The Eleventh Chapter | The Terrain of Giants

The Eleventh Chapter | The Terrain of Giants

"Who's Primrose?"

"Well, she's-"

"Yoo-hoo! Up here!"

Alvera and Cedrick looked up to find a friendly face peeking out of a tree.

"That's Primrose, ruler of the Terrain of Giants."

"Cedrick? Is that you? Give me a second. I'll be right down," she yelled, promptly jumping out of the tree.

And then, right in front of Alvera's eyes, the human-looking woman grew to nearly half the size of the enormous trees that towered above them, before landing on her feet with a loud thud and conjuring up a dust small dust storm too.

Once the dust had settled, Primrose stood tall, hands on her hips.

"So Cedrick, what are you doing here?" Primrose asked, returning to a more normal size. "I can't even remember the last time you visited me," she huffed.

"Well," he started, brushing off any excess dust from clothes, "I am fairly certain that you've heard about Alvera already." He gestured to her. "I don't think an introduction is necessary."

"Nice to meet you, Alvera. Cedrick's always so proper, but just call me Prim," she said, an arm extending out from her chest, presumably waiting for a handshake.

Alvera's eyes widened slightly at the gesture, clearly startled. She reached out cautiously, and Primrose could see that.

"Come on. Give it a little shake. It won't bite, promise."

Against her better judgment, she reached out and gripped the extra appendage, giving it a firm handshake. Satisfied with the response, Prim retracted the arm back into her body and gave Alvera a smile.

"Can you by any chance lead us back to the city? We seem to have lost our way in the forest."

"Correction. You seem to have gotten both of you lost. This was the one place you could never find your bearing. Anyhow, no problem there, I can definitely get us back. Now, more importantly, are you going to follow from above or do you need me to carry you like I always do? It's a long flight back. Sure your wings can handle it?" She smirked. A challenging glint shone in her light green eyes.

Although she was meant to be a queen of sorts, she looked fairly young. She at least looked like the youngest out of all the other rulers Alvera had seen so far. Her platinum blonde hair fed through the band that held it in a ponytail, then promptly faded into a rich purple at the tips. Her eyes lit up, eagerly awaiting Cedrick's reply.

"At least I have wings," he retorted, "And yes, they can definitely handle it."

"Good to know," Primrose replied, playful sarcasm filling her voice. She turned to Alvera, "Would you rather come with me or ride with Cedrick?" She asked, setting a hand on her hip once again.

Alvera thought about it for a moment. She didn't know Prim at all, but she seemed nice enough, and it would be a quality opportunity to get some answers to a specific set of questions that had been bothering her for a while.

"I'd like to go with Prim if you don't mind."

"Point for Prim," she said to Cedrick.

Before Alvera could even respond, she felt a slight pull on her arm. A pull that quickly escalated to her being ripped away from the ground entirely. Her body being thrust into the air soon after. She looked down only to see the ground getting further and further away from her until she suddenly stopped moving and found herself sitting on the shoulder of a giant-sized Primrose.

Alvera looked below, trying to spot Cedrick, only to see a black blur whiz past her field of vision. Her eyes caught up with his movements as he balanced himself in the sky, wings effortlessly holding him up. He disappeared above the leaves of the towering trees as Prim turned around, heading in the same direction she had appeared from.

They walked in silence for a few moments as Alvera pondered on how to start the conversation. She couldn't just start asking questions, that would be rude. Right? While she was thinking about this, Prim could sense her agitation.

"You know, if you have any questions, you can ask, right?"

Alvera was a bit startled by how blunt she was about it but decided that it was a good an opening as any.

"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking, that is. You seem a bit young to be ruling a Realm." Alvera wasn't sure if that was a rude thing to ask, but she was genuinely curious. She wanted to know if they were in sort of the same boat. And besides, she wanted to ease Prim into her most extensive question with something lighter.

