"John..." Thayna muttered to herself, as she trekked through the open plains of Farum, on her way to Mordrell, "John. What kind of a name is John, anyway?"
Upon hearing his name, John popped his head out from under the flap of the satchel bag he was resting in. Thayna had the bag slung across her chest, and John hung out close to her waist, feeling the rhythmic bobbing as Thayna continued to walk. He had retreated inside to get out of the sun, and shared the space with some of Thayna's personal effects such as her short wand-like metal staff, a crest of Farum to prove her nobility, some sacks filled with powdery orbs which gave off a pleasant scent, and a whole assortment of other junk sitting underneath John in a heap. It was too dark to make out what they were, but John wouldn't risk a peek on the off chance Thayna caught him rummaging through her stuff.
"What do you mean?" John said with a lazy yawn, "John's just a common name."
"Fitting for a human, I suppose," Thayna remarked with an uppity tone, "Mage names are much more becoming of our status and stature. Firagana of the first Farums, Teshatria of the Heliot Sisterlies, Marietta the Vampire; compared to them, John is such a peasant-like, uncouth, criminally boring name that-"
"STOP!" John shouted angrily, "Apologize to all the Johns in the world you just insulted! A name doesn't make the man, now does it!"
"Hmph," Thayna snorted derisively, "Humans are all the same; weak, downtrodden and incapable of fending for themselves."
John sighed, seeing that no amount of arguing would change her mind. He began crawling back into the shade of the bag, but Thayna stopped him with a hand on his back.
"...But I suppose that's why we mages are here," Thayna said, sounding almost sorry, "Together, we help each other. You provide us with magic, and we protect you with our spells. We live side by side in relative peace, don't we?"
John was silent for a moment, then looked up to Thayna. "You've really never been outside of Farum, have you?" John said incredulously.
"Not really...," Thayna begrudgingly admitted, "Why?"
"Alright," John said, straightening his posture, "If we're going to Mordrell, you should know some things."
"Like what?" Thayna shot back. She was still a little sore about John berating her.
“Like the fact that Mordrell is the complete opposite of what you said of human and mages,” John said, a little angry at how naive Thayna could be, “The mages don’t protect the humans with their power there; no, it’s because they have power that they turn it on them. Every person gets branded with a number there, and mages who hold those numbers have absolute control over their respective persons. Whether they were died or got hurt was of no consequence to them, it's no better than slavery!”
John shoved Thayna's hand off of his back as hard as he could, but the weight alone was too much for him to even get it moving. Frustrated, John continued, “That's what happens when the needs of the mages exceed us humans!”
“Really now?” Thayna said, “But according to what I read, Mordrell positively needed this system to enforce order.”
“Oh yeah?” John said with a sarcastic snort.
“Of course,” Thayna said, sensing a small chance to one-up John in Mordrell know-how. She dug her hand into her satchel bag, brushing past John's legs lightly as she did, and pulled out a scrap of crumpled paper the size of a bale of hay. On it was a jumble of lines which could barely be called words, and it listed some points Thayna had recorded down about Mordrell.
“Let's see now,” Thayna mumbled as she read her paper, “According to the history book I read, Mordrell has one of the largest collection of mages on the continent, but a disproportionately small population of humans at the same time. For every mage there was, only two humans were beneath her. This was mostly due to the large amounts of resources the mages took up, and spared little to their smaller citizens. Replenishing magic became a problem too, and small civil wars were fought throughout Mordrell's history for the right to own humans. It only got more humans killed in the crossfire, though, so the current system ensures that every mage is entitled to at most two humans; just enough magic for everyone to use regularly.”
Thayna folded the paper and shoved it back into her bag. “There,” she said with a triumphant look on her face, “Mordrell's much better than it used to be. At least now, nobody gets hurt for no stupid reason like war.”
John sighed. It probably wasn't worth the effort to convince a mage that mages were bad. “Fine, whatever,” he said, “We'll see what Mordrell's really like once we get there. Wake me up when we reach the place.”
Thayna pouted when John slid back into the satchel bag without another word. He was annoying, but at least she had someone to talk to on this lonely road. She had only wanted to correct him about all mages being bad. Somebody in Mordrell must have created the numbering system out of concern for mages and humans alike.
“We're not all bad...” Thayna whispered.
Once across the border, the paths of Mordrell curved and rose into large spirals around mountains and valleys, giant brown formations of rock which jutted out like thorns from the earth. It was a large contrast to Farum's plains, and there was very little greenery or even flat land to speak of. Nothing but steep inclines and rocky slopes surrounded the road, making even the giantess Thayna feel small. The pavement had become much narrower as well, with Thayna's feet falling easily on either side of the path, and the risk of tripping and falling was much greater.
