Gaius rushed forward, swiping his blade through the air in a streak of red and silver. The crackling energy that had been sputtering around Helene was released in a bright burst, shooting out in the direction of her raised hand toward her brother. But, Gaius dodged it deftly, wrenching his body to the left, the blast dissipating as it burned past him. He shot up straight and smirked, racing forward again, his sword out to the side.

Helene fired another white-hot plume of magic straight at him, but this time Gaius dropped low, spun clockwise, and brought his blade up on the opposite side behind his back. Helene was too quick, and leaped backward, the sharp edge passing just inches from her face.

Was he trying to kill his own sister?

I wanted to help. I had to help. However, there was another issue.

With a roar, the Mazestalker barreled down on us, now just a few dozen feet away. Its strange, leafy body shuddered in a forward motion. It was hunched over, using its arms to propel it as well as its legs, like a strange plant-covered ape.

Do something! I screamed at my own mana. Why can’t I just use the mana here and now?

I’d only been able to access the depths of my magic when a Giant approached, and I couldn’t control it when that happened. Even then, other than… that I couldn’t access anything. I looked at the climbing hook in my hands and slid my feet shoulder-length apart.

I still have this.

I felt the earth shake as the monstrous Mazestalker leaped forward, crossing the last threshold between us in an instant. It roared again, and I felt the force of its sonorous bellow, the wind from its breath almost knocking me over. Its vacant sockets were positioned right toward me, and I knew it was looking at me, somehow. It was twenty feet of fury, and there was a simplicity to its rage. I understood it. I felt it too.

Just ten feet from me, I knew it was now or never.

I steadied myself and took a slow breath. The creature suddenly acted.

It lashed out with its gigantic branchy arm, trying to swipe me.

Now.

I shot forward, ducking just underneath its reach, feeling the wind of its movement as I passed to the other side of its arm and jumped. I had timed it correctly, and landed on the barklike flesh of its arm, and raced upward.

The creature roared again and shifted, and I felt my footing give, but I was prepared. In an instant, I’d loosened the rope around my torso, and threaded the eye of the hook with the coarse bind, twisting the catch Father had installed that clamped the line. As I tumbled from its bicep, I hurled the hook with all of my might at the beast’s shoulder.

The barbed fluke struck true, creating a hold in the moss and bark. I yanked hard, launching my body in the direction of my fall for momentum and felt the pendulum of velocity swing me upward.

The Mazestalker twisted, screaming, trying to reach for me, but that just helped my force, and with incredible speed, I shot up into the air and dropped right on its back. I felt its body shift beneath me, and I adjusted my weight, dodging as the creature’s thick, rootlike fingers snaked up, trying to grab me.

I quickly snapped down on the end of the rope I was holding and watched the motion travel down its length and to the climbing hook. It wrested loose from the Mazestalker’s shoulder, and I pulled it quickly toward me, catching it and flipping it point-down.

With a roar, I drove it down into its shoulder blades, eliciting another pained screech from the monster beneath my feet. The metal had pierced its hide a few inches, and the vibration of the strike made my hands and arms ache. I twisted, trying to dig further into the beast’s back, but suddenly felt a quick shift beneath me.

CRACK!

My vision exploded in a myriad of painful colors, my head spinning. I felt myself flying through the air, and then crash suddenly on the hard stone of the ground. It was pure agony, and I tried to clear my head, but everything came in fractures of sight. Everything was swimming in front of me as fuzzy shapes danced around ahead of me.

I focused, willing myself to align to reality. Though my head felt as though it was bursting at the seams, I was able to concentrate enough to cause some semblance of sense to return. Everywhere I glanced, there was a mild wavering to contours. It was enough. I rose.

I realized that I no longer had my hook. I looked ahead at the monster. The Mazestalker was wrestling with itself, trying desperately to dislodge the long shaft of metal from its back.

Dammit! I can’t lose my one weapon in this fight. I’d need to get it back somehow. The length of rope was still wrapped around me, but at this distance, I’d have no leverage to pull with. Which meant no chance.

Helene and Gaius were still at it to my left. The red-haired man kept furiously swinging his blade at his sister, but she kept deftly dancing out of the way. She fired another magical blast, but it missed him again, and Gaius laughed. Based on the attack’s fading intensity, I could tell Helene was at the dregs of her mana and seemed to be forcing the spells to fire with pure willpower.

I launched myself forward, intending on getting back on top of the beast to retrieve my hook. Still, the monstrosity suddenly turned, noticing me, and roared again. In a flash, it was barrelling down the path at me, ignoring the thorn in its hide, pursuing me with a renewed vigor.

