A bright light covered the sky. The wild animals ran away at the sudden flash that scared them. Some of the creatures watched from afar. Feeling safe yet curious about the light. One of them woke up, not pleased by the light that stopped his slumber. 

The giant creature as tall as the trees around him, left his cozy cave. The light in the sky vanished but the ones from the festival remained. The Angry beast thought that the people at the festival were the ones who prevented him from sleeping. 

With his bare hands, he ripped the tree out of the ground and held it like a club. For preventing his slumber, he will terrorize the people who did it without any mercy. Because that’s how simply-minded trolls are.

“Sien! Sien! Where are you!” Sam and Celine shouted, hoping to get an answer from the boy.

“The light pointed in this direction so he should be somewhere close. Right?” The man asked, trying to understand how the spell worked.

Sam heard sobs coming from above. He saw his young student on the tree, curled up to comfort himself in a closed space with the only safe words from his past memories. Especially the memories of his kind father and the mother who always knew what to say to make him feel better. He missed those things and he missed his home. The place that treated him well.

“Sien! Are you alright?” Asked Sam.

“No! I’m not alright! This village is not alright! How can they celebrate something so awful?! Layers! They are all layers!” Sien shouted, resenting the people of Skalern village. Whipping away his tears.

“I know it’s not right. I’m not saying you should forgive them. But you must understand that they don’t know the truth. Almost the whole nation doesn’t know the truth. They believe what the authorities told them. It is all a lie to cover the reality. Hate them all you want but at least remember that they don’t know the truth.” 

“That’s exactly why I hate them! Because they don’t know the truth!” Sien shouted even louder, expressing his hate toward the people. Swinging his arms around he lost balance and fell off the tree.

Using her magic, Celine slowed the fall and made Sien drop right in front of her, he grabbed his shoulder and comforted him “But we know the truth. And in time more and more people will find out. One day you will walk past this village and they will apologize to you for not seeing the truth.” Celine said with a calm and comforting voice. She sounded almost like his mother. He suddenly hugged her and the elf returned the gesture.

“Let’s go to the inn and get some rest. We’ll leave this place as soon as we can.” Sam gave a hand to Sien. He grabbed it and followed the man right behind him. Sam noticed that he was walking very slowly so he carried the boy on his back toward the village.

The ground was shaking almost like an earthquake had happened. It surprised the walking group. Celine took out a wand fearing that some monster was about to attack them.

“Was that a monster or earthquake?!” Sam shouted, looking out for the potential danger.

“What’s happening?” Asked Sien as he woke up from his nap.

Screams came from the festival ground and the shaking of the ground appeared every few seconds. The village was attacked by a troll. He used the tree as his club to attack and destroy. People ran away in fear. Because of the whole turmoil, many people ran into each other.

With one swing the troll destroyed the stall, sending ruble flying into the people. Skalern was a small village and didn’t have any guards. The villagers were the only ones who could do something about it. 

“Help! Please help me!” A woman shouted, trying to get herself free from the rubble. Her screams for help caught the attention of the troll. 

Before the troll could attack the woman a boy wearing leather armor with a rusty sword jumped in between them. “I won’t let you hurt anyone!” The boy shouted with his sword pointed at the monster.

The troll was about to hit the boy with a tree but it turned into sparks and ashes in a second after being set on fire. The boy was stunned by the attack and the sudden appearance of the flame. A gust of wind pushed him and the woman under the rubble away from the monster.

“Heroic stand. But you’re not strong enough to face this.” Celine helped the woman stand back up as the boy watched her, he was speechless.

“Can you take out that monster alone?” Sam asked, horrified by the monster’s size.

“Unfortunately. No. I stand no chance against it. That’s a troll. Resistant to magic. A sword will do more damage than I.” Explained Celine.

“Then I have to swallow my fear…” Sam unsheathed his sword and prepared his stand for a fight.

“All I can do is assist you, like with the ghouls.” 

“It’s better than nothing.”

Sam dashed forward not knowing how to handle the giant opponent. The troll smashed the ground with his foot, trying to squash the man. He was down on the ground behind the troll.

“Thanks for the help, Celine!” He shouted as he stood up, attacking the monster’s tendon. He was able to pierce its skin but it was too shallow. It stinged the monster and annoyed him. He jumped in place to scare off the swordsman and to keep him away from his injured leg.

Celine threw a spell at him that exploded on his face, creating a cloud of dust that blocked his vision. Another gust of wind pushed Sam into the air high enough for him to be able to stab the troll in the back. The sword pierced into its flesh. The monster shook his back to get the swordsman away from him. Sam fell off the troll’s back, losing his sword that was stuck in the monster’s back.

“I lost my sword!” Sam shouted, running away from the troll that had eyes on him and him only at the moment. The pain was much worse for him than the lack of sleep. 

***

Before they went to the festival ground to save the people they left Sien behind the tree since he was tired and not in the mood to do anything. He observed the troll destroying the festival. “You deserve that… You all…” He thought as he watched the destruction unfolded by the monster. 

His mind changed as he watched the boy he dueled with, stand against the giant. He tried reaching his hand toward Peter as if he was right beside him, lending a helping hand. “They don’t deserve it! I was wrong!” A relieved smile appeared on his face as he watched Sam and Celine save the boy and fight against the troll.

“I can’t just stand here… Those people are innocent after all… I need to help them!” Sien gathered all his strength to stand up. He thought he was ready to fight but he realized how big that monster is. “I don’t stand a chance… But I need to do something.”

Sam wasn’t able to get his sword back. For the time being the elven mage created a sword of ice for him. It broke very often but she repaired it immediately. Sien ran up to her.

“Better run away boy. You don’t want to fight it.” Said Celine.

“I know. But I have a plan. The light probably annoyed the monster. Could you repeat that spell once I give you a signal?”

“I can try.”

“Good enough!” Shouted Sien as he ran away to the closest stall. Using a wind rune he put out all the sources of light in the area. Making the place darker. 

Sam was on the defensive, jumping away from the troll. The monster got annoyed by his movement and picked up one of the stalls and threw it toward him. Sam was able to avoid it but there were people not that far behind him. The stall would hit them if not for Sien. He jumped in front of them and drew an even bigger rune of wind. It was strong enough to slow down the flying rubble.

“Thank you!” Said the man as he grabbed his children and ran away.

Sam was still running and avoiding the troll’s attacks. “I can’t get close to him! Try to slow him down!” 

“I’ll try.” The elf answered by changing the ground under the troll into sand. His legs sunk into the ground but with one punch of his fist, he dispersed the sand. Sam saw an opportunity while the monster’s hand was close to the ground. He slashed the troll’s wrist. It was a shallow wound but brought them a little bit closer to defeating the monster. 

Sam’s ice sword shattered after hitting the monster again. The troll was able to strike Sam with his arm. It wasn’t a solid hit but it was enough to push the swordsman far away. He hit the tree with the back of his head and fainted. The troll saw that as an opportunity to kill him and walked toward him.