The Royal Rest

"Anyone else feel like they got their asses kicked for a year straight?" Amilia asks as she stretches, letting out a groan as she does.

"I definitely wouldn't mind for sleeping for a couple days straight." Musha says as she stretches.

Kira chimes in. "Personally, I could really go for a stiff drink, or twenty."

"Well, you're in luck. Kyuala happens to run a tavern. I'm sure she wouldn't mind treating you to a few drinks." Terra suggests.

"Conveniently forgetting the part about my tavern happens to be in Reduna'z Gaze, and since when did I ever mention free drinks?"

"Pretty sure the drinks should be on the giants. We did just save their rear ends after all." Virra proudly says as she puffs up her chest.

"If we gave you a drink, little elf, you'd drown."

The group laugh at the Queen's comment while seeing Virra's blown up head deflate a little.

UPSTAIRS:

After a ridiculous amount of walking, they had all finally made their way back up to the throne room. It's not long after they arrived that they decide to take a break.

Kyuala carefully puts John down, seeing that the toll from the Divine Blast is still ruining him.

"Well, at least he ain't in another coma." Amilia says as she, Terra, and Virra plop down not far from the two.

"He's been in a coma before?" Virra asks.

"After we stopped the invasion at Reduna'z, he used that freaky beam shit to kill Imoga. He said the same line as well, guess it's like casting a spell with the words." Amilia explains while mimicking John's way of conjuring the blast.

"Sounds... cool..." John weakly mutters.

"It would've been cooler if you had hit the bitch center mass. I mean, how'd you miss a giant?"

"Amilia!" Kyuala says sharply, staring daggers at her friend.

"Oh, c'mon, Ky. I know you love him and all, but how'd you miss a freaking giant?!"

"So... tired... pain..." John mutters in another weak mewl.

"You shouldn't chastise him too much. He did his best. Plus, he did blast her entire arm off." Kira chimes in, slowly sitting down to avoid hurting her ribs even more.

"Speaking of, what just was that power back there?" The Queen asks, now looking at John with curious eyes.

"Nun yer fucking business, ya big nosy bitch." Amilia quickly responds.

The Queen turns to Amilia. "Weren't you just making fun of him for missing?"

"Yeah, but I can do that cause we're friends. You tried to make him a fuckin' breeding ****."

The Queen scoffs. "I had no intention of making him a breeding ****. Well, maybe just for one go around, but that's besides the point. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, what was that power?"

"Like Amilia said." Kyuala starts before staring at the Queen. "None of your business."

The Queen stares back at Kyuala, and she feels the growing, thunderous, hatred emanating around the orc. It's almost enough to make the Queen shake just a little.

"Fine. I will drop it."

Just then, a nearby door opens up, and in walks a giant.

"My Queen! I'm glad you're well, but we had bad news!"

"I am glad to see you as well, Flirsa. What is it?"

"The Small Finger Mountain erupted!"

"Are we in any danger?!" The Queen frantically asks.

"No, your majesty. The lava has flowed down to one of the nearby villages. As far as our watchers are concerned, it's been completely destroyed."

"Thank you, Flirsa. That will be all."

The messenger leaves, and the Queen's face turns into a look of distraught before her mind is cast back to what Hilfa said during the fight.

“It's funny. If I wanted to end this earlier? I would have. However, this gift has given me the power to do something I always planned to do.”

"Hilfa. That's what she planned to do."

"My Queen?" Musha asks, wondering what the Queen had figured out.

The Queen looks at Musha. "Hilfa. She could've killed us a number of times. She just got too cocky, and thought that we would be too weak by the end, but her plan was to erupt the Mountains." The Queen then looks over to Clarva. "That's why she spared you."

“You're not ready yet.” Plays back in Clarva's mind. So, that's what Hilfa meant? Hilfa needed Clarva to activate this current state that she's in?

"What is... this?" Clarva asks, referring to her newfound state.

"That... is a rare trait amongst giants called a Rage Ability. In fact, its so rare that I've only seen it in one giant. Your mother."

