The group continued towards Seingen. The return path was warmer than their initial trek and much easier to navigate. Over the last year and a half Corin had learned about Spring, and the gradual transition from Winter to Summer.

  As the snow receded and the trees began to blossom, life slowly returned. The sound of whistling birds, chirping insects and life within the forests would come with the warmer days. But this time the forest was dead silent. With the ending of Winter there was no noticeable return of life. This lack of life was evident to Corin everywhere he looked.

  They're all dead already.

  Seingen is nothing but a pile of rubble and littered with corpses.

  Daum, Jeinna, Melina. Dead.

  Corin started to get mad at himself when these thoughts sprouted. They only made him push himself harder to arrive the soonest.

  “We are now a day's march from Seingen.” Ciana said, on a particularly cool morning.

  “Then let us move out!” Nanaua implored.

  “You know that I must speak to the trees first.” Ciana replied.

  “But we're so close.” Nanaua began. “We can't -”

  “Nanaua we made it this far.” Corin said. “We need to be careful.”

  Every fiber of Corin's being implored him to run ahead and go directly to Seingen, but he knew he had to wait. If they were to be ambushed by a Giant then all their effort would be for naught.

  They waited until Ciana returned.

  “Well?” Nanaua asked.

  “The trees were not very clear.” Ciana said as she avoided looking at them.

  “What? Are we too late?” Nanaua asked.

  Corin felt his stomach drop. There was only so much he could take.

  “No that is not it.” Ciana quickly clarified. “The trees were not sure about what happened. They said that a Giant, Bartolo, attacked the area where Seingen is. But his rampage did not last long. Soon after he began he left.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” Nanaua asked.

  “Based on what the trees said, I don't believe so.” Ciana said. “But even though we are close, Seingen is separated from the trees here. For us to learn what has really occurred at Seigen we will have to go there.”

  An alien sensation began to creep its way into Corin’s heart, hope.

  “Let us make haste.” Nanaua replied.

  The group hurried towards Seingen.

  Finally on the horizon they began to see the outline of the town. From a distance they watched.

  “You mentioned that the Giant started its attack on Seingen but stopped?” Corin asked Ciana.

  “That is correct.” She replied. “The trees do not know why, the other towns that have been attacked by Giants have not met a similar fate.”

  From this distance the three of them looked at the town. It was hard to make out any details.

  Nanaua continued walking towards the town. Now they were several hundred paces from the perimeter of the town, where they hid behind a bush. Here they could see the damage the Giant had inflicted upon parts of the town. Various buildings around the town were demolished, including the town square, but random buildings around the town were left standing.

  “I don't see a Giant's corpse anywhere.” Corin said, breaking the silence. “So I don't believe that the people of Seingen stopped the destruction by defeating it.”

  “Let me speak to the trees.” Ciana said.

  She closed her eyes and put her hands on a trunk near her.

  “They say that the town was empty.” Ciana spoke. “When Bartolo attacked he saw no furtives and left.”

  She moved away from the trees.

  “I see.” Corin replied. “They probably felt something was amiss and decided to evacuate. But where?”

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  “They must have left us some sort of clue in the town.” Nanaua said as she moved ahead.

  She went into the town followed by Kaha. Corin and Ciana shortly followed.

  They looked at the wreckage of the town.

  “Those damned beasts!” Nanaua shouted amidst the wreckage. “Destroying everything we worked so hard for without any care at all!”

  Corin studied the rubble.

  When will this end?

  He walked over to the building that had been his home for the past year and a half. It had not been spared from the Giant's wrath.

  Ciana walked up to him.

  “Was this your home?” Ciana asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I'm sorry.”

  Corin wanted to tell her that this was nothing, that he deserved much worse for what he had helped bring into the world. But he stopped himself. Feeling sorry for himself would not help others.

  “This is nothing.” He replied. “All that matters is the safety of the citizens. We need to find them.”

  “Kaha!” Nanaua shouted.

  Corin turned to see the wolf run toward the edge of the village.

  “Something's not right!” Ciana shouted.

  “What is it?” Corin asked.

  The ground shook. He needed no more explanation. He knew exactly what was occurring. All he needed to know was where the creature would come from.

  Nanaua did not need to wait, she sped off in the direction of the wolf.

  “Follow Kaha!” She shouted.

  Corin did just that, but he realized he was the only one moving. He looked back, Ciana was frozen in place.

  He ran to her.

  “What are you doing!? We need to go now!” He said, grabbing her hand.

  “But the trees, they would have warned me.” She spoke with confusion.

  “That doesn't matter now!” He shouted. “We need to go!”

  He ran and pulled Ciana along.

  The ground continued to shake as a loud roar pierced the calm air. The group struggled to make it to the edge of the village while trying to avoid the rubble and trying to keep their footing.

  Corin looked back. On the opposite end of the town a creature rose on the horizon. The Giant seemed like a collection of many large boulders. Corin could tell what the Giant was planning on doing, eradicating them.

