Troll Head
A/n: A Double Chapter, y'all! Daily + 5K votes Extra.
Also, here is some ranting…
I've spent most of the weekend dusting off my knowledge about video editing which is from the Era of Windows Movie Maker (That's before the Dawn Era).
I wanted to upload this novel on YouTube as a sort of… TubeNovel or whatever. Then after all the work, I get to know that YouTube won't monetize videos with Slideshows or TTS which is kinda… you know… what I did.
Infuriating! I uploaded the video of chapter 1 anyway. https://youtu.be/_Bm2RoN_BnY
~~~~~~~~~~
(Part 1)
An hour earlier, Moon Bishop Zara started a ritual inside the first response camp to connect herself to the Moons and find the trail of the Curse's Magicka. After doing so, she had to start working on the [Eye of Moon Beast] Ritual.
It was very simple, a connection with Jode and Jone (the moons Masser and Secunda) must be established then one must trap a sufficient amount of Moonlight Energy. A sort of clairvoyance divination method can be used to visualize where it leads.
A simple ritual but weighed a lot on Zara's mind. The existence of the Moon Beast was something that is feared by all the Moon Priests. She was born in the age of discriminating against the reverence of the Moon Beast even though it was common knowledge in the Temple that the discrimination is rather political. Still, some lines were a bit hard to cross.
In the end, she stood in front of Jonya showing him the spell she combined to trace the Magicka of the Curse.
"Excellent." Jonya replied with a wide smile and handed her some items.
"Those are…?"
"The Meteoric Glass and a Purification Solvent known as the Crystal Tears."
Jonya forked out some of his best items. The raw Meteoric Glass he harvested from the Abyss was very precious and equaled a fortune in Tamriel. Also, the [Crystal Tears] was a solvent made of the [Lorkhan's Tears] provided by Master Alchemist Nurelion and [Kyne's Tears] harvested from Coldharbour which is one of the most dangerous realms in Oblivion.
Putting a price on those items will be kinda astronomical.
Zara looked between Jonya and the Top-grade items he prepared trying to keep as calm as she could.
"Did you rob the temple?"
"The Temple is that rich?"
"Then was it the Royal Family?"
"Nope, they had nothing that can attract Jonya's interest."
"Oh! I see…"
Seemingly logic was hard to work with Jonya, Zara decided to act now and ask questions later. She took five fist-sized pieces of the Meteoric glass and arranged them around.
"Why five?" Jonya asked.
"There are five of us so we need five eyes." Zara said.
Jon put a few more in front of her.
"Just in case." He said.
To him, there was still Nefertiti, Jax and Wrath on his team. Zara couldn't help but nod and proceed to work.
She was to purify the Meteoric Glass and reshape it into small flasks using Alteration Magic. A [Reshaping] spell was one of the high leveled spells in the Alteration School, the second least school Jon was proficient in.
As the Meteoric Glass was shaped into small flasks, Zara started filling them with the Crystal Tears and sealed them well. With that, she used [Telekinesis] to lift the ten or so flask up in the air and faced the two moons in the night sky then she started singing.
It was a chant of weird words that seemed incoherence at first but after using the [Eye of Magicka], Jon started to see the motion of the Moonlight Energy flowing in the flasks Zara made.
This singing was close to the druidic chants Alina uses to talk to animals and soothe wild horses. Jon smiled as he remembered his wife back home.
"Zara is done." Zara said as she took down the flasks and handed them to Jon.
"Oh! Jonya is impressed, these flasks look pretty."
Just like he said, the [Eye of the Moon Beast] flasks were like pearls of crystal with the size of a fist each. The Crystal Tears inside them seemed to be holding a large amount of Moonlight Energy as well. Observing closely, Jon judged that his method of trapping energy in Crystals like how he did to activate the Ansei Pyramid was much more efficient than using a chant.
Still, messing with rituals is inadvisable.
"What to do next?"
"Channel your Magicka through them and leave the rest to the Moon Beast."
Jon did as he was told and something he never expected happened.
"Wow!"
Just like a [Clairvoyance] spell, a trail was formed in front of Jon. It was not a hint of images or some highlightings of Magicka but rather a trail made of a colorful Moonlight. It was as if he was stepping on the Bifrost.
Those who saw the phenomenon were enthralled by its beauty and wonder.
"There is only one downside to this." Zara said.
"It doesn't work when the sun is up." Jon figured it out.
