Arash hid behind the building, gobsmacked, staring at the giant before his eyes. Fear had poured lead in his feet, as they refused to move. A voice inside him constantly called out to him. 'Firuz, will be in danger. You have to save him. You have to go now. He will be alone.' But the thing before him was out of his league. A monster he could kill; a man he could beat; but what stood before him was neither a man nor a monster.

The purple giant hacked at the ground below, the wind screamed under its sword as it came crashing down towards the ground. For the first time Arash noticed the giant grey hand rising from the ground. Something moved in its palm. His heart skipped a beat, his breath caught in his throat. 'Firuz! No, it can't be.' Arash shook his head, tried to reason, but the resemblance was uncanny. He remembered the black cloak, the tiny body. But it wasn't the cloak or the body. Even though fear clouded his mind and reason told him otherwise; He knew deep inside, knew who was inside the grey giant's hand. His right eye once again sang the melody of pain and by some strange design he slipped into the state of perpetual detachment. Arash blankly stared at the giant's sword as it came crashing down.. The land beneath his feet rumbled like an angry sea, the ground rose to a height of 50 feet. The black wave of solid ground still rising towards the sky.

Arash stared blankly at the at raging tide, his mind racing for a solution. He glanced back and suddenly, an image of being squashed by the giant tide flashed before his eyes. Determination flashed across his face as he ran towards the tide. The ground was almost vertical beneath his feet and the rubble from the broken houses rained down on him. 'It will soon crest!' His legs turned into a blur as he raced against the rising tide. His left foot slipped as the rubble beneath his feet gave way.

"No!" His stomach lurched as he felt the pull of gravity. His hands dug for purchase as he slid down the slope. It was so close, 50 more feet and he would have been on the other side of the wave. The distance of 50 feet turned to 100, and 100 turned to 200. Suddenly, his right hand found a handhold and the descent came to a startling halt, his left hand reached for the protrusion; it was round and somewhat soft. He look up and found a familiar face poking out of vertical slope. Arman stared back at him with lifeless eyes, his face distorted with fear as his jaw loosely hung by his face.

Arash lived most of his life with the old man, but at this moment he found little familiarity with the dead corpse. Death had changed Arman somehow. Before, he was a fatherly figure and a mentor; Arash only knew him by his impatience and fiery anger. The sight of the old man had always filled him with a sense of ease, but within a single moment, all that had turned into a meaningless mass of blood and flesh.

Arash felt a hollowness in him he progressed further into the state of perpetual detachment. All emotions seemed to have been cut off, his left hand grabbed the old man's skull; it felt

tender under his touch. Arash ignored it and pulled himself up, dug his hands into the loose earth, and climbed higher and higher.

His right eye vigorously shook. The song of the blue creatures suddenly changed; turning into a low guttural growl. But the song was not directed at him. Its target something else, something far away. The wave of the black soil suddenly stopped in it's progression and instead of toppling over the city of Harra, it collapsed onto itself. Arash once again felt the pull of gravity as he

dropped from a fall of almost hundred meters. For a moment, as the massive wave of the black soil collapsed, he could see two giants fighting against each other. One made up of purple winds, while other formed from dull grey earth.

Arash noticed that the black soil around him was slowly turning to the same ash grey as the great giant before him. But, as the grey color came in his vicinities. The blue mist rushed out if his right eye and attacked the grey soil around him.

As soon as the grey soil touch the blue mist. It turned in blue crystal. In a blink of an eye the massive wave beneath him turned into a crystallized mana stone. Arash slammed hard against the mana stone mountain and slide down against its smooth surface. Arash slid all the way down to the ground. It took a while for him to get his bearing. His left leg was twisted at an awkward angle and his left arm had been snapped into two. His eyes opened wide in shock as he saw the...