Lasting Repercussions

Chapter 1

The clash of metal against stone resounded in Jim's ears as he watched Nomura engage the heinous vestige of Gunmar the Black. Her fluorescent khopesh became a blazing onslaught of light against the crumbling obsidian skin of the Dark Underlord. An impressive display of acrobatic skill sent her lithe form ricochetting this way and that above his head, managing to swiftly evade nearly every single one of his attacks.

He could hear Toby and Claire calling for him from over the cliffside, down which he had helped them start- at least before he was caught by a haphazard swat of Gunmar's stony tail, which had sent him sprawling back onto the precarious overhang, where he now lay with nowhere to go but past the dueling trolls or over the cliff's edge. He focused his strength, pouring what little energy he had left into willing the eclipse amulet which shone crimson upon his breast to manifest its blade, but to no avail. The vague figure of the dark steel began to take shape in his hand before faltering and evaporating into red vapors of light. A clash drew his attention back towards the base of the cliff, where Nomura and Gunmar had once again locked swords.

Gunmar let out a frustrated gnar. "You do not deserve my blade," he snarled. With a swift jerk of his horns he hurled her back across the length of the cliff into the wall of stone that began the terrain's next steeping ascent, where she collapsed, momentarily dazed. Before she could regain her senses, he hoisted a boulder twice his size over his head and cast it down upon her. A screech of pain rose from behind the stone under which she was now trapped.

Only then did Gunmar finally turn his attention to Jim.

Jim tried again at conjuring the Eclipse blade with about as much success as his previous attempt, and found himself scurrying backwards, trying desperately to put as much distance between himself and the imposing creature that now drew ever closer. A beastly smile came to Gunmar's face as Jim reached the edge of the crag, thus entirely exhausting the last of what ground he had to give.

"I have waited centuries," he rumbled, brandishing the edge of his insidious sword, "Tell me... Where is the Bridge?"

He had asked this several times before, in the arena, before he sent Jim to do battle with another one of his wretched creatures of war and Jim had always told him the same thing, though it varied between silence, a simple "no", or an occasional "go suck rocks". This time, however, Gunmar did not await an answer, but immediately brought the Decimar Blade to Jim's face.

The effect was immediate. The pull of the Blade's power weighed on him, suffocating him with its force.

"No!" Jim cried, trying with all his might to turn his face away from the sword's range of influence. But the blade would not allow it. The Eclipse amulet sprung to life, spurred on by the newly-wrot distress of its master, summoning the bicorned helm of the Trollhunter, which had been able to protect Jim from Gunmar and his Blade before. And while this did help ease the pull of the blade on Jim's mind, he could still feel it's influence through the mask, could feel the unyielding pressure with which Gunmar urged him to submit, and for a moment he heard a voice, Gunmar's voice, in his head.

Tell me...

"No!" he cried again, his exclamation muffled by the helmet.

The pressure then suddenly laid off, allowing for Jim to turn away and open the face mask to breathe.

"Your armor will not protect you for long," said Gunmar, panting at the effort that using his blade with such intensity brought, growing more and more audibly angry. "If you do not tell me, then I will turn you all! You must tell me!"

For a moment Jim's mind strayed to the nightmare of Toby, or Claire, or Blinky, or Aaarrrgh!, or Draal facing the tip of Gunmar's blade, feeling his blood thicken at the very thought.