"Is there anything you're good for?!" A loud female voice shouted, jolting Theo awake. He immediately lost his balance, falling on his back. The material around him was some fabric, even from above him.
"You are a pathetic excuse for a giant! You can't even kill a bear, so what are you even good for?! Tell me!"
"I-I...nothing..." The second voice was quieter than her's, but it reverberated all around Theo. The human would have thought it was soothing in any other situation.
"That's right. Nothing." Theo heard her coming closer to whoever was keeping him on their person.
"Zelphar, know that I love you. You are my son, after all. I am only trying to prepare you for the real world." She gently cupped her son's face in her hands, using a soft voice now. Tears were pooling in Zelphar's eyes, blurring his vision.
Zelphar nodded, not trusting himself to say anything without breaking down into tears. Her hands slowly trailed down to his neck, frightening him. Her fingers grew tighter around his throat, hurting him.
"Grow some balls, m'kay?" A sickening sweet smile spread on her lips, but her eyes were glaring at his.
"Y-Yes..." Once Zelphar said that, she let go of his neck, allowing him to breathe. He gasped and stumbled back, favoring where she had squeezed his neck. Faint bruises were appearing where her fingers previously were.
Quickly, he rushed out of the cave, tears breaking out of his eyes. He knew his mother would hurt him more if she caught him crying. Thankfully, she didn't stop him from running, knowing full well, he will come back.
Not too far away, there was a cliff peering over to the ocean. It was always Zelphar's safe space because humans don't have a reason to come here.
When he took a seat, his legs hanging off the edge, the feeling of squirming in his pocket made him remember the human in his pocket. Immediately, Zelphar unlatched the button and reached in. The human kept squirming, avoiding his touch.
Finally, he had two fingers, pinching the human's sides so he couldn't get away. Zelphar gently placed the human onto his palm. It looked horrified, but that was natural for humans.
"Uh, hi." The giant shyly waved at Theo. It didn't comfort him because he was still in Zelphar's clutches, waiting to be crushed any second now.
"Just... please don't..... DON'T make me suffer when you crush me!" Theo begged before using his arms to shield himself, even though that would do nothing.
"What? Oh, no, I'm not going to hurt you or anything like that!" The giant looked shocked for a moment that he would think that but relaxed shortly after.
"W-What are you gonna do to me?" Theo asked, slowly lowering his arms to get a good look at the giant. Now that he was actually looking at him, there were visible scars on his face.
There were very prominent five scratches on his face. They looked like someone cut him badly. The marks started above his right eyebrow, trailing down to his cheek. Luckily, whatever had hurt him, missed his eye.
"I accidentally... knocked you out, but I-I didn't know what to do! I wanted to take you back to the human village, but I don't want to die. My pocket was the safest place because if I left you, the wolves would have found you."
Theo was speechless, surprised that the giant didn't have any intentions to hurt him. At least, not yet. His eyes searched Zelphar's face to find any lies, but none were found, just guilt.
"...You-"
"I didn't mean to hurt you- I'm sorry." Zelphar interrupted as he looked away, ashamed for what he had done.
"You saved me!" Theo stared up at him with shock at the realization. A smile grew on his face, thankful that he wasn't dead... yet.
"I-yeah... Yeah, I couldn't just leave you there. Considering what I had done to you. Are you hurt, by the way?" The giant's eyes looked concerned at Theo, scanning for any injuries.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but I should be asking you that." Theo pointed up at Zelphar's face. For a moment, the giant was confused as to what he was referring to, furrowing his brows. Quickly, he realized what he meant.
"Oh." The giant's mouth made an o shape before continuing. "My... mother did this to me. It's fine. She did that a while ago." Zelphar looked away, using his free hand to cover the scars.
"Why would she do that?!" Theo was growing upset by learning this, shocking the giant. His eyes locked onto the human with confusion.
"What- she was mad that I wasn't the child she wanted. I-It's okay, though. That happened a while ago." He rubbed the back of his neck, sad for remembering that moment. Back then, he thought she was going to kill him for real. "Can we not talk about it?" Zelphar looked at the human, showing how he was upset.
"Oh, of course... Sorry 'bout that." The atmosphere between the both of them was tense. The silence wasn't helping either.
"It's fine, but I should take you home now." Zelphar was beginning to stand up, shaking everything around Theo. He shrieked and rushed to hug the giant thumb. "What happ- Oh my god, I'm so sorry I should have said something!"
