The first thing he felt was the cold. Even the soft breeze made him want to curl into a ball. In all the hurry, Han had forgotten to wear the thick wool he had been gifted. The small settlement he had entered was only a few hundred kilometers south of Amonis, but there was a huge difference in the climate.

When he had asked the question, Sev had rambled about a circular current the Elder Gods had made that made Amonis and Larava warmer than they were supposed to be and Galae, the land of the giants, colder.

Not that the inhabitants of this place seemed to mind. They were all outside, talking and moving. Han took another step forward and looked around. There did seem to be fewer of them than usual, and there were a lot of grim faces. Brova noticed him first.

"There is my favorite human shivering over there," she said, “come here and hug me.“

"Hello, Brova," he said and hugged her. He stayed in her warmer embrace as long as he could before letting go. Brova, like most of her kind, was ten feet tall, had a large inexpressive face with large eyes, and thick yellow-green skin. Han had found very little difference between male and female giants, though the former tended to be a little taller and thinner.

"Mind telling me where you seem to be going?" Han asked, pointing to the huge sack she was carrying behind her. Her smile vanished, and so did that of all the others who had come to listen.

"Well, just that... there has been a ...," she stuttered.

Han raised an eyebrow at her.

"You should ask Sev, he will tell you, yes, he will," she replied.

"Where is he anyway?" he asked, sensing her hesitation to continue with the issue.

"In his house," she said, "he said he would be absorbing some messages from the south."

Han nodded and said, "Thanks, I'll die if I stand in the cold for much longer, so I'll go there now."

He waved all of them goodbye and kept walking through the wide avenues. Some of them looked at him with dislike- whoever he was, they would never trust humans. Some others looked with kindness but most of them just showed apathy.

The village had around 500 giants on a normal day- most of them kept traveling between villages, after all. This would be small by human standards, but it was one of the biggest settlements in the north of Galae.

Han walked past a few dozen very large identical wooden houses before entering one. He had left a small rock to help him identify Sev’s house after the few times he had learned that Sevs neighbors were not the type who liked humans.

Giants perceived the world very differently. Humans were made from nature, though a few connected with Flow to be called mages. Giants, though, were made from the Flow, and didn't consider their earthly bodies very important. And so, they didn't care much about how a building looked physically. They did care about wards, enchantments, and other magical decorations, which they all could sense. Han suspected they would find Amonis, where most of the buildings had the same standard warding system, very homogeneous.

Sev could feel his entry through the wards, so Han didn't hesitate in opening the door and strolling in. The tall old giant was sitting in a chair with eyes closed, his fist closed around a cylindrical piece of metal. Han knew that was a letter- the giants encoded their messages in the Flow, and anchored it to an object instead of using paper. Han sat down opposite Sev and waited for a few seconds before Sev opened his eyes.

"Han, my child," Sev said in that deep voice of his, "Do not mind me, I was reading some news in the south. You look thinner than usual."

"Oh. Have been busier, I suppose. Did you hear about the Gazaarians?"

Sev nodded, "They are a mighty force. I hear one of the pupils of Reundethor travels with them. You are a week too early for our lessons, so I shall assume you came to ask for help."

"Yeah," Han said, "Look, I know it's not your thing, but we would be infinitely indebted if you could help. They are too much for -"

Sev interrupted him with a raise of his hand. "We can not, Han, I apologize," he said.

"Okay. At least, allow me to present my case with everyone present here. You don't need to risk your life at all. Even if someone could help with improving the warding scheme, it would help save the lives of thousands."

Sev looked at him for a moment before replying. Giants normally sent waves of emotions through the Flow instead of showing it on their faces. To someone not connected to the Flow, like Han was, it was hard to tell what they were feeling.

"I might be able to send a few scrolls with warding schemes inscribed on them, though no giant may travel north."

"I am asking for very little," Han reproached, "You are being unreasonable, Sev, you know it. "

"I am not, child. There is much you don’t know about the situation.."

"And what is that?"

"I was not permitted to divulge-"

"Is this related to how all of you are moving south?" Han interrupted.

Sevs eyes sharpened, "How do you know this?"

"Spies. Given that giants keep moving all the time, this must be something massive to be noticed."

Sev breathed in and out, thinking. Something like fear passed through his eyes.

"What's going on, Sev?" Han gently asked, "Why do you look afraid?"

