A Rook's Tale
Prelude: A war
Years of war had passed between the countries of Tircov and Kekba. The seemingly everlasting war had always been a stalemate, and the war had mostly tore on the citizens of the two countries, who didn't even know why they were fighting this hopeless war.
At the border between the countries, there was a fortress with high strategical value. Both countries struggled between each other to get the hold of the stronghold, and in the end, Tircov seized complete control of it, and the nearby village. But the nation of Kekba didn't give up that easily, and continued to attack the fortress in hope claim control of it. It was under these attacks, that a local mason came to the fortress in order to help his nation in the attacks to come. He was young, but knew more about how to get food and general things than any of the soldiers in the fortress. The soldiers appreciated his wisdom deeply, and protected the man with their lives.
But, the enemy strayed apart from their regular attacking schedule, and sent forth a greater army than usual. The young mason was killed in this massive attack, and the soldiers of Ticorv were left in disarray, and with lack of morale. The young man was buried in a great chamber within the fortress, in honor of his wisdom and guidance.
In the next attack, Kekba brought a much larger force than any time before. The soldiers at the fortress were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies that came streaming like a continuous stream of water up the hill.
Suddenly, a violent force shook the earth so violently, that everyone on the hill fell to the ground. A soldier of Tircov went inside the young fisherman's burial chamber to check if there was any damage done by the earthquake, but as he entered, he noticed that the man's coffin was missing. Within the next minute, the earth was once again struck by the sudden earthquake as previously, but soon followed by the sight of the whole fortress suddenly rising from the ground, standing on its legs. People of both nations looked upon it in great fear. It was literally a walking fortress, armed with a Mason's hammer. Soon after, the soldiers of Kekba, assuming this was some kind of secret weapon of Tircov's, started attacking the fortress, with little if any effect at all. They soon stopped, noticing the uselessness of their attacks on the 30 meters tall building.
The fortress started looking around itself, and as suddenly as it rose from the ground, it started swinging its hammer at the soldiers of Kekba. They were completely demolished in mere seconds. The soldiers of Tircov were completely struck by both fear and astonishment. As the fortress finished up the last of the enemy soldiers, it returned to its original place, and sat down on the ground again, becoming a normal fortress once more. Some of Tircov's soldiers went into the fortress again, and one man noticed, as he entered the burial chamber of the mason, that his body was back in place, with a hammer in his right hand lying on his chest.
I. An awakening
It was hard to open my eyes. I tried to move, but couldn't because of something restraining me from any movement, except for my left arm. I waved my arm around, trying to enlarge the hole it was sticking through. It felt like I was buried in the ground. I started digging with my loose arm, and gradually, little by little, I dug myself free. I got out of the hole I was in, and opened my eyes. The light from the sun burned in my eyes, it hurt. I rapidly closed them, and held my hands in front of my face. It felt like someone was pouring hot water in my eyes. I tried to open my eyes again, slowly and carefully. It didn't hurt as much this time, and I was slowly able to fully open my eyes, although the sight that met me, was something not worthy the pain I had gone through to see. The whole landscape was completely deserted of any vegetation and structures, except for the ruins of what seemed to be a small village once lying around me. I looked around myself, like an animal desperately looking for food. "Nothing…" I whispered to myself. "There's nothing here…" I sat down next to some of the ruins, and tried to remember how I ended up here, and how this came to be, but there was nothing. I couldn't remember anything. I only remember that I was in a fortress, and then nothing.
For some strange reason, I hadn't noticed before now, but I was unusually tall. Actually, I was more than four times taller than what looked like to be the ruins of a church. I looked at my hands, and noticed even more, which I surprisingly didn't notice when I held my hands in front of my eyes. My hands were literally made of brick. They were beige and light, and looked sort of expensive. At first I didn't really freak out, but as I looked at my legs, I realized that my whole body was made of these bricks. I quickly shake the thought out of my head. "I have to do something" I think to myself, followed by the great question; what? What can I do? How do I become normal again?
I stood up, and looked towards the horizon again. I still couldn't believe how such destruction came to be. It was like the world had become completely flattened with a rolling pin. I deserted to thought which ran through my mind, and decided a direction. "This is where I go." I thought to myself, and started walking in my chosen direction, hopefully leading me to a better place than this.
I had walked for hours. I didn't know exactly how long, but long enough for me to feel tired. I was still in this desert, and as I looked back, the ruins where I woke up was nowhere to see. I started wondering again what could have caused this, but my thoughts were by my eyes as they spotted something on the horizon. It was a tower, maybe of a city. I didn't really have anything else to guide me, so the choice was easy. Next stop: that tower.
II. Tomorrow there shall be sunshine
I continued to walk in the direction of the tower. It was getting dark, so I hurried my dead-beat body towards the town, hoping of something more than just the tower. I was almost literally starving, and I wasn't exactly quenched neither.
As I walked towards the tower, I started looking at the sun. The light shed from it spread across the landscape like a shadow being cast by a gigantic building, leaving nowhere out of its great shadow. I stood there a second, admiring the beautiful view. Never before had I enjoyed looking at the sun at the middle of the day, especially considering the heat and hunger I was experiencing. After a couple of minutes, I started walking again, gradually. My eyes were still glued to the beautiful sun, which left me with a feeling of peace within myself. I looked towards the tower again. It was getting larger, as I got closer, I could even see the wall of a town, now.
