forum Ever Searching (1-1, Closed, Mature)

Started September 14, 2022 by @Serpentess health_and_safety language

tune

Her inner struggle was intoxicating to listen to. Her heartbeat revealed it to him so easily. But, he’d have to be careful not to provoke her. That wasn’t his goal… mostly.

De’Tearion snorted,“What makes you believe that?”

It was an impulsive question, one he normally would’ve never asked, but he couldn’t resist. She was making it too easy to mock her. Though… he wasn’t sure why mocking her was even important.

He paused at the mention of the trolls. He’d never heard of a troll before, let alone encountered one. He rose an eyebrow at her, bewildered.

“What be a ‘troll’?”he asked, his voice becoming distorted by a sharp chirp as he said ‘troll’. It always happened when he said a new word.

Why did she believe he wouldn't hit her?
Well, the Hinterlands were no soft upbringing. She hadn't survived this long by being easy to hit.
Valiel smirked at him, the first really confident thing she'd done yet. "Trust me, I have no reason to believe otherwise." The longer he stayed put, the less worried she was becoming.
His ignorance told her he wasn't from here, somehow. "Trolls? Big creatures, very strong, sometimes intelligent. Lots of meat, would make a great hunt for you."

“‘Trust’? Trust be nothing more than a blinding illusion,”he hissed, his voice dripping with bitterness.

He leaned forward, his still seething rage flashing in his intense blue eyes.

“You are a fool to trust that a predator will eat not his prey.”

De’Tearion leaned back, humming in thought at the description. He might have to try one of these ‘trolls’ eventually. But, for now, his eyes were still set on this shapeshifter. He, at least, wanted a few drops of blood. Just a taste, to see if she was even worth eating.

Valiel just smiled at him, the expression looking more like a fang-bearing grimace on the stonebear's face.
"Arrogance is more blinding than trust will ever be. And you, with your arrogance, are a cocky idiot to assume that you're the predator and not the prey."
He had gone from worrying her to getting on her nerves. Any creature that talked this much was either an imbecile or not a very good hunter. If he had pressed his advantage when she wasn't expecting him, he'd have won easily.
But now she was ready.

The smile on her face made De’Tearion realize that he’d missed all of his opportunities to strike at her with an advantage. Now, he would truly be fighting her, just for the sake of a few hours of trying to fight for an appetite. What was the point?

And, when was the last time he’d actually had a conversation like this, let alone spoken at all? A year? More? He had long ago lost track of time.

De’Tearion sighed at her words, rolling his eyes. Another insult among the thousands of others. Though… arrogance wasn’t new to him. It was just an old aspect of him. Something he had mostly lost after…

His hand drifted up to the amulet around his neck. He turned away, staring at the ground absently. If she decided to be the ‘predator’, then she might as well do it now. He had nothing to lose… except the amulet in his hand.

He turned from her, and Valiel finally felt like the threat was mostly over. She hated bluffing, and also hated verbally sparring.
She watched his reaction, and made a snap decision.
"I'll show you a nearby troll den if you'll cooperate with me."

De’Tearion was deep in memory when she spoke. Remembering Agatha, the day she died, and… how she died. All that had happened. All the years of hardship…

A few black tears slid down his face and he closed his eyes. His fingers caressed his amulet, almost desperately.

A few moments later, he realized that the shapeshifter had said something. Something about showing him a ‘troll den’? If he cooperated with her?

De’Tearion looked at her, his eyebrow raised in confusion. What was she trying to do? And why should he cooperate?

“Cooperate how?”he questioned sternly, his expression turning to stone in an instant.

Valiel shrugged. "I mostly meant attack them instead of me. I might also ask that you not walk behind me."
She wasn't trying to be restrictive, just avoid the figh that had been threatening to overwhelm her for the last few minutes. They were about a 5 minute walk from a den she knew, and she was sincerely willing to show him, since he was hnugry and looking for a challenge.

“Attack them instead of you. A life for a life. How quaint,”he said with a tired sigh.

De’Tearion moved to stand, then turned to head away. As a last minute thought, he wiped a few tear streaks off of his face.

“I appreciate the offer. Yet, I prefer to hunt on my own,”he said. He didn’t bother to mention that he’d already lost the motivation to hunt.

