Paracosm

Welcome to Civilisation

Magda

Magda runs as fast as her legs can carry her. She's lost sight of Fionn. She tries to keep her breath steady but she becomes more and more exhausted.
She looks behind her, the other aren't there, she bumps into something hard. She crashes onto the ground. Magda looks up at a giant of a man staring down at her. He smiles at something away from them, and says something Magda can't understand.

He picks up Magda and ties her hands behind her back. She looks around at the others surrounding her, men and women, all of them are taller than any human she has ever seen. Their hair is dreaded and tied in various twists. Their clothes are ragged and dirty. Some have face-paint on, others' faces alone are scary enough to not need face-paint.

They're not walking long when they reach an open area in the trees. Wooden fences come into sight. The gates open to various huts and tents. Nobody takes much notice of Magda as she walks in. She's lead to a big tent, a large woman meets her at the entrance. She towers over Magda and is built like a man, she steps out of the way and they bring Magda to a blonde haired man sitting at a table.

He looked up and frowns, he says something again that Magda can't understand and immediately her hands are untied. Escaping doesn't even come across Magda's mind, these people's arms are so long they could just grab her if she tried to run.

"Apologies for the hostility of having your hands tied," the man says when the other leave the tent. He has a strange accent and is quite hard to understand.
"You do not look as if you are from here," he continues "outfit is too clean, hair and skin is too clean".
"I'm from the bunker".
The man frowns "the bunker has opened?".
"No," she says "we were sent up to see if the Earth is liveable for when the bunker opens".
"I see," he stands up, again he is a giant of a man "well, you will be valuable to me...".
"Magda".
"Yes, Magda, you can stay here, you are safe here, my name is Maon," he smiles "my sister, Carman, will show you where you can stay, I have business to attend to".

Magda meets his sister outside of the tent. She stands with her arms crossed, her eyes staring into Magda's soul.
"Follow me," she turns her back on her.

Magda follows her through the settlement. A few more of the guards watch her carefully as she walks behind Carman, but they don't have to worry about anything, Magda can't even jump over a trench, never mind take down a settlement of giants.

Carman stops by a small tent, it'd be lucky to fit one person. It's held up with small tree trunks, it doesn't have a door, thank God the weather was good, otherwise Magda would be drenched in rain.

"Stay here," Carman has the same strange accent as her brother "you have no business making your way around our camp, someone will come get you if needs to be".

Magda nods and sits on the makeshift bed. She sighs before tears begin falling down her cheeks. There's nothing more she'd love than being in her room with her mam. Now she's with these beasts of humans. She thought above ground the elements would be the problem, not the humans.

Maon

"What is she doing here?" Maon looks up at Carman staring angrily at him.
"Sister, I love you but your face would frighten any beast," he rolls his eyes "she is from the bunker, apparently they sent some of their people on a mission before it opens to make sure the land is liveable".

"So we have someone from the bunker here?" Carman scoffs "are you trying to get Annalise to kill us?".
"Annalise?" Maon frowns "we have no alliance to Annalise Swayne, do not let me hear you say a sentence like that again".
"She has a thousand soldiers in her army, she has a thousand guards, we cannot afford to not be an alliance".
Maon stands up, he comes closer to Carman "do not question my actions, that girl is alone, I will be going out in a group with her to find her friends, now I must send a raven to Dolag Cole to inform her of this".

"Girl," Maon walks towards Magda, who's sitting on the side of her bed "who are your friends?".
"Fionn, Joe and Lenka," she says "I didn't see where they went".
"That is okay," he smiles reassuringly "we will find them, they will be okay during the night, temperature never drops, there is never rain or wind. You get some rest, in the morning we shall look for your friends. There is food in the big hut. Make yourself at home, Magda".

A surprised look comes over her face, before it breaks into a giant smile "thank you so much".

Dolag

"They're beautiful aren't they?" Dolag finds Dextro standing on her platform, watching her brothers as they fly along the walls of the town.
He laughs slightly "more like unbelievable".
"There used to be more but they were killed by the other families, my brothers are the only ones left," she says.
"You don't need an army when you have them," Dextro looks at her.

"My brothers are not weapons," she says "they will cause destruction but only by their own command, not mine".
"Our use of language is very different and I'm trying my best not to laugh at you," he says.
"Well I cannot see your smile behind that mask so at least you can get away with that," she smiles.

  "Your Grace," Cormac comes up behind them "I have a letter from Maon Murphy, I think you better read it".