Thousand Year Slumber
Clang! Clang! The bell of the church echoed through the small village and the surrounding forests and hillside, a deep metallic rumbling noise that was supposed to wake the village only to the daily toils of a new day. However this was not the bell they had been used to, a recent migration to the area had led to the development of a larger church to seat the larger congregation and as part of this, a new bell had been commissioned from the nearby town. It had been fitted the previous night and now it had been used to ring out the morning bell.
This new monstrosity of human creation caused the ground and forests to tremble with fear of what these new arrivals would cause in terms of needs for living space and firewood to warm their hearths and make new tools with. Animals scattered and birds noisily chirped as they flew about, warning of the dangers of the humans who would soon be encroaching on their natural territory. Even the wolves howled, united with their natural prey in anguish over the loss of territory, the fact that humans would be living closer to them and forcing them into ever smaller areas and closer to other competitors for their food and survival.
Deep in the hills, the ground reverberated with the metallic noise. As if a cry for help ran through it. Previous metals and ore rested deep underground in long, thick veins, waiting to be discovered by the humans. Waiting for them to also discover that which had been sleeping for so long, sleeping a long, dreamless sleep. For a thousand years there had been a low, occasional rumble in the ground, as if something had been snoring loudly in the hills, a place where most animals only went if they were forced. Mine entrances littered the landscape as only humans came here, searching for their next source of wealth or ore to produce their tools with. Unaware of the sleeping mountain they were digging into, unaware of the hibernating being that only now stirred, with the clanging of the metallic bell that rang out every hour now. Slowly, the massive beast stirred, grumbling and rumbling around it.
A thousand years had passed since it had gone underground for the slumber, belly full of human meat and satisfied with the carnage left behind. Arms, legs, heads strewn about in an absolute feast of blood and gore. Now, after so long, the belly was no longer bloated full, the skin sagged around the muscular legs, thick as an oak and long, arms nearly as long, giving an inhuman reach, despite the scrawny look. As the slumber ended, the heavy eyelids slowly slipped apart, the maw of crooked teeth splitting out a loud yawn as the beast moved its long limbs slowly, feeling the sensations of each little pull of every muscle along the path to each of the long fingers on both hands as they curled into fists and uncurled to full length. Such was the sleepy soreness that it took a few hours to remember how to even roll over and get up. Yet as it did, the scrawny body heaved and cracked with the tension of a thousand year slumber.
As the yawn finished, it smacked its lips hungrily a few times, feeling how cracked and dry its mouth felt. There was an underwater stream nearby, enough to refresh the beast, to stir its body back into a decent shape. However as it tried to stood, it found itself hunched, all twelve feet of it were too much, and it remember slowly that when it went to sleep, it had only been eight feet tall and able to stand up straight in this hole in the ground. Grumbling under its labored breath and hunched under the ground, it slowly moved to the stream, using its hands to guide water to its mouth, it hungrily slurped it down, caring not for the mess it left behind of water splashing over itself soaking through the rags that hung loosely over its sinewy and scrawny features. The long fingers ran over its own body, last it remembered it was bloated and fat with a full belly as it went to sleep. This must have been how it was still alive, as its kind usually never survived this long and only before had there been stories in the trees of others that had managed a thousand year slumber without being disturbed. Most of its kind actually died when they rose up to defend their territories or when they were surprised in their dens by the humans who seemed to covet the treasures they kept, stuff that the animals didn’t care about, stuff that to them looked pretty and they could occasionally use as bargaining chips to keep humans off their backs.
The thought of its last encounter with humans left a snarl to rumble through its throat and up, out through gritted teeth. They had thought they could come into its hills, into its den and steal the shiny rocks and dark ore it kept hidden where it slept. It had been folly of them, to venture into an area they knew nothing about, to try and do something to a creature that already outsmarted them and knew how to act around them. They had been caught by surprise once it found them, coming up from behind them and downwind. Normally they could smell its kind from great distances, but they had positioned themselves badly and with no lookouts, they had been easy to maul and gave a fitting meal for the first night. Of course it knew there would be others who came looking, who came searching for those who had not returned to the village. So that night, it had ventured into the village, slowly making its rounds along the edges, picking off the elderly and young first, savoring the blood of virgins once it found one. They always held special taste and its kind preferred virgins over all else. Not for entertainment, but for the purity of their bodies, of their blood. It was as if those special humans called out to the massive beasts that stalked the night, forests, hills and even large lakes.
As it thought about all that it had been through before it went to slumber there was a freshness in the evening air, the sun had almost set on the horizon and soon it would be dark, perfect time for a massive being of its size to hunt humans and rid itself of that infernal metallic bell they had brought into the village. It was as if the beast knew they would be more plentiful, yet as it rose to its full height and surveyed the surroundings, there was a rumbling deep in its gut, the rolls of leftover skin rolling against the audible noise trying to spread out. Then came the first scent, it cursed under its breath in an ancient tongue, far older than any human language, coarse and rough like stone grinding on stone, but with more meaning than anything humans could ever think to say. It was the smell of a virgin, coming straight from the village, the wind was perfectly lined up to bring everything to the beast as it began to stalk over the hills. It had hunched over further, bringing its height down from the imposing twelve feet and closer to eight, appearing more like a massive, hunched over human, yet the black orbs over the crooked maw would be a dead giveaway if the long limbs ending in clawed fingers and foul smell coming off it wouldn’t alert anyone else first.
