The roar that ripped through the quiet night was not one of hunting, but of pure, monstrous rage. The village was no longer a home, but an accidental arena for a battle of titans.
The brawl began when the massive Geophage Troll slammed its granite fist into the flank of the Primeval Bile Troll. The impact was deafening, the sound of stone crushing bone, and the Bile Troll staggered, its thick hide rippling. A wave of Acidic Blood sprayed from the Geophage's knuckles where its fist had made contact, hissing as it ate away at the Geophage's own rocky skin. But the Geophage didn't flinch; its wound instantly began to calcify, forming a protective, dark crust of new stone as it lunged again.
Their chaotic wrestling quickly spilled into the main street. A small group of villagers, scrambling over debris, found their path blocked as the Bile Troll convulsed. It wasn't pain—it was an attack. It aimed its massive body at the fleeing people and sprayed a torrent of burning, caustic bile from its mouth and ruptured skin sacs. The villagers screamed as the fluid rained down, some collapsing as their clothes and skin dissolved, mere accidents in the Bile Troll's attempt to deter its stony adversary.
Meanwhile, the fight's periphery belonged to the silent horror. The Night-Husk Troll had no interest in a direct brawl. It was a phantom, stalking the shadows cast by the two brawling giants. A villager trying to crawl to safety was suddenly gone. The Night-Husk had used its Shadow-Stalk ability to phase from the deep shadow of the Geophage's leg to the small, dark space beneath an overturned cart, silencing the escapee before anyone saw it move. Its Fear Echo bled outward, amplifying the panic; villagers fleeing the bile and the stone were now paralyzed by a cold, irrational dread, making them easy, scattered targets.
The Geophage roared, tearing a thick, splintered beam from a collapsing structure and swinging it at the Bile Troll. The Bile Troll caught the blow, but the impact ruptured another line of sacs on its arm, and the resulting acid spray ate away at the stone beneath their feet, creating a smoking, sulfurous pit. They continued their brutal, uncompromising war, using the villagers' homes and lives as nothing more than soft, disposable clutter in their path to destroying each other.
In a dark chamber, recorded video of the trolls' brutal infighting and the subsequent destruction of the small rural town played, being shown to the less than enthusiastic room of princes.
Prince Jasper, however, couldn't care in the slightest. He was more consumed by what he had just heard. His power, which had formed a living ring around his man's servant's finger, he recalled his magic. He felt it move throughout the palace back towards his main body. He let his arm fall off the armrest as his power attached itself to his hand, before seeping into his skin.
Daniella choked a necromancer? Glowing green eyes? Jasper was a little annoyed that Hermes had been so basic in his interrogation. But it was enough with what he already knew about Daniella to understand what had happened. Either Daniella had been pretending that she couldn't use the God's gift in her chest to not draw attention to it, or she had only gained access to it now. Which would ask the question why.
Jasper was more leaning towards the latter. Considering that the pendant he had given her must have been destroyed. But Daniella was a cunning woman. He knew he could never rule anything out.
The glowing orbs disappeared as the lights came back on, flickering torches gaining life once more.
Prince Hector was deep in his thoughts about the trolls. His free hand rested on his armrest as he tried to think of the best way of dealing with these specific trolls. They weren't actually attacking the kingdoms; it was more so the kingdoms were in the crosshair of the trolls' civil war.
Princess Kayla felt like she would cry. She had just watched a horrific scene, and everyone had seemed so normal. Trolls had mutilated not only each other but the townspeople that got in their way. And when it wasn't a bloodbath of violence and cruelty, they were sexually unhinged. While the room was dark, she had shed quite a few tears that she had to quickly wipe away. She knew that anything she did would be judged and would reflect badly upon her new kingdom. She was now a crown princess, and she didn't feel quite prepared.
Originally, she had been so overjoyed to have been chosen so quickly. Not a moment on the marriage market and here she was, assumed to be queen, Crown Princess. But the realities of it were so different. It was scary to hear about these trolls, and she knew there was so much more that she didn't know, that her husband was slowly introducing to her. Even though she had watched the marriage market with the other kings and queens, she felt shocked. She'd known that it was a dangerous market, and princesses would die in a gruesome battle. But to see it unfold in front of her eyes was something completely different—to watch women that she had known her entire life be poisoned, drowned, and murdered in the most vicious ways. Then, to watch her friends all act as if nothing could happen, to put on this pretense of regal fragility after they had committed a massacre. She had been prepared to act to save her life on the marriage market, but she wasn't prepared to be a spectator to such brutality. Everything she knew was different. Even Daniella, her own sister, felt like a complete stranger, and she was one of the most deadly ones there. Kayla could only imagine what her sister would have done to her if they were on the marriage market together. Would she have been safe from her own sister's wrath?
"I say we do nothing! The trolls become quite united when they see us around. Leave them to their squabbles." Linden was the first to speak as he reviewed the various scenes on his own orb. Nothing he had seen seemed as if it was a threat to the overall kingdoms, just to the farmers and rural towns—nothing that truly mattered.
"I can send out my men. Word has not reached the town of the trolls' visit! We can make sure that no whispers make it back to the cities." Deacon said, leaning back in his chair, the picture of relaxation. The last thing he wanted to do was engage with the trolls. His kind wasn't adept at dealing with them; certain breeds were just a bit too tricky.
"Should we not help? Prince Miguel, are they not your people? Should you not help?" Kayla couldn't stand it anymore. How had no one thought that helping was even on the table of options?
Hector slipped his hand into that of his crown princess, squeezing her hand in a gentle but firm way, indicating that she should not question the other princes.
Miguel's hollow eyes stared at Kayla, but he didn't say a single word, just kept staring at her. The other princes chuckled ever so often, all giving her pitiful looks while shaking their heads at Hector. But again, none of them spoke to her.
"As long as we watch the situation, there's not much else to be done," Eric said, in a way that felt final.
The kings and queens, their fathers and mothers, had already left the room, leaving their sons to discuss what to do with the trolls invading their area. It was a minor issue that was exactly meant for princes.
Standing to his feet, Jasper was ready to leave the room. It felt like everything that needed to be said was said. Everyone was of one mind.
"Prince Jasper, I wanted to ask you how is my sister doing?"
Jasper looked her up and down—the unique prize of the marriage market. He had expected something more, something that was otherworldly. She seemed like any meek princess on the market. He even thought that meeting Kayla one on one she would seem like Daniella, but he was sorely mistaken. She did not have the same radiance as her sister.
He walked past her, leaving the chamber.
"Dearest, you cannot speak to the princes—" Hector told her gently for the second time.
"But I'm a crown princess. Why won't they answer me?" Kayla was frustrated. She felt invisible in all of these rooms, completely overlooked. Yet she saw the way that they all seemed to stand at attention when Daniella was nearby. Yet for some reason, none of them even took note of her. Kayla was used to everyone sucking up to her. She had a once-in-a-millennia gift.
"They are still on the marriage market. They cannot speak to you. And you are not allowed to speak to them. So stop trying. You have seen your sister. She is well!" With his stone-like fingers, he rubbed his princess's cheek gently. His gray marble skin a contrast to her own sun-kissed complexion. Hector was beginning to believe that he had taken Kayla off the marriage market far too soon. He had loved her for a long time, even overlooked some of her less than admirable qualities. But she, and her skin, needed to be far thicker. She was out of time.