Ada must not have noticed Henry as she stood about idly before his smaller cell. Henry gulped. Everything beyond her upper body was obscured by the roof of his cell due to how close she stood. He earned no glimpse of her eyes, to see what state Rennard’s attack had left them in. Leylee Richwood claimed that her healers had managed to restore partial function.

Thinking and thinking, Henry couldn’t place his expectations anywhere. There was a world where her rage was boiling hot, intent on vengeance, and there was one where she was lenient and understanding of her faults back when she’d kidnapped them and how their reactions were reasonable. Anything was possible.

Shouts echoed throughout the dungeons, the screams of humans who ended up in the same cells as giants.

“God, why couldn’t I have gotten a cell with humans,” Ada muttered. It was her voice, and Henry remembered everything so vividly upon hearing it, of how she chased them, crushed them, dominated them. “I’ll get my chance tomorrow, though. Little Henry won’t get away.” Henry backed deeper into his cell.

“If the sight of a giant scares you so terribly, you’re in for hell, my boy.” Henry forgot about the old man in his cell. He wore a shabby grey jacket torn on one side and a dirty pair of trousers, with a stubbled grey beard and a bald head.

“Oh.” Henry tried to keep his voice low. He joined the man by the brazier, burning on one stony patch of the otherwise carpeted cell. “No, it’s just that I have history with this particular giant. Bad history.”

The man leaned back in understanding. “Hmm. Yes, the arena is used for personal affairs. Well, it’s used on just about every feud. The Richwoods and their cursed arena.”

“They said that the winner gets to decide the fate of the other,” Henry said. “How can that be true?”

“You and this giant, any of you someone special?”

“I’m from Humius, the offgiant is some runaway worker from the west.”

“The arena can mean many things, legal battles and such. A human with no rights, an offgiant, for two nobodies like yourselves, they make you battle for their entertainment, and the results are extreme.”

“How can it be entertaining? She’ll crush me.”

“They’ll tinker with the odds to make it interesting.”

“What do you mean?”

The man shrugged. “They'll throw in what they call 'props'. You won't be alone to fight her. Also, there are some giants who have a strange interest in watching humans get trashed around. So there’s always an audience for this business.”

Henry snorted. “Goddamn psychopaths. What are you in here for?”

“Don’t have a feud with anyone. I said something I shouldn’t have, so I’m a prop.”

“A prop?”

“Yeah, in your fight specifically. There’ll be more than me. Additional humans who are thrown in there to help the human in battle. But really, they're there to be part of the giant’s rampage. It ain’t exciting enough if it’s just one human getting pummeled.”

Henry rubbed his fingers against one another, then stared up at the hole in the roof he’d fallen through. “Wait, are these walls just pure stone? Maybe I can break through.”

“Under the surface of every wall and stone in these dungeons is a coating of modrock, so they’ll take any magical force you throw at it.”

“Of course there’s modrocks…”

“And they have plenty of orkken shackles, so I wouldn’t misbehave or they’ll put those on. And you surely don’t want those on. Orkken shackles on a mage is like cutting a bird’s wings off.”

Henry groaned. “Yeah.”

“So, don’t mind a man prodding, but what bad history do you have with that giant specifically? We’ve got time to kill, and I don’t want to just shoot you down with bad news.”

Henry realized they indeed had a lot of time and told most of his story, all the way from Humius.

The old man snorted, glancing over his shoulder to Ada’s feet by the iron bars. “Same story with these young offgiants, they always make the wrong choice.”

Henry chuckled. “Which one? She made many terrible ones.”

“Coming here to sell you and your friends as her way out, that sticks out. There’s plenty of whispers in the underworld, of an island region on Humius’s eastern shores. Offgiants live freely there.”

“What? I’ve lived on the eastern parts of Humius and have barely heard about it. They told us that sometimes giants were seen by the eastern shore and we were told to avoid that place.”

“Those are offgiants, my boy. They successfully fled and established something there.”

“I’ve heard that Gintessa was claiming that land.”

