[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn couldn't believe her luck...or lack of it. She gaped up at the hulking face that peered down at her, a grin as nauseating as his appearance churning her stomach and setting her body to trembling violently. Giants... Why hadn't someone eradicated them when they had the chance? As it was, he could snap her head off with an idle twist of two fingers and be done with her. She was beginning to feel a little light-headed as the giant displayed a full set of grimmy, filthy teeth and she shuddered as she imagined them clenching down around her body with a crunch. Holy Carmelya, save me, she pleaded her goddess, but couldn't open her mouth to speak them aloud.

But Carmelya was nowhere to be found and Aydyn felt herself withering away, the world beginning to fade and darken, her vision blurring, as she stared up into the gaping maw of the giant that held her. Food. She was going to be food. She was going to die, crunched into tiny pieces by blunt and disgusting teeth. She could no longer keep her body awake and she collasped like a limp ragdoll in the giant's massive fist as she felt herself drawn closer to his mouth.

To say that Aydyn was surprised when she woke up is an understatement. Her eyes opened slowly and she stared ahead of her with half-opened eyes as the sleep began to fuzz from her head. Then she recalled something: a giant, massive and intimidating, drawing her to his mouth as if to eat her. A dream? Her heart pounded as she began to take in the odd flickering of light against darkened walls that curved overhead at odd, jagged angles. Then she jerked upwards, tossing back what she had thought were blankets and blinking into the darkness illuminated by the flames of a large fire. A quick glance down at the "blankets" and she began to see evidence that they were actually a shirt...a very large shirt.

Aydyn could feel her body begin to tremble again, her mouth dry and her mind spinning as she struggled to determine if the giant had been real or simply a figment of her imagination. She turned on her booted feet and nearly fell back to the ground as she stumbled backwards in shock. There it was...hulking and frightening, even in what seemed like sleep. But maybe it was just feigning sleep, some trick to lull her closer to the exit he was clearly blocking. Were giants that intelligent?

She had dropped back to the ground, not fainted, but simply descended in a relatively slow manner in a crouch. She had spotted her saddlebags, the food and few coins she had scattered over the dirt. She had brought little else with her. She slunk forward, picking up the discarded bread and cheese before retreating back to the shirt that she had been strangely wrapped in. She hid it there, stuffing it beneath a fold for now. But questions gnawed at her mind: Why hadn't she been eaten? Why had he decided to keep her? Any answers she could think up only served to make her shudder and she wrapped her arms around her body and stared helplessly at the beast that had taken her.