"I missed you guys," I said.

"We thought something must have happened to you?" Malvina asked.

"It's good to see you again," Elara seemed the happiest.

I looked at Erik, but he just looked at me with a neutral expression, so I said, "Good to see you too, Erik."

"Yes, quite," he responded, seeming to return to his frosty demeanor.

As I sat down, I said, "Sorry to keep you waiting, but I had another encounter with assassins as I left the capital," and proceeded to recount the almost fatal encounter.

"So, you took a little vacation in the countryside to learn some spells?" She was angry, but I suspected they did worry a little about my fate.

"I had to have some other means of attack in case I encountered them again. I was lucky with the lake that time," I said somberly, as I came very close to mortal danger.

"So, what happened in the meantime? Get me up to speed," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Elara and Malvina are practically joined at the hip," Alira mentioned.

I looked at them with new eyes, and Alira jokingly slapped me. "I just meant friends."

That brought a laugh out of everyone. When it died down, Erik spoke, "Since we had some spare time, we also did some light book reading and think we found a location for the temple."

"That’s amazing. How far away is it?" I asked.

"A week or two, depending on some clues," Alira filled in.

"Is it that vague?" The temple had to survive for a few thousand years, so it was either very hidden or had some protections.

"Not really. There's some ambiguity, but it is to be expected," Erik was optimistic for a change.

"So, when do we leave?" They looked at each other.

"We were waiting for you so we can leave as soon as we pack," Malvina said, already up.

Elara followed her and said, "See you guys at the stables."

As they went to gather their things, Alira didn’t seem in a hurry to leave.

"So..." I began, but hesitated a little. "How did things go with the family and future family?" I said with a slight smile.

She mirrored my expression. “The actual family is OK, we parted on good terms,” sighing she continued, “the PAST family, not so much,” heavily accenting the second word.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I realized that she might actually, so backtracked a little. “You’re beautiful, smart, funny, and all that.” She was now watching me with a mix of amusement and disbelief. “But he’s a prince; he must have other girls swooning over him. Why is he so hung up over you?”

“Is that how you compliment girls in your world? Half compliment, half insult?” she looked serious.

Usually, I could tell if she was kidding or not, but this time there was no hint of anything. Before I could start apologizing, my emotions must have triggered something in her as her face began to soften.

“I’m sorry, I was a little mad because I’ve been worried, but you’re so cute when you're all flustered.” She seemed to wait for me to say something, but I maintained the silence.

“Fine!” she exclaimed. “As I stated before, he is used to having everything, including girls, and I must have been one of the few who rejected him initially.”

“But then you agreed to the marriage?”

“Only at the pressure of my mother, and he treated me like a perfect gentleman, so I couldn’t really find a fault in him, even though I didn’t share his feelings.” The way she talked about it seemed this was a source of great frustration for her.

“So, you could have become a princess, but there was something holding you back?”

“My grandma was one of the most powerful seers, maybe in the world at that time, and she counseled the king for a lot of years. Money was not an issue, believe me,” she had that same introspective look. “I just didn’t feel that way for him, even though I did try near the beginning.”

Moving her head sideways like she wanted to forget the memories, she immediately asked, “What about you? How many crying women have you left pining in your world?”

Guess it was only fair to have that question brought up, so I responded, “I had a few serious relationships, but nothing leading to marriage.”

I recognized the expression forming on her face. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” yes, she was really proud of the joke she just thought up. “You are funny, I’ll give you that; the gods say you are smart, although I sometimes doubt their wisdom. So the girls would have probably said yes, why didn’t you take the final step?”

“Hey! You forgot ‘hot’,” I said in a fake hurt tone.

She laughed and said, “Well, let’s just say you were a little rounder around the edges when we met.”

I looked at her with a mischievous grin. “Not anymore? So, you did notice. Thank you.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She punched me in my arm. “Ow,” I said.

“You have your shield; stop complaining.”

“It’s the idea of the matter.” I retorted.

“Yea, yea. I’m going to pack,” she said, rising from the table and heading upstairs to her room.

A week later.

As we climbed higher and higher, the air was noticeably thinner, and thus breathing was more labored. But the views of the surrounding valleys and peaks somewhat made up for it.

"We need to take a break or something; this thin air is killing me," I said as I sat on a nearby rock.

"Thin air?" Malvina raised one of her eyebrows.

"Yeah, you know, less oxygen."

"It does feels like I’m more easily tired. I thought it was because of all the climbing we’ve been doing the past week," Alira mused.

"No, it’s the altitude, and if we keep climbing, it’s gonna get worse."

"Well, if we are to believe the book we have, the triple peaks are to our right, the river to our left, and the harsh climb will turn into a gentle slope," Erik was the freshest of us all, must have very high endurance. "So, let’s go; that hill over there looks promising, and we’re almost there."

All started moving again, and even though struggling to raise to my feet, I followed them to the ridge.

As we reached it, a new valley was visible, and inside, something artificial was visible.

"Well, I say we did it," Erik commented. "Something that massive has to be the temple."

"I’m more grateful that the climb is over," I said as we started descending into the valley.

As we made progress, the building became clearer. It was half rubble but was too massive for such a remote place to be anything but religious in nature.

Alira stopped and made a gesture for us to stop as well.