This evening there was no chance for the humans to receive any sort of warning, there had been a wedding planned. A prominent citizen's daughter had been married off to one foremens assistant, and most of the town was going to be intoxicated in celebration. It was almost too easy. The beast saw no outposts, no guards keeping the humans safe. As if they weren’t around tonight, and as it realised this was a feast waiting to happen, it hungrily smacked its lips, drool and spittle slobbering down over its chin and dripping to the ground as it picked up speed. It had to hit fast and hard, before they could organise themselves in any sort of defence. The first humans it encountered were drunk off their boots, easy to pick off, they looked up just as the maw and eyes looked down, and then came a gurgling noise as blood splattered in coughs from their mouths. The beast had stabbed its long fingers through their chests, grabbing and crushing their hearts, and the last thing they saw as their blood splattered around them on the ground was the maw closing around their heads, biting them clean off before their bodies were slurped for the rest of the blood. It was a sour taste, alcohol didn’t taste good to the beasts unless they had brewed it themselves using ancient recipes, something it knew little about.
Leaving the corpses behind, the beast sniffed to find the closest target, it was a bloodbath waiting to begin as it left a trail of blood, gore and guts in its wake while it rampaged towards the large hall near the church, where the wedding party was currently celebrating. It prayed to the dark Gods of the forest that it would make it to the bride in time, that she wouldn’t have indulged in alcohol so her taste would remain as pure and perfect as possible.It was a rampage as more humans fell, skulls were shattered, chests caved in and bodies emptied of blood as the beast began to fill its belly. Slowly it stopped looking as scrawny as it had when it attacked, yet at the same time, it knew the humans would have noticed it by now, noticed the carnage of several hundred meters of corpses would show to anyone who walked any path across the city. Then it was there, by the hall, so close to its prize. Snarling, it drew in a long breath, standing up at its full height, there was no way anyone would not have noticed the massive beast as it stretched and prepared for what was to come. There was no telling how many humans were inside, how armed they were or how willing they were to die to protect their fellows. So with a grunt, the beast lumbered forward, going into a sprint as it turned the thick shoulder forward, leaning sideways to bring itself propelling through the heavy oak door. The wood splintered from the impact as the heavy double doors were burst open, slamming into the walls of the hall. Inside, they had no idea what was happening, the music stopped and everyone stared at him before the only word came that needed to be spoken. “Troll!” Someone cried out, and then chaos ensued as everyone screamed and scrambled, men turning to the weapon house to get their weapons so they could defend themselves, women and children screaming as they ran about. The troll laughed and cried out with delight as it surged forward, limbs flailing out and about, hitting anyone that came within reach as it tore through the crowd, leaving bodies strewn behind it, and the men who found weapons, they would soon realise that despite its massive size, the troll could easily duck and weave around their strikes before sending those long nails into their chests or throats, ending their pathetic lives. Of course, this dance of death moved around until the troll stood, breathing heavy in the center of the room, only one person remained alive, frozen by the terror in her seat at the center of the long table that was the high table, next to her the groom had been impaled by the long nails of the troll, and laid slumped over the table.
The girl cried and wept for her lost kin, for the carnage and despair she experienced. And she wept for herself as the troll moved closer, until it could reach out and take her in its massive hands, the white dress so perfectly curled around her feminine figure as she was brought to the face of the massive troll. It chuckled, licking its lips hungrily as it eyed its price. Of course she would make a fine meal, and he didn’t even need to speak anything to her as he simply opened his maw, red spittle and drool hanging between the rows of sharp teeth as she was put in hole, and then crunched once, her screaming went high pitched. Twice, her screaming died out completely. Thrice, her body stopped trembling and her breathing ended. A fourth time, and then it swallowed, eating her hole, savoring her taste with a mighty belch as it looked down at its distending belly, this was more like it. This was more like what it was used to.
The carnage didn’t end there, but most men had died now, the village was decimated and those who hadn’t managed to flee ended up being caught by the troll, eaten, blood drunk hungrily and soon the carnage was easy to see as the troll looked down over the bloody figure it remembered, how it had looked before it had slumbered. And it was happy. Full, fat and happy. A chuckle ran through its throat as it finally went to the church, even the priest was dead, lying somewhere in the great hall of the feast, leaving the beast able to tear down the church, to punch holes in the stone walls and rip out chunks until it crumbled, the bell falling on top of the rubble and then it was done. The infernal noise machine had been brought down on the humans and their village had once more felt the wrath of the troll.
It was an ancient being, even with their weapons, they would never have been able to seriously inflict any damage to it. They hadn’t stood a chance no matter how much they prayed otherwise.
The troll returned to its cave, going back down to slumber on, to sleep for another thousand years. Who knows when it will awaken again? Or if humans will find it before it awakens. Regardless, the trolls sleep when they have finished a great feast and they sleep for a long time, without dreams, without anything to keep them company in the darkness. Because the darkness fears them more than they fear it.
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