De’Tearion then started to walk away. Away from the first conversation he’d had in a long, long while. Away from what was likely his last chance to find anything resembling peace.

Valiel watched him go. She had no reason to stop him, as long as he wasn't coming after her. She was happy to let him hunt on his own.
"Fine with me." she said quietly, before shifting from bear to an owl form, using the bear's height as her starting point for silent flight away into the woods.

De’Tearion continued walking away without looking back. Though, as he got farther away, his composure started to crack. Tears dripped anew from his eyes and his typically confident posture wilted.

He thought of Mileena, the woman he loved. The mistakes he made, the damage he caused. He wished he could change it. He wished he could go back to her, to the castle he had started to call home. He would’ve stayed by her side until age stole her away from him. Mileena was human, after all. A human princess that had stolen his heart with her kindness. She never gave it back, even after he murdered her father, the King.

“Forgive me, my dear. Though, I doubt you ever will,”he whispered.

He fell to his knees, leaning against a tree as he cried. He stared at his four hands a moment, then dismissed his lower pair. They shrank and dissolved back into his waist. He then stared at his primary arms, which were still insectile limbs. He morphed them to their human appearance, brown exoskeletal armor changing into pale skin from the elbow down.

His long fingers curled, one hand becoming a tight fist. The urge to hit something quickly came up and he didn’t resist. He swung his arm back, then brutally punched the tree he was leaning against. The tree groaned as it shuddered, several cracks appearing that spread halfway through its trunk. A deep indentation was left where he’d hit the tree.

“Weak,”De’Tearion muttered, leaning against the tree again. He stared at his bloody hand, unfazed by the pain, the numbness, and the sight of his own black blood.

“I have grown weak. Again,”he whimpered, curling into a ball and crying some more.

De’Tearion had accidentally wandered in the direction of the troll den Valiel had been willing to show him. His weeping and the near-splintering of the tree was enough to spark the curiosity of the smallest troll in the den.
Forest trolls grow to about 10' in height, and are usually brown skinned, with growths and natural marks that look like bark. They vaguely resemble massive moving trees, but with legs and arms and shaggy, mossy hair. A troll pup starts about the size of a dwarf, and grows from there.
This particular pup was about 7' tall and weighed 400-500 lbs already. It came waddling out of the den and followed the loud sounds of weeping till it located an odd looking creature sitting near a tree.
Naturally, it investigated by poking the creature with a long claw.

De’Tearion wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, so he didn’t notice the forest troll pup until it touched him. That single poke immediately brought him out of his thoughts, and reflex took over.

His hand snatched the claw that had poked him, his grip tightening so much that it snapped the claw in half. Dense black mist formed around his other hand and De’Tearion waved it at the troll. A powerful explosive force threw the troll several trees back, dazing it, if not knocking it out completely.

De’Tearion stared at the troll, taking a moment to fully register what he’d done. He then dropped the claw in his hand and scrambled to his feet, rushing toward the threat, and a possible meal.

He quickly moved to stand on top of the troll, crouching down and brutally twisting its head until its neck snapped. Then, De’Tearion morphed his primary arms back to their insectile form, scratched the creature’s chest, and stuck his claw in his mouth, sampling its blood.

(If this went too fast, just let me know and I’ll change it)

(It didn't, troll pups aren't known for being amazing fighters)

It tasted unlike other animals, the vitality of something big present in its flavor. It tasted like nuts and grains, and also terribly like tree bark. The adolescent had managed to make a yelping noise, a high pitched shriek that carried through the night, just before it had been knocked out.
That yelp caught a lot of attention.
Valiel heard it, over a mile away, and turned back. She knew as soon as she heard it that De'Tearion had come across the den, and she also knew that without help, he might not make it. She felt partially responsible, since she had made it sound like trolls were easy hunting. The pups might be, but the parents?
Speaking of which, the mother and father of the pup had also heard the cry, and were roaring from their subterranean cavern. The mother came charging out, a full 10' tall and weighing over a ton. Her skin still looked like bark, but had the consistency of stone. Her claws and fangs were over 8" long, and as thick as the average sword blade. This was a creature not easily defeated.
She roared as she smelled blood, and knew it was one of her babies. She came charging through the woods on a rampage, the earth shaking beneath her as she closed on De'Tearion.

