"Now what?!" Ricky asked, shaking off the awkwardness and slowly walking toward the giants. He looked at the massive creatures kneeling. "Are we actually going to take them back with us? To the base?"
"I don’t know yet," John admitted. Ricky had voiced the exact inner dilemma John was currently wrestling with.
"Anyone seen sothing like them before?" He looked at his teammates, but all he received in return was an eerie, heavy silence. This race was a total anomaly to humanity.
"Fck you, humans!"
The weak, rasping tone ca from the leader. He was slumped on the ground, "You are a fcked up race! A fallen race! How in the world did you have such power? It’s absurd! You were cheating! You used so sort of forbidden ancient curse for sure!"
"Cheating or not," John turned his cold attention toward the deeply injured leader, "this is your loss. Accept it with dignity and don’t try your luck again with us. You saw what happened to the others who tried."
"Pft," the leader mockingly laughed, a short, wet sound before he coughed up a spray of bright blue blood. "You don’t get it, do you? No matter how you struggle, you are still—and will always remain—a fallen race!
Against our small scouting group, you suffered hell! Imagine fighting against the thousands in our area... imagine the strongest of us. You are just ants waiting for a boot."
"Let’s save the chitchat for later," John suddenly waved his sword, the tip of the blade humming as it pointed directly at the leader’s forehead. "Right now, I need to make a decision on the spot: shall I keep you all alive, or shall I kill you and the other troublemakers and keep only one or two of you for questioning?"
Hearing John’s casual threat caused the other ten survivors to hiss in a mix of fear and suppressed fury. It was clear this race—whatever they called themselves—was incredibly arrogant and physically formidable.
Falling into captivity under a race they looked down upon was an infuriating insult in itself, a stain on their honour. But hearing John speak of them as disposable livestock was like a bucket of ice water falling onto their heads, abruptly awakening them from their delusions of superiority.
"Well," the leader said, feeling the desperate gazes of the remaining ten mbers of his group drilling into him. "It’s too beneficial for you to keep us alive, you know that. A bargaining chip for future troubles, you know..."
"I know nothing yet," John responded directly. He turned to Elena, "Why don’t you use the ropes you brought and bind them for ? Tie them tight."
Elena nodded grimly, and the others moved to help her. It was a surreal sight: four small humans winding thick cords around the massive, tree-trunk arms of the kneeling giants. Then the giants moved to sit in one spot, their leaders’ spot.
"As we are on it," John said after the last knot was secured. He wasn’t in any particular hurry to return to the base just yet. He wanted to clear the air while the fear was still fresh. "Why don’t you share everything you know about this world with ? Start with why you call us a ’fallen race.’"
The giants exchanged long, hesitant looks. Even though they were now devoid of their weapons, it was clearly apparent from their bulging muscles and the potential for their chest gems to reignite that they could easily break free from these bindings if they truly committed to it.
John watched them closely, his hand resting on his hilt. He needed to decide, after hearing their stories, if there was a way to restrain these giants for good, or if the safest path was simply to execute the majority of them here and now to eliminate the risk of a midnight revolt.
He also wanted to see who had the richest knowledge they could learn from. Those would be the survivors in case he decided to kill everyone else.
"You are telling you ca here, unknown to the dangers and facts of this trial?!!" One of the giants exclaid in surprise, his booming voice vibrating in the air. John’s eyes narrowed, and he ntally added the giant to the disposal list without hesitation. Ignorant arrogance was a liability.
"Idiot! They are a fallen race! You know what that ans, right?!" another giant shouted at his friend, his tone laced with a mixture of ridicule. John noted this one—he seed to have a better grasp of the lore of this world. He beca a candidate to keep alive for later.
"John, mind a word," just before the giants could say anything else, Ricky suddenly approached. He spoke in a low, urgent whisper. "We need to talk!"
John moved his eyes among his friends, seeing the sa tension mirrored on all their faces. He gestured for them to follow him a few ters away, just out of the giants’ imdiate earshot but close enough to keep them under his watchful gaze.
The brown fog was still swirling behind them, the booming thunder of the fog tide a constant reminder of the deadly phenonon. It was highly unlikely for any of those giants to try their luck and run through that nearby hellscape, even if they were able to break free from their restraints.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The first to speak was Cissel. She whispered in a low tone, stealing a cautious glance at the eleven kneeling behemoths. Her hand was white-knuckled on the hilt of her daggers.
"I know it’s a gamble," John sighed, rubbing his temples as the ntal exhaustion of the battle began to seep in.
"But let’s face it, we know nothing about them. This is the second hostile group we’ve run into. We are blind in this world, and they seem incredibly sure about us—calling us a fallen race and acting like they know our history better than we do."
"I know what you an, still..." Ricky sighed, clearly hating to admit what ca next. "We are... Weak, John. Let’s be real for a second. Without your weird tricks, we couldn’t even leave a dent in those shields! If they recover even a fraction of their strength..."
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