Amnesia

[Corporal Light]

He almost fell flat onto his ass from the recoil. Large, golden bullets zoomed towards the group of trolls in front of him. Most flew right by them, but as he steadied his stance to stop his fall, he heard a couple of them screaming. He removed his finger from the trigger, staring at the rifle for a few moments. He barely registered the fact that the trolls were still there.

Eventually, he returned to reality. He glanced around. More and more trolls were closing in. How they had managed to stay completely silent and hide was a mystery he would have to solve later. He swiveled his gun, pointing it at any troll that got too close. He couldn’t remember how much his rifle carried, but from how light it felt, it couldn’t have been much. Two of the trolls hid their wounds as they snarled at him, snake-like eyes staring into him. The hedge-haired leader slid a finger along his knife; a mace-wielding soldier chuckled.

They encircled him. His finger settled on the trigger.

Gunshots, but they were not his own. One of the bleeding trolls fell to the earth. The rest turned their heads towards her. He did not hesitate.

As their leader barked an order at them, all but three found themselves a bleeding mess of a carcass. Their leader rushed towards the gunsmith as the other two went to deal with Dawn.

He squeezed the trigger. No bullets came out. The troll leader leaped forward, tight grip on his knife as it thrust downwards towards his head.

Ballad lifted the rifle, blocking the weapon in midair. He met the being’s golden, hate-filled gaze for a brief moment. It was like looking at a savage beast, and one that had to be put down.

He brought up a boot and slammed it into its pelvis. The troll hopped back, howling in pain; as it jumped, however, he pulled his knife back. The assault rifle flew out of Ballad’s hands and clattered against the ice-covered ground.

He staggered forward and reached for his revolver. The troll landed on a patch of ice and, in a swift, controlled manner, jumped back like a frog after a brief slide. While in the air, it reached into a pouch on its belt and removed several objects from it. The gunsmith didn’t know what they were until, with a speed that defied all logic, they zipped towards him. Ballad lifted his arm. Most of them collided into his coat sleeve. One, however, slipped past.

His head flinched back as the dart slammed into his cheek, just below his eye. He brought a hand up to the dart. His cheek vibrated; it felt like something was crawling inside of him. His face hardened, locking his features into place. His mitt ripped the dart out of him, a pus-colored liquid dripping out of the needle. He crushed it into sand as smoke rose from his coat-sleeve.

The troll leader, meanwhile, had moved onto the next biggest threat: Dawn. As Ballad’s face swelled up like a balloon until his rock-hard cyst covered his eye, the troll leader relentlessly assaulted the assassin. Neither could get a hit in, however.

Dawn charged forward, stabbing at the troll as she raised her pistol. He responded by blocking the dagger with his arm. He bit his lips to choke down the pain. Raising his hand, he grabbed a hold of her pistol as a hail a gunfire sailed right past his head. He raised his leg and kicked at her. She hopped back, but not before the troll straight up knocked her gun out of her hands. It crashed into the blood-soaked snow.
The assassin grit her teeth. The two circled each other, knives in hand. They studied each other, observing their stances, watching for holes. There was no sound but the crunching of leaves and snow under their feet.

Then, she zoomed forward, knife raised.

Her feet caught a patch of ice. It took every ounce of her agility not to fall flat on her face. But while she did not fall, the troll did not wait for a recovery. He grabbed her arm as she got closer and pulled her forward. Her eyes widened as her vision was filled up with blood.

She fell back, two massive trenches of blood that went from the start of her cheek to almost the start of her ear. She cupped her face, trying to blink away the blood as it slid towards her eye. She stared up at the troll. He was smiling, blood dripping from his tusks. He raised his knife.

His head exploded into a fine, red mist.

Dawn looked behind her. Smoke rose from the barrel of Ballad’s revolver. It took him a few moments to get out of his stance before he half-walked, half-stumbled towards her. The left side of his face was nothing more than a massive, yellowish, bulbous sac. His crimson scarf was in his hands, revealing a set of jagged, shark-like teeth within his drooling, obscenely stretched mouth.

He finally reached her. He landed on his knees.

“Y-You… alright?” he said, his words long and drawn out as he fought his locked up, metallic jaw.