"You promise you're not going to hurt me?" Theo muttered, squeezing the thumb as much as he could.
"With my life." Zelphar sent him a reassuring smile. He used his other hand and held it from behind the human, just in case. He carefully stood from the rocky ground, beginning to walk toward Yairenth. (the human village)
As the giant was making his way through the woods, he removed his free hand from behind Theo, allowing him to see everything around him.
His eyes widened, never having seen the world from this height. Theo felt like he was unstoppable, being in the hands of a harmless giant. The wind was rushing past them, blowing on Theo's hair. Even more so than Zelphar's.
"I'm the king of the world!" Theo declared as he let go of the thumb that was keeping him standing. He stretched his arms in the air, above his head.
"Humans are odd." Zelphar giggled at the human, making it vibrate beneath Theo. Startled, he quickly held his thumb to keep himself from falling.
The giant kept walking, possibly not noticing Theo's retreat. It felt like seconds before they were a few miles away from Yairenth. he had to stop so he wouldn't be seen by anybody else.
Zelphar crouched down, lowering his hand to the ground. When his hand landed, Theo shakily stepped off.
"T-Thank you, Zelphar." Theo smiled up at the giant who was looming over him. It was intimidating, but he kept telling himself that it was okay.
"No problem. I'll j-just go and never bother you again so you can forget this whole thing." The giant began to stand, already beginning to leave. Theo had never seen him standing at full height. It was unnerving.
"WAIT!" The human blurted, catching Zelphar's attention. He turned around and looked down at the human. His legs were shaking out of fear, so the giant sat on his knees. When his knees touched the ground, Theo stumbled back but caught his balance.
"Sorry." The giant gave him a shy smile before remembering why he had stopped. "What do you want to tell me?" Zelphar tilted his head.
"I-I never gave you my name! Er-I mean, it's only fair since I know your name." The human fiddled with his fingers nervously. Why was he so flustered?! "Uh, my name is Theodoric. But my friends call me Theo." He held out his hand out to him with a smile on his lips.
"What are you doing..?" Zelphar looked down at him, furrowed brows, and tilted head.
"Oh, it's a handshake. It's how people-er humans greet each other." Theo waited as the giant hesitantly reached his hand toward him. His legs felt like jelly, even more than before.
When Zelphar lightly pinched his hand with his index finger and thumb. His digits were a little bit bigger than his head. Theo gulped and gave him a shaky smile. When the giant noticed how timid Theo was, he let go and recoiled his hand.
"Did I hurt you?!" Without thinking, Zelphar leaned closer to the trembling human to get a better look. Subconsciously, he took a few steps back.
"Nonono, not at all! I just... I've never met a giant before." Theo assured, his face was bright red. Either from embarrassment or blushing so much.
"Well, I've never met a human before." The giant chuckled, hoping to rid of the awkward tension between them.
"I-I'll be on my way now. Uh, see ya!" Theo waved before walking home. While walking for a few seconds, he could feel the giant's eyes on him. Then the ground as Zelphar also walked away, going the opposite direction.
As Theo was walking home, he looked up at the sky to see where the sun was. He was wondering what time it was, praying it wasn't the afternoon. It seems to be 8 something am, calming the idea of his dad catching him.
When Theo got to his father's house, he made sure to sneak around to the back. Thankfully, the window he had escaped from was still open. He pulled himself up and hoped inside. Without any control over it, he landed with a thud on the hardwood floor. Theo felt around his waist but froze when he didn't touch the sword...
"What- where is it?!" The human panicked and frantically touched everywhere around his waist. "Nonono! Dad is going to-!"
"To what?" A very scarily familiar voice came from Theo's bed. He slowly turned in that direction, only to be facing his father. "Uh, hi, dad, funny seeing you here." The teen awkwardly laughed, shifting his feet uncomfortably.
"Theodoric Grelamin, where have you been?" Henricus stood up from the bed, crossing his arms. He approached his son with a stern expression on his face.
"Oh, you know... around." Theo gave his father a dry laugh, avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible. "Okay, so I went out to kill the giantess, but I didn't find her!" The teen tried his best not to get himself in any more trouble than he was in already.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Henricus breathed as he pulled his son into a tight embrace.
"Wait, so your not mad at me?" Theo asked, not expecting this kind of response. He slowly brought his hands around his father, hugging him back.
"Oh, I'm furious, but I'm more relieved that you are okay." His father laughed, hugging him tighter. His laugh was a mix of shock and actual laughter.