The Petrified Gigant

Winter was almost gone, but was still cold, and it was usually a windy and overcast day. A cold breeze was blowing through the fields, and the witcher was still struggling to engage in some quest helping people on the path in exchange for some money or food. He was headed northeast, He heard about a dragon in the woods terrorizing travelers and merchants deviating the traffic from Sheeshan. He stood for a moment to observe the long road, clearing the thoughts. He rests for a moment sitting down on the ground looking at his moisty leather boots, then he reaches in the pocket for a piece of garlic bread and a potion of fennel. The witcher checks for the last two garlic cloves and puts them back in the pocket, a very useful plant, can repel vampires, insects, even rabbits and in most of the cases women if you eat too much but is not your biggest worry when it can already cause stomach cancer. Valdemir got up and headed for the long canyon of Quwe-Shella, an eldritch place. In a moment the medallion shock, a strong wind suddenly came from nowhere, it was blowing directly from above, like the sky suddenly opened and was a colder breeze which disappeared in a short time revealing a scene on the other side of the shore which captured the witcher's attention instantly. A young blond haired woman in a green dress was running away from four drunk bandits. She felt on the ground. They grab her for the arm and legs while a fifth man was approaching unbuttoning his pants, clearly it wasn’t her day, or it was but the last. The witcher yielded loudly to leave her alone, they didn’t react, the young lady was screaming desperately while they were tearing up her clothes, she tried to fight back and something sad, something like a course, even the witcher had a better hearing than average humans he did hear it clearly. Then they beat her, and the fifth guy who was obviously the leader of the band r**e her without mercy while she was hold still, Valdemir pissed off by the disturbing act withdraw the crossbow aiming the fellowship on the other side of the shore but he wasn’t sure if he will not miss the target, he could kill the poor girl. She was covered in blood. The leader had a big-fat nose, and a curly and unkempt greasy black hair was extremely excited, grabbed her neck and choked her to death. Valdemir quickly fired four shots in their direction and the sudden wind came out of nowhere, blowing now from below. He covered his face till the wind disappeared again, raised his head, but no one was on the other side, neither the poor girl nor the bandits. They were gone, even no trace of the blood. The Witcher ran to the shore. The cold water didn’t allow him to swim to the other side to maybe find out that it was only a spectral mirage or an ambush. Valdemir took a moment and thought. “The medallion vibrated, it was certainly some kind of magic. They weren’t dressed for this time of the year, where they come from and vanish so rapidly. Let’s take the long way around the Quwe-Shella Bay. I will find more on the spot.” - said the witcher. The shore of the bay wasn’t so walkable, some mud, some slippery stones and the small animals were watching the witcher like he was the unfortunate prey approaching the unknown hidden danger. He knows something is odd. The medallion was announcing it. He proceeded anyway. The water stopped mowing, suddenly was coming darker without any sign of the wind, he was carefully walking and looking around where the threat would manifest. The medallion was heating up due the vibration and abruptly stopped. Nothing happens, the witcher looks around and steps on the next stone. A thunder from the sky, a powerful earthquake struck the area The water around the witcher exploded in air like an aggressive geyser making him losing his balance and falling into the mud. The creature of stone opens big angry eyes in front of the witch with a deep and rugged voice menace the witcher's life. “Give me all your possessions, or you are going to meet your destiny.” - said the rock. The witcher was surrendered by the protective spell with the silver sword drawn already in his hands in an offensive posture and stood still. “Are you deaf?”- “You can’t move, can you?”- “Obey my demands or you’ll face the consequences!” said the rock with a grating voice. “You can’t!”- “I will not release you from the mud! You are going to ...” - but at that moment the witcher stept out of the water. “Is not your lucky day.” “Dammit! Usually, passersby get scared thinking I enslave them.” add the rock.  “So I guess you have to do with the mess on the other shore?”- “If you say so, yes.”- “Update me.You seem to be here for a long time? Right? One or two centuries?”- “Is not your concern.”