Everyone fought their way into the Central Tower\u2019s throne room. Sitting on the throne, a spot reserved for the fort\u2019s Overlord, was the alleged two-headed Troll, a male by the look of things. The figure stood up and grabbed his club. His opponents then drew their weapons. Orbak leveled his blade at the Overlord and gave a look of contempt. \u201cTHIS FORT,\u201d he shouted, \u201cIS NOW PROPERTY OF THE GRYPHONS!\u201d One of the heads, wearing a metal helmet, then looked curiously at him, as if examining him. Malnar then noticed that the other head had pure white eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDaddy!\u201d she whispered as she pointed at the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see them.\u201d The helmeted head was then moving back and forth, then it groaned in frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan\u2019t see or hear anything in this!\u201d Just then, the Troll appeared to have sprouted human arms and placed them onto the helmet. Then\u2026the head and arms fell off the back of the Troll\u2019s main body to reveal that it was just a one-headed Troll with a Human on its back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought something seemed fishy about this!\u201d snarled Orbak. \u201cWhich part of my family are you?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, you know,\u201d answered the human as it got the helmet off to reveal a man, \u201cyour first cousin twice removed on your dad\u2019s side.\u201d Marshii and Orbak goggled at the man. The man then grinned as he saw Marshii. \u201cHey! Marshii! Old friend! How\u2019s the Endeavor<\/em> been?! I heard it became a Mechanica!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBarath?!\u201d asked Marshii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know him?!\u201d inquired Orbak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were roommates when we were medical students! Besides, this freak was the head of the Vorkath Monastic Hospital!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, yeah, I remember the whole affair. My family shunned him after that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo much to catch up on,\u201d chuckled Barath. \u201cWhere do I start?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow about your arrest?!\u201d demanded Orbak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat, after that affair? My prison shuttle never made it. We got shot down by pirates. One of them hit me on the head with a hammer. But, you know how our family works. Like an Orc, getting hit on the head was a headache at most. You wanna kill us, you gotta take the head clean off. Does the job every time! \u2026Well, most of the time, I think\u2026dunno. Never been really sure about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, we\u2019re sure it\u2019s all the time!\u201d snarled Razel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAllow us to demonstrate!\u201d growled Dazel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026You freed them\u2026\u201d gulped Barath to Orbak. He then turned to the Troll. \u201cThe Human and Mermaid are friends. The Blenders, watch them! Make sure they don\u2019t do anything suspicious like, you know, KILL me!\u201d Malnar then nodded to her father before he continued his questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow did you end up here?\u201d asked Orbak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, after the pirates shot my shuttle down, I was taken prisoner by them. Spent a lot of time in their brig, like, two years. They captured this Troll here a year later. We were cellmates until I gave him a way to spring us out of there! He jumps out, pirates and their respective organs and limbs go flying, now, here we are, the best of friends!\u201d The Troll mumbled something. \u201cI told you, you work for me now, so I\u2019m gonna call you my best friend!\u201d The Troll mumbled again. \u201cYou\u2019re right, I SHOULD tell them about the fort. Well, it\u2019s a long story. You see, after the Final War started, we decided to find some place to hole up and wait out the rest of our lives while the Realms died around us. We kept it hidden for about a year until I stupidly forgot to recast a redirection spell, giving way for a Gryphon to find us. The rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou refused the call to arms?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, there\u2019s nothing wrong with staying alive!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re a member of my family.\u201d Orbak rolled his eyes at the cowardice on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s been nice catching up,\u201d mused Hanjar, \u201cbut we just came by to tell you that the fort, as per our arrangement with Orbak, is ours now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYours?!\u201d Barath laughed. \u201cOh please! There\u2019s no one in Realmfleet who can put up with being Overlord! It can be a pain in the ass to the uninitiated. You gotta feed your followers, train your followers, make sure you don\u2019t get killed by your followers, it\u2019s a pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA pain my son believes he can bear. He feels he is ready to try his hand at command and Orbak has told us that, since it\u2019s in Gryphon territory, it\u2019s his to command as the new Overlord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, good luck to your son,\u201d wished Orbak. \u201cWe\u2019ll just chain Barath up, put him back in prison, and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKILL THEM ALL!\u201d Barath shouted to the Troll. The Troll roared and swung his club into Malnar, breaking her ribs and throwing her into a wall. Orbak then grabbed the Troll\u2019s head and began counter-dominating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve taken your last order from him!\u201d The Troll was then released, and his eyes went back to normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy sincere apologies, My King!\u201d he begged as he fell to his knees, his hands clasped in prayer. \u201cI never meant to\u2026!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOut of my way!\u201d Orbak then shoved the Troll aside and went straight for Barath. He charged up lighting in his hands, then fired a large stream of it at Barath. The lighting struck true and threw Barath into the wall. The attack continued, then Barath flung his arms to the side and ended it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cENOUGH!\u201d he roared. \u201cYOU ARE ALL BENEATH ME! I am an Emboramii, and I will not be bullied by\u2026!\u201d Orbak then grabbed Barath\u2019s head and slammed him into the wall repeatedly, then stopped only to punch him repeatedly, reducing him into a bloody mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDaddy!\u201d groaned Malnar as Marshii tended to her. Orbak didn\u2019t let up for a good minute. When he stopped, Barath was coughing up blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Please!\u201d he begged. \u201cJust do it! Kill me already!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026You aren\u2019t worth the effort, you coward,\u201d snarled Orbak. He grabbed the side of Barath\u2019s head, his eyes glowed red, and he used his domination voice. \u201cI will not stain my blade with your coward\u2019s blood! You are beneath contempt, pathetic creature!\u201d He then put his other hand to the other side of Barath\u2019s head and pressed hard on it. Barath\u2019s eyes glowed red as he screamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDADDY! NO!\u201d cried Malnar as she got up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everyone fought their way into the Central Tower\u2019s throne room. Sitting on the throne, a spot reserved for the fort\u2019s Overlord, was the alleged two-headed Troll, a male by the look of things. The figure stood up and grabbed his club. His opponents then drew their weapons. Orbak leveled his blade at the Overlord and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,237],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-4-trials-of-light-and-dark","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4118,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions\/4118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}