"Very well, but remember, this is supposed to be hidden. You are... not the only ones being warred upon," Sev said

Han frowned in confusion. There were no nations adjacent to Galae except for Amonis or Larava, and even those were across the Galaeic Sea. If anyone else in the realm had sent a fleet, it would have been noticed. Unless-

"Any of the Lizards?" Han asked.

"Smart boy," Sev said, "Yes. The Serpents have attacked us in the south."

Han was not sure if he had heard that correctly for a moment. Like many other things, there were three Lizard species, or the Highborn, as they liked to call themselves. There were no Drakons in this realm, and they didn't even care about others' affairs. Han assumed it would be the Dragons, the most versatile and dangerous. The Serpents lived in the water, so it made sense they wouldn't be seen, but they couldn't survive outside either, so how did they-

"They are sending devils," Han concluded.

In the old stories of the Divine Wars, that was how the Serpents fought- not risking their lives but sending hundreds of thousands of their creations to whittle away mortal armies instead.

Sev nodded, "Thousands. Many new types have been observed too, some of them quite intelligent. The folk have started being attacked the same day your Gazaarians reached Larava, which would be exactly two weeks ago. It has been brutal, Han. They send waves after waves relentlessly. Wherever these attacks were near unsuspecting settlements, many perished. More than five hundred so far have fallen in the conflict in a dozen days."

Han winced. For giants, that was a lot- there were not many of them, and given their nearly five hundred years lifespan, they tended to reproduce slowly too.

"And now you are organizing a counterattack," Han half asked.

"No. We shall not be attacking them in their waters. But we will be organizing better defenses, with all of the folk together in a few places."

Han hummed.

"Do you think they worked together?" he asked.

"It might be possible. The attacks were too coordinated for it to be a coincidence, and so it is not."

"There is something you aren't telling me," Han said, "and also this doesn't mean that you can't help us- say, send a few of your kind. The battle up there is very important for you as well- if we lose, the Gazaars might turn to you next, and you won't be able to fight on two fronts."

"Lar has instructed us not to speak," Sev admitted, "I am not confident if I should say more than I already have revealed."

Han went still with the sudden revelation. Lar was the god of giants, and all mortal species considered him as such. The giants didn't do that, though. He was an explorer and adventurer- one of the best of all time. On the other hand, the giants were predominantly isolationist as a society. So while they respected his abilities and power and listened to his advice, they didn't worship him. Lar didn't interfere much, though, like all other gods. If he had, something else was going on.

"What are you hiding, Sev?" Han said, "this is important. If there are other forces at play, I need to know. My city is at stake here."

"I am not hiding anything," Sev assured me, "but there are forces you are not familiar with. We call it the Eli or the Game. Three immortals are said to play a game with the whole world as their board and everyone living as their pawns. If Lar has involved himself with this war, then there are other godly powers at play."

Han frowned. This talk of immortals meddling had not reassured him in the slightest.

"And who are these three? Is Lar one of them?" Han asked.

"No. Now, take my word with a grain of salt because all of our knowledge has been passed down from Lar. The first dragon, the Queen of Cunning, is almost definitely one of them. The other two are two out of Mari, the goddess of hope, Aasafi, the goddess of peace, and Saros, the god of war. It is most likely the first two."

That, he had heard before. There were controversies like this spread around but promptly stepped on by the religious and the authorities alike. He had never taken them seriously until now.

"That doesn't answer why a few giants can't help us. Or is this another ‘Lar told us so’?" Han said."

"He advised us not to send giants to your city for reasons I have not been told. I will ask my seniors in the Goments who talked with Lar, but they might not know either. Lar has also, and he is not the most trustworthy, assured us that he has taken steps to ensure that Amonis doesn't fall."

Han forced himself to not feel too hopeful.

“Right,” Han said, “Okay.”

He forced himself to go over the whole conversation again because instinct was telling him that he was missing something. Ah.

"Why are you so insistent on keeping it secret?" Han asked.

"There have been fears," Sev delicately said, "that the purpose of this attack in the south might be to make sure that your Gazaarian empire will attack us. To weaken us and ensure we will lose a fight against them. And so, this might be avoided by ensuring that they never find out that we are weak. Of course, there is no point if they are actively collaborating, but if they are not..."

"And you are afraid that the Gazaarians might have found out because we have," Han murmured.

"Is it possible?" Sev asked, "Could they know?"

