Land of the Giants Chapter 1 (By Nomad3315)

Another lost story by Nomad3315, who inspired this story based on an old commission drawing ending by building a fantastic world around it.

"Jack is sent to battle, but instead of facing large armies of his own kind, the threat is an enormous forest that grows every day and devours everything in its path. His main enemy in the form of a huge fox that has terrorised the suburbs by devouring and disappearing humans. Jack and his comrades will seek to stop him, but in the process something bigger will confront him"

Story by Nomad3315

Horse lady belongs to anonymous

I will update the following parts soon; meanwhile, enjoy it! :D

Disclaimer: This story contains vore and stomp

Chapter 1

THE QUEEN'S CARNAGE

-

In the grime and smoke-filled industrial city, posters frightened children and adults alike. A gaping maw with white, sharp teeth made people’s blood run cold. In the center was a brave soldier pointing a finger toward the people on the streets.

"The fox will come for your families. Enlist now."

In this vast, industrial country, a little more than three months ago, something truly bizarre and terrifying had happened.

A forest the size of a small state had appeared out of thin air, swallowing multiple villages. And this was no ordinary forest. The trees were gigantic, and their inhabitants were equally massive. Birds as large as small houses. Insects the size of large-breed dogs. And worst of all:

The fox.

As big as a four-story house, and as voracious as a village, the fox often emerged from the forest to feast upon the livestock kept by the villages around its edge. And sometimes, it devoured people just as eagerly as the other beasts.

An army of soldiers and hunters was sent to kill the fox, but the few who returned came back mad. The leadership stopped sending small parties of men to their needless deaths. They wanted something far bigger. A larger army assembled to kill the beasts of the Forest of Giants.

A large-scale conscription took place, and a week of training was ordered to put an end to this threat. New weapons were also sent alongside the soldiers in the form of tracked cannons.

The country did not have much time. Another threat was emerging from the forest. The very essence of life was being drained from the surrounding lands. The lush greenery had become a barren wasteland, and it grew larger with each passing week.

This forest had to be burned.

Jack, a young conscript, thought this had to be enough. As he marched alongside the other poor souls toward the one place he didn’t want to go, he told himself that this much firepower might be sufficient. Just one good hit with these cannons, and the fox might die instantly.

Ryan, another young soldier, spoke.

"What do you think we’ll see inside that forest? Do you think we can find my home?"

Ryan was one of those who had come to the city seeking work after his village was swallowed by the forest. No one had ever returned from those villages. His parents had lived in one of them. The young man had wanted to join the very first search party, hoping to save his family, but Jack had stopped him, ultimately saving his life. As it turned out, giant beasts roamed in the darkness.

No survivors.

"We might. I'll help you carry whatever you want."

Assured his comrade.

"Eyes forward and keep your mouth shut, you dogs!"

Their officer, leading the column, barked the order. They didn’t allow gossip, it might spread fear. Jack placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. They had been in the same unit since the start of training and had formed a bond like brothers in arms.

The column reached the last abandoned village. The fear of the fox and other beasts had driven everyone away from the Forest of Giants. It was a ghost of a settlement, swallowed by the ever-creeping dread. Empty homes stood side by side in silence, the stillness now broken by the rumble of war machines and the tramp of boots. Doors hung crooked on rusted hinges, creaking faintly in the wind, as if the buildings themselves were whispering warnings to the soldiers not to go any farther.

The tanks rolled down the main road as the soldiers marched in complete silence. Jack tried not to look at the toys and everyday items still lying in the dirt. The decayed laundry still strung between two posts, or the scattered grain from a sack that had fallen from a carriage as the residents fled as fast as they could.

The fear of the beasts. It had driven everyone away.

Soon, they reached the wasteland.

The last whispers of green vanished behind them like a dream. What lay ahead was a realm choked of life. A barren scar stretching beneath the foggy sky, where the very ground seemed to reject the idea of growth. Dead trees lined the cracked, crumbling roads like mourners at a funeral.

