The Pit

"You wish to fight?" The Queen asks, very curious about the request from the half-giant.

"Yes. I'll be damned if I have to sit here and wait until you're finished. So, I want to spar one of your warriors."

The Queen is quiet, obviously mulling the offer over. She can't really see any downside to the offer, and she isn't surprised by said offer due to the giant part of Clarva.

However, there's something that doesn't feel quite right about it, but she can't figure out what.

The Queen then decides to accept, albeit somewhat apprehensively. "Alright. I'll shall grant you your request. You and your friends can head down to the pit."

The Queen then snaps her fingers, causing her adviser to rush over to the Queen's side. The Queen then whispers something to the smaller giant, but the group are far enough out of earshot to hear anything. The adviser then leaves the room, seemingly given a task to complete.

"Alright. Now that you've accepted my generous offer, let us depart, human." The Queen then stands up and begins to walk over to John and the others.

Before the Queen gets to them, Kyuala quickly grabs John pulling him in for a big hug.

"Please, whatever you do, just hold on, okay?" Kyuala pleads in a whisper right next to John's ear.

"Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon. Keep yourself and the others safe until then, alright?" John requests.

"I will." Kyuala answers as they hear the closing steps of the Queen.

"Shall we retreat to my room, human?" The Queen asks as she extends her hand down.

John and Kyuala reluctantly let go of one another before John turns towards the Queens hand and takes a seat on the outstretched palm.

The Queen brings her hand up before saying, "Alright. I will be taking my leave now. Take our guests to the pit."

The Queen then looks at Clarva. "Oh, and make sure to put on good show for my subjects. You must live up to the Mightenos name after all."

With those final words, the Queen begins to walk off with John literally in hand as Clarva simply growls in response to the Queen's words to her.

As the Queen is walking through a door on the right side of the throne with John in hand, the latter holds on while internally wondering, "Is this what Lani feels like?"

Back in the throne room, the Queen's advisor walks up to the group. "Follow me. My Queen has asked me to make sure you put on a good show, but I'm not sure you can measure up to a true giant."

"Step into the pit with me and find out for yourself." Clarva retorts, taking the advisor by surprise.

The advisor then quickly tries to save face. "As much as I would love to, I'm afraid that I'm not on the list for the pit. Now, if you would follow me. Filthy wretches."

The group begin following the advisor whilst the other giants trail behind them. They head out of a door on the left of the throne, heading further into the stronghold.

"So, how big is this place?" Amilia asks the advisor.

"Our home is nearly as big as the mountain itself. We have been expanding for decades as our populace grows. We may seem few up here, but you should fret the numbers that lie below."

Terra then decides to follow Amilia's example and asks, "Have you been the advisor for long?"

"I have been our mighty Queen's advisor since her ascension to the throne. I have been graced to be a part of her inner circle for so long, and I shall continue to be of great servitude for as long as she will have me."

After finishing her ass-kissing spiel, the advisor almost begins day dreaming about something, but she quickly catches herself before gathering her composure once more.

Virra is the next person to ask a question. "Does the Queen do this type of stuff a lot? Taking men, I mean."

"How dare you question my Queen like that! She is not some whore who sleeps with every disgusting man that is brought through those doors! The only reason she's doing... that now, is because of his human heritage."

"You didn't seem thrilled about it when your queen brought it up." Kyuala mentions.

"Well..." The advisor begins to stammer before eventually spitting out. "That was purely because I do not wish for the Queen to go through the struggles of birth! I have heard the screams of my fellow giants during child birth, and I did not want her to feel the same agony."

Amilia picks up on the specific wording, and comments on it. "From the way you're speaking, you ain't got a kid of yer own."

"Gods no. I will not be partaking in such things. I am perfectly fine with my station in life."

The group immediately note the advisors tone, and they can instantly tell that she is, in fact, not happy with her current station in life.

Lani (who is currently sat on Kyuala's shoulder) gets an idea, so she scoots over to Kyuala's ear. "Hey, I think I know of a way we can get to the Queen."

"What is it?" Kyuala asks.

"Well, the advisor is clearly protective of the Queen, so if we can somehow convince her that the Queen sleeping with John is a bad idea, then maybe she can take us to her."

Kyuala thinks for a moment. "It could work. I don't know how viable of an option it is, but it's worth a shot."

Lani then flies off Kyuala's shoulder and heads up to the advisor. "Hi there."

"Hello, fairy."

"I have a question for you. Do you mind I sit on your shoulder?"

"You absolutely cannot." The advisor says with disgust in her voice.

"Okay." Lani meekly responds. "So, I was wondering something. How does the Queen know if can even have a child with a human?"

The advisor then asks, "Why wouldn't she be able to? Doesn't he have the same equipment as other races?"

"He does, but since he isn't from a world like this, how does she know it will work? And even if it does, how does she know that the child will be okay? Or even that the pregnancy will go well? For all we know, this could potentially kill the Queen."

The advisor goes quiet as Lani's words seemingly having the desired effect. A minute passes before the advisor shakes her head. "Regardless of the unknown factors, it's all speculation at this point. If the Queen believes she can, then she will do what she wishes."

