Omake — Prince Mikhalir’s story. Crown or Tiara Chapter 9 Omake By Shinieris

Omake — Prince Mikhalir’s story.

Prince Mikhalir trudged through the dirt that covered the forest trail. His expensive cuirbuilly shoes were caked in mud and dirt, an indication of how far he had walked. He was now tired, after running from his pursuants for hours.

“Damned mountain trolls,” he said as he leaned on a nearby tree, “ I can’t defeat three mountain trolls at the same time.”

The prince heard and threw up at the foot of the tree. Nothing came out except for saliva and mucus. The prince had not had anything to eat other than leaves and root water. A heavy thump woke him from his rest. He cursed himself for finally losing his luck.

“Can’t run, little oo-mon?” growled the thirty foot tall monster. It had fangs on both sides of its normally flat teeth. It wore a loincloth covering its crotch and carried a club made from an uprooted tree.

“Heh ! Think you’ve defeated me, beast?” the prince panted as he forced himself to stand straight.

“Eelod beat oo-mon with club. Har ..har..har..”

The prince snickered, “And you are supposed to be the most intelligent?”

“Eelod laugh at small oo-mon. So small, so weak. Troll crush oo-mon!” it said as the other two ogres laughed along.

“You think you’ve won?” the prince said as he took out a vial, “I tell you, the human spirit shall not lose to you beasties of the wild,” he removed the stopper and gulped down the content.

“Oo-mon die now!” it said as it slammed the club down on the prince.

The prince rolled to the side as the club slammed onto the ground just a few feet from where he rolled to. Then he deflected the resulting debris using both his sword, a beautifully crafted blade of blue steel and enchanted jewels and its scabbard, also crafted of blue steel and adorned with alchemical jewels. He was, however, only delaying the troll for the swiftness potion to take effect.

It didn’t seem to matter to the three mountain trolls though. They swung their clubs with abandon, as if nothing else mattered but their target. But then everything changed. The prince felt power flowing through his veins as the swiftness potion started to take effect. His muscles became restless, twitching in anticipation of combat. His mind became sharper and his eyes saw the mountain trolls’ movements slowing. Not just the mountain trolls, even the wind, and the sound of rustling leaves became slower to his senses. He was ready and he sprinted forward towards the lead troll.

The troll, the intelligent one, tried to smash the prince down but his club never once connected. The prince zig-zagged across the distance until he was at the troll’s feet. He jumped when the troll’s club tried to swipe him away. Instead of climbing the troll’s body, the prince ran until he could not anymore, then jumped to wherever possible using the troll’s muscles as the stepping stones. Once he arrived at the troll’s hand, he dashed to its head and grabbed its thick trunk-like neck. Using momentum alone, he flipped the gigantic troll upside down by its neck. Eelod the troll passed out from the unexpected knock on his head.

As he fell, the prince spun himself in the air, until it looked like he was spinning top. Grabbing his cloak, he was able to create enough lift from his spinning to slow his fall. But before he could land, the other two trolls had already charged forward with the single intention of killing him and impaling him on their toothpicks. The prince, seeing the oncoming danger, let go of his cloak and bare able to avoid the clubs as gravity claimed him again.

He looked up the moment he landed, knowing that his death was near and no matter how fast the potion made him; he would never be able to escape the incoming death. He was struck dumb, when the giant’s ugly arms swinging the club was severed at the elbow, causing the arm and the club to miss him by a yard and rolled away. The troll roared as one arrow after another buried themselves into its neck. It wasn’t long before it fell onto ground lifeless.

He looked at the other troll and saw that its entire body was covered in flames. Its screams were apparently muffled by the roaring flames that licked its body. He recognized Dragon’s Breath, an alchemical potion that burns and burn until the target is turned into charred husk. Then a man in heavy armor fell down from the sky like a fallen god and cut the troll into two.

Prince Mikhalir watched in awe as the fallen god went up to Eelod, who was groaning from the pain of being knocked unconscious. Eelod cursed the ‘ little human’ and was about to get up when the fallen god swing his sword downward, beheading the troll in one swift stroke.

The fallen god cleaned his bloody sword on Eelod’s loincloth. Only now could the prince see him properly. He was tall, taller than the prince himself. He wore a silvery helm that covered his entire face. His steel breastplate was carved in the shape of a muscly chest while his arms were covered entirely in chainmail. He also wore steel bracers on both hands and a skirt of metal plates on his waist. On his lower legs, he wore metallic boots, which shined under the sunlight.

“Melthis, do you have to do something so showy?” came a voice from the hills on Prince Mikhalir’s right.

“Velena,” the man in full armor spoke in front of Prince Mikhalir spoke, “The value of a kill is determined not by how fast it’s killed, but by how difficult and how stylish the kill is made. Write that down.”

The prince heard some gagging noises from the same hill and wondered what female would talk so casually with such a warrior. Then the warrior turned to him and he instinctively raised his sword.

The figure laughed, before sheathing his sword and removing his helmet. He had the rugged look of mountain people, the prince noticed. “Greetings warrior,” the man in front of the prince said jovially, “My band and I were just passing through when we encountered you and your ordeal. I trust, our aid were not unwelcome?” The man offered his hand.

Prince Mikhalir sheathed his sword and shook the man’s hand. “Not at all, stranger. It was a good thing you came. I was about to be flattened by trolls. Not exactly the kind of heroic death I was looking for.”

“Who would? My name is Melthis. I roam this region looking for adventure and experience. How about you?”

“The name’s Mikhal. I was looking for the same thing too, before I met Ee-lod there,” the prince gestured at the dead troll.

“Then perhaps you would like to join us, as our purpose are the same and we can use another sword arm.”

“Why thank you, I shall gladly accept-“

“Don’t I get a say in this?” came that voice from the hill again.

“No, Velena. Time for protest is already up.”

“Bloody dragonslayer!” that voice yelled from the hill, before a rock flew from the same direction and hit Melthis's shoulder.

*Sorry everyone for not posting for so long. Real life caught up to me. I suddenly have 22k in debt which suddenly appeared after 6 years, remnant of my college days. It was pretty annoying and I became depressed so terribly, I withdrew from the world.

*As always though, please feel free to give comments or feedbacks, good or bad, whichever is equally useful. The next chapter has already been written, just not typed yet.