The next day Erica found herself wandering north as per the instructions of Dror’Khanik. She had been trying to reach out to him for the last few hours without any luck, as she had many more questions she wanted to ask now that her mind had stopped racing. Though there seemed to be a limit to how much he could speak to her, or perhaps he simply chose not to respond.
Earlier this morning the dragon’s words had torn her from her sluggish, newly awoken state, as if his words had chased away whatever exhaustion remained in her body. “Breaking shackles created by the gods is no easy task, and you must ask yourself if you are willing to do what it takes… Those who benefit from the death and destruction of this war will seek to stop you, as my return to the surface world will be the beginning to an era of peace. Yet I believe, with every fibre of my being, that you have what it takes to shatter the chains which bind me. So that we can reclaim your daughter's soul from the great beyond. All you have to do is choose.”
“If you choose to walk this path with me, then I will serve as your guide and lend you my strength… and to the north you will find a set of tools I have prepared, which will aid you on your journey. But if you lack the will and courage to see your daughter again… then I will leave you so you may seek out your path on your own.” With that his voice had disappeared like the sun on a cloudy day before she had even had the chance to respond, leaving her to ponder over his words.
The thought of playing a role in a war between dragon’s was terrifying, yet the thought of being left alone frightened her more. She had been given a chance to rid herself of the sadness, anger and guilt which plagued the depths of her mind, a chance to make a difference, and a chance to build a better life for herself; one where she could give Molly the wonderful life she deserved. Even though it felt as if she was walking to her death with the plan to do the impossible, she knew that she would hate herself forever if she didn’t try.
Returning to Willowcreak was out of the question, as the guards would toss her in a dungeon before she’d even have the chance to say a word. Her home and whatever possessions remained in her name would be claimed as collateral when she’d inevitably fail to pay next month's rent, and with her current reputation her odds of finding a new job would be next to nonexistent. Not to mention how she would be forced to live with the resentment, hopelessness and regret which had burrowed its way into her mind. Yet now she could feel something else alongside it all, a tiny glimmer of hope. Like the spark of a firecracker, threatening to burn down the forest around her. For the first time in what felt like forever she had been handed a direction, she knew where to go and what to do. All those years of feeling lost and hopeless had in a sense come to an end, a beginning to a new chapter of her story. A beginning to something she would never even have imagined to be possible.
The forest around her was eerily quiet, as the animals all seemed to run for their lives the moment she entered their sightline. The chirping of birds, squeaking of critters, bellows and bleats of deer, all strangely absent. Yet there was something serene about it all, as if the world itself had come to a halt. As if she finally had a moment to breathe, free from years of suffocating stress and anxiety. Though below it all rested the terrible guilt which took the form of Molly’s cold, lifeless eyes. She had left Molly alone in her final moments, and there was no way she could ever forgive herself for that.
“I see you have chosen.” The voice of the dragon appeared in her head, putting an end to her trail of thoughts.
“I… I think so. But I have more questions.” Erica asked the empty air around her.
“All your questions will be answered in time. In my current state there are great restrictions to my powers… if I spend all my strength answering your questions then there will be none left to watch over you when you need me.” He explained as the roughness of his voice sent shivers down Erica’s spine.
“Alright… I just… I just want to try and understand all this…” She said with a nervous sigh.
“I will answer whatever questions we have time for, but first there is something I must give you.” The dragon said and not even a moment later she was overwhelmed by pain, as the flesh on her right hand was seemingly torched by flames she could not see. Her scream echoed through the forest, yet there was no one around to hear it. She clutched her arm and cradled her hand, all while her legs gave out beneath her. The pain spread up her arm as if it was made out of ants crawling towards her head. Though before she had the chance to properly panic the pain subsided and the dragon’s voice returned. “You have my apologies for not warning you, though the pain would have been much greater if you had been expecting it.”
“What did you do?” Erica asked, with panic still lingering in her voice. As she inspected her arm she found the skin of her right hand dead up to her elbow. Her lower arm now had an ashen black colour with several cracks covering it, and if it wasn’t in the shape of an arm she would have guessed it to be a cracked volcanic rock. Every movement she made with her hand felt somewhat strained, yet she could still move all of her fingers.
“I have repurposed your arm as a form of… storage container. I can store spells and magical energy within it, which you can later use at your convenience. But do not worry, the magic can be undone for when we someday choose to walk separate paths, not even a single scar will be left behind.” Dror’Khanik explained with a low growl in his voice.
“I’m confused…” Erica stated as the anxiety she felt began to fade. “How am I-”
“I will inform you what the magic does, and then you simply have to envision it or follow whichever instructions I gave you. With time you will learn to cast spells on your own as well, but for now this will have to do.” The dragon interrupted.