"I'm twenty-one. In human years anyway. And I'm very new at this whole ruler thing. My father gave up the throne to me when I was only nineteen. He was too sick to continue his role, and he was ready to give it up anyway, but unfortunately, not to me. I swear he has loathed me since the day I was born. He always wanted a son, but he never got one. I don't think he hated me too much at the beginning. I think he started hating me more when he realized my mother couldn't have any more children. But since he's permanently out of commission, he had no choice but to put me in charge. Honestly, it's been all but easy."

Alvera felt a twinge of sympathy pull at her chest. After all, she could relate, as the same thing was happening with her, minus her father hating her. She was going to have to take over the Alternate Realm apparently. That was the main reason she was even there. On top of that, she was going to become duchess one day too. Thinking about it all would end up giving her a headache.

"That's awful. I can't imagine what you went through. I can partially understand where you're coming from. Must have been tough being so young, having everyone looking to you for answers and having your own father dislike you as well."

"Very. It's not like I even had the a choice in the matter, or chance to ease into the process. I was basically thrown into it against my will and with full force too. However, I like to think that I've improved in the last two years. Well, at least Cedrick likes to say I have."

"How do you and Cedrick know each other anyway?"

"We met fairly recently, maybe two, three years ago? I don't exactly remember, but it was around the time I was supposed to become the next ruler. The person that was supposed to prepare me was all but good at it, so Cedrick stepped in, took over, and we've been friends ever since," she shrugged, momentarily forgetting that someone was sitting on her shoulder. "He's going to be preparing you to take over, right?"

Alvera gave a brief nod.

"He's splendid. You're in good hands, trust me."

That was reassuring for her.

"What's the power of the giants?"

"Physical and Matter Manipulation."

"So you can... rearrange your molecules?"

"Close, but not all. We can arrange our molecules, yes, but we can also make new ones or destroy some temporarily. We can increase our size drastically but also shrink down. Destroying cells is way easier than making new ones which is why most of us don't go over a certain size. However, there is a time limit to both sides, but it's all depending on your skill balance."

Alvera wanted to ask about what 'skill balance' was. Though just by the name, the concept seemed self-explanatory, she still wanted details. The only thing stopping her from asking was the fact that Cedrick already promised to explain her power to her, so she would just ask him then.

At that point, they had been walking for more than five minutes, but even with Prim's huge steps, the city was nowhere in sight. How on earth Cedrick thought that the two of them could make it on foot was beyond Alvera. It wasn't like they could have even flown since Alvera didn't have her wings. Although she was not particularly fond of heights, she couldn't deny that she desperately wanted to know what it was like to fly around with wings of her own. The soon-to-be ruler had to keep reminding herself to be patient. She had only found out about this world a few days ago, and yet, she was eager to try and see everything she could.

"You know, every one of the Giants could probably pass for a human if they just maintained a normal size," Alvera said, swinging her legs absent-mindedly.

"Oh, trust me, we do it all the time. Sometimes, we go out pretending to be humans and gather information on your world. You humans honestly have the weirdest customs."

"That reminds me. This might sound weird but do you, by chance, know anything about my father?"

Cedrick took that moment as a fantastic opportunity to gracefully yet swiftly swoop down from the heavens and startle Prim, almost making them fall, and in the process, rattling Alvera.

"I see the city. We're close. I'll go on ahead, so we'll meet there."

"Why? Need to go rest your wings?"

"Be quiet, Prim." And with that, he left.

"Wait, who's your father, Alvera?"

"The duke of Waylon."

"I... don't think I know anything about him, sorry."

"It's fine. It's just that Cedrick made a passing remark about my father and Ravensfield, so it's been on my mind ever since."

"Well, because I don't know about him doesn't mean someone else won't. If something happened here, it had to have been when I was super young, so let's go ask The Elders."

"Who are they?"

"Oldest giants in the Realm. They're supposed to be really wise and know about anything that happens within the borders of the Terrain. If anything related to your father happened here, They definitely know about it. I can take you now if you want."

"Really? That would be great. I'd really love some answers since Cedrick seems to not want to give them all up."

Prim gave a swift nod and changed direction, presumably heading towards The Elders.

"Wait, how is Cedrick going to find us? Isn't he waiting?"

"He'll be fine," Prim said, somewhat dismissively.