The fields were worse.

Where crops had once grown, there was only dust. Rows of stunted, brittle stalks stood half-formed, gray as ash and dry as paper. The soil beneath them was cracked with deep, spidering fractures.

Lifeless.

Drained.

A scarecrow still stood in one of the fields, slumped and faded, watching over the dead land. The devastation crept further and further every week.

This was the edge of something unnatural.

The tanks crawled forward, heavy and relentless, their wide treads grinding into the cracked earth with mechanical indifference. Each one stirred up thick clouds of dust that rose in swirling waves, coating everything in a fine, pale grit.

Jack squinted as the wind shifted, and the dust swept toward the infantry like a suffocating tide. He coughed, raising his sleeve to his mouth, but it was too late. The dry powder clung to his skin, burned his eyes, and filled his nose and throat.

"Ugh. Damn it."

COUGH

Jack muttered. The armored column rumbled through the barren fields. Beside it, infantrymen trudged in tight formation, rifles on their shoulders, boots crunching on the gravel. Jack struggled to keep pace, not even allowed to stop for a drink. Just one week of training hadn’t been enough to turn him into a soldier. He was just another conscript, like most of the people in the column.

The ground shook beneath their feet. It wasn’t just the tanks anymore. A distinct vibration made the entire column stop. Jack shakily readied his rifle. He and many others like him had been sent to a land of unknown dangers with only hasty training.

All he knew was that it was filled with giant animals, and that this area somehow drained life from the surrounding lands. The barren wasteland was proof of something unnatural. Jack didn’t want to confront it, he only wanted to avoid it at all costs.

But this was war.

Either you followed orders, or you would be shot by your officer.

"Why are we stopping?"

"What’s happening?"

"Ready your weapons! Prepare for battle!"

Their officer shouted at the top of his lungs. Most of the conscripts’ hearts filled with fear as they felt the vibrations beneath their feet. The fog obscured their view, allowing them to see no more than a mile ahead.

Jack’s hands trembled so violently he could barely hold his rifle, let alone load it. His fingers fumbled with the cartridge, slick with cold sweat.

"I’m here, Jack. Let me do it."

Ryan stepped forward to help. His own face was pale, but his hands moved with practiced focus. He snatched the rifle from Jack’s trembling grip, loaded it with swift precision, closed the bolt, and handed it back to his friend.

"Tha-thanks, Ryan."

Jack stuttered. He knew Ryan feared the beasts too, but somehow he remained more collected.

"Cover my rear, and I’ll do the same, comrade."

As everyone focused, they began to make out unmoving shapes in the distance. Jack recognized them as trees, gigantic trees. They marked the border of the Land of Giants.

The land they were supposed to conquer.

Their commanders were confident that the tanks, basically just cannons on tracks, would be a game-changer against the giants. But it didn’t change the fact that they were still the underdogs. The rumbles in the distance grew louder and heavier. Only the engines of the tanks and the tense shuffle of boots interrupted the sound. The tension was thick.

At first, it was a vague shape, but something was moving in the distance. It slowly emerged from the gray haze. Jack’s heart pounded in his chest, as if it wanted to burst free. A mountain of muscle advanced toward them, each step making the earth tremble. The shape became clearer as it drew nearer.

A gigantic horse emerged from the fog-covered forest.

A long, dark mane whipped behind her high-arched neck. Her grey fur was adorned with gold on her neck and head. Delicate golden chains wrapped her legs just above her hooves, and a necklace bearing an eight-pointed sun swayed like a war banner with each step. The entire necklace was larger than Jack’s childhood home.

The thunder of hooves silenced the tiny humans. They stared, frozen, their voices caught somewhere between awe and terror. Every step of the giant was a testament to an untold amount of power. Dust billowed around her, stirred by the wind of her motion and the sheer force of her presence.

