Welcome to Gaia! ::

The small man smiled down at the boy with a hideous set of missing teeth. The few teeth that remained were stained yellow and and brown in the spots that weren't yellow. He talked with a mouth full of saliva and acted as if he was the alpha dog in a yard of pups. The two men standing beside the small heinous man could of been twins except that where one was black, the other was almost gray. They each tried their hardest to intimidate the small boy which admittedly didn't take much as the boy was almost ready to soil himself as it was. He had done nothing wrong to earn the wrath of the three men except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He had already crawled back as far as he could from the men and was pinned against one of the numerous shops. It was during the middle of the day in the city of Muse and yet no one was coming to the boys rescue. He couldn't believe it. People actually averted their eyes and wouldn't make contact with the boys. His mother had sent him to pay for that weeks water rations and he had accidently bumped into the small man while looking at the wonders the big city offered. This was his first time in the big city by himself and even though his mother told him not to dally, he still was taking his time taking in the sights.

The buildings were tall and people actually sat on top of the square shaped structures to eat and converse with one another. He couldn't believe it. His father only went on top of their hovel when it needed patching. It was constantly leaking during the rains and he heard many words his father would never repeat if he knew that he had been listening. His mother was a tall handsome woman and all the neighbors came to her for advice even though she wasn't as old as those coming for advice. She made some of the best shortbread south of Muse and she had packed him a piece for his trip. He had ate it before he was even out of sight of his home.

It wasn't fair that the man in front of him was demanding all his money. If he gave it to him, they wouldn't have water for the rest of the month and his parents would be furious. His father was a brick maker and his mother sold baked goods. She usually gave away more than she sold as she couldn't help but to feel sorry for those less fortunate than her. He had bumped into the man and apologized profusely to the man but the man had simply demanded the boys money. He didn't know what to do. Fortunately, he was to scared to even reach into his pocket to hand the money over to the man for if he could of moved after being backed into the building he surely would of.

"I said give me your money, lil boy. I wouldn't want to have to hurt you." The man smiled with his crooked teeth, saliva falling from his lips after every word. The two men beside him sneered and one even pulled a small knife from his coat.

The guards have to be around here somewhere. He tried to look for them but he couldn't break eye contact with the man in front of him. The small man reached forward and put his hand around the throat of the lil boy and lifted him off the ground and onto his feet. It was then that the boy released his bladder and soiled himself. The two men started laughing and the small man jumped back as if some had gotten on him.

"You are going to have to pay for my shoes now, you lil brat!" He screamed at the boy. The boy tried to tell him that he hadn't meant to pee but his mouth failed to work.

"Why don't you punks leave the boy alone?" This voice was different from the small man and the boy looked away from the small man for barely a second and saw a great silhouete of a man. He hulked over the three men in front of him and the boy had no problem seeing him. Even from his position in front of the small man.

The two men to the side of the small man turned and sneered at the voice until they saw the giant man, then they backed away slowly. The small man let the boy go and turned to the giant.

"What's it to you? This has nothing to do with you. So mind your own business!"

The giant nodded his head once and took a step forward, the other three men conceded him the ground by backing up two steps to his one.

"You three are picking on the boy because he is smaller than you. I will pick on you because you are smaller than me." The giant stared at the small man without even glancing at the other two. He seemed to assume that the other two were simply going to leave now that he had spoken about what he was going to do to them. Little did he know the small man in front of him had gotten a big head from being the alpha dog to the two mutts beside him. He couldn't be embarrased now.

"There are three of us and only one of you! We have knives, you don't have anything." The small man said with more spirit in his voice than was in his heart.

This was true, the giant had to give him that much for he stood before them with simply a new pair of trousers on. He wasn't even wearing a shirt. He was an impressive sight still, he had a huge lightning bolt shaped scar that ran across his chest down to his navel. The scar alone was almost the size of the boy. There was a sudden shout and a woman screamed something. The giant glanced that way and that was enough for the small man. He pulled a knife before the small boy could see from where and lunged at the giant. The boy closed his eyes and wished he was back home.

He heard three cracks and then some groaning. He didn't want to open his eyes again until he felt a giant hand on top of his head. He opened one and eye and saw a massive forearm leading up to the giant man. The giant smiled down at the boy and motioned for the boy to follow him.

The boy simply followed after the barefooted giant until they came across a guard. The giant exchanged a few words with the guard and then motioned again to the little boy, this time to follow the city guard. The guard smiled and told the little boy that he would escort him until his errands were done and he would then personally escort him back home. The little boy turned to thank the giant man but he was already gone.