A few times, Thayna had to lift her feet up to give way to a passing caravan. The driver hurried forward, fearful that she might suddenly step on him, and scurried downhill as fast as his horse would travel. Thayna was miffed that the mere sight of her was enough to scare the humans off so easily; the least a traveler could do was greet her. She had spotted large numbers tattooed onto their arms or back, though; numbers which represented a mage's ownership of their lives in Mordrell. She was definitely getting closer to the capital.
Another afternoon's trek led her before a wall of pure bronze which heralded her arrival to the capital, nestled deep within Mordrell's mountains, sandwiched between two incredibly tall ravines which blocked out most of the sky except the path of the sun, ensuring that light would always be shining in. Thayna thought that it looked as if a straight segment of a mountain had been deliberately cut out just so the capital could be built here.
“Wake up,” Thayna said, slapping the side of her bag several times until a sleepy looking John popped his head out.
“Wazzum...” John mumbled drowsily, “Are we there yet?”
“Yes, mister lazy bones,” Thayna snapped. Being the only one to walk the entire way of the journey made her a little grumpy about John's apparent comfort, “The Bronze Portcullis is the last defense Mordrell has against invaders, and the city proper is right behind it. Now we get to see who's right about what the place is like inside.”
“You're still thinking about that?” John said with a yawn.
“You'll see,” Thayna said with a boastful grin, “I bet Mordrell's way better than you described it to be.”
John said nothing, being more interested in returning to sleep than listen to Thayna's prattling. He was prevented from retreating back inside, though, by Thayna's massive hand, opening the satchel bag wide open and snatching him out of it.
“Oh no, you don't!” Thayna growled, dangling John in front of her face, “You're going to witness this together with me, whether you like it or not!”
Thayna dropped a disapproving John onto her shoulder, and ignored his mumbled whining as she made her way to the Bronze Portcullis. There, two mages stood guard before the gate, watching cautiously as some caravans exited the city. They wore a short robes, plum in color and hemmed with silver thread and a small bronze plate covered each of their left shoulder, the emblem of Mordrell emblazoned onto its smooth surface: a simple triangle split in two with a globe sitting in front of it. They didn't look like they were carrying any weapons, but their size alone more than made up for their armaments when faced with mere humans scuttling beneath them.
The guards themselves weren't anything special; a pair of blonde darlings, one with simple, long curls and the other with long, straight hair, both holding a blank look on their face as they watched the traffic of the gate. They stood with their hands behind their back and their feet apart, a trained military posture which gave off an air of confidence and intimidation. 'Mess with us, and become a mess under our feet' was the message they were sending.
Thayna eyed them a bit longer as she came closer to the gate, and noticed that they didn't display their mage marks at all. Usually, a mage would flaunt their status by revealing the part of their skin the mark resided on, but Thayna could spot none on either of them. These were markless, the grunt of grunts amongst mages, having no way of consuming magic, they were doomed to be failures as magi. Work like guarding gates became the only useful thing markless mages were good at.
“Halt!” One of the guards shouted as Thayna approached, “You approach the gates of Mordrell. What business have you here, stranger?”
The presence of an additional giantess agitated the small crowd below, and the humans hurried off left and right out of the way of the spectacle. Thayna sighed and dug into her bag for her emblem. She wished she could scurry away from the formal stuff, too.
“I am Thayna Farum,” Thayna declared in a firm voice, raising the emblem of Farum up into air dramatically, “I have come to Mordrell to speak with your leader, on behalf of my mother, Thelina Farum.”
The two guards inspected the emblem, then put a foot forward each and bowed deeply such that their heads came below their waist. They swung an arm out as they bowed, enacting a large flourish upon their grandiose welcoming. “Lady Marietta has been expecting you,” said the other guard, her head not lifting as she said this, “We bid you welcome to our fair city.”
“Rise, guardsmen,” Thayna said, her free hand motioning for the guards to stand back up, “You humble me with your service. I will let know that I have been received well here, today.”
“Thank you, your ladyship,” a guard said, her back straightened and her hands back behind her back, “Please, don't let us delay you further.”
Thayna nodded and proceeded in to the city. Just as Thayna took a step into the gate, John turned and remarked, “Who are you, and what did you do with the real Thayna?”
“Hush you,” Thayna whispered harshly.
Before she could take another step however, a shout came from the other side of the gate.
“A runaway!” A loud female voice boomed ahead, “Guards, Numbered two seven three is escaping! Stop him!”
Underneath her, Thayna saw a diminutive figure run towards her, snaking around the caravans still caught inside the gate. The man stopped briefly at the sight of a giantess standing in his way, but braved her and ran straight between Thayna's feet and out of the Bronze Portcullis. A low rumble followed him as another guard chased him right up into gate. Though large for a human, the gate only had enough space for one mage to cross at one time. Seeing no way across with Thayna in the way, the guard shouted in a low woman's voice, “He's out the gates! Stop him, no matter what!”
The two guards from before immediately sprang into action. Spotting the running man, one guard took two steps forward and swung a massive kick into his back, sending him flying a good fifteen feet high through the air like a ragdoll. He landed some yards away, broken and twitching, a trickle of blood leaving his mouth as the second guard's footsteps drew closer to him.