(Thumbs-up. It probably also doesn’t help that the poor pup was just bombarded by a twitchy ex-warlord, lol)

De’Tearion hummed. It wasn’t the most appealing taste for blood, but it was intriguing nonetheless. He didn’t recognize any particular taste, except for its connection to plants. Being a Goliathan, a vegetarian meal was the exact opposite of what he needed, but it was still blood, and very refreshing as well.

He heard the roars, and chirped irritably. The creature’s shriek had carried farther than he had hoped. Quickly, De’Tearion tore off a meaty chunk from the troll’s chest, skinning the piece and sticking it in his mouth. Four feelers pulled the meat further into his mouth, while a set of sharp beetle mandibles chewed on it.

De’Tearion then stood, moving off of the dead troll to face the charging… parent. And, by the smell of it, and sound of its heartbeat, it was the mother rushing at him. He glanced at the dead troll nearby, realizing that it was a child. Well… not the first child he’d eaten. Just the first one he hadn’t realized was a child.

He took a deep breath, then stood at his full height and screeched. His four feelers and a long, bloated proboscis ending with a grapple came out. His second pair of arms came out of his waist, and he called on his magic again, black mist forming around all four hands.

The mist solidified into four balls of black energy, these meant to kill. They worked best on creatures about De’Tearion’s size, but it made no matter to him. He was desperate for a worthy battle, and now he had one.

De’Tearion waited until the mother troll was very close, then threw two balls at her and teleported behind her. He threw the other two balls, then jumped straight up, catching a branch and climbing into the trees to watch.

The troll kept coming, roaring in loss and anger. The first two balls of energy hit.
The mother did not react. She did stop to look around as De'Tearion teleported away, but when the next balls of energy hit her, she knew where he was. They also had no effect.
She charged the tree he was hanging from, tall enough to grasp him. She managed to get him in her massive paws, but he felt strange to her, and she immediately threw him across the small clearing and into a rock.
Valiel passed by overhead just then, yelling down "Troll's are magic resistant, you idiot!" She ahd been about to tell him before, but he'd refused her help, so she didn't think it was relevant anymore. Clearly it was.
The female troll lumbered towards De'Tearion, snarling.

De’Tearion chirped, realizing his mistake when the mother troll didn’t react to his magic strikes. But, he knew absolutely nothing about trolls, so it wasn’t too surprising. It still bothered him though.

When the mother turned and charged at the tree, De’Tearion immediately started to climb higher. Unfortunately, he wasn’t used to fighting ten foot tall creatures, and thus wasn’t quick enough to escape her grasp.

He yelped as she grabbed onto his legs and pulled him down into her hands. It reminded him of the many times he’d snatched a simple forest animal, like a squirrel, and it tried rushing away. However, he was a seven and a half foot tall Goliathan trying to get away from a ten foot tall angry troll beast.

De’Tearion tried kicking at her, and even teleporting away, but before he could do much of anything, he was flying through the air. He slammed hard into the rock, the breath being knocked out of his lungs, then flopped to the ground in a daze.

An owl flew overhead, yelling an obvious statement. De’Tearion ignored her words, but recognized the shapeshifter he’d met earlier. Had she come to help, or just watch? Regardless, she’d better stay out of his way.

De’Tearion groaned and rolled over, standing. He then took a few deep breaths, calculating the troll’s speed, and charged as well. Before he got within arms reach of her though, he teleported to the side, scratching at one of her knees to test how strong her skin was. He then teleported to her other side, grabbed her by the knee and wrenched her leg out from under her with relative ease.

Then, De’Tearion grabbed her ankle with all four hands, his claws clinging to her leg like they were somehow glued, and he swung her off her feet and into a tree, and then another. It took some effort, considering his weakened state, but if he wasn’t starving and mentally declining, he could likely pick up two of these mother trolls with little trouble.

The troll had skin that looked like bark, but had the hardness and durability of rock, despite flexing as she moved. His claws skittered over the skin on her knee, doing nothing. However, her coordination was not incredible, and he toppled her easily.
She found herself slammed into trees, the trees bending and cracking as she hit them. She made a pained noise, before she found herself too dazed to do much else. She did manage to flail her blade-like claws in the direction of her enemy, but she wasn't sure if it had any effect.

