The hooded figures walked over the land, making their way through the mountains. They were a group of 50 in total, each carefully stepping over stones and squeezing through tight cracks in the crevices. They were wearing grey robes with the hoods up to protect themselves from the snow, which was falling hard now as the storm worsened.

“How … much … farther?” A voice panthed out his words out at the back of the pack.

“Not much , Rock. We’ll reach a safe spot soon.” The voice in the front said.

“Okay, Chief. Just … I want to rest soon.” Rock said as his knees began to buckle.

Luckily, just as rock was able to collapse, the Chieftain  pointed 

“We’re here.”

He motioned the rest of the tribe to enter the cave he found, and the tribe quickly shuffled in in relief.

Rock sat on the ground and took down his hood, revealing that he was a troll. Contrary to popular belief, trolls in this world weren’t giant monsters with flat faces and big noses. Well, not all of them at least. Rock’s body was human-sized and shaped, and his face looked like a normal human face. The only way that one could tell that he wasn't human was that his skin was slightly grey and coarse to the touch, his pupils looked like blue crystal geodes, and his spiky black hair was shiny. On closer inspection, one would be amazed to find that his hair was made up of thin strands of  flexible obsidian. It was as if someone tried to  forge a human from rock and lava, and almost succeeded.

Rock sighed. “Why are we here again, up in the mountains? Ugh, if those goblins hadn’t chased us out we could have finally found a home!”

The chieftain  let out a sigh of relief, placing his hand on Rock’s shoulder. “Rock, there’s nothing you can do to change people’s perception of you. Once they decided to take action on us, we had no choice but to leave.”

“But…”

The chieftain smiled tiredly. “Rest, little one. We’ll somehow survive. We always will.”

“But, how are we going to get food! There isn’t enough food to feed all of us!” Rock urgently replied.

“I’m going to send a couple of ours to go scavenge the area. I’ve heard tales of a hidden kingdom around here, and I’m sure they would offer to feed us a few scraps.”

“But what if they say no?” asked Rock with a concerned look on his face.

“Then we have to take that chance, Rock.”

“Well, alright, I guess….”

The chieftain smiled and patted his head.

“I knew you would come around.”

***

Rock awoke in an almost empty cave. No sounds could be heard except for the dripping of water from the stalagmite caused by the humidity of the cavern and the sobbing of mothers with babies. All of the other male trolls were gone.

“Wha - what happened?”

The chieftain was sitting cross legged, and looked forlorn.

“You’ve been out for a week. We have sent out scouts to look for food … and none of them came back.”

“Wait, WHAT!” Rock sat upright, his eyes shot open. “All of them?” He exclaimed in disbelief. 

The chieftain looked away.

“Yes.”

“You can’t be serious! … I’m going to go look for them.” Rock shot up from his position  almost walking straight out of the cave before the chieftain grabbed Rock’s arm and shook his head. His large hand curled around Rock’s wrist restraining him from going any farther. 

“Rock, I can’t lose you too.” He wailed. “You’re the only child among us, our future.”

Rock pulled his arm away and continued walking. His face contorted into one of determination and resolve.

“No. I have to find them.”