"That doesn't sound possible," Johann said when he interrupted me. "Giants? Are you certain that is what you saw? No one else reported seeing Giants of any kind."
I shrugged. "I thought you wouldn't believe me. I don't have any more evidence than what I saw when I was a little girl."
"Why were these creatures attacking the town then?"
"Excuse me?"
"I asked, why were these 'giants' attacking? Did you learn anything about the origins of their aggression?"
I blinked. He didn't completely dismiss what I was saying. Yes, he did express some disbelief, but clearly Johann wanted to know as much about something he didn't think was true. "Why? You clearly don't believe what I'm saying-"
"You have no clear evidence." Johann didn't look up from his scribbling. "The United States Multiversal Survey can't make any clear determinations without some sort of evidence. And we are used to people not believing what we say.
"So please, Miss MacKenzie, did you see any explanation of these 'Giants' aggression?"
I tried to think, to get the answer right in my head. "I can't say I saw anything that exactly explained it. But when the man in the Wolf Mask appeared, they stopped and talked to him."
"About what?"
"I don't know. They spoke a language I never heard before. But the giants grew angry at him, but then he said something in their language back at them. They didn't seem to like that, but regardless of it turned around and left."
* * * * *
My legs stung. I had been pinned under the wreckage of our cart. I could smell the corpses of my brother and father around me. But my view of the giants and their rampage was unobstructed.
There were three of them, but one clearly was their leader. Each giant stood taller than any of the buildings in Town, each at least as tall as the tallest trees I'd seen. Now I would guess their height at twenty or thirty or forty feet. I don't think my recollection can be more exact than that.
Each giants' skin looked dirty and craggy, covered in callouses and scars. Their leader stood a bit taller than the others, bald except for a long ponytail that hung down from his head. He wore armor of some kind as well, a breastplate and shoulder guard of some kind. The armor looked to be of a Iron age make, covered in images of animals of various kinds. The symbol of a mountain was prominent in the center of their chest armor. The leader's eyes were the color red, and his face looked liked a boxer. Clearly parts of his face- his nose, his chin, his cheeks- all had been broken before and healed badly. Covered in scars, they all worked to make him look more frightening.
Both of his compatriots covered their cheeks and foreheads in black paint. They had painted symbols I couldn't recognize, square shapes with lines crisscrossing them.
Most of the townsfolk fled. They screamed and ran away, as fast as they could. Some of them tried to fight back. But the skin and flesh of the giants seemed impervious to shotgun and rifle fire. More joined those fleeing.
I grunted, trying to pry myself out. But it hurt too much to move. I watched in horror as the giants started to break and wreck nearby buildings, screaming things in a language I couldn't comprehend.
Then I heard a voice. "Child, don't move."
A man touched me, his touch so light yet vibrant with energy. I could feel my pain start to fade. I looked up at the man, and I saw a man in a Wolf Mask. He wore a old tattered duster. His clothes looked stained, like he had been riding horseback for days before seeing me. "They don't care that you are child. They think all humans are vicious vermin."
"My... why..." I couldn't think of a word to say, an idea to express. The experience had broken my child mind with its vicious trauma.
"I am the Wolf," He said. "I know these things. They hate our people, because of what we did to them millennia ago. But that still doesn't stand with me. I will settle this."
He then walked away from me, to the Giants.
And the Giants, when they saw him, stopped.
When his conversation with them had been done, the giants left. I didn't understand the words said, but clearly the man in the Wolf Mask knew them. He could at least convince them to leave us be.
* * * * *
"After that, I don't remember anything else. I blacked out, too tired from my injuries. Weeks later I woke up in a orphanage here in New York."
Johann kept scribbling. "The Wolf, hmm."
"You've heard of him, sir?" I asked.
"Here and there, here and there." The USMS agent stood up, putting his notes away. "No one has any evidence of him either. Oh well. Thank you Miss Mackenzie for letting me interview you."
I thanked Johann and let him out of my apartment. After he had gone, I went to my closet door and opened it. Inside, candles were waiting to be lit. The symbol of a full moon hung above it. I bent my knee, then I prayed and gave thanks to my savior, The Wolf God.
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