Before Jack could do anything, the giant was upon them. The mare’s shadow stretched over them like a storm cloud. Vast and inescapable. It swallowed the humans whole, blotting out the sun, draping their trembling forms in cold, oppressive darkness. Beneath its weight, their courage withered, replaced by the creeping certainty that they were utterly, hopelessly small. The mare exhaled sharply through her nostrils, a curling gust of steam twisting into the air like smoke from a forge.

Jack froze in terror, staring up at the creature as it stared down at them. Every part of his body screamed to run. His breath hitched in his throat, shallow and ragged, eyes wide as he gazed up at the towering mare. But his legs wouldn’t move. Fear had locked him in place beneath her crushing, inevitable gaze.

"Last warning. My hooves are well cared, but they're always ready war."

A loud, booming feminine voice thundered through the air as the giant spoke. She lifted a foreleg the size of a small house, poised above the minuscule humans below, and slammed it down with bone-rattling force. The ground cracked beneath her hoof, spiderweb fractures spreading across the dry earth like the veins of a shattered mirror. The sound echoed through the air like distant artillery fire, rolling across the plain and sending dust leaping from the ground.

A chill swept through them, sharp as ice water down their spines. Even the bravest soldiers faltered, clutching their weapons tighter with shaking hands, yet none dared step forward. The mare exhaled, steam curling from her nostrils in the cool morning air. Her gaze narrowed. The officer leading them shouted.

"Come on, soldier! You can fall apart later! AIM!"

Jack’s hands fumbled, trembling fingers struggling to hold his weapon. The rest of the unit scrambled. Taking positions and steadying their sights on the looming titaness before them.

The mare watched them, her head tilting ever so slightly. Her expression, that impossible, intelligent gaze, held no urgency, no fear.

Only disdain.

"FIRE!"

A volley of gunfire erupted from the human ranks, crackling across the battlefield like a chain of fireworks. Muzzle flashes lit the haze as bullets tore through the dust-choked air, aimed at the towering form. The rounds pinged uselessly off her body, striking the gold collar and rolling off her sleek, muscular frame like raindrops on stone. The medallion at her chest flared faintly, absorbing the impacts like a shield. Chains around her legs jingled softly with every subtle movement. A delicate contrast to the raw, apocalyptic scale of her body.

"Unwise."

She rumbled, and her hoof moved.

The ground lurched as she stepped forward, her hoof crashing into the midst of the human formation with explosive force. Soldiers scattered. Some too slow, crushed beneath the impossible weight, their screams snuffed out like candle flames under a boot.

The soldiers closest to the mare’s hoof were thrown like ragdolls. Limbs flailed helplessly as they sailed through the air. They crashed into the ground or each other, groaning and coughing, utterly overwhelmed by the sheer, unstoppable force.

Others stumbled, tripping over fallen comrades, their resolve shattering as completely as the ground beneath them.

"Keep firing!"

The officer voice cracked, his face pale as he struggled to rally the men.

"Pull back! Spread out!"

The towering mare advanced with slow, relentless steps. Her hooves carving craters into the battlefield. The golden circlet gleamed as she lowered her head, eyes narrowing on the disorganized groups of infantry.

Jack ran, his legs finally obeying, heart pounding like a war drum in his chest. Around him, the scene dissolved into chaos. Soldiers fleeing, some firing uselessly, others too scared even to carry their rifles, abandoning them as they ran.

Above all the chaos, the colossal mare stalked them, steam curling from her nostrils into the morning air. The sound of her movement was not merely heard, it was felt, a thundering rush that made their skin crawl.

Jack dared a glance over his shoulder.

The gigantic horse head was lowered, eyes locked on the scrambling mass of men below, nostrils flaring like twin caverns. Each inhale was a slow, predatory draw, sucking dust, grit, and the stench of fear from the ground into the dark depths of her lungs. Each exhale came as an assault, a hot, turbulent gale tearing through the ranks like the front of a storm.

