Everything happened so suddenly. For a moment, all she sensed was darkness and the plunder of heavy footsteps. But then, the darkness itself had moved and shifted, and suddenly morphed into a humongous beast with a woman's face. She couldn't quite comprehend the size and breadth of the creature in front of her. Was she... human? 

Lorin indeed was human. A Samoan giant, driven away and outcasted from her community, purely for her size.  They ripped her from the bright blue sandy shores, forced her far and deep through the centre of the rattling caves and rocky heated worlds of the inland. Long had she never felt or even the comprehended the notion of friendship. What little companionship she held earlier in life had almost been utterly sucked away in the pipeline of time. Annoyed at the interruption, she gazed down at the scrawny, puny, pathetic-looking human before her. 

To Maria, she couldn't see any way around that Lorin wasn't blocking with her enormous size. Not fazed by the malicious grin that was spreading across the face of Lorin, Maria darted to the left on exhausted limbs. It didn't matter now. 

Lorin watched the little thing carefully, unmoving. She was guarding the entrance suspiciously, almost enjoying the spectacle of the tiny dances this small little girl was doing in front of her. Maybe some kind of ritual. 

Maria was testing, probing, analysing, evaluating. Stripped of her more privileged instincts, she was reduced to experimenting like a creature testing for weaknesses against a larger adversary. 

A tall, large shadow emerged from deep within the dark cave. A thick dirty hand slammed down painfully and inexorably on the rock, fingers like thick ropes that could lift an anchor out of the sea. Shaggy glowing hair, the colour of the night, rippled down both sides of her shoulders, and focused eyes focused suddenly upon her tiny intruder. 

"G-greetings Madam" Maria said in a faintly high but strict voice. "I have to come to pick up my friend which I believe is within your... hospitality, right now". 

Lorin's eyes glowed with interest. Never had a visitor arrived on her doorsteps. She often wanted it, someone to beckon her back, say it was all a joke, and that they liked and appreciated her height and strength. This person didn't really look similar to her countrymen though. A trap, she suddenly thought. And her eyes narrowed and clenched, slightly. But that was enough.

Maria took a painful step back, bumping into Waggi in the process who had been oddly still behind her. The dog scrabbled back, knocked out of a frozen hypnosis. 

"His name is Salvo" Maria insisted, hoping something could get through. The name caused a flash of recognition across the giant's dark features, for only a second. Maria had arrived in the correct location. "You have no right to be holding him prisoner" she said, holding one bony arm out.

Lorin looked down at the twig of an arm, questioning if it was somehow magical or spiritual. Eyes were benevolently vague, almost separated from the mass of power and strength beneath, nearly comical. 

"I-I-I warn you" Maria remarked again, stern and strong. "Free him. Now". She heard a timid whine behind her that also drew the giant's attention. 

Lorin bolted into a splintered grin, eyes glowing with pinpricks of hope for the lost, the broken, the shamed, the inadequate. She took a thundering step forward that caused the rock around her and Maria to reverberate like quivering subjects. 

Maria was too exhausted to do anything but watch as her much larger adversary forced the ground to dance on the journey towards her, which wasn't long as she had quite an extraordinarily large stride. Her limbs felt like they were medically attached slabs of rock, her mind was trying to convince her that she was hallucinating, and her heart was just telling her that Salvo surely must be still alive. He had to be, he better be! She had journeyed so far for this moment, for goodness gracious. 

Suddenly, she turned to run, but that was useless. In fairness, she just slapped onto the ground like an awkward seal and let herself be  enveloped by the surging darkness. But no, all she felt was a rush of musty air and the sound of a high-pitch yelping. Maria focused her vision on the open cave, now inviting her inside. Beginning to crawl with the great burden of determination, she pushed herself painfully across the rocks, using whatever senses that remained at her disposal, which was kind of like scraping the final drops of a seriously large barrel. But fresh energy was seeping through the gaps of her flaky doubts - hope. 

Shuffling like a caterpillar, the opening to the dark cave calling to her like a long lost sweet orchestra; a cocoon of safety. The rocks were like daggers, cutting into her skin, splintering another one of her defenses. The sounds behind her were oddly quiet. 

Lorin was confused. She loved dogs. Why had that dog run away? How strange. She just wanted to stroke its soft fur,  and smile at its face for a while. She had stepped on his tail, but that was affectionate. She meandered around, only to see that that tiny scrap of flesh had actually reached five metres away from the entrance. A smile ruptured onto her face. She liked that. She casually walked over to her, curious as to why she would want to enter. But if she really wanted to join the cave, perhaps there was a spare corner for her to sleep in. 

Suddenly Maria felt herself being lifted into the air. The smell, the stench of rotten fish and cabbage intensely filled her nostrils as she was bundled beneath one thick, bristly arm. Her whole body shook with the rhythmic, thunderous thud as her vision began to darken and darken, and the humming from a happy mouth began to grow louder and louder. 

"Pu-put me down" she said weakly. The shock had drained her of any momentum. She hadn't noticed danger creep up from behind her. Not in the foggiest. 

The darkness was at its finest thickness now. Even the scariest of night monsters would be afraid and disturbed at how black it was, but still Lorin moved confidently on with Maria tucked under her armpit. 

The cave was dark, she was alone, except for the greatest monster of all. Maria lifted her head slightly only to thump her head hard dark on a slab of poking rock. It was the last sensation she felt.