literature

Giant Ruins

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Literature Text

   In a world created by giants, is there any room for the little people? To the folk who stand not six inches from the ground, ruins of structures seem to rise into the skies, remnants from the extinct giant's era. Their primitive settlements hidden in the grass, dwarfed by comparison, scattered the now near barren landscape. No one knew when the giants had left this land, but it must have been many centuries ago, the only proof of their existence being the old architecture they left behind, having long since passed from living memory. Not that there was a lot of even that left now, worn away by time and weather.

   Of course, this was all Raidei knew of the giants. He wasn't interested in people who had lived so long ago, what use were they to him? There were scholars in the settlements that researched that type of thing, and they were never very popular anyway. No, the giants were none of his concern, he had far more pressing matters weighing on him. Like their buildings.

   Staring up at the giant structure he rested his hands on his hips. This was a task he'd always known he would eventually have to undertake, but he had never thought it would come so soon. He had not even thought that his beloved would accept his feelings for her, so it had come as quite a surprise that she would return them so easily. They had been friends since they were young children, and he had assumed it would be that way forever. If his younger self could see him now, he doubted he would believe it. Yet here he was. About to prove himself worthy of the love she had requited.

   Taking his first step towards a thin crack in the bottom of the wall, he wondered what he would find inside. He had not been inside a giant's building before, for, other than the scholars doing their research, Sha-Nidar was the only reason any man might venture this far from his settlement. Of course, this was not the only way to complete the task. There were many, such as finding and killing and dangerous or valuable animal, or to journey out into the world to find a precious something for their sweetheart. Which, in many ways, was exactly what he was doing.

   Sha-Nidar was a trial that men went through when they wished to marry, a way to prove themselves to their potential bride's family. This would involve leaving the settlement until their task was done, and going into what often proved to be a dangerous situation, in order to obtain something of value for their beloved. If satisfied, her family would be assured of his capability to look after his bride, and the quality of the gift would assure them of his love for her. Many men before him had undergone this trial, and so, no doubt, would many men after him, but it didn't make him any less nervous. After all, if he couldn't even do this for his love, then would he even be able to show his face in the settlement again?

   Swallowing his nerves, Raidei squeezed along the narrow passage, careful not to injure himself on the jagged sides. He wasn't sure how thick this wall was, but he hoped it wouldn't be too long until he got inside. Fortunately it wasn't, and after a few more minutes of shuffling he was in. He found himself in a large room, larger even than the biggest of his people's settlements, adorned with a huge table, surrounded by chairs, everything covered in dust. The room itself, other than the furniture, seemed rather bare. There was nothing of value here to take.

   From this room there were two wooden doors, each with numerous cracks along the bottom. It took a minute to cross the room, leaving footprints in the dust like sand. These cracks were larger than the one through which he had entered, enabling him to simply peer into the room and decide whether or not to proceed. The first door led into a strange room, the function of which he could not fathom. There were hard, white objects with glass doors, and circular protrusions at the tops, surrounded by cupboards, some of which were on the floor with some sort of tabletop atop them. There were other strange contraptions of various sizes, including another large white object, as tall as he assumed the giants themselves might have been, that seemed like it would open, and the floor was cold and hard. He quickly abandoned this room, instead turning to the next door.

   Peering into this room, he immediately gathered that this would have been the giant's bedroom. Surely there would be something here. The silk blankets on the bed flowed down onto the floor, bunching together at the bottom. The fabric was slippery, making it difficult for Raidei to climb up onto the bed, forcing him to grip the material a lot harder than he would have done for any other fabric. After nearly falling a few times, he managed to scramble onto the bed, enabling him to get a better view of the items in the room.

   As he thought, there were many items that he would have liked to have taken, such as books and figurines, but he would not have been able to carry such items back to the settlement, even if he could have gotten it through the crack he had used to enter. The room was dark, so he almost missed one box on a shelf nearby, hidden in the shadows. It seemed to have a word written on it, but it was too covered in dust to be able to read. Sliding down the blankets, he went to stand beneath the shelf. How am I going to get up there? he wondered.

   As he absent-mindedly wandered forward, he tripped over a thick, black, plastic rope. A rope that was attached to an odd, shaded object, with some sort of glass orb inside it. He didn't know what it was, but it brought a smile to his face to see it. This was his way up. Gripping the strange rope, he pulled himself up into the air. Until now, he had been unaware of just how heavy he was, struggling to keep his hold as he tried to climb. It was amazing to think, as he felt like his arms were ripping from their sockets, that a giant would have been able to pick him up as easily as he might pick up a feather.

   Sweated glazed his forehead as he, eventually, dragged himself onto the shelf. He rolled onto his back, panting, staring up at the darkened ceiling. How peculiar these giants had been, they even had their inventions on their ceilings. Not feeling up to standing just yet, Raidei crawled to the box he had strived to reach and brushed away the dust.

   As he had thought, the box had a word emblazoned on its front. 'Jewellery'. Excited, he pushed open the lid of the box. This was exactly the type of thing he wanted. As the lid opened, a noise chimed, making him jump backwards. An alarm? No. Music. The gentle tune played, easing his fast paced heart rate as he rummaged through the precious metals and stones. A lot of the chains were tangled together, their charms knotted within the mangled mess. There were a lot of items here he dismissed off hand, silver pendants that were going green, and thick gold chains that looked way too heavy for him to carry. But there was one item that caught his eye immediately. A beautiful silver ring, with a stone embedded in it that reflected the light in a multitude of colours. This was the one. He knew it. And only one thought passed through his mind as he pulled it over his shoulder.

Perfect.
Well, this was mainly written for my new group, #FantasyAuthorsGuild as it has an empty gallery (well, had).

Not sure what inspired this one, it just sort of popped into my head. Hence why it might not be very good. Sorry about that. :D

Oh, and just so you know, the strange room was supposed to be the kitchen, and the object in the bedroom was a lamp. He was climbing the wire.

Sorry this isn't very clear, or entertaining. It sort of hurried it, especialy towards the end. :dohtwo:
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MicroNekoGirlPur's avatar
this is interesting really interesting are u planning on continueing it?