"Indeed."
"Then let's not waste any time. We will travel on horseback nonstop. This trail leads to the one who cast the Curse. I want all of you to be wary and careful. If sunlight caught us, we will travel towards the last direction we had." Jon said.
He extended his hand forwards and the Ring Cube brightened, in a second, a few horses appeared in front of them.
"Horses!" Zara freaked out.
Jon jumped on his horse Joergen and faced the west.
"Let's move."
***
Anequina Kingdom, the Northern half of Elsweyr, had a very infamous rocky desert known as The Scar. It is home to various desert predators and stray undead but today, these creatures were pushed a step down in the food chain.
A single silhouette roamed the desert alone with a spear in hand and an Orb in another. His head's size was uneven with the rest of his body but if one took a closer look, one can see that he was wearing a strange looking bone helm.
This man was walking through the desert in a straight line without food or water not even interacting with anything yet every living beast that felt the presence of that man ran as far as it could. Even the infamous man-eating desert plants didn't react towards him.
His clothes were minimal robes as if he wasn't bothered by the desert squall he is walking towards. His indifferent attitude seemed to be backed up by a great deal of power and combat experience.
As every creature was wary of the man, Men and Elves were not that smart and the same went for Khajiit and Argonians despite their bestial instincts. Those who tried to stop him were stabbed by the spear, those who ran from him were Cursed but the Orb.
Last night, this man walked by a settlement in The Scar Desert known as the Stitches, some guards tried to stop him for questioning but they were murdered in their place. The guard who survived kept hallucinating about the man calling him Troll-Head.
Yet once again, Troll-Head was interrupted.
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
Three arrows targeted his vital spots with absolute accuracy.
Troll-Head skillfully waved his spear and hit the three arrows like nothing. From afar, he could feel the shooter that barely hid him/herself.
Troll-Head took one step towards the shooter but the shooter didn't send any arrows towards him. He halted his steps and once he did so, the shooter fired another arrow.
*Swoosh* *Clink*
He easily blocked the arrow.
Now that this happened, Troll-Head could tell that he was getting lured into a trap. But who is idiot enough to do such a boring trick?
Troll-Head took another step then started running in zig-zag to shake off the arrows that kept coming at him. The lethality and the accuracy of these arrows increased with each one proving that the shooter is much more skilled than what he/she gave off.
But no matter how skilled they are, a being in the caliber of Troll-Head is unbeatable no matter whatever method used. He increased his speed to unimaginable pace and in a couple of seconds, he was stabbing towards the female Khajiit archer.
*Clink* *Clink* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
Still, not sure how or when, the female Khajiit archer changed into a male Khajiit swordsman who parried the spear by his sword and stabbed at Troll-Head's eye by a hidden dagger. Following him from another position, the female archer shot four arrows instantly to the heart, tge legs and the Orb.
Troll-Head felt bothered by the two and decided to move faster. He moved his head to block Mirren's dagger by armored part of his Troll Skull Helm and waved his spear in an artistic way to block the arrows then retreated away.
"Wow!"
Mirren was taken aback by the dangerous spear skill he felt from the man then decided to give chase but Troll-Head ignored him and charged towards the shooter, Miranda.
Miranda shot an arrow towards Troll-Head and he dodged easily. Still, the one who received the arrow was Mirren. He cast [Reflect] on his sword before hitting the arrow giving it 180-degree turn in momentum and trajectory towards the back of Troll-Head.
And it hit.
It was exactly in the middle of Troll-Head's spine. He'll be paralyzed for life from now on.
Or so they thought.
Troll-Head stabbed the ground with his spear then took out the arrow with one hand and threw it aside.
"Fuck!" Mirren couldn't believe himself.
Troll-Head wasn't happy to be hit, he gave Mirren a glare then turned to Miranda and charged like lightning.
"Shit! Exchange!" Mirren shouted and exchanged positions with his sister.
*Clink* *Clink*
As he appeared in front of Troll-Head, he received two attacks and barely managed to parry them with his sword then retreated further as Miranda let loose a volley of exploding arrows towards Troll-Head.
Troll-Head evaded the bombardment like a fish in a narrow river and tried to go after Miranda once again but every time he gets closer, Mirren exchanges positions with her and fights him in melee.
The situation was getting dire for the Altmer twins who fought nimbly and skillfully. They didn't just use swords and arrows but also used many of the scrolls Jon gave them.
