The Giant

Chapter 57

Clay POV

How fragile the human mind. How easily damaged and rearranged. My mind... it hurts. The things Ive done, forever changing it. I don't believe I will ever be normal again. Was there ever such a thing as normal for me? Now that, I can not remember. I stumble through the woods, my clothing torn from days of being alone in the wilderness. How many exactly is unknown. I simply know two things. I need to lie low, and I need to find Sophia again. Obsession is something engrained, something that never leaves. I am well aware of it. I can't get her out of my mind, not for a second. When I sleep I see her eyes. I can feel her hair run through my fingers. In the morning as I wake, the morning dew soaked into my clothing, I mistake the songs of birds for her laugh. The pain of loneliness then rests on my shoulders and in my heart for the remainder of the day till once again, I settle into the embrace of sleep and the gentle memories of Sophia.  

I shake my head, forcing myself from my never ending thoughts of self pity and desire. The need to survive wins out in the end, and I am once again in reality. A crewel cold reality. The forest rises dark around me. I have never been this deep in a wood before, the trees seem ancient. Their trunks scared and worn from years of weathering and animals. I trace my fingers along deep scratches in a near bye trunk. Most likely a black bear. But, with a forest this ancient, who knows what monstrous creatures could be hiding here. I draw my sword in preparation just in case.

The darkness is almost suffocating. The calls of crows eerie in the almost silence. Fear is not a common emotion for me, but i can feel the beginnings of it creeping in. I continue walking, pausing when I hear something grind underfoot. Simply looking down I can not make it out, but squatting low to the ground and brushing off the object, I find a paving stone beneath my foot. With careful examination of what I took to be a forest floor, I find several more, seeming to continue in a fairly straight path ahead of me. There obviously old. The rock crumbling, moss covering most as well as dirt and grass. No one has been here In years. But, what is it? I stand back to my full height, gazing at the road in front of me shrouded in shadow  and mystery. I keep my sword drawn and continue down the ancient path.

The branches above me are wound together, forming a natural roof that only lets the faint glow of the sun through the dark leaves creating a deep green light that only adds to the atmosphere. Ahead I can see nothing but shadow and fog, the same behind. Something urges me forward. Maybe the desire for something waiting at the end of this path, or the knowledge that nothing remains for me behind. And so I continue on, walking farther and farther into the forest.

Time seems to pass slower as I walk. I feel as if I am going nowhere. I guess I am really going no where. Without knowing what lies ahead, how can I be going somewhere? Maybe there is nothing. It may simply be an old side road, forgotten and abandoned long ago. But just as those thoughts enter my mind, ahead of me rises the unmistakable sight of stone ruins. 

Crumbling stone walls rise amongst the dark trees. Arrow loops lie dark, no archers to stand guard behind them. What rooves I can see are mostly caved in. vines creep up the stone, their leaves blanketing the rocks. As I approach, I make out more detail. Carved columns holding up weathered arches. Towers with dark windows and balconies. Staircases leading up to the walkways no longer traveled by armored feet. What was this? To who did it belong? And why was it abandoned? 

The rusted, iron portcullis was closed a long time ago and remains so. I find a way inside the courtyard through a hole in the wall. The courtyard is also in great disrepair though I see no sign of struggle or siege. No cannons nor catapults. No arrows logged in the ground, no skeletons lying amongst the grass and weeds, and no damage other than from time and weather. 

I creep through the grass, my footsteps somehow silent in the vast yard. Looking up, the main structure of the castle rises high above me, two towers flanking it. I walk up the small flight of steps and approach the wooden front doors, rotten from decay and open as if begging for someone to enter. I take their invitation and step inside.