Some time later, around dawn, I arrived at the town. Among the sounds of the wind at the height of my ears, I was able to distinguish a specific sound which I remembered from some time before. An unfriendly sound which I knew exactly what was by just listening to it. It was the sound of the town's alarms, as if it were under attack. I looked around me in hope to see an enemy army, or at least something attacking the town, leaving me out of the field of threat. I couldn't see anything attacking the town, and as my vision returned towards the town, I caught a split second of the beautiful town, and the next a rock at the size of a man 10 meters from an intimate hug with my face. I was startled from the hit, and almost fell. "OUCH, FUCK!" I shouted in pain. The rock wasn't that large compared to me, but it was fast coming. As I gathered my thoughts again, without giving me a break to recollect my thoughts, another rock came soaring trough the sky, this one hitting my shoulder. The pain was unbearable. The rocks were sharp, and even though I was made of brick, it felt like they hit pure flesh, and the thought of more of these coming was more than enough to pursue me to make a get-away. I began to run away, hearing stones fall short behind me as I ran in an unknown direction. After a couple of minutes, they stopped firing, and I gradually slowed down.
I finally stopped after an hour or so. It was getting dark, and the only thing I could think of was how I was going to even approach a city now. The wondering thoughts turned into anger, as I thought of how and why I became this thing. This beast, abomination, whatever I was. The rage within me grew greater the more I thought about it. It had only been a day, and I was already sick of being like this.
After some time, I calmed down, and started thinking reasonable again. "I need a place to sleep." I thought to myself. I looked back at the city. A quick thought of how it was before with a normal bed was interrupted by the current reality of being 30 meters tall. "Anywhere will do now, I guess." I thought to myself, and started digging a "small" pit with my hands. It was easy to break the soil with my fingers, probably a combination of being made of brick and being fourteen times larger than before.
As I finished my bed, I started to feel very sleepy. "Good timing!" I thought to myself, and lay down in the pit. I was lying on my back, looking up at the sky. It was very dark now, and I was able to see the stars. "The stars are completely different from what I remember," I said to myself. "I don't recognize any of these at all." After some time, I fell asleep, even though I felt cold, hungry and thirsty, hoping that tomorrow would bring some sunshine into my life.
III. On two feet
I woke up by the sound of the rain. I was only half-awake, but I couldn't manage to fall asleep again due to the rain. I tried to ignore the rain, but "Even a giant may experience sleeping difficulties." I thought to myself.
In the end, I surrendered to the world of the awake, and sat up. It was still dark, and I could barely see anything. My eyes weren't used to the dark yet, but I was able to see that the landscape hadn't changed at all. The depressing landscape stirred the abandoned thoughts of yesterday. I've lost confidence in that I can ever approach a city again, in this form.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of an explosion-like bang. "Thunder?" I thought to myself. The rain got heavier, and started to really pour down. I decided to begin moving again. The rain wasn't going to get better by the minute, so I decided to at least cover some ground before I would try to sleep again.
I had walked for hours, but the rain kept coming down. "It's like they say, it's raining cats and dogs." I said to myself, listening to the noise of the rain tumbling down all around me. Earlier, I barely felt the rain, but now I could clearly distinguish the pricking feeling of the rain.
As I dragged my soaked body towards nowhere, I noticed something on the horizon again. It was another city, this one being closer. I hadn't noticed until now due to the thick rain. It was straight in front of me. "I haven't anywhere else to go…" I said to myself, as I continued heading towards the city, hoping that there wouldn't be a repetition of yesterday waiting for me there.
As I closed in on the city, I noticed strange lights coming from within the city. "Could there be a fire?" I asked myself, as I continued to walk in the direction of the city. As I closed up towards the city, I noticed that the alarms were sounding. They were under siege.
I looked around myself, to see if I was able to spot their attackers, but I couldn't, meaning that they were probably on the other side of the city, which was obscuring my line of sight towards the attackers. I kept my distance from the city, as I started circling it to get to the other side. But, of course, unlikely unluckiness follows my path, and I started seeing arrows soaring through the sky towards me. They weren't a problem at all, since they didn't harm me, but I thought rather of what they're going to bring once they find that out. I hurried around the city, which was literally going up in flames, and as I got around enough to see the attacker's, I stopped. They were at least five hundred in numbers, and they were literally pounding the city with heavy artillery and a lot of other things I didn't recognize. "If I manage to repel them, the city might accept me as an ally!" I thought to myself, and charged towards the massive army.
IV. Prisoner of war
I felt the wind fly past me like I was falling. Since I was bigger than usual, I was also much faster. I decided to take on the siege engines first, and then move on to the infantries. They were many, and my plan relied solely on the fear of the army as they saw me coming full speed towards them.
