Hiya everybody! I've been in a hella good writing mood since Wizards is dropping in a few days as I'm writing this. I have been just losing my mind a little waiting for it. Just happy I'm done with my classes when it's releasing so I can binge it without a problem.
Anyway! Here you guys go! A well deserved and long-awaited update.
Update to my Author's note:... I'm sorry for the delay in this version of my story. I had a remake idea I wanted to start so if y'all want to enjoy that one, it's called Morgana's Lost Company. Hope y'all enjoy this though!
"So Nomura's a changeling as well?" I nodded my head as the four of us sat together in a circle in the center of the Hero's Forge.
"The idea that's complexing me is the fact that she is never used unless the situation needs to be finished quite quickly as well as silently. Blinky and I spoke about the idea that we should go over to the museum and check the area. See if there is anything suspicious going on within the building itself." Claire was the first one to agree with the idea with a quick nod.
"Agreed. If she's here and what you say is true, then there must be more going on in that building. Maybe behind that giant curtain they had."
"Oh yeah! Half the area was under construction. Maybe they're just saying that to cover up something?" I looked over to Darci who presented the question before replying.
"I have the slightest of an idea of what they could be protecting in that large of a space, but I would have to see it to know for certain."
"What do you think it could be then?" Mary's voice sounded slightly off from her normal tone as confusion set in deep within her voice.
"I believe they are constructing Killahead Bridge."
"And what's that?" Mary was the one to speak once more.
"As you understand, the bridge that is above where we enter Troll Market is a gateway." Each one of them nodded in understanding before I continued. "Well, Killahead Bridge is the same thing." I looked away from each of them for a moment as I stared down at the floor. "When I was placed to sleep, there was a battle brewing between the troll kind that you are acquainted with and that of what is called Gum-Gums. These were terrifying creatures that fed on human flesh and would kill without a second thought. They followed the command of a Gum-Gum named Gunmar. He was a fearsome foe. One that could slay many without much effort. But to be rid of him and his Gum-Gum warriors, the Trollhunter of the time, Deya, made up a plan to use the Amulet of Daylight and the Killahead Bridge to trap them from the land they came from. To banish them to a plain called the Darklands." I looked up to them once more. "From what I could tell when I woke up and how humanity isn't enslaved and or extinct, the battle went out as planned and Deya accomplished her plan."
"So what does that have to do with the Janus Order you spoke about before? What's their role in this?" I glanced over to Claire as I answered her question with ease.
"The changelings within the Janus Order are sworn to release Gunmar and start what is called the Eternal Night. This is where they are told that Gunmar will return to claim the world as their own. So they would never have to hide within the shadows. So they would never have to be disgraced against ever again." I leaned back onto my hands as I continued. "But those pesky changelings never understand that Gum-Gums and Gunmar himself think of them as disgraces, to begin with. They're dubbed half-breeds and inferior to actual troll creatures. They'll never be treated the way they desire. Even if they release Gunmar from his imprisonment."
"Why would they continue to work towards it then?" I flashed all of them a small smile before answering Darci who asked the question in particular.
"Why does anyone continue to work towards the inevitable? Hope is a fickle being that any creature is a slave to. Doesn't matter if they are deemed mystical or mortal. We all are a slave to our hopes and desires."
"Then let's make a plan." I looked over to Claire as she stood with a wide smile on her face. "We'll need supplies for certain. Darci, can you handle making a list of what we would need?" Darci gave her a smile as she stood up herself.
"I've handled worse than just making a shopping list, C-Bomb." Claire's smile deepened at the reply as she looked over to Mary.
"Mary, can you get up information on the museum? Layout maps, time stamps of openings and closings, and basically anything else that could be useful to this? We'll need as much information we can get." Mary stood as she pulled out her phone.
"And get an excuse to use my phone more down here? You got it." I chuckled at her reply as she already started to walk off toward her bag to start the research. I stood up myself as Darci went over to her own belongings to start on her own mission as well.
"What do you desire for me to accomplish?" I shot Claire an easy smile as I placed my hands behind my back. She only shot me a similar one before speaking.
"We need to do more training. If we get caught doing this, I need to know how to fight against these changelings. I've dealt with rogue trolls, goblins, and gnomes, but nothing of this caliber." I leaned down and picked up my father's blade that was laying beside me on the ground as we were all speaking together not long before. I tightened the scaffold around my waist before giving Claire another quick smile as I placed my hand on the handle of the sword.
