Welcome weary traveler...please. Sit and relax. Let me tell you a story...
It was dark, the crumbling walls shrouded in shadows. It was almost overwhelming, the way his vision was clouded by the lack of light. Almost... suffocating.
Almost.
He shuddered and curled in closer on himself, bringing his sleeves over his hands and squeezing his legs into the warmth of his worn hoodie.
The filthy dirt hole he'd found himself wasn't the warmest place he could've settled in, but it was safe. Despite his fears that something would jump from the darkest corners of the cavern, it was at least shelter from the snow outside. He sighed, purposely ignoring it when he could see his breath crystallize in the freezing air.
After the giant wars, nothing had been the same. No one was even sure where the towering humanoids had come from. It was as if they had lied dormant for years and decided to just appear one day. Then everything was different. The very trees had grown in size to accommodate the new rulers of the world. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire earth had tripled in size and the human race just didn't get the memo.
Whatever the reasoning, the Giants had completely obliterated the human race.
Well, so the Giants thought. The humans were scattered, yes. Some banded together, others headed out on their own, and some had no idea they weren't alone in the world.
Those that did stick together called themselves the borrowers. They risked their lives pillaging out the Giants homes. Strangely enough, a Giant home was much like a human abode would be, just...larger.
He happened to know this because he'd been thrown out from one such group. Apparently, he'd been too much of a burden to keep around. Okay so maybe he wasn't great at stealing from creatures that gave him panic attacks just to think about! That didn't mean he was completely useless.
Did it? He shook his head and did his best to curl in further on himself to conserve what little body warmth he had as he closed his eyes. He was exhausted from walking for so long and everything ached. His supposed 'friends' had kicked him out of their shelter with little to nothing.
He wasn't going to last long like this. He knew it, they knew it. It was probably what they had been hoping for.
No one needed a waste of space eating up their limited supplies.
He wasn't sure when he'd starting agreeing with them, that he was useless, but he didn't fight it. He was too tired to fight much of anything, much less defended his weak self-esteem.
Soon his breathing evened out and he fell into a restless sleep.
Would you like a warm drink before we continue? I believe I have a packet of Cocoa around somewhere...