The Queen's Room

NARRATOR NOTE//:

Hey everyone! Apologies for the very late chapter. I've just been very tired with work, and thus, I've been sleeping like a fucking log. Anyway, here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes! Hope you all enjoy! - JZ

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EARLIER ON:

The Queen left the throne room with John in her hands, heading towards her room to seal the deal as it were.

John isn't happy with what he has to do for a two very obvious reasons.

The first reason being that he's with Kyuala, and he can't stand to hurt her in any way. He's been thinking about his weird relationship with Kyuala a lot more as of late. He was claimed by the orc during his first couple days in Reduna'z, but John hasn't really fought against it. While the factor of not being in a relationship for a while before his arrival in Fucknowswhat definitely nudged him towards accepting it, John has been feeling like there's something else that's happening unbeknownst to him and his loving orc.

The second reason John isn't happy with the agreement is because he had the fear of God put into him by Clarva and Amilia as they were joking about how dangerous sex with a giant can be. No matter how good the sex may be, the fear of **** is always going to make John worry, no matter if it was the Queen, Kyuala, Tally or an orgy with the angels.

He holds on for dear life, fearing that he may fall, he always wondered if Lani feared falling, but quickly remembers that she has wings.

"You needn't worry, human. I will not drop you. I may be many things in your eyes, but I assure you that I am not clumsy." The Queen says without even looking at John, seemingly sensing his fear.

"How do you think I see you?" John asks, trying to avoid another bout of awkward silence, but he's also curious about her answer.

The Queen takes a moment to properly curate her words before speaking. "I believe you see me as nothing more than a monster, taking slaves, forcing men to breed and grow my clan as it were. You've no doubt heard such stories from your half-giant friend, but I assure you, I am not as bad as those stories make me out to be."

"You kinda just admitted to taking slaves, so it's not exactly unfounded. Plus, the sister of my friend has your curse, so it's not looking great for your supposed reputation."

"You misunderstand." The Queen interjects. "I said that I am not as bad, but I am still bad according to the rest of the people who shuffle among this continent. However, I do have my reasons for what I do."

"And what are they?" John asks almost immediately.

"I obviously can't speak for humans, but I imagine that your people are very similar to the people of this world. Your people probably do whatever it takes to continue your lives, whether it be taking from the land or from others of your kind. I simply do whatever it takes to help my people thrive like they should've been centuries ago."

"Having sex slaves is thriving? Cursing innocent girls?" John questions with obvious snark.

"I don't need to defend my clan's practices to you of all people, but I will correct you. If you believe that all the men who are brought here is against their will, you truly are a fool." The Queen takes a breath, calming herself. "As a hot-blooded male yourself, you surely share in the primal need to mate, yes? Well, almost half the men that are brought here are perverted scoundrels who fantasize about a giant woman using them for pleasure. The roof over their heads, food in their bellies, lack of personal responsibilities and sexual pleasure with a very willing woman is the ultimate fantasy for many males of this world."

"Not just on this world." John thinks to himself.

"While I will admit that there are some men who resist, it is purely out of my hands. If my clan wish to have a male, they are free to take unless they are personally claimed by me. This isn't a rule I can easily change. It has been giant tradition for longer than some of the lands have existed."

"Alright then, what about the curse? You still chose to condemn an innocent girl to her ****!" John barely manages to bite down on the anger that he feels, but knows that getting into an argument with the Queen is only going to lead to the others or himself getting hurt.

"The girl would not die. She would become one of us."

"Yeah, and what happens after that? Oh yeah, she's just **** to kill her family. You know, no big deal." The anger in John's voice continues to be extremely prevalent, even with John trying to hold back.

"An unfortunate consequence of the greed of her great grandfather. If you wish for personal wealth, you must surrender something you cherish. If you wish to take shortcuts, then I have to take time from you. If you wish for prosperity, then you have to sacrifice something return. You cannot get without giving, that is the cruel, unfortunate truth of life."

John remains quiet this time. That last line hits him harder than expected. Before dropping into this world, he spent countless hours working just to scrape by. He gave his time, health and even happiness just to make sure that he lived. It pains him to think, but he's still stuck in that cycle, just in a different environment.

A new cage, but the same hamster wheel.