“Numbered two hundred and seventy three,” the guard called out once she stood directly above him, “Speak your number or be purged.”
The man's mouth parted, but no words exited his lips. He clawed his hands up to the blonde's fair face, as if cursing her silently from his helpless position.
“Very well,” the guard said nonchalantly, “I deem you no longer worthy as a citizen of Mordrell. You shall be purged at once.”
Without another word, the guardsman lifted her foot from the ground and placed it over the already crumbled man. John and Thayna saw his hands give one last valiant push against the advancing wall of flesh, but inevitably, the man's arms and body collapsed under the weight of the giantess guard. A chilling squelching sound was heard as the guard's foot met the ground, crushing whatever was in between into a fine, crimson paste. The guard twisted her heel several times left and right, grinding what remains of the man deep into the ground with nothing but a red speckled hole as evidence of the man once being there. The guard returned back to her post, leaving a dark red trail of footprints where her bloody foot stepped, and called out from behind the wall, “All's clear! Numbered two seventy three purged!”
It was as if time had stopped before, and only just began to run again. The caravans continued to move, albeit actively avoiding the freshly stained crater as they moved, and the guards stood solemnly at their positions again. The exception was Thayna, who was still standing in the gateway, her mouth agape at the scene she just witnessed. It took several pulls of her reddish brown hair from John to snap her back to her senses.
“Oi, you alright?” John asked sincerely.
“You...” Thayna began, grabbing her mouth so as not to wretch, “You're not affected?”
“Killing humans is strictly outlawed in Farum,” John said in a grave tone, “But the further out I traveled as a merchant, the more unique the law seems to become. It's part and parcel of human life out here; best you get used to it.”
“Urp...” Thayna didn't have the stomach to reply, but she managed to walk through the gates and into the city. The guard here asked if Thayna was feeling well, but she brushed her off as she staggered into the first street of Mordrell.
“Whoa,” Thayna said, momentarily forgetting that she felt sick.
The city was composed entirely of bronze and orange architecture, large residences lining the streets everywhere, all of which were built up to the size of a giantess. Mages of all kinds walked along the cobbled paths, holding a human or two in their hands and romped around as their footfalls drummed a mighty quake into the ground. They were all fifty feet tall like Thayna was, and these, Thayna saw, had mage marks colored onto their skin. Every one of them was a mage like she was, and it was dizzying for Thayna to think that so many could be together here at once.
John was looking to the side, where a few mages were instructing their numbered human in the palm of their hands, giving them a list of commodities to buy back. Once they were done, they put them into a caravan which was on rent, and sent them through the gate. John remembered meeting a Mordrell merchant before, who had gone to Farum to buy spices for his mistress. They were cold and jaded, doing their job not because they enjoyed it, but because they were forced to. John recalled them to be difficult to trade with, insisting fervently that they could pay only what their mistress demanded or be punished for any excess they spent.
“So,” John said, “Where to now?”
“I...” Thayna began, trying to form words in her mouth, “There's so many!”
“What?” John quipped, puzzled.
“Mages!” Thayna exclaimed, “There are so many people here! I've only known my mother and sisters all my life, but I've never seen more than four of us at once!”
John felt Thayna bob up and down as she bounced on her toes, who was thrilled to see that she wasn't alone in the universe. She went up to a few mages to just shake their hands, confusing them but otherwise generating little of a ruckus. Each of them seemed to be on their way somewhere, and Thayna thought to follow them.
A large gathering of mages were assembled outside an extravagant looking building, opulent, sculpted pillars of copper and bronze holding aloft a pedestal which lay above in a balcony on the second floor of the building. Large doors of gold and dark brown swung open as a tall mage with long, regal robes of purple and an incredibly long fur scarf wrapped around her neck came out onto the balcony. A flash of light erupted from her hand as she cast a spell on herself, and suddenly, the entire city was within earshot of her voice.
“My fellow mages of Mordrell!” The woman said, “Our annual tally of Numbered had just been tabulated, and we have found that yet again, the human population has grown more than our city could sustain!”
A chorus of boos and jeers rang out from the crowd of mages below the woman, but with a slicing motion, she silenced the crowd in an instant.
“We are therefore reviving the Crushworks again to thin out their numbers and stabilize our precarious economy!” The woman shouted, receiving a rancorous cheer from the mages, “We have a surplus of 48 Numbered this year, so the event shall be stretched out over a five day period! Victims and participants shall be announced, same time tomorrow! Do not be late!”
More cheers came as the woman in purple and furs turned and left, and as the crowd began to die down, Thayna just stood there with a blank look on her face.
“Hey John?” Thayna said in complete monotone.
“Er, yes Thayna?” John said apprehensively.
“Yeah,” Thayna said, turning her head to John, revealing a jaded and completely dejected look on her giant face, “This place is the worst.”