Trollhunters: welcome to the darklands

Chapter 18:DRAWN TOGETHER

"Jim removed the emerald gem from his chest plate and tossed it into the placid black lake he had found. He didn't know how long it had taken him to get out of the labyrinth. Minutes, hours, days—in a land without a sunrise, time blurred together into one long nightmare. But in that time, something Rob said lingered with Jim.
Stay here long enough, and this place will taint you, too.
As much as Jim hated to admit it, this was probably the one true thing Rob had ever told him in their brief, chaotic time together. So, when Jim finally exited the maze and found the undisturbed body of water, he was all too happy to get rid of the gem and the whips it had created in his armor.
Jim waded into the lake and sniffed it. It smelled overwhelmingly of sulfur, but seemed otherwise harmless. Cupping the fetid water"

"in his hands, Jim washed away the grime that coated his skin and armor. He caught his rippling reflection and realized he hadn't seen his own face in the longest time. Jim barely recognized the pale, gaunt, and weary person that stared back at him.
Exiting the lake, Jim retraced his steps and came upon the spot where he had cut his way free of that Nyarlagroth's belly. Jim retrieved Skarlagk's satchel from the blob of partially digested muck that followed him out of the creature's guts. He opened it and found a few more of those gross bladder canteens, as well as the nub of chalk Skarlagk used to draw her maps.
She had a violent way of doing things, Jim thought. But Skarlagk did sorta save my life.
He took her satchel and a length of chain that had also been in the eel's stomach and walked over to a barren ravine. Along the way, he couldn't help but think more about Skarlagk. Yes, she had spared him from encountering one monster by tossing Jim inside of another. But Jim wondered if he had maybe saved Skarlagk, in a way, before the end. That last look he saw in her eyes—when
She had "let go of the revenge that so fueled her life—somehow warmed Jim. He supposed that was maybe how Skarlagk used to look ages ago, when she, too, was sixteen.
Reaching the ravine, Jim anchored the chain around a jagged tusk of rock and climbed down to the ledge. He let the chain hang there, pulled the chalk from the satchel, and marked a white arrow on the wall to keep track of his location. Jim continued along the edge, until he found a recessed alcove that offered privacy and protection. He sank to the alcove floor, his arms and legs aching from overuse.
As he sat there, alone, Jim thought again of those moths by the porch light. That memory was the first time he had allowed himself to think of his mom in days. Pretty soon, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Blinky, Draal, NotEnrique, and especially Toby and Claire flooded back into Jim's mind. He had tried so hard to keep from remembering his friends—from missing them—because he thought that was the key to surviving the Darklands.
"But maybe I should've been doing the opposite," Jim said to himself, his voice thick"

"with emotion.
Now that the floodgates were open, Jim didn't want to stop thinking of everyone back home. He wanted to see them more than ever. Looking down, Jim found the chalk still in his hand. Inspiration struck him, and he began sketching his extended human and Troll family on the alcove's slate walls. Jim never thought he was much of an artist, but his mom once told him how she used to paint before he was born.
Losing himself in the chalk, Jim didn't stop until he had finished rendering Claire, Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!! All of a sudden, he didn't feel so alone. All of a sudden, that hollowness inside his chest went away.
All of a sudden, the Trollhunter smiled."