Overview

A humble watchmaker. An ancient Troll. A bargain that could ruin a kingdom. Johannes has spent his life in quiet shadow, bent over tiny gears and ticking mechanisms, measuring out his days in seconds and springs. That is, until an ancient mountain Troll slips into his workshop and offers him the one thing his careful hands have never been able to build: a shortcut. Gold beyond imagination. Comfort. Respect. Safety from the cruel whims of fate. All Johannes has to do... is open the door. The Troll is no ordinary spirit of darkness. He does not breathe fire or smash castles. He does something far worse: he moves in. Into hearts. Into minds. Into the softest, brightest souls he can find. Wherever he lodges, kindness turns to wild generosity, piety to blasphemous songs, innocence to raging caprice. Virtue twists into delirium-and lives begin to crumble. At first, it all looks almost comical. A miserly banker suddenly hurls fistfuls of gold into the street. A choirboy with an angelic voice breaks into a drunken tavern ballad under the vaulted ceiling of a cathedral. A delicate princess, once afraid of spiders, starts demanding the moon on a platter ""with cherry syrup on top""-or else she'll ""bite all the ministers."" The court whispers of curses. The Church mutters about possession. The Emperor sharpens his anger. Only Johannes knows the truth: every new ""madness"" is the echo of his own bargain. Dragged from his velvet-curtained home to gilded halls and shadowed chapels, Johannes is forced-again and again-to hunt down the very spirit who made him rich. His strange gift for dealing with ""illnesses of the soul"" turns him into both a savior and a suspect. Because curing these people means facing the Troll himself... and the Troll does not forget. What begins as a darkly comic romp through clock shops, cathedrals, and imperial palaces slowly tightens into a deadly game of wits. Each encounter raises the stakes. Each ""cure"" pulls Johannes deeper into a web of obligations, threats, and impossible choices: - How much of his conscience can he trade away before there is nothing left to save? - Can he protect the innocent without breaking his pact-and inviting the Troll's wrath? - And when the spirit finally claims the most dangerous host of all-a capricious imperial princess whose slightest whim can topple governments-will Johannes be clever enough to outplay a creature older than the mountains themselves? Blending the charm of a classic fairy tale with the sharp edge of dark fantasy, this story asks a simple but unsettling question: What if the real monster isn't the one under the bed, but the deal you made years ago and have been trying not to think about? Atmospheric, ironic, and unexpectedly moving, this is a tale of: - bargains and their hidden clauses, - power and the chaos it invites, - and the fragile courage of an ""unimportant"" man who discovers that, sometimes, wit and a good story are sharper than any sword. Will the watchmaker outsmart the Troll and save not just his own neck, but an entire kingdom? The clocks are ticking.

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An avid traveler and multi-genre author, this writer draws inspiration from the furthest corners of the globe. Their journeys have ranged from depths below sea level to altitudes exceeding 5,000 meters. With a deep passion for esotericism, they weave the unique myths and legends collected during these travels into their diverse body of work.

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