Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 18

Verse 17- The Giant without a HeartThe group of kids suddenly halted in their tracks, “well well well what do we have here now” spoke a voice, Jyro looked around but didn’t see anyone else around him , he suddenly heard the high pitch tone of a whistle, he looked above him and saw Valko Tius standing atop of one of the towering rocks that lay around him, but once Valko emerged 5 others came out also all standing on top of the pieces of the castle. “Valko! What do you want?” shouted Tristine, “what do you think I want I’m here to make sure you idiots don’t move any further from here” spoke Valko, Leo immediately drew his sword and raised it towards Valko, “come down here and try and stop me” he said with a look of kill amongst his eyes, the other students looking from atop simply looked at one another no one wanted to fight Leo one on one and Valko knew this. “Erg you wimps if you all go for him together he’ll be a piece of cake “said Valko trying to encourage his entourage. “Who said he’s alone” voiced Jyro who walked and stood beside Leo the rest of the group surrounded beside him and Leo and glared above them ready to fight, Just when the atmosphere was getting heated sudden tremors were felt along the ground and froze the kids in their tracks “what was that” asked one of them and a second tremor was felt again this one more violent than the first. “Wait you guys what’s that over there” asked Johnny, when Jyro and the rest of the kids turned to see what he was talking about they saw the silhouette of a huge shadowy figure, and it looked as if the creature was approaching closer and closer. Valko quickly drew his crossbow and shot it towards the huge creature in panic, Emerging from the darkness a large greyish giant hand gripped onto one of the loose boulders on the ground and without warning hurdled the boulder towards the kids, BOOOOM! .The boulder hit the towering stone above the kids and sent Valko and the others atop it crashing down onto the floor, meanwhile the students along the ground sprinted away as the debris from the boulder rained down on them, fragments of rocks fell from the sky and one thick stone descended towards Tristine, the young girl not realising was struck on the head. “TRISTINE! “ yelled Jyro who attempted to run towards the girl who lay on the ground motionless, Whilst Jyro ran towards the girl Leo cut in front of him and with his huge sword shielded the boy from the descending rocks. “Tristine, wake up Tristine” whilst Jyro tried to shake his friend to her senses , Johnny who made it away in time from the fallen rocks looked over again at the huge figure in the distance , it slowly stepped out of the darkness and reviled itself. “My god….its…. it’s a Giant” he yelped, the huge creature towered towards the sky its skin was grey and its hair was thin and stringy and like seaweed , its large eyes were moist and dark with dirt stained on its teeth and wore a brown loincloth wrapped around its waist. Johnny stood in fear as the huge creature slowly stomped its way towards them, the ground vibrated with each step it took and Johnny didn’t move he simply stood there shaken with fear, “ oi come here we need to get out of here” insisted Madison who grabbed the boys arm and dragged him away with her.

Jyro and Leo looked back and saw the giant that was approaching and fear rose in them as well, “oi listen” snapped Leo, “ill carry her and get out of here you need to buy us time” said Leo, “how am I supposed to do that what-what is that thing” Jyro muttered, “it’s a giant and yes you can I’ve seen that lightning thing you can do, use that and buy us some time YOUR OUR ONLY OPTION” demanded Leo. Jyro slowly looked around and saw there was other students who lay on the ground unable to move, “help someone help me” Valko yelled Jyro quickly went to his aid and found the boys leg lodged under the small rocks, he tried to move the rock but couldn’t make it budge “quickly Thomas that thing is approaching, you need to get me out of here” Valko yelped, “ggrrrrrrh, it’s not budging Valko” Jyro looked back and saw the Giant was only a few metres away he looked around again and saw the bodies of his classmates laying on the ground , he could hear his heart beating and voices screaming “ JYRO!” screamed Leo, “ don’t be afraid go and stop that Giant” Leos words woke him up from his state of panic, he then got up and walked towards the giant. The closer he got the more the creatures height really towered high, Jyro slowly approached the creature who mumbled and muttered whilst it approached but Jyro couldn’t make sense of what it was saying , he stood a few mitres from the creature and as he looked up at its darkened face and stared into its slimy soaked eyes. Jyro clenched hold of the Zooz stick, he took a deep breath then ran towards the giant…,” FULMINIS PULSUS!” the shockwave of electricity ripped