"Then let's get to work, shall we?"
I walked out into the center of the forge as I took my sword out of its confinements. I turned as I heard metal clashing together only to see Claire with her own sword ready for practice. I personally knew the weight that the amulet brought to her, but she wore the armor as if it was weightless as we walked around each other. She glided on her feet with this sense of grace that only she would have in a full silver and blue set of metal plates and chainmail.
I dread the day I would fear for her safety, but it's true that Merlin's creation chose with reason. I've never witnessed her in action yet the grace she processed within her movements does her well.
I smiled as her light footwork stopped itself as she decided to go on the offense instead.
But she still has much to learn.
I dodged her first attack with ease as I kept my blade's handle close to my chest as I circled around her lunging action.
"You're light on your feet, but your movements are noticeable when you choose to act." I smiled at her as I swung at her feet lightly, she jumped up quickly to dodge the swipe. "Changelings will analyze you like nothing. Especially your movements and your emotions. They enjoy getting you worked up. They toy with your fear. So when you know a changeling is against you, you must keep a clear head." She gave me a determined nod as she readied her sword with both of her hands. I put my sword in my scaffold which got a confused look from the Trollhunter.
"We're not done already, are we?"
"Of course not." I pulled my small box out of my pocket, pressing it against my chest instantly. This caused my armor to spawn on my body in a white swirl. I landed on my feet as I rolled my head around a little in a circle while stretching my arms back a little to get used to the metal once more. "It's been a little while, but let's see how this goes." I gave her a small smirk as I readied my arms up before her. "Swing at me." She gave me wide eyes, almost dropping her sword a little at the idea.
"Are you sure?" I nodded my head.
"This armor is made to take troll punches. I have been used as a skipping stone to a Gum-Gum and this never even took a single scrap. Daylight won't do anything to me." I clenched my fist, causing my forearm plates to extend outwards. "These plates will mimic the tough skin of a changeling. Swing at them. Hold back if you want, but trust me, you won't hurt me." She gave me a hesitant glance before swinging down lightly against my forearms. The sword bounced off instantly, not leaving a single mark on my forearm plates. "See? No pain or anything." I gave her a sweet smile, it almost faltered as she gave me a worried look in her eyes.
"I'm just a little uncomfortable about it." Her words caused me to drop my arms slowly as I looked at her for a hard second.
"What do you mean?" She dropped her blade to her side, reaching out to place a hand on my shoulder.
"I don't want to hurt you." I smiled at her widely as I placed my armor hand onto hers.
"You won't hurt me." I dropped my hand from hers and placed them on my hips. "But if you're worried about that, we can always find another way to train you instead of using the plates." She took her hand off my shoulder as she lifted her sword to place it over her shoulder.
"I would be fine with just swordplay, but that was a little close to causing a gash into your head." I chuckled a little at that.
"We can do exactly that. Going back to the swordplay that is."
"I would much rather do that."
After probably an hour of clashing swords against one another, I decided to call it quits for today for the both of us. I disabled my armor with ease as Claire had done the same while we approached Mary and Darci who were sitting over by the library trying to conduct their part of our mission.
"Okay, if Merlin made your armor as well, why is yours is white and Claire's is silver and blue?" I chuckled at Mary's question as I placed my little box into my pocket once more.
"To be blunt, I have no clue as to why the auras of our armors are different. Especially since Merlin himself had a green aura to his magic." Mary looked at me with a blank expression for a moment and blinked twice before speaking again.
"That makes no freaking sense." She shook her head after finishing the sentence. "Anyway! I found a map layout of the museum. It even gives us details of where the construction area of the building is. There are also these really cool blueprints they have of the roof that we can use to our advantage. There are glass spaces on the roof where we don't need to enter the museum to even look into the areas we need to see." She turned what she had to explain to me as a laptop towards Claire and me as she pointed at the screen. "Like look at this! All we need to find out the dimensions and we're golden."
"Great work, Mary!" Claire held up a hand towards her friend which caused the girl to smile widely before slapping her hand against her friend's. I looked between them as if I was missing a very crucial detail which only caused Mary to look at me like I was insane for a second.
"Wait. Did they seriously not have high fives in your time?"
"Excuse me, but high what?" Mary only started laughing at that before speaking once more. "Oh my God, there are a lot more things we need to teach you." She turned her towards Darci as she leaned forward and placed her head in her hands while her elbows placed themselves on her knees. "What you got, girlfriend?"