  In order to accomplish that goal the Giant launched a large boulder in their direction.

  “Incoming!” Corin shouted.

  The boulder flew right at them. Corin darted to the side with Ciana and Nanaua picked up her pace.

  SMASH!

  The boulder smacked into the space in front of Corin. The impact made him fall back and added a new obstacle in his path. Now he could no longer see Nanaua and Kaha.

  “Corin!” Nanaua shouted.

  Corin quickly got up and grabbed Ciana's hand. He darted around the boulder as more rocks began to fall around them.

  “I can't believe we fell for that trap!” Corin shouted as he darted around. “It was so damned obvious!”

  “But how? How was he able to trick us?” Ciana asked, still confused.

  “Titans are not stupid.” He shot back. “Are Giants not able to communicate with the trees as well? They come from the ground as well!”

  “Yes, but Giants never bothered with our communications before.” Ciana shouted.

  “Things have changed!” Corin shouted as boulders continued raining down around them.

  Finally he saw Nanaua once again darting into the forest ahead of them.

  “Furtives!” A loud voice shouted behind them echoing and reverberating throughout. There was nothing but pure rage in the Giant's voice.

  Corin's heart jumped. He had never heard a Giant speak. It was unsettling.

  “Where are we supposed to hide?” Ciana asked Corin as she was able to snap out of her stupor.

  “I don't know!” Corin shouted. “But we need to hurry!”

  Nanaua ran ahead of them following the trail that Kaha weaved for them.

  Upon seeing his prey escape Bartolo pounded on the ground. His fists made the ground quake ferociously. It had been awhile since Corin had felt such strong quakes, but it had not been the first time. He remembered escaping from Baltro, from Burundi, from Bellum. He knew how to navigate the unsteady terrain and put more distance between himself and the Giant.

  “Die furtives!” The loud voice echoed throughout.

  More boulders flew around them, crushing trees and sending splinters flying around them. All it would take was one well placed rock and they would be crushed to death.

  “We need to find somewhere to hide!” Corin shouted.

  “I know!” Nanaua replied.

  Corin tried to think about the forest they currently ran through. He had hunted through these parts many times, even in the dead of night he had navigated through here. But he struggled to think of a place to hide from the Giant.

  There is no way we can outrun a Giant! Sooner or later he will catch up to us!

  Corin saw a small black hare run up ahead of him. Amidst all the chaos around him Corin could not understand why he was transfixed upon the animal, but he could not help but look at him. The animal quickly darted in front of Corin and ran into a bush and disappeared.

  That's it! The cave near the river bend!

  “Nanaua!” Corin shouted. “Melina's hiding spot!”

  “Argh damn small places!” She shouted back and turned toward the river bend.

  Corin followed while holding Ciana. The trees around them continued shattering, and all of the creatures of the forest ran for their lives as Bartolo continued his onslaught. The Giant did not care for how much he destroyed or what he destroyed. All he wanted was the eradication of the furtives and anything caught in his way would suffer the consequences.

  “Where are you taking us?” Ciana shouted.

  “The river!” Corin shouted.

  “Are you thinking of jumping in!” Ciana shouted in disbelief.

  “Not quite!”

  Corin could see the river bend ahead, Nanaua was already out of sight.

  Corin ran up to the bush and moved it out of the way.

  “In!” He told Ciana.

  “What-” She began questioning Corin.

  “Just hurry!” He urged and she followed.

  Ciana quickly went into the hole and Corin followed in. With the small amount of light Corin could see Nanaua far at the edge.

  The cavern was shaking as Bartolo continued raging on the surface. Corin and the others could only hope that it could withstand the incessant thrashing.

  “You think we'll be safe here?” Ciana asked as the cavern continued shaking.

  “I don't know if this was the best idea.” Nanaua chimed in.

  “Did either of you have better ideas?” He sharply responded.

  Their silence indicated their shared lack of alternatives.

  All they could hope to do was to ride out the Giant's violent wrath without dying or being discovered. The odds were not great but Corin could think of no better option.

  The three of them hugged the wall with their bodies as if they could support the cavern in the face of the Giant's onslaught. Corin even held his breath as he tried his best to survive.

  We will be fine. We will be fine. We will be fine.

  He kept repeating the words in his mind in the hopes that they would offer safety for him and the others. It was the only thing he could do.

  “Furtives! Come out and die!” A loud voice yelled outside.

  Bartolo was close to their position. The resounding silence he heard to his request was met by even more furious shaking from the Giant. The cavern continued shaking and rocks fell from the top.

  We will be fine. We will be fine. We will be fine.

  As the quakes continued Corin noticed something. They seemed to be getting weaker. The trio still held close to the walls of the cavern as the Giant rampaged but little by little they were able to relax more.

  Eventually the cavern stopped shaking. Several more moments were spent in silence.

  “Are we safe?” Ciana asked, breaking the silence.

  “For now.” Nanaua replied.