This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL

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Special thank to Voroni

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Luckily, it was a plain black t-shirt, because if it had been one of the other ones I usually wear with skulls and snakes on it, she would have certainly been scared of it. Clearly very confused, she inspected her body and noticed the bandages around her leg, then noticed the freshly cooked fish left for her.

She didn't touch the fish but instead tried once more to stand up and slowly walked out to the cave entrance. With a puzzled look on her face, the small woman took a look around and noticed many signs of human activity around. “H- Hello? Anyone here?” She asked with her tiny and barely audible voice.

After looking around for a while, she turned around and went back to the fish and fruits I had left for her. Seemed like she was hungry after all. She suspiciously sniffed it and took some small careful bites of it at first, but once reassured that it was still warm and not poisoned, she devoured the entire thing like a starving wolf.

Once her appetite was satiated, she then turned her attention back to her leg. Puzzled by the foreign looking bandages, she then tried to remove it. “Don't, I just recently changed them.” I said with my most soothing voice from deep in the cave.

The girl jumped in fright and aimed her eyes to the dark depth of the cave where I was hiding. I knew she hadn't understood a word of what I had said, but hoped I could manage somehow. The thing with the nanites' translation ability, was that it translated in English what the others said, but wasn't translating English to whatever their language was.

I could basically understand them, but had no way of making them understand me. “Who's there? What did you say?” She asked with a worried look on her face. I slowly walked forward on my knees until she could make out my silhouette, stopped and sat on the ground at a safe distance.

I had removed my necklace, my armour, my sniper and everything that could potentially scare her and even wore a black mask but my giant stature was more than enough to make her panic, which is was I had been walking on my knees, to make myself appear smaller.

I could see fear in her eyes, and she seemed ready to take off running at any time. Doing that would most likely injure her leg, so I needed to calm her down first. “Don't be afraid, you are in no immediate danger.” I calmly told her, hoping the simple tone of my voice would be enough for her to understand I wanted her no harm.

“You don't speak our tongue? W-Who- what are you? Are you the forest spirit that has been stalking our village recently? Did you save me?” She then began to bombard me with questions I couldn't answer. Her voice was so high pitch that it sounded really weird. I guessed that small bodies also came with small voices. I could tell that she was on edge, afraid and confused.

I really didn't know what to do to make her understand that I was not hostile, so I decided to do something which had always been associated with human culture. I then began to snap my fingers, whistle and sing a song from earth titled, 'Don't worry be happy by Bobby McFerrin'.

It wasn't perfect since my voice was muffled by my mask, but it was still a nice and soothing song that shouldn't be perceived as anything scary. Not only that, but the lyrics strangely seemed appropriate for the situation we were in. I realized how dumb I must have looked but as long as she stayed calm, I was ready to do anything.

She was staring at me with a complicated expression on her face and I could see by the way she was sitting on her bed, that she was ready to take off at any moment. I slowly pointed at myself and said; “Nathan” Then pointed at her and silently waited for her answer.

Seeing that she kept staring at me with a blank expression, I repeated the same action again and again until she finally seemed to understand what I was doing. She pointed at me and said; “Nay-tuñ~” She then pointed at herself and said “Noomar”.

Duliptani to English:

“Human”

Urgg. She thought I was telling her 'what' I was. Wanting to quickly fix her mistake, I pointed at her and say 'Noomar' before pointing at myself and repeating the same. I then pointed at the both of us and said 'Noomar' again. I wanted her to at least understand that I was human just like her. (To a certain degree)

She frowned and confusedly asked. “What? You're a human? Are you not the forest spirit? Wait, is the forest spirit a human? Are you wearing a mask?” Having seemingly reassured her by telling her that I was human as well, her fear then turned to curiosity.

“Why are you hiding in the dark?” She finally asked while leaning forward and squinting her eyes to see me more clearly. Making sure to move slowly to not surprise her, I extended my right arm forward toward her in an attempt to show her that my hands were really human but also quite bigger than hers.

I doubted that she would also notice the difference in colour in the darkness. One surprise at a time was more than enough at the moment. She curiously looked at my hand, then her eyes became big in surprise. She extended her own hand forward and even if there was two meters between us, she immediately noticed how big they were.

Fear came rushing back into her eyes as she inched backward on her bed. “A-are you a g-giant?” She asked with her eyes constantly twitching and throwing glances at the exit. “I guess you could call me a giant. But I am a 'Noomar'” I answered while retracting my arm back.

