All he had to do was not get caught, mind his own business and keep to the shadows. It wasn't the being alone part that bothered him, no. He was more accustomed to finding his own way, but being surrounded by green trees that have been known to be alive and go reaching for unwanted explorers…
He shivered, keeping one eye trained above him in case of shifty branches or the flight of harpies. He didn't know if the forest he was under had it's own name, or if it was joined - all together, as Ashenvale. The trees hadn't moved yet, and the harpies hadn't swooped down for a bit of him.
He sighed, the trip had been long, and straining. Yes he didn't mind being alone, but he couldn't crack a joke to the occasional wolf that begged for food or hoped that if the trees started laughing it wasn't because he was about to die. He might have heard a chuckle or two and suspected the trees were in it against him, he wanted to be surprised, but he was only a troll. A lone and sometimes vulnerable troll slowly wandering the forests that had seen his people fight for the tree eating machines and wielders of axes, saws, and a great hatred for many things.
Slowing to a stop, he camped up against the trunk of a tree that could fit a house with it's bulk. Despite it being possibly more dangerous to lie in wait directly under the thing, he felt safest leaning against the bark of it.
He shuffled the cloak he wore, bringing it up to hide away in the mimicked like foliage he'd made. Under it he could watch as animals wandered by, sometimes picking up his faint scent and making a dash for their escape. But if he was hunting them, they were sure to drop before leaving his line of sight.
He'd only seen two night elves the entire trip, thankfully without their large cats, by the loa he didn't know what it was but their cats creeped him out. Their eyes said things, they knew what you wanted to keep secret. The most recent elf he'd seen was a few days back, so he doubted that with where he was, he'd be seeing more. Or at least. He hoped.
The brush shook a ways ahead of him, but he already had an idea for what was causing the damage. He put a hand to his mouth, trying to stop the desperate frown. The movement of the brush might have called any watchful eye to it's location, in the process giving him away if investigation was made.
Lo and behold, there it was. Previously mentioned wolf brought two friends this time. Terogin sighed heavily, sagging shoulders and removing the hood from the cloak to better see them. They came trotting up with vigor. Well, the first one did, knowing his weakness, the other two cautiously kept speed with the first, staying just behind it.
"Come 'ere dhen, take dhe food if yah wantin' it so bad."
He fed the first, the other two coming forward immediately for nourishment. He could scratch the first one behind the ears now that it had lost all fear in him. But as his food stores went down, and he refused to give them last morsels, they snorted at him with glutinous disdain. As one does when they are denied a treat. They bounced away, frolicking through the brush as if they did not care who spotted them.
He hoped for their survival, after he was done with Zoram'gar Outpost he might return and see if he could keep them. Bah, he badly needed to stop thinking he could take in every other animal that begged for food… but they were so good at - no! He could not. He would not.
He ground down on his teeth, taking to a stand now. While there was light he ought to hunt down something to keep for dinner and breakfast. He probably had a few hours left of what the sun could provide through the canopy.
Tracking came easily, he found a bear soon after. A healthy and large bear due for it's death tying to his lasting meals. Eh, so long as he didn't go feeding anything with woefully hopeful eyes longing for what he had in hand.
He did not draw out the kill, the bear fell to his arrows nicely, hardly enough wherewithal to even move before it clumsily tumbled to the floor. He snuck out from the tree he was using for cover, looking around, checking for more aggressive scavengers.
He heard a shriek in the distance, but it was not enough to warn him of any danger. He shucked off all things he wanted to keep clean and quickly got to skinning and preparing the meat. He had everything in neat piles to make sure they didn't mess with one another. He was so consumed that when the shriek happened in the air again it did not occur to him that it was too close for comfort.
The eagle came down on him with a sharpened fury. It's claws raking his shoulders, so badly that he tumbled to the side, crying out in shock. He rolled onto two feet and watched the light slowly fade around him. His skin prickled with dread.
The eagle flew over his head, around a tree, and landed perfectly on an arm. An arm connected to an individual he'd not seen, somehow, until now. The man tilted his head. Terogin couldn't tell which race the thing was but it was tall. Not tall by troll means, but tall enough to confuse him.
He couldn't identify what it was that he was dealing with. And he was without proper weapons, everything he would have loved to have had on him was yards away, gleaming at him while he cast a wanting flicker of a gaze to his pile. When two more… things, came forward, out from the shadows - he favored a step back, keeping them distanced from him.