It reached high with its right arm, intending to slam it down on me, so I launched myself to the right. I crashed right into its other arm, swiping from beneath the distraction.

That was a mistake.

I flew back again and felt myself slam against some hard in an upright sitting position. My head snapped backward and bounced against the solid structure, and my teeth crashed together. I both heard and felt several molars crack with force, and I cried out. I absently reached up to touch the back of my head and felt only hair.

Where’s my hat?!

It was an odd thing to be concerned about, but it drove me wild with fear.

Mother.

The Mazestalker screeched and lumbered toward me. Distantly I could hear the overhead voice announcing the remaining time.

“Forty seconds remaining.”

It was hard to believe that only twenty seconds had passed, but I knew I couldn’t waste any time. I had to do something.

I felt the creature’s hot breath as it drew within feet of me, and pushed myself back, but found that I was pressed up against something unyielding.

The archway.

The Mazestalker raised up to its full height, lifting both arms above its head to smash me.

Think!

Suddenly, over the hedge, I saw a black shape shoot through the air towards the beast. A slight individual garbed in black sailed onto the beast’s back. They had a dark complexion, and beneath the black hood, I could see a pearly white…

Smile? It may have been a grimace, but without being able to see his eyes, it was hard to know.

“Gah!” the figure cried out in a high voice and plunged two long, crooked daggers into the back of the Mazestalker’s neck. It screeched, but the attacker was fast. Before the overgrown shrub could react further, they had stabbed it three more times, each jab as deep as the last. I realized where I'd seen him before. He’d been the shadowy figure skulking in front of the Harbinger Arch’s platform at the Appointment ceremony.

He was small, and I couldn’t help but think of his similarity to Nox at that moment. I’d never met such gifted youths in my life.

The Mazestalker tried to swipe at them, but the black shape leaped into the air to dodge the blow, landing on its back again. Then he pivoted, suddenly grabbing onto my climbing hook, and yanked it up from the beast’s hide.

Learning quickly, the Mazestalker slammed itself at a forward angle, causing its assailant to lose balance, and flashed an arm up to hit them.

“No!” I cried out, but I stopped.

The attack had passed entirely through the boy’s body. The beast began to tumble sideways from its own force of overstretched range. I looked at the boy. I saw the glittering crescent of teeth again and watched as they lifted their arms. As though made of mist, their entire body dropped, passing through the Mazestalker’s shoulder and chest, and landed softly on the ground.

He is like a ghost.

I was stunned. But I didn’t have time to relax. The black robe chuckled as he handed me back my climbing hook.

“Yours?” he said in his high voice. I snatched the weapon and nodded my thanks. The Mazestalker clambered up and turned to face us again.

“I wish I had something stronger than just this,” I said, gripping the climbing hook tightly.

“No mana, eh?” the boy asked, and in a flash, he was standing defensively, daggers out, and his hood drooping down. I wasn’t sure how he could see, as I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of his face.

“I have mana,” I said, “but I can only use it under special circumstances.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” the boy said dismissively, “if you have mana, you can use it. Just use your Talisman.”

“What?”

But the boy may not have heard me, as he sprang forward, leaping into the air and slicing at the Mazestalker with what appeared to be glee. The monster swiped at him, but passed right through his body again, and the boy drove forward, raking one of the cruel blades across its wooden face.

I pressed my palm against the lump beneath my shirt over my chest.

Use the Talisman?

I sighed.

“Iustus anguis,” I said, and the circular display sprang to life in front of me. It still had the same information as before, reading whatever ingredients my soul comprised of. Suddenly, I remembered Helene. She had summoned her own display in the passage and had spun her finger over it. It had shifted.

I quickly slid my finger down on the right side of the display-- a quarter of the way, and it responded to my touch, rotating like a wheel. The display changed.

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

DEVOUR [ LVL. 1 ]

That was the same, but below, it was something new.

DEVOUR SPELLS

DEVOUR STRENGTH [ LVL. 1 ] DEVOUR REND [ LVL. 1 ] DEVOUR HEAL [ LVL. 1 ]

With Father’s help, the two of us had killed three Giants in the last year.

Does that mean…?

I didn’t have time to comprehend. Helene had muttered under her breath to cast her spell.

Do I have to speak its name?

“Twenty seconds remaining,” the disembodied voice announced.

It was worth a try.

I stepped forward and locked my eyes on the Mazestalker. I took a deep breath.

“DEVOUR STRENGTH!” I bellowed.

Instantly I felt my left eye explode as a green flame of mana enveloped me. It was like a dam had broken, and I felt the magic course through me, over me, and out of me. The left side of my face suddenly felt as though all of the moisture had left, as the familiar sensation of the thick Giant skin appeared. It covered the area around my eye down just past my cheekbone.

