Chapter One

An Unfortunate Meeting

“Damn troll!”

I dove to the ground, narrowly missing the huge axe being swung at me. Dust stung my eyes and I felt the gritty texture of dirt in my mouth. I spit, rolled away from the ugly creature, and scrambled to my feet.

Trolls are generally found far from the borders of a town, usually living in caves or swampy areas. This troll had taken up residence in the sewers of Casem, a small town with a big dream. The Lord of the city had made it his mission to make Casem the jewel of the East. That’s not a job I would ever want.

Granted, he probably felt the same about my job. You see, I hunt monsters. Like this troll. And this troll, like most trolls, was obnoxiously strong. And he knew it.

The beast rushed me, wildly swinging his nicked, rusty battle axe. I brought my sword up and blocked the attack. The force of the troll’s strike made my arm go numb and the blade fell uselessly to the ground. I cursed and jumped back to avoid another swing.

Just another problem for me. Let’s just say things in my life weren’t going as planned. First, I’d recently lost my girlfriend. I don’t mean that she died. I mean that I literally lost her. In the woods. At night. To be fair, it wasn’t completely my fault. She’d wandered off from the camp and when I went searching, I didn’t see a single sign of her.

So, I left.

It’s not like she doesn’t know her way around the area. She’s lived there most of her life. Besides that, I had already taken the job to come kill this troll. Insofacto, I had to leave. I’m sure she’ll be ecstatic to see me when I get back.

I hope.

I dodged to the left and snatched my sword off the ground, then turned to face the beast. The troll was in mid-swing, so I side-stepped the blow and took advantage of the situation by hacking a deep gash along the creature’s thigh. It staggered and screeched, but otherwise seemed unfazed by the wound.

Trolls are tough creatures to hurt, and even tougher creatures to kill. Normally, I’d have at least two other hunters with me to take on one of these beasts. And that’s the second thing that went wrong. My go-to guys and I had a falling out over … well, that’s not important right now. Suffice it to say, I was on my own for this job.

The creature regained its balance and turned to face me. It regarded me with a look of utter contempt. Trolls are ugly beasts. Full-grown, they can be at tall as eight feet and a few hundred pounds of raw muscle. Their skin tone can range from light gray to a sickly green. This troll’s skin was a yellowish hue, but not as gross as some trolls I’ve seen. He also wasn’t very tall, standing only a head taller than me.

The chances were high that this was a youngster who had left his tribe and decided to get close to humans for a steady food source. Unfortunately for him, the Lord of Casem quickly realized something was wrong when people started rapidly disappearing. A growing troll can eat a lot. And since they aren’t very intelligent creatures, this one had signed his own death warrant by not keeping a low profile.

You live and you learn. Well, sometimes. Sometimes