They sat in hugely oversized chairs at first, and yet they had to stand to reach the table.

So, in the end, the nanny brought them toddler's chairs. "You're lucky we've got two. The last time we used them, Larry and his brother were as tiny as you, though Larry was always a little short for his age, right love?" Said the nanny, a huge still decently young-looking giantess, her clothes being one huge-ass, fully covering apron; her hair, an exhausted red.

"Mother… please, Grace is gonna have doubt about her height if you keep bringing that up," he pleaded, or at least Gabriel thought that was his pleading, emotionless as he sounded, it was hard to guess.

"Nonsense," she said, waving him away, "it's just you not liking being reminded that your younger brother is taller than you."

Larry sighed.

Outside the humble abode, the teenage boy they had understood was called Sigmund, taller than his father already, but thin as a rail, trained with his sword, a massive piece of metal with a handle as long as Gabriel's torso.

He could hear the sound of air displacement from there, maybe thanks to his Enhanced Senses, but it still felt eerie all the same.

Gabriel couldn't help but gawk at the family of giants.

Remembering their baseline Attributes, courtesy of the brothers training under Varcivald: and how little possibilities they had on escaping that place alive if something went wrong.

A father, a little daughter, a teenage son, and a nanny.

And they can each put Lebron in their pockets…

The teenager got back inside; his greatsword he placed in the crevice by the door. It seemed to have been built there for that exact purpose.

"Turtle fillet… again, nana?" He said, sloshing on the seat, drenched in sweat.

"Be thankful, Sig," said Larry.

"Oh, come on, dad, like you're not tired of it too!"

Larry coughed, turning his face the other way.

"Is that so?" Said the giantess. "Then why don't you go prepare something every once in a while?"

Gabriel placed his head between his hands, wishing to hide and thinking back at how they got there.

As it seemed, the little giant, Grace, had forced her father to apologize to the small humans. And when he asked how he would do that since he saw no reason whatsoever to say, "I'm sorry." to the couple, she decided that the best way to do that was to invite them to dinner.

Fun fact, their house was "just around the corner," she said. Or, more precisely, on the closest sky island.

Which was "fun," thought Gabriel for a while, until things became much, much, much weirder…

Umbrellas opened upon their heads, and they started simply, lifting up like it was normal, like it was routine.

A grumpy Larry invited the lizard and the salamander to hop on; then, with a tired look and a signal from the lizard, he invited Gabriel to jump on too while Olive grappled Grace.

No… no, no, no… No-no! There's no way, no way I'm clinging to that! There are no safety belts, for God's sake! But the giant just grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up.

It was only half-way through the sky island, amid Gabriel's screams, that the shirt finally tore, and he started dropping through the sky.

Five thousand feet up in the air.

It was then that even Gabriel's pants became unusable.

He blacked out as the giant, thanks only for a squirming lizard dropped down like a missile to save him.

The last thing Gabriel remembered before blacking out was a clear word; "Disgusting."

When he woke up, he was in a room, a much rustic house. It looked almost like a canonic US house of the fifties. What really lacked was the electricity; the light was powered by magic, as it had become the rule in his discoveries, noted Gabriel.

A few peculiar traits came to the eyes right away, though. The furniture was made in what looked like shells.

Turtle shells. Everything was made out of turtle shells in the house.

He found a change of clothes, much too big for him, but still, it was something. So he tucked the shirt inside the pants; he looked incredibly ridiculous and buckled it up as much as he could.

Gabriel later found out that those were part of Sigmund's infancy clothes.

Well, that explains the floral idea…

His new shirt had a tropical gusto to it, while his pants were of an intense yellow, one of those that crippled the onlooker.

Getting up, he immediately found an already immersed Oli. She had become acquainted with the household's true ruler, the nana, and started building fast connections.

It was silly looking at a miniature human talking like an adult to a mature woman, but it was just his brain playing tricks on him.

After that, it was soon time for dinner; he had slept through launch and the afternoon.

Getting back on the moment before his mind recounted the events of the day.

Gabriel ate in silence, while a wagging Lizzy ate turtle meat from Grace, with ardor.

"You know, you don't have to be scared. Dad has a little something against humans, but he's not that bad. I mean, he should hate dragons, but they are too adorable, he says. The rest of us are normal tho," opened Sigmund.

"Sig…" said the dad with his quirk-free voice.

"What? Always say the true mom used to say. No?"

Larry opened his mouth, then closed it again and nodded, pointing at him with his fork, as if conceding the argument.

"Oh, it's not that I'm scared; it's more like I'm terrified," Gabriel said bashfully.

"See, dad, you and your freaking obsession, like anyone would ever be interested in that tiny river," said Sigmund shaking his head.

"It's not about obsession. There's a signboard placed there, it clearly says property of La-" tried to answer Larry, but once again, he was interrupted.

