Don't You Dare

A lone village, buildings made out of wood and straw, few even bore cobblestone walls, made up most of this little settlement. A smith's hut stood at one end, in the middle a large well, and on the other a single watchtower. This was a boring, yet peaceful place, nothing significant happened in nearly one century, and the people, those who lived in the conqueror's emperor's realm and the people wished things to be no different. It was the village of Spuln. Within this little place lived a girl, Marie, who was quite unlike her siblings or other girls that called this place their home, she wished nothing but to see the world beyond the dull wood, for this very reason it was always a joy for her when her mother sent her out to pick fruits and herbs from the forest.

Marie wore a simple outfit, nothing expensive, but compared to what others of her place in society wore, mostly consisting of rags and scraps knit together, the blue dress with white spots stood out like a peacock in a daisy field. She jumped around, her little basked filled to the brim with berries and mushroom, but soon came to a halt when she saw smoke rising to the heavens, deep in the forest.

"Hmmm." Marie mumbled as she looked at her basket before staring at the fire source again, wondering about the strange occurrence. Forest fires never happened, but even small bushfires would create more smoke, perhaps someone made a campfire and left it to burn. "Maybe I can find a chunk of charcoal." The little girl wondered. The winters had always been a little cold, but all the wood was used to repair the old mill. She gave her village that just shyly smiled at her from afar between the trees and plants, before rushing quickly towards the most usual thing she seen in a long time.

Leaf and branch and tree alike rushed past her as she ran swift like the wind towards the destination, the light seeping through the woods guiding her, yet the closer she came, the brighter the illumination became, much stronger than the gentle rays of the sun should've been. When she came to a halt, she found the reason, but it was not what she expected. Within a crater, as large as a house or two perhaps even, laid a massive creature, more than twice the size of her father. Clad armor covered his entire body that was far too heavy to be worn by a mortal man, even the design was not known to her.

"Grrrr..." The strange knight creaked as he writhed within his clad, only upon closer inspection did she see that it was not a simple design, arrows and a large spear stuck through his back, but they were made out of light, pure with nothing holding them.

Marie let out a shriek when she saw the fallen knight attempt to stand up, the very ground under him gave in as cracks started to grow on the burned soil, but what shocked her most was that when he failed and fell, was that a wave of stones was fired in all direction as if the stranger was also as heavy as a house. Marie was lucky enough to duck fast enough to avoid a rock that wants over her head and punctured a tree, causing it to fall behind her.

"Hrnnnn..." The knight growled, breathing heavily as a dark liquid, not blood, much darker, seeped from his armor.

Marie's eyes widened, and she turned tail, running back to her village, perhaps calling help, but... they would not do so. If she were to tell them of someone bleeding like that they'd call the hunters, they've done so with the alchemist that came for residents and was burned on the stake. She stopped, and shakingly turned her head back to the giant, still wiggling in pain before slowly walking towards it once again.

"H-hey..." Marie started as she walked closer towards the giant, causing the giant to jerk, before slowly turning his head towards her, sliding his helmet across the ground, yet leaving seemingly no scratch on the metal. Marie noted an arrow stuck in his right eye, while the other shine in a pale, purple light. "T-That's right... I don't want to hurt you..."

Marie slowly walked towards the head of the knight, his one purple eye watching her for any movement, yet acted not upon any sign of movement. Marie nodded meekly before kneeling down in front of the knight's face, who only stared up to her. "This is going to hurt a little..." She warned as her quivering hands reached for the arrow, tipping it once with her finger, only to find it cold like stone. Marie gulped as she gripped the arrow with both her hands as she started to count down. "One... two..." before pulling with all her little might. "Three!" The arrow came out as if it was embedded in after with no resistance, yet the rumbling from the giant indicated otherwise... or did it.

The Giant let out a deep growl, shaking the very world to its core as a dark aura began to cover his form, the objects piercing is armor began to melt, before vanishing into particle one by one while the knight rose to his full size and towering Marie like a titan. Once the last weapon of light was gone, the giant tumbled down with a mighty crash, sending the individual pieces of burned wood that have become one with the ground into the air.

Marie held her hands up, bracing for anything the giant might do once freed, yet her waiting was left with no response. She slowly let her hands fall and saw that the giant's eye had healed, one red, while the other purple, his body just sitting there and watching. But even while sitting, he was like a giant compared to her.

"You really are a metal giant," Marie mumbled, to with the light could only tilt his head. "I... can I have some of that coal?" The girl asked.

Was everything she wished in return, nothing more than a few chunks of burned wood?

The metal giant slowly turned his head downwards, before looking at a fallen tree nearby, still intact and not charred. He held his large hand forward and clenched it, the tree's trunk shattered, before, yet the log fell not, it levitated to him, in front of his face it flew there, but only for a moment before the giant face was suddenly illuminated by a stream of fire coming from his maw.

Marie watched in awe as the flames danced around the log, seeping through the bark and eating away at the branches and leaves. In seconds, the tree became as dark as night, shrunken in size but with only a few cracks as if it had turned entirely into charcoal.

