Waking up Curtis found himself on a bed, not just any bed, but a huge bed, he estimated that even with five people sleeping in it, it wouldn't even feel cramped. Looking around he found the furniture in the room, bigger than normal. The chair looked like a table, the table looked like it could shelter you from the rain, above it was a mirror that reflected the bed he was in, and on the right, there was a window that could fit a car. Oddly though, the room had a homely feel, it was clean, granted the room probably wasn't used very often as the sheets he was using still looked new, all in all, it didn't feel like a prison.
Getting off of the bed, Curtis remembered the journal Esbern handed him, and the one he found inside the cave, he couldn't read it as of yet, but he always kept it on his body for when he might be able to. He tried to feel it in his breast pocket but it wasn't there, he finally noticed that he wasn't wearing the same clothes as before, looking around, he noticed his things neatly arranged, but his belongings were stacked on the table-like shed that was on the far side of the room.
Pushing the chair towards the table, he climbed up and rummaged the pile for the journal. But to his dismay, he couldn't find it, neither did he find the book he found in the cave. Curtis felt depressed, those were his personal belongings and he didn't appreciate it being taken from him, angry he slammed his fists on the table. His mind ran the options, he was in an unfamiliar room, the last thing he remembered was everything going dark after he was manhandled by that giant, and he only regained some clarity after he had regained his strength and lastly was that ridiculous laugh that he heard as he lost consciousness.
His thoughts came to a halt as he detected the smell of burning wood, lowering his gaze he took a look at where he smashed his fist, and he could see that the area where he hit, was starting to burn up. Looking at the counterpart of where his other hand had hit, it was covered with a layer of frost. Curtis was shocked. The last time he was able to do that, he didn't even know how he did it. Curious he tried to focus his attention on his hands, trying to get an inkling of how he had done it, dots connected forming a line of thought, and his subconscious helped him on performing the feat.
And like how a mouse would trigger a trap, his left hand had lit ablaze, casting his look onto the mirror, he saw that the color of his left eye had turned red, Curtis then focused onto his right hand, and instantly the air around his hand started to condense, droplets of water could be seen forming on it. Turning back to the mirror, both of his eyes had reverted to how they were before. His left eye was as red as a ruby, and his right eye, going off in the opposite direction, was as blue as a sapphire.
*Bang*
"BOY, LET US GO!" the door flew open as a giant came through, almost causing the door to fly from its hinges from the impact.
Surprised by the sudden appearance of a giant in his room, Curtis almost fell from the table but he quickly caught himself, he stared at the giant towering over him, even on the table he only reached about the waist of the mountain-like person. Curtis observed the giant in front of him, brown-skinned, he had a burly build, he practically wore nothing above his waist, showing off his bulk, the giant had scars all over his body, no doubt one of the reasons he wore nothing, to show off some of this trophies. He had his red hair on a bun, and a lengthy beard that reached down to his stomach, braided in some parts and adorned with beard rings, and to finish it all off, an eye that was full of clouds, and another, clear as day that was staring right at him.
"What do you want?" Curtis fired, trying to flip the giant off, but the only thing he could get from him was another bellowing. "I ain't takin no fer an answer boi, come with me or I'll flatten you." Curtis was still hesitating, he didn't really want to just go with someone because he was told, but he is in an unfamiliar place. "I could at least try to get bead out of where I am." he thought, finally moving to follow the giant.
Moving out of the room, he instinctively knew where to go, moving past the hallways and corridors of the house, it was a bit of a trek to get to where the giant was waiting. Outside the house, or mansion from the size of it. Moving outside, Curtis could see the stars lighting up the sky, it was still just night, or before dawn. The giant was waiting for him in what was a version of a training ground, immediately he could see dummies were arranged in a row, with backups stacked on top of each other by the side, blunted weapons were in a barrel, a few steel ones were on a rack, but they were all scaled up for a giant.
"What do you want, Giant?" Curtis spoke with an edge to the word giant, trying to express his disdain before the mountain. "Feisty one, aren't you Curtis." the giant replied, he puffed out his chest and spoke. "Introductions first then, I am Hjilmar of the proud Gigantes race, I am their representative, and I will be shaping you to be the great warrior you were born to be." he declared with a wave of his hands, nearly missing one of the dummy targets, causing it to tumble.
"And why would I train under you?" Curtis asked, trying to get more information out of the giant, he was a duck in a chicken coop, and he wanted more information. And any small bit he could get, he could use. Taking a peek at the giant Hjilmar, Curtis found him smiling, and he did not like that smile, not one bit.
"Boy, I know you want power, and I know you want to control your ability even more, so why don't we get on with this part and get straight into training," Hjilmar said with a smile that did not look like a smile.
Trying to get a bead on the giant, it's one eye was glinting with intelligence, he was boorish, but he hid a great amount of intelligence behind that facade. Curtis figured it out, the damn giant knows what he is doing.
