Chapter Text
Claire ran as fast as her small legs could carry her, sweat dripped down her face and palms as she clutched the yellow glowing ring. She didn't stop running, not even when the calls of her parents and the shady people couldn't be heard anymore. She had to get away, she had to find away to escape them, she had to-
She fell down into a puddle of mud, having Tripped over a root. Dropping the ring into the Dirty puddle. she frantically searched for it, ignoring the water pooling into her rain boots. She found the ring again, pulling her feet out of her boots before running again, mud now clinging to her. She was tired, not physically, but tired of how she was treated, how she was disregarded, how she was never enough, how no one cared if someone hurt her.
Eventually she stopped, she had to get her breath back. Her lungs burned as she breathed, and the moist air of the Indian jungle didn't help. She tried to get as much mud off of her body and clothes. She was slightly sobbing, she just wanted to get away. She looked down at the ring, having removed Most of the mud that had been on her body. This ring was important somehow she had heard the shady… creatures Talk about it. She knew Calling them human was wrong, they looked like humans on the outside, but they could change. At first they tried to hide it, but eventually they grew to not care, Just like her parents didn't. She hadn't been allowed to question them, disobeyed their orders, or say anything to anyone, it was suffocating.
She was quickly moving again, if she dawdled too much she would risk them catching her, she didn't want to know what punishment they would have for her. She looked around at the jungle, it was dark, she only had the moonlight to guide her. Even the stars Weren't there to help, not a single one dotted the black sky. She was light on her feet making sure to be as quiet as possible. The last thing she wanted was a wild animal hunting her down, but the forest was even quieter than her. It was weird, back at the house where she and her parents were staying. You could hear animals all day and night, but the further she got into the jungle the quieter it got, what scared the animals? She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the building in front of her before she walked into it. She let out a pained groan as she fell backwards onto her butt.
“Woah…”
Claire marveled at the large building, the temple. She looked down at the ring again, she remembered how the shady creatures had talked about a temple that was connected to The ring.
“Ay… sha… fun?” She tried to recall the temple's name, with little to no success. She picked herself off the ground, and walked around it, it was surprisingly small for a temple, then again the creatures had said that it was hidden for a reason. She quickly Found the entrance and headed inside. She found a room with chains leading down to the center of the room, where a pit of debris lay. Claire swore she saw a hand sticking out from the debris, but she shrugged it off as her mind Playing tricks on her.
She looked around the room, and the only thing standing out ,besides the rock pile in the middle of the room, was a lever. She tiptoes over to it, debating for a second if It was a good idea to pull it. She looked down at the ring still clutched in her small dirty hands. She took in a breath and reached up to pull the lever down, she was actually quite surprised when it actually did something as the once tight chains loosened, and the pile of rocks moved. Claire took a step Back bumping into the wall as a tall shadowy figure arose from the rubble. It ripped the thick metal chains off of its body with an Unnatural ease. Before it turned its head towards Claire, it's both of its eyes stalking her, with glowing yellow irises.
“A fleshbag whelp carries my ring?”
His voice was somehow ancient but not old, like he had slept for millenia without aging. The creature picked up something laying among the rubble before walking closer to Claire, the moonlight finally hitting his form. He was a tall creature, almost Egyptian mummy looking, with his horns cowning his face, the sharp features, and the white stony skin, with the black accents. Cold jewelry hung from his chin, attached To his horns, and his wrist, and purple gemstones glowed from within his chest. He was similar to the creatures she had seen before, but still this thing was on a whole nother level.
“Give me the ring, whelp.” He reached his hand out, his voice was oddly gentle but firm. She was about to give him the ring but her mind stopped her.
“Why should I?” She asked, clutching the ring to her chest. The creature frowned, crouching down to her level.
“Because it's mine.” He snarled, though he didn't take it from her… why didn't he take it? Claire looked the creature up and down, he looked really cool, if not a little scary.
“What are you?” She asked him. He looked at her for a moment before answering.
“I am Angor Rot, I am a troll.” He growled. “Now give me the ring.”