Metal giant twirled his fingers at the coal tree from which all of a sudden perfectly cut pebbles were ripped from the main body, flew and circles through the air, before falling into the basked, but instead of setting aflame Marie's work, it was cold as ice.

Marie's smile couldn't be bigger as she beamed at the giant, before letting down her basked, much to the giant's surprise, making him wonder if he had offended her, but his answer came when the girl ran towards him and hugged his armor, missing the spikes attached to his mighty clad by mere centimeters. Something in his heart burned when she did that, but he was unsure why, but he knew one thing... it was nice.

Over the following years, Marie often came to the giant, sometimes for coal, but nearly always to talk, most children of her age did not like her very much, she was always too weird they claimed, but the giant found nothing wrong with her. He never talked, only grumbling, but she seemingly always understood what he was saying, and he understood her. Marie would tell stories, speak her mind out and often even play with the giant, he was a master in hiding despite his size, making Marie wonder if he could make himself invisible.

Every day the giant's other eyes became a little bit paler before redness started to take over; his voice became softer despite starting as intimidating just like his darkness. Animals soon began to approach him, drinking from the accumulated waters, birds nesting on his crownlike helmet, and even plants chose to grow on him and the moss that took him for save enough.

The giant cared not for the other creatures of this world, he didn't mind them, he even appreciated their attention to him when they'd clean and scratched places he could not reach, but only the girl really had his attention. Marie, the bravest girl who faced the mightiest giant of all worlds every day, was perhaps the most favorable companion he could ever ask for. He liked her and gave her a present on her twelfth birthday, a crystal rose grown from his palm. Marie was overjoyed and rushed home to her parents to present them the gift as 'a mystical flower she found.'

Yet, she returned not on the next day, of course, she could simply be busy, but the giant was impatient and decided to follow her trail towards Marie's village. She told him never to enter it, he respected that, and he had no plans on going inside, but a little peek wouldn't hurt, right?

His steps echoed through the woods, yet tranquil did he walk, not one bird, deer or squirrel even twitched at his presence, as if he was one with nature itself, but then he halted. His eyes flared once in surprise when he found a little scrap of blue cloth. He was about to lean down, already attempting to do so, when he heard an ear-piercing screech ring throughout the woods, he knew that voice.

The giant ran forward, earth, stone, and tree were felled in his path, charged through and splintered, nothing held him. The light that shined through the creeks between three and leaves blinded him just for a moment, the whiff of sweet charred flesh filled his nose, and as he was about to question what was happening, he froze.

"And may her soul find peace in the flames!" An old man, wearing clothes of black and white with medals adorning his chest road of a scroll in his hand. His short white hair waved in the wind as he turned around and stared with his emerald green eyes at the giant.

The giant turned his eyes to the flame, wondering why'd they burn their own before his eyes fell onto the crystal rose in the charred corpse's hair. His eyes widened, his infernal blood ran cold, before he charged towards the stake, throwing knights in gold and red to the left and right. His hands grape the log Marie was bound to, ripping it out of the pile and blowing away the flames with a strong gust from his lungs. He shook her, growled at her, tapped her, but her burned body acted not upon it.

She was dead.

The giant knelt down, shakingly as golden tears began to fall onto the corpse of his friend, the burns melted away like dirt under a hot stream of water, but even when her body was pure again, her heart still remained unmoved. The giant cut her body from the log with his claws and her onto her body tightly, before letting her to the soft, grassy ground, his tears still washing her naked body.

"That's the demon! Men, attack it, that's the beast that corrupted the girl!" screamed the man in black and white. His words burn like poison in the giant's heart, and knights that surrounded his form like ants would try against a bear only made his blood burn.

The giant slowly stood up, his form quivering as his tears stopped falling, his eyes nearly red suddenly turned purple as a dark aura in which sparks of molten fire flew ignited. The giant was one with hatred, he lifted his arms high up into the air and, as if the very heavens listened to his demands, turned red as the blood of a devil before the fire began to fall. Just before all those around him would suffer thousandfold, he screamed out one more sentence with a crystal clear voice pained with loss and anger.

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

On a little hill stood a large tree on which white blooms grew, the petals would fall like snow yet warm to the touch as the sun would warm the hearts of those under it. The hill was covered in colorful flowers, yet they could not match the beauty of those that grew under the oak itself. Crystal roses covering the ground made this place into one of beauty. Exactly here stood a lonely gravestone in front of which knelt down the lonely giant, his tears falling down, and with each droplet of sadness, a new flower grew until there was no more room left.

His form slowly rose, the world at peace, before he turned around and slowly walked towards a portal of purple mist and particles while he felt the tight grip on his heart drag him to the evil deeds he was dammed to fulfill. Just as he was about to cross the path, he stopped, gave the grave one more look before leaving this world. It was now charred, ridden of all corruption, be it mankind or all other life, with only one meadow of flowers and a lonely grave remaining, there was nothing left to wake the slumber of his friend now gone.