Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 16

     Panting heavily in fear of what was unwillingly happening to him, Branch ran as far into the forest as his legs would take him, the gray troll pushing roughly through bushes to try and escape his fate...

     He didn't even care when a thin branch smacked across his face, leaving a rather large scare on his left eye as he rushed through the forest, several thorns scraping his gray skin as he ran past...

     But still... he kept running... moving as fast as he possibly could... He couldn't stop... he had to get away from the village... far... far... away...

     His legs quickly loosing strength and becoming somewhat like jello from all the running he was doing, the survivalist finally allowed himself to collapse down to the ground in exhaustion as he panted heavily, trying hard to catch his breath...

     The weather had cooled down dramatically since he left his home, but even with the sun now beginning to set... the little gray troll was still hot and sweaty in his thick winters outfit... too hot...

     Slowly, still panting slightly, Branch pushed himself up to his knees, looking around carefully to make sure he was actually alone...

     Indeed... no one was around... he was too far away from the village for any normal troll to travel... so... it should be safe now to take off his hoodie... right?

     Forcing himself back up to his wobbly feet, the village grump horridly pulled off his sweatshirt to relieve himself from the heat threatening to take over his body, revealing the fur that was now covering him completely, the thick black strands shimmering slightly in the quickly fading sunlight...

"No, no, no, no, no..." Branch mumbled softly to himself as he looked wide eyed at his hairy hands... "No... please no..."

     Why was this happening!?

Slowly, he looked over to a small pond that sat implanted in the ground not too far away from him...

     He gulped, dreading what he would see if he walked over to that pond... but still... he moved forwards, heading slowly towards it, tears immedioutly flooding his eyes as he saw his reflection, his heart shattering into a million pieces when he saw what he now looked like...

     "No..." he whispered in despair, falling back down to his knees as he looked at his own reflection in disbelief...

     His entire face was covered in fur, his two front teeth had now transformed into sharp razor-like fangs, and eight claws were now protruding from his fingertips...

"Oh god..." he muttered in a quiet whisper, placing both hands over his face as if trying to hide his horrendous appearance... he was a monster...

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As the moon slowly began to rise up into the sky, a sharp stabbing sensation suddenly shot through Branch's stomach, causing the little troll to fall to his side with a quick but loud scream of pain...

"N... no..." he groaned, his thick fur growing longer and longer as his body seemed to transform before his very eyes, the pain of this transformation taking hold of him and refusing to let go... What was happening!?

Another sharp pain and Branch could feel himself slipping away...

"Ugh!" he yelped, clutching tightly at his stomach. The pain was just so intense... taking over him completely...

His memories began to fade from his brain as he lay curled up on his side, his eyes shut tightly in pure agony...

Fog began to cloud his vision, his mind seeming to shut off as he panted heavily, his entire body no longer looking anything like a troll...

The creature slowly emerged from the ground, rising up dramatically onto it's four feet as it's snout raised up towards the sky, almost as if sniffing intently for something...

A strange smell suddenly coming to it's nose, the creature growled, slowly walking off into the forest...