Before either of the two spark up another heated conversation, John sees two large doors that are very different from all the others. A quick think makes John assume that they're the doors to the Queen's room.

A few moments later and the Queen effortlessly opens the doors up with a single hand, showing off her strength in the tamest way possible, yet it's still extremely effective in John's eyes.

As the doors come to close behind the two, the Queen carefully places John onto the bed, giving him the chance to get a look at the room in full before she walks off to another room.

The first thing John sees is a large wooden desk with books and papers neatly tidied on the edges. A quill and a pot of ink sit over to the right side on its own little stand, seemingly to avoid any chance of knocking it over.

Both the desk and small side table sit in front of the far wall with three large tapestries, the hard work put in by their painters shows with all the little details and things that a glance would miss.

The tapestries themselves show the Queen in different stages of her reign. The first shows her dethroning the previous queen. The second shows a large battle happening though John can't tell who is opposing the giants in it. The third tapestry shows prosperity for the clan. Giants walking with children in hand, celebration with drinks in hand, and the Queen watching over them all, being praised for everything she's done.

"Even a chronic masturbator doesn't have that much self-love." John jokes to himself before looking away.

To the right of the desk is a stand that's obviously for the Queen's armour, but it's currently nude as the Queen is wearing said armour. Next to the stand is two hooks that hold a very sharp looking sword that's around the length of two cars and the width of one.

"Note to self: Don't piss her off in here. But I might've done that already. Shit..."

John's internal toiling continues as his eyes move over to the left side of the room. It's looks to be a regular cabinet with a glass partition. Inside the glass is a crown sitting on a fancy purple pillow, and on the shelf below is an ornate necklace sat on a mannequin's neck. John looks for only a few seconds before making the relatively safe assumption that they are the crown jewels of the giants.

John's eyes then move down to beneath him. They scan around the bed he is currently sat upon. The maroon coloured cover itself is softer than any he's ever had before. He thought the covers and sheets at the Tarron Manor were heavenly, but the sheer size of the cover makes John feel like he's sitting on a cloud. Then again, after spending so long travelling on the cart with seats that don't get even a little better with time, a gravel chair would probably give him the feeling of overwhelming ecstasy.

Before John can indulge any longer, the Queen walks back out of the room in the back and heads toward him. A moment later, she carefully sits on the bed, making sure to not accidentally bounce John off the bed.

The Queen sits there for a few moments, remaining silent as she stares forward at the tapestries on the far wall. Her eyes study the paint, presumably for the millionth time. John can't see her expression fully, but she doesn't seem to be looking at them with fond memories.

"What are they?" John asks.

"Memories." The Queen solemnly replies.

A silence follows after a long sigh that escapes from the Queen's lips. The two sit as the quiet envelops them, leaving John to wonder if he should say anything.

Fortunately for John, the Queen seems to have had enough of the silence as well as she asks, "Are you scared, human?"

Not exactly the question John would've liked, but he'll take anything to avoid any more awkward silences on this godforsaken trip.

"Scared of what?"

"You are currently in the middle of a giant stronghold, trapped in a room with the Queen who has made their intention to use you as a breeding toy very clear. I'm also certain that you've had the dangers of breeding with a giant made very clear by your friends, and yet, you don't seem scared. In fact, it seems like you're more annoyed than anything."

John nervously chuckles. "Well, I did just kinda hope that we'd show up, manage to convince you to drop the curse, and then we'd head back to celebrate. I'm still hoping that we don't get attacked by pirates again on the way home, but you can't get everything I suppose."

The Queen let's out a chuckle of her own, surprising John. "You could not be more correct about that. I had often wished for things to be so simply in my first years as Queen, but the throne has taken quite a toll on me. If there's only one lesson to be learned as a ruler, it's that wishing for things to be easy often does the reverse."

"Trust me, I've been learning that lesson pretty well since my ass crashed on this world."

"And how has your time been since landing on this globe of dirt?" The Queen asks, her voice conveying genuine interest.

"Honestly? Really fucking tiring." John lies back on the bed, relishing in the comfort.

The Queen sees the relief in John's face, so she decides to lie down as well. "It seems we have another thing in common. Being the ruler of an entire clan isn't as exhilarating as I had hoped it would be in my youth. I dreamed of fighting great battles, becoming a hero, settling down as a legend. However, after that first great battle, I truly realized how poorly misguided my ambitions were."

