"What… is this?" Tristan's voice echoed from the vast circular hall. He waved his torch before him carefully was to ward off an invisible enemy. He looked below for ground to stand on but all he saw was metal, or rather weapons. Lying about in piles, old and rusted with a thin layer of dust on them, it looked like no one had been here for ages.
"An armory I think-" Olean answered and winked her glowing eye at him with a smirk and whispered. "-for giants."
He turned and took one more look around to make sure of their solitude. He realized he was shivering as the torch in his hand trembled along with its light.
"Don't worry, we are alone." Came Olean's reassuring voice but it only worked barely.
Sighing at her reassurance he looked around again. And saw why she would think that. The weapons here, the sword and hammer, the bows and shields and all others that he did not recognize were most of them big, massive even. Normal size ones were also there, more in number in fact but were easily overshadowed by the big ones.
"Your master was here, tending to these." She said pointing on the discarded weapons. And then took a sharp breath, "Let's look."
She didn't wait to jump on the nearest pile of iron. Picking up one then examining and then throwing it back. Tristan watched before it got too boring. Plain stone walls, a wispy white cloth for a roof that hung on iron hooks on the rock. The bridge directly led to this chamber. Entering it, he was expecting for another empty room with some ancient sarcophagus. But this was nothing like that. If his master was here he didn't sleep here, there was no bed, or other necessities. Just plain floor, and stairs that led to the wall a room with three sides. He put the torch in a holder and approached a weapon he was familiar with. A bow, on the ground half buried under some other smaller weapons. He squatted by it to study closely. Long… unwieldy and when he gripped it. It was taller than him, limbs were tree trunks and string was a rope as thick as his thumb. He touched it, pushed it, tried to lift and was only able to shift a fraction.
"Do you want that?"
Olean asked form the other side, she herself half buried in iron.
"No." Tristan's voice echoed back. What would he even do with it?
He got on his feet again and looked more. He saw more bows, same as the one below him, all similar size. It seemed one for his size wouldn't be there, unlike the swords and spears which came in all sizes.
"Tristan, look at this." Olean shouted again and Tristan went to her. Her hand was on a metal pipe jutting from a big rectangular block of stone.
A …hammer? He mentally asked. It did have the basic shape of it. But the size of it, it would be impossible to lift. And just then as if to prove him wrong, she lifted it into the air and placed it on her shoulder with one hand. She did groan a little as she did so but still.
"I think it belonged to your master." She said enthusiastically as she tried moving with it on her.
"Why?" Tristan was barely able to ask.
"Because he touched it, I can smell him in this. And on nothing else. It was like he came only for this but it was long ago. I only got a faint whiff of it."
"Just because he touched it, it doesn't make it his. And besides you could be mistaken, you said it was only a faint whiff." Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. He was annoyed and he didn't know why. But Olean didn't pay much attention to him or his annoyance. As she twirled and jumped on her feet, adjusting to the weight of it.
"Yes!" She huffed. "But his smell on this is sure. He had held it in the past."
Tristan narrowed his eyes and though back. What could his master be doing to it, cleaning it? Was it magical? But he didn't feel any of it. But a rune might render it light, they were supposed to be able to do anything. But even if it was, why would his master come here for it…
"Is it not heavy?" Tristan asked Olean as was beginning to swing it around her like it was nothing but a ball of cotton on a stick.
"No. It is very heavy." She said breaking the illusion and in a very thoughtful tone. Tristan had to force himself to accept that she was in fact very serious, despite her nonchalant handling of the object. "I am trying to see if it could be used as a weapon."
The hammer really looked like it was made for a giant. It was a simple looking one by design, a big rectangular stone head, about five feet long, two feet wide and three feet tall. And another three feet long handle that was square at the base and round at the top.
Olan jumped and swung it more, one handed, two handed. She was moving fast but always stopped before it hit anything. And that always resulted in a strong wave of win pushing him but he also got glimpse of the hammer's body.
Its corners were cut and flattened with no sharp edges and there were markings and symbols on it.
The ones like his master used to draw…
Tristan realized. Small letters around on large circular and straight lines. He couldn't guess what was written there but he still felt no magic in them.
"So?" Tristan asked finally tired of waiting for the conclusion.
"Huh?" Olean stopped and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is it a weapon then?"
"They have to be at least as strong as I am to use this." She said like having someone as strong as her was no big deal.
"And are there a lot of people as strong as you?" A world full of people as strong as Olean… he shuddered at the thought.
"Mistress Nora was stronger than me but..." Olean frowned. "I haven't met anyone else."
Good. He almost said it out loud. He sighed instead, feeling slight relief knowing that Olean and Nora were not common cases.
"There is nothing else, let's go." Olean said, finally satisfied and settling with the weapon on her shoulder. Nodding Tristan went for the torch when he heard her gasp faintly.
"Oh!" Olean said softly, dropping the hammer on the floor and headed to the corner. The entire room shook in the impact of when the hammer hit the floor but she didn't care. In her hand she held a sword, if it could be called that. Another instrument of a giant. It was as wide as she was and longer than she was tall. With long handle and rough shape, that didn't look like it was any sharp.
Tristan slowly approached her. He was not too keen on being near her if she started swinging it suddenly like she had done with the hammer.
"I am taking this." She said in a whisper. And then suddenly swung it overhead into a blur and without barely any effort stopping it barely an inch before it hit the floor. Wave of wind exploded pushing away some of the clatter, even standing at a distance Tristan, despite his distance felt the shockwave. She lifted up it again with a grin, swung left and right, the thick blade ripping apart the wind with enough force to make him stagger. She threw the sword into the air and let its weight carry her and then dropped won with twice the force, motioning its edge on the floor and again stopping just inches away from the ground.
Such terrifying display of power?
Olean turned to him, "Can I?" As if he owned the sword.
Not having any answer to that Tristan just shrugged.
"Are we done now?" Tristan asked and failed to keep the annoyance reaching his tone.
Olean looked around the room and rested the giant sword on her shoulder and shrugged again. "Sure." And stared heading out.
"I think you should take the hammer too, show it to… Lady Ava." Tristan called out when it seemed like getting the new weapon she completely forgot why they were there.
"Ah right" Olean froze and turned smiling sheepishly. "You are right. Thanks."
She ran up to the hammer and grabbed its handle and with one soft huff set it on her shoulder. So much weight on those tiny shoulders. He kept thinking that she would be crushed any moment. but he knew better than that by now.
"Okay. Let's go." She said and they headed out.