“You could have at least let me finish…” Erica sighed, suddenly more annoyed than anxious.
“You forget that we are short on time. There are still things we must do in these woods.” Dror’Khanik quickly silenced her.
“Okay… and what would that be?” Erica asked carefully as the annoyance she felt was quickly blown away by the reminder of how Dror’Khanik couldn’t waste time answering all her questions at this moment.
“Not far north from here you will find… three individuals whom I have guided here. With little persuasion they will protect you until you are strong enough to protect yourself.”
“Oh, who are they?” She piqued up.
“Three giants.” Dror’Khanik responded in a serious tone.
“Giants…? Here? There haven’t been any giants on Strathos for thousands of years!” Erica exclaimed as fear began crawling up her spine.
“I am aware. That is why I guided them here.”
“How!? The border between Strathos and Eredus is supposed to be well guarded to keep any giants, orcs and other monsters on the other side!”
“You forget who I am. Bringing them here was simple, and now they will serve as your guardians. So that you may sleep soundly throughout even the darkest nights.” Dror’Khanik’s voice was calm like that of a gentle stream, and he spoke as if there was nothing strange or worrisome about any of this.
“Do we even speak the same language? How am I supposed to convince something like that to do anything for me? Do I even want something like that watching over me while I sleep? This is absolutely-” Erica blurted out and the dragon once again interrupted her ramblings.
“You are correct, they speak a language which is very forein to you. It is why I altered your arm, so I could give you this.” He said as a dim glow suddenly appeared before her. A gentle orange light like that of a flame gleamed out from beneath the cracks in her arm, and Erica couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief once she realised it was painless. “All you have to do is place this hand upon their chests, and they will be made into your warriors.”
“Are- are the giants not more than twice as tall as me?” Erica asked, her only point of reference being fairytale stories.
“Yes, though it is likely to be more than three times your height.”
“Then how am I supposed to reach their chests?”
“I am sure you have the creativity and intelligence needed to figure that out on your own.” Dror’Khanik said and scoffed at her. “That said, we have time for one question of your choice. Choose wisely.”
Erica gave herself a few seconds to think, though there was one question that stood out above all others. One that bothered her more than anything else at that very moment. “What will happen to Molly’s body?”
“I will make sure it is preserved. Do not worry, I will not let the doctors defile her corpse in their pursuit of knowledge.” The dragon responded, putting an end to at least one of Erica’s worries and questions.
For many moments thereafter she found herself aimlessly staring at her arm, surrounded by nothing more than the lonely silence of the forest around her. She questioned herself on what she had gotten herself into, but something within her reminded her that if a dragon believed in her, perhaps she should have some more faith in herself as well.
Upon further inspection of her arm she found parts of it flaking off, and she couldn’t help but pick at them somewhat as worry and curiosity arose within her. She grabbed a small piece and gently pulled it off, revealing what looked like a thin piece of stone, yet the texture of it reminded her more of the hooves of a horse. As if to not mess too much with whatever contraption Dror’Khanik had left her with, she left whatever remaining flakes, cracks and pieces alone, scared of releasing whatever energies had been stored within. She had no idea what any of it meant, since magic to her consisted of even more complicated gibberish than anything the doctors had ever tried to talk to her about.
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Despite the absurdity of everything happening around her, she couldn’t help but find her new arm somewhat cool, and as she moved her fingers around in a monotonous fashion she slowly regained more and more strength and motion in her hand. With every movement the cracks shifted, revealing more or less light depending on how she positioned her fingers. There was something mesmerising about it, and she was only torn back to reality by the rumbling of her own stomach. It had been over a day now since she had last eaten, yet it wasn’t until now she had actually felt somewhat hungry.
With careful steps she continued north, all while trying to put some form of plan together. After all, if she managed to pull this off, how hard could the rest of her journey be? Perhaps she could climb into one of the trees and then throw herself at one of the giants? She glanced at one of the nearby trees, and sighed. Was she really that stupid and suicidal?
Her gaze was suddenly met by a small pair of eyes, as a squirrel which had hid in the tree stared her down before suddenly angrily screaming at her and running off. Despite its rude gesture, she couldn’t help but find it cute, and for a brief moment she saw Molly’s glittering eyes and amazed smile before her. Even if it was just her imagination, a visualisation of one of her many precious memories of her daughter, she couldn’t help but smile. The thought of Molly seeing a squirrel for the first time, her face lighting up like the sun and asking if she could keep it as a pet was just too precious. She’d probably also love racoons and foxes, which were both pretty common in these woods. Her heart ached at how much she missed her child, which only brought her more determination to continue wandering forward, towards what was likely her own death.
