Trollex's Story

Chapter 2

Dinner was awkwardly quiet when the food was delivered. Bliss promised not to tell the family about Trollex's adventure with Beat, but he wasn't too sure she'd keep it. Family dinners were usually bright and interactive, but for the past week now they've been more and more....bland.

Trollex looked down at his bowl. It had salad made of neon purple, green, and orange kelp with bits of lobster in it. Techno trolls were vegetarians with some occasional seafood, and their teeth were able to easily crack through a lobster's shell.

After taking enough of the silence, Bliss stood up and blurted, "How was everyone today I'm fine totally not bored how about you guys HAHAHAHAHA." She sat back down and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. Their parents exchanged glances and made sure it was just the royal family in the room.

"Your mother and I have wanted to talk to you two about something for a while now," King Gill explained. "And you cannot tell...anyone."

"Ok....?" Trollex said, confused.

"We are not alone in this world. You see, above the surface...are other kinds of trolls." Queen Twilight explained.

"Wait, I thought if you went up to the surface, you'd fall out of the world and float up into the sun?" Bliss asked.

"And you've believed that for how long now?" Gill snickered to himself and Twilight elbowed him in the side.

"That may have been a few little fibs thrown in there, but we felt they were necessary to keep you two safe. To keep the tribe safe. There are actually several different worlds beyond the barriers of our reef."

"Then why can't we go there?" Trollex inquired.

"Because these trolls aren't like us," Gill said. "They.....come, I'll show you." He seemed a bit hesitant about it, but he led Trollex, Bliss, and Twilight into the library.

"Um, Gill? Don't you think we should have finished dinner first?" Twilight insisted.

"Oh come on, clearly no one was enjoying it," Gill countered before swimming off. Twilight hang back feeling a bit offended by his remark. The Techno King swam up to the third level and pulled out one of the books from the shelf. Inside the case was a key, leaving Trollex a bit disappointed. He honestly expected a hidden compartment to reveal itself. Gill noticed the look on Trollex's face and smiled, "You don't think any Techno troll would leave this book out, would you? Anyone would've found out about it." He seemed to read his son's mind perfectly.

The royal family, to their surprise, were lead into heir quarters. Gill pulled the key from his hair and stuck it into a tiny hole in the wall that honestly, no one had payed attention to. The wall moved to the side and revealed a stair case that spiraled down. One by one, they swam down beneath the palace. As he swam further and further down, Trollex had a creeping sensation along his spine that told him they were being watched. Finally, Gill stopped at the entrance to a well lit room. The room looked like any other underwater cave, except there was glowing purple and indigo coral from the ceiling that grew in a sophisticated matter. In the center of the room was a stone block with carvings in it. Gill held up the carving and showed his family.

"You see, in the beginning, there was silence. Until someone made a sound. The trolls were so inspired by it, that they began to make music together. Each tribe had their own kind of music. We are Techno trolls; our music is filled with energetic loops of electronic styled music. But that's just our music. There are five other kinds of trolls. Rock, Country, Funk, Classical, and Pop." He held the stone to show what the other trolls looked like. Trollex and Bliss gasped with shock and curiosity.

"You see," Twilight said. "Each kind of music is controlled by their string. Many years ago, when the tribes lived together, the Pop trolls took everyone's string and attempted to remix it into their own kind of music. Thankfully, everyone got their string back, and they lived in isolation....ever since. Look at me when I say this, you cannot, under no circumstances, tell your fellow Techno trolls about this." Bliss nodded in understanding.

"But..." Trollex said. "Why not?"

Gill came down to his level and put a hand on his shoulder. "Because we must keep our tribe safe from the other trolls in order to make sure this never happens again."

"But why not?!" Trollex burst suddenly. "They can't be that bad! Who ever said that all of them were dangerous?! We don't know if they're all like Pop, or if they ever were. Maybe the Pop trolls felt bad about it and they changed!"

"Trollex!" Gill was suddenly regained his posture, towering over Trollex. "You will not tell anyone because it has kept us safe from the outside world, and it has kept them safe from us!"

The outburst from Gill left silence in the room. Twilight tried to take his hand in hers, but he limply moved it away from her, looking down.

"Listen," he said. "This is one of our biggest secrets. Your ancestors have done this for generations. I just don't feel it's the right time to suddenly tell the entire tribe that they've been lied to for so long." Trollex nodded slowly, looking down.

The family was silent for a while, until. "Dad...?" Bliss whispered. "What did you mean by, it keeps them safe from us?"

"That's something I....guess I should also tell you." Gill said. "When Techno trolls are disconnected from their music for too long, it's in their nature to turn to their inner music. The origin of Techno is nothing like what you hear during our raves. It's hard to explain, but...." he trailed off. "....it's bad. It's just, dangerous, and we do not want that to happen. So just in case someone tries to take our string, we need to do everything we can to stay away from the outside world. Okay?"

Bliss and Trollex quickly nodded their heads in understanding, and Gill put the tablet back. They swam up the stairs, Trollex thinking to himself, what could possibly be so bad about these other trolls?

Sorry, this chapter was kinda sucky.