Giant’s Domain

I unsheathed Genki and used him to stop my fall with a beam. The loud noise it made echoed throughout the area.

"How did you get down here safely?" I asked Akio.

I was well aware of the spell Alice had which could slow peoples' fall.

"I specialize in earth magic so I just manipulated the ground around me so I wouldn't have to deal with the large drop." Akio explained, using his magic to lift up a small portion of the ground next to him.

Ah, that explains it. I wonder if I might be able to use earth magic some day. For now though I'd just stick with fire.

"Hmm? You aren't giants. What are you doing here?"

The voice caused all of us to turn towards it. In front of us was a giant who was looking down on us, physically of course. The bags under his eyes gave away the fact that he was tired.

"Oh! You're humans. That's why you're so small. Sorry I've been so tired recently. The king just keeps ordering us to do weird tasks and I just don't understand why." He said, scratching his head.

"Why are you telling us this?" Alice asked.

I was wondering the same thing. Most of the giants we had fought immediately tried to kill us but this one just seems different.

"If I'm being honest, I think our king is being controlled somehow. One second he tells us to leave the humans alone, the next he tells us to kill all humans we see. Thanks to that order, us giants are in a civil war." He continued to explain.

Akio and I exchanged glances before returning our attention to the giant. Both of us felt that something was off about this. Though I had my own question that I wanted to learn first.

"So how come you're not attacking us right now?" I asked.

The giant stopped scratching and seemed to think for a moment, "it's a hassle and I don't really see a need to kill you. I'm only staying with the king because I owe my life to him."

I'm sure he'd try kill us if we told him that we came here to kill the Giant King.

"I'm sorry but we're actually here to kill the Giant King." Alice said with an apologizing look.

The giant's eyes widened when he heard Alice say that. The giant seemed to have a regretful look as the giant vines I've seen giants use before appear from his back.

"Wait, maybe we don't have to kill the Giant King. What if we find out what triggered his change and try to switch him back?" I offered.

"Well in that case, let me help you out." The giant said, losing the serious expression and the vines from his back.

A simple suggestion but it might work. Hopefully.