"My... mother?" Clarva says before suddenly falling a knee. Her entire body wracked with fatigue as her powered form shrinks back down to her regular size.

"What's happening to her?" Karray demands to know.

The Queen takes a knee next to Clarva. "It's the price for using the Rage Ability. It takes a heavy toll on the body. Her mother would nearly faint often, and on the heavier tolls, sometimes she would sleep for days. Although, I'm surprised you didn't just collapse for your first time using it."

Karray looks up at the Queen before dropping her head. "It... wasn't the first time."

The Queen looks confused as Karray begins to explain.

"It was around ten, eleven years ago. We were roaming around the woods like we usually did when some hunters found us. Clarva got her foot caught in one of their traps, and then they grabbed me thinking I was just another fairy. They tried to extort me out of the items from my bag, but when I said that I couldn't, they got angry."

FLASHBACK:

"You better give me what I want, you fucking fairy bitch!" The main hunter says as he has Karray pinned to a tree.

"I can't give you anything! I'm not a fairy! Just let us go!" Karray says, feeling the pressure of the hunter's hand on her body tighten.

"You ain't fooling anyone! I know what your kind look like! I also know that you've got that fancy invisible bag of yours! So, you better give me everything in the fucking thing, or I'm gonna rip your fucking wings off, and cut the leg off your friend!"

"STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING HER!" A younger Clarva shouts as three hunters keep her still.

"What'll it be, ya little freak?!" The main hunter angrily asks as he takes Karray's left wing Inbetween his index finger and thumb.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Clarva calls out once more, but to no avail.

"Alright. Have it your way." The hunter chuckles, and the sound of Karray's screams can be heard echoing through the forest as the hunter begins to pull the wing.

As intense agony floods Karray's body, she hears Clarva let out a frightening roar, and suddenly, the hole that Clarva's foot was stuck in is now a small crater.

The hunter holding Karray quickly drops the fair, and she doesn't see much of what happens following the roar, but she hears the sounds of scared hunters trying to run, and Clarva catching them.

One-by-one their screams are stopped until only the hunter that held Karray hostage remained.

The whimpering of the man was enough to make even devils take pity, but Clarva was no longer in any sort of mindset to pity anyone.

Karray looks up from her fetal position to see a much larger Clarva looming over the hunter.

"YOU HURT MY FRIEND!" Clarva's voice booms as she grabs the hunter.

Karray quickly averts her eyes, but she hears some frantic begging, followed by a quick snap, a scream of agony, and one final snap.

Karray feels herself being scooped up by Clarva who has a look of worry on her face. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you move your wing?"

Karray doesn't respond, instead, she just looks up at Clarva, no, her best friend, and she just smiles. "I'm okay, and I always will be when we're together."

A smile immediately appears on Clarva's face. "Always."

BACK IN THE PRESENT:

"That night, she was practically sleeping with the dead. A gryphon could've broken into our little house, and she wouldn't have even moved onto her side."

The Queen chuckles. "Just like her mother."

"What happened to her?" Clarva quietly asks.

The Queen sighs, obviously not fond of having to answer that question. "As you can guess, she passed not long after your father left with you." Clarva looks up at the Queen with an accusing stare. "I can assure you that none of us had anything to do with it. No, Hevja was too much of a fighter to let any of us take her down, weakened or not. Hells, I'm actually surprised she never decided to take over as Queen."

The Queen chuckles for a moment before letting out a saddened sigh. She feels Musha's hand on her shoulder, and the Queen puts her left (and only) hand on Musha's.

"Hevja was always one to say that she didn't want an heir. It actually became a sort of comfort for those who had second thoughts about taking a man, as you all can guess, giant pregnancy's aren't exactly fun."

"Aren't all pregnancies kinda fucked? Pun intended." Amilia asks, making the Queen snort.