She slowly regained her composure, clenched her fist and asked in a gentle voice. “D-did you save my life?” Hoping that nodding for yes and shaking your head for no was something universal to all humans, I said yes while nodding my head slowly.

Apparently she had understood my answer, since she then pressed her two index fingers together, closed her eyes and slightly bowed forward. “You have my most sincere gratitude Mr. Giant, but it was not necessary. My life has already been forfeited. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my village or they will send someone else to get sacrificed to the forest spirit. Protecting my tribe is my duty.”

She then tried to get up but winced in pain as she put a bit of weight on her leg. Panicking, I quickly rushed to her still on my knees and carefully held her. My sudden intervention scared her a bit but she remained relatively calm since I was barely touching her. All I was doing was supporting her.

I tried to explain her that she couldn't walk with the injury on her leg and to stay put on the bed but she didn't want to hear anything. She kept on insisting to leave and was gradually growing more and more agitated so I gave up and took her in a princess carry.

For the first time since she had woken up, I then stood tall on my feet and slowly walked out of the cave with her in my arms. At this point she was kicking and screaming but when she finally noticed how high off the ground she was, she went silent and looked down at my legs.

She quickly looked back at me with fearful eyes, but at least now, she had stopped struggling. I walked up to the creek, and laid her on a patch of green grass. I grabbed my canteen, dropped a bit of water on the ground so she understood what it was, then gave her a drink.

Since she had seen me in the daylight, she had remained silent. She was constantly staring at me with big eyes and had also became very obedient. No doubt, it was because she was scared to death of me. I was thinking of bringing her back to her village, and if necessary go there daily to give her antibiotics, but from what she had said, she was supposed to be a sacrifice or something.

Now this fact wasn't sitting very well with me. I had no intention of letting the woman I spent so much effort saving, leave here to get killed right away. Should I drug her and keep her asleep here for a bit longer? What the hell, I now felt like a rapist after thinking that.

Then there was only one option left. Bringing her back to her village, and keep an eye on her. I would need to regularly go and give her medicine, while protecting her from the shadows if they ever sent her back to be sacrificed. The villagers would most likely panic at the sight of me, but from what I had witnessed so far, they were nothing more than cockroaches compared to my strength.

I still needed to be careful since I knew there were talented people around like that panhak guy, but with my pistol at my belt, I should be able to overcome anything that's thrown my way. It is with resolve that I took her in my arms once more and walked down the path I usually took to go to her village.

I could feel her little body shaking like a frightened kitten but immediately calm down when the beach came to view. Finally getting her bearings, the little woman in my arms finally understood that I was taking her back home and seemed overjoyed.

“Y-you are bringing me back home? Sniff* sniff* T-thank you Mr. Giant.” At this point, I could tell that she was beginning to get curious about the difference in our skin colour and was trying to catch glimpses at what was under my mask.

I decided to put her down on the warm sandy beach, took a few steps back and slowly removed my mask. By now, she probably knew that I meant her no harm so even if my face scared her, she shouldn't try to run away. When my blue azure eyes met her big black eyes, many emotions seemed to be shuffling through her mind.

There was a bit of fear, fascination, curiosity, but the one which annoyed me the most was a slight disgust. “What's wrong with your eyes?... So small... And... Blue?” Since she still seemed calm, I decided to show her a bit more of our differences.

I reached to my belt and grabbed my knife. Then, I sliced the tip of my finger and drew a bloody red line on my forehead. For the first time, her eyes went so big that I thought they would pop out of her skull. “D-dragon blood!!!!!!!!!” She screamed. “A... A man with dragon blood?” She then added while blushing for a reason unknown to me.

I wondered why she had immediately called it dragon blood, since dragons were not the only creatures with red blood. I then assumed that maybe dragons were the only red blooded creatures they had seen so far. After all, only flying creatures could make it onto an island.

“S-so Mr. Giant... i- is the one she spoke about....” She muttered to herself in a voice almost too quiet for me to hear. Hearing her call me Mr. Giant again, I decided to try once more to get the names thing right. “Nathan.” I said while pointing at myself. The woman then tilted her head and finally seemed to understand.

“Haa! You, Nay-tuñ! Me, ......Kuyani.” She finally answered while blushing once more. Finally! I finally knew her name. Happy to finally breaking through the language barrier, I repeated her name a few times. “Kuyani, Kuyani...” Her name had a good ring to it. At this point, her face was as purple as an eggplant, which worried me enough to check if she had temperature. While I did so, I also noticed that the cut on my finger had completely disappeared.

