The Troll Bridge To The Destroyed Realm

          A ginger haired woman calls up to the black haired woman the tree, who is using binoculars to look out over the chasm beyond the wall; “Reioi! Do you see anything yet?”

“Still just a dead tree and a bunch of rocks, Tuipa! It’s called the Destroyed Realm for a reason!” Reioi snarls.

Tuipa’s eyes wander over to the vine covered wall. “Maybe we should see if we can make it to the other side, we might-“

“Out of the question!” Reioi snaps. “I ain’t risking my butt over there without a good cause!” She then sighs. “We must be about fifty years too late to get any loot. Everything that could be reached was probably nabbed.”

“So, guess that means we are moving on then?” Tuipa asks as she returns her eyes to Reioi.

“Yeah- wait! I think I saw movement!” Reioi leans forward. “Holy cow! There is a little girl over there, her hair is two toned? No. She has wings, black wings!”

“A harpy?” Tuipa questions as she climbs the tree, carful not to snag her skirt. She gets next to Reioi and squints towards the chasm.

Over across the chasm that divides the realms, the little winged girl watches Reioi and Tuipa with great interest. She pulls out her broken pocket mirror. “They don’t look like monsters. They must be humans then, Me. Should I try to get across? I’ve never left the Destroyed Realm before, am I sure I can fly? I have wings, so I must be able to.”

The little winged girl puts her mirror away and tosses her hair back. She walks up to the dead tree and climbs it, with every movement, the tree groans.

“She climbed the tree by the cliff.” Reioi narrates. “Gah! She jumped!” She yelps.

“What!?” Tuipa squawks. “C-can she fly? Or… did you just watch a child die?”

“She’s doing it. She’s doing it. She’s…” Reioi lowers her binoculars. “She disappeared below the cliff’s edge. I think…”

Tuipa snatches the binoculars from Reioi. She watches for a moment as her companion looks down. Reioi’s vison blurs from the tears forming. Tuipa then snaps her out of it. “She’s alive! See!” She shoves the binoculars back into Reioi’s hands. “She is climbing the cliff on the other side.” Reioi then begins to climb on a branch that reaches over the wall. “Where are you going?” Tuipa asks.

“We now have a reason to go over there. Let’s see if we can find a way across.” Reioi explains right before she jumps down on the other side of the wall.

Tuipa follows Reioi to the edge of their realm. The chasm the only thing keeping the women sperate from the child on the other side. “Hey kid!” Tuipa yells as she cups her hands around her mouth to make herself louder. “Don’t try jumping again! We are going to try to find a way across!”

The little girl looks down at her hands and cups them to mimic Tuipa. “We could try the troll bridge!”

Tuipa looks to Reioi. “Troll bridge?”

Reioi thinks for a moment. “There used to be bridges that connected the realms over a hundred ago, but when the Destroyed Realm went into anarchy, they were all tore down by the orders of our queen at the time.”

“Trolls are solitary, I’m sure the two of us can take one on then. We want to do that?” Tuipa asks just as a formality.

“Absolutely, that troll must have kidnapped that little girl and is holding her prisoner in the Destroyed realm to eat later.” Reioi theorized as she reached for the battle axe on her back.

“Hey kid!” Tuipa yelled. “Can you show us to the troll bridge?”

“Yeah!” The girl called back. She points to her right, the women’s left. “This way!” She then darts off and the women follow on the opposite side of the chasm.

After a few minutes, the women come to an old stone bridge with about two meters taken out of the middle. A shabby shack stood on the women's side of the bridge. All the walls were made of wood, expected for one, which it shared with the wall that was supposed to keep people away from the chasm. It's door, made crudely out of several wood planks, stood nearly three meters tall.

The little girl walks to the edge of her side of the bridge. She points at the shack. "The troll lives in there. He is very rude."

Stomping then comes from inside the shack. The door swings open to reveal said troll in all his grotesque glory. "I smell the flesh of the long-lived child, and some new bloods to these parts."

Reioi points her axe at the troll. "Let her go you monster! Or prepare for battle!" She declares.

The troll laughs. " If I had her, I would have eaten her by now. The winged brat has been running around the Destroyed realm before I built my home. I'm glad I waited to hunt her down, she is just at the perfect ripeness. Oh don't worry, you two, though fully grown, are still young. I won't let your chewy flesh go to waste."

Shivers run down both Reioi's and Tuipa's backs. Tuipa unwraps her Kyoketsu-shoge from her waist. She dangles the blade from about twenty centimeters of rope and begins to spin it as she declares; "I am Tuipa Mint!"

Reioi holds her axe aloft. "And I am Reioi Bluebell!" She states.

Both women then belt out. "And now you die!" Tuipa swings her Kyoketsu-shoge at the troll, it grazes his arm as he dodges. As Tuipa retracts her weapon, Reioi slashes at troll’s other arm.

The troll grabs Reioi and slams her into the ground, before he can do anything else to her, Tuipa's Kyoketsu-shoge wraps around his arm with the blade lodging deep into his bicep. She adjusts he position to hold the troll still as Reioi rolls back and readies herself for another attack, this one aimed at the troll's chest.

The little girl with wings watches from the other side of the bridge. "Their fighting for...me?" She stares at the battle as the troll gains the upper hand. "Humans are so fragile, yet, they are willing to risk their lives, for me." She raises her hands above her head. "They think they need to protect me, but it is my duty to protect the good people." She sticks out her index fingers with three centimeters between them. A little yellow ball, like a miniature sun appears in the gap between her fingers. "Sin Scorching Sunlight!"

A beam of bright yellow shoots out as fast as lightning, it hits the troll's head, immediately turning it to dust. The troll's body, or at least what's left of it, thumps to the ground.

Both Tuipa and Reioi stare at the body for a moment, before turning their attention to the little girl. "Did-did she just, kill the troll like it was nothing?" Tuipa stammers.

"Y-yeah. It head is gone. That kid… can use magic." Reioi replies as she straights her posture, no longer needing to be at the ready.

The little girl then walks back to the end of the bridge in the Destroyed realm. She pivots and dashes towards the broken bridge, she launches off the jagged edge and spreads her wings. Though the girl cannot fly properly, she is able to glide across the gap. When she lands, Tuipa and Reioi are standing at the end of the bridge.

"I have so many questions, but let's get back over the wall first." Reioi says.

Tuipa spins her Kyoketsu-shoge and launches it, so it hooks onto the top of the wall, after she ties it around her waist. Reioi is the first to climb over, when she reaches the top, she helps the little girl up, and finally Tuipa follows herself.