"You have a point." The Queen continues. "Anyway, for as long as I knew Hevja, she was always focused on our prosperity. She wanted us to be better than we were, even at our best, Hevja thought we could be more. She had been a soldier in every major battle we had since we were old enough to join the ranks, and she smited more than you could imagine. However, those times using her Rage Ability had more of a toll than any of us could imagine."

The Queen stops again, seemingly to clearing her throat, but to the keen eye, you could see she was trying to fight tears. "One night, Hevja came to me, and told me that she wanted to take a mate. I was shocked to be honest, but of course I let her go. I never knew what caused her to change her mind, but after she was pregnant with you, Hevja came to me one night to tell me that the Reaper was finally knocking on her door. I thought she was kidding at first, but knowing what Hevja was like when she was serious, I became distraught. I couldn't believe it nor did I want to, but she told me that you were going to be her final battle."

The tears finally start falling down the Queen's cheeks. "When you were born, I could see that Hevja was becoming weaker, but she still looked ready to wage war on anyone who came calling. Over the brief years you were running around these halls, I could see that Hevja's time would soon be up. Hevja came to me one night, and asked me for help. Of course, I would do anything to help her, but I wasn't expecting her to ask for me to help you and your father escape."

Musha chimes in. "I admit that I also had a hand in your fathers escape. I was the one who made sure that he could get through the doors without drawing too much attention. I also made sure he had adequate transport back down the mountain."

"But why an escape? Why didn't my mother just escort him out?" Clarva asks.

"Because if it had got out that your mother had let you go, giants would have been sent to kill her, your father, and to reclaim you, as per our tradition. Hevja had also lied about where she claimed your father to make sure that they wouldn't find you. Hevja claimed that she had captured your father from a village on the edge of our hunting grounds, but in actuality, she had been gathering plants to clear her mind when she met your father. I guess he was brave enough to strike up a conversation, and that was the start." The Queen explains.

The Queen then stands up and walks to the back of her throne. "Once your father had safely made it to the village, Hevja felt her battle had been won, but soon after, her war with **** was lost."

The Queen grabs the back of her throne and rips a part of the backrest, revealing a hidden compartment with two objects inside.

"As customary with giants, once one of us die, we absorb their essence to grow stronger. I had no intention of doing so, and instead, I preserved her essence, and now, I shall no longer be its keeper."

The Queen pulls out a large, intrinsically carved bracelet before handing it over to Clarva. "You are its rightful bearer."

Clarva is speechless as she takes the bracelet in her hand. Her eyes are glued to the gift as tears of her own begin to fall.

"I know it can't make up for your mother being here, but I know that she'll always be with you. That bracelet is just a physical reminder, and from what my smiths told me, it should grant you some of her strength."

Clarva carefully puts the bracelet on her right arm, and she begins to feel an effect. It doesn't immediately clear up her fatigue from her transformation, but she can feel her body fighting against said fatigue even more.

"I promised your mother that I wouldn't let you back in after she was gone, that's why I had you banished from us when you were brought back. I admit now that I had made a poor decision, and could have found a better way to get you back to freedom, but I am glad you turned out the way you did."

The Queen now stands in front of Clarva. "I never expected this moment to happen, but now it's here, I am glad that I can say that, Clarva Mightenos; I hereby declare you a Giant of the Skygrabber Mountains."

There's a silence for a few moments as Clarva continues to stare at her bracelet before she utters a single word.

"No."

Everyone is shocked as they look at Clarva, and the half-giant gets back to her feet. "I am grateful for the gesture, and I can't convey how much I appreciate you gifting me this bracelet, but I cannot accept being a giant. I've spent all my life being a half-giant, and feeling like I was not as good as full-blood giants, but now that I've been who I am for so long, I don't want to be anything else."

The Queen is silent, her face not showing any sort of emotion as she looks at Clarva. Her eyes seem to burrow into the half-giant, and the silence is awkward and almost scary until laughter breaks the silence. Laughter from the Queen.

"Gods. I see you've inherited Hevja's stubbornness. I've missed it."