I was now only 150 meters from them, and that was when they started attacking me. I did not know whether they had spotted me before then, but they attacked, and within seconds after the arrows started flying, I could hear the screeching sound of flying rocks, and I was soon to notice two oversized rocks coming towards me. There were two onagers, one trebuchet and a ballista making up the army's total siege engine squadron. I dodged one of the incoming rocks, but the other rock hit my right leg. Bits of the bricks came flying off, and I had to stop in fear that my leg was completely shattered. The pain was unbearable. It was worse than the time I got hit in my face and shoulder, since this time the attackers were closer and had bigger rocks. I couldn't walk anymore, and I fell to my knees, screaming in pain. "Aaaaaggh!" It was like someone kept drilling a hole in my leg. The pain just kept on and on. It felt like an hour or so with pain. I could still hear the arrows and rocks landing all around me, but one distinct sound caught my ear. It was like any other sound just vanished, except for this one sound. It was the sound of a rock, but not just a normal rock. It was the sound of a much bigger rock than before. "THE TREBUCHET!" I thought to myself in panic. The trebuchet's projectile is normally a lot larger than normal rocks from onagers, or catapults as some call them. I looked towards the sky, to see if I could see the rock coming from the trebuchet, but it was too dark to see anything, especially considering that the sky was black and the rock wasn't much lighter. It was like a nightmare. Like being in the dark, knowing that a killer was just a couple of meters away from you, while he was able to see while you not.
It felt like many minutes before it hit. The enemy army must've been not just anybody, since they landed the rock straight onto my head. I only remember seeing it for just a split second, while the next frame, it was embedded into my face. After that, just darkness.
V. Where you got off
An enormous pain woke me up from my spontaneous sleep. It felt like a rock had been embedded into my skull. Well, what I remember is actually that happening. The trebuchet hit my head with a rock at the size of an elephant. I was too lazy to notice the outside world until then, and I opened my eyes to the sight of the sky. It was morning, and it was a little cloudy. I was obviously lying on my back, but I had this other feeling too. It felt like I was being dragged along the ground. I didn't care much, probably due to the aching pain in my head. I lifted my hand to feel my head. It had a massive dent, like a metal sheet which had gotten hit by a sledgehammer. I collapsed again into my dreams.
Later, I woke up, still being dragged along the ground. The aching pain in my head was now gone, but the dent was still there. I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. There were ropes attached around my shoulders and waist, leading backwards to somewhere above my head. I looked "up", which was rather behind me, and noticed hundreds of men pulling on more ropes attached to logs which were again attached to the main ropes leading to my body. I was being captured or kidnapped or something. Suddenly, some of the men looked back at me, and panicked. The others were soon to follow, and they were quick to point weapons at me. I didn't really know what to do, where I was lying on my back. Should I crush them and make a run for it? I hadn't come up with any other option yet, but I thought that that was the best one nonetheless. I rolled over on my stomach and stood up, but I collapsed the moment I got on my feet. The pain was completely unbearable. It was worse than before. It was my right leg. It had shattered more from when it first got hit. I surrendered to the kidnapping army, and lay back on my back again, but as I rolled over, I noticed something on the horizon. It was a long trail of smoke coming from the opposite direction of where we were headed. "The city…" I thought to myself in disappointment. It was my chance to prove myself as an ally of all of the cities, but I failed. The events of the previous night slowly returned to me. "I am such a failure." I thought to myself. "I can't even save one city from some low-life plunderers." The men started dragging me again.
The pain in my leg started to fade away, but it was still there, aching in the background like it was just notifying me that it was still there. Every now and then, I was dragged over some tiny hill-like structures which were barely a meter in height, but in my leg, they felt like a twenty meter drop every time. I just bit my teeth together, and tried to endure the pain to wherever we're headed.
VI. Hide and seek
I had fallen asleep from the rocking motion of the men dragging me. Kind of ironic, that I'd fall sleep by being captured. It was getting dark again, and my leg and head didn't hurt at all now. I wondered how far we'd come, and I looked up towards the direction we came from. There was nothing there; I couldn't see the remains of the city anymore. I looked around carefully, trying not to make any sudden moves so that the army didn't get startled again. There wasn't much, but I noticed that we were heading towards a downwards hill. It looked pretty long, but not very steep. "I'll probably just slide down there." I thought to myself, as I thought of how the trip downwards was going to be like.
As we approached the hill, the men started scattering, making a free path for me to slide down through. I achieved great speed, but the pain in my leg returned as it was continually banged into stuff on the way down. At first, it went fine. I was sliding with my head first though, but that wasn't any problem. But as the speed grew, so did my lack of control. In seconds, I was tumbling down like a ragdoll falling off a really steep hill. The pain in my leg and head returned for real now, and I was almost living up to the expression to "scream downwards". My leg felt like it was being hit by massive hammers continually, and my head didn't feel much different. After some minutes, I came to a halt on my stomach. Every inch of my body was hurting now, but I was too exhausted to care how I was. Going from a cool, free ride through the wasteland, to a wrecked pile of living bricks at the bottom of a hill; a quick summary of my situation. My vision started to get blurry, and I gradually passed out.