Valiel heard the noise of pain, and grimaced. That's no good.

Down in the den, the male heard his mate yowl, and roared loud enough for De'Tearion to hear him over the noise of the fight.

Valiel landed and shifted to her panther form. "We either run, or we try to take on 2 adult trolls at the same time and hope they don't call in any others."

It was as De’Tearion had expected. The troll’s skin was like stone. He wouldn’t be cutting through it. But, what he didn’t really expect was how off balnce the troll mother was. It was so easy to knock her down!

After the second swing, De’Tearion had to drop her. It was too much for his arms at the moment. Thankfully, she was too dazed to do much… except lash out at him. He yelped and dodged her strikes, moving far enough away where her claws only scratched at his exoskeletal shell on his torso, tearing his robe. Only steel could puncture his natural armor, and her claws weren’t steel. However, his flesh was as vulnerable to harm as a human’s, and he’d barely avoided getting slashed in the face.

He didn’t pay much attention to the mother troll’s noise, until the father troll spoke up. He turned toward the source of the noise, and abruptly noticed black ash falling from his shoulder. His eyes narrowed in confusion and he brushed a hand through his hair, realizing that he was missing a chunk.

Damn! The mother troll’s claws had gotten closer than he’d thought. Well… that’s what happened when one was out of practice with fighting. Hunting was still fresh in his mind, but he hadn’t fought in a true battle in over twenty human years. Until now, in a sense.

When the shapeshifter landed, he turned to face her. A clicking growl echoed in his throat at her words.

“I am no coward!”he snapped.

De’Tearion then whipped around and teleported next to the mother troll’s head. He kept watch on her arms as he glared down at her, wary of another attack. He then, out of sheer impulse, stomped on her throat, several times. A wild, sadistic gleam appeared in his eyes, until he reached down and snapped her neck like he’d done to her child. Then, he composed himself, seeming eerily calm as he listened to his surroundings, though he was breathing heavily, mainly from exhaustion.

The mother was dazed, and when the creature appeared next to her head, she barely had time to recognize the danger and take a half hearted swipe at him before she was dead.

Valiel rolled her eyes in frustration. "It's not cowardice not to want to pick a fight with a bull forest troll!" She had heard the male's roar, echoing out of the den, and now she could hear the trampling of trees as it charged towards them. De'Tearion finished with the mother, and Valiel shifted to the bear again as the noise of the male got closer in the silence.

Male trolls are built differently from the females. While they are often roughly the same size, a female is much softer and lighter, being a mother and caregiver.

The males not only have stone skin, but are built like chunks of rock. Muscular, dense, weighing more than a few tons and standing at 11' tall, this one was no different.
It was charging silently through the forest, the only hint of its coming the roar it had let loose before and the shaking ground now.

The male burst into the grove of trees they were in and snarled. It didn't stop, but barreled into the first thing it saw, which happened to be Valiel. She roared back at it and took the tackled well, rolling and thrashing and clawing and biting, even is it grappled and clawed and punched at her.

De’Tearion easily dodged the swipe from the mother troll. He then turned to the shapeshifter, snorting at her words. He sighed as she morphed into the bear, understanding that she planned to ‘help’. Did she not understand he was alone for a reason?

De’Tearion push aside the flood of thoughts following that question, and instead went back to listening. He heard the approach of the male, already recognizing that it was a bit bigger and quite a bit heavier than the female.

De’Tearion witnessed the moment the troll entered the grove, the way he continued to charge into the shapeshifter. He knew that move. It was a common tactic among Goliathans to simply overrun their enemy, destroying and demoralizing them simultaneously. Because one had to have complete confidence that they were the biggest creature around to do that maneuver.

At home, Goliathans were one of the heaviest creatures, and the strongest creature, there. This… was far different. The troll was a huge tank, built for battle. And De’Tearion couldn’t hope to win, particularly in his weakened state.

De’Tearion respected the shapeshifter’s attempt to fight it, but he knew now what she meant by running away. It was pragmatism, not cowardice. Unfortunately, it was too late to run.

