Ch 6-2 The giant
Ashim and Nima ride the albuu across snowy desert when they find a large giant head in the snow.
Ashim jumps down and pears at it.
‘What do you think this is?’
‘If that’s the head, it must be gigantic’.
He tries taking his gloves off and touching it. The eyes light up and warmth courses through its body, and it raises its head, then digs away at the snow with its arms. It rises up.
‘Greetings, humans. Your life energy has awoken me from a deep slumber. For that, I thank you’.
Ashim: Are you a giant? I thought those went extinct.
Giant: Is that so? Could it be that I am the last of my kind? Has my species gone extinct?
Ashim: Well, it’s said that giants went extinct 30 years ago.
Giant: Oh my…
Ashim: I didn’t know giants could speak English. Where did you learn it?
Giant: I befriended a human long ago. But she is dead.
Ashim and Nima: Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.
Ashim: Do you know what you want to do now?
Giant: I want to find… a baby