Dear Erin,

I can hardly believe that I am writing to you now. Even though I know you will not get this letter I think it’s important that I put my thoughts down. There is so much I wish to tell you. My life has taken a turn for the strange. Perhaps this is just for myself, but I like to think that you can hear these words nonetheless. You see, I was staring into the face of certain doom and, despite my fear, I was unshaken. The giant, the one whom I’ve told you about, did not kill me right away. Instead, we exchanged words. They were awkward, uncertain words but they were still words. When she saw me trembling along the mountain’s edge she seemed more curious than angry. I think, at first, she expected to be attacked, as though I led some covert ambush, for she was initially very reluctant in drawing closer to me. I would have been much more  satisfied if she just turned around and left but, I’m afraid that is not what happened at all. After just a few silent seconds she asked me who I was, to which I replied “Enoch, an agent of God” which she did not hear or understand. When she found that she was not to be attacked she drew a bit closer. Admittedly I was horrified, but, just as I was about to run, she spoke. Her voice was thunderous but it did not have the same commanding vigor it had days before.

For a second I must digress, for I wish to express how odd it is for her to be living so close to Legion territory. It is strange because being a giant and a loner, she should have either been turned back the threat of assault or attempted to attack us by now. Yet, she seems content to live in her ruin of a town with her captives. Oh, that brings another point to mind.

You see our conversation was rather brief. She asked what I was doing and I told her the truth. I said that I had come to prove my faith and test the Devil’s resolve, but she didn’t seem to catch my meaning. She said I was odd, and, before I could reply or even blink, she trapped me beneath her hand. At first I thought the darkness that surrounded me was the blanket of death but after I finally collected myself once more I began to hear her voice again. She offered me a chance to live if I followed her demands. Truth be told I did falter in my purpose then. I had been so terrified that when she finally lifted her hand again I followed her words. Surely I will be punished for such indolence but until then I am a prisoner. She took me in her palm and stowed me away in a small cloth pouch hanging from her hip. I was then faced with a nauseating journey back to her hovel, between the two peaks north of the old town I mentioned previously.

When we arrived she dumped me out onto a pile of oversized cloth and left me there. I wandered that place for some time, admiring the massive trinkets she had brought with her or fashioned from human made materials. I was there about an hour when I finally met the prisoners.

That’s right Erin, prisoners. This one didn’t kill or eat her prey like many others. Or at least not at first. Instead she collected them! For what end I do not yet know. All I know now is that I found a hole, dug out of the earth with an enormous cloth laid over it. Inside were at least thirty others. Men, women, and even some children trapped in the darkness below, covered in dirt and rags. I spoke to one man, his name was Thomas, who said that many of them had been there for months. I asked them what camp they were from and most hesitated to answer. I didn’t get much more out of them, because it was about that point the giant returned. I moved away from the edge of the pit and resumed my position on the folded fabric. That was yesterday now. I slept there, awoke, and now write to you.

In all it has been surreal but somehow reassuring. I have not yet died, but I fear I shall be turned into a slave like the others. Either way I have thanked the Lord for my safety and now feel somewhat certain that I am indeed in his favor. The giant slept a ways off from me and has not yet said a word to me. She seems to wear a perpetual look of sadness on her face, which, so far, I’ve only seen depart when she speaks to others. I will try and continue writing you these letters, but I fear-

“What are you doing?” a curious but weary voice bellowed down from overhead. Soren immediately fell back, dropping his notepad and snapping his attention up at the pale face hanging overhead. The giantess stared down at him with unphased interest. There was less moodiness in her expression. In fact, if Soren had to describe it he would likely have said ‘neutral’. She sat a little ways off to his left, crossed legged but leaning keenly over his position some one hundred feet above him.

“Wh-wha-what?” he stammered back up at her. The massive woman did not register his words but could guess at his reply.

“I said: What are you doing?” she repeated a little slower. Both stared at each other a while longer, trying to gauge the other’s thoughts. Soren shifted cautiously backward a bit, all the while searching the vicinity with his hands for anything that might aid him. His fingers brushed over his notepad and he quickly and defensively brought it up in front of him.

“I’m...just...writing!”