The Queen then walks back to the compartment in the throne once again before pulling out a weird shaped object. It's almost like a crystal, but with two points above and below. It is a shimmering white and purple colour, but there's something in the middle that the others can't make out.

"I believe that this was a part of our deal. The Giant's Eye as you call it, the curse afflicting the younger sister of the elves. Now, it's time to remove it."

The Queen then crushes the crystal in her hand, and the pieces fall in front of Terra and Virra. The elves look at said pieces, but they soon fade away, vanishing in front of their eyes.

"Is... is that it?" Virra asks.

"Yes. The curse has been removed. Your sister shall take a few days to get back to what she was before, but the curse is no more, I swear on my life."

The Queen then turns to Kira. "And don't think I've forgotten our deal as well." The Queen looks around before sighing. "Usually I would have my sword for this, but I left it down in the damned volcano."

The Queen brings her left hand to her stomach, mimicking holding a sword. "Kira. You joined this clan in a much different fashion than anyone else may I dare say, and while you've made it clear that what you did while you were here was deplorable, I cannot properly state how much you have helped us. I admit that we treated you as less than, and for that, I apologize, but wouldn't expect you to accept. However, putting all that aside, you were a key part of defeating Hilfa, and in doing so, you saved not only my life, but countless others, and for that, you have my gratitude. So, with all that being said, I hereby grant you your freedom."

Kira looks up at the Queen, a strange feeling in her heart.
Imagine chains breaking, a door opening, warm sun gracing cold pale skin after what feels like an eternity locked in a dungeon. Kira finally feels free.

"It doesn't feel real." Kira mutters.

"It won't until you finally leave here." The Queen says. "But don't worry, that chance will come soon as I have decided that I shall pay a visit to the village that was destroyed."

"My Queen!" Musha calls out. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I applaud your bravery in going to the village, but-"

"This isn't about mere bravery or trying to make myself look like a saint. I am visiting that village because we failed." The entire room goes silent, shame filling the quiet. "If we had killed Hilfa earlier, those people would still have homes, still have their families, still have their lives to live how they wish. Hilfa used my clan as a smokescreen to do as she wished, so it is up to me to use that same clan to make things better."

The Queen looks at the group. "Now, I don't expect you all to want to spend any more time here than you have to, but if you were to join me, I would appreciate it."

The group look amongst themselves, coming to a consensus.

"This isn't a way to clean up all your loose ends at once, right?" John asks, a little more energetic than he was a few minutes ago.

"Considering all but one of you can't really open the doors without our help, it would be quite an inefficient way to do it."

"She has a point." Terra says.

"We'll come with you." Clarva adds, giving a definite answer.

The Queen nods before heading towards the doors as Musha, Clarva, Karray, Kira, and most of the group follow apart from one.

"Hold on, she ain't even a part of our group, and we're gonna let her answer for us?" Amilia asks.

"You can either come with us, or you can walk back to Muprosyll." Virra smirks.

Amilia looks at Virra, annoyed at the elf's smug expression. She then sighs before walking over. "I'm gonna shiv you in your sleep, hope you know that, pointy-two."

"Go ahead. It'll just make my victory even sweeter."

OUTSIDE:

The entrance to the stronghold opens up, and everyone is met with a freezing gust of wind, cold enough to make even the Sun quiver. Snow sticks to their skin like a bark on a tree.

The giants embrace the cold with a smile, but the smaller part of the group meet the chill with chattering teeth.

The Queen grabs a handful of snow. "I've spent so much time hold up in this place, so the snow is always nice reminder of what's beyond."

"H-h-how t-t-the f-f-fuck can anyone like this fucking cold?!" Amilia asks, bundling up even more.

"You get used to it. We used to practically bathe in the snow to get rid of the blood." Musha chuckles, remembering her younger days.

The giants and the group then begin walking forward, ready to begin their trek down the mountain.

"WAIT!" Virra calls out, making everyone stop in their tracks before looking towards the surprisingly loud elf.

"Where is my cart?!"