Chapter Text
Swords clashed before the first light of dawn graced the city of Essempi, sounds of conflict going unheard by all except for the lizards and raccoons that traversed the city before humanity's waking hours.
A hero with glittering horns seemingly carved from gold swung a broadsword glowing with blue light at her attacker. The hero's skin was like stone, reinforced by the strong metal of her magical armor.
"Aren't you tired of playing the same game, Trollhunter?" his opponent taunted, stepping back with a mocking smirk. She flicked her tail in annoyance.
Clara's enemy was one that she'd faced before. Sapnap was a servant of XD, and as Trollhunter she had been crossing blades with him for the better part of four centuries. He bore a strong musculature, with cracks in his stone-like skin glowing like magma. He wielded two large sickle-knives, which curved to a wicked point, with a hard blunt end of the handle.
"Over, and over again. No variation! It's far beyond boring."
The Trollhunter blocked Sapnap's spinning strike, sparks flying as blade met blade. It might have looked like a dance, were it not for the growls of rage and huffing breaths.
"Now it's just sad." Sapnap jeered. The Trollhunter shifted, jumping away in an effort to reach the Gate, only to be blocked as Sapnap ran before her. She swung with a mighty blow, which Sapnap failed to completely dodge.
The end of her broadsword swiped down over the warrior's chest, tearing his torso from his right collarbone to below his sternum on the opposite side. The wound was shallow, but magma blood bubbled and oozed from it like cracks in the ground. It had managed to pierce the thin armor Sapnap wore, as he favored agility over durability. Sapnap shouted, face contorting in pain. It was a fact that the Trollhunter got little chance to celebrate as Sapnap hooked his sickle around the blade in attempt to draw it away as he struck with his other hand. She twisted the blade and swung, parrying the attack.
"Shut up! For Prime's sake, do you ever stop talking?!" Clara growled out, armored feet grinding into the concrete with a grating sound.
The Trollhunter knew, as the battle drew on, that she was getting exhausted. With each hour that passed, the chances of Dream or GeorgeNotFound arriving rose exponentially. It was a miracle that they hadn't already arrived, in and of itself. She hoped that her own backup would soon realize the situation that she was in. She had ventured out into the human realm for a brief patrol, expecting to come across only a few wayward entities eating neighborhood pets.
Just outside the door to L'manburg, she knew that help was only a few yards away, if she could only reach the Gate to shout, or if someone just happened to check on her, she might be able to-
The vibrant rays of dawn's first light had grown over the city during the course of their battle, and the clashing warriors were shielded from the rays of sunlight only by the overhang that supported the train tracks above. The Trollhunter had noticed that Sapnap had been steadily pushing her toward the edge of the shadows. Despite her centuries of combat skill, she struggled to push through her exhaustion.
She'd just managed to parry and switch their roles, Sapnap now pressing his two scythes against the blade of her broadsword as she pushed him into the light. His feet scrambled to push him away from that burning rays, his eyes touched by fear for only a few moments before he twisted his wrists, moving the blades so that their curve hooked around the Trollhunter's blade. He wrenched it, twisting them around, before delivering a swift kick to the Trollhunter's chest before she could regain her footing.
This was enough to push into the soft rays of morning. She felt her body stiffen, succumbing to the weakness that her stoney skin could not protect her from. Her body began to turn into a statue, starting with the parts most exposed. She spoke her last words in this life as her face grew numb, eyes wide and watering as she saw the sun for the first and last time.
"Another champion will rise to seize the daylight, and through them Prime will have her vengeance." Her eyes stayed open, speaking through agony even as her sclera turned into stone. With that, she became a Trollhunter statue. Yet another casualty in an ancient war.
Sapnap chortled, grin wide from ear-to-ear. "Oh, just wait 'til I tell Dream about this..." His eyes burned red in the shadows as he threw one sickle at the Trollhunter's statuesque corpse, the blunt end colliding with it's forehead and bouncing back into his hand as it crumbled.
An amulet flickered blue, once, twice, before going grey like the crumbled stone around it.
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Tommy whooped gleefully as his golden blonde hair was tousled by the wind. His bicycle was a brilliant shade of red, with mud crusted onto the metal, grouping in splatters around the wheels. Washi-tape mimicking police tape was wrapped around the stem, only a little dusty and torn from dirt and rainwater. Tommy's feet pumped the pedals furiously as tried to outpace his friends behind him.