Her face scrunched up a bit. Then, she lowered her head a bit more, causing Soren to let out a long, mortified breath.

“What was that?”

“I said...writing” he said once again a bit louder, though his voice did crack a bit from the strain.

She gave him another curious look and opened her mouth to speak again. Before any words could come out though, a clamor started up in the covered pit a few hundred yards to the pairs’ flank. Her eyes darted over to the hole and she immediately adopted a scowl.

“Keep quiet down there or I’ll make sure none of you ever speak again!”

The severity of her voice and her words made Soren’s heart skip. His mouth went dry and every inch of his skin was coated in an anxious sweat. When she did turn her eyes back to him he couldn’t even bring himself to move. The giantess’ expression softened as soon as she saw his trembling form.

“What are you writing?”

“A...a letter”

Her eyes narrowed. She seemed skeptical, on several unexplainable fronts. Soren just watched the outline of her mouth, as it hung agape for a brief moment before finally twisting to form words once more.

“A letter?”

Soren nodded.

“A letter to who?”

“M-m-my sister”

“A sister?” she cooed with some interest. She readjust her sitting position so that she leaned on her knees. Both arms came down and laid down upon the rocky earth with several rough tremors. Each one shook Soren’s already stress addled body just enough to renew the nausea permeating his flesh.

“How will it get to her?”

“I...it...it won’t”

She smiled briefly. It wasn’t a warm, friendly smile though. No this smile was steeped with cruel knowledge. The giant made her purpose clear in that single gesture. Soren knew it all too well but tried his best to focus on the words preached to him by Father Saul. Yet, even in spite of his effort nothing could tear his mind from the accursed smile directed toward him.

“No, no it won’t. Now, do you know why you’re here little man?”

Soren closed his eyes and thought about the camp. He thought about his tent, and his fellow squadmates. He thought about the empty pews in the chapel and all the letters he’d never get to send to Erin. Above all else he thought about the two rows of porcelain teeth loitering overhead.

“...no…” he managed to say with some semblance of dignity.

“No, you don’t. But I’ll tell you”

Soren leaned back, wincing from some imagined pain that may befall him. Nevertheless, he was listening intently, curious as to the titaness’ motivations. She drank in his apprehension for a few more seconds before finally responding.

“I need you to tell me a few things. You are one of those little soldiers, yes?”

Soren nodded, but the giantess could not tell. She assumed he meant to affirm her inquiry and continued on.

“Good, because I want to know where your camp is…”

Before she could say anything else. Soren’s face dropped. He knew he would never betray his people, but she sure as hell didn’t. From that point on he could only think of the awful torture he’d endure at her hands. Yet, even as visions of bloody dismemberment filled his head, the dark haired woman did not show signs of malice. If anything she seemed very matter-of-fact. As though this wasn’t surprising news to her tiny captive.

“Why?” Soren replied shakily.

“Well because, these are my territories, you all keep moving into it. We can’t have that now”

“I don’t understand…”

“Hmph” she frowned, as though disappointed. “...I guess I shouldn’t expect you to understand. But it doesn’t matter. You tell me, and you can go. Easy as that.”

Soren sensed that there was much more to it than she said. Besides, everything he had heard suggested that the giants would lie, cheat, and steal their way to whatever ends. This was surely a trick and he would not be so easily cajoled by a bashful face or the overwhelming threat of death.

“I-I can’t”

With that she withdrew a bit. Her face fell back into its neutral state and she looked out through the nape of the valley toward the edges of the town shrouded by trees. A long, exhausted sigh escaped her lips and she began to shift back onto her feet.

“That’s a shame.” were her only words. As she rose back up into the air Soren nearly vomited once more. Her hand passed over his position briefly, ensnaring him in a collection of shrouded muscular vices. Everything in his body shriveled at the touch of her fingers. He could not make sense of direction, he felt only the rush of movement in his veins as the fluids in his body sloshed this way and that. A second later there was more darkness, and then he fell. He hit the soft earth.

When he finally picked himself back up he could hardly breath. His new prison was musty and dark. Through the earthen haze he saw a multitude of eyes staring back at him, all fearful that he too might rise up in terrific grandeur and tear them limb from limb.