I woke up in the middle of the night. We had stopped and apparently set a camp outside a city. "This might be my chance!" I thought excited. Most cities these days usually have a mason, and I wouldn't let myself believe anything different. I looked around to see if there were anyone patrolling, but it seemed neither the camp nor the city was guarded by any means. "Allies?" I thought to myself, considering the relation between the city and the outlaws. I slowly stood up on my left leg, which was also hurting now after my rather quick descent down the hill. I felt bits of me falling off as I started to limp towards the city. No one noticed my disappearance at all. It almost felt too easy, just walking away from the scene. Even though we were close to the city, it took me an exhausting hour to get there, due to my crippled state. It was completely quiet there; the whole town was probably sleeping by now. I approached the gate of the walls and studied them a bit. They were a tad shorter than me, but they were still too tall for me to look over onto the houses of the city. I looked around once more, just to make sure I wasn't followed by any of the outlaws. When I felt the coast was clear, I slowly and gently knocked on the city gate. I quickly looked around again to see if any of the outlaws woke up from their peaceful sleep, but it was as quiet as a rock in a desert. I looked back at the gate, and waited. "The gate keeper is probably sleeping too." I thought to myself, as I stood there, leaning myself towards the wall to support my right leg. After some minutes I lost my patience, and knocked again, a little harder this time, followed by a quick sweep of the area towards the outlaws. I looked back at the gate again. This time, I could hear something. It sounded like a person walking down the noisiest pair of stairs in the world. Either that or it was the fattest person walking down a normal pair of stairs. After some more seconds, a tiny door at the left bottom corner of the gate opened, and out came an old man in a thin coat with a lantern in his left hand, and a massive key chain in the other. First he looked straight into my foot, probably still half-asleep. He looked upwards, and for each inch of me he looked past, his eyes widened like he saw the angel of death himself in front of him. "I need you to hide me." I quietly said to the man as I crouched down towards him. He was still paralyzed from the sheer shock of seeing me, but he soon recovered, although still very shaky.
VII. Hiding in the shadows
The man stood there, examining me with his eyes. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, although he knew that this was indeed real. "What!" He suddenly blurted out, partially unconscious. "What are you? Who are you!" He continued, closing in on the world of the awake. "I don't have time right now." I replied. "There are some guys here who are after me. I need you to hide me until sunrise." The man gave this some thought, being fully awake now. "Ok, then." He answered. "But I don't have anywhere to hide you. Although I could let you in on the city center. It's a large area which is mostly empty in the night. If you crouch there, they'll never be able to spot you unless they enter the city themselves." I gave this some thought myself. He had a good plan, but what if the men wanted me so bad they'd start attacking the city, leaving it like the one I intentionally tried to save. "Okay then." I replied to his statement. "But what if they want to enter?" I asked. "They won't" He replied in a surprisingly calm manner. He didn't even continue with a reason. "Any particular reason?" I forced myself to ask, partially because I wanted to break the silence left after the man's solid response. "They are afraid." He answered. "Every time they come here, some of them vanish mysteriously." I gave this some thought. It was probably the man before me accompanied by some of the town's folks that were behind those "mysterious vanishings". "Okay, then." I said, and hinted the man to open the main gate. The man turned around, and went back into his tiny door. After some seconds, the main gate started moving, accompanied by a penetrating, screeching sound. "They've gotta be hearing this, unless they're literally dead-asleep…" I thought to myself, and looked in the direction of the encampment.
After some more time, the main gate was fully open, and I hurried my devastated body inside. The first thing I encountered after entering was the city's main center. It was a huge open area completely empty. "You just duck and cover over there, and I'll get this gate closed again." The man said, and started closing the gate. I walked to the middle of the open area. It was larger than I expected, and could probably store five more of me in here. After some seconds, the gate was closed again, leaving complete silence through the entire city. "Doesn't anyone wake up from that sound?" I asked with a low voice. "It sounds like someone's scratching two massive metal pieces together, yet no one in this town has even bothered shouting out the window, even though we did it twice." "They are tight sleepers." The man answered with a grin on his face. "No, I'm just kiddin'. They are just so used to it, so they know that it will occur, and it will stop after a certain time. They know it will appear twice in a row, so many uses the time between opening and closing the gate to take a leak or get something to eat. It's almost practical!" The man explains this like it's not a problem at all. I myself would be quickly annoyed if I were awakened in the middle of the night. The night passed along, and I fell asleep in the city's main center.
The next day a strange feeling woke me up. Something was gnawing itself into my arm. Although not that painful, I could easily feel it. I was lying sideways, and as I opened my eyes, I was met by the faces of many people, people I didn't know. Then I remembered; I fell asleep in the city's center, also known as the city's main marketing district. I then realized that the irritating, gnawing feeling on my arm was ropes that they had used in an attempt to hold me down. "Wait a second!" I thought to myself. "Am I being captured AGAIN!"
VIII. A second chance
"No!" I shouted as I tore loose from the ropes constricting me. Everyone around me backed up in fear. "Where is the gatekeeper!" I asked everyone, still raged from the traitor's "promise". "H-h-he's still asleep in his cabin, I think…" A man answered from within the crowd. The moment I heard this, I rushed over to the gatekeeper's cabin, and literally tore the roof off, revealing the bedroom. I grabbed him, and lifted him up to face level, 30 meters above ground. "Why do you try to capture me!" I literally shouted towards the man, who was fully awake now. "Eh-eh-eh… What!" The man stuttered. "What's the time? Oh, shit! I overslept!" The man looked worried, as if he had done something terribly wrong. "I was supposed to wake up around sunrise, and then let you out, but I overslept." The man looked upon me with sorry eyes. I couldn't blame him. I was supposed to only stay until sunrise, which was now long ago.
