Lost and Found

Part 10- Civil, then Monsters

Markus watched as Riley was struggling to turn the page of a book she wanted to read. Markus rested his chin on the table, watching Riley struggle with the page. She managed to flip the page, but suddenly get sandwiched by it. Markus couldn't help but chuckle at the human's efforts to try and read a book bigger than her. She struggled, trying to write out, but it was heavy, accounting she was only half way through the book.

"Need help?" Markus asked, sitting upright.

"Uh, does it look like I don't?" Riley retorted, laughing nervously then hanging her head in defeat.

Markus laughed softly at Riley's attempt to convince him that she didn't need help. He gently nudged her into the book, then opened it for her. She quickly stood up, then arched her back, stretching.

     "So, are you and your brothers the only ones that are civilized?" Riley asked.

     "It was never always like that," Markus began, shifting into a somewhat slouch in his chair. "Giants were civilized, we are close cousins to the human race. We never had thought of humans as food again after the realms were allowed to merge. After the Great Segregation, there were only a few humans living in our world. We lived in perfect harmony for centuries. Humans were allowed to move in with Giants, and Giants would either accept them or tell them to leave, rather than track them down."

     Riley leapt off the book, scampering to sit on Markus's thumb. Markus chuckled, then got up to move from his desk to his bed, laying against the wall. "When BloodLust came to power, he blamed the humans for the mysterious deaths that were happening. I went back to where my father was killed, and it smelled as if what you humans call Easter had passed by, and no one even bothered to clean his office." Markus said, his eyes watering.

     "I'm sorry for your loss." Riley said, feeling sympathetic. Markus looked at her, then smiled. "But, anyways, the office smelled like rotting eggs, I'm not sure why..."

     "Wait, rotting eggs... Sulfur, demons!" Riley said. Markus looked at her confused. "Come again?"

     "Demons leave sulfur wherever they go, kinda anyways. It's more of a piece of evidence. Demons have probably been killing giants!" Riley said. "At least, this show I used to watch featured demons, and demons leave behind sulfur wherever they've been..."

     "No, no, I believe you. So, how do you get rid of them?" Markus asked.

     "Umm, exorcise it?" Riley said, unsure of how. It's been so long since I've watched that show! Over a year at the most! Riley thought.

     "What's that do?" Markus asked.

     "It drives away evil spirits, demons mainly." Riley explained.

     "Well, how do you do it?" Markus asked, clearly wanting to fix what BloodLust started.

     "You just say stuff in Latin, I guess..." Riley said. "I only know what it is! You'll have to talk to a priest about that!"

     Markus nodded, then began to think. If there were still at least 50 humans, how many would be priests. And even if there were priests, would they be scared of him? And all this time, I thought it was BloodLust that killed him... Markus thought, sighing.