through the sky and hit the creature on his chest, the giant groaned loudly in pain as it slowly stepped back and tumbled to the ground, “ no way…. I did it” Jyro said to himself. Jyro stood in front of the fallen giant who grunted and moaned whilst it held its chest, Jyro panted and lowly moved back not knowing what to do next, the giant quickly rose to its feet like nothing had happened, it brushed off the burnt marks from its chest then roared into the sky with a terrifying sound, the shout resonated throughout the area and sent shivers down Jyros spine Jyro became scared and stood in fear watching the approaching creature. The giant turned its attention to Jyro then charged towards the boy in rage swinging his giant fists it crushed anything that came in its way and bashed and knocked the debris sky high into the air. “oi Jyro where do u think your running to” Leo stated whilst he placing his hands on Jyros shoulders, Jyro looked up at the boy who seemed to give him a little smile, an expression he’d never have thought he’d see on Leo, “let’s do this” they both said whilst they stood their ground and readied themselves for the incoming creature. Moments later Leo darted straight ahead towards the creature, the giant through a fist towards him which only met the afterimage of the boy, Leo darted left then right moving quicker than the creatures eyes could follow, the giant flung his hands in an attempt to squash him which missed by inches wide, Leo immediately hopped onto its hand and ran along up the giants arm. The creature begun to flay his arms in panic whilst Leo struggled to maintain his balance on the creature, the giant clenched its fist and through a punch towards the boy who hung on his shoulders SMACK! The giant missed and ended up hitting itself in the face. Whilst the giant stumbled around holding itself in pain, Leo drew out his long sword and slashed at its leg, the creature roared as it collapsed to the ground and its dark blood flayed across the ground. Jyro and Leo looked onwards and approached the fallen creature, whilst the dust from the creatures fall slowly cleared away the two boys lay their eyes on the beast struggling to regain itself back to its feet, “Jyro it’s time to end this lets go” urged Leo as the two boys readied themselves for another attack but just before they could even move a muscle the giant suddenly gave a devastating roar. The sound was so great that the whole place shook with a mighty force the ruined rocks rumbled and cracked simultaneously whilst the two boys looked around in fear. When the roar stopped the two boys were suddenly engulfed by a purple mist that emerged from the giant’s mouth, after moments of coughing and wheezing the two boys passed out onto the ground. The night passed and a new day arrived, the young girl who lay on the soft ground opened her eyes to the blue skies above she arose slowly and gathered herself to her feet, “ erg my head….. What in the world happened here” Tristine thought to herself, she slowly observed her surroundings and looked on at the broken debris that lay around her, “JOHNNY….. JYRO! Is anybody here?” Tristine hollered. The young girl wondered around the ruined site searching for her friends but there wasn’t a single sign or sight from any of them, she slowly continued her search when she felt sudden tremors along the ground, she startled in panic and tried to replace the source of the quakes when all of a sudden she stumbled upon two stoned figures that lay on the ground. Tristine moved closer towards the figures and slowly begun to realise the stoned objects were Jyro and Leo that turned into stone. The young girls heart dropped, she stared at them both in despair whilst tears slowly ran down her face. Tristines first reaction was to replace the rest of her schoolmates but that option was quickly utilised as she turned around and saw a giant face baring down at her, she fell back in shock and scurried backwards as the giant moved its face closer to her. “Oh…err... Hello there” she muttered nervously, the giant slowly moved its flaky darkened lips and seemed to mutter some words back to the young girl , “ your trying to say something aren’t you… what’s your name? She asked the giant nervously, the giant responded back with soft grunts and moans. Tristine looked at her two friends coated in stone and realised the giant may be the cause. She pointed at the stone “change them back” she declared but the giant simply roared in anger and beat his chest in response, the Giant then stared down at the girl who was petrified by the out roar of the beast, it then laid its hand on the floor and gestured for the girl to climb on it, Tristine cautiously looked at its giant palms “err… if I come with you have to change them back ok promise me you’ll change them back!” she tearfully said ,the giant hesitated for a moment but it stared down at the crying girl before grunting in approval.