We were interrupted by a man. "M-mail f-for the g-g-giant…" the man stuttered, and reached a letter upwards towards my face. I crouched down, and grabbed the letter. It was impossible for me to read, considering my size, so I gave the letter to the gate keeper, and signalized him to read it for me.
"To teh rok giant (you'll know who when you see him), We don't care abaot yo ass anymoar! Weve busted our oon in the proses ov getting yo hear, an den yo just leev? Wel fak off, yo roky bitsch! Were beter ov witout yo! From De Brown Roses."
It was almost funny to listen to the gate keeper read the letter aloud. Apparently, it wasn't the outlaws, or "De Brown Roses", who tried to capture me this time, but the city's people themselves. "Well," the man concluded. "looks like they aren't after you no more." "Yeah…" I muttered. "But now the whole city's after me instead." "But they are easier to convince." The man said. "They listen to what is being told. Just tell them that you're an ally, and they will probably let you off with a test." "A test?" I asked. "A test to see if you're really an ally of course!" the man replied in an annoyed manner. "I could do with a test." I thought to myself. "Alright then! A test it will be." I said, followed by everyone around me looking confused. "Good," the man said. "but one more thing: could you please put me down, and while you're at it, fix my roof which you broke." I looked down at the gate keeper's cabin. The roof came completely off. "Oh…" I murmured. "Sorry about that…" I put the man down, and took another look at the cabin. The roof was originally wood and tiles, which meant that it'd be hard to rebuild from its current state. "Couldn't I pay for it with other kind of work?" I asked the gate keeper who was studying the roof himself. "Well," He replied. "if you find someplace which will pay you, you could pay for the damages done." It was a brilliant idea, but there was one major issue; the town's folks. They didn't trust me yet. "Is there a way that I can show you that I am a trustworthy ally?" I asked everyone around me. The people started discussing with each other, and the atmosphere was filled with low-pitched mumbling from everyone. A man came forth from the crowd. "It's the town's sheriff." The gate keeper said, and pointed towards the man who had stepped forth. "We do not trust you, yet you come here and besmirch our city in multiple ways!" the sheriff said. "We do not tolerate such vandalism, but we are willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself." I still waited for the verdict, ignoring the sheriff's speech. "If you could come with me, I would like to discuss your verdict under more suitable circumstances." He finished, and turned around, expecting me to follow. As I started to walk, a sudden, massive growl came from my stomach. Everyone, even I, jumped of the sound. Then I felt this indescribable, massive hunger building up. I had ignored it for so long that I forgot it, but when I heard the noise coming from my stomach, it reminded me of the nearly three days without food.
I started to feel dizzy, and my vision got blurry. A nauseating feeling started to rise through my throat. Soon, I found myself lying on the fine pavement of the market district.
IX. Hello, Jack!
I hadn't eaten nor drunk anything in roughly three days. No wonder I fell ill. Must be because of my new condition; a normal person wouldn't last two days in this heat without water. I had a tremendous headache. It felt like the time when I got hit in the head by the trebuchet: a constant pain throughout my head. It felt like my brain started swelling up, but it had no place to expand.
"… re you awa…" Distant voices sounded. It sounded like they were miles away. "Hello?" I didn't care. I was too tired and stranded in my own world of pain and pleasure. "C'mon, you big shit-o-rubble!" A distinct voice sounded, this time fully comprehensible. I opened my eyes to the sight of the blue sky. "Blue sky?" I thought to myself. It had been cloudy every day in this foreign land, until now. "At last." A voice sounded, right next to my head. "You sure are a halluva sleepa'." I turned my head to my left. "To your right, lad." The voice said. I felt kind of foolish, and turned to my right. A young, obviously Scottish, man dressed like a pirate stood right next to me. "Got kinda scare ther', mate." He said, fully living up to his jolly accent. "What? You can't talk or what?" "I do talk." I replied to his sarcastic question. "Well that's good to know, mate." He said. "You can call me Jack, I'll be yo'r employa'." "What!" I thought to myself. "How did I ever get a job by fainting in hunger?" "Yer probably thinkin' how ya got dis job, or what?" He asked, in a more Scottish accent. "Umm…" I stuttered. "Well, yeah…" "Well, ya see," He answered. "the sheriff-o-the-city felt kinda bad for ya, being totally broken everywhere, and ya hadn't done any real harm." "So," I thought to myself. "peeling off the roof of a house, violently lifting up a man from his sleep and ruining the pavement in the market square by falling on it doesn't count as damage… I can live with that ^^" "So," I asked. "what do you, or rather we now that I work for you, actually do?" "Well first ya're gonna get yarself a nice, good meal, for starters." He answered. I didn't really have any objections against that. "Alright, then." I said. "Lead the way, I'm kinda new to this city." "Of course." He replied. "But only on one condition, and it's a serious one; it would be nice if you could carry me." "Carry him?" I thought to myself. "Well, considering my size, it would take up there much faster, and he would get a joyride on the …" my thoughts were interrupted. I didn't remember my name. Up until now, I hadn't been in need to address myself using my name. "Well," I thought to myself again. "Considering my size and material…" You can call me "Rook"." I said. "Like in chess?" He answered. "Well, yeah." I answered, a little coy about my newly chosen name. "Alright then." He said. "Pick me up, and let's go!"