"Absolutely. I wouldn't dare try to question her decisions as any of you could literally squash me like a bug. However... I do just wonder if she's thinking clearly, or if something about the aura of a human has potentially clouded her judgement. After all, anybody else would do the exact same if they found out about such a rare being within their own home."

Lani then gets a little closer. "Also... and this is just pure speculation on my part, but I think that you might not agree with the whole situation as well. You are not the only one. My friends are definitely against it, especially Kyuala, uhh, the orc. She is technically the wife of John--it's a whole claiming situation--anyway, she obviously doesn't want her beloved and the Queen to... y'know, so you aren't wrong for thinking that. Uhh, theoretically, I mean. I obviously have no idea what you may agree or disagree with."

The advisor goes quiet once more, and is obviously entrenched in deep thought. Lani then decides to not push it any further. "Well, I should head back to my group. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you."

A few seconds later, Lani lands back on Kyuala's shoulder as the latter asks, "How'd it go?"

"Well, I can't say for certain, but I definitely planted some seeds of doubt in her head."

"Good. That's all we need." Kyuala says as they continue forward.

A FEW MINUTES LATER:

The group, led by the Queens Advisor and flanked by the others giants, descend the last couple steps of the stairwell before entering another waiting room of sorts.

The advisor stops before the doors ahead of her and turns to the group. "Half-giant. You will be taken to the fighters quarters. The rest of you, we shall take our seats in the private box, graciously granted to us by our great Queen."

Clarva looks at the group, giving them all a nod before heading off with the rest of the giants as they begin taking her towards the fighters quarters.

Meanwhile, the advisor opens up the doors of the private viewing box, and she--along with the group--head through the doors before each of them find a seat.

Down in the pit, two giants have clearly been going at it for a good amount of time. The pair have cuts, gashes and blood covering parts of their faces, arms, and bodies.

A thudding blow is heard as one of the giants clocks the other with a powerful right hook. Blood is splattered across the ground, and the already gathered crowd roars in amazement as the fight is obviously nearing its conclusion.

A few more sluggish yet powerful blows are exchanged until finally, the giant on the left drops to the floor.

The crowd erupts, a mixture of echoing cheers and jeers as some bets paid off while others failed.

"Seems we managed to catch the end of a feud. If I recall correctly, the one who just fell had beat the winner's sister to win a tournament we held a few months ago." The advisor explains as the winner basks in the cheers whilst the loser is dragged out of the pit.

"Are the fights to the ****?" Terra asks.

"No. We think of the pit as less of an arena and more of a forge. We sharpen our best warriors in here, and if you know smithing, you know that metal requires beating to form it into a weapon. The Queen was actually champion before ascending to the throne."

"We have a similar thing at my family's camp." Kyuala says. "There is a proving ground tournament which is used to elect new captains for the clan. We have three winners, and then, those three fight to become the head of those captains."

The advisor hums, seemingly intrigued by that piece of information. Her attention is quickly brought back to the pit as a new set fighters walk in and get ready to clash.

"What about weapons?"

"No. The fights are strictly fists only." The advisor responds, answering Amilia's question.

Virra then asks, "Do we have an idea of when Clarva's fight is going to happen?"

"A few matches at least. We have to allow our fighters the opportunity to warm up. Plus, I do not want the half-breed to have any excuse why she didn't win."

Before any of the group can come up with any response, the two combatants in the pit crash together as the sound of colliding flesh echoes before the crowd roars in excitement.

Down below the pit, Clarva cracks her knuckles and neck as she begins to stretch and warm her muscles up.

She begins to let her mind drift back to the earliest memories she has. Her father's smile as she ran towards him. How the hunter struggled to pick up his rapidly growing daughter yet you wouldn't be able to tell he had any issue with the look of glee cast upon his face.

Another memory that comes back is her father's village and how everyone there was always kind to Clarva and her father.

There was an elderly lady a few houses away from Clarva's who would watch over her while her father was out hunting, and she would bake the softest of cookies for the growing girl to munch on.

There was a shop keeper who would sneak Clarva a few extra pieces of candy, and there was a farmer who would let Clarva chase the sheep around whilst the farmer and Clarva's father watched on with smiles on their faces.

Unfortunately for Clarva, those happy memories are but fleeting as she remembers the night of the village's destruction.

She remembers waking up to the sounds of screaming and shouting amidst the ringing of bells. Her father runs into her room, obviously out of breath as he tells her to pack her things as quickly as possible. Clarva tried to ask what was going on, but her father told her that there was no time to explain as he began to throw her clothes into a bag.

The tired and very confused Clarva began to grab the most important items to her. Her favourite toys, favourite blanket, her crayons and drawing book along with some extra candy that Clarva was keeping for an emergency like the child version of spare rations.

The young Clarva and her father rush out of their home and Clarva sees some of the homes at the bottom of the village have been destroyed by a mudslide that is quickly coming towards them.

"C'mon. We have to go!" Clarva's father says as he picks Clarva up before starting to run.