Tubbo's breath was coming out in heaves as he practically stood on the pedals of his forest-green bicycle. The metal beside his handle was adorned with stickers of bees. "I am going to get you, you motherfucker." He gasped, a playful fire in his eyes as he caught a second wind.
"Not if you keep being a slowpoke, Bee-boy!" Tommy laughed.
Tubbo grumbled, passing Ranboo who was desperately attempting to keep up on their black bicycle. Their bicycle was the tallest out of the three teens, to accommodate their greater-than-average height. His bicycle had yet to be adorned with any accessories. This was partially because it was new, being the shiniest and most unblemished out of the vehicles. They had just received a new one from their mothers after having outgrown their previous one. The teens were glad to resume their bicycle-driven explorations of the large city they called home, after a full two weeks of walking everywhere with Ranboo so that they wouldn't feel left out.
They were cycling along a sidewalk in the part of town that they had yet to explore. It was a historic part of Essempi, and most of the buildings they sped by were old. Dusty shop signs advertised antique stores with aged oddities and musty-smelling smoke shops. Up ahead was a railroad track suspended on a highway. The area below it was shrouded in darkness, but the areas swathed in light appeared to be scattered with odd stone pieces and various refuse that accumulated in the area.
Tommy leaned his bike, narrowly missing the edge of the rusted fence that ended right before the incline into that space. He slowed his descent, sliding down until his wheel nudged a can.
He turned back toward the sidewalk to hear Tubbo screech "Shit!" as he almost fell after grinding to a sudden halt a few feet from where Tommy went down. Ranboo made a slower, more careful stop.
Tubbo quickly descended the incline after Tommy, before dropping his bicycle unceremoniously to the ground and delivering a few lighthearted punches to the larger boy's chest and stomach. He grabbed him by the shoulders and proceeded to wrestle with him. Ranboo watched, leaning his bicycle against the fence. Tommy pranced away, swatting another jab from Tubbo as his shoes crushed fallen leaves and pebbles.
"Let's see what loot we can find!" Tommy shouted. The trio liked to forage for cool knicknacks around the city, finding a range of treasures, from a shiny rock to a string of vintage incandescent lights.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea..." Ranboo piped up, looking uncertain even as they gently guided their bicycle into the area with them.
"Oooooooh, Ranboob, don't tell me you're scared." Tommy cackled, mimicking a ghost. Tubbo deadpanned, "The scariest thing down here is Tommy's body odor," Tommy exclaimed indignantly as he tackled Tubbo, forcing him to the ground. "I have a very manly smell, for your information!" They wrestled like that for a few minutes while Ranboo decided to sit on the incline. Tubbo got up and raced behind Ranboo, using them as a human shield. His fingers grasped the other teen's shoulders in a mimicry of a hug, as he shrieked right by their ear. "Protect me, Ranboo!"
Tommy sighed as he stood, grinning. "'Guess I get first dibs on the cool stuff." He shrugged, before booking it in the direction of the shadowed overhang. Tubbo scrambled after him, with Ranboo taking up the rear as he carefully surveyed the objects scattered on the ground.
The area was riddled with objects of various sizes, most of the junk being old newspapers, bottles, and cans. Overall, the typical array of garbage. Tubbo and Ranboo carefully sorted through a pile a few feet apart while Tommy ventured toward the shadows below the train track. He held a piece of what looked like an intricate statue in his hands. It looked like one eye and the lower part of a woman's face. Her face was round, and bore a bittersweet expression. He gently set down the piece, intending to look at the statue from another angle and perhaps connect the pieces like a puzzle, when his foot caught an object and he fell to the ground.
The object was propelled toward his forehead, and to add insult to injury, whacked him on the forehead as he fell. It's metal edge left a small tear in his forehead that quickly began to gather blood. His hands clasped the pebbles and paper as he lay facedown on the sharp edges of the object.
He heard the sound of Ranboo's shoes as they made their way over, bracing one hand on the boy's shoulders. "Tommy, you good?"
This was amidst Tubbo's feral laughter, hunched over as if in pain. The boy wheezed, tears in his eyes as he too stumbled in the direction of the blonde teen.