The man laughed. “‘Gintessa claiming that land’, as if Gintessa is one united place. That’s typical speech of someone from Humius. These big women aren’t united, my lad. But I won’t ridicule you too much, this island region isn’t particularly known. The nobles here in eastern Gintessa keep this information under strict control. Sometimes they weaponize it, spread it controllingly towards the west so offgiants there make an attempt and come this way to reach the island region south of here. But it seems the offgiant you came across didn’t even know that, instead bought some lie of ‘eastern freedom’ and tried to sell you for money. That takes a dumber mind to believe in.”

Henry stared up at the roof. “So there really is a place where offgiants live freely?”

“Possibly. But good luck getting there from Gintessa if you’re an offgiant, they’ll be watching your every step, breathing down your neck.”

“By the way, mister, what’s your name? I’m Henry.”

“Leeman. I’ve spoken enough on my part, back to that incredible story of yours. You’re telling me that daft giant who stepped on you back near your home ended up as royalty, all nice-dressed in the banquet over here?”

“I know. I’m realizing as I talked about it, how unbelievable all of this is. Almost with a bit of pride.”

“You should have pride,” the old man said. “That’s a story to tell the folks back home, when you’re old like myself.”

Henry scratched his behind. The carpet was scratchy on his bare skin. “It’s unlikely I make it back home, and even if I do, I’ll return alone with my two friends gone. It’s hardly a story I’d want to reminisce about, more a nightmare to forget.”

“It’s not always the happy experiences that are the most memorable. Memories can be looked back on fondly, even if it was hell at the time.”

“Huh.” Henry pondered on those words. It brought him back to his conversation with Elly on that hill, how it filled him with pride to think back on how he and Milton and Rennard got their way out of multiple predicaments. “You have a point.”

“And you’ll probably find your way back home.”

“What makes you think that?”

“If the rest of your story is true, then you seem to have a habit of making it out of these situations.”

Henry stared deep into the fire.

“Really, think about it. At some point you can’t call it luck any more.”

“Thank you, Leeman. You’ve given me confidence.” Henry stood up and marched all the way over to the iron bars where Ada had been standing in her own cell, unknowing all this time. The brazier from his own cell wasn’t near enough to provide light, but Ada’s had plenty of torches, casting gloomy light all about.

Henry took a deep breath. He knocked on the iron. “Ada, it’s me, Henry. I’m standing in a smaller cell next to yours.”

“Wha—” Her large feet took a step forward, leaving the relaxed position she had against the wall. They were on tiptoes, swirling left then right. “Henry?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Where?” The tone only revealed urgency. He couldn’t gauge her mood.

“Where you were just standing, against the wall, there’s a smaller cell.” Those large feet marched right back, the familiar sight of those ten, large, bulbous toes before him, memories returning of how they’d smothered and crushed and squeezed him, how he’d worshipped them. He’d fought them before, and he’d fight them again tomorrow.

There was a scuff of wood against iron as she detached one of the torches, and she hunched down, her voluminous calves and thighs dwarfing his vision. She wore a short, tattered brown skirt, barely reaching her knees, and there was nothing to obscure his view of her womanhood. Those bulging pink lips stared at him, and just like her feet it brought back memories. He still couldn’t believe all the things she’d done to them. His eyes traveled further up, past the sizeable yet flat midriff, the bare bra barely containing her round and large breast, and the lightning-like marks of an offgiant.

And then he saw her face, and he flinched. There were wrinkly welts and scars scribbled over her face, one across the lips, a few over the cheeks, up the forehead, around her jawline, like the slashes of a drunk artist. But one of those slashes travelled up the left socket and appeared again over the eyebrow and across the forehead. Her left eye, once green and glimmering, had a milky color to it now. The right had a clearer texture, though a portion of the inner side was bloodshot.

“Hello, Ada.” Henry cleared his throat. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Yeah, I…” Henry had been able to distance himself from how Ada had ended up, how they left her sobbing for help, bleeding and blinded. They did what they could to escape. But as he watched those eyes, the words left his mouth without thought. “I’m sorry how things ended up.”

“Coming from you, I do believe it. Kind of.”

That response gave him relief. “How are your eyes? I heard their healers restored partial function.”

