Using all the power I can muster I grab the thing and leap. We go hurtling up and I make sure to hold onto my enemy, trying to crush it in my grasp.

It doesn’t even try to get out though, instead, it viciously attacks. A maw, full of serrated teeth closes around my neck and wicked talons dig into my hide.

I respect it, it’s a worthy opponent, something that doesn’t give up even when death is approaching. An opponent it is though and an opponent it will stay. One of us will kill the other. The only consolation is that whoever wins will die from the fall.

Our ascent reaches its zenith and we start to rapidly fall. It continues to gnaw on my neck and scratch my hide, ripping deep furrows in my only protection. I grin, its been a long time since something could challenge me like this.

I reach up and pry its jaws open and away from my neck. I see blood flowing from my neck and realise that the thing managed to pierce my hide completely. The sheer power that this thing brings to bear is awe-inspiring.

I push its maw closed, and with all my strength I bring the things head down toward me. I grin, open my mouth and clamp my jaw around its snout.

It growls, low, dangerous, and threatening. It seems to have stopped its attacks for a moment. I take full advantage of this and bite down harder on its jaw. I let its blood fill my mouth, I relish in the moment, you never truly understand something until you have drunk its blood and eaten its flesh.

It has beautiful blood as well, a thick ichor, something only seen in the strongest of Trolls. It seeps into my mouth and down my throat. This is truly a predator, something capable of taking down enemies far stronger than it.

I can tell though that this thing is meant more for hit and run attacks. Short devastating blows and then a quick retreat. Slowly beating its enemies down, and when the enemy is weak it strikes out.

I clamp down harder and then twist my head savagely taking a chunk of flesh from its snout. I swallow it and savour the taste. It lets out a high, keening, sort of cry before attacking me with renewed ferocity.

I laugh, it has been so long since I have had something that brings out my true animal instincts. The instincts that stimulate me, that give me strength when there should be no strength to be had.

We continue wrestling as we fall, I still can’t see the bottom of the cliff, it though, seems to see something that I do not, and attacks me with even more savagery. The maw clamps around my neck again and claws start digging into my hide with even more power then it had brought to bear before.

It is now though that my breathing starts to become laboured and I feel a clammy heat that quickly turns to cold.

What is happening to me? Is it the creature? I growl and attack it with just as much ferocity as it had mustered against me.

It is then that I see the valley floor. The cliff does have a bottom and it was approaching rapidly.

The thing lets out a high-pitched whine, and my ears start to bleed. The wind doesn’t seem as loud anymore. It continues to gnaw on my neck and as I look at its forehead I feel something. Something… Different.

I reach up and put a single finger on its forehead. Power-- that is what I realise it is-- flows through and straight into the head of the beast. It growls, looks down at me and… opens its eye. An eye I hadn’t noticed until it was looking right at me.

A coldness spreads, covering my entire body, it permeates me and then… it moves. It goes throughout me, trying to locate something.

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I feel the coldness touch on something, coldness wraps around it and… crushes it.

[Alert! Hosts has been temporarily immobilised and has suffered minor damage.]

Nothing feels different. Except for a faint feeling of emptiness. The feeling that something is wrong. That something is gone. The power that I brought to the fore is removed. Quashed. The ground is fast approaching and I realise that I need to do something.

I roar at the creature one last time and using the knowledge that once again surfaces from seemingly nowhere I shove it off of me.

I direct my fall toward the cliffside wall and prepare for impact. I notice the monster doing the same, huh, looks like it does have basic survival instinct.

I reach out towards the cliff face with one of my clawed hands and… I grab it, and then I violently swing into the cliff face that I just grabbed. Cracks ring out and my bones break violently, piercing my hide and letting blood gush. Strange. My hide can usually take any type of damage. Dirt shouldn't have drawn blood.

It’s then that my claws snap, and I lose my grip, I smash my other hand into the cliff face, stopping me from falling more. I feel the claws straining, the meat that holds them together slowly tearing apart.

I look down. I can see the floor, my dark vision helping. What I can also see is that if this set of claws rips then there is no surviving the fall.

I look for the creature and see it in around the same situation as mine, it looks better though and it seems to be slowly healing. It looks at me and then looks down. It screeches and lets go of its foothold. I watch as it goes plummeting down and grin. It seems that it has decided to kill itself rather than face me.

A ripping sound brings me back to myself. I look down and then look up. There is no way that I could climb back, I do see a cave there but I don't trust my claws to hold me.

I look towards where the creature was.

Realisation dawns on me and I realise what I need to do.

I let go of my foothold and once again go plummeting down toward the unyielding ground. I wait and wait. Then, when I'm just about to hit the bottom I growl and sink my claws into the dirt wall.

My claws stop me for a second and I smash into the cliff once again. Bones splinter and I lose feeling in my legs. This time though my face slams into the wall as well and my teeth shatter, replaced by bloody messes.

My claws snap and I fall to the bottom with a heavy thud. A bone stabs through my chest, and I cough blood. The only time I had ever been injured this bad was when the Bulls had ganged up on me and beat me. I survived that because I regenerated.

I can't feel my legs, and the only piece of me that I can move is my arm, my other has been shattered. I moan in frustration. This is annoying, why in the Pits did my hide have to fail me now?

More squiggles appear in my vision:

[You have entered the Caverns of The Fallen Spirits.]

I cough and blood comes spewing out, thick, and viscous. Darkness surrounds me, and even with my night-vision, I can barely pierce it. All I can see is a dark outline of something on the floor a little bit away from me, its form heaving as it breathes.

I see it shift, and then hear a growl.

I freeze abruptly, it seemed that the creature had survived the fall after all. It growls again and I can see its body shift, then I see an eye open and once again a coldness overcomes me, it goes through me and crushes something within.

[Soul has been temporarily immobilized. Soul has been damaged.]

I grunt in discomfort and spit out more blood, it seems that the creature could still attack me. It's just that I can't attack it. It is reminiscent of the Hex.

I start to growl only for it to turn into a whine as something in me rebels. My breathing becomes more and more laboured. The creature, my enemy, is still staring at me with that eye, the coldness is still assaulting me, it doesn't seem to be doing anything. The coldness just surrounds me and doesn't break anything like it did last time.

I hear a screech and I look over to see the creature rolling toward me. Slowly, but still coming toward me. The eye is still watching me and the coldness still surrounds me.

I try to move, to roll away, or to roll toward it. The only thing that comes of it are more grinding sounds as my bones break and shift. It continues rolling toward me, coming closer and closer, the eye still watching me. I try to move once again, and only my arm obeys.

I point it toward the creature, trying to ward it off. it continues rolling toward me. It rolls until it is looking at me eye to eye, the coldness becomes more intense, I shrug it off. I feel nothing. It bares its teeth and then brings up one of its arms. I notice that the claws are in about the same condition as mine are, its arm is obviously in better condition.

I bellow at it, trying to warn it away.

The thing prepares to swipe down, but then stops, and looks up, its eye moving in another direction.

I follow its gaze and find myself staring face to face with a see-through, albino, Troll.

It grins and plunges its hand into my chest.