“‘Go forth and seek your pilgrimage. When you are returned to us, declare who you are, that the world may hear you.’ You cryptic bastard, when I get out of here I’m going to peck your damn hair out.” Niko complained to himself very loudly, the essence in the air too thin to carry his intent as well as it had before. That, and it was far more stubborn, resisting his every desire to try to form it as he wanted. He’d tried to push his own sense through the essence, and had gotten a stabbing, awful headache for his troubles.

But what else was he supposed to do? Randomly wander the atypical maze while some random feeling of being watched and assessed harassed him constantly?

“Well I certainly hope it is,” He griped, the strange amalgamation of stone walls and overgrown, incredibly dense hedges giving him no real change in scenery. For what felt like five hours now, he had roamed the confined space that had been a large clearing with a towering, but otherwise typical brown-barked tree. The moment he stepped into the clearing, everything in his awareness suddenly shifted, and it had felt like he’d been plucked from where he was and set somewhere else. There wasn’t even a way to resist, he simply blinked and the action was complete.

That had been a vastly humbling experience, but the follow up had left much to be desired. Labyrinthine passages were never Niko’s idea of a fun time. And, what was worse, the hand, or in his case, claw-to-wall strategy wasn’t going to work here. He’d heard the maze shift around him, and he’d confirmed by doubling back and watching one of his previous paths close, while another opened. It was, as far as he could tell, totally random. Cheating, then, had been his go-to idea.

“Shame that didn’t work.”

“Yeah, it would have made things much– Peck me!” Niko cried out shrilly as he realized someone was just talking to him.

A chuckle rang through the maze, “Pay me no mind, I like a little jest from time to time.”

Niko spun on his heel in a circle exactly twice, in both directions, before seeing nothing and deciding to do exactly what the voice suggested. The Phorus looked down two paths, felt his gut, and walked backwards down the left one.

“Why are you walking backwards?” The voice asked curiously, and Niko did his best not to startle when it sounded like whoever was speaking was doing so right in front of him.

“Not really sure? Just felt like the thing to do there,” Niko shrugged, “I mean, if my perception is being bent anyways, then I can’t trust my senses. So I’m just going by my gut.”

A rustle of a breeze swayed some of the thicker bushes, which he assumed meant that the voice was satisfied with that answer.

“So… are you this Grovekeeper, druid, person that they were talking about out there?” Niko said after waiting several seconds.

“No, that man isn’t much for conversation, even with me.” This time when the voice spoke, Niko thought he could feel just the barest awareness touch the ambient essence. He likened it to if you were standing under a cloud and suddenly just a bit of sunlight hit you, warming you up slightly. Niko still had no idea where the voice was coming from, but he guessed that it was just something way above his station at this time, and nodded his head before pausing at another intersection.

This time, he looked both ways, and feeling a flicker of essence on one path, went–the opposite way. His gut was saying left, and the essence anomaly was to the right, so obviously the essence was bait. Contemptuously, he snorted at it, this time walking while facing forward on the left path.

“Not many people ignore the distraction quite like that,” The voice said with mirth.

Niko clicked his beak, “Well, so far my guts been steering me right enough… maybe.”

“Does not knowing bother you?” The voice asked.

“Yes, but no?” Niko answered without thinking, trying to keep in mind the rules of this place, “I mean, I do like knowing where my path will take me, but the destination’s kind of already set.”

“Oh? And what is your destination?”

“Death, of course.” Niko trilled happily, “We’ve met before. If there’s anything I’m sure of, death is inviolable, but it doesn’t always rush.”

The voice paused for a long while then, and Niko wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t have answered truthfully, afterall. But, he’d been told to be honest, and if something that lived in an essence concentration this potent wanted him gone, he’d be gone.

“That is… a very loaded statement.” As the words rolled out, Niko felt the essence in the labyrinth rise more, firmly into the second tier. Niko supposed that it was interested in him, now.

“I don’t think so. And, I mean, it’s not like I’m not scared of that eventuality, but it’s not like I can’t make it… better?” Niko frowned, “Like… not as hard? Having people around that care and all that.”

“And this would… make your death better?” The voice asked carefully, “To have people around?”

Niko shook his head, “Ah, not quite. I guess it’s more like having people you care about around. And it’s not really about making death itself better, more like the time leading up to it. In the end, everyone is alone when death comes for you.”

More essence trickled in, “That makes more sense, having loved ones to share in life. You make it sound as though you’ve actually died before, though?”

Niko laughed mirthlessly, “I have. Pulled from the blender, as it were. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife per se, but I do know that the moments after passing from my old world were anything but a peaceful embrace.”

“It is truly rare to meet one whom has beheld the beyond,” the words took on a strange cadence as the essence in the area increased, “Then, who pulled you from the jaws of death? Hmm? I’ve no knowledge of any wizard nor druid so powerful.”