"You know what, Sigmund, dear. I've had a wonderful idea about how to find an arrangement with these two boys, Olive here can be extremely charming, and she made a point." Interjected the nanny.

"Rose, you're too gentle. I merely wanted to find a way to pay back our debt, because even if not willing to, Larry getting us up here has taken us out of a spiky situation. Getting up here has greatly reduced our chances to be found out, right, Gabriel?" She said, unnaturally comfortable and turning toward him.

She's talking with me, right?

"Yeah, if you put it that way… it might have."

"Exactly, that is why we really want to find a way to repay your family for saving us," she finished...

"So…" continued Rose, "I thought, since we are in desperate need of money if we want to expand our house for your uncle, I was thinking of sending them to the Turtle Dungeon with you, Sigmund. What do you say?"

Sigmund was surprised.

"Well, my party and I were planning to go on some CP hunt."

"What's CP?" Asked Gabriel out of the blue.

"What? Oh, CP, right, you wouldn't know," said Rose.

"Carapaces."

Gabriel and Olive exchanged a quick glance. Gabriel was surprised, while she definitely was faking knowledge.

"Yeah, turtle carapaces. It's one of the best ways to make money here as an adventurer. Aside from hunting Wyverns, of course," clarified Sigmund. "Now, about my party; we are in dire need of. Helller, hell, even a Tier 1 would be fine," he added, beating a fist on the table.

"Sig, I fixed it last month; contain yourself," said Larry, which kept on eating calmly.

"Yes, pa. So, one of you a healer, hummies?" He asked; his amaranth hair in a bob cut covered his ginger eyes. He blew them away. Though hidden partly by his hair, Sigmund's facial features looked exactly like those of his father.

"Matter of fact, I'm a Tier 2 healer, and Gabe here is a Tier 1, though he's really low-leveled, so he's bound to gain a lot of Tier exp if he hunts with us. So, you could have two healers at the price of one. I bet it's not exactly easy to find a healer here, too, right?" Olive said, eyeing with a condescending look. "What do you say, Sigmund?"

The boy studied her, then looked at Gabriel and his happily eating lizard, "Hell, why not? Though we won't be leading him by the hand," said the giant boy, referring to Gabe, "the tank will tank, but if he screws up, he's on his own, it's already dangerous with only a Tier 2 healer."

"Alright, it's a deal then," said Olive.

"What deal!? Where are we even going!?" Gabriel asked.

"Oh, come on, Gabe, don't panic," answered the girl.

"No panic, eh? That guy has tried to kill me, how many times was that? I can't even say anymore! Who says if I keep staying here, he won't try again!?" At this point, Gabriel was a bit on edge.

"This guy is right here, you know? And if I really wanted I would have alre-"

BONK!

Rose swiftly took hold of one of her crocs and soundly slapped Larry on the head.

"He will do nothing of the likes. This is a respectable family, Gabriel, you see… my Larry just has a little grudge toward a human family and somehow it… spills out when he sees some humans purposefully enter his "territory"... I know he's a little weird," she sighed, "nothing like his brother… but when it's not about humans he is a sweet, sweet little angel," Rose ended amiably.

"Thanks… mother, really thoughtful of you. Long gone are the times in which you compared me to my brother. What blissful memories those were," Larry replied, speciously.

"Oh, come on Larry, I said you were an angel. Even the Priests of Lore would comply," answered Rose, winking at Sig, which sent her a covert smirk.

"Yes, mother! A sweet little angel. We indeed all heard that. Thank you," said Larry; it would sound definitely exhausted if it wasn't for his complete lack of expressions, noted Gabriel, who was finally growing less jittery given the degree to which Larry's family was picking on him, one other thing that did not escape him was the mentioning of the Priests of Lore, even here they were known.

After that, dinner went unexpectedly well, and soon Gabe, Olive, and Sigmund found themselves outside the house in the appropriately sized garden of the Vairstrazz; that was their family name.

Gabriel had yet to really take in the outside view, and as he expected, it was a spectacle.

The sky-island was big enough so that it looked like a gigantic valley with heights and depressions.

At his right, he could see where the island ended, where the valley bled within the twilight sky, and the pure, shadowed green of the grass became one with the mandarin of the still unknown sun and the blue of the night.

Peaks of three to six thousand feet alternated to gorges and ravines.

But Kanceldom had one premium feature, hovering above its canyon, Kancel.

Vast and deep, and eerie. In the air above the canyon, which depth could not be correctly gauged, puffs of true darkness flared in the air, like waves from a soft sun seen from up close. It reminded Gabriel of one of Nasa's shootings of the sun and its fiery loopings.

Gabriel had never seen anything much of the like; maybe…

Not even on TV, no… he shook his head.

But the loops were not the only thing of notice there was. Producing them was one massive ball of pitch dark energy.

"Just... what is that?" He asked.

"That at the center? That is Kancel, our salvation, and our ruin," said Sig.