X. Anger is the enemy of every sophisticated man
Something kept bothering me. When I woke up, there was only jack who was paying attention to me. Everyone else was just minding their own business, carelessly, ignoring the gigantic brick giant lying all over the market district. "Whatcha on ya mind, mate?" Jack looked at me with a wondering stare, like expecting a straight answer within seconds. "Well… The people here weren't really paying any attention to me, when I was lying on the ground." I started walking a bit slower, just to make sure there was enough time for him to answer before we arrived at the restaurant, or wherever we're headed. "Well, sumone's a leetal attenshun greedy heer?" Jack answered with a smile on his face. "Well…" I mumbled. "Thei got tir'd of watshin' ya sleep hours ago." He said, looking in the direction we came from. "Thei've got otheh things to do, y'know. Thei'v gotta keep the city runnin', an' so do we." He had a good point. "Ah! Ther' it iz!" He shouted, pointing in the direction of a strange looking building. "Is that a restaurant?" I thought to myself, looking strangely at the building. It was shaped like a half-moon, but it was colored orange, unlike the rest of the buildings around here which were colored either gray or brown. "Are you sure?" I forced myself to ask him. "Of course I am!" He replied. "How can I be unsure of which building it is when it looks like that." Obviously, he was aware of the strange appearance of the building.
We arrived at the front of the restaurant, so I put Jack down, and he walked in. There weren't many people there, probably due to the time of day; everyone was out working, but those who were, looked at me with a frightened look, covering their entire bodies. "Don't worry." I said. "I'm only here to eat, just like you." It didn't help much, though.
Some minutes later, Jack returned with a man wearing an apron. He was probably the restaurant's owner. He, like the customers eating here, looked at me with the same frightened look. "Eet's okai!" Jack excused. "Hee's just hungry." Jack's accent twisted and turned for almost every sentence. I wasn't sure if it was real or not anymore. "What the fuck is that thing!" The owner suddenly burst out. "Why the hell did you bring it HERE, of all places!" The owner was really upset, like his entire life had been ruined just by the appearance of me. "Anyway, there's no whatsoever frickin' way that I am able to cook enough food for a monster like that!" I didn't like what he just said, calling me a monster. It wasn't my fault for turning into this. "I was once like you, y'know." I interrupted the owner, looking at him grimly. "I woke up like this a couple of days ago, and until now the only thing I've been encountering is people like you treating me like a monster just because I look like this!" I was mad. No, I was furious. The only thing keeping me from going on a rampage right where I stood was the immense hunger boiling through my body. "Son," the owner said with a calm voice. "Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately? You look like something out of this world." As he finished this sentence, he turned around, and went back into the shop without waiting for my reply. "THAT'S IT!" I couldn't restrict myself anymore. I smashed the top of the restaurant like it was a delicate pile of sand being hit by a wall. The entire top of the building, which was previously roughly half my height, was reduced to a mere height of my ankle. "What are ya doin'!" Jack shouted, looking desperate where he stood among the remains of the dilapidated building. I turned around, and left the scene in pure chaos; everyone around the local plaza where the restaurant once was cowered in fear as I walked by them. "Wait..?" I thought to myself. "Was this right? Should I have done that?" I looked back towards the restaurant. It was completely ruined. The once eight-floor high half-moon shaped building was now barely a two-story block lying on the ground. Even worse, as I looked at it, the remains collapsed, leaving the building in ruins. "What have I done…"
XI. Taking no for an answer
I turned back towards the direction I was walking, and continued through the plaza. Some people cowered in fear, some ran away, and some tried to retaliate using pitchforks and torches, although I didn't even notice them, due to my hardened state and size, it felt like I was merely stepping on some rough grass that was scratching towards my feet. My right leg wasn't hurting that much now, but it was still merely a piece of attached bricks attached to my ass.
I didn't even know where I was headed. I didn't know where to go. I started to have second thoughts about what I had just done. "What about Jack? Did anyone get hurt, or even killed?" Those were the thoughts that occupied my head, but they were interrupted. I stopped and stared at the sight before me. The city had some very low houses, and if you are at the roof of one of them, you'll get a clear view of the entire city, including me, who was nearly double the height of any of the buildings within the city. It was then obviously easy to spot my violent maneuver as I tore the restaurant to pieces with my bare hand, and the city had now answered with a sizable force gathered at the neighboring plazas surrounding the restaurant. The second they saw me, they instantly took aim towards me, following the obvious solution "Aim for the head!". I turned around myself, looking for a specific piece of weaponry, and I found it. They had onagers. Not as powerful as trebuchets, but one of them nearly destroyed my right leg once, so I wasn't too keen on getting hit by one again, especially considering how close they were to me, being roughly 50 meters in front of me, their rocks would probably go straight through any of my limbs if they hit.