"Well, I made a decent sized list. We'll need some rope, our bikes or some form of transportation for a quick getaway, dark clothes with masks and gloves due to possible cameras, our walkie talkies we already have for a form of communication, and lastly some form of lighting. I wouldn't say flashlights because that might be too much, but something along those lines."
"How about glow sticks? Not too bright, not too expensive, and someone won't look at us if we're insane if we buy all this from the same place."
"Why would we look like we're insane for that list?" I glanced over to Claire who placed a hand on my shoulder.
"We're a group of teenagers buying stuff that could look like we're breaking into something. Even though they are not wrong, technically, they'll report it with ease." I nodded my head slowly as I understood now what she meant.
"The only thing we would be reported with when I was in my time period was for magic in the land I lived within. Times have truly changed."
"Why would magic be held against? Wasn't Merlin a major person within your time period?" I took a quick breath and released it slowly before answering Mary.
"There was a king at the time. His name was Arthur. He was always afraid of magic, but after the death of his queen to a stalkling, he made war after those with magic or any magical creature unless they were with him on the idea. Except for trolls. He would kill them or imprison them without a single regret or second thought." I looked between all three of them as I continued. "My mother and Merlin were two of the few he trusted. Mainly due to how my mother was the wife to a trusted knight of his and Merlin was a family companion even before he was even thought of. Along with his sister and Merlin's apprentice at the time, those were the only four magical beings he allowed within his land. All others were pushed out of their homes, captures as prisoners, or punished to death."
"Sounds like the witch trials." I looked over to Darci with wide eyes at her words.
"Witch trials?!" Claire squeezed my shoulder to comfort me.
"It's something we can explain later. It was a horrible time in Europe. For now, let's not worry about it. Let's all get some rest. Tomorrow after school, we'll round up the items we need. Mary," She pointed over to her friend as she spoke. "I need you to print those images out. It would be smart to leave our phones in Troll Market as we go about this so we'll need physical copies."
"You got it, Captain Claire." This caused an easy smile to appear on her face.
"Then by nightfall, we'll group up here, set up a plan, and head out towards the museum." She looked over to me before asking a question I wasn't prepared for. "I guess we never got to the idea of bikes. Do you know how to ride one?"
"The last thing I rode was a horse and the last thing I learned that was a form of transportation in this era is a Vespa."
"No big deal. I have pegs on the back of my bike so we'll have to just have you stand on them as we head to the museum. Besides that, is everyone else okay with the plan?" I nodded once along with Darci and Mary which caused another smile to appear on Claire's face. "Perfect. Let's head out and get some rest then."
Soon after we decided our work within Troll Market was done, we each slowly started to gather our things to head out. But as I went over to where I placed my school bag, I realized that I had forgotten to give Claire the gift I had brought along. I looked over to see she was one of the first to head out of Blinky's library as Darci and Mary were still gathering their things. I took the opportunity to jog after her with the duffle bag in hand.
"Claire." She turned toward me with a smile as I held out the strap towards her. "This is for you." She looked at me with a soft smile as she took the strap from my hands.
"What is this?" I smiled as I adjusted my school bag's strap on my chest.
"Remember when I said I thought we had a dress like the one you saw at the museum?" This caused her eyes to widen as she looked down at the bag.
"You didn't."
"It'll need some adjustments more than likely, but it should suit you well." I felt my face flush slightly as I scratched the back of my neck with my right hand. Suddenly she dropped the duffle bag and flung her arms around my neck in a tight hug before pulling back almost just as quickly as the heat on my cheeks seemed to only deepen.
"You have no clue how much this means to me! Thanks, Jim." I smiled as she picked up the duffle bag's strap once more.
"Well, you said not to toy with a girl's dreams." I put my hands in my jean's pockets as I beamed at her as she placed the strap over her chest as she flashed a wide smile in my direction.
"I owe you."
"You owe me nothing." We started walking together towards the exit as we were merely a few inches apart side by side.
"You have no say in if I owe you or not."
"I never have a say when you have your mind set to something and I have no clue still if it's something I enjoy about you or fear."
"Let's just agree with both." I felt a small smile appear on my lips as I glanced over towards the Trollhunter to see that her deep brown pools were looking at me with the same kind gleam they always have within moments like these.
"Both it is."