"I used to dream for a situation like mine." John starts before elaborating. "Being transported to a fantasy world with magic, dragons, and beautiful women with huge tits. I wondered what it'd be like to be the saviour of a huge kingdom, being celebrated by all the people living in it. I never expected that being a hero meant nearly shitting yourself because a zombie is about to eat your fucking face."

"For me, seeing the beheaded body of one of my childhood friends was the moment that reality truly set in."

The two sit there, just taking in the weight of their experiences. They obviously can't fully relate to one another due to the vast differences in their lives, but the parts they can relate with each other? Simply put, it's some heavy shit.

Another bout of silence fills the room, but it's not an awkward one this time. No, this silence is one that's been brought about by introspective from the two about their harrowing experiences.

Images of lives took, blood spilled, and brushes with **** all come together before the guilt of their actions hits them like a tidal wave, but more so for John.

The Queen has had decades to justify and push away any guilt, but John? He's barely had a few months to go from shelf stacker to killer. It may be for survival for himself, his friends, and technically the entire world, but he tries his best to not think about that as every ounce of him already struggles with not crumbling under the sheer weight of that task.

However, who's to say that John gets to decide who lives and who dies? The supposed prophecy that Elliyah has told him about only relates to him stopping the Drakkatel, but nothing about him cutting down legions of men in the process. Elliyah only said that he had to get stronger. So, does that strength come from blood spilled? Or is there another way?

Before John can delve any further into that whole existential crisis, the Queen sits up. "Well, enough of the self-pity, I brought you here to sire the next generation of great giant leaders. So, you need to undress whilst I begin the spell."

As the Queen gets up from the bed, a word scramble begins to escape John's mouth. "W-w-wait! What do you mean spell?! What are you gonna do to me?!"

"Do humans prefer to be told about surprises? Or do they appreciate the sudden gesture as much as the people of this world?" The Queen responds, fully intending to give a non-answer to any question that John may have asked, so she can continue on with her plan.

Unfortunately for the Queen, she's about to meet the human nature to rapidly question in time of crisis.

"H-h-hold on! W-what about the curse?! How am I supposed to believe that you'll keep up your end of the bargain?!" John demands to know, attempting to buy himself and the others some time.

"As much as I hate to hear someone call my honour into question, you do raise a good point." The Queen begins to think, giving John a few brief moments of reprieve as she starts muttering to herself. "Maybe I could use the womb tattoo? Hmm, that's only really for granting release from servitude. I can't use any of the other methods since that would mean binding him to me as an official ****. Wait, Word is Bond! It's been nearly a century since I last used it, I almost forgot it was a thing! That does mean I'd have to get one of the mage's."

The Queen puts an end to her muttering before looking back at John, his mind obviously racing for another way to prolong the impending ride.

Upon seeing his distressed face, a question then pops into the Queen's mind. "The girl with the curse, why are you sacrificing so much for her? You obviously care since she's the sister of your friend, but why risk this? Why risk your relationship with the orc? I'm under the impression that you all know that there's another way to break the curse, so why not go with that?"

"You know fine well that us picking a fight with giants in your home turf is certain ****. We can't even open a door, and you thought we'd just try and cut you down like you were some goblin?" John replies with an annoyed tone, feeling like the Queen is just mocking him.

"I suppose that's true. If I had any sort of feeling that you were here with devious intent, I would've had you massacred before you reached the doors to the throne room. But you didn't answer my first question: Why risk everything for one girl?"

"Because she's exactly that. A girl." John promptly replies, feeling anger building within himself once again. "She's barely been able to live any sort of life. Yes, she might be stuck in a huge ass mansion, but a cage is a cage no matter how big. You also factor in her being in constant fear of killing her family and friends, all because of your voice in her damned head prodding her fears like she's just some sort of toy for you to play with!"

That piece of information stuns the Queen. She's heard so many people associate her name with acts she hasn't committed, but this one hits a specific nerves in the Queen.

"I'm also doing it for me! I had a sister back on Earth, and I know I wasn't the best big brother, so I'll be damned if I let Erya die thinking her family didn't care enough to try!"

"Hold a moment." The Queen asks, her request just barely under a command.