We stood there for some time, both me and the city's army. The tense atmosphere was unbreakable; no one dared to even move. "I can't stay here much longer!" I thought to myself. I looked around for the quickest way out of this city, but the only paths were occupied by squads of the city's army. There was only one way out of this. I turned towards some buildings to my right, and literally charged through them as fast as I could, even though my right leg was broken. The city's army opened fire some seconds later, and I could see the rocks from the onagers fly past me at horrific speeds. After a couple of more seconds, I reached the wall, leaving a path of flattened buildings behind me. The wall was tall and thick, almost as tall as me. "Let's give it a shot." I thought to myself, and gave the wall my hardest punch. It didn't even budge. "Only a scratch!" I shouted to myself. I panicked. I started pummeling the wall as hard as I could, but it was hopeless. The wall wouldn't budge at all. The tension was getting worse. The army was closing. "What should I do? The army is getting closer, and I have no way out." Then I did something that would never have come to my mind unless this specific situation was called upon. I tore my right leg off. The pain was worse than the headache from getting hit by the trebuchet and the pain from getting my leg destroyed in the first place. "I have to endure it!" I shouted to myself, and swung my leg like a hammer at the wall, leaving my hopes in the distant belief that the wall would give in.
XII. My lonely time, again…
"I've never wondered exactly how I look, now. I've may have never dared to wonder, fearing that my mind would dissolve my consciousness, leaving me in a psychotic state of disbelief in general reality. But now, after those daring words sounded from the broken, ugly lips of the restaurant owner, I just had to get my mind fixed on the thought. "I am of brick.", but that's that… I don't know anything else. My legs, or rather leg now, looks slightly fancy, like the bricks are shaped or patterned intentionally. The same trait was on my arms too. Maybe I'm symbolic? I may be a holy creature of some sort, to some religious tribe or something. No. It'd be strange for them to leave me half-buried in a ruined village. Or maybe they were attacked, and I was still asleep… And one other thing; what's up with all the advanced technology. Not that the catapults I've encountered have been a startling new discovery for me, but they're much larger, heavier and they hurt a helluva lot more. Well, not that I've been hit by one in my previous life. This is just weird, like a dream. That's got to be it! But how come I can feel pain at this level if it's a dream? Maybe I'm being hurt in reality. I've experienced that before. I dreamt that I ran into a door, and I could feel the pain from my shoulder as I charged through it, although, in reality, I had just fallen out of my bed. Wait: how come I remember that incident, but nothing else? Well, at least not much else. But that pain, I remember so well. I woke up and thought I had wooden scrap stuck in my arm from the "impact". And now I'm experiencing pain again, although on a severely higher level. I tore my leg off, and now I stand here, stopped in time, thinking, while I swing my severed leg at a wall the size of myself. Well, this is where I am today."
I am torn out of my thoughts as I think of the reality even more. My swing at the wall continues, the rocks keep falling everywhere, and hell keeps raining onto me. "CRASH!", it said as my severed leg hit the top of the wall in my downward swing. The wall crumbled instantly and left is a gap which is now my way out of here. I run, or rather limp, through my newly created escape route. I limp with my last remaining strength. I limp for hours.
There has been some hours now, and it's even getting dark. I look back to the sight of the city barely noticeable on the horizon. "This is just stupid!" I shout into the never-ending desert. "My one chance to get something to eat and drink was spoiled because I got pissed at a fifty year old, half-Italian, fat bastard without a sense of conscience. This is just bullshit… Well, I'll just have to survive for maybe another three days. I sit down in the middle of nowhere. I am exhausted. Hours of limping has had its tall on me now, and I even got to pee, even though I haven't drunk anything in three days. This is even more bullshit!" The pain, which I ignored as I escaped the now hostile city, returned, but this time it hurt everywhere. Both my leg and my head, also known as "everywhere", started hurting at the same time. It was more intense than before. It was also beginning to get cold. "Damn this world!"
XIII. The desert: a nice place to be
"However you look at it, I've ended up in the same fuckin' place where I started; the wasteland, also known as the desert. I won't even bother to think through what I did to end up here again. Well, what's this? I get the feeling that I've become much more "don't-give-a-shit" like since I escaped the city." I look around again, where I sit in the middle of nowhere. There isn't anything noticeable around here, other than the silhouette of the city on the horizon. "Well, I ain't going anywhere this evening." I say to myself, silently hoping that someone, or something would response, as if I were watched by someone, although the silent lack of response wasn't unexpected. I lay down on the dry dirt, not bothering to dig myself some kind of pit this time. I can feel the gnawing pain of starvation run through my body, collecting itself in my stomach area. My mouth was dry too, and it has been since I first woke up in the ruins. My leg and head's pain starts to fade. I look up on the sky again. This is the first night it's cloudless. I study the stars, just for fun, but I notice something. "I don't recognize these at all!" I say to myself. They're completely different from what I remember, although I don't remember much, I don't recognize any of these at all. "Am I in a different world?" I ask myself. "Maybe I'm in an alternate universe, where I am a thirty meters tall, lonely brick giant who is prone to racism, and the stars are different. Would make more sense than any other theories I've come up with." I continue to brainstorm on the situation, and before I know it, I'm sleeping.