As the situation was about to escalate for the worse, a lightning strike descended down from the sky.
"We've arrived!"
**********
(Part 2)
Two days have passed since they went out to search for the perpetrator behind the Curse. The tracking process was easy during the first and second nights but the first day caused the group to go in circles. By the second day, the group decided to split in four teams.
Mirren and Miranda, Isha and Zara, Jon and Jax, Nefertiti and Wrath.
Safe to say, Zara didn't handle the existence of both Jax and Wrath that well. A Minotaur is always seen as a savage beast while an Undead is only friendly around its master which should always be a necromancer. The story of Wrath being a friendly independent and harmless undead didn't work on someone like Zara.
Anyway, the four teams spread out to find the one behind the curse and break his Magic Medium at the very least.
Mirren and Miranda found him first and the two assassins had one hell of a fight against him. He was identified as Troll-Head (which was fairly sufficient to describe him for his Troll Skull Helm) and the other teams were informed.
Due to the immense strength of Troll-Head, the Altmer twins (disguised as two Khajiit) were in trouble as they confronted him in direct combat. Thankfully, they were not direct fighters and their assassinating style made Troll-Head fight hot on heels.
"We've arrived!"
And thankfully, reinforcements were here.
The first team to arrive was Jon and Jax. Streams of Lighting hurled at Troll-Head from all possible directions giving him multiple burns but he wasn't bothered and turned to the direction where the magic came from.
Not too far, a Flame Hawk Atronach descended in a frightening speed with a red-furred Khajiit on its back and a Minotaur held in its talons.
The Khajiit held a staff and had a number of [Eye of the Moon Beast] crystals around his belt.
"You clearly like it there, Jax."
"Yes, Boss. I am flying!"
"... Whatever."
Jon let the Flame Hawk Atronach to Jax and jumped down beside Mirren and Miranda. Jax kept flying with the Flame Hawk Atronach and commanded it to go directly towards Skull-Head.
"HAAA! I'll stomp on you."
*DRUM*
Once Jax landed, Troll-Head slipped away as Jax's head caused a literal fire blast to occur.
Despite being a Minotaur Shaman, Jax was an excellent Pyromancer and considered himself to be the first disciple of Jon. His [Hell Stomp] was on bar with an Expert level flame magic.
Troll-Head landed away from Jon and Jax who seemed more annoying than Miranda and Mirren. Now in a four against one, the odds shifted greatly.
"Hey, whose Daedra do you Labour for?" Jon asked.
"..."
Troll-Head didn't seem to be willing to answer.
"Alright then, keep your secrets, Sam."
Jon raised his staff and cast a series of Lighting spells towards Troll-Head. Troll-Head raised his Orb and started shooting spells from it too.
"How ancient are you to use an Orb directly? Just put it on some twig and call it a staff for the love of heaven."
Jon tried to taunt Troll-Head to talk but the latter was silent as a rock.
The Magic Duel lasted for a good while before the two stop. Jon instantly narrowed his eyes.
"That's some Magical Resistance you have there." He murmured softly.
"Jon, he has a strange body too. This arrow hit his spine and he just plucked it like a splinter." Mirren said.
"Magic Resistance and an Odd Physique, that's a supervillain for you." Jon joked about it but in his head, he got as serious as he can get and focused on his opponent scanning every little detail.
Thin robes, signs of being rugged which may mean this guy has been traveling for a long while or was in some secret training. A very interesting Spear, clearly enchanted but Jon can't tell what enchantment it is from a distance yet it is very well-made. The Orb is interesting, this is surely the thing that should be destroyed for the Curse to break, the thing is that no one uses Orbs for casting spells these days without mounting them on staves, the man is clearly not equipped enough. Speaking of equipped, this man is traveling very light or even too light, he only has the clothes on him, the spear and the Orb… oh, and that Troll Skull Helm. The Skull Helm, clearly made of bone but unimaginably powerful, the power of enchantment on it is very high and surely serves a certain purpose to always be worn in plain daylight like that.
There was the strange Magic Resistance and the Odd Physique but these two need further investigation. The thing is… there is a life signal which means that the man is alive and not an undead… still, this a very weird life signal.
There was much to understand before battling such an opponent but there was not much time to think as Troll-Head was attacking.
Jax took the sky with the Flame Hawk Atronach carrying, Mirren and Miranda completely erased their presences and prepared for a lethal sneak attack while Jon prepared for a fight.