John stops to take a breath. His own words surprising him as he realizes what he admitted to not only the Queen, but to himself in that word vomit.

Before John can begin to apologize for getting angry or even try to take back his comments, the Queen looks at him with serious eyes.

"What did you just say about a... voice?"

John lets out a small sigh of relief, but it's cut short as he quickly realizes that he's not in the clear just yet. "Umm... Erya, the cursed girl, said she was hearing your voice in her head, and you were practically taunting her. She said that you constantly remind her that she's gonna become a giant, and that she should just accept it."

John then remembers one last detail. "She also told me that you could smell my scent the moment I arrived at Muprosyll. That's how she found out I was human."

John's words makes the Queen's eyes shoot wide open, obviously having a revelation of sorts. After realizing that her expression is visible to John, she quickly puts her serious face back on. "Human. I know that you don't exactly have any sort of reason to trust me, and I understand that you are a foreigner to this world which knows little about my great race in the first place, so let me explain; I cannot communicate through the curse whatsoever. As powerful as I may be, that is impossible for myself because the method to do so was lost long ago."

That thought from just a few moments ago pops back into the Queen's mind, and it's one that obviously disturbs her. "I may not have that power... but I know of one who sought it."

The Queen then stand up before outstretching her hand. "Come on, I think you'll want to be there to hear the truth for yourself."

John takes a few seconds, worrying to himself about what's going to happen, but at the moment, anything is better than being **** to breed. John then climbs onto the Queen's hand once again after she has put her sword back into her sheath. The Queen then opens the door and begins striding down the corridor with purpose in every step which makes John even more nervous as he bounces around a little in her palm.

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A LITTLE LATER - THE THRONE ROOM:

The Queen is sat on her throne, face strewn with a mixture of emotions, none of which even resemble a hint of happiness.

Just to the right of the Queen, sitting on the unused arm rest is John, doing everything he can to not chew the entirety of his finger nails off. The silence and tension in the room is as thick as mud, and the air in the room seems to become scarce.

After a few more minutes of silent waiting, the doors on the left side of the throne open up, and in walks two giants. The two walk around to the front of the throne and immediately drop to a knee and bow their heads.

"My Queen, I have brought Hilfa as you requested." The giant on the right says.

"Obviously a servant of sorts." John says to himself when looking at the giant who just spoke a second ago.

"Thank you, Trinna. That will be all. You may leave."

Trinna aka the servant gets back up and bows her head once more before leaving back out the door she and the other giant entered.

Speaking of the other giant, she is dressed much differently than all the others John has seen. She doesn't wear armour or even have a weapon. This woman, apparently called Hilfa, has a mask that rests on her nose with two rectangular slits to see through. As John examines them more, it becomes clear that they're some sort of safety goggles.

Hilfa also wears a high-collared, maroon coloured robe with three points at the bottom which come to a stop just above the floor. Her hair is a combination of chestnut brown and a raven black with a single thick braid that drapes down over her left shoulder and rests on her breast. However, the right side of her temple is completely bare, but some faded scars remain that look like they were caused by some incident with chemicals. Hilfa doesn't appear to be as muscular as some of the other giants John has seen, but since she's a mage, she wouldn't need to be.

Hilfa brings up her right gloved hand and puts it over her heart before slight bowing. "My Queen. I was told you requested my presence. To what do I owe this honour, your excellence?"

"I requested your presence to ask about your experiments to communicate using the curse. You said that you put the tests on the back burner for now whilst we were continuing the experiments for energy, isn't that correct?"

"Yes, your highness. The experiments to perfect the flow of energy have become the utmost priority. I have only worked on a few other projects in my free time, but only the increased essence removal has been completed thus far."

The Queen hums. "I see. And how helpful was our hunter with the essence trials?"

"As helpful as a ridiculously prideful centaur can be." Hilfa sighs. "She refused to gather new subjects, feigning illness to get out of her work."

"She has been incredibly resistant as of late. If she fails the current task that I have given her, then if she survives, I will crush her myself." The Queen then leans forward. "But let us circle back to the communication efforts. Where did you last leave off?"