This wasn’t a battle.

It was a hunt.

And they were her prey.

Gunners on the tanks barked orders, metal creaking under the strain, and within moments, the armored beasts opened fire. The air split with the thunderclap of artillery shells, explosions blooming like fireflowers across the mare’s colossal body. Only faint scorch marks marred her sleek, grey fur. Nothing more than scratches. As if the tanks had thrown firecracker pebbles instead of high-velocity shells.

The mare’s eyes narrowed as she stepped forward again, hooves cracking the ground, crushing armored vehicles beneath her massive legs. She showed no sign of slowing. If anything, the futile attacks had sharpened her focus and fueled her displeasure with the tiny mechanical bugs. The tanks fired again, but the soldiers already knew, it wouldn’t be enough.

With terrifying precision, her hoof lifted and came down on the nearest tank. Its sheer size was swallowed by the shadow of her leg, the crew and machine disappearing in an instant. The hoof struck with thundering force. The armored hull didn’t so much resist as implode, plates buckling inward under the impossible mass. Rivets popped like snapping bones. A geyser of dust and dirt erupted, mingling with the shriek of tearing steel. For a heartbeat, the tank was simply gone, reduced to a mangled smear of twisted armor, flattened so completely that the treads were driven into the earth like bent coins hammered into wood. The ground itself groaned under the blow, fractured lines radiating outward like cracks in shattered glass.

Another tank in the semi-distance fired, the shell streaking across the haze to burst against the length of her face in a brief blossom of fire. She didn’t flinch. Her massive head turned toward the offender, ears flicking back in mild annoyance. With a casual flick of her hoof, she kicked the second tank aside. It spun through the air, landing with a thunderous crash and rolling once before coming to rest as little more than smoking, crumpled debris. The targeted war machine was gone. The horse was already stepping forward, her gaze locking onto the next victim.

The remaining tanks tried to retreat, treads grinding frantically against the torn earth, but there was no escape. Her shadow loomed overhead, vast and unrelenting, as she advanced with the slow inevitability of an avalanche. One by one, they were crushed or kicked aside, reduced to nothing more than toys beneath her.

Jack ran, lungs burning, heart hammering so hard it drowned out the screams and gunfire around him. The ground shook beneath each monstrous hooffall as the giant mare advanced. The thunderous fall of her hoof came right behind the young man. The shockwave nearly lifting him off his feet. Dirt and debris rained down like children throwing snowballs at him. Jack stumbled, rolling across the torn ground as the towering silhouette loomed over him.

A hind leg came down, slamming mere meters to his left, the earth fracturing like brittle glass. The tremor sent him sprawling onto his back, his breath knocked from his lungs. Panic gripped him as he scrambled to his feet, only to freeze again.

The mare’s enormous frame blotted out the sky, her four massive legs positioned around him like pillars holding up a cathedral of flesh. Her dark, powerful body stretched out above him, muscles rippling beneath her fur coat.

He was directly beneath her.

From this vantage, her sheer immensity became something incomprehensible. An entire living building suspended above him. Jack’s breath hitched. His entire world had been reduced to the terrifying architecture of her underside. The broad barrel of her torso rose and fell with calm, measured breaths.

Chains and charms jingled softly around her legs as she shifted, hooves shifting ever so slightly, the ground cracking with casual, terrifying strength. Jack’s breath hitched, his entire world reduced to the terrifying architecture of her underside. The broad barrel of her torso rising and falling with calm, measured breaths.

Instinct screamed move, and Jack dove to the side just as the colossal hoof slammed down, the impact rattling his bones and sending fresh cracks splintering through the earth. Dust and fragments showered him, his ears ringing, but he kept running, scrambling through the gap between the gigantic legs.

The surviving soldiers scattered like startled insects, their formation collapsing in seconds. Boots pounded the fractured earth, rifles discarded in blind terror, their shouts dissolving into fragmented, panicked cries. Some slipped on the uneven ground, others tripped over the debris of shattered tanks and remains of trucks, but none of that mattered.

