1,895 Years, 160 Days
“I did that, I can’t believe I did that, how could I just leave like that?!”
“Nightshade, calm down, you did the smart thing.”
“The smart thing? THE SMART THING?! I turned my back on my only friend and just left him to be tormented more by his father, how could I do such a thing?!”
“Nightshade, if you hadn’t, you’d be stuck there again, you don’t want that do you, there was nothing you could do for him anyway.”
“But I……but he…..I…..*sigh* your right Bright Horn, but I just left him, and he was my friend, how am I ever going to make it up to him?”
“The best thing you can do now, is wait until your stronger, when you can actually fight. Your still young Nightshade, you have a long way to go before you can do anything against those trolls.”
“Don’t worry Og, I’ll come back for you someday.”
*****
That day still haunts me, ever since I first turned my back on my one true friend. But Bright Horn was right, there was nothing I could do for Og, I had to leave him, but that didn’t make it any easier. For fifteen years I was haunted by that decision I made, today was the day I was going to do what I could for him, there’s no telling what I would find should I go back to the troll village and try to save Og, if he even needed saving anymore, but I had to at least see him. Over the next fifteen years, I trained and worked hard on my abilities, both physical and magical, I managed to build up some muscle and I had grown in height, of course. I managed to discover other abilities as a shadow walker, I soon discovered how to teleport through the shadows.
I could teleport with my magic as well, but I figured that was for more of a defensive thing to avoid attacks and such. I could produce shields with both abilities as well. Bright Horn was an excellent magic teacher, and he did his best to help me discover my shadow walker magic as well. I felt I was now ready to take on those trolls and try to save my friend. “This is it, no turning back this time, I’m not leaving that village till I find Og and save him.” I said to myself.
“You’re sure about this now? No talking you out of it?” Bright Horn asked me.
I looked to him with determination in my eyes. “It’s been fifteen years now since I abandoned him, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my whole life, I’m going to save him.”
“All right then, let’s go.” Bright Horn followed behind, he was just coming along to make sure those ghost wolves kept at bay, I did manage to fight them off once before as part of my training, but still, they were relentless. I was actually able to buck them and toss them around like they were solid, but they still held a ghostly appearance to them.
We left my village and made our way through the forest. After a while of walking, I heard a low growl coming from a nearby bush, I knew right away what it was. “Looks like they’re back.” I said to Bright Horn. A spirit wolf jumped out from behind the bush the growl came from and it barked and growled at us. Soon, more came out and had us surrounded.
“Looks like they set up an ambush for us, you want I should drive them away?” Bright Horn asked.
“No, this will be good practice, you just watch yourself, I’ll handle the ones that come after me.” I said with a smile, I knew I could handle them, and it was fun. Bright Horn gave me a nod, I saw him as he galloped off towards one group of the spirit wolves and jumped over them with ease, they kept their eyes on him as he lept over them and ran off, the ones Bright Horn jumped over gave chase and left me to deal with the ones that stayed. I looked over the remaining spirit wolves and saw there was atleast ten of them, easy.
“All right you ghostly hounds, round four, let’s see if you learned any new tricks.” One of them jumped at me from behind, I saw it coming and bucked out my hind legs, making contact with its chest. It was sent flying backwards and crashed into two of its pack mates. Another in front of me jumped at me and I smirked, I simply put up a black magic shield and the wolf smacked into it. I kept my smirk as I looked at the wolf plastered on my shield. “I learned a few new tricks, guess you haven’t.” The wolf slid down to the ground and lay on its belly, it got back up and shook its head, then growled at me.
It then let out a loud bark and all the wolves got in a stance that told me they were all going to try and pounce on me. Like that would work. They all leapt forward towards me as I kept up my smirk. I produced a shadow beneath me and made five tentacles rise up around me, I swirled them one way, then quickly spun and extended them out, smacking every wolf that jumped at me away. They were sent flying all over the place, I took notice that two of them slammed into a tree and disappeared into it. The other wolves landed hard on the ground and got back up, I then noticed something strange occur.