Ada pointed at the left one, tinted with a pale, dead color. “My left eye can’t see much beyond what’s close.” Her finger went to the right one, with a livelier texture but also with the bloodshot portion. “This one sees fine, but has a not-so-small blind spot. All in all, it’s better than being blind, but it’s also far from the eyes I used to have. I've had plenty of emotions. I've been terrified, then relieved when I lived, somewhat happy when I gained partial function back, then depressed at how different it is from seeing perfectly. I've been so mad, I've regretted not killing you, for screwing around too much back when I had all three of you in my control. But with time, most of my anger has gone to that redhead. Rennard, he was called.” Ada leaned closer, peering past Henry and into the darkness. “They said they found one of you, and your two friends were captured by some Rhino commander.”

“We got split up after we ran from you. It’s full of dangers out there.”

“You don’t seem too fazed or broken down, considering how much fight you delivered when I had you.” The tone carried a hint of spite.

“There was more hope back then,” Henry said. “We were closer to Humius, and I believed I could get through to you. And honestly, if…” Henry couldn’t keep it to himself. “We were close to getting back. If it weren’t for you, we’d all be home now. Even if you hated that farm, you were better off there than where you are now.”

“That’s the angle you’re going to take? Against your soon-to-be mistress?”

“Mistress?”

A smirk formed on those lips. “You don’t know what happens next.”

“We’re going to fight, the winner goes free and decides the fate of the other. That’s what I heard.”

“Sounds about right. So I decide what happens to you. Can you guess what I’ll do?”

Henry found strange comfort in her smirk, signs of Ada being her usual self. “I have an idea.”

“I missed our time together,” Ada said in half a hum, a voice of reminiscing. “I’ve thought about it during these dark days, and it’s helped me get through, thinking about how good it felt. I just miss being around humans, just standing over your tiny frames. Whenever I think about the things I did with you and your two friends…” She took a deep breath. “It warms me up. And I’ve been counting the days that I get my hands on you again.”

Henry noticed her pussy this time, glinting in wetness from the torchlight. “Really? Have you learned nothing? This stupid pleasure-hunting was what got you, no, all of us, in this mess! Are you so short-sighted?”

“Shut your sanctimonious prattle. You can't pretend with me, Henry. I've seen your true side. When you worshipped my pussy, worshipped my toes, right underneath the nub of my big toe, I remembered when you specifically closed your lips around that part and sucked. And it didn't feel good just for me. Don't pretend, it doesn't make you better."

Henry couldn't pretend. He recalled the night he slept near Velvet Rowfield, the bounty hunter, the literal night after they escaped Ada. He had masturbated to those memories himself.

"And this time, it’ll be more than what it was out there. I’ve spoken with the people around here. There’s a better plan this time, and you’ll see it. Richwood is powerful, it’s not coming from nothing this time.”

"You're delusional."

“What are you two youngsters babbling about?” Leeman stepped into the light of Ada’s torch, next to Henry. “You spoke of having bad history with this giant so ominously, but instead it’s children’s squabble.”

“Youngster? Children’s squabble?” The words hit Ada where they annoyed her the most, a human treating her like an equal. “You’re one of the props, aren’t you? I’ve seen some of the other guys who are in there to give Henry a fighting chance, and you’re definitely the oldest. Not smart to rile me up before the crushing session tomorrow.”

“I believe I should be afraid here,” the old man said, even letting out a genuine yawn. “But there’s been worse, my sweet.”

“Wait.” Henry was struck with a sudden idea. “Mr Leeman, didn’t you say there was a safe haven in Humius, where offgiants live freely? That would be a plan for you, Ada.”

Ada raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know if she’d be more interested in that, or the miracle stone I’ve heard rumors about, deep underneath the mountains. Restoring those eyes back to their healthy selves would be a trivial thing for its powers.”

“You’re making things up.” Ada didn’t sound overly dismissal; it was a challenging tone, inviting Leeman to convince her. She wanted to believe it.

But Leeman shrugged. “You surely know best.”

“Could you act serious?” Henry said, becoming the mediator of the conversation. “Leeman, tell her all about it.”

“Maybe if she could arrange something for me in return.”

