Nym’s Goodbye’s

Upon finally waking I tried to sit up but only groan in pain. Looking around I see Danny sleeping in a chair next to the bed. She looks tired. We are also the only ones in the room. What happened to me?

At this time there is a light knock on the door and it opens, revealing Benny with a tray of food. He smiles seeing me. "Hey. You're already up? That's a miracle. How do you feel?"

"Everything hurts… I don't know what happened… I was standing in front of moms grave and then… I was here…"

"That's fairly simple. You almost died. An outcasted noble got upset about the funeral and tried to kill you. He's in custody now. Did you… have any strange dreams?" Benny's last question is a bit odd but I ponder it before answering.

"Yeah. I dreamt of Tena… and imps… they are feisty apparently… after that though it felt like I was swimming in a lake of darkness for awhile then I woke up."

Benny nods, setting the tray down. "You're lucky to be awake already. It's been two weeks since the incident and that guys dagger was old and he used it to kill or stab something that caused one heck of an infection. And I don't think you meeting Tena was a dream."

I watch as Benny grabs a mirror and holds it to me. I stare at my reflection in confusion at my new hair color. My eyes are still blue but now my hair is a light green. My eyes also fall on the necklace around my neck. "So I really did become a demon hunter…"

Benny nods and puts the mirror down. Gently shaking Danny's shoulder. "Rise and shine. Nym is awake." Danny wakes slowly and is still groggy for a few moments before her eyes focus on me and she hugs me as soon as they do, getting a grunt from me.

"I'm so glad you're safe! I was so worried about you Nym! How are you? Feeling okay? No pain?" Benny gently pulls her off with a sigh.

"He is still in pain so be gentle."

Danny nods, still worried but now a bit embarrassed too. Benny helps me to eat as I explain a bit more about the trial and how scary imps can be. I'm slowly starting to move too and it isn't too bad.

The healers walk in as I finish and look me over. It's strange how they won't look me in the eye anymore. I relax as they use more healing magic and let out a sigh. "I thought healing magic could heal just about any injury?"

The healer shakes his head. "It doesn't work that way. Especially not with humans. Healing magic basically increases your natural healing exponentially. And as a human you can only do that by so much without risking your over all life span. We aren't fully sure why but it's something about you already having short life spans and we didn't want to shorten yours further. You are doing well enough now you can be discharged this evening. Any soreness left is from laying in bed for so long and not moving."

I nod, contemplating this. The healer leaves and I try to slowly get up. Benny and Danny help me up. "Could you help me to see mom? I didn't get to finish saying goodbye."

Danny nods. "I can."

Benny shakes his head. "I need to go chop more wood for winter in a few months. Danny can handle this though." He pats my back and leaves.

Danny smiles at me and starts towards the burial grounds on the edge of town. It's great to feel the suns warmth again. People are oddly avoiding us though. I decide to ignore it for now.

As we get close to the edge of town though we can hear people screaming. I look to Danny and try to head towards it but she stops me. "Rest. I'll see what's going on." Before I can respond she takes off towards the sounds.

She doesn't get that far before a large creature with rough hair, gray skin, beady eyes, a bulbous nose, and reeks worse than a port-a John left in the sun for two weeks without cleaning. It's got a large round belly but long muscled arms. One of which has a tree trunk in hand. It roars and swings the trunk like a club, hitting several men that were attempting to cast a spell and sending them flying into a nearby wall.

The thing then looks around with a twisted grin at the fleeing people. Its beady eyes lock onto a child that has fallen and is crying from terror. As it approaches so does Danny, picking up the child just as the thing raises the trunk up.

****

Benny had just started chopping logs when he heard all the screams and panic. Sighing he uses wind magic to float above the buildings but pauses for a moment when he sees the creature on the other side of town. "Is that a troll!? Dammit all!"

Taking off full speed he rushes towards it. Only now does he see the brown haired elf woman holding a child and staring in horror as the troll raises the trunk high. Benny realizes he won't make it in time so watches in horror as the troll starts to bring down the trunk.

Just as its arm starts to move its shadow begins to wriggle and move on its own, suddenly reaching out and wrapping around the trunk and arms of the creature, stopping its movements for a now. As Benny closes in he sees Nym running forward, right arm also black like the shadow. Only it seems to come off in waves similar to fire.

Nym jumps as high as he can, pulling his fist back and punching as hard as he can. His fist sinks into the solar plexus. It sinks in with the sound of sizzling and the smell gets much worse.

Ripping his hand free from the troll Nym climbs up the creature to its head, once again drawing his fist back. As he punches the troll in the face it once again sinks in with a sizzling sound and the troll falls back with Nym. He goes head over feet and ends up sprawled out and panting.

Benny lands next to him, watching the inky black flames fade and meld with Nym's shadow. He shakes his head and helps him up. "Are you okay?"

Nym nods a bit. "Don't worry about me… D-Danny and the kid…"

"Are safe thanks to you kid. What was that?"

"I don't know…" Nym responds, looking at his hand. "I panicked when it attacked them and just… wanted to stop it… the only way I could think to do that was if I could just hold it in place and hit it with fire… that was a troll right?"

Benny nods and leads him back towards the other side of town with Danny and the kid. Mainly because the smell was getting much worse due to the burnt flesh.