None got too far.

Jack’s heart clenched as he watched, too dazed, too broken to look away. Her jaws parted and a tongue, impossibly broad and slick, curled forward in anticipation. The first soldier disappeared between her lips. Muffled screams trailing off abruptly as she closed the cavernous mouth.

A faint swallow followed.

For a heartbeat, Jack swore he could hear it. A deep, wet gulp that seemed to echo in his bones. Then nothing. The soldier was gone, reduced to a memory as she exhaled through her nostrils, a satisfied snort that sent a hot mist cascading over the terrified survivors.

The young soldier couldn't believe it. It started to eat them. A herbivorous creature. Despite its size and intellect, it was still a horse. Jack was speechless. The battlefield stretched out ahead, but the titanic mare was far from finished. It chased down the stragglers with a leisurely pace. She moved like a predator.

Calm, unhurried, certain in its actions.

Her lips curled slightly. Not in a smile, but in the calm assurance of a predator certain the hunt would go unchallenged. She took a slow step forward, her shadow swallowing the next man in her path. The ground quivered beneath her approach, and Jack realized with sickening clarity that she wasn’t rushing. She didn’t need to.

Her tail swayed lazily behind her, chains and gold trinkets jingling faintly with each step, a sound impossibly delicate amid the chaos. It was as if she were strolling through a garden, nibbling fallen apples, not a battlefield strewn with soldiers.

The tongue slid forward again, glistening in the dull light, sweeping up a second soldier with the same unhurried ease one might pluck a berry from a bush. His rifle clattered uselessly to the ground as she drew him in, her jaws closing like a steel trap swathed in velvet flesh. Another slow swallow followed, the flex of her neck like a massive cable shifting, drawing him into the unseen depths where the first had vanished,reduced to nothing more than sustenance.

She moved with the inevitability of a tide, collecting the survivors one by one. The soft chime of her golden chains marked the rhythm of the slaughter, each note a calm, dreadful punctuation in the chaos of the battlefield.

She hunted as though she knew that no matter how far her prey ran, they would never outrun her.

Jack’s breathing hitched, his body frozen, every nerve firing with helpless horror. From his vantage point behind her, he remained partially concealed.

Forgotten, for now.

The sight seared itself into his mind. The survivors scattered in frantic, futile directions, but she moved with terrifying ease, snatching them one by one, swallowing them like morsels plucked from a table. The earth quaked beneath her hooves, fracturing the plain with each step, her tail swaying behind her like a pendulum, marking the rhythm of the hunt.

It was only a matter of time before she notice him standing there too.

Jack’s mind reeled. A horse eating people. The thought was absurd, wrong, like watching the sun rise in the west. Yet here she was, plucking men from the earth and swallowing them whole, her colossal body a living monument to the undoing of everything he understood about the natural world.

"Jack!"

Ryan’s voice cracked through the chaos, ragged and strained. Jack spun, eyes wide. His friend lay trapped beneath one of the tanks, its massive hull twisted and smoking, skewed like a broken toy. The steel monster had landed hard, sliding across the battlefield before finally coming to rest directly on Ryan’s legs. Jack sprinted forward, heart hammering. The faint, metallic scent of blood mixed with smoke and the screams of the wounded, creating a choking haze of fear and chaos.

"I’m here! I’m here! It’s okay!"

The young soldier strained against the wreckage, face contorted with pain, arms trembling as he tried to lift the massive weight pinning his friend’s leg. His rifle lay abandoned in the dirt, forgotten. Blood darkened the ground beneath the tank’s edge. Whether from a crew member or Ryan didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except freeing him, pulling him out of this living nightmare before it was too late.

He grabbed Ryan under the arms, yanking with all the strength he could muster. But Ryan didn’t move. His legs were pinned tight beneath the twisted steel.