De’Tearion took a deep breath, then stepped on top of the dead mother troll and screeched. His goal was to get the male troll’s attention off of the shapeshifter. If she ran, good. If not, then that was her choice. But, he couldn’t watch another innocent woman get hurt because of his own failures. He just couldn’t.

De’Tearion screeched again to be sure he’d caught the attention of the troll. He then leaped up into the trees and immediately climbed higher, using speed over caution to make sure he got out of the beast’s reach.

Valiel was quite a bit bigger than the troll, but nowhere near as densely muscled, and she was getting beaten pretty badly. The troll had rolled them again, coming out on top, and was smashing and slashing at her paws, which she had held out in front of her. Deep gashes were already open across her chest and arms, and she was pretty sure she had some cracked ribs. She had managed to cut the troll across the face, and had addled his brain with several powerful blows to the head, but he was angry and not giving up.

A loud screeching rang out, and the troll looked up. A second screech sounded, and he scrambled off of Valiel to chase down De'Tearion, who was standing on his mate.
Valiel used his distraction to slash at the legs of the troll. It didn't do any damage, but he did stumble, giving De'Tearion time to get further up the tree.

The troll roared, and rather than climb the tree, just wrapped its massive arms around it and shook, hard.

De’Tearion was grateful for the shapeshifter’s attempt to stop the troll. He was indeed able to climb higher. Unfortunately, that didn’t work in his favor when the troll started shaking the tree.

He yelped, quickly losing his grip, and fell. He tried to catch himself on the tree, on a branch, on anything, but he was too heavy. Finally, he crashed into the troll’s shoulder, bouncing off of him and slamming hard into the ground with another yelp.

He tried to move, but his vision blurred, then blackened. He was out for only a minute, but it seemed like an eternity. When De’Tearion came to, his head was pounding and his back ached. He was also very dizzy.

With a groan, De’Tearion rolled onto his side and tried to teleport away. However, he couldn’t concentrate enough. He was too dazed, too weak. But, his arms, his primary arms at least, worked.

He crawled away, barely aware of his surroundings, unaware that his secondary arms were dragging awkwardly on the ground. A few moments later, and he collapsed, nearly passing out again. Wasn’t he trying to escape from something? He couldn’t remember. Why couldn’t he remember?

Valiel snarled as the troll shook the tree, hoping whatever-his-face-was had a good grip up there.
He did not.
She growled as he tumbled out of the tree, striking the troll's shoulder on the way down. The massive beast let go of the tree and turned to swipe at him with his claws.
Valiel was slightly faster.
15 feet of Hinterlands bear was usually more than a match for anything she faced. This was one fight she wasn't sure of in that regard. But the troll had his back to her, and she took advantage of that.
She was also smarter than your average bear.

The troll roared as something landed on its back, a massive furry paw looping around its neck and pulling backwards. Its swipe missed De'Tearion by a mile, as it was toppled over. Massive fanged jaws closd on the back of its neck, and the troll found itself in a grip it couldn't easily break. It fell onto its back, rolling and bucking, trying to dislodge the furry, snarling attacker, but the jaws and claws didn't loosen.

Valiel held on until the troll got sluggish and finally stopped moving. Everything has to breathe…
She let go and scrambled away from where it had finally suffocated, lying on its side.
Her arms burned, the claw slashes from the troll livid, bloody marks, and her ribs felt like someone had dropped several tons of rock on them.
She tried to stand, but her body wouldn't respond, and the collapsed on the ground near the troll, shifting all the way back down to her human form, small, vulnerable, and hurt.

De’Tearion sensed something large crashing down behind him and he struggled to get back up onto his hands and knees. He then slowly crawled around, facing the battle scene. It was a dead troll, though he couldn’t remember the significance of it at the moment. But, there was also a human woman, young and beautiful.

Mileena.

He managed to crawl over to her without collapsing, then wrapped her with his arms and legs, coiling protectively around his beloved. He wasn’t sure what had happened with the troll, or how and why Mileena had found him, but he wasn’t going to let anything hurt her. Their enemies would have to kill him first.

Within moments, he passed out, his coiled body never loosening. And, for the first time since Mileena drove him off, he slept without dreaming. She had found him. She had forgiven him.