The trees that the wolves slammed into seemed to start growing bulges, they formed into a wolf head, then legs emerged, then a body, and the whole thing fell from the tree, free from it. The wooden wolf forms lay on the ground motionless, the other wolves looked on in curiosity as well. The forms moved, eyes opened, revealing a green glow. The two looked at themselves in confusion. They had wooden bodies and moss and leaves for eyebrows and a tail. The two new wooden wolves then looked at each other, then the other wolves. I didn’t like the looks of this.
One of the spirit wolves gave a confused look to one of the wooden wolves, then gave a nod to the head towards me. One of the new wood wolves then looked to me and snarled. It charged at me and jumped, I easily nocked it back with a shadow tentacle, causing it to shatter to pieces. The other wolves seemed worried, then the pieces began to glow green and float up, then they came back together and reformed the wooden wolf. It gave its body a few test motions and appeared unharmed.
I swear I saw a smirk appear on some of the wolves muzzles, the spirit wolves looked to each other, nodded, then started jumping at the trees, a moment later, they all emerged from them with wooden bodies, now I was surrounded by wooden wolves. “Ok, so now you have learned a new trick. Doesn’t matter, you’re still going down.” I declared. The wolves surrounded me again, I got in a low to the ground stance, ready for anything.
Two of them charged forward and I blasted them with magic bolts from my horns, they fell to pieces. Another lunged at me from the side, I quickly turned my hind hooves to it and bucked it, sending it flying backwards and causing it to crash into a tree, it shattered like the other two. By this time, the two I blasted had reformed and were glaring at me. as I was fixated on the two in surprise, another from my left jumped at me and managed to land on my back. “GAH!” I cried out in pain as it sunk it’s wooden teeth into my right shoulder. I fell down to the ground with the beast on me, I did my best to shake it off and used a teleport spell, I managed to teleporty myself out from under the wolf and the beast fell to the ground, I teleported myself out of the circle of the wolves.
They all turned to face me, I was ready to try and fight them off, but I was now wounded. I summoned my shadow tentacles around me and had them ready to fight them off. They all gathered together, eyeing me carefully. They all charged forth and I let loose with my tentacles. I shot them forward and formed them into a kind of drill as I swirled them around and shooting branches of the tentacles in all directions. I managed to pierce them all and flung them back. It wasn’t easy, that much effort was draining on me, especially with my wound. The wolves just reformed themselves and picked themselves back up.
Before they had wooden bodies, I was able to at least hurt them and that was enough to drive them away, but now, with these wooden bodies, it was like they didn’t feel pain at all. How could I drive them back if they didn’t feel pain now. I had recalled my tentacles and had them around me. I took a step back in fear, the wolves took a step forward, mimicking my movement, at this rate, there was no way I could hope to fight them off. Just then, from the back of the pack, there was an explosion of fire. I saw smoke rise up from the back of the pack and they all turned around to see what happened.
I tried to look over them and I saw Bright Horn with his horns glowing. I took the wolves confusion as an opportunity to make my way over to Bright Horn, I galloped to the pack and jumped over, using my wings to soar over them and get to Bright.
“Bright Horn, thank the stars you’re here.” I said as I came up next to him.
He looked at me and saw my wound. “Nightshade, are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine, it’s just a bite wound.”
“What are these things, what happened to the spirit wolves?”
“Those ARE the spirit wolves, I knocked two into a tree and they disappeared, only to re-emerg in those wooden bodies, then the rest of them followed up and got wooden bodies of their own.” I looked over to the pack and saw a pile of ash in front of one of one of the wolves. “Bright Horn, what did you do?”
“Fire spell, too advanced for you right now, I shot off a spout of fire and turned one of them to ash.” I saw as the other wolves looked at the ash pile expectantly, I assumed they were waiting for their friend to reform, but it didn’t happen.
“Guess the only way to stop them now is with fire.” I said to Bright.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
I managed to shatter them to pieces, but they just reform and come at me again, it seems like they don’t even feel pain anymore.”