"Aaaaah!"

"Come on! Come on!"

Jack hissed through gritted teeth, yanking again. Ryan’s face twisted in pain and helpless frustration.

"It’s no use. Go! "

But Jack couldn’t abandon him.

"I’m not leaving you here!"

The ground shook violently beneath them. A shadow fell across both of them, a dark curtain signaling the final act. Jack’s head snapped up, dread coiling around his ribs like barbed wire. The horse finally reached them without noticing it. Her gaze narrowed, lips curling in the faintest grimace of disdain. Jack’s stomach twisted. His friend trapped, the beast looming, no time to run, no way to fight.

The hoof lifted. Vast and inevitable.

Its underside loomed above them like a blackened ceiling of flesh and iron, filling his vision until there was no sky left, only the ridged contours of her sole, flecked with dirt and fragments of what it had already claimed. Sunlight flared around its edges in a blinding halo, turning the shadow beneath into a suffocating shroud.

Time froze for Jack. An eerie, drawn-out moment stretched as the earth groaned under the shifting weight. A fine rain of grit and pebbles sifted down from the cracked soil, rattling against his helmet. The air itself seemed to press against his chest, as though the world were holding its breath for the inevitable blow.

"Jack! MOVE!"

Then it struck.

The young soldier hit the ground with a force that knocked the wind from his lungs. Darkness clawed at the edges of his vision, the chaotic symphony of screams, gunfire, and cracking earth reduced to a distant, muffled hum. Dust coated his face, gritty and suffocating…

Jack’s consciousness wavered on the edge, darkness pressing in from all sides. The ground beneath him vibrated faintly, the aftershocks of her step pulsing through his bones. Bits of dirt and grit scraped against his skin as if the earth itself were still trembling from the blow.

A distant, distorted sound reached him. The faint jingling of chains. Somewhere above, a low exhalation of breath, hot and rhythmic, marked her presence. The shadow of the mare hung in the corners of his vision, colossal even in his fading awareness. Pain radiated from his head and limbs, a harsh reminder that he was still alive.

Then, darkness embraced him.

Some time later, Jack’s eyes fluttered open. The fog of unconsciousness peeling away like wet cloth. His head throbbed, each pulse echoing in his skull. Slowly, he forced himself upright, every movement a protest from aching muscles. The world around him was quiet.

Eerily quiet.

The ground beneath him was cracked, littered with broken steel and other kinds of equipment. Groaning, he rolled onto his side. He staggered upright, legs buckling briefly. His limbs were stiff and slow to obey, as if they belonged to someone else. But when he finally stood and looked around.

No screams. No gunfire. No engines. Just the screaming silence. He was completely alone.

He blinked, seeing the sky veiled by the same fog as before. His body still reeled from what had just happened. The world spun in hazy blurs as a sharp wave of pain surged from the back of his skull, radiating down his spine.

"Ahhh—"

He gasped, sucking in a lungful of dust-choked air as his nerves screamed. He had fallen.

Hard.

He looked toward the spot where he had last seen Ryan. The jagged rim of the crater blocked his view, but he didn’t need to see to know.

He didn’t want to.

He didn’t want to imagine what remained of his friend. The bloodied pulp Ryan had been reduced to beneath that colossal hoof. He didn’t want to picture the way bone and flesh had fused with the flattened steel. The thought alone twisted his stomach into knots. His throat clenched, and for a moment, he thought he might vomit. He turned his face away, swallowing hard against the bile creeping up. There was no dignity left for Ryan, only a smear on twisted metal.

The rumbles started again, rising out of nothing. Jack immediately recognized what they meant. His heart pounded, sweat flowing down his body.

The monster had returned.

He looked toward the forest and saw the horse walking along its edge, almost as if patrolling. After some distance, at the far boundary of the woods, the horse came to a halt. Jack’s heart stopped when the giant turned its head toward him.