As Clarva clings onto her father, she looks over his shoulder and sees people from the village running away from the incoming disaster. Some manage to escape the oncoming destruction, but others weren't so lucky.

Clarva clings on tight as her father begins running up a hill, but halfway up said hill, Clarva hears a crunch, and the father and daughter fall to the ground.

A loud thud above Clarva knocks the half-giant out of her memories. She looks up as she hears the muffled adulation of the crowd as one of the combatants seems to have claimed the victory.

Clarva takes a breath before closing her eyes once again as she begins rolling her shoulders, continuing her warm-up.

MEANWHILE:

The victor is leaving the pit after winning via a thunderous body slam, and the spectators are still buzzing over the magnificent feat.

Back at the private seats, the group are whispering amongst themselves, trying to figure out what their plan is going to be. As they are, the Queen's advisor is currently deep in thought over Lani's words.

About a minute goes by before the advisor stuns the group by saying, "Fairy. Can you come here for a second?"

The group look at one another, and Lani's heart quickly starts to beat through her chest.

"U-u-uhh, sure." Lani then flies up to the advisor and awaits for the advisor's words.

The advisor then looks at the flying fairy. "You may sit on my shoulder. Just this once however!"

Lani quickly nods before carefully landing on the giant's shoulder. "S-s-so... you wished to speak to me?"

"That I did." The advisor lets out a sigh. "I have been thinking about what you said earlier, and as much as I hate to admit it, you may have a... point."

Lani is surprised, but not in the way she expected to be. "Oh! Uhh, I really didn't mean to put any ideas into your head. I was just rambling because John is my companion and I'm just worried about not being near him."

"An understandable reason, but I can assure you, you did not put any ideas into my mind. I will admit that I might have had my doubts about the situation, but your words helped me think about it with a new perspective."

"O-okay. So, did you potentially want some advice on how to bring it up with the Queen?" Lani carefully asks.

"N-no! Why would I need the advice of a fairy?" The advisor responds with faux bravado, but Lani sees right through it and knows for a fact that the advisor doesn't believe her own words.

"Oh, of course!" Lani chuckles, continuing to butter up the giant.

There's an awkward silence between the two for a few moments as Lani doesn't exactly know what to say, or if she should say anything at all.

Luckily for Lani, the silence is broken by the advisor saying, "However, if you were hypothetically in my position, what would you do in this situation? Just thinking out loud, of course."

Lani thinks for a few moments. "Well, if I were in your position, I would get to the Queen sooner rather than later. I don't know much about giant... mating, but if they're already... going at it, then it's fair to assume that we wouldn't have much time. If any potential pregnancy could cause any damage, I would want to stop it from happening as quickly as possible. Hypothetically speaking."

The advisor goes quiet for a few more seconds before saying, "Thank you for indulging me once again. Return to your friends. I have... much to think about."

Lani doesn't respond, instead, she just flies down to Kyuala's shoulder.

Kyuala doesn't turn her head acknowledge Lani's landing. She simply leans her head over to Lani and asks, "How did it go this time?"

"I think I'm getting a hang of this subterfuge thing." The fairy calmly but jovially replies.

Kyuala slightly turns her head, watching the advisor from the corner of her eye. Kyuala sees the advisor is definitely conflicted internally over Lani's words.

Kyuala then looks back down at the pit as she quietly hopes that the advisor will take the bait.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER:

The current combatants finish their gruelling battle, and both make their way out the pit.

Clarva has warmed herself up as best she can, and is just waiting for the call to enter the pit.

That call soon comes as there's a knock at the sliding door to the quarters Clarva claimed for the time being. Clarva then slides said door open and comes face-to-face with a giant.

"You're next. Get moving." Is all the giant says.

Clarva doesn't reply, she just grunts before walking down the hallway and towards the stairs that lead up to the pit.

The half-giant then takes a deep breath before beginning to walk up the stairs.

After Clarva ascends the stairs, she then walks through a small tunnel before walking out to the brightly lit pit.

A chorus of boo's then begin upon Clarva's entrance to the pit, but Clarva ignored it as she quickly begins to look around, trying to find the rest of the group. Clarva soon finds them and sees that they're sitting next to the seemingly distracted advisor.

Clarva then gives the group a small nod just as the crowd starts to cheer.

The cheering grabs Clarva's attention as she looks across the pit and sees her opponent.

The opponent in question can easily be identified as a half orc due to the dark green hue of her skin along with two small tusks protruding up by the corners of her mouth.

The orc giant batters her chest before throwing her hands up and roaring which gets another round of cheers from the blood-thirsty crowd.

The orc giant then looks at Clarva and just chuffs as a sinister smirk appears on their face.

Clarva looks at her opponent and begins to size her up.

There's the obvious doubt that comes with having the disadvantage with height and strength, but Clarva knows for a fact that she has the speed advantage, and that's all she needs.

Clarva then takes a deep breath as she digs her heels into the ground. She then looks up at the orc giant who just roars back, signalling that she's ready to go.

The roar doesn't phase Clarva in the slightest as she simply smirks before taking off towards her opponent.