Niko took his time in answering, in spite of the increased sense of danger that tickled his spine. Once more, Niko paused at a forking path, but this time his gut gave him no real indication of where to go. They were the same in every respect that he could see, perfectly mirrored until they turned at a ninety degree angle in the same direction. While he waited, Niko contemplated not telling the voice anything more, but he doubted that was an option.

“Alterra did.” Niko answered simply, still uncertain where his path lay.

“The Great Mother did?” A surprised tone sounded, “I feel her touch upon you, but… ah, I see. More than merely a touch, then. You are her Chosen, no? Why did she save you?”

Niko shrugged, “I’m her Chosen. She sent me to this world, though I’m guessing everything after that has been one long ad libbed plan. I don’t expect I was intended to not be human. As for why? I’m to help her with her god problem, though likely that will mean somehow killing them.”

Suddenly Niko realized that he couldn’t tell which path was better because both led to the same place. ‘A static destination, afterall.’ He clucked to himself before choosing the right side, if only because he was right-claw dominant. Every footstep in silence, Niko could feel the essence in the labyrinth rise, growing more and more potent as he crept deeper.

“I believe I should introduce myself,” A voice ahead of Niko spoke, and he realized then that he’d somehow made it to the center of the maze, where a massive tree lay. That was not what drew his eye, though, and instead he looked past it, to the rock it was attached to. Gleaming, shimmering sheets of gemstones flickered and flexed, moving through stone as surely and swiftly as fish through water. Emerald, sapphire, diamond, topaz, carbuncle, sardius, agate, ligure, amethyst, onyx, jasper and beryl flowed forth endlessly before forming something of a mammoth form resembling a great multi-limbed entity. It grew and grew before Niko’s eyes, leaving him awestruck amidst a scintillating lightstorm that refracted from an inner light within the creature. Twelve arms, each made of a different precious gem, floated around a core of ever shifting stone.

Niko knew that the many tons worth of solid mass should have been as loud as a continuous and punishing rockslide, yet somehow it only made a light grinding noise. Harmonic sounds echoed throughout the labyrinth as the central, stone mass shaped itself into something resembling a human figure, though no arms adorned its torso. Every second the stone moved in flux, before it eventually settled on something made of granite and marble, shaped into what Niko would compare to Greek god-sculptures of old.

“I am Vol, the Titan of Gems and Earth, and Alterra’s faithful son.” He smiled warmly, “I welcome you, Brother.”

For several seconds, the literal titan shrank down, arms and all, before Niko’s eyes, going from the size of a small mountain down into what he could at least reasonably say was only the size of a small building. All the while, his brain had simply stopped operating, so many switches having been flipped at the same time that he was busy trying to find the breaker to turn things back on.

When he finally managed it, the titan–Vol–was only looking more and more amusedly at him, “I hope you don’t take offense when I say that I’m not sure you can count us as Brothers.” Niko said, not even bothering to note that the essence here was so rich that he could probably literally speak his mind without hardly any effort at all.

Vol laughed, a sound more like a happy rockslide than anything else, “Perhaps in power, but you are bonded as tightly as any of my kin to her. And that you take on the pilgrimage? A proper path to power, indeed.”

Niko opened his beak before closing it, thinking for a moment more before deciding to speak, “So, it’s true that the pilgrimage has ties to Alterra? Do they know that you’re the one that initiates this thing? How does that work anyways?”

“Mm, it’s true,” the not-man nodded while still smiling, “And no, only the Grovekeeper knows of my true identity, and I would appreciate you keeping that a secret.” He then moved to sit down, and the earth beneath him rose to meet him, fully formed from marble with veins of gold running through it.

“Show off.” Niko openly accused him.

His grin only widened, slightly creepily, “Always!” He retracted the grin to human levels, perhaps noting the unsettled look on Niko’s face. It just screamed uncanny valley the way it had been. “As for how to begin the pilgrimage? Normally, I’d give some platitudes about becoming known by the world, but you? You’ve been known from day one, I suspect. Though, it seems Mother is not… quite able to keep a good eye on you.”

Niko frowned at that and tilted his head, “She… can’t? Why would that be?”

“Probably that other force I feel in there. You are Chosen by another, as well,” Vol shrugged, “I could look into it, but it would not be a pleasant experience.”

“That’s fine. I think it’s this Venris fellow,” Niko admitted readily, before seeing the man's expression turn thoughtful. “Is that an issue?”

“No, I would think not. It is considerably bizarre that Venris would knowingly grant you his blessing, though.” Vol’s diamond arm went to his chin in contemplation.

“If it means anything, I think it was his interference that caused me to become a beast, instead of a human.” Niko shrugged, “So far, that hasn’t actually been so bad.”

Vol nodded vigorously at that, “Indeed! While I love the humanoid races as much as The Great Mother herself, I would not wish to be one!”

Niko blinked at that, ‘Alright… he’s not exactly what I pictured a Titan would act like, but that’s totally fine.’