It didn’t take long before she encountered footprints the size of her entire body, with just the big toe being larger than her head. Naked feet which she would have guessed belonged to a human if it was not for their immense size. Fear and anxiety began crawling up her spine as she slowly continued forward, the forest becoming more and more destroyed as she continued. To her right she saw a section of destroyed trees, one of them ripped straight out of the ground, alongside a large pool of blood which had splattered out over thick moss. She swallowed nervously and wiped the sweat from her forehead, continuing forward one step at the time.
Not far ahead she heard a strange humming, a tune like nothing she had ever heard before, and as she peeked into the clearing before her she spotted two giants. The first was casually sitting on a large oak which had been ripped out of the ground and laid out like an oversized bench, seemingly drawing something in the dirt before her with a stick taller than Erica’s entire stature. The second was ripping the tusks out of the carcass of a boar, making it look like childsplay as he laughed while doing so. They both wore a strange patchwork of animal furs, sown together in a perplexing and unprofessional manner. Yet she failed to recognize what animals any of the furs came from, as they all seemed to belong to something she had never seen before.
Her entire body froze as she gazed upon the giants. She knew they were big but now that she was standing before them they seemed bigger than she could have ever imagined. The first one was likely close to six metres tall, and the second was even taller. Compared to the monsters before her, she felt like an insect. If one of these two creatures stepped on her it would likely break every single bone in her body and turn her body into a sludge comparable to the porridge her mom had fed her when she was little.
“Go forth, I will protect you.” Dror’Khanik’s voice whispered, as a gust of wind lifted her legs off the ground and forced her a few steps forward.
“I-I can’t do this.” She heard her own voice echo inside her head.
“You are mistaken, you possess the strength to topple mountains if you truly wished. All you have to do is believe, in yourself as well as in me.” The dragon responded as the soothing flame brushed across her back.
“There is no way…” Erica responded, only to find both of the giants turning to face her. Realising she had just said those words at loud and not inside her mind, panic began spreading within her like wildfire. She couldn’t help but imagine all of the possible ways these two monsters could kill her, and her entire body shivered as if she was drenched in a cold rain. “No… no, no, no.” She said to herself, her voice filled with panic as the two giants walked towards her with big smiles plastered on their faces. In actuality, the expressions they wore were similar to that of someone who had just seen a cute, innocent puppy, but all Erica could see were the wicked, twisted grins of something that wanted her dead.
She stumbled backwards in an attempt to run, yet her body seemed unwilling to move as she struggled to even breathe. The giants spoke to one another, yet Erica heard nothing but the loud, ringing sound which echoed in her head. Everything went blank for a moment, until she found herself surrounded by the crushing sensation of hopelessness as the first giant reached its massive hand forward in an attempt to pick her up. Instincts kicked in and she finally made an attempt to run just as the giant grabbed hold of her, its enormous fingers wrapping themselves around her frail body. She screamed at the creature as panic fully took over, only for it to laugh at her in turn. The giant laughed and shook her around while she struggled for her life, before pointing at her and saying something to its fellow mountainous man. The second giant simply shook its head as the first giant moved Erica closer to his face, staring her down as if it was trying to figure out what sort of creature she was.
“Do not fear, it will blind you.” The dragon’s voice appeared in her head as the giant suddenly screamed out in pain. As if by pure reflex the giant let go of its iron grip around her, its palm covered in severe burn marks from an intense heat that Erica couldn’t feel. As she fell her ashen hand grazed the chest of the giant which had held onto her, before she hit the ground with a loud thud. Upon impact all air left her lungs, and she groaned as every inch of her body ached. At that very moment she wanted to give up. A few of her ribs were likely broken, she couldn’t think, and soon she’d be nothing but a cockroach crushed beneath these monsters' feet. Though perhaps the gods would be gracious enough to allow her to see Molly when she arrived at whatever awaited her after her death.
She looked over at the feet of the giant which had picked her up, only to notice a strange sludge seep out of the ground only to envelop its feet. The ashen colored, thick, slimy substance began crawling its way up the giant's body, and the giant let out a deafening scream. One full of fear and pain. A faint sound like that of bacon being fried filled her ears as the giant's flesh burnt away underneath the sludge. As if frozen she could only watch as the giant desperately attempted to grab hold of the sludge and pull it off of himself, only for it to cling to his arms and crawl further up his body.
Adrenaline swiftly kicked in and she stumbled to her feet, thoughts of panic and confusion mixing together to form a single command within her brain. Run. “Do not run straight, take at least four steps to the right.” Dror’Khanik’s voice commanded. She did as she was told and managed to narrowly dodge the massive foot of the second giant slamming into the ground next to her, the force of its stomp causing the ground to shake. As she looked up her eyes met with those of the angered giant, who yelled something in a tongue she could not speak. It leaned forward as if to grab her, yet was quickly distracted by the scream of his friend. Letting her continue to stumble away, it turned to the first giant who had fallen to its knees while fruitlessly pulling at the sludge. By now it had enveloped most of its body, as it continued crawling up the giant's shoulders. In pure desperation the second giant leaned forward to try and help pull the sludge away, yet it kept avoiding his grasp like some sort of elusive jello.