- “You are cursed to watch that mirage every time someone approaches in this way, do you?” The witcher withdrew the sword back in the scabbed. “Do I look like an information point to you?” “Well if you have nothing to say I will rather continue my voyage.” said Valdemir “All right, all right, I tell you, you are the first traveler I didn’t scare s**t out of you, how is that possible? Who are you?” “I’m Valdemir of Marlera, a witcher, and you?”- “You probably heard about the inglorious captain’ Sergio Capoleone?”- “Well, who didn’t? I heard after the last raid on Venetian merchandise vessel you and your bandits disappeared.”- “That was my last day like a human.”- “You mean regular monster?”- “Hm, my crew and I attacked that vessel, it was an easy task, we killed almost all the crew, we kept the navigator and the helmsman, confiscated some gold, a few barrels of beer, all the liquors. It was something strange with the ship, not like a usual merchandise ship, it was sailing almost empty and carried one prisoner. At first we set the course to 10 miles NW of Galyola Island to prepare the ship for sinking in the incoming tempest like usual, blame the weather sinking. The future archaeologist will have jobs thanks to us.” Capoleone finished with a sarcastic smile. “What about the girl?” ask Valdimir. “After unloading the goods, we unchain the girl. She was very pretty, around 20 years, blond, green eyes, skinny and kept starving for a few days. So I unleash the beast for a twist. We chased her through the ship. She felt on the deck. My brothers grab her and I f**k her. I couldn’t control my drive, that’s why you see me suffocate her in the mirage. That night the ship sank with her on board. The storm caught us by surprise, our ship also sunk, somehow two of my crew members and I managed to return to safe land in the morning.” Capoleone just stops for a moment.  “And then, what happened next?”- “What happened next scared me to death even now I cower in fear. When we arrived at the shore the two men jumped out the boat and as soon they had put their foot on the shore they turned into small rocks and fell apart. I didn’t want to live the lifeboat for a whole week. After that I ran out of food and drinks,  and no one was passing and the paddles were on the shore. There was only one bottle left with a bloody liquor with a specific smell of burning resin, the taste was highly astringent and fairly bitter, but the taste faded quickly, I drank the whole bottle.“- “Wow, you drank a whole bottle of dragon’s blood.”- “Is it poisonous?”- “No, it’s a medicine for stomach problems and in certain spiritual practices, too. But 15 drops a day, not any more.”- “Huh.”- “What next?”- “I stepped out of the boat,, nothing happens, I was thinking that I was spared but as soon I step on to dry land, a sudden wind come from above, an earthquake and a water explosion  like a geyser, the next thing I remember I couldn’t move because I was petrified. And here I am.”- finished the sad story Capoleone. “Before you bastard killed her, she cast a curse, did you remember what she recited?”- “Well something like: Cor lapis, lapis”- “Cor autem lapis, lapis” the witcher repeated the curse corrected.  “Yes, that the right riddle.”- “That’s not a riddle, that’s a quick harm curse, do you know her name?”- “Yes, her name was Ezia of Shikichee and there is no way to lift it?”- “Well you f****d the devil, she was 80 years old when she disappeared, a powerful sorcerer, she could open the doors of Hell but she turns you only to an annoying talking stone. Consider yourself lucky. At least your friends didn’t end like pigs eaten by you.Did she finish the course with: in sempiternum?”-  “No!”- “Are you sure?”- “Yes.”- “Then the curse could be lifted?”- “What? What are you saying witcher? I could be free?”- “Yes”- “Lift me this course I’ll pay you anything, please, I can’t live like this for the eternity.”- “The course can be disenchanted by removing the main motive of the course, which is your heart of stone. I can’t help you, It's all on you.”- “But I’m immortal, can’t destroy my heart.”- “Who said destroy? Help someone, do something that will unstone it!”- “I’m afraid of changes. I always was.”- “Change is the ability to survive, become your fear, you can’t be afraid of yourself. ”- “Witcher, are you afraid of death?”- “I’m not afraid of myself. It’s like jumping from the cliff. More you hesitate, more is harder to jump.”- “I guess you're right witcher. Farewell.”- “Farewell.”- The witcher continued his path along the bay thinking that ship was an ambush for Capoleone, no logical explanation why an empty ship was sailing just before the storm nearby. He came across the remains of Capoleone's lifeboat, found and withdrew the crossbow arrows fired earlier, and continued the journey. After a few years, Valdemir encountered that path again, but the giant was no longer there.He found the piece.