“In any case,” he cleared his not-throat meaningfully, “I would guess that Venris likely wishes to arm you in the same way he would his own Chosen. Hopefully, that doesn’t override your will, though Alterra would surely help you in that case. To be honest, I’m not surprised he took this chance; his hate of the gods is deeper even than Alterra’s, though I’ll admit I don’t know why.”

Niko’s brows furrowed in curiosity at that, but as Vol just stated, he didn’t know why Venris despised the other gods. Surely, he’d been sending his Chosen after humanoids for a long time, perhaps strictly because of their connection to the gods themselves. Maybe if he killed enough of them, the gods would starve? Cut off from believers?

‘That’s a dark thought,’ Niko shivered, not willing to commit the levels of mass murder required to approach his mission from that angle.

“Now, as for getting you on the pilgrimage,” Vol interrupted Niko’s musings, “I’m approaching this with much more gravitas with your companions, but with you… Well, it’d be oddly pompous for one who will potentially be my equal.”

“Say what now?” A disbelieving Niko spluttered, “Equal? Can that happen?”

Vol snorted, a sound more like a shotgun going off than any mortal equivalent, “Of course! How else do you think you’ll be able to deal with Gods? The rest of us are bound in keeping essence moving, a job made all the harder by those damned parasites, but you? We have a vested interest in making you the best you can be!” He laughed thunderously, “In fact, I have a good feeling about the whole lot of you. Time will tell how far you’ll climb, but I like those siblings of yours, they’ve got spunk!”

Niko’s heart went from stone cold at the mention that there were Titans, in plural, that expected much from him, and then warmth at Vol’s words towards his siblings.

“Now, don’t move, this is so much harder with someone who has a chosen blessing, let alone two!” Vol moved his arms forward, all of which hovered away from his body and started to shift around Niko, slowly.

“Uhh… how much harder?” Niko blinked in wariness, “Should I be worried?”

“Well… that all depends.” Vol’s face blanked as he concentrated harder, his arms slow motions around him gradually speeding up as they spun around him, manipulating near invisible but potent lines of essence as they did so.

Niko swallowed as he felt his body tremble under the pressure, “Depends on what, exactly?”

“If you’d like to keep your mental faculties and feeling in all of your limbs, mostly.” Vol mustered a half chuckle, “If you would literally not move a muscle, that’d be a great start.”

Niko froze as well as he could, not even blinking if he didn’t need to. Internally, though, he was screaming, ‘Shouldn’t I be unconscious or something for this? Isn’t this like surgery?’

The floating arms spun faster and faster, and the look of concentration only grew deeper as Niko felt the building amount of essence in them. More and more built in their clasped hands, threads of essence intertwined as they worked magic that Niko wasn’t sure any machine on earth would have been able to replicate. When they sped up even more, Niko almost felt his resolve crack.

Then Vol laughed, “You should see your face right now!”

Niko blinked, his confused face looking at the chiseled man laughing hysterically at him while his arms still moved at incredible speed around him. “Y-you were joking? Really!?” Niko couldn’t help but sag in relief along with the outrage. Was that really something appropriate to–

“Nope, I just needed you to relax your muscles for this part.” Vol said, though halfway through Niko felt every strand of power tear through him. Flesh and bone, essence vessel, and then something deeper, his soul itself, trembled under the power. Yet, at the same time, it didn’t hurt, in spite of how much Niko knew it should hurt, the cuts were so clean and fast that his nerves couldn’t keep up. And then essence surged, flashing as brightly in his eyes as a physical phenomenon, and the injuries vanished.

Vol let out a long breath, looking relieved, “Perfectly done.”

Niko felt all of his energy flee him as he landed flat on his butt. “I… am having some complicated thoughts about you right now.”

The Titan roared with laughter as he said, “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to sort that out, but for now, I must bind your pilgrimage to the others. That will be much easier. You’ll need only to state who you are together, and I’ll do the rest.”

Niko perked up at that, and scrambled to his feet, “Before anything else, will my being a Chosen be unfair to the others?”

With a knowing shake of his head, Vol answered, “No pilgrimage is impossible. Rest assured, their paths will remain theirs to tread. But beware, for no pilgrimage is ever easy. Now, may we meet again when you are stronger, hm? Perhaps then you may meet some of your other Brothers and Sisters?”

Niko did his best not to envision meeting multiple Titans while he felt space around him somehow fold outwards, pushing him away from the Titan Vol. As he did so, he could almost see Vol’s shadow expanding, growing taller and more substantial, and it was only then that Niko realized his mind had been altogether far too calm for the entire thing.

‘Mind-shenanigans? I’ll bet that tree is actually from the Daurghast then. Or maybe the Daurghast is from it? Ugh… I don’t want to know.’ Niko’s brain started combing back through everything that just happened with a thankfully muted sense of acceptance. Now all he had to do was wait for the others to finish their own meetings with Vol.