“All right then, stand back Nightshade.” Bright Horn stepped forward, his antlers lit up with an orange glow. Streams of flame shot forth from his horns at the wolves, he managed to incinerate a few before the rest of the wolves got the idea that they wouldn’t last against fire, so they all turned tail and ran off. Once all the wolves were gone, Bright Horn then turned to me. “Nightshade, are you sure your all right, that bite looks serious.”
I brought up my left hoof to the wound. “I’ll be fine, it’s nothing.”
Bright Horn closed his eyes and shook his head. “Nightshade, you don’t have to be brave, here, let me help you with that.” He then came up to my side, lowered his head, and his antlers lit up again. I felt a warm soothing sensation envelope my wounded shoulder. The pain I felt slowly started to fade, I saw as the wound started to close up and heal. Once it was gone, Bright Horn lifted his head again and looked down at me. “There you go, better?”
“How did you-“ He cut me off.
“Healing spell, another advanced spell, too advanced for you as well for now.
“Thanks Bright Horn, now let’s get going, I have a friend to save.”
“Hold on there Nightshade, I don’t think we should, not after what just happened.”
“What, why not, I can handle those trolls.”
“I’m not saying you can’t, I’m saying that fight wore you out, you need rest so you will be at full strength in case you do need to fight. Come on, let’s head back.”
“*sigh* fine, but I am not waiting more than two days to save Og.” I was not happy about this, but Bright Horn was right again, as usual. I was tired now, and in no condition to fight. We headed back to my village to rest for the day.
*****
The next day came and me and Bright set off once again for the troll village, it was high time I did what I could to set things right between me and Og, I was ready to take on anything, even those wolves in their wooden bodies.
After a long while of walking, we arrived at the troll village and, just like last time, there were two troll guards in front of the gate, me and Bright Horn stayed hidden behind some bushes for now. “All right Nightshade, this is it, I can go in there with you and help if you want?”
“Thanks Bright, but I need to do this on my own, I got Og into the mess he was in, and I have to get him out, but thanks for the offer anyway.” I kept my eyes on the guards as I spoke. I emerged from the bushes and walked right up to the troll guards.
They looked down at me and pointed their spears at me. “HALT, who goes there?” One of them asked. I decided to see if I could get in the easy way.
“My name is Nightshade, I am here to see the chief of your village, I wish to speak with him.”
The two trolls eyed me carefully. “What business do you have with our chief?” the other guard asked.
“I wish to see him about his son, will you let me pass, or do I have to force my way in?”
The two trolls looked at each other, then burst out laughing. Obviously, they thought I didn’t stand a chance against them, I was much bigger now then how I was fifteen years ago, but they still towered over me. I glared at them. Then the guard on the left gained a shocked look, like he just remembered something important. He then turned to his fellow guard. “HEY, hold on a minute.” The other guard stopped laughing and looked to his partner.
“What?” He asked. The first guard then whispered into his ear. I couldn’t hear what they said, I just looked on curiously as they spoke in whispers. Once they were done, the second guard gave a nod. The second guard then spoke to me. “Come with me, the chief will want to see you.” I figured that meant the chief must still remember me and was expecting me to come back someday for Og.
The first guard gave a signal and the gate to the village opened up. The second guard then started to walk in and I followed. The village hadn’t changed much from what I saw, the same buildings and tents still stood where they were. I saw a few troll kids running around as well, playing. Something about this place seemed different, not structurally, but……..I don’t know, it just seemed……brighter.
All the trolls seemed to be a little happier than the last time I was here. It was strange to see it like this. After a while, the troll guard led me to the center of the village where the chief was. I heard some laughing as I approached. The guard that led me spoke. “Chief, you have a visitor.” The laughter died down and I heard another voice from in front of the guard, he was blocking my view at the time so I couldn’t see who was talking.
“Really, who?” That voice, that wasn’t chief Grog, I don’t know why, but it sounded familiar. The troll guard finally stepped to the side so I could see who was sitting where the chief sat. A large, hefty troll sat in the chief’s chair, he looked like a young adult troll, he was muscular but bulky looking, there were other’s around him, with smiles. The troll sitting in the chief’s chair looked down at me and seemed surprised. “Nightshade, is that you? I don’t believe it.”