Olive, assorted nodded at that, continuing from where the young giant had stopped, intercepting Gabriel's next question.

"That's one of Alter's greatest mysteries. The black-pearl," she said with a grin.

Visions of silly pirates and exceedingly beautiful boys and girls, too cute for that era, flashed in front of the young man, "Excuse me? A what?" Asked Gabriel.

"It sounds silly, but-" said a grinning Sig before his voice cut off.

"If you call it like that, it would, of course, sound silly, silly. That is our Strazz-Heisen Singularity; one of the oldest in the Expanse," interjected Larry. The giant was smoking a cigar while sitting on a rocker on the porch.

Heisen, do I know someone with that name?

"It first appeared three hundred seventy-two years ago and has sat down in silence since then," finished Larry.

"Alright, but what is it?" Asked the young human.

"Nobody has any idea, but we do know that it has an exact twin in the Core," he finished, languidly.

"So, in the Core, there's a thing just as big and exactly as weird as that? But really, how do you tell them apart anyway? Have you got any means to actually establish that?" Asked Gabriel, confused.

"You see, that black star produces untainted Mana free for everybody to use or extract. And in The Core, there is a twin star that produces the exact same amount of Mana. It does so at the same time and showing the same ups and downs. Practically, it is not a coincidence," Larry said.

"Alright, but... just what is it? It looks like a melanin-juiced-up sun..."

"If my grandfather was here, he would be able to tell you. Sadly I have no idea. Maybe my brother will be able to tell you once he comes home from work."

The giant looked much more relaxed now. Gabriel appreciated it.

"Alright, I can wait. Anyway, wanna talk about this Turtle Island?" He said, and by Sigmund's look, successfully managed to switch the topic.

Larry studied him for a few seconds, "Commodo has a peculiar taste in friends," he added, capitulating on that speedy change of topic.

By the time the young giant had finished spouting everything that came into his mind about the Dungeon island, there were only two questions really floating in Gabriel's head.

The first was clearly what the star was, and the second was, So there are actually dungeons? Videogame-like, monster-spawning, party-requiring, prize-giving dungeons? The answers were given by Olive when they were the only two remaining outside.

"So…" said Gabriel breaking the ice with Oli, she was sitting on a chaise lounge made of turtle shells, "is it weird the air is so warm up here? Shouldn't we be freezing or something?"

She shrugged, "Attributes."

"Right… and this star thing, should I call Stephen Hawking? May the force be with him. Because I must have a stake in my eyes if I can't recognize a black hole when I see one," he added.

"Wouldn't be of much use… but really. I know as much as you do, I'm no scientist. I'm a healer. What I know is that there are many of these. Especially near places with a lot of Dungeons, or particularly high-level ones."

"Oh, well," he paused, turning his gaze at the horizon. "There really is a black star in front of me, and it emits Mana instead of rays."

"I always saw it more like a moon. A satellite for Dungeons." Reveling in the beauty of it, Olivia let herself go to dreaming words. She looked so innocent and carefree with her elbows resting on the railing of the porch. "It's like looking at a really close moon... if the moon was perfectly round and smooth, and big like a mountain more than like a… little planet. That intense darkness sometimes seems to shine in various shades of blue. I could lose myself in it... Look, Gabe! Those violet and purple flares; it's as if it was puffing at us. It's just so relaxing..."

But Gabriel was losing himself in her more than the flares. His heart skipped a beat that moment. Looking at her magnifically sweet visage with those big dreamy eyes of her.

He pinched himself. No. He ordered himself.

"Anyway..." she sighed, "Maybe we'll know something more once we go take a look around the city. Dungeon exploration is booked for the day after tomorrow after all, or at least that's what Sigmund said."

"Dungeon… so there really were dungeons, eh Lizzy?" Said Gabriel to the lizard.

But the lizard was looking at him for another reason. They started feeling each others' feelings. She knew he was doing something bad to himself, repressing his blooming feelings. And he communicated hers with a wrenching bite.

"Ouch, Liz! You're never comforting, lizard. Never."

***

The city of Kanceldom took its name from the island, and since there was only one city per island, it was appropriate. Nevertheless, the city was not big, nothing like the Cradle, it rose at the edges of the canyon's ravine, sprawling all around it, like labia to a giant… clam.

The lizard walking in front stopped and turned around, looking at him straight in the eyes.

What did you think I was about to say? Gabriel said to his lizard, receiving an ominous look in response.

Kanceldom, even from that distance, could be judged as one amass of buildings really out of proportion for the standards of humankind.

If Olive had to squint to really take a good look at it, Gabriel only needed to focus his improved eye sights, and the details would pop up even in the ethereal light of the blue braziers.

Gonna need to start asking real questions tomorrow; maybe they won't take it as weirdly as the people at the Cradle did, Gabriel thought to himself than to the lizard.