Tommy huffed, before prying his body from the ground. He grasped the strange object in his hand as he shifted into a sitting position, unaware that his back was pressed against the statue's detached leg. The object had begun glowing blue in his grasp, and he brought it closer to his face. He began to hear a strange humming and whispering around him, like wind through reeds. The amulet whispered his name. He brought his thumb to circle the text imprinted into the edge of the object. For the glory of Prime, daylight is mine to command.
Tubbo and Ranboo had begun to peer at it over his shoulder when they were startled by his ringtone. "We Didn't Start the Fire" rung through their ears as Tubbo fumbled for his phone. He pressed speaker, before holding it between the trio. None of them liked the whole press-the-phone-to-the-ear thing.
The contact on the screen of Tubbo's bee-phone-case-clad phone read "Aewsame Dde, Tommy's Paremtal." Spelling was never Tubbo's strong suit.
The voice of Tommy's adoptive father emitted from the phone with an amused lilt. "Let me guess, Tommy's phone died again?" Tommy sputtered, pawing at the pocket of his sweater with his unoccupied hand to confirm the accusation. Tubbo snorted. "Yep!"
"Well, you kids had better be getting home. It's going to be dark soon." At this, the teens looked upward, noticing that sunset's warm tones lit the sky. They began to pick their way across the area, back toward their bicycles as the call concluded.
None of them noticed the pair of crimson eyes that tracked their movements from the shadows.
Tommy pocketed the amulet as he mounted his bicycle, staring back at the text once again before it was obscured in the folds of his clothing. Their earlier bickering resumed as they raced home, silhouettes casting shadows in the ember tones of sunset. They split once they reached their street, waving goodbyes as each approached their respective homes.
Tommy pulled his bicycle into the garage of his adoptive father's light green house, being careful to avoid the various projects littered about the floor. He walked out, pressing the button beside the large door and watched as the shutters fell. He hurried over to the front door, stepping over the dirty rug before entering the bright yellow door without bothering to knock.
He swiftly untied and pried off his worn red converse before haphazardly throwing them beside Sam's work shoes. The scent of meatloaf floated through the air as Tommy approached Sam, who stood after kneeling to remove the meatloaf from the oven. The man turned with a smile as he set the pan on the stove and began to plate the food. He spoke with his back to Tommy. "So, I imagine that you had fun, considering that you almost forgot that tonight is a school night?"
"Big men such as I do not need to concern ourselves with school nights." Tommy walked to Sam's side, barely brushing shoulders. Sam scooped some lima beans onto the plate while Tommy grabbed utensils.
Sam laughed, "Big men should concern themselves with school nights, otherwise they'll be written up for sleeping in class." Sam also happened to be Essempi High School's History teacher, which made for an interesting dynamic in Tommy's home life. It was odd knowing that his other teachers could be gossiping about him to his guardian.
"Alright, alright." Tommy grabbed his food and sat on the couch, Sam being quick to join him. Tommy flipped through channels, settling on his classic Moana.
They ate in silence, watching the movie, Tommy's mind drifting from the amulet and it's whispers, before heading to their respective bedrooms. Sam bid Tommy a good night, and playfully warned him not to play Animal Crossing until the wee hours.
Tommy's bedroom door bore a sign with all-capital letters written in his messy scrawl. BIG MEN ONLY - with a hastily written addition taped below - ONLY EXCEPTION: RANBOOB.
Tommy entered the room, removing his sweater and placing it on a bedpost as he changed into his soft red pajamas. Clothes were strewn messily across the floor. He removed his binder and the amulet from his pocket, placing it beside Shroud's pen. Shroud was his tarantula, who was currently nestled in his Man Cave.
Tommy left to brush his teeth before returning, eyes once again glossing over he strange glowing object. He figured that it must be some children's toy or cosplay prop that got discarded. Perhaps the glow was charged by the sun. Tommy sat at his desk, turning on his computer and picking some movie to put on in he background as a night light. He switched the light switch before crawling into his unmade bed.
He fell asleep clutching his plush cow, Henry. Henry’s soft fabric had worn in places, but there were few things in this world that Tommy found more comforting.
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Across the street, an imposing figure stood in the shadows and watched as the light went out. Despite their size, they slunk away quietly into the night.
The amulet glowed with it's own light, awaiting use by it's chosen champion. It would not go ignored for long.