Chapter Text
Steve sat huddled against the cold stone wall, arms wrapped tight around his knees, clutching them to his chest like a shield. His breath came in short, ragged bursts, each inhale scraping his ribs raw, each exhale threatening to collapse him entirely. The damp chill seeped through his clothes, numbing his skin, but his mind burned too hot, racing too fast.
The flicker of torchlight made shadows writhe across the cavern walls—too big, too strange, stretching into monstrous shapes that wouldn’t sit still. Trolls loomed in his peripheral vision, massive and jagged, their stone-rough hides catching the firelight in cruel angles. Every glance showed him claws, tusks, teeth—too sharp, too dangerous. His hands shook where they gripped his jeans, nails carving crescent moons into the denim.
This isn’t real. It can’t be real. His chest hitched, every thought stumbling over the next. I should be home. On my couch. With my phone. Ordering a pizza. Not here. Not with them.
He pressed his forehead to his knees, rocking, as if curling small enough could erase all of it—the trolls, the weight of the amulet, the stares digging into him. But the voices around him wouldn’t stop. Low rumbles. Impatient growls. Even the calmer tones sounded too deep, too alien, too heavy for his human ears.
“Did you hear that, fleshbag?” Draal’s voice cut through like thunder, a rumbling challenge that made Steve jolt upright despite himself. The troll stepped forward, his massive form blotting out the nearest torch. “Let us see if you are truly worthy of it.”
Steve flinched so hard it rattled his bones. He twisted against the wall, throwing his hands out uselessly. His fists struck only air, flailing at nothing. “Don’t touch me! Don’t—don’t you dare! I… I can’t! I don’t want—I just—” His voice cracked into a strangled shriek, the sound ricocheting off stone.
The trolls loomed larger in his panicked eyes, and words tumbled from him, jagged and frantic, too fast to think: “I don’t have to do this! You can’t make me! I know my rights, okay? You can’t just… drag me into some creepy… stone cult thing! That’s illegal, or… or something! I read about it! There are rules! There are—there are laws!”
The words meant nothing here, but he clung to them anyway, spitting them out like a shield he didn’t have. He pounded his fists weakly against his knees, rocking harder, panic spiralling faster than his thoughts.
“Leave me alone! Just—leave me alone!” His throat tore with the scream, the sound echoing off stone and making the trolls flinch back a step. His fists balled, he struck at his knees again, as if he could fight himself into disappearing. “I don’t want this! I don’t even know what you want from me! I can’t—I can’t do this!”
Aaarghh rumbled low in his chest and stepped closer, a silent barrier of stone and strength, but Steve barely noticed. His shoulders hunched, his head buried, trembling. His voice shrank, the words cracking smaller with every repetition.
“Leave me alone… please… just leave me alone…”
“Enough of this nonsense,” Draal snapped, taking a heavy step forward, eyes narrowing. “If he cannot stand, then drag him. The Soothscryer will decide.”
Aaarghh braced himself between them, growling softly, but it was Blinky’s sharp voice that rang out. “He does not have to go!” Blinky stood firm, all four arms spread, protective. “Not until he is ready. We will not force him.”
Vendel tapped his staff once, calm but unyielding. His gaze fell not on Steve, but on Blinky. “Blinky, the fleshbag must come with us. Delay helps no one. The Soothscryer awaits—there is no more time to waste.”
Blinky’s ears flattened, his voice quivering with fury. All four of his hands lifted, gesturing fiercely as though trying to carve sense into the air itself.
“And what then? Drag him like a criminal? Shatter what little courage he still clings to? He is but a hatchling, Vendel—unready, untempered. I ask you, give him time. Time to rest, to steady himself. He has been thrust into a truth too great, too sudden. Would you have his first step as Trollhunter be one taken in terror?”
Steve’s rocking grew more frantic at the words. His voice broke, spilling faster: “Leave me alone… leave me alone… I can’t—I don’t want this—I want to go home…”
Vendel’s staff struck the stone floor with a sharp crack, echoing through the cavern like a clap of thunder. Sparks danced along the edges of the worn stone tiles, and Steve flinched, pressing his face harder into his knees.
“Time is not a luxury we have, Blinky,” Vendel continued, his voice firm, unyielding, resonating with authority. Every syllable seemed to push the air out of the room, compressing it, making Steve’s chest ache even more. “The amulet has chosen him. Whether he trembles or not, whether his heart races like a drum or he screams until he is raw, his path has already been set.”