Hilfa digs into her breast pocket before pulling out a notebook. She begins to flip through the numerous pages before finding the one she's looking for. "The last subject with the curse claimed to hear buzzing in their head during every attempt of communication. They unfortunately passed due to a rupture after a test to strengthen the connection. That entry was a few months back."

"I see." The Queen then grabs her sword which was leaning against the left side of the throne before putting the point onto the floor between her legs. "Hilfa, I am going to ask this only once, so I want you to give me an honest answer: Do you take me for a fool?"

Hilfa is taken aback. "U-uhh, your highness? I-I'm afraid I don't understand..."

"You understand well enough, Hilfa. Do you truly believe I was born yesterday? That my eyes are covered? That my memory is afflicted? Do you believe me to be truly incompetent?!"

The raised voice seemingly startles Hilfa as her relaxed body tenses up like she's just been hit with a blast of ice-cold water.

The Queen's body has also completely tensed up, not out of fear or shock, but out of rage.

John's body follows suit with Hilfa's, not expecting the Queen to begin shouting line that, and frankly, he's surprised he didn't fall off the arm rest. Fortunately, the anger isn't directed towards him, and that gives him some relief, if only a bit.

"Your highness, I assure you that I have never thought you to be imbecilic in any way. You are a brilliant leader, and I would never say or do anything to under one your leadership."

"Then why did you lie directly to my face about not working on the communication project not even three minutes ago?!" The Queen spits back.

Hilfa's face almost goes chalk white. "Your highness, I swear on my honour that I haven't done anything with the communication project since you requested my efforts on the energy conversion protect."

"Then why is the Tarron girl hearing a voice in her head?! Because the last time I checked, I don't have the ability to torment a teen about killing her family!"

"Your highness, is there nothing I can say or do to prove that I am not responsible for this?" Hilfa begs to know.

"No. There is not." The Queen sternly replies.

Hilfa's head drops, seemingly accepting the Queen's judgement. However just a moment later, sickening laughter begins to emanate from the mage giant.

Hilfa's head then snaps back up, now adorning a chilling ear-to-ear grin. "Fucking human. You just had to go and run your filthy little mouth, didn't you?"

"I can't tell if she's insulting me or flirting with me, but it's definitely one of them." John whispers to the Queen who doesn't respond.

"I can't fully place the blame on you though. It was that little whore Erya who couldn't keep her damned mouth shut. I will be sure to deal with the little brat after I deal with the two of you."

"The two of us? You're really going to attempt a coup?" The Queen lets out a laugh of her own. However, it's not a twisted one, instead, it's coated in absolute cockiness. "You're nothing but a glorified alchemist. What are you going to do? Through some glassware at me? Maybe use a spell or two? Need I remind you of our former Queen, and what I did to her? If her tricks couldn't stop me, what hope do you actually have?"

"Oh, I know fine well what caused the former Queen's downfall. You had the support of your peers. Well, I've decided to take a page from your book... your highness."

Those last words unnerve both John and the Queen as they realize what Hilfa just insinuated.

In the blink of an eye, John is snatched up by the Queen's right hand as she leaps off the throne. A moment later, the throne is struck with a large weapon, and some debris crashes onto the floor.

John looks around, seeing that Hilfa has disappeared and in her place stands a dozen robed giants, one of which removes their mallet from the throne.

"The leader has requested the removal of you and the human from this realm. We shall see her will be done." One of the giants says, her voice almost robotic as her mallet is pointed towards the Queen.

The Queen then puts John up on her shoulder. "Human, I need you to hang on as tight as you can. This is going to get a little... exciting."

"You call this exciting?!" John asks as he tries to find a spot to hold on for dear life.

Once the Queen is certain that John has a good grip on her armour, she fixes her grip on the handle of the massive sword in her grasp. She looks around, examining the combatants in the room, determining that numbers is the only advantage they have against her, so the gameplan?

Cut them all the fuck down.

The giant with the mallet points her weapon forward, signalling to her allies to advance.

Just then, the ground in the throne room begins to shake, taking everyone in the room by surprise.

Fortunately for John, the Queen is incredibly quick to recognise an advantage when she has it, and as John realizes that they have an opportunity, three of the giants have already fallen.

The rest quickly begin closing in, but the sheer strength of the Queen causes a swift decapitation followed by a large slash across another giant's chest, stopping two more attackers.

