Unfortunately Trollhunters doesn't belong to me, but rather with Dreamworks and the fantastic Del Toro!
Enjoy the story. Also yes, that cute art on the cover is my own~
After the darklands, something had changed within Jim.
It's the same, it's the same, it's the same, he had spouted upon his return. He ignored the feeling of this-world-is-wrong-wrong-wrong.
His eyes pounded in the bright light.
The air was too light, free of the crushing darkness and eery dust. Breathing felt wrong.
The heartstone pulsed warmly in trollmarket, calling Jim to it in a way it had not before.
These things did not matter, Jim told himself. Nothing has changed.
Jim goes down into the Deep.
Jim sees the changes he is afraid of.
His cage clatters to the floor, and Jim decides he is very, very sick of cages.
It doesn't take long to figure out that there isn't an easy way out of this enormous pit, and Jim gives a long suffering sigh as he thinks about the long way to the top. He eyes the cage by at his left, and kicks the thing with an armored foot for good measure, clang resounding in the dark.
Jim wasn't expecting a response. A throaty growl erupts from the darkness, and the hero whirls around, sword materialising in hand.
A black shadow emerges from the dark, tinted with red and weilding an eerily familiar sword.
"What are you…?" is all Jim can say edgewise before the creature lunges at him with a rasping laugh, metal against metal interrupting the silence, sparking.
The creature lunges, lays a few hits upon Jim, retreats to the dark, and repeats- it's an effectively tiresome strategy, and Jim feels his nerves fray further and further with each blow.
In the glow of the daylight sword, it only takes a few sword upon sword clashes to figure out what the creature was.
It was like looking in a warped mirror.
It was himself, yet with terrible fangs and troll-like horns, face twisted in anger and a far deeper voice.
How was this his deepest fear? Jim was honestly expecting Gunmar, or perhaps Strickler… why would he fear this strange fanged version of himself…?
The creature once again flung himself at Jim, and he felt something in his chest burn as he dodged the blow.
"It's already started," the illusion rasped, swinging its blade cockily, red trails of magic searing the air, then added, "it's already over."
Jim was understandably confused, and began to wonder if he should just accept that confusion and chaos was the default state of his life now.
As though sensing Jim's confusion, the creature sidled forward to the boy, who defensively lifted his sword up.
"Soon, you will be like me. Perhaps even worse. They will hate you," the thing hissed at him.
It suddenly summoned Eclipse again, shoving it through the amulet. Jim gasped upon instinct, but just felt an excruciating cold settle in his chest.
The creature withdrew the sword from the amulet, leaving it with a small scratch. Cackling, it ran into the darkness and leaving a puzzled Jim behind.