Han considered it seriously for a minute before replying, "No. Improbable. They would have seen you moving more than usual but wouldn't know what that means. Unless someone like the Green Witch can scry your lands?"

"No, not even the drakons can break our wards with regards to this."

"Coming to the Green Witch, anyway, my friends and I might try to uhh not kill her, but some-"

"Wait," Sev interrupted and narrowed his eyes, "are you telling me that you, a few teenagers who have never fought in a battle before, want to try to kill a pupil of Reundethor? Especially one who is said to have destroyed a powerful dragon single-handedly?"

"Look, we have a plan."

"Of course, now that makes me feel better. How desperate must your city be to allow children to fight?"

"Very? Anyway, can we run it by you?"

"You should abandon it. Try to defend against a few common soldiers- humans are surprisingly delicate."

"And I am human too. But anyway, care to hear the plan?"

Sev sighed. "Very well, I still recommend not doing this."

"Ok, so we want to use the one thing she might not expect- my pocket dimension. We'll try to get her in there."

"Your dimension is not that large either, though I suppose it can fit a small human. I hope you realize you can only pocket nonliving things?"

"Right. So how does the Flow judge something to be living or not? It's living if it has a Will that is connected to the Flow, right? So we make her disconnect her Will from the Flow and then pull her in."

"And how will you do that?" Sev warily asked. And rightfully so, this was getting awfully close to necromancy.

"There are some very powerful spells that do that, which the Green Witch is known for, so it all fits together quite nicely. We will try to manipulate her into casting these spells. Though, after you talked about the Game, I am getting second thoughts," Han said.

"And that is giving you second thoughts out of all the things in the world? This is risky, Han. You are counting on manipulating a very powerful mage in the middle of a war."

"I know the risks. Can it work?"

"Theoretically, yes, but practically-" Sev said.

"That's all I need to know. Now another thing-"

"Han," Sev interrupted, "I know you are angry that we are not assisting, but this is suicide. I need you to calmly reconsider this."

"I have, Sev, I have," Han tiredly said, "I don't think you understand. I always dreamed of this. Saving the city I love fighting powerful mages. Gods, if my imagination a few years ago had seen all this, it would have gone crazy with anticipation. I got exactly what I wanted, and now it feels like fate is staring me down. Fate is saying, ok, I gave you what you want, now let's see if you really meant what you said or if you are a coward who just talks."

Sev didn't reply, that was not his way. They stayed silent for a moment.

Han continued softly, "I am afraid, Sev, I am. But I am also afraid that if I don't even try, I will never be anyone," he couldn't find the perfect words, but Sev seemed to understand.

"Very well. That is not something I understand but I understand that there are many things I do not understand," he said, "Just try not to die, I still have a debt to pay."

Han waved it off, "You have paid it a hundred times over, I have told you this."

"Child, the debt of a life is never paid."

Han breathed in and out, he was not going to win an argument about this. So he changed the topic. "I was able to make the sword I talked about last time," he said, as he stood up and retrieved it.

Sev looked at it carefully with a satisfied smile before saying, "Wonderful work. What did you name it?"

"Oh, I haven't named it yet, completely forgot."

"Then name it now."

Han was silent for a while. He looked at the blue arteries of power that made the sword stronger and lighter at the same time.

"The blue sword?" he said.

Sev stared at him. "A six-year child can do better than that. Give it a good name, Han. Maybe name it after what you want it to do?"

Han considered that for a moment.

"Omegabane," he said finally.

Sev silently looked at the sword before saying, "That is not bad."

They stayed in silence for a while before Sev got up and started working on a few scrolls, possibly the ones about the warding schemes. Han observed him- he sometimes found some useful techniques and ideas while doing so.

If he stepped outside right now, he would freeze to death, but he would leave as soon as he could in the morning. Han found the large bed Sev had made for him and was asleep before he knew it, the sound of inscribing human letters on a scroll fading away in the background.

Han woke up a little after dawn. Sev was already awake- like all giants, he didn't sleep much. Han was given a huge pile of scrolls with a warning.

"Hide them as you pass the village. My kind will not like me divulging our secrets," Sev said.

Han said goodbye and quickly found his way to the village center. There were very few outsides- most had not come outside their homes yet. He stepped into the black portal and walked into the Hall of Lar on the other side. Han breathed in the warmer air a few times before he noticed Hui and Amaar waiting. For once, they were not smiling. As soon as they saw him, they hurried towards him.

"Come on quick," Hui said, "The war has started."