I roared, and the sound was the deafening cry of this form that I had grown to know well over the last year. I locked on to the Mazestalker. The boy and it were still battling. I could see the boy’s phasing ability was happening in slower bursts. He must have been running low on mana.

As the youth swiped again with a dagger, the creature shot a rooted paw out and snatched it up. The boy released his grip on the weapon and leaped backward. The monstrous hedge guardian reeled back to deliver a blow with the blade now lodged in its knotted hand.

This is my opening.

I launched myself forward, straight at the beast, bringing my hook up.

CRUNCH!

With a sound like an old oak limb snapping, I blasted right through the Mazestalker's arm. The appendage sailed through the air, dagger, and all. The monster froze, and then slowly turned to look at the empty space where its arm had just been. It was silent for a beat.

“Oh,” I said.

The beast suddenly roared in pain.

CRUNCH!

The Mazestalker rocketed backward through the air, crashing through a hedge wall. I had swung a heaving blow into its torso and wholly shattered its midsection in the process. Pieces of broken wood and piles of dirt and leaves were all that occupied the spot it had been in.

“Woah,” the boy said, and his hood slid back from his head, revealing golden eyes and shaggy, ear-length, charcoal-colored hair. But there was something else. He wasn’t a boy at all.

The face that greeted me here was definitely feminine. Pretty too, in a way, with a large, gruesome scar tucked behind her left eyebrow.

“That was amazing,” the black-clad woman said, her grin wide.

I didn’t have time to be surprised, I turned.

Gaius and Helene were slowly wearing down, both parties breathing heavily and sweating from the intensity of their combat. Gaius swiped lazily at his sister, and she stepped out of the blade’s path.

Suddenly, a shower of silver missiles peppered the area around them. They both leaped out of the way as the projectiles created small explosions on the stone by their feet.

From the end of the corridor, several shapes emerged, running. A man with a spear and long black hair darted forward, as a huge man encased in an armor of spiky stone pounded in pace with him. A lithe older man in a gray and red frock and a pointed, gray beard was rushing forth, his face red. Around his wrists clacked dozens of wooden beads.

Amongst their midst, a silver-haired woman had lowered her bow but was still keeping up with the group.

“Stop fighting you idiots, we are about to be locked out!” yelled the older man, his speech slurring.

“Ten seconds remaining,” the sourceless voice announced. A set of stone doors materialized in front of the arch. They were ajar but began to slowly close.

“Helene!” I called.

The white-armored woman snapped her eyes to me, and in a swift motion, spun away from her brother and began sprinting directly for the archway. Gaius frowned and cried out in anger, his sibling moving too quickly for him to stop. His amber eyes found the other challengers now. With a curse, he turned on his heel, began to race toward the archway as well.

The woman in black slipped past me and turned in front of the archway.

“Oh,” she said quickly, “I’m Freya, by the way. I think we are going to be working together.” Then she disappeared into the arch.

Helene shot past me into the archway as well, followed by Gaius. One by one, the silver-haired woman, the large stone-armored man, the spear wielder, and finally, the red-faced older man flashed past me and disappeared into the doorway.

“My hat!” I exclaimed.

There it was, forty feet away, resting on the stone floor. I didn’t have time, the door was almost closed, but my hat…

My heart dropped into my stomach.

Mother made it for me, I can’t leave it.

Suddenly, a glowing orb surrounded the red woolen cap and lifted it into the air. It zipped straight toward me, and I followed its path with my eyes as it soared right into the doorway. Sticking out of the thin space between the closing doors was an arm, wrapped with wooden beads.

The red faced man.

An aura of magic surrounded his outstretched fingers, and then faded. Then, another arm flashed out, grabbing me by the collar and yanking me into the doors just before they closed.

We all stood in a gargantuan hallway, dark, but lit dimly by braziers hanging at spaced intervals from the ceiling. At the far end was a massive doorway. A large glowing red orb rested dead center in the door’s face.

Helene glared at me and released my collar.

“That was foolish,” she said, and turned, walking down the hallway.

Suddenly, my heart felt strange. A joyous euphoria washed over me, filling every fiber of my being with a beautiful buzz. A jubilant elation overtook me. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Then an intricate pattern of concentric shapes appeared beneath my feet, rising swiftly, before brilliant, sparkling light surrounded me.

“What is this?” I demanded.

The light contorted, forming shapes. Letters. Several lines of golden text hovered in the air above me, and I almost lost my balance as I stared at them.

THE FATES SPEAK!

HUTCH CARTHAGE, YOU ARE COMMENDED ON ACHIEVING A MILESTONE!

RECEIVED GIANT EATER: LEVEL ONE