Frederic Wagner lazily sat in a chair in the garden, bored out of his skull. The summer holidays had arrived and there was nothing to do at that particular day. His friends were on vacation and wouldn’t  come back until later that week. For now there wasn’t much else to do than tanning himself in the bright sun of the afternoon. The temperature was about 30 degrees C°, so Frederic wore a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. Despite that it was still to hot in the open for Frederics taste, so he felt that it would be a good time to go for a walk in the forest, which lay adjacent to the villlage where he lived.

Immediately after walking a few meters into the woods Frederic felt how the temperature around him decreased significantly. Relievedby that he decided to extent his walk a little, going further than he usually did. Besides that there was nothing else to do and going back inside during such a nice sunny day felt like a waste. Spontaneously Frederic left the path and walked between the large spruces into a segment of the forest that was to far away from any settlement to have any trails and which was quite left alone by the authorities due to it’s status as a nature reserve.

After an hour of walking Frederic  spotted a clearing, a nice place to rest in his opinion. Just about when he wanted to lay down, Frederic spotted something strange in the middle oft he clearing. He couldn’t quite say what it was, just that it looked odd. A strange color that stretched from the middle oft he clearing to the opposite end, streaked by a geometrical pattern. Interested by this Frederic decided to take a closer look. So he walked to the edge of the grey patch and kneeled down.

He was stunned by his discovery. A huge city stretched out before him, covering about half of  the clearing with it’s buildings. The tallest skyscrapers barely reached his ankle, but most of the buildings couldn’t even compete with his big toe. Inbetween the urban canyons Frederic spotted streams of movement, to small to be distinguished individually, but there was no doubt that these were cars and pedestrians. Looking down at his right flip flop Frederic realized that he already caused a lot of damage. He saw a freeway disappering beneath the front of his flip flop and resurfacing behind his heel. At closer inspection Frederic spotted many tiny houses, much smaller than his little toe, surrounding  the area. Those must be suburbs. Now that he knew what he was looking for, Frederic discovered how large the suburban area actually was. It stretched for a few meters in diameter and his footprints were clearly visible. Each single one of them crushed several blocks of the tiny houses completely flat and he didn’t even notice them during his approach.

Frederic  didn’t really think about the lifes he just ended or the sheer terror that the tiny population experinced when they witnessed how this incomprehensibly large giant wiped out hundreds of their fellow people. He was way to intrigued by the sight of the city at his feet for that. He wasn’t particularly mean spirited or malignant, but he had a strong mischivous trait. He likes to taunt his friends from time time. Once he squished ants in front of one of his friends just because he knew that he didn’t approve of that while making mocking comments about it. Besiedes, he was still in his late teens, so he didn’t question himself too much. It was that phase in life when innocent curiosity and an unreflected capability of cruelty crossed each other.

With a curious look on his eyes Frederic put his index finger on a large, crowded plaza and twisted it a few times. Sadly there weren’t much remains stuck to it when he inspected it, he hoped to get a better look at the tinies by doing that. Rising to his full height Frederic asked himself if these buildings hurt when he steps on them with his feet. He slid his right foot out of his flip flop and hovered his big toe above some of the larger buildings. Hesitant at first he put pressure on them until they gave in and crumbled under the weight of his toe. He was surprised how easy it was. At first there was some light resistance which almost immediately stopped when the buildings began to give in. After that the remaining walls felt like dry leaves when he walked barefoot on them until the remains of the building were pressed into a sand like texture beneath his toe.

Encouraged by this Frederic stepped again into the city, this time less cautious. It felt very nice, almost like a massage. Then he took his left foot out of the flip flop and put it deliberately on one of the more crowded areas beneath him. He smiled at the thought that the last thing those ants  see are his bare soles. He felt like a monster in a movie. For him it was a game, a way to pass the time until his friends came back from vacation. In his opinion it didn‘t really matter anyway. No one would find those micro people here so no one would punish him for what he does here. He looked amused at the attempts of the little crowds to escape from him. From his point of view they looked like drops of liquid dispersing into even smaller ones when they poured into side alleys. ‘‘Look, here’s the deal: you play the ants and I have to crush you. Ready? Go!‘‘ Again he had to laugh when he raised his big toe above the tiny people. The way the drops streamed into different directions, just away from his big toe was just to funny. But it was to no avail. Frederic mercilessly crushed one mass of tiny people after another. Sometimes he lowered his toe slowly in order to watch them disperse a bit and sometimes he put it down quickly to scare the closest bystanders even more.

After loosing interest in the crowds right next to him, Frederic’s attention was caught by the skyscrapers in the inner circle of the city. He walked directly into the heart of the city, playfully destroying the other buildings that stood inbetween. Without much ado Frederic grabbed the largest skyscraper and ripped it from it’s foundation. He held it close to his face and tried to examine the details. However it was too small for him to see any. The hopes of the people inside the skyscraper, who believed for a few brief seconds that the giant would let them live, were shattered when Frederic grinded the building to dust between his hand.

Slightly disappointed Frederic rose his foot above the remaining skyscrapers and destroyed a good portion of them under his right foot. They tickled his foot a little more than the smaller buildings which he stepped on so far. ‘‘Well, I guess you have at least some use, altough I expected more from  you.‘‘ His left foot finished what remained of the city’s main urban area. That being said Frederic lost his interest in playing with the tiny city, instead he began to systematically destroy the city beneath him with his feet for the pleasent tickling sensation. The people under him became lost in complete desparation, now they were completely annihilated by the giant monster.

Frederic destroyed more than 95% of the city when he decided that untouched spots where to few and to far inbetween  for him to bother. Having had his fun he took his flip flops and went home agin for dinner, wondering if more of these cities existed.