How could this be?

He was so small and far away, yet she still noticed his presence, even at this distance. No time to think. The young soldier started running away from the monster that had killed an entire column of soldiers and war machines.

The rumbles started again.

Jack looked back, and his worst fear became reality.

The horse was following him, each step louder and heavier than the last.

It moved with an eerie grace for something so impossibly large. Each hoofstep rumbled through the broken earth, yet her stride was measured and careful compared to the carnage he had witnessed before. The distance between monster and man closed quickly. A shadow stretched slowly across the ruined plain before him. He turned, and there it was. A living wall of muscle and grey fur. A mountain that breathed.

The mare had returned.

Towering above him, the giant horse stood, her hulking frame blotting out the sun. Her belly rose and fell in slow, deliberate breaths, each exhale carrying heat like a furnace. The young one began to slow his pace. It was hopeless. The window of escape from the incarnate of death had slipped away while he slept. Visions of his own death surged through his mind. Bones splintering, lungs collapsing, life ending beneath unrelenting weight. His pulse thundered in his ears. Reflexively, he squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the final, obliterating impact.

At least, not yet.

Then came her voice. Low and smooth.

It wasn’t just heard, it was felt, like thunder in his bones.

"I recognize you. You were about to save one of your fellow humans. Everyone else abandoned each other while you stayed."

Her massive head leaned in closer, casting his whole body into shade. Her warm breath rolled over him. The force of her exhale ruffled his hair, tugged at his clothing. Her nostrils flared, twin caverns wide enough for him to walk into, and she sniffed. A deep, reverberating inhale that pulled his weight forward slightly. Jack nearly lost his footing. The sheer suction of her breath made almost dragged him foward. His knees buckled, and he dropped on his rear, staring up at her.

He trembled under her gaze. The unblinking eyes took all rational thought. They were vast, fathomless pools of intelligence, fixed wholly upon him. No flicker of distraction, no momentary glance away. Just that steady, suffocating attention that made him feel as though she could see not only his body, but every thought, every weakness, laid bare before her.

Her breath washed over him in slow, steady waves, each exhale carrying a heat that seeped into his bones. The faint scent of crushed grass clung to it, tainted by something warm and primal—something that spoke of power and finality. With every inhale, her nostrils flared like cavern mouths, and he felt the faint pull of her breath on his clothes, on his very skin, as if she might draw him up into that colossal muzzle with nothing more than a deeper inhale.

"These lands are treacherous so you will come with me, no excuses. I made up my mind when I saw you. Now stay still while I pick you up."

He gaped at her, too stunned to comprehend what she’d just said. Jack couldn’t respond. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. All he could do was watch. Jack blinked, confused for a heartbeat. Then he felt it.

Magic.

A low hum built in the air. Pressure thickened around his chest, then his whole body. His rear lifted from the ground first as an invisible force wrapped around him. Gentle, but inescapable. He floated upward, helplessly drawn toward her eyes as she lifted her head back toward the sky. Jack looked down at the ruins below, the wreckage of machines and men alike.

He was the last remaining.

She moved with an eerie grace for something so impossibly large. Her dark eyes regarded him not with hatred, but with curiosity. Then she spoke again, quieter this time.

"What is your name, little one?"

Almost as if she cared for his fragile hearing. Something her "normal" thundering voice could shatter. The young man opened his mouth, but only a croak came out. He swallowed, tried again, and barely managed. His voice was hoarse, small. It felt like whispering to a mountain.

"…. Jack."

A pause. The great mare’s eyes softened.

"…. Jack."

She echoed, as if tasting the name of the small creature right in front of her face.

"You may call me the Queen, Queen of the Forest. I have no other name."

Simple, yet the weight of it settled deep in his bones. It was not just a name, but a title, spoken with the serene certainty of a being who owned this piece of land in his country. The towering mare, regal even without ornament, did not need to convince him of what she was.

He already knew