"I think I hear something coming from the rubble," she said. Then her look hardened. "Giants, most likely."

"I thought they were on the other continent?" I said.

"No, they are encountered everywhere if you have high enough mountains," Alira responded.

"So, why are they so feared?" They all turned to look at me like was I serious.

"I know they are called giants, but we do have magic. The bigger they are, the..."

"Yes, they are highly resistant to magic," Alira mentioned.

"Oh, come on! Is everyone resistant or immune to magic here? How is this fair?" How was this fair? "I picked the wrong class," I mumbled.

"Usually, mages are pretty rare, so most don’t bother with armors specific to counter them," Erik replied while his eyes are focused on the temple ahead, which was getting closer.

"Any weakness?"

"Not really, they have tough skin, and enchanted blades or arrows, in my case, are useless," After a bit of thought, he continued, "When they attack settlements, ballistas are the only thing that can take them down."

"So, enough physical damage would do it."

"Please stand back; I’m gonna prepare a surprise for them, but I don’t want accidents if I get distracted." They moved ahead while I stayed back and prepared an explosive orb like the one I used to escape jail. It didn’t need to break steel or have a small nozzle, so I managed to create one in a few minutes. It took a bit of concentration to walk with it hovering near me.

"Okay, make some noise, then get behind me if they come at us."

Erik fired an arrow at a metal decoration on the building, and a sound passed across the valley. Guttural roars or maybe they were growls followed soon after the first sound.

I imagined them as bigger humans, but they looked more like ogres but obviously bigger. They had a club, so they must have some intelligence to build it. As if confirming the intelligence part, they didn’t charge at us but seemed to size us up.

"Is it possible to communicate with them?" I asked.

"Some have tried; very few have survived to tell the story," Alira shrugged.

I walked near them, but as soon as I did, the bigger of the three giants picked up a piece of rubble and threw it before me. Seemed they did warning shots as well.

I cleared my voice and shouted, "We just need some time inside the building; we don’t want to hurt you."

"We destroy you," his voice was distorted by the guttural sound, but it seemed all intelligent races could really understand each other.

There were only three giants; we had good odds. But as I was thinking that, five more appeared from the building. As I looked back to my party, the shock was clear; they even started to backtrack a little. There was no way to win against them all; it seemed some improvising would be necessary.

"Do you need anything that we can offer you?" I shouted again.

"We need; we take," well, at least they were succinct.

They started walking towards us, so when lacking ideas, borrow one from our fantasy; it’s not like we can be dead twice if it goes wrong.

Panicking with their approach, I shouted again, "The goddess Aurora sent me."

That seemed to give them pause as the big guy stopped, and the others seemed to take cues from him.

"You lie," but he didn’t resume his attack, so I had to assume he needed further proof.

"I was given a mission of great importance from her; I must visit the building where you are." Low intelligence creatures and gods puppeteering them was a story as old as time.

"Puny human prove." I’m assuming he didn’t want a signed contract, but what would giants value? Strength, maybe, or honor? Gold?

"Prove? How?" Maybe sounding like them would give me extra points.

"Fight," why was I not surprised. "Only us," he added.

"To the death?" I asked, dreading the answer.

His voice was guttural then usual, like he was laughing. "No other way."

The other giants retreated slightly, so I turned back and gestured for them to mirror them.

Thank god I still had the orb, but that meant he would have to attack.

I was sure he was going to charge at me, but so far we circled each other like he understood the danger the orb faced. When he was near a rock, he lunged for it, and for his size, he was fast. I managed to dodge it, but almost lost focus on the orb. I had to go on the offensive.

I fired a lightning bolt with my other hand, but with the low power and his resistance, it didn’t do much more than sizzle the cloth where it hit. He again went for a stone, but I sprinted to him, and when he went to grab the rock, I threw the orb at him.

It hit him in the side and exploded. By instinct, I covered my eyes with my elbow, but that proved a mistake as I saw him charging me as soon I lowered my arm.

I attempted to roll, but his club struck me, and I was sent flying into a small tree, which splintered from the impact. For a moment, I thought my orb had no effect on him, but the giant was also staggering, indicating that his adrenaline was wearing out.

One of his arms was badly mangled, yet he continued wielding the club with one hand. As I got up, my chest hurt pretty bad, but I was still able to fight, even if I couldn't roll.

I launched a barrage of lightning bolts, but they only caused minor burns that seemed to have no effect on him. The giant charged again, so I attempted to create a quicksand pool in front of him. I managed to close it just in time for his foot to get stuck, causing him to trip and fall right in front of me.

I put as much force as I could into a bolt and fired it at his head. He roared as the almost point-blank projectile hit his upper cheek and eye. With renewed adrenaline, he managed to free his leg by ripping it from the ground and, being so close, swung at me.

This time, I didn’t even try to dodge but pushed the club with my wind spell. Again, I went flying, but this time only half the distance as the first time. The left arm that took the brunt of the hit radiated pain, and for a moment, I thought I was going to faint.

Realizing I couldn’t take another hit, I started firing bolts at the club. Fortunately, the wood wasn’t magic-resistant, and it exploded, causing projectiles that hit the undamaged skin to just bounce off, but the ones hitting the mangled part became embedded, and he again screamed in pain.

"Draw!" I shouted. "We'll both be dead from injuries soon."

He snarled and charged.