She stalks slowly toward me, singing, and I find that I am rooted to the spot, enchanted by her song. It carries me away, and I find that it is hard to stay awake, ever so hard.

She comes closer and closer, before she reaches up, cackling, and puts a single finger on my forehead.

Then I remember.

I am just a squalling whelp, born in a dark cave with the rest of my spawn. The Broodmother looks at us disgustedly before growling and grabbing the whelp next to me.

The whelp squalls louder than it was before, little arms waving about madly, the Broodmother opens her mouth wide and pops him in, and chows down with a crunch.

I stand by and look on, fearing that I might be next, only, instead of grabbing another whelp, this time she takes a whip…. Pain flares across my back, she only whips me once though, a hard lash, but still only once. She takes the whip to another whelp, one right next to me, over and over again. The whelp falls over limp, and the Broodmother rips the things throat open and starts to suck out its life's blood.

She was the smartest Broodmother, but also the cruellest. Forged by the endless torment that was Troll society.

A cackle sounds and a sliver of my mind can tell that I’m slowly dying, that It is feeding on my emotions, on my soul, and by the time It’s done I will be just another blood tear trailing from Its rotting eye pits down onto Its breasts. My desiccated, soulless body would be lying on the ground.

I shake my head, trying to break free from Its spell, but the Hex sings louder, and Its song drowns me, my struggles become less and less.

[Intellect +2]

Another time, another memory.

I'm running through the forest, hundreds of other Trolls running along beside me, the Bull is right behind me and the whip comes down over and over again, this Bull doesn’t like me, not since I had taken away one of his prospective mates, and it shows now.

I growl at him. He doesn’t stop. It is then that I… snap, I turn around and grab the bastard by the throat taking him down, and keeping him there, we're both big enough that most of the other Trolls just move around us. I take the Troll Whip and grab my knife, taking him aside into the forest.

His screams echo for hours, but the satisfaction… Is gone…Drained.

I come back again, see the Hex coming closer and closer, Its finger pressing harder and harder into my forehead, drawing blood. My hand starts to inch higher and higher, preparing to take that finger right off its hand then kill the damn witch.

Unfortunately, it smiles and my concentration breaks.

[Hidden Statistic Unlocked: Charisma! For resisting the influences of an accomplished Mind Mage you have unlocked the ability to influence others, and resist outside mental influences based upon the Charisma Stat.]

[Charisma +1]

More memories, more painful this time. I am with my mate. The one Troll that I can rely upon, the one creature that won’t betray me, the one Troll that looks at me with something other than hate, fear, or envy. She looks at me with lust instead, and maybe even a little bit of something else, maybe even a little bit of love.

We snuggle closer, letting the warm muck of the mudbath envelope us. We come together perfectly, and I moan with pleasure.

Until I’m grabbed by the neck from the behind and pulled from the bath, pulled from the embrace of my mate. I struggle but the combined might of two Bulls is too much for me. Their fetid breath assaults my senses, and I look for my mate, my thoughts only for her safety.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She looks at me grins, she’s in the arms of another, she holds up a gem, “He gave me this. You gave me nothing.”

The Bulls make we watch as my mate willingly lets another Troll take her. Make me watch as the only Troll I thought I could trust be betrayed me. They make me watch for hours, before taking me forest and giving me the beating of my life.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” My eyes snap open, and everything is blurry but it slowly comes back into focus. The Hex frowns and pushes Its finger deeper into my forehead.

I’m having none of it, I punch her in the gut, sending It flying into a tree. It should be dead now, Hexes have frail bodies. Yet, I see Its eyes start to flutter, and Its song rises once more into the air, and once more I start to feel woozy, I shake it off, but then Its song takes on a different tune, and I freeze in place.

[Skill Earned: Mental Resistance (Level 1) You can resist Mind-altering effects and magic.]

[Skill Specialisation Earned: Mental Resistance {Emotion} (Level 10)- You can resist Emotion altering effects and magic much better.]

[Charisma +1, Intellect +1]

The squiggles appear in my vision, but I can’t wave them away, the Hex is still singing and it overcomes what little resistance that I had mustered. I can't seem to move, but from the looks of it neither can It.

I stand there and listen to the singing, frozen to the spot, we are at a stalemate. Hours go by, and its singing continues, just as strained, it doesn’t seem to be healing though, but no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to break free from its song, but It seems to have lost Its capacity for movement.

I feel a headache coming on, my mind is starting to burn, I have never exerted this much effort in anything that I have ever done. My being is wholly consumed with resisting its evil song. At this point, it is just a contest of wills, of who would lose concentration first.

I’m not confident that it will be me who comes out on top.

[Mental Resistance Level x5]

[Mental Resistance Specialisation Gained: Imprisonment. You can resist the effects of mind-altering effects and magic on movement much better. (Level 10)]

[Intellect +3]

[Charisma +1]

[Constitution +1]

Night falls, and Its song gets stronger, seeming to call me toward it, trying to trick me into letting myself be consumed. While Its song gets stronger, so too does my ability to resist it, and we once again stand at an impasse. Both of us struggling against the bonds that keep us tied.

[Intellect +1]

Then something else starts to influence my mind, this one is much more subtle, more relaxed as if it is trying to just ease itself into my head, the only reason why I notice it now is because of how much effort I have put into resisting other mind-altering effects. While I can recognise that something is affecting my mind, I can’t resist it, too much of my concentration is spent on fighting the Hex. It seeps into me and I try to fend it off, try to split my concentration, I try, but I start to take involuntary steps toward the Hex, without my full concentration on It, I’m unable to resist as well as I was.

The other influence brushes my resistance aside and I feel myself losing both battles of will, a two-way battle is too much for me.

[Intellect +2]

[Charisma +1]

[Constitution +2]

Maybe It can help me find the other Trolls! Someone like me! I’m not losing any battles! I’m just not going toward the Hex so that way it can lure other Trolls here and we can talk together. We can work together, I can save my race without killing the Hex! My head burns.

I start to walk faster toward the Hex, still very haltingly but going from a shuffle to a shambling slow walk. The distance gets smaller and smaller and my thoughts are continually turning toward my kinsmen, other Trolls.

Another part of my mind though is screaming in pain, the part of my mind that is resisting both influences. It is slowly getting crushed.

A headache erupts, the worse that I have ever had, it rips through me, and it doesn’t seem to stop just at my forehead but seems to spread its pain equally…. Pain.

Something that I had thought was gone from my life, yet this overcame any resistance that I had built up.

Its voice once again changes tune, and I feel intense fear, it overcomes me, and turns to terror, and then into a straight-up panic. It’s obvious to me now that the Hex is the only thing that can save me from whatever is assaulting me, I go from a shambling walk to speed walk.

Then I stop, my instincts are screaming at me, instincts that I have come to trust.

They say that Trolls don’t feel fear, which is what I’m feeling now, they say that the only thing a Hex will do is kill you.

[Mind Resistance Level Up x10, Perk Avaliable]

I stop walking and fall to my knees, clutching my head, the confused thoughts are too much for me. My Trollish side says to attack, and my other sides say that she is nice and that she might help me find others of my kind. I start to shake uncontrollably.

[For trying continually to resist the influence of the system you have been penalised, due to other unenacted punishments your individual punishment has become worse.]

[Calculating….]

[Punishment found. System Order: Serve the Hex. This order cannot be resisted, any action taken against this order automatically damns you, and severely penalises your race.]

[Enacting punishment….]

[Now]