The Troll Hunter

As Bennett Zabel stepped foot into the small city of Alfonor, he was once again met with its gloomy, quiet atmosphere.

“Noir, are there any nearby?” He muttered.

“…”

“Only one…”

From his shadow, a black radio began to form. It emitted a loud static noise. Then, after what sounded like raspy coughing, a voice could be heard coming from it.

“Bennett, is this reaching you?”

“Granny! You actually managed to get that hunk o' junk working, huh?” Bennett said, picking up the radio. The radio took a more solid, sleek appearance as it met his hands.

“You’re darn right I did! Took some heavy tinkering here and there, but using the tips you gave me from Noir, I was able to get the job done! But enough of that. Did you get what I asked for?”

“Well, I-”

Farther in the city, a scream rang out. It sounded like that of a young girl.

“I suppose you heard that too?”

“Yeah, I’ll discuss the details with you when I get back to the bookstore. See you later.”

The radio melted to a black ooze in Bennett’s hands, before vanishing away into his shadow. He adjusted his mask and raised his scarf over his chin, making sure his face was mostly hidden to keep an anonymous image. With quiet footsteps, Bennett followed to where the noise could be heard coming from. There was a lot of screaming and wailing, until, with a loud “thud”, it all went silent. As he peeked into a small alleyway, the source of the noise became evident. A tall, vicious troll standing over an unconscious girl.

It all began fifty years ago, when a massive crack in the ground appeared. It stretched through entire continents, even somehow going across the ocean. Through this crack opened a portal to another world, and it didn’t take long for whatever was on the other side to begin invading ours. Desert trolls. Tall, powerful humanoid beings, with some wielding the ability to manipulate sand. With their overwhelming strength and numbers, they effortlessly took over our world. They erected a king, and from there, they sought to reshape our world in their ideal vision. Today, humanity remains at the mercy of the trolls, and the idea of the end of humanity becomes less far-fetched as time goes on.

As the troll reached its arm out to grab the unconscious girl, Bennett stepped forward in between them, blocking the girl’s body from the troll’s reach. From behind his back, Bennett pulled out a long weapon tightly wrapped in white bandaging.

“W-Who the hell are you!? Out of the way!” The troll said aggressively, not taking nicely to Bennett’s interference. With a firm tug, the bandaging wrap fell to the ground, revealing a shining glaive.

“Each and every filthy troll…”

“I said to get out of the way!” The troll lunged its fist forward, and Bennett avoided the blow with a side-step. Then, with a swift, powerful swing of his glaive upwards, he sliced right through the troll’s throat.

“…shall die by my hand.”

He turned on his heel, delivering a fierce kick to the troll’s stomach. Knocked backwards, the troll fell to the ground, dead. Picking up the white bandaging wrap, Bennett began to rewrap his glaive.

“Hey…” He called out to the girl, seeing if she would be responsive by any chance. However, there was no response. “Can you hear me?”

With a firm tug, he secured the bandaging around his weapon and holstered it behind him using the sash around his waist. He knelt down beside the girl’s body. Inspecting her face up close, Bennett could tell she was quite young, yet no younger than a teenager. If he had to say, she was probably about three or four years younger than him.

“Forgive the intrusion…” he said, beginning to gently pass his hand around her hair. He finds a moist spot, and when he looks at his hand, there’s a streak of blood going across his palm. “The damn bastard resorted to brute force…” He muttered, gazing at his blood-stained hand for a moment, sickened, before returning his attention to the girl.

Placing his hands on the ground, Bennett knelt down closer, placing his ear over the girl’s mouth. “Good, she’s still breathing…” Letting out a relieved sigh, Bennett carefully lifted the girl’s body and gently laid her over his shoulder.

After a short walk to the very edge of the city, Bennett arrived at a small bookstore. As he walked inside, the shopkeeper’s bell jingled. A voice could be heard from the register desk, right behind a wide-open newspaper.

“A troll?”

“Filth.” Bennett replied. A chuckle came from the voice, and the newspaper was set down. An old lady, cigarette between her lips, smiled at Bennett. “Welcome back.”