I have never been bothered by the sun before. It has been cloudy until yesterday. But now I'm feeling something really unpleasant. I open my eyes to the sight of heat rising from all around me. You know, the thing about the things looking shaky if you watch them through the top of a candle; heat. But I soon notice that the heat aren't just coming from the ground around me, but also from me. It is hot. I stand up and look around again. It's in the middle of the day, but still I can't see anything other than the city's silhouette. I look at my hands. They are smoking, literally. And it's not only my hands that are smoking; my entire body is steaming some kind of white smoke. "Probably just the water on my body." I say to myself, trying to keep myself sane in the middle of the desert, but the possible fact that it is water, isn't helping much. "I was a mason" I say to myself "and as a mason it was common for me to repair buildings that had dried so much in the summer that walls started to crack. Entire buildings collapsed during heavy heat waves. Then what about me? I'm not an exception." I start panicking. There's nowhere to run, or hide. I could go back towards the city, but even that will take hours. Then I remembered something. "When there's so hot that we couldn't repair all the houses, we covered them in dirt to isolate them from the heat." I think to myself. My previous career as a mason had finally paid off. I start to dig a pit in the ground. I dig and dig, and finally, after an hour or so, my pile of dirt was big enough. I lie down into the pit left by my digging and start filling it with dirt from the pile. "Hope that this works…" I think to myself, as I cover the last part of my body with dirt. And there I lie, completely covered in dirt, hiding from the sun. "This is even more bullshit than anything else I've encountered these days…" I say to myself, and try to sleep again.
XIV. Hell's day
"It'll be a cold day in hell before I …", some say. Considering that hell is believed to be eternally hot, it is said as a metaphor for "never". That cold day in hell, is today.
I wake up from my half-sleeping state to a phenomenon I would never have thought could be possible, especially considering last day's heat wave. It is cold, really cold. I started to sweep the dirt that I had used as cover off my body to the sight of the entire wasteland, formerly known as the desert, completely covered in snow. It feels like a vague dream, although I can feel the cold against my "skin". I stood up, and looked around. The snow falling made it impossible to spot the city anymore, although that isn't of my greatest concern. You may guess; I am a building-like thing now, and buildings don't like this much cold. I will crack if I stay out here much longer.
I decided on a direction, and started walking towards the nothingness of the snow. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts…" I said to myself to hold my mind in place as I walked towards nothingness in hope of shelter. Houses normally lasted days without maintenance in winters, but this time it was a lot colder, and I am already very cracked, here and there. "Yeah. Nothing beats the good'ol winter…" I mumbled as I continued to walk into the completely white horizon.
Some hours later, I spotted something on the horizon. It's the hill the "De Brown Roses" "threw" me off. It isn't that steep though, so I don't understand how I got so busted during my descent. "At least I'm going towards a town." I said to myself, remembering a town we passed while I was captured.
The hill isn't insanely long, but with just one leg, it is, and a good two hours later, I'm at the top. I don't even care to look down, and just keep on going away from the hill.
The day is settling, but I still haven't seen anything of the city. Maybe it was a dream? I don't really know, but I do know that it's the only lead I've got. I sit down, and decide to call it a day. A mild aching pain from my long lost leg sets in, but I decide to just try to sleep it out.
XV. Sleeping giant
I woke up completely buried in the snow. It had probably snowed all night, since the snow was now over three meters thick! I had never seen such amounts of snow fall in such short time. "This is definitely an alternate universe." I said to myself, personally confirming my beliefs from the other day. "But wait!" I said out loud. "This is an opportunity. When the snow melts, it becomes water." As I finished the sentence, I started digging in the snow, making a pile. I gathered the snow in the pile to form a ball, which I began to munch on. "No taste," I thought. "but at least it gives me water." I started walking again towards the direction I believe I was dragged from, although due to the snow, I had no idea which way that was.
Hours had passed, but still no sight of anything. People say that you shouldn't eat snow because it cools your body down, which makes it use more water to heat up again. "Those words may be true…" I murmured to myself, as I trotted the endless snowy landscape, freezing every last piece of hope out of me. "This blizzard is just becoming worse." I said to myself, and studied the weather. It was snowing completely sideways, now. I could barely see thirty meters ahead of me, bringing my hopes down even more. It was difficult to limp through the thick snow, which was now roughly five meters in height. "Is this where I die?" I thought to myself. "Am I going to freeze up here, in the middle of this winter wonderland and crack open like a piñata being hit by some kids with a bat?" The thought wasn't pleasant, and left me empty of hope. "Well," I said out loud. "this is it, then. I guess I'll just fall over and die." I stopped and waited, as my last bit of hope screamed me to listen if there were anyone nearby. All I could hear was the screeching sound of the wind blowing full speed everywhere. "I surrender." I said to whoever threw this blizzard upon me, and fell over to my side. The snow felt pleasant, soft like a very nice mattress. I suddenly felt somewhat sleepy, lying there in the cold, soft snow, which was now over ten meters on height, completely covering me where I laid.
Hours passed again, and I was still lying in the snow. It felt so good. I could feel my leg started to freeze up, as I couldn't move it anymore. I had lost all sense of temperature, so the only thing keeping me down was my desire to rest. I fell asleep around midnight, when I was frozen up to my waist. "This is my time to say good bye…" I thought to myself, as I lost my consciousness.
A sleeping giant is only discovered when he awakes.