tears started to stream down her face as she smiled, she turned her head to look at Hunter and said "I have to undo the damage the trolls did to the land."
"How are you going to do that." She gripped the hilt of her blade and she stood up. "Come stand by me." Hunter walked over and stood at her side. "Now I need you to float us up." Hunter nodded and he lifted his hands up the skin on his waist and glowed and a huge portion of the ground they were on levitated out of the ground and above the tree line. Over the horizon Hunter saw a wall of water that surrounded an of dead and living trees. "After the slaughter of my kingdom the king used my wind power to seal the island inside a barrier of water and since my brother escaped he set trolls at every place the bracer and belt was located at trying to tie up loose ends and rule." She looked around and slapped the underside of the blade and the gem deactivated and the water quickly rushed in flooding the entire island.
A large rumble sounded and from the water a giant tree sprouted from the drink, a few miles away from the tree a long serpent like creature appeared from the depth and let out a roar. Gwen smiled, "Laura and Tatianna made it out." "You know them?" Gwen nodded "Yeah Tatianna was my maid and Laura crafted my armor and sword." Hunter twitched his fingers and below them a two thousand foot tall watch tower was formed out of splintered trees and stone debris. He landed the chunk on top of the roof of the building "So is there anything else you need me to do?" He asked as she shook her head, "No with those two's help this place will be just as it was." Hunter nodded and then jumped off the tower into the raging water below. Gwen stared at his antic with a smile and shake of her head "What a strange, strange man."
