Love at First Bite
Deep in the wild lands where the mountains kiss the forests, two great Troll clans lived in endless rivalry. The Mountain Trolls, hulking and stubborn, carved their homes from stone and feasted on boulders. The Forest Trolls, wiry and cunning, nested in gnarled roots and devoured bark with reckless abandon. Their differences were as vast as the sky and the earth, and yet fate had a twisted sense of humor.
One stormy night, as the wind howled like a hungry wolf, a Mountain Troll named Grug came stomping down from his rocky domain in search of a new boulder to munch. He was the biggest, meanest troll of his kind, with a jaw that could crush granite and a heart as solid as a landslide.
At the same time, deep within the tangled woods, a Forest Troll named Bragga was gnawing contentedly on an ancient oak when the wind carried a strange scent—something musky, something strong, something… delicious. Her leafy hair bristled with curiosity as she slinked toward the mountain’s edge, her twig-clawed fingers twitching with excitement.
Their paths collided at the border where stone met root, where Grug’s enormous foot crushed the end of the very tree Bragga had been dining upon. She snarled, he growled, and their eyes locked in a gaze hotter than dragon breath.
“You crushed my supper, Rockhead!” Bragga spat, her fangs gleaming in the moonlight.
“Tree-muncher in my path,” Grug rumbled, arms crossed like boulders upon a cliff. “Move.”
Bragga scoffed. “Why should I move for a dusty lump of rock? You taste the air? You smell… strong.”
Grug snorted, but the scent of Bragga, wild and earthy, tickled his stone-cold nostrils in a way he did not expect. His mouth watered, but not in the way it did for a fine slab of basalt. This was different. His stone heart thumped, sending little pebbles rolling down his spine.
Bragga tilted her head, taking in the massive troll before her. He was rough and jagged, as stubborn as a cliffside, and yet something about him made her stomach twist like vines in a storm. She licked her lips.
Then, in a move that shocked even herself, she lunged forward and chomped down on Grug’s shoulder.
Grug bellowed, not in pain, but in utter astonishment. “You BIT me?!”
Bragga pulled back, her eyes wide, her mouth still tingling. “You… you taste amazing! Like iron and thunder!”
Grug blinked. No one had ever bitten him before—not and lived to tell about it. But instead of rage, a strange warmth spread through his granite veins. He grabbed Bragga’s arm, pulled her closer, and, with a deep inhale of her mossy scent, took a bite right back—right on her shoulder.
Bragga shrieked, then cackled. “You! You taste like an avalanche!”
The storm raged around them, but they only saw each other. It was love at first bite.
The next days were filled with much debate among the trolls. The Mountain Clan rumbled with disapproval—no stone had ever mixed with root! The Forest Clan hissed their fury—no tree had ever twined with rock! But Grug and Bragga didn’t care. They met in secret, biting and brawling and rolling in the mud, exchanging tales of the mountains and the forests. Their love was wilder than the storms, stronger than the stone itself.
But love between a Mountain Troll and a Forest Troll was not to be tolerated. The elder trolls of both clans called for war.
The night before the battle, Grug and Bragga met atop a cliff, gazing down at the battlefield where their clans prepared.
“They will tear each other apart,” Bragga sighed, her fingers tracing the bitemark Grug had left on her arm.
“Then let us stop them,” Grug grunted, his grip firm but gentle on her hand.
And so, as dawn broke, the two trolls stomped into the middle of the battlefield, roaring so loud that the trees shuddered and the mountains groaned.
“We fight for love, not war!” Bragga howled.
Grug bared his teeth. “You will accept our love, or we will bite you all!”
A hush fell over the battlefield. No troll, neither rock nor root, wanted to be bitten by such a wild and powerful pair.
One by one, the trolls grumbled, shuffled, and dropped their weapons. Some Mountain Trolls eyed the Forest Trolls with new curiosity. Some Forest Trolls sniffed the air near the Mountain Trolls, intrigued. Perhaps… just perhaps… their differences were not so terrible.
And so, Grug and Bragga’s love not only ended a feud but also began a new age of unity. Mountain Trolls learned to enjoy the occasional bark snack, and Forest Trolls discovered the rich flavors of stone.
And as for Grug and Bragga? They built a home on the border, a great cave entwined with roots, where they spent their days wrestling, biting, and laughing louder than any thunderstorm. And together, they had the first-ever Rock-Root Troll babies—stubby and strong, wild and clever, the perfect mix of earth and stone.
And they all lived trollishly ever after.
Speaking of unique love stories, you might be interested in exploring the rich world of folklore, where such tales often spring from. While on the subject of trolls, consider diving deeper into the myths and stories on Trolls which are fascinating creatures in the world of folklore. And if you found the setting of our tale appealing, with descriptions of mountains and forests, you might want to learn more about biomes, subdivided into categories like forests, mountains, and many more. Lastly, the shared meals of bark and stone in our story might make you curious about mineral nutrition, exploring what minerals are essential for the functioning of various organisms.