A Trio of Anomalies - The Quest for Paradise

CHAPTER 16 - FIRST TRY

"Perhaps the goal wasn't to beat me to death and bury me in this muddy cave," thought Erwin as he tried crawling away after being thrown into the muddy pit for goodness knows how many times, "But to just kill me slowly while having fun doing so."

"And you're doing nothing to stop it," replied the same voice in his head, only harsher, "Some knight you are, letting them beat you up like this! You pathetic idiot!"

He had no idea how long this went on for. Were the trolls this terrible at killing him? Or were they this good at finding this wonderful balance of injuring him enough so that he could whimper in pain as they bend and break him over and over again, yet still keeping him conscious to stretch out this agonizing period of torture? Too dizzy to move and mind too plagued with horrible memories to think straight, every time he landed in the puddle he could only curl into a ball in despair as the trolls crowded around him again and pelted him with rocks and their fists. They would send him flying from one end of the cave to another and plaster his mud-caked skin with bruises and scars, cuts and scratches, staining the cave walls and the sharp silver frames of the Diamond Door with tiny splatters of his blood. One of them even had a whip just lying around, and the next thing he knew his arms and legs were covered in deep red lines, turning them into horrific candy canes caked with grey-brown dirt.

"Idiot! What are you doing on the ground like this?!" he thought, half-heartedly wiping his face, "This couldn't go on!"

One of the trolls picked him up and slammed the back of his head against a wall, sending a massive surge of pain throughout his head enough to make him cry out once again. He peered through his cracked glasses and gasped in horror, for one of the trolls took interest in his olive backpack, dumping his stuff out as they turned it upside down. Flashes filled his mind as he envisioned them tearing his backpack apart in front of his eyes and spilling everything onto the ground, and he felt a surge of energy despite the troll's brutal strength holding him back.

"You deserve to die if you let Scribblehopper's money go to waste!" he struggled, but to no avail, "Come on you idiot! Do something!"

"STOP!!" he cried desperately, struggling to breathe as the burly green hand kept him pinned against the wall, crushing him harder and harder despite his attempts to wriggle free while clawing at the tough, leathery skin, "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY STUFF!!"

He choked, "LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE!! BEAT ME UP ALL YOU WANT BUT STOP WRECKING MY STUFF!! STOP IT!!"

He received only laughter in return, for the trolls neither understood nor cared about his pleas. Struggling to hold back his tears he stopped yelling and resorted to kicking and punching the troll's arm, only to wince as the pain in his chest doubled, the huge hand squeezing out the last bit of air and preventing him from getting more. Overcome with desperation he gathered the tiniest bit of strength he had left and dug into the softer spots of the troll's arms as hard as he could, closing his eyes as his fingernails sunk into the filthy skin before he felt a sharp blow to his face and another coating of dirt as the troll threw him into the mud with an ear-piercing scream.

Enraged by the sudden attack the troll kicked him into a corner, but by then he couldn't even care less. Trying his best to focus he hunted for his grey wand, the mud providing a temporary camouflage and gaining him precious seconds. He spotted his wand in the opposite corner, barely reflecting the white light from the portal despite being so dirty it could hide in plain sight from the trolls. Ignoring his injuries he crawled towards the dark corner hiding his wand, but immediately after he started he was up in the air again, for another troll grabbed him by the legs and swung him around like a pendulum, laughing as he struggled against throwing up. Suppressing his nauseousness he eyed his wand and concentrated, and with his right arm outstretched it flew right into his hand, caked in layers of mud just as he was but still usable. With a small smile on his face he shot two jets of water into the eyes of the troll just as his head was dragged along the rough walls and across the ceiling. He braced for another ear-piercing scream and the same old walls and mud pit when the troll let go of his ankles and pelted him with rocks as revenge.