Dreams Come True

Troll Terror

I stood still, staring up at the troll in pure fear as Vanellope and Hilda hugged my sides. Twig and Gladius stood in a defensive stance in front of us, the deerfox growling viciously. The troll just stood still, its eyes lacking any sort of life, just staring at us. None of us moved.

"What are we gonna do, Hilda?" Vanellope asked in a whisper.

"I don't know", Hilda admitted, "I know trolls can be dangerous, but nothing like this..."

"It's because we're here", I said, not really realising it.

Hilda looked up at me in both confusion and concern. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll tell you later when we're safe", I quietly said. I kept my arms protectively around both girls and carefully guided us slowly around the troll. Twig and Gladius went around the other way, keeping the troll's attention on them. The moment we were out of the troll's view, I instantly picked both girls up and bolted down the mountain. Gladius quickly picked up Twig with his telekinesis and bolted after us, all while the troll let out a roar. It gave chase as we darted down the cliffside, my heart going crazy.

"This is ridiculous!" Alfur cried, "Trolls aren't usually this hostile! At least from what I know."

"Maybe they all just woke up on the wrong mountain side", Vanellope said with a faltered smile. When Hilda shot her an exacerbated look, Vanellope looked down. "Sorry..."

"Look, let's just worry about getting away from the rabid rock monsters before we start with the snarky jokes, okay?" Gladius butted in, carrying a terrified Twig in his wings. I didn't bother to make any sort of sound, instead picking up my pace down the mountain. I kept my gaze locked to only what was in front of me, my breathing heavy as the weight of the two girls started to get to me. I looked around, and noticed a tight alcove of trees that were tightly packed together, just enough so the troll couldn't follow us.

"Gladius!" I called. He faced me, and I nodded my head to the trees. "This way!" I quickly darted into the thicket, the sword close behind, and we vanished from the troll's sight. It made a move to grab us, but it just couldn't reach, so it began to roar and pound its fists into the ground in rage. I just kept running until the roaring was nothing but a hollow echo in my ear. When I felt we were safe, I put Hilda and Vanellope down, then collapsed.

"Woah!" Vanellope said in surprise, "Glasses, are you okay?"

"I'm... fine..." I said between heavy breaths, "I'm... just... not... use... to... running... so... much..."

Hilda looked down at me sadly. "Sorry about this, guys. I didn't think the trolls would be like this..."

"No, it's not your fault, Hilda." Gladius reassured, "I believe this is because of us." He gestured to himself, me and Vanellope.

"But, why?" Hilda asked, "When Caleb said that earlier, I just thought that maybe you just ran into the trolls before you met me and my friends."

Vanellope looked away. "That's not really it..."

Hilda looked at her in confusion, at Twig and Alfur, then back to us. "Who are you, exactly?"

I took a deep breath and sat up. "It's a long story..."

~X~

And so for the next while, I explained to Hilda, Alfur and Twig about who I really was. I told them of where I was from, how I met Gladius, Vanellope and all the others, and the very small basics of the multiverse. All through this, the three residents of Trolberg stared at me with looks of shock.

"So, wait... I... You're what?" Hilda said, her head obviously spinning at all the new information that was dumped onto her.

"That's everything", I said, "That's the whole truth."