Just keeping them in front of him made it all feel like something was dripping on him. A slow, slug-like drip, drop, lingering in the air so foul that he tucked his chin, baring his tusks warningly. Whatever it was, loomed over him, being so tall as the trees, it made him feel numb and edged, strung tightly, ready to break.
He felt the presence behind him, a hand just within reach. It was so nearly upon his neck that he whirled to face the horrible creature. It looked so much like a troll female that he fell into hesitance. But she was not anything calming.
Her height matched his, and although he would never be among the taller of troll males, females had always come up to his nose or chin for the taller side of them. But she stood eye to eye with him, if not a little taller.
He slunk under her arm as she reached for him, her movement was thankfully slow - letting him move to not be touched by the sickly pale fingers. Something about her brought ill sensations around him.
He almost leapt from fear alone when she suddenly twisted, moving faster than before, jumping for him with new ferocity. He couldn't study her now, not with the other three foes patiently waiting for the fight to come to an end.
Her face remained impassive while he engaged. No emotion to the crippling blows he delivered.
Though her bones broke under his fists and her posture dwindled as time passed, she very slowly began a long horrific scowl. A well of rage filled her near faded eyes.
The broken limbs she carried as if to strike him like a club, he slipped around behind her, drawing from his store of stamina hoping to keep up with her sudden anger. In several quick gorey jerks, her head was removed followed by her neck and a few inches of her spine.
Her entire body was coated in a mucus, it helped her slip away every now and then, but his grip was of iron and he trembled feeling the slime wander onto his palms.
He dropped her head immediately, and nudged the body to fall over when it remained standing despite the lack of a very important function. It crumbled, slowly, as if it were soil the entire time the female's body formed a soft fuzz and then disintegrated into the ground. He watched it in horror.
He was blindsided, a crack to the side of his head sent him to his knees. Another sudden hit had him fall flat on his backside. His ears rang and his temple felt pierced.
Nearly blind from trying to keep his watering eyes shut, he rolled fully to dodge a ground denting strike from one of the two henchmen. He noticed the eagle was gone, from what he could see. The three figures gained ground on him. Two behaving with a need to fight while the third watched, head tilting with an intense interest.
The two fighters, pale and disgusting as they were, spread their distance - sharing his most right and left sides, forcing him to choose which one to face. He tried making a grab for one but the other launched a volley of power into his side. He collapsed onto his knees, desperately righting himself for a brawl.
Sure, he'd been in a few fights, and one big battle, but he only knew how to stay alive. It was his best training he'd taught himself. This was nothing like those rise and falls of adrenaline, no roar to save face and pack up.
He managed a fierce growl, rattling his own bones, so it was no wonder when the two backed off a tad, eyeing him as if he had gone rabid.
When he lurched to move, a red glow caught him mid lunge, putting his weight off. He fell, pinned in whatever trap had been laid out for him. A slim rope snapped tightly around his wrist, pulling him quickly to one side, another rope doing the same to his other side.
Both creatures had a coil of rope in their arms he hadn't seen on them before. One was laughing hysterically - though made little noise. The other sounded like it was choking, forcing it's breath through it's throat with gags and pitches.
He was stretched thoroughly, both creatures pulling with a secret strength. As he clamped his mouth shut and ground down on all his teeth, he was left with the only option to glare hatefully at the third.
The necromancer…
It came together in one clear picture, he sucked in available breath, trying in vain to bring his hands back to his space. The necromancer chittered, speaking in empty and rattling sounds.
"Yes… Yes, you will make… an excellent addition…"
A very long, and very boney hand revealed itself - curling inward to it's palm with a haunting red glow. A light grew from behind him, somehow flowing through the ground. It was foreboding and if it could have a physical form to touch it would have been clawing around his shoulders, his chest, waist, and legs.
He barely noticed the necromancer and their henchmen retreated a good few paces. It would have been a useless attempt to escape anyway. The light kept him exactly where he had been put.
Terogin tried all his might and found that his body could not hear him. He felt so much like prey, being cornered and stuck exactly where the predator wanted him. But he did not give, for he imagined that anything he gave to them they would run with and force more out of him.
He heard faint thunder, and could not see clouds through the small spaces in the canopy. It rumbled so lowly that he felt it beneath him. And it occurred to him that something might be in the ground, wanting to come out.
The crack of breaking sound split the ground around him, opening a maw so large it could have engulfed him whole were he not held by the necromancer's magic.