“Nah, my names Claire, Claire Nunez!” She smiled while still holding the ring in her hands. The troll, Angor Rot, looked like he was about to strangle the girl, but something was holding him back. “Why were you chained up?” She looked up at the creature.
“None of your business, whelp.” He sounded frustrated.
“If the ring is that important, why don't you take it?” She asked, trying to reach out and touch one of the gems in his chest with her free hand. He grabbed her hand and gently moved it back towards her.
“It… contains my soul, and it's fragile, you don't want me to lose my soul, do you?” He tried his best to sound more friendly. But Claire wasn't born yesterday, she was actually born 7 years ago… which is a lot longer.
“Yeah… but you look like you would stab me if I gave it to you.” she looked at the knife attached to the side of his loincloth. “Wait, is it yellow because your soul is inside it.” Claire pointed at his yellow eyes, which glowed the same hue.
“I…” he looked at her not expecting her regrettably accurate perception of Him, but then followed by such an unimportant question. “I don't know? I didn't make it.” He was sighing, He just wanted his ring back.
“Then who did?” she asked, he was about to answer but just the thought of saying HER name left a sour taste in his mouth. He averted his gaze from the kid, feeling embarrassed that he couldn't even bring himself to utter the word.
“It's alright if you can't say it.” Claire said, feeling bad for the troll In front of Her.
She thought about giving him the ring, she felt bad for keeping something away from him, something he desperately wanted. She was prematurely kicked out of her own thoughts when she heard someone call her name. She whipped her head towards the temple's entrance, but they weren't in her line of sight yet.
“M-mother…” she whimpered, the troll looked out the entrance with her, but his eyes snapped back when he felt her start to shake. This wasn't a fear of being grounded, or some other parental punishment, no this was the fear of being hurt.
“My p-parents got the ring from creatures with the a-ability to change i-into humans” Claire stammered not taking her eyes off the temple entrance. “I… I stole it because I was tired of being forgotten or ignored.” She sobbed her small hand grabbing onto the troll. “I-i want to leave them… and never come back.” She looked up at the troll, who had been looking back at her the entire time, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Clairs parents emerged from the forest, their angry shouting being followed by changelings. Angor picked up the child and gave them a sinister smile as he unfolded his staff and disappeared into a portal leaving the group stunned.
The two emerged on the other side, to a much cooler climate. Clair was still sobbing, holding tight onto Angor’s chest. “Calm down little one, we are far away from them now.” He cooed, he felt bad for the kid, she had clearly been hurt. She looked around, drying her eyes.
“… where are we?” She asked, her voice was meek.
“Near a place called trollmarket.” He said adjusting his grip on the child, to make sure she didn't fall. “Now, may I have my ring?” He smiled at the girl, a genuine smile. She carefully placed the ring in his hand, and he slipped it on his finger, he could figure out how to get his soul back from it later. It was here where he was supposed to either just leave the child, or kill her… or well what the assassin in him was supposed to do. But he had once been a hero, and with at least most of his soul back, there was no point acting like the assassin. He moved through the forest, not putting the child down, she was small, cold, and without footwear that protected their fragile feet.
“Where are we going?” She asked, leaning against his chest.
“We are looking for a cave, a place to stay.” He hummed, he had never in his life thought that he would be taking care of a human whelp, he hadn't ever thought about taking care of any whelp, but the guilt would haunt him forever if he didnt help the child.
“Caves cool.” She yawned, poking the crystals embedded in him. He hummed agreeing with her.
It didn't take long to find a larger cavern, nicely hidden in shrubbery as well. He placed Claire down in the driest spot he could find.
“You should get some rest, tomorrow we will find all the things we need to make a den.” She gave him a nod and quickly dozed off, shivering in her sleep. He felt bad, he currently doesn't have anything to help with the cold, but he would fix that as soon as possible, but first he had to make sure that no unwelcome quest could find this place.
“Been awhile since i have made a maze.” He grunted going over to some bushes that were hiding a rock, and pulled his knife out and started to scribble a symbol down. The more he made the less the likelihood of someone stumbling on the cave was. And he had to make sure that no one would, he apparently now had a human whelp to take care of.