I looked at the troll carefully, this was definitely not Grog, I don’t know who it was, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but get a sense of familiarity from him. “Do I….know you?” I asked.
He stood up from the chair and stepped down to meet me. “ guess you wouldn’t recognize me since it’s been fifteen years since we last saw one another…….after you left me.” he said that last one a bit sourly.
My eyes went wide as I soon realized who it was. “Og…..is that you? You….you’re so big.”
“I grew up, trolls don’t stay little kids forever you know.” He said sourly again.
I grew a smile upon seeing my friend alive and well. “OG, it is you, look at you, you’re so big, and looks like you put on quite a bit of muscle too.”
“Well, I have to be in shape if I’m the chief of this place, can’t let some other troll try and take away my leadership.”
“Chief, you’re the chief? But what about your dad, what happened to him, how did you get to be chief?”
“Simple, when I was able, I challenged him for right of leadership and beat him in a fight.”
I then remembered why I came here in the first place. I lowered my ears and head in sadness, my voice soft as I spoke. “Og, I am SO sorry for leaving you like I did, I don’t know why I did that, I never should have left you like I did, can you ever forgive me?” I looked back up to him, keeping my head low and my ears flat.
Og folded his arms in front of him and glared at me. “Nightshade, do you have any idea what I went through after you left me? My father beat me relentlessly every day, tortured me, humiliated me, all to get a point across that he was not to be turned on. I was an example for those that thought to go against him. Before he began the beatings after you left, he came up to me and whispered something that stung me to my soul. ‘You are not my son’. Those words haunted me every day that he beat me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Og, I’m so sorry, I never should have left.”
“No….you shouldn’t have……..BUT YOU DID, YOU LEFT ME THERE TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF MY CRUEL RELENTLESS EVIL FATHER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME NIGHTSHADE, I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!” He screamed at me.
I recoiled at his shouting. “Og, I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have left you but I did, and that decision haunted me every day, but there was nothing I could do.”
“YOU COULD HAVE STAYED, YOU COULD HAVE STAYED HERE SO MY FATHERE WOULDN’T TORTURE ME LIKE HE DID!” He yelled again, causing me to cringe more.
“Og…….please, I didn’t mean to.”
“But you did, you left me and I suffered for it. You say your decision haunted you every day since you made it, well I suffered physically and mentally because of YOUR decision. You left me behind, you fled when I needed you most. As far as I’m concerned, our friendship ended the day you flew off and left me behind. From now on, we are NOT friends, I never want to see you again Nightshade, you and I are enemies now, if I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to waste you. Do I make myself clear?” Og snarled out.
At this point, tears were forming in my eyes. “Og, please, don’t do this, I’m sorry I left you, I really am but-“
He cut me off. “Sorry doesn’t change the past, sorry doesn’t undo all the physical and mental anguish I went through, now get out of here……NOW!” He said as he pointed a finger to the village gate.
I couldn’t take it, I glared at him. “Fine, if that’s how it is, then that’s how it’s going to be, we are no longer friends, good bye Og.” I turned and stormed off with tears in my eyes, the trolls just watched me walk by.
I made my way through the gate and it closed behind me. I made my way back to Bright Horn with tears and an angry look. Bright Horn saw me and spoke. “Nightshade, what happened, where’s Og?”
“Just go away Bright Horn, I don’t need you anymore.” I said to him as I continued to walk, keeping my eyes forward.
Bright Horn trotted along next to me. “Nightshade, what happened in there, is Og ok?”
I stopped in my tracks, I looked up at Bright and glared at him. “Og is not my friend anymore, I don’t need friends, and I don’t need you, so GET LOST AND LEAVE ME ALONE, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” I yelled at Bright Horn, I then turned and continued on my way. It would be a long time before I saw Bright horn again, even longer for my heart to heal from the pain I just went through that helped me decide once and for all that I didn’t need friends. I finally experienced the pain I needed to to shut my heart away for good, at least I thought it would be for good, but the key that would unlock it again wouldn’t come for another 1,895 years.