He managed to shift, bending one shoulder up, away from the terrifying neutral heat that reached for him. It lapped at his skin, and he nearly cried. Nearly. He was gasping from the effort he was taking trying to even move an inch.
Something cold touched his back, like a tongue it languidly pushed up, flat along his shoulders and sliding down his back to his legs. He must have been hyperventilating by now because he could feel his chest beating so quickly he wondered how there might have been any chance for air.
The cold receded but went ice-like in stiffness. He imagined frozen icicles hanging from his back, that was how cold it felt. Some chunks of whatever had touched him fused with his flesh, drawing out a cry from his defiant mouth. His teeth bared against the sudden wash of temperature change.
From cold and freezing it flickered, burrowing into his body with a heat so terrible it felt as though he was being opened from his shoulders down to his waist. This time he did shriek in agony, the pain blackening his sight for a moment before he sobbed for relief.
He twisted uselessly, one leg shaking so badly he knew the bone of his thigh would be crushed from the tension. His vision wavered…
No, no…! He wanted to live…!
He wanted to see what tomorrow looked like, to see the sun rise and set behind hills or shine over plains. He wanted to watch the moon light the darkness and provide shadows for him in the hunt, to watch the clouds whisper over the land as if they were looking for something.
He wanted to see the trees, and feel what they were made of, if they wanted to kill him he would rather have them commit the deed, he could not sit and wait…
Please… any gods, god, or loa that might hear him… please, anyone, he would take the aid of anyone so long as he got to live…
The pain ruptured something in his gut, his voice was soundless now, a dry gaspless cry was all that could be. Soon enough his chest was forfeit to the agonizing white hot fingers he could not see, they dug greedily into his lungs and rib cage. It flexed around his torso, under his flesh, looking for a better hold of him he guessed with lingering consciousness.
… Mercy, please - any being able to stop this, free me, let me live…
He begged thoughtlessly, only wanting what he had not even an hour ago.
His jaw sagged, slack from the force he used biting down on nothing but his own teeth, his face throbbed in loud slow passes. His temples sighed as the pain numbed him over. An invisible weight tried lifting itself off of him. But there was no real relief in it. He could at least be at peace with feeling…
Well, nothing.
His breathing fell into gargled heaps. Exhausted beyond what life could save him from, he did not hide the feeling of tears falling down the side of his face as he quieted. Something lulled him into slumber.
His eyes fell closed of their own accord, he used what strength he had left to keep them open, to watch the leaves and trees sway with a nonexistent breeze. He tried resisting the want for sleep.
But what could he do against his darkening vision, the corners of his sight straying off into a void. Slowly, the dark enclosing space grew to a point in front of his eyes. Making finite details absolutely brilliant as if he were seeing them for the last time.
But the last thing he really saw, just before the world dipped into abysmal grey, was a light so bright he was able to think to himself, hell, dying doesn't seem so bad.
He slipped, and heard no more.
… He didn't know how… but he knew that he was waking from a long and dangerous sleep. The first breath he sucked in caught him by surprise. He had taken air, of his own choice, he had inhaled the cool and slow wind. His mouth was free to take in as much of it as he wanted - so long as his lungs carried the space.
Ah, there was the ache. His chest felt burdened and heavy. His breath would be small for now, he could work into something deeper, something expanding.
He tried his nose, causing him to wince. All he got scent wise was burned old wood. Was this what Death thought he would smell like? He wondered where he was…
There was the hint of another person there with him. Their scent he did not feel familiar with, so it did not paralyze him with plans for escape. Though he wanted to see what exactly was going on.
Blinking quickly with one eye he found only darkness, or, actually, a covering. But pain seeped into his eye and he had to squint it closed before he flinched any further.
But his breathing had turned shallow, working against him, where had Death taken him?! What sick game was this?! If only he could just see what had been done to him… he went to try and pry the blindfold off, but he was immovable, his body far from his grasp.
He gasped, and clamped his mouth shut, though let a few sharp teeth peek through in hopes to keep whoever was with him at bay.
"Oh, goodness!"
The voice was female, and was not speaking orcish. Terogin feared the worst, he'd been sold to live in Death with Alliance scum!
"Easy…"
She was closer this time, and somehow her words did not add fear by themselves, he slowly relaxed, taking a breath as she instructed him to. The female sighed lightly, her own fearlessness of being so close to him tempered him down.
"Careful, or you're going to rip something important."