"I read your mind boy." Hjilmar outright stated, shocking Curtis, "What do you mean read?" he shouted back. His memories in this life were short, but it was sweet nonetheless, he didn't like the idea of someone intruding upon it.
"Exactly as I meant it." the giant replied, "I know all about you, from your birth, up to yesterday." the smug smile on his face told him it was the truth.
That one sentence meant a lot of things, and that lot of things is something Curtis did not like. It would have meant that the giant knew too much about him, the gods, the way he acted, the way he ate, even the way he took a dump. But, he caught the part about the birth, but that would also mean that he suspects something from his birth. The situation was stacked against him from all angles, he didn't have a way out. He could only accept defeat. With a sigh, Curtis laid it all out. He remembered one phrase from a movie he had watched before, It���s time to nut up or shut up.
"All right big man, let's get this over with, what do we do?"
~~~
Sally and Edna just finished their breakfast by the bakery at the end of the street, and Edna was still prattling on how this trip ruined her morning.
"I can't believe you did this to me, Sally, today is his only day off for this week!" Edna complained, "Ahh stop it, you can continue it later when we get back." Sally shot back. But, Edna still complained about how it's not the right situation, and how it's not the same when she gets back all tired and sweaty. "Stop it, Edna, this is all your fault for returning at the end of his workweek, and it's YOUR fault for coming back so horny" Sally countered, having enough of her friend's complaints, earning a pout from the antsy captain.
"Where are we going anyway?" Edna asked, "We're going to find the boy, whose being trained under a big shot." Sally replied. "Besides it's going to be fun. Do you remember the time we trained under Sir Hjilmar?" Sally added.
"Ohh, it's just Hji-, wait, did you just say Sir Hjilmar is training the boy?" Edna asked, shocked that THE giant himself is training the kid. "Why did I let you talk me into coming with you," she added sullenly. To which Sally just nodded with a smile, her friend suffered greatly under the giant, but he made her into what she is today, in a way she is still thankful for the days they spent there, she could faintly remember the happy memories she had when she was training under the Wargiant himself, she couldn't help but smile.
Edna being a normal human herself saw her smile and felt a chill in her spine, "How can you remember those days with a smile, the training was hell for me. Let's just go!" she added, not wanting to continue this conversation any longer. Just speaking about it was bringing back unwanted memories for her.
As the duo was approaching their former teacher's Manor, they began to hear shouting, Sally the ever-loving training freak that she was got excited and broke into a run as she hurriedly went around and headed directly to the training grounds. Edna could only let out a defeated sigh, as her heart began to fear for herself, yes she wanted to visit her mentor, but she didn't really like what came after the visit.
~~~
Five hours after his decision, Curtis was already beginning to feel regret. At first, he was surprised about what he could do, he didn't think that he could lift that boulder that looked to be as heavy as the giant himself, but he was able to with only a little strain, he didn't think he could run that lap as fast as he did, and neither did he think that he could break that steel dummy into two with just a hammer. Those were all tests that the giant had prepared to test his limit, what came after could only be described as hell, Curtis was sure that if only he was not sure that he was still alive, he was already running through his own version of hell devised by Lucifer himself.
After reaching his limit in one thing, he was given a rest, but then pushed into it, even more, earlier he just went through the last stage of grief. After the first hour, he still wanted to come out strong, he didn't want to accept defeat, by the second hour he was just plain angry at himself for putting himself in this position, he had wanted to bang his head onto the ground and knock himself out, just to see he could force himself to stop. By hour three he had just wanted to get it over with, telling himself that if he could just do this, he would grow strong enough to whack the giant on the head.
At the end of hour four he just wanted to quit. The training was too much. The giant was pushing him way past what he thought were already his limits. Fatigue and pain were beginning to hinder his movements, his body was being broken down to dust. And when he complains, the giant just laughs and says good.
Curtis just wanted to quit, he didn't think this was worth it. But he didn't have anywhere to run to. He was as good as trapped here. Hjilmar or rather Shitmar if he could have his way, could probably flatten him to a pancake if he wanted to. He couldn't say it to his face as he was already too tired to argue. Or was he just too scared of the giant to say it outright? Curtis didn't really want to find out either way. He was tired, and he just wanted to finish this and prove to the giant he wasn't as weak as he estimated.
The one bit of reprieve he got was when two other people joined in on their training. He was able to relax when the giant greeted the two. They immediately went into the house, and soon came out wearing what looked like training clothes. They were the pirate captain, Edna, who had brought him here, and her friend, Sally, who ordered her to catch him. Looking at the weapons that they were carrying, it looked like they were about to spar.
"Move to the side boy, I will show you a real man fights!" Shitmar told him and went over the steel weapon rack, he picked up a greatsword with one hand and faced the two women. "I hope you didn't slack off in your training kids, if you lose, you're gonna be joining the boy for a week!" he declared to which Edna flinched, giving a side-eye to her companion.
"Dang it Sally, you're buying me lunch AND dinner!" Edna roared as she charged towards the giant raising her spear.