Chapter 5

She woke up hungry. And a little thirsty. She seemed to have slept on top of… Something. That something seemed to be alive. She could hear a rhythmic beating beneath her paws. It reminded her of when she slept on top of her mother. But this place wasn't nearly as warm.

She stood up on her paws, ready to look for something to hunt. She and her siblings had been made to practice a lot for the past few of weeks, so she was confident that she could catch something.

She looked around and found an empty white space. The thing she had been sleeping on looked like a troll, but the colour and proportions were all wrong. Maybe it was one of those things that their mother spoke about, those things that become so powerful that they change into a weird shape. She was told to not offend those things no matter what.

Her steps became lighter, just as she had practiced. But it didn't work. She had just taken a single step when the weird troll's eyes opened. She froze mid-step, making sure to not move an inch. The troll stared at her for a moment before looking at the roof. It breathed out deeply before moving its hands to hold her. It was surprisingly gentle. It lifted her up from its chest and the soft white thing it was sleeping on lifted it up and put it sitting on the hard white thing by the side.

And it sat there…

Just looking at her.

She wanted to eat.

*Ding!

A weird box, that faintly reminded her of the ones she always tried to catch, showed up. This one was the wrong colour though. Surprisingly, it seemed as if the weird troll could see it as well. She always tried to get her siblings to help her catch the boxes, but they could never see it.

The troll looked at the box, then it looked at her. It looked at the box again, then it looked at her again. So, she turned to look at the box. It was a box with weird shapes. The shapes were new but that was just about it. What does it mean for the straight lines to be replaced by the weird shapes? Is it important? The weird troll seemed to believe it was important.

It finally stopped looking at her. But why did it close its eyes? It did the weird breathing out deeply thing again.

It cradled her against its chest and walked out of the weird white place. It was night outside, perfect time to hunt once she's figured out how to deal with the weird troll. It was also weirdly cold in this place; much colder than the place she usually was. She subconsciously leaned in closer to the 'weird troll'.

The weird troll unhurriedly walked up the slope, but it didn't seem to have a definite location decided on. It would walk for some time, stop, and look at a random direction before continuing its journey upwards. It sometimes would change direction when there was something that felt weird in front.

It took a while for them to reach a place that felt much warmer. It seemed to be the place the troll was looking for. It stopped ascending and started going to the right. As it walked it would sometimes reach colder places where it would either ascend or descend. It continued walking while she continued to contemplate just how unbearable her hunger was getting.

Out of nowhere the weird troll stopped. Its breathing became rhythmic. It looked at a certain direction for a very long time without moving. In the air close to the troll something white started to form. It looked as sharp as her mother's teeth but much bigger. Most likely more dangerous as well. The troll didn't seem to be surprised by the appearance of the sharp thing(spear), so it was safe to assume that it was the one that did it. She was happy that she didn't offend it.

She watched quietly as the troll walked forward. It was quiet and methodical yet fast. It would sometimes change direction but continued moving towards the same spot. The sharp thing loyally followed the troll and kept out of moonlight. Then it shot forward at incredible speed.

The troll followed close behind, but it was much slower. One of the hands that were cradling her moved and clutched the white object hanging from its waist. And then it jumped.

*Groooowl!

Her body unconsciously tightened as she saw the troll approach the hog. It raised its leg and aimed at the sharp thing that was stuck deeply at the hog's neck. Its leg glowed and kicked the sharp thing even deeper. The hog growled once more as the troll jumped back into the air. It pulled out the object hanging from its waist to reveal an even sharper white thing. It jumped once more, seemingly off the air.

One hand held her closer while the other held sharp thing tightly as the troll drove it deeply into the hog's eye and left it there. The troll didn't look back even for a second as it jumped, this time straight into the cave behind the hog. The hog ran inside and continued for ten or so seconds. Then it stopped as white gather around it. The white gathered to the front where it formed a white wall, sealing off the deeper reaches of the cave.

The troll slowly walked to the cave wall and sat down leaning against it. She could feel that's its hands were trembling. Its heartbeat pound loudly against her ears but it calmly sat down and slowly breathed in a rhythmic fashion. A different pattern from the previous one.

The troll stayed there silently for a while before standing up and attaching another white wall to the one that was already there. It then went outside and dragged in the now dead hog into the cave.

It left the cave once more, still holding onto her, and started gathering dried plant material and started arranging them just outside the cave. It put out its hand and there was a flash, then the plant stuff started to burn. With that done it went into the cave past the hog and added another layer to the wall.

With that done it returned to the hog. Placed her by the side. Created another sharp thing from the white stuff and started removing the hog's skin. It put the skin by the side, created two objects that weren't sharp from the white stuff and went back to the hog. It put the organs in one object, sealed it and put it aside. It drained the hog's blood into the other object, the blood that was already on the ground or on it was lifted of by some shiny thing and deposited into the object before it was also sealed and put aside. With that done it sliced off a piece of meat, stabbed the sharp thing into the meat. It looked at her before nodding slightly. It lifted her up and started walking outside with the sharp thing floating by his side. It sat down a short distance away from the fire while the sharp thing positioned itself on some arranged wood.

The troll started doing the whole rhythmic breathing again, a different pattern this time as well. It would occasionally open its eyes to look at the meat before continuing as it were.

After a while the sharp thing moved itself from the fire and moved closer to the troll. The white stuff gathered once more, this time to form a flat surface on the ground. The sharp thing broke down into the white stuff which itself disappeared. The meat was deposited onto the white surface, another sharp thing was formed out of the white stuff and the troll used it to cut the meat into many small pieces. She was moved closer to the white surface and after some pointing, mimicking etc. she understood that the troll was telling her to eat the meat.

She was a bit apprehensive but when she saw the troll eat the meat without issue, she joined in. Claiming half the meat despite being around the size of the troll's hand.