Isher Notra

"Why is this motherfucker so big?!"

Stella whispered to her Wolf companion. She swore her heart momentarily stopped when she glimpsed at what awaited them outside the cavern.

They backed down immediately for obvious reasons. There was an Ogre, so tall that he made the buff Lad look like a complete chump. Thankfully, he was sitting on the ground with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed. The Human hoped he was taking a nap.

Lien cupped her chin. "This is bad. Leppalúði himself came to get us."

Stella clutched her scalp with her hands, quietly panicking. "Do you know that guy?" Then her eyes widened. She remembered Lien's words earlier. "Don't tell me, is he-"

"The Lads' father? Yes." Lien answered before Stella could finish.

Stella slowly curled herself into a ball. "Don't tell me their mom is also that big."

Lien also sat on the floor, face-to-face with the Human. "Oh, she is! Fun fact: she is also called 'the Giant Witch'!"

Stella recoiled her head between her knees, groaning. "Great. Big AND magical. What better combination, amirite?" She spoke sarcastically.

Lien didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm, though. "Yup! I wish I was that tall... At least, Jólakötturinn-sized."

The Human had the urge to ugly stare at her but decided to drop that. "What's our plan? These guys won't stay down forever." She pointed her right thumb at the flickering fire and the twelve unconscious Ogres near it.

Lien tapped her left foot relentlessly while seemingly in thought. "You said he was sleeping, right?"

"Yeah?" Stella spoke in a monotone.

The Wolf moved her head slightly upwards. Her snout was unknowingly pointing at the girl's forehead. "So... we sneak away! Simple!"

Stella stared at her companion for a solid twenty seconds in disbelief. That was her plan?! However, the girl had no right to be worked up over this since she was the one who had forgotten to bring food on her journey in the most pathetic way possible.

Besides, what other option did they truly have? Her brain was too sleep-deprived to think of a better solution, anyway.

The girl was exhausted, both mentally and physically. She just wanted to get this over with.

Stella sighed. "Sure, why not?" Then she got her feet, followed by Lien.

The two girls took slow steps toward the cave exit. Stella's heart pounded with the thought of such a monster waking and spotting them. Lien followed the stealthy approach perfectly, even though that contradicted everything the Human had seen of her before.

Finally, they were outside. Nighttime in these woods was creepy for sure, but... oddly alluring. A cold breeze was the first thing to greet the girls, but Stella didn't mind it.

Everything from the barely visible trees and the black void amidst them was terrifying. However, when Stella looked at the sky, her fear slowly dissolved, or at least most of it.

In the slums of Namadi, the night was deadly. Any fool that dared walk through the streets at that time was practically assigning their obituary. Unfortunately, Stella did not have a ceiling to sleep below most of the time, so she had to brave through the dark.

In desperate times like these, the girl climbed the highest building she could and slept with the company of the night sky. Even with the occasional screams, gunshots, and police sirens that echoed through the neighborhood, the stars comforted her through these tense moments.

That was why she picked the name "Stella" for herself. Much more beautiful than... whatever name her parents chose for her. Selfish bastards wanted nothing to do with her, so she would gladly sever any connection she ever had with them.

Sadly, the sparkling dots in the black sky filled the parental role in her life much more effectively than any other adult figure she crossed paths with. They were always there and never disappointed the girl. The moon was always a welcome addition, especially when it was perfectly round.

In fact, that night was a full moon! This sure was Stella's lucky day!

Except that there was something that she was forgetting. What was it? Hmmm...

Oh! That's right! The freaking Ogre!

Stella's reminiscing ended when her eyes returned to the elephant in the room. In that case, in the open field. The giant was almost identical to his offspring, only looking even older and suffering the fate of half the masculine population, baldness.

Oh, and he had no shoes or hat. Paramount details, for sure.

Lien took the lead in their sneaking, gesturing her left hand for Stella to follow her to their right.

The girls carefully stepped with the intent of making no noise at all.

One step, two steps, three-

Sniff!

They froze. Stella's heart somehow started to pound even faster. The Human slowly turned her face towards the Ogre, and she saw his nose sniffing and scrunching. Then her face turned into an expression of pure terror when huge black, beady eyes opened to greet them.

The giant stared at them, visibly confused. However, his confusion didn't take long to be replaced by fury. "You... How did ya go through my boys?" He snarled, baring his sharp teeth, though there was a noticeable lack of them compared to the Lads.