“The substance will not harm you, if you act quick you can climb the first giant while the second is distracted.” The dragon stated, putting an end to Erica’s somewhat paralyzed mental state. Yet Erica still hesitated, as every fibre of her body was overwhelmed by pain and fear. “Go!” Dror’Khanik commanded and something within Erica moved on its own. The pain quickly faded and strength filled her body in the same way it had done back at the Willowcreak medical centre.
She ran forward and threw herself at the massive thigh of the sludge covered giant. The sludge moved on its own as if to avoid Erica, revealing the giant's severely burnt flesh which she grabbed onto. After heaving herself up she gazed upward to find the second giant desperately pulling at the sludge, even though the first giant had stopped moving. With a facial expression full of despair, the second giant fell to his knees and let out a heartbreaking wail which shocked Erica to her very core. She couldn’t help but stare at his distressed face for a moment before the dragon once again spoke. “Act now or he will kill you.”
With a pained heart she jumped over to the lap of the second giant and rushed forward to touch its chest. Her hand collided with the lower parts of his ribs just as he grabbed onto her and screamed. The giant wrapped his fingers around her and squeezed her tightly to the point where she could hear her own ribs crack. She screamed out in pain as the giant stood up, sludge now seeping out of the ground beneath its feet. As the giant's grip became tighter and tighter Erica struggled to breathe, and moments later her vision became blurry. She closed her eyes as the world around her faded. ‘Molly… I’m sorry…’ She thought as the grip around her suddenly loosened.
She was returned to reality by the giant's hand slamming into the ground beneath them, and as her vision returned she found herself laying in the open palm of the giant's hand. Its entire arm had been severed from its body by its shoulder by the blade of a massive, ashen greatsword. The first giant had risen, now clad in an ashen armour formed by the sludge which was slowly hardening around it. Part of the sludge had taken the form of a mighty sword which it now held in its hand. The second giant screamed in anger as the first tackled it to the ground, holding it down for the sludge to consume it.
Erica stumbled to her feet, shocked both by the scenery before her, but also by the fact that she was still alive. With painful steps she backed away from the two monsters in front of her, slowly until she was far enough away to not be in any immediate danger. With deep breaths she watched the giant's one-sided struggle, desperately trying to wrap her head around what was happening. The ground shook as footsteps rapidly approached behind her, and as she turned around she found a third giant hastily running towards her. It glared at her with anger in its eyes and screamed as it slammed its hand into the ground, trapping Erica between the dirt and its muscular hand. Yet before she even had the chance to scream her attacker's head was cleaved in two, as the armoured giant had come to her rescue. A clean cut from the top of his head right down to his jaw, where the blade lost its momentum.
Thick, warm blood rained down on her as it pulled its blade out of the giant's skull, and at that moment she couldn’t help but tear up. The fear and shock welled over her in the form of snot-filled crying as the armoured warrior grabbed the giant's shoulder to make sure it wouldn’t fall forward and crush Erica’s already wounded body.
“There is still time, have him join his brothers before his heart stops beating.” The dragon’s voice spoke and Erica weakly rose to her knees and touched the giant's chest, and the sludge began rising out of the ground beneath it. She crawled over to a nearby tree and leaned up against it, as the pain of her broken ribs overwhelmed her.
“You did well.” Dror’Khanik spoke shortly thereafter, and the pain subsided as his voice entered her mind, though Erica had no idea what to respond with. After some time of silence the dragon spoke again. “I can sense your worry in regards to the morality of what just took place… These giants were scouts, I lured them here with the promise of a greater understanding of their enemies territory. If they had been allowed to return to their homeland, it would have resulted in a war your people would not win. Your actions today greatly altered the future of this land, and in doing so you also acquired three mighty warriors who will obey your every command. You put an end to three monsters which sought to bring ruin to this land, and that by definition makes you a hero.”
His voice echoed in her mind, and while it put her somewhat at ease a fear had still rooted itself somewhere within her. As she looked over at the giants a form of numbness filled her, the fear slowly fading only to be replaced by a mix of both mental and physical exhaustion. The first simply stood there as if it was awaiting orders of some kind, the second was slowly rising to its feet, now also clad in an ashen grey armour with a massive sword in its one remaining hand, and the third laid lifeless on the ground, as the sludge which covered it seemed to try to glue the two halves of its skull back together. In the depths of her exhaustion she couldn’t help but ask herself: ‘What have I gotten myself into?’