A Foggy Past
Zuhkinjo, May 16, 2006
Blood covering the floor, the walls, his face, Zuhkinjo's wakes
to find himself lying down, tightly gripping a hatchet. He lets
it go and frantically sits up.
"Blood?! Zuhk's blood?!" He quickly checks himself for injuries,
patting down his chest and abdomen.
"No..." In turning around he notices two bloody and
unrecognizable masses before him.
"What be dis?!... Zuhk do dis?"
He hears Grugdish's voice. Deep, commanding,
demonic...overpowering. His words swarm hostily around Zuhk with
no distinct beginning or end. "They were a burden, troll. You are
free of them!"
[Zuhkinjo]
Years ago, when Zuhkinjo is a small child.
"Blow it up."
"Quiet, befoa you get Zuhk in trouble again!"
"Nobody's here. Consider it one of your experiments."
They had built a new mailbox. Zuhk considered them perfect
targets for his "experiments." It was a very dry season and all
the trolls of Shadowprey were inside for the night. Perfect
conditions.
"Dey blame it on Zuhk for sure, dey always do."
"You won't get another chance like this, you already have
everything."
He did. He always had the most random things on him, the strange
troll was known as the town packrat, among other things. They
called him Zuhkinjo the "Bizarre" for as long as he could
remember, because of Grugdish. He paused for a moment and looked
about the village to see if anyone had overheard Zuhk "talking to
himself." They often said that phrase to him when Zuhk and
Grugdish were engaged in conversation, they told him he was
crazy. "Maybe dey right," Zuhkinjo would often think, however
Grugdish was always able to convince him otherwise, he had a
strong influence over Zuhk, however his voice always remained a
soft whisper. He was not yet capable of commanding Zuhk's mind
completely. At least not back then.
"That's it!" Zuhk could hear the anticipation in Grugdish's
voice. "Show that mailbox who's boss!"
Zuhk grinned nervously. Grugdish was sadistic, but he was often
just as silly as the strange troll. Zuhk was just about the only
one in the small village around his age, and so he didn't have
any true friends to speak of, except for Grugdish. He was the
closest thing to a friend, even though he was quite pushy, and
was always a bad influence. Zuhk pulled out a peice of cloth, as
well as a bottle filled with a black liquid, he then stuffed the
cloth halfway into the bottle, one end in the liquid, and the
other hanging outside the mouth of the container. He stood there
a few seconds, perhaps trying to resist Grugdish's badgering, or
just weighting the satisfaction with the consequences. After a
moment of hesitation, he backs off a good 30 yards away, lights
the end of the cloth on fire using an outdoor torch-light, and
quickly hurls it at the mailbox with deadly accuracy.
As the bottle shatters, the liquid ignites thunderously into
flames over the mailbox, as well as the side of the hut near it.
Zuhk's eyes widen in horror as he sees the ravenous fire begins
to spread and engulf the entire hut. The troll loses his nerve,
running about, but in no certain direction. No one is around
still. Should he tell someone?
"Wh...What NOW?! Some are inside der!" Zuhk yelled, with sheer
panic in his tone.
Grugdish's whisper turned harsh."You run! Nobody saw, run away!"
He had no problem taking orders, especially at a time where he
was so scared and confused. He ran, and kept running until he
realized he was far from home, in the mountains. He would return,
but not tonight. He could not see what he had done from there,
nor would he be able to watch, but he did not escape the screams
of the ones he had burned alive.
[Zuhkinjo]
That night before he returned to Shadowprey, where he had slept
in the mountains, a voice spoke to him in his dreams. "You will
be my Test. I will guide you in destroying our enemy"
The chieftain spoke with clear disdain. "Ah see nothin less fit
den banishin da little one from dis village without aid."
Zuhkinjo was given one day to say his goodbyes. Everybody knew
the young troll would die out in the Desolace without so much as
a weapon or provisions, Zuhk was aware of it as well.
"Then STEAL some! You cannot die already!" Grugdish's words were
yelled urgently, something Zuhk had never experienced. The troll
winced as he ate his last meal at the table.
"What's the matter, Zuhkinjo?" Zuhk's father asked solemnly. Both
his parents couldn't even look up. Both shame and the imminent
loss of their only son seemed to physically bring them down.
"They are in the way of the supplies you need, troll. Eliminate
them, or die."
Zuhkinjo replied to the demon in an outburst, seemingly unaware
of his parents on the other end of the table. "Dat's INSANE! How
can yas even tink dat?!"
The demon's voice thundered. "FINE! I will do it MYSELF!"
Zuhk fell off his chair as his muscles quaked, his eyes rolling
into the back of his head before blacking out. He would not
remember his actions afterwards. The demon was enthralled by the
weak, yet swift body he controlled, and by the pleasurable feel
of a hatchet's edge plunging into a skull.
Blood covering the floor, the walls, his face, Zuhkinjo's woke to
find himself lying down, tightly gripping the hatchet. He let it
go and frantically sat up.
"Blood?! Zuhk's blood?!" He quickly checked himself for injuries,
patting down his chest and abdomen.
"No..." In turning around he notices two bloody and
unrecognizable masses before him.
"What be dis?!... Zuhk do dis?"
He hears Grugdish's voice. Deep, commanding,
demonic...overpowering. His words swarm hostily around Zuhk with
no distinct beginning or end.
"They were a burden, troll. You are free of them!"
He froze, unable to register what had been done. He bolted from
the corpses in the foul-smelling hut, grabbing only a bow and
quiver. It would take weeks for him to accept what had happened,
what he had allowed the demon to do.