Troll-Head reduced the distance between him and Jon then stabbed with his spear. Jon used a fast [Blink] to teleport behind the man and waved the Ebony Blade that appeared out of the Cube.
*Clink*
The first clash caused sparks to ignite between the two weapons. It was rare to see a weapon stand its ground against the [Ebony Blade] when it is in Jon's hand especially when it is now awakened by 7/10.
"This spear is seriously good." Jon commented.
*Swoosh*
The cloak covering Jon's body moved on its own trying to capture the man but he slipped like a snake. The cloak was of course [Greed].
Jon threw [Pride] in the air and it floated on its own over Jon's head. It then aimed on its own towards Troll-Head and started casting a strong barrage of spells.
"FUS RO DAH!"
Jon even shouted the [Unrelenting Force] and pushed Troll-Head further and further.
With Jon's almost endless Magicka and dirty play of cutting all the roads around Troll-Head, it turned from a fight to a chase.
"Dammit! This is really messed up. Sis, contact the others and tell them we are changing locations." Mirren spoke to Miranda.
She nodded and informed the remaining two teams.
***
Jon and Troll-Head were running while fighting and fighting while running. The chaotic battle was balanced between the two and kept destroying everything in its wake.
From the sky above, Jax spotted something.
"Boss, a village up ahead."
"Warn them!"
"I am a Minotaur."
"Then terrorize them!"
"Yes, Boss."
From what it seemed, Troll-Head was being chased but indeed he was leading Jon to a place in his mind. Jon tried his best to bind Troll-Head in place but the latter proved to be a tough nut to crack.
This was indeed a troublesome fight especially when innocents are about to get dragged in the battle. Summoning Atronachs and Daedra proved to be useless as Troll-Head ripped through them like nothing.
A few seconds later, a village appeared down the valley. It was a large settlement with a temple and a large oasis, as Jax was flying above it, they tried to fight him rather than running.
"Dammit. Mirren, Miranda. Teleport over there and lead the people away, they will trust you." He may have spoken to nothingness but he was sure that the two heard him.
It was a minute later when Troll-Head ran into the town. Thanks to the Altmer twins, the villagers were already running towards the oasis.
Jon felt a bit relieved and released one powerful spell after the other. Troll-Head didn't stop and also matched Jon's power with his magic.
But soon after, Troll-Heads true aim was revealed. He was heading towards the village's temples or rather… its cemetery.
Once he stepped near the holy ground, he stopped and turned to Jon.
"Awaken!"
For the first time, Troll-Head spoke.
Regardless of his annoying hoarse voice, he just said awaken but cast no spells. Rather, the Troll Skull Helm he was wearing shone brightly.
And the land beneath him moved, and so did the dead turning into undead.
"No! The honored ancestors! The heroes!" An elderly Khajiit came out from the temple shouting and screaming.
"Hurry up and hide, old man." Jon shouted.
"No! You've got to stop him! The Ancestors!"
"I know dammit!"
Troll-Head's power soared up dramatically as he had undead around him. Rather than keeping them with energy, he was drawing energy from them.
But this was completely wrong! He was alive but only Liches can do such a thing. Only the undead can survive on another undead but this was also a very rare thing to see. The most common example was the Draugrs and the Dragon Priests in Skyrim, those ancient priests use their follower draugrs entombed with them to supply energy but… this Troll-Head was…
Jon became utterly confused.
It was the same thing as a Dragon Priest but the skill is mostly that of a Lich.
"Wait! The Troll Skull! It can't be…"
Jon instantly realized something but the situation changed all of a sudden.
"Hooman, we are here."
"Massstaaar!"
Nefertiti and Wrath appeared in an instant.
Seeing a large Senche-like cat and a Bone Colossus appearing, both the elderly Khajiit and Troll-head were taken aback for a second.
"Nefertiti, take the man away. Wrath, do your thing."
Nefertiti turned into a blur and took the old Khajiit away while Jax landed behind Troll-Head and the Altmer twin emerged from both sides.
Wrath took a step forward and…
*HOWL!*
Wrath screamed [Howl of Death] unleashing its effect at the dead around Troll-Head.
Troll-Head had a strange feeling as his control over the undead was interrupted right away.
The Dead that he raised just now were under Wrath's control. They moved to the places they were risen from and collapsed into dust.