Ada chuckled. “Henry, this old fart is a lying con. Why do you think he’s here? His careless attitude annoys me. Good thing there’ll be nothing that separates us tomorrow.” Ada rose up. She put her left foot against the iron bars and flexed her toes against them, like a cat's paw longingly scratching against the window. “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.” She put the torch back in place and retreated deeper into her cell.

Henry retreated into his and had to find a way to go to sleep. Eventually he did, and he woke to the sound of stone scraping. One of the stone walls slid to the side with one of the loosely-clad guards crawling into their small cell. She picked both Henry and Leeman up and crawled back outside. Her closed fists covered their upper bodies, obscuring the world from them. Plenty of noise passed them, conversations of a few and then the murmurs of crowds. Leeman was left somewhere else, and Henry was dropped through another hole. Henry landed on hard-packed soil in darkness, though some light made its way into his area. A double-doored gate was obvious before him, the light spilling in through its outlines. Henry heard a speaker's shout echoing over a broad space. This had to be the arena.

The speaker punctuated her introduction with a final word, and sparse clapping ensued. Henry waited, and waited, unsure if he was doing anything wrong. He hadn’t been given any instructions.

The double doors opened at last, the sunny daylight glaring into his pocket. Henry stepped out to a grass field, and the vastness before him took the breath out of his lungs. It was a marble colosseum for giant proportions, the walls behind him scaling high and high for hundreds of feet onto the seats where an audience of giants spectated. A little less than half the seats were filled, which impressed Henry. Perhaps the day’s schedule had more impressive bouts, but he didn’t see what was interesting about his feud with Ada.

“That’s the one who came from Humius,” Henry heard someone above him say to her friend, pointing at him. “It’s said that he harmed an offgiant, almost blinded her.”

“It’s the one he’s fighting against.” Of course, Henry thought. they must have built up the story to make it interesting.

“Alright brother, how do we approach this?” A young man just over twenty approached Henry, wearing a pair of shabby trousers and no shirt.

“Wha— Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Henry realized the second after asking, the other opened double doors around the arena and several other humans coming out. “Ah, you guys are the ‘props’?”

“Indeed,” he said. He grabbed Henry’s shoulder as if they were brothers. “Now, listen, we need to make a plan.” He pointed across the arena, and there she was. Ada’s curvy and sizable body was barely contained by her clothes, those thin bras trying to keep her round breast in place, and the short skirt, at best, barely hid her womanhood and ass. Ada scanned across the arena, her poor eyesight searching for him.

“We need to fight from a distance,” the prop beside Henry said. “She’s got shit for eyes, and she’s a goddamn powerhouse. Can’t get up close. We need to keep away from those feet, I mean, lord above, look at those massive things. Those long and round toes were made to catch us, they’ll eat us alive, ground us to dust. And her breast, one swing of her hip and you get hit by those big things midair, and you’ll fly across the arena, so even aerial attacks will be hard”

"She’s massive and we should avoid her attacks," Henry said. "You don't say."

“What’s the bloody attitude for? We’re in this together. She loses, we’re all free. Hey, hold up. What’s the old geezer doing?”

What the prop caught sight of was Leeman, who was approaching Ada. Leeman stepped right up to her. “So, have you considered my offer from yesterday?" he said. "Those eyes of yours could be fixed in a blink with the miracle stone.”

Ada raised her foot and hovered it over him. Leeman didn’t move an inch.

Ada stomped. Henry felt the tremors. A light giggle traveled across the crowd. Ada raised her foot, Leeman plastered to it, and scrunched her sole. Leeman fell off along scatters of dirt and grass, barely conscious. Ada marched on through the arena, searching, finding some props.

“How strong is your magic?” Henry asked the prop next to him.

“Well, I’m a few months in. Most of the boys aren’t even halfway to their arts. We heard you’ve reached your arts, so you need to bring something together here. We stand behind you.”

“None of you are even close to your arts?” Henry turned around, desperately hoping the prop spoke to someone behind him. “I’m the strongest?”

The screams of men raced towards them. Henry and his new companion ducked as two props flied over their heads, their bodies pounding across the grassy field.

The prop beside him looked at Henry expectedly. “Well?”

“We’re doomed,” Henry said.