"This is the first time I've truly seen your prowess in battle outside of the arena. I've heard the stories, but seeing it is truly impressive." The giant with the mallet says as her allies begin surrounding the Queen.

"Now I'm wondering if I'm being threatened or flirted with." The Queen mutters under her breath, but it's just loud enough to John to hear it.

A standstill is now happening in the middle of the room as the Queen stands in the middle of a circle of attackers, all ready to strike at a moments notice. The Queen is also ready to go at any moment, currently picking out her first targets.

John looks behind the Queen, trying to see if there's anything he can spot that might help their chances of survival, which look mighty slim at the moment.

The three giants at the back all have different weapons, a sword, a battleaxe, and a club. The one holding the battleaxe is left-handed whilst the other two are right-handed. However, the most important detail that John notices is that the one with the club is fixated on the Queens left leg.

Before John can alert the Queen of this development, he has to quickly tighten his grip once again as the Queen lunges forward, her sword breaking clean through the weapon of the giant she's aiming for.

The sound of flesh hitting the ground signals one of the six that has surrounded the Queen and John has fallen, and that causes the other five to dash forward.

Unfortunately for the attackers, the Queen is quick to launch her body to the right, cutting down the attacker behind her with the sword.

The giant with the battleaxe is then swiftly met with a jaw shattering uppercut which sends her into the giant with the club, causing the two to tumble to the ground before the Queen plunges her sword into the two, leaving only two more to deal with.

The giant with the mallet--who is seemingly the leader of this group--stands a few feet away, just watching on as the Queen dispatches the majority of the group with relative ease.

The leader continues to watch as the Queen drives her sword down into the side of the neck and into the body of her current target. The Queen doesn't get any reprieve as the final giant barges her away, leaving the Queen unarmed.

For any normal fighter, losing their weapon is almost a **** sentence. However, as the Queen has already proven in this fight, she is no ordinary fighter.

The remaining giant rushes forward, trying to finally end the Queen's life. A roar escapes the giant's mouth as she starts a wild swing, but the composed Queen swiftly moves to the side before moving her hands up to the giant's head.

A sickening crack thunders throughout the room as the charging giant comes to a stop due to her neck and spine being broken like a toothpick.

The thud of flesh crashing against the ground is heard mere seconds later, and only two giants remain in the room, minus the human still clinging on to the Queen's back.

"Well, I can't say that I am surprised at the outcome. I fully expected you to deal with those fools easily, but you definitely surprised me more than I thought I would be."

"Okay, I definitely think she's flirting with you!" John whispers to the Queen.

The opposing giant continues on. "Unfortunately for you, this is the end of your triumphant stand. The Cult has deemed it so."

"The Cult?" The Queen thinks to herself, but remains quiet as she walks forward before grabbing the handle of her sword, retrieving it from the corpse of the giant she left it in a couple of minutes ago.

As the Queen brandishes her reacquired sword, John hears a familiar voice inside his head. "John, are you there?! We're trying to find you!"

Immediately recognising the voice to be Kyuala's, John goes to respond, but a quick jolt forward from the Queen forces him to hold on for dear life.

John is jostled around as the Queen rushes forward before swinging her sword at her opponent, but the smaller giant is quick to dodge and gets around the back of the Queen.

"There you are, human. Clinging on like a bug on a tree!"

The giant swings her mallet towards John, but the Queen is faster as she backhands the smaller giant, causing swinging mallet to stop midway as she recoils back.

"I believe the saying is; over my dead body." The Queen calmly yet sternly replies.

"Well, it's a good thing I planned on doing just that." The giant says as readjusts her grip on her weapon.

"John! Can you hear me?! We're at the Queen's room right now, and we're looking for you!" Kyuala's voice rings through, pleading for John to respond.

The Queen and the mallet-wielder clash, coming together in a test of strength which the Queen is winning, but the mallet-wielding giant is putting up a fight.

John realizes that he finally has a chance to respond to Kyuala, so he quickly clasps his index and thumb on the communicator before quickly saying two words.

"Kyuala!" John gets out before he has to hold on tight as the Queens movements are violently jerking him around.

"John! Where are you?!" Kyuala pleads to know.

Just after Kyuala gets her question out, the Queen stops moving long enough for John to grasp his communicator once more.

"Throne room!"