Not only healed, but no trace of it remained. Were the nanites also capable of healing me? Things were getting weirder and weirder by the minute. Not wanting to waste anymore daylight, I took her in my arms again and continued to go down the beach.

We eventually arrived at the area of the beach where I used to regularly see naked women. This time though, there was nobody to be seen but I could sense that most of the villagers were inside the village further inland. With the strange blushing woman in my arms, I continued onward and eventually reached the village.

Immediately, the guards noticed us approaching and they began to yell and run around to gather the troops. I stopped and stood a hundred meter away from the giant palisades with Kuyani still in my arms. In only a few seconds, I was surrounded by around 50 warriors pointing their bows and arrows at me.

“Don't shoot! He is not our enemy! He saved my life and brought me back here.” Anxiously pleaded Kuyani in my defence. She was visibly worried about what would happen to me but there was no need for her to worry. “Daughter!” Screamed a man I recognized as the tribe's chief. This time though, he didn't have his usual face paint. This time he had these black and yellow lines which looked like tears flowing down his cheeks.

[Face-paint: Mourning]

Ha! So that's what it was. This face paint was for those who mourned someone. They had obviously thought she was dead after her disappearance. “Father!! Tell the warriors to drop their bows NOW!” She instantly responded with joy in her voice slowly letting place to anger. “Bows down!” He finally ordered the warriors. Some immediately obeyed, but some others kept pointing it at me, because the fear I instilled in them was too great.

“LET GO OF HER YOU MONSTROUS MONSTER!” Screamed an angry looking superior nolvak warrior. The man was surprisingly muscular compared to the other. There was no doubt that this man was among the strongest in their tribe. Why was he so emotional? Could it be because he had feelings for her?

“Yurhon! You big piece of shit! Drop that bow IMMEDIATELY!” Apparently she didn't like him very much. It also appeared that the little miss had one hell of a temper and quite the potty mouth. “Urgg...” The big man faltered a bit before finally dropping his weapon.

I took a few steps forward toward the chief, but as I did so, the warriors began to panic and some of them even used their bodies to shield him. I looked at the chief and made slow movements that indicated that I only wanted to give her back to him. Kuyani once again began to yell at the warriors and extended her arms toward her father.

The chief finally came forward and took his daughter in his arms with tears in his eyes. “My baby, what happened? Why did the forest spirit give you back to us?” Asked her curious father while staring at me. “I-I...” She was about to say something, but never finished her sentence and began to blush like an idiot again.

I could hear the murmurs of the peoples around me. It was a mix of fear, distrust and disgust at my appearance. Not wanting to stir them up anymore than necessary, I turned around and began to walk away. “WAIT! You saved my life, we should give you a reward and a feast! Right father?” Energetically said Kuyani from her father's arms.

By the group's reaction, it was obvious they had wished her to never have said that. Even her father had a complicated expression on his face. “Daughter!!!!” Came running a small woman who I recognized as the woman who had yelled at the chief not long ago. Sensing that I had overstayed my welcome there, I gave Kuyani a warm smile and said my goodbye. “I will come again to give you medicine. Bye bye Kuyani. Wave* Wave*”

CROWD GASP!!!* All the women present simultaneously gasped in what felt like a choir of surprise. “D-Daughter, ......you gave it your name?..........” The chief had a look of disbelief on his face, then suddenly. “GGHAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!” The big warrior Yurhon came charging at me, spear in hand. I called him a big warrior, but the truth was that I was still 3 heads taller than him.

“Naytuñ! NOOOooooooo!” Screamed Kuyani who thought I was about to get murdered. The angry warrior came charging at me with rage in his eyes, but his efforts were in vain. Before his spear could reach me, I grabbed a hold of it with my left hand and slapped the mini man with the right one. The warrior then fell unconscious on the ground with blood coming out of his ears.

I had avoided using dokari and even avoided using all my strength against him, but he still had dropped to the ground like a bag of potatoes. Worried to have overdone it, I crouched and checked his pulse. Luckily, he was still alive. But what was that even about? Don't tell me they had a stupid rule like, women have to marry the man who they tell their names to. That would be really stupid.

When I looked back up, all I saw was a bunch of people with their jaws hanging down in disbelief. “D-daughter, you really want to marry this monster?” She then answered her father by blushing even more than before. For fuck sake, I hate being right about this kind of thing.

It was time to book it! I used a burst of dokari, and superman jumped back into the forest. I had no intention of marrying a woman I had just met. I now needed to hurriedly finish my damned boat and get the hell out of there.