Titus
**Janus**
The villa’s entrance opened into a large, glamorous hall filled with paintings, sculptures, intricately woven carpets, and, most of all, red tulips in every corner.
But I had better things to do than appreciate the Baron’s estate or the fact that there are tulips in November. I turn towards the now much firmer Creampuff and ask what everyone wants to know.
“Where are our men and the infamous priest?”
“Sir Titus is on the ground floor, turn right behind the staircase, and then open the first door in the corridor. As for the rest they are occupying the first floor. And the priest… well… he was put in the Cellar due to safety concerns.” The Creampuff starts of giving directions very enthusiastically but then tones down when it came to the Priests whereabouts.
I raise an eyebrow and ask incredulously,
“In the cellar, when all of his escorts are on the first floor?”
Now the Creampuff was sweating again.
“It was his own safety concerns…”
Sigh.
I try to erase my disappointment and turn my attention towards what lies ahead.
“Ok, Joel, let’s go and see Titus. And Collin, can you introduce the mother and child to the priest? The rest of you can go and get yourself accommodated.”
I give a meaningful look towards Baron Morenberg and follow Joel to find Titus Room. But Joel can not help himself and whispers to me,
“Already acting like you own the place. Huh, brother?”
“I Uhm… shut up.”
“Hehehe”
I ignore his remarks and open the door to Titus Room.
They’re filling the room is a bull of a man, completely dwarfing the normal-sized chair he was sitting on. So big he would have hit his head on the Baron’s Villa if he stood up. His arms and legs were thicker than most logs, his chin chiseled out of stone, once cleanly shaven, now covered in a thin flume. His icy blue eyes and almost white, blond hair made him look like an ice giant out of folklore. But there was a warmth in those eyes that made the giant nearly look meek.
He was dressed in an oversized nightgown that could have been used as a sail, but there was only one…
While I was still processing what I was seeing, boastful Laughter flooded our ears.
“HAHAHA Janus, Joel, it is so good to see you. Have you shrunk again?”
“Titus your… your leg…”
“Oh, that old thing I ehm…” Titus begins to scratch the back of his head while donning a sheepish grin, “…I lost it.”
**Titus**
With ten I was already taller than my father. No one had any idea why, but according to some scholars, my father hired, I resemble the Titans, also known as the Nephilim. They are an ancient race of people who were regarded as the children of the gods. My Parents and the church were ecstatic. But I never really felt divine. I felt distant from everyone else.
The church eventually pressured my Parents to allow them to train me as a knight. They taught me till I reached the age of eighteen. I got custom-made armor too heavy for anyone else to protect me and a sword taller than even myself to wield against my enemies. Once the time came for me to make my knight’s vow and swear fealty to the church.
I couldn’t do it.
Throughout my life, people have made decisions for me, even though I’m stronger than all of them. I just wanted to choose for myself at least once. But who would I swear fealty to? I had no prospects of learning anything else. And even though I don’t like to admit it Fighting is all I’m good for. And if I choose someone other than the church, they will hate me for it, and most likely anyone else who would take me in. That was when I met Olliver Yuwen. He already had a falling out with the church over his Mistresses and the Crater was always short on men. It seemed perfect. And it was.
My men loved me, my rooms ceiling and doorway were so tall that for the first time I didn’t feel too big, and I even managed to find myself a wife and a cheeky daughter as well. Though I’m glad she mostly comes after her mother.
The real trouble only started a couple of months ago. Master Roland had sent us to retrieve the next priest who was finally appointed as his successor. If the church had approved the priest just a couple of weeks prior, they could have sent him back with the teleportation circle, but of course, they had to be petty. The circle is only allowed to be used in emergencies and for the Kingdom’s annual summer solstice celebration in the capital.
So, when we finally arrived at the capital, we were reasonably pissed.
And a few of us spent an extra day calming down at some bar. We departed the next day and had just crossed the Ainbeck, a great River dividing the northern part of the Kingdom from the west and south. When it happened, it was the first of many ambushes. Thankfully, due to the timid priest’s presence as well as the fact that our cohort consists of the most seasoned of Fort Rosedorn, we only had a few Casualties but no deaths yet. Finn, for example, can’t raise his arm anymore after that quack of a priest put it back on.
However, this was nothing compared to what came next.
When we reached Aldmoor, the locals weren’t pleased about us leading Bandit towards their gate, but we had no choice. The city was the only way through the Surinam swamp, and they couldn’t send us away due to the nature of our mission; refusing us entry would result in the church and state questioning their loyalty.
But then They besieged the city. We wanted to break through but…
“And then?” Interrupted Janus, “Come on, how are some bandits supposed to take your leg? You are Titus the Giant. The only one who I have ever seen beat you was my father.”
I take a deep sigh even I can’t believe it really happened. My hands wander downwards gripping the stump of my lost leg sometimes it still feels like it’s still there. Tears beginning to fall
“I was… we were betrayed.”
““What!?””
“Sir Rod… No, Rodrick, that treacherous bastard stabbed me in the back of my knee, severing my leg.”