"So, not only are you a Labourer but a member of the Worm Cult. This Troll Skull Helm, I know what it is. If my guess is correct, the last time it appeared was in Cyrodiil 200 years ago but it was later sealed by the Mages Guild somewhere to the South. I assume it was in Black Marsh and you were sent to recover it as a part of your Labours." Jon spoke.
"..." Troll-Head didn't reply.
"I guess I am correct then. Of all things, the [Bloodworm Helm]!"
To those words, Troll-Head was no longer calm. His spear was thrust towards Jon and his orb lit up with Magic trying to overtake Wrath.
"Idiot. Wrath is a part of me!" Jon deflected Troll-Head's attack and kicked him away.
The two engaged in another fast based combat but this time, things were going by Jon's terms.
Jax harassed Troll-Head from above, Miranda took every opportunity to launch an arrow towards his eyes. Mirren would attack from any random place then return to hiding, Wrath aimed his hand forwards and fired bone segments from his fingers with the power to knock down stone walls.
Troll-Head retreated towards the oasis while trying to minimize his injuries as much as he could. Nefertiti rushed towards the villagers who were fleeing the town and carried anyone left behind.
"We've arrived." Finally, Zara and Isha came racing on their horses.
Zara jumped off her horse and put both her palms on the ground. The sand under Troll-Head moved and his feet were trapped then more sand came up and wrapped the man.
"This… Alteration… Dayum!" Jon with strange eyes at Zara who just showed up and ended the situation.
The situation was wrapped up just like that. Well, if a beautiful girl came at the end when everyone is tired and took the credit… it is still more acceptable than a dude.
"Thanks for the assist." Jon said.
"You welcome but hurry, break the curse." Zara was more concerned about the curse than glory.
Isha walked towards Troll-Head with her spear up. The man was entombed standing but his Spear and Orb were still visible.
Once the Orb is broken…
"Wha…"
Yet all of a sudden, Isha froze.
Everyone looked towards her, Mirren and Jon sped up to her but they were the first to hear what followed.
"Impossible! How do you have that?" She said with eyes fixed on the spear in the hand of Troll-Head.
"Answer me!" She then shouted.
"Wait! Isha, he is not the talkative type…" Jon said so but soon he was baffled.
"Sis…ter." Troll-Head said.
As if everything stopped functioning, Jon and Mirren paused with their heads rebooting all of a sudden.
"... Zain?" Isha couldn't believe what she just heard.
The voice may be hoarse but the accent and the tone belonged to that man… to Zain.
"I see… you do not… have the spear." He said.
Hearing those words, Isha and the rest were baffled but the only one whose head was functioning at high speed was Jon. He noticed a small tension in Zain's thumb in the hand holding the spear.
"Shit!"
Jon moved in an instant pulling Isha from the nape of her clothes while waving the [Ebony Blade] by the other hand towards the Orb.
It all happened in a second. Zain stabbed towards Isha's heart, she was pulled back, Jon counter attacked towards the Orb and to clashes sounded.
*Crack* *Clink*
One is the [Ebony Blade] breaking the Orb and the other is the Spear grazing Jon through a gap under the [Ebony Mail].
The spear was pulled back with a millimeter worth of blood on its tip and the blade broke the orb to the half. The sand binding around Zain was broken and Isha was thrown to Mirren.
"Wait! Stop it!" Jon shouted to Zain who was retreating as fast as he could.
The Orb in Zain's hand was growing so fast, it probably was in the middle of casting some spell while the Magicka was interrupted causing a deviation to happen.
If more Magicka was supplied, a Magicka explosion will happen and it won't look good.
Still, Zain seemed to be aware.
His target was self-destruction… no, he was throwing the Orb towards Jon.
"Son of a…"
Jon warped the Orb by his Magicka and jumped in the middle of the Oasis.
The orb heat rose up and the glow intensified. Jon opened his eyes underwater and tried to contain it but to no avail.
The blast was imminent.
But what happened next was something more absurd.
Magicka tends to attract other Magicka and nearest items of Dense Magicka around Jon were the [Eye of the Moon Beast] crystal flasks in the belt around his waist and there was a bunch of them.
The rose up near Jon started absorbing Magicka from both Jon's Soul and the Orb. His Astral Energy was impacted by the sudden drain and he was not understanding which turn it would take.
This was a Magicka Anomaly, something Chaotic and uncharted.
Suddenly and without introductions, it went out of control.
"Fuck!" *underwater*
*KABOOM*
~~~~~~~~~~
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