Blinky’s glowing eyes flickered with conflicted light, the small motions of his hands sharp but restrained. “But—he is a hatchling! He cannot yet comprehend! He has not even had a moment to breathe, to steady his mind. You would force him before he is ready—before he can even accept this? He is still in shock, still tethered to the world he knew."
Vendel’s gaze did not waver. “It is a necessity. The Soothscryer waits, and the amulet’s will is absolute. If we delay any longer, we risk more than the fleshbag’s fear—we risk the chance to fulfil what must be done. Every moment of hesitation carries its own peril.”
He turned sharply toward Draal, his voice hard and commanding. “Lift him. Now. Take him to the Soothscryer. No more delays, no more hesitation.”
Steve shrieked, twisting violently, tiny fists flailing at Draal’s enormous hands. “Don’t touch me! I… I can’t! I… I just—leave me alone!” His words tumbled over each other, panic spiralling faster than he could think.
Draal’s massive arms wrapped around him with firm, unyielding strength. Steve struggled, kicking and screaming, but there was no escape. Aaarghh braced himself beside them, a solid wall of stone, and Blinky hovered close, flapping and chittering, trying to soothe the terrified human.
Steve’s mind spun, every nerve ending alight. His small hands clawed at Draal’s arms, as if sheer will could shatter the impossible weight pressing down on him. “I… I just… I want to be anywhere else! Anywhere!”
Blinky’s glowing eyes met his, conveying both concern and warning. “Master Steve… we will be with you. We won’t leave you," he murmured in his broken, urgent tongue. He scurried back and forth, chittering anxiously, brushing against Steve as if to hold him together.
Draal held him securely, stepping forward with deliberate strength, carrying him toward the chamber of the Soothscryer. Every flail, every scream, every tear-streaked word of protest pressed against the cavern walls, echoing in a relentless chorus of fear.
Steve’s heart pounded like a drum in his chest. Every step made him feel smaller, weaker, and exposed. He wanted to disappear. The shadows on the walls became monsters, his own panic painting them with claws and fire.
When the Soothscryer’s chamber finally came into view, Steve’s limbs trembled uncontrollably. The massive doors loomed before him like a judgment. His chest heaved, breath shallow, mind spinning. The trolls placed him carefully on the cold stone floor inside.
Blinky stayed close, muttering protective phrases in his strange, broken tongue. He scurried anxiously from side to side around Steve, brushing against him as if to hold him together. Aaarghh stood solid, a sentinel of stone, as Draal approached to position Steve at the chamber’s centre.
Vendel stepped forward, lifting Steve’s small, trembling hand toward the glowing surface of the Soothscryer. Steve screamed, twisting, flailing, nearly collapsing to the floor.
“No! My hand! Don’t—don’t make me!” His tiny body shivered violently as the glowing surface of the Soothscryer approached, his mind a whirlwind of terror and disbelief. Every instinct screamed at him to pull back, to vanish, to shrink out of existence.
The cold hum of the Soothscryer bit into his skin, sending icy tendrils up his arm. “Please! Not my hand! I… I can’t… I just—leave me alone!” His voice cracked, small and desperate, carried off into the cavern like a brittle thing on the wind.
Blinky darted closer, moving quickly around Steve, brushing against him as best he could to offer comfort. “Master Steve… we are here… we won’t leave…” His broken, urgent voice carried reassurance, even as the chaos pressed in.
And then—a sudden, blinding flash of light, unlike anything natural, erupted from the Soothscryer. The cavern fell silent, even Draal and Vendel frozen in place, their stone faces reflecting awe and unease. The trolls recoiled, startled by the burst of raw magic, their massive forms tense, claws digging into the floor as if bracing for impact.
Steve’s body went rigid for a heartbeat, every nerve alight with shock, before he collapsed forward onto the stone floor, trembling and gasping, utterly overwhelmed. The light seemed to linger on his skin for a heartbeat, as though marking him with something ancient and powerful.
Blinky hovered close, chittering frantically, pressing near to shield and steady him, while Aaarghh loomed beside them, a solid sentinel of stone. Even the trolls stood back, uneasy, watching silently as the Soothscryer’s glow dimmed, leaving only the cold stone, the hum of ancient magic, and the fragile, trembling figure of Steve at the centre.