Boom….. Boom……Boosh, the earth echoed and shook whilst the giant stomped its way through the valley, Tristine was perched on his palms whilst she held on with her dear life onto the skin of its fingertips. While the giant carried her through the valley she gazed between the creatures fingers and saw a broken down tower standing in the distance. The giant approached the torn tower and slowly placed the young girl upon the top, it then started pointing and grunting at her but she couldn’t make out a word from its speech, “I … I can’t understand you why did you bring me here” she asked the creature, it then growled and murmured some more then slowly prodded Tristine backwards till she tripped over an object behind her. She turned around and saw a brown chest laying on the floor, she looked back at the Giant who nodded its head and murmured it clearly wanted her to open the chest. Tristine slowly lifted the chests head and pushed it over, she looked inside and saw dozens of red jewels laying inside, she stared down at them in confusion then looked back at the creature, and it then started pointing towards its chest murmuring whilst he patted it. Tristine looked closely and saw a small scar on its chest “your heart? Is Something’s wrong with it” she asked , the giant nodded its head in approval then lay its hands down again for the girl to climb on “ wait… may I take one of those please” she then went over to the chest and took one of the dozens of red jewels that lay inside.

Tristine rode upon the giants shoulders whilst it carried her further down the valley, dozens of animals cowered away when they heard the tremors of the giant’s presence. The giant finally stopped its march and lowered the girl onto the floor, when Tristine landed she looked at her surroundings and everything around her was a meadow the only thing that was there was a water well in the middle, she approached the well and looked down inside only seeing a dark spiral below. The giant also approached the watering well and pointed inside the hole, Tristine understood what it wanted her to do so she took one of her arrows out and tied a rope to its end, she told the giant to hold the other end of the rope then aimed inside the hole and fired the arrow inside. When the arrow hit the ground deep inside the well Tristine gripped onto the rope and proceeded to climb down it. She slowly made her way down the darkened hole and smelt an awful smell rising from its depths. Lower and lower she ventured down into the watering well, “GUMGUM come out” she said and out came the pink ball of light from her pocket “I can’t see a thing in here so I need you ok” the pixies light twinkled in response. Tristine finally could see the bottom of the watering well, so she slowly let go and slid down the rope, when she touched the floor she noticed that the well was waterless only a dried up stoned ground lay beneath her, “ GumGum I can’t see the floor can you shine brighter please “ the pink ball of light started to flicker brighter , Tristine begun scanning around when she suddenly stumbled upon a human skeleton laid in the corner, she suddenly jumped back and screeched in fright. The scared girl slowly moved closer to the skeleton where she saw a message carved into the wall it read, “It’s not your fault Tim……. I never had a heart… love C xxx” tears suddenly started to flow down Tristines cheeks for some reason. Tristine finally climbed back up and out of the well, she approached the Giant and stretched out her hand which held something wrapped up in her cloak, the giant slowly picked up the object and blew the cloak away and on his palms lay the skull from the skeleton down in the well. The giant sat on the earth and simply stared at the skull whilst moaning and groaning in sorrow, the young girl looked on in sadness feeling sorry for the creature the giant then took hold of the red jewel Tristine carried and crushed it into small particles above her, the dust from the jewel twinkled down on her and she suddenly warped back in time and witnessed the story of the giant and the young lady. The giants story was indeed a sad one, one day a girl stumbled upon the ruined castle and befriended the lonely giant, all day long shed sit atop the giants chest and tell it of all the wonderful stories shed seen , from day to night the young lady and the giant would spend their time together but one day the giant noticed the young girls body had become considerably frail and weak , so the young lady told the giant she suffered from a disease which meant her heart was becoming weaker by the day , so in a desperate attempt to save her the giant begun collecting anything that resembled a heart, from jewels to fruits to special artefacts in hope that he’d replace a heart for his dying friend. One afternoon the young lady asked the giant to escort her to the well, she told the giant she found out that there may be a special remedy perched in the well that could save her, so the giant reluctantly let her down inside and sat by the entrance waiting for her to come out, but numerous nights and days passed and the girl still didn’t show up. Tristine mind suddenly returned to the present and glared above towards the giant in sympathy. Moments later a sudden sharp wind sliced the giants back making it roar in pain, “What’s wrong -what happened” asked the girl, the giant slowly picked itself up and