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The cut was substantial but nothing that would slow the massive simpleton down. But it had caused the half-giant enough pain to fall into a rage with the only goal of causing the drow pain.

Because the drow moved to the left the giant simply continued his swing and pivoted on his right foot. The ball of the mace continued along it's arch to rise again, all of this was timed so that when the drow came back at the behemoth he wold find the mace with a lot of momentum and power coming straight down at his head. Because he was a half-giant the nameless wanderer was much more agile then his brethren. So in anticipation of the impact to come the deranged half-giant let out a bellow that shook some snow off of a close by tree.

"AAAAAAAARRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The idea to block had been the incorrect one. The force that the giant had swung with would not be so simple to stop as to just block because it was strong enough to shatter weaker stones. It would at least knock the much smaller dark elf off balance, but that should be the least of his worries. As the mace crashed down on his sword more ice formed along the bottom, but instead of large icicles launching from the ball, what burst from the mace was hundreds of tiny projectiles.

They were needle like ice shards that would penetrate any open skin, and if the drow still managed to draw his blade after this onslaught he would find that the giant was pushing down the shaft of the mace. It was positioned right in front of him and the drow due to the swing and only had to be angled n order to stop a slash at any part of his abdomen. The only thing this beast knew how to do was pulverize it's opponents.

Somewhere in the center of the mountains, there was a clearing, a great shelf cut into the side of the rock, as if a meteor had fallen from the heavens and detonated on the edge of the mountains. The air was thin here, ice and snow covering most of the hard unforgiving rock that made this earth.

Beneath the snow and ice were signs of life, however. Previous life. Scars and cracks covered this open area, rubble collected in some places, massive warps in the flat ground in others. At one side of the clearing were sets of disheveled mannequins, course dummies lashed together by hemp and covered with thick leather hides to simulate humans. They stood in rows or in circles, and the majority of them were damaged almost beyond repair. Heads and arms had been beaten off their frames, some had been cut neatly in two, and others were almost charred mess, like someone or something had set them on fire.

On the side of the mountain sat a cave, the mouth jagged and wide, and light flickered from within. A campfire was crackling gently further within, a skinned mountain goat propped up over it, slowly roasting. A solitary rock was sitting next to the campfire, scuffs and sand surrounding it, marking much use.

Deeper within the cave, admist the flickering light of the campfire, stood a looming man, his back to the fire. His right arm was in a sling, his left arm not even present. His blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He was not dressed for the climate - he simply wore some trousers and a white shirt. He did not seem to feel the biting cold so far away from the campfire.

He was regarding the wall. Regarding it and waiting. Waiting for someone to come, beckoned by him long ago, beckoned by destiny.

Donner studied the walls closely, narrowing his eyes to looks at the fine intricities carved into the rocks.

He couldn't see. The fire needed to be brighter.

Turning around, he walked over to a pile of wood stacked high beneath a shelf cut into the rock-face. He booted the pile with his foot, a few logs rolling off the top. Walking around the cave, Donner kicked the logs around until they were in the fire. Grabbing a stick from where it leant, holding it haphazardly in his slung hand, he poked the fire a little, stoking it.

Donner didn't say anything. He watched Rain limp in impassively, the frost on his beard dripping a little as the fire began to melt it. Walking around to the rock before the fire, he sat himself down slowly, looking down to the flickering warmth.

And thats when Rain would see it. What Donner had been studying.

The entire wall of the cave - hell, all of the walls of the cave - were covered with pictographs of a great battle. One army versus another. The army to Donner's left were humaniod in depiction, but had a smatterings of other species, neko-jin or were-creatures. The pictures varied in size, almost as if depicting the humaniod's various sizes. They stood defiant, some with weapons, others displaying magical abilities.

The army to the right were all of one, a single mass of black creatures, misshaped and deformed. Claws and sharp teeth were gouged into the rock, the scratches hurried and urgent. If Rain chose to inspect the coloring of the creatures, he would see that it was human blood that gave them their black appeal.

The mass were clashing with the humaniod army. The Mass was like a wave, however, lifting up and over the initial clash, breaking down upon the humaniods like a tidal wave.

The pictographs were scratched into the walls with a fevered neediness, almost like the artist didn't have the time to put in detail. A few nails hung in some of the rock, ripped from fingers and forgotten in the urgency.

Donner's face was grim as he spoke. "...Are you still recovering from our fight, or...?"

"Don't touch the walls!!" Donner suddenly roared, leaping to his feet, the flames of the fire blowing away from him as he bellowed.

"Keep off the damned walls!!" He repeated as he stomped forward to yank Rain away from it, pushing him to the ground as he did. He turned his back to the wall, looking down upon Rain, his fist clenching and unclenching, the sling that had been holding his arm now forgotten.

He stabbed his finger down to Rain, opening his mouth to speak...but no words came. Tears welled in his eyes as he stabbed his finger again...but again, no words.

He dropped his arm and turned then, stalking back to his rock and plonking down on it, his chest heaving as he fought back tears.

"...I'm sorry...I should have warned you...please don't touch the walls again..."

This place obviously held much value to the giant Aesir. Hopefully his guest didn't take too much offense to his abrupt actions.

Donner simply stared into the flames, watching them dance and flicker...before standing again.

Walking over to the side of the cave, he reached behind a fallen rock to pull out a dusty looking knapsack. Moving back to Rain, he tossed the bag down next to the seat-rock before approaching Rain, taking him roughly by the arm and pulling him over to the seat-rock, pushing him down onto it.

"You can thanks our mutual friend, the Shadow, for that." Donner said quietly, grabbing the bandages on Rain's body and tearing them off like they were tissue paper as he nodded down to the emptiness that used to be his left arm. "I had to trade it for my life."

He shook his head as he looked at Rain's body. The boy was in serious need of medical attention. Thankfully, Donner had some herbal remedies, left behind by the former occupant of the cave. Pulling the knapsack open, Donner pulled out a jar of green jelly. It looked like a jam jar, but when Donner cracked it open - with a little difficulty - it smelled like a myriad of smells - minty, citrus, and swampy all at the same time.

"This is a herbal salve for wounds." Donner said to Rain, as he dipped his large fingers into the jar and slathered the stuff onto Rain's surgical wounds, the stuff drying into a dark green almost as soon as it filled and covered the wounds. "It'll sting for a minute, but then go cool. Your wounds will be healed by the morning."

He covered all of rain's wounds with the salve, even the ones on his face, before putting the lid back on the jar and placing it back in the bag - before pulling out another item, this one looking like a strange rice-cake wrapped in a leaf. "Eat." He ordered, placing it in Rain's mouth.