Leppalúði got to his feet and put on a menacing scowl. "What the hell are you?" He hissed, pointing at Stella.

The girl was at a loss for words. Every time she fought these Ogres, she would think that nothing could get worse, and yet she was proven wrong multiple times. And now there was a colossal monster that could easily swallow her whole, ready to turn her into a red stain on the dirt.

On the bright side, Stella didn't need to answer Leppalúði's question because his eyes widened in realization when he leaned closer to her. The bad news was the devilish smile that graced his lips afterward.

"A Human..." His grin just widened by the second. "What a pleasant surprise..." He chuckled while cracking his knuckles. "Grýla will forgive me after bringing you to dinner..."

The Ogre made one step, which created a weak tremor on the ground. Then another.

Stella's survival instincts flared inside her mind, and she bolted towards the woods. However, her balance became more unstable when the tremors became little earthquakes, probably because the giant began to run.

"Stella!" Lien shouted. But the Human was too terrified to look back, only forward.

She knew that if that guy caught her, that would be it for real. Stella's life would amount to nothing at the end of the day, only a victim of a bloodthirsty monster.

She was almost there! The trees would give her plenty of room to hide!

Just one more-

Stella's blood ran cold when an unknown force pushed her. At that moment, it felt like she went unconscious for a few seconds. When she regained her senses, she was in the middle of the dense woods, though she could still see the giant in the distance. The Human was about to flee but stopped when she saw who the giant had in his hands.

"LIEN!" She screamed. She was too far away to see how the Wolf was faring, but she couldn't be comfortable.

Thankfully, Lien's voice could be heard from the distance. "Go without me! Go to the Dragon's Guard! They'll know what to do!"

Stella's mind was a boiling mess at that moment. Dragon's Guard? What about her companion? Would she have to... leave her behind?

No... That didn't feel right! After everything the Wolf did for her, that would be the end of their partnership? Or friendship? Who knows!

She could hear the giant's cries of pain. "Ouch! You stupid mutt! Stay still!" Lien was still fighting, all to give her a chance to escape.

Stella had no choice but to go further into the woods.

She ran away.

Again.

After running for a minute, Stella stopped and rested against a tree, curled herself into a ball, and then took deep breaths. Her heart was threatening to burst, and she was sweating bullets. She needed to calm down at once.

After the shock subsided, another feeling came to replace it. A mixture of feelings, to be exact. The sadness of leaving Lien behind and leaving her to be at the mercy of that disgusting creature, combined with the anger she felt at being such a cowardly, pathetic person. But not only that...

She realized Lien had to save her skin by putting herself into the giant's grip because of her knee-jerk reaction. If the Human thought for a second back there and used the same strategy they used with Jólakötturinn, they would probably be fine.

Stella was responsible for Lien's capture.

That realization broke Stella into tears. The girl hadn't cried this much in ages! Sure, she shed a few tears here and there, but... This time? She was desperate, begging for forgiveness from someone who wasn't even there.

As fitting for the situation, only the sheer nightly darkness was left to keep her company. There were no stars or moon to see.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." She whispered between sobs. Her body was shaking so much that she couldn't move another muscle.

After crying for about five minutes, she started to rationalize her situation. She remembered what Lien said to her. She told her to call the Dragon's Guard.

The problem was... What the hell was a "Dragon's Guard"? Judging by the name, maybe it was Sayama's law enforcement? Like cops? The thought didn't make Stella very confident of that plan.

However... It was the only plan.

Slowly but surely, Stella went back on her feet. The thought of Lien getting hurt or... you know... Made the girl lose some of the strength in her legs, and she almost fell on her butt. However, she eventually managed to retain some semblance of normalcy.

Once again, she had to trust that Lien was fine. Even though it was a tall order at that moment.

One step, two steps... Stella walked through the dark forest, still apprehensive. Her thoughts were not on how the woods were deceptive or on how a creature of the night could have the opportunity to take her life, but they were on how her Wolf friend was faring.

Her attention was scattered, feeling like a zombie rather than a living, breathing person. That changed when she bumped into something, which made her focus back on reality.

The girl looked at whatever she bumped into, but... it was... nothing?

She stretched her right arm, and her hand touched something... fluffy? Soft, like petting a cat.

A... cat...

She stumbled back. The black "wall" started to shift into the darkness, almost impossible to notice.

However, after the "wall" grew big, yellow eyes. It was pretty clear what it was...

A familiar, high-pitched laughter could be heard from behind her.

"I got ya now! You disgusting freak!"