Many years ago. A caravan was passing through a forest trail at dusk, most of the distant landscape was reduced to a silhouette against the orange horizon, a beautiful sight yes, but a worrying one as well, no one wanted to meet the creatures that come out at night in pastia and turning on the lanterns felt like they were asking for something to find them, but seeing the trail ahead was just as important.

“Think we can move a bit quicker? I don’t want to be travelling at night any longer than we need to.” Eric, a middle aged man said to the driver. He was currently travelling with his wife Hanna, they were transporting a shipment of supplies for their home village of Stillwood. His job was to load and unload the cargo between Stillwood and the larger town they pick up supplies from. This trip was scheduled too late in the evening for his liking and he was beginning to regret accepting this particular job. 

“We’re moving as fast as we can right now. I don’t want to be here either. Just, try to remain calm, if there is anything that wants to hurt us in these woods I’m sure they can smell fear.” 

“You are not helping ease anyone’s nerves but I agree, if we remain calm and just keep moving we won’t draw any negative attention.” Hanna interjected. She was their expert in Pastia’s wildlife, she was a survivalist at heart, having spent a lot of time camping and hunting in her childhood, dangerous in retrospect but the memories were worth it and the experience was a useful thing to have within Eric’s line of work. 

Hanna spotted something coming up by the trail, something was moving in the clearing. “What is that? It looks tall.” The caravan stopped and the mysterious creature stepped closer. A young giant emerged into the soft orange light of the drivers lantern. She looked lost and confused, scared even. The kid was quite small for giant standards. “We can’t stop here, it’s mother must be close by. If she comes looking for her child and finds us we’re fucked!” Eric said urging the driver to continue moving. 

“I don’t know a whole lot about giants but I know that they don’t leave their young alone at night, right now I’d say she’s as vulnerable as we are unless we help, I doubt she has parents to go back to.” Hanna reasoned. Eric just threw his head back, against the seat and sighed while Hanna gestured for the young girl to come closer, she was too young to know how to speak but she may still understand it. The caravan travelled back to Stillwood with the girl following close behind. 

While no one in the village was immediately frightened by the girl many agreed with Eric that bringing her here was a bad idea, especially without any knowledge of where she can from or if she has parents that are looking for her, the latter of which was the source of most paranoia from the villagers. Eric and Hanna discussed the situation within the privacy of their own house. 

“I know it was in danger but it is not one of us it is a giant! You of all people should know why that is a problem.” 

“Yes! Yes I know what you’re saying but she would’ve died out there on her own! She’s only top of the food chain when she’s grown enough to be! Until then she’s helpless without her parents.” 

“And what happens then huh? Have you forgotten what giants eat? Sure its cute now, but wait a decade and it’ll be picking us out of its teeth! It’ll be just like the rest in time.” 

“And that’s why we must raise her.” Hanna replied bluntly “...What? You mean...like one of our own?” Eric scoffed. “Yes. Like one of our own. We will raise her like we would a human, we will treat her with love and care so that when she is large enough to swallow us whole, she’ll have a kind enough heart not to. If we play our cards right, she could even protect Stillwood from outside threats, everyone is safe and everyone is happy.”

Eric couldn’t argue with this logic. It was a big risk but having a giant on their side would make it worth it. This will need to be discussed with the village leaders, but her reasoning was sound. Not everyone would agree, stigma around the giant race is understandably high and the prospect alone may scare off the faint of heart, even if it isn’t all that crazy in practice. 

“Well. We’ll have to pull a few strings to get this to even be allowed but...it makes sense. If it so much as licks its lips at us however, we can not keep it around.” He cautioned. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. And stop saying ‘it’ she’s basically going to be our daughter if this pans out.” 

In the following years the young giantess grew and so did the bond between her and the villagers. Apart from the accommodations that needed to be made she was simply another villager, another happy citizen of Stillwood. The other children growing up alongside her, used to invent new games incorporating their giant friends size, completely ignoring how much power she held over them because even the kids knew that she was a friend, family even and that she would never hurt them. 

Artemis watched the clear river flow rapidly in front of her, passing inbetween and around shiny rocks. She wished she had appreciated Stillwood more. Her childhood there was something she cherished, a life before the violence and hatred that her warpath has led her through, back when she was ignorant to the horrors that her kind was capable of. Remembering some happy memories from her childhood made her feel at peace, or at least gave her a clear memory of what that used to feel like. 

She was only 14 when that peace was broken...