signalled Tristine to stand back. “Well well what do we have here it seems you’ve made yourself quite the friend there Miss Blueberry” spoke Isis who immerged from the other side of the meadow, Tristine looked out into the distance and saw Isis Gates standing in the meadow, “isis…. Why are you out here” she hollered, “ohh excuse me did you forget we’re all the way out here to finish this stupid task…. And that’s what I’m doing” she responded smugly , “ but… but the red Jewel isn’t even here its back at that tower over there, so just go and take it” cried out Tristine, “ mmmm nah I think I’ll play around with that thing for a bit it looks more fun” smirked Isis. The giant roared to the sky and charged at the girl, “haha yes that’s more like it ‘veni spiritus’ ” spoke Isis, a shroud of wind then gathered around the girl, “incises” she added , out of the wind fired sharp sickled shaped projectiles that cut through the giants body, the giant screamed in agony . “ISIS STOP THIS NOW, YOUR KILLING HIM” screamed Tristine, but Isis continued her onslaught, The giant bled heavily from the wounds received from the controlled wind, it slowly got to its feet and charged again towards Isis, “seriously? Haven’t you got a brain in that gigantic body of yours? …..’ incisus’” she spoke again and again and out came the sickled shape projectiles flying at the creature, they sliced and cut him continuously as she cried in agony and tried to take the hits. The giant moved slowly and slowly towards Isis, the winds projectiles continued to barrage him but he shielded his face and slowly crept closer and closer to Isis, the young girl looked on in panic and she screamed at the wind to attack him more and more “incises, incises, incises” she howled in panic but the giant didn’t fall and slowly stomped towards the girl whilst the 100’s of projectiles cut and torn his skin apart.

Isis slowly retreated back in fear, glaring forward at the blood soaked giant that towered over her “i...i… I’m so sorry please…. Don’t kill me I beg you” she pleaded, the giant stood over the girl cowering in fear, he raised his fists and just as he was about to flatten her Tristine called out to him” TIM! This isn’t what she would have wanted!” she hollered, her words immediately halted the giants attack. The huge creature looked down at the cowering Isis dejected it hesitated for a few moments then it turned around and slowly walked back to Tristine. Isis lay on her backside shaken in fear, her anger then slowly rose up again “grrr you think you scare me, VENTUS ICTUS” she screamed, a sudden dense wind gathered into her palms she lifted her palm towards the giants back and the wind shot of out of her hand like a cannon piercing through the giant. The giant halted in its movement and slowly looked down at his chest where he saw a visible hole, the creature crashed faced down onto the earth. Tristine looked on in despair and begun to weep as the Giant lay face down in its own blood the creature slowly looked up at the crying girl and opened its palms and dropped an object in front of her, Tristine went to pick it up , she wiped the blood off it and saw it was a small brown box, she opened the box and saw a beating heart laying inside, “ what… what is this” she said to herself , the giants faced smiled as it took one more final breath then died.

Tristine stared aimlessly at the beating heart as its beats grew fainter and fainter till it eventually ceasing, suddenly the clouds above became fierce and a downpour of rain descended, Tristines anger slowly rose, she grabbed her bow and arrow and stomped over towards Isis who knelt on the earth clutching at her wrist, she aligned the arrow and took aim towards Isis who’s face stood with an expression of sudden fear. “You killed him…. For no reason you killed him you twisted stupid little girl” she vexed Just as Tristine was about to fire the ground beneath her suddenly shook, and green vines started to rise from the dirt, “Miss Morrowind stand down” , the girl turned around and saw the head mistress standing behind her, “m…m… headmistress what are you…” she softly said the headmistress suddenly embraced the shaken girl, “it’s ok, its ok the task is over you’ve won” she said whilst she embraced her ,Tristine didn’t understand the heads words and continued to weep on her chest, “ the ‘red jewel’ that we set you to obtain it can only be given to the student who showed compassion to the giant and helped him replace his deceased lover although Tims death was never something we expected” the headmistress then turned her attention to Isis, “ we’ve been watching you all from the beginning miss gates and your psychotic behaviour isn’t something that the academy agree on and your constant misuse of your Brand is the reason you lie there on your knees pitifully in defeat” Isis eyes flared with rage at the insult and she bit her lip so hard blood trickled down her mouth. “ What about Jyro and….” Muttered Tristine,” MR Thomas and Mr Blackstorm are both fine, the giants breaths effects are only temporary the other professors have gathered the remaining students so relax your heart” said the headmistress, Tristines worry suddenly died down to knowing her friends are all ok, “well then ladies shall we depart then” said the headmistress, and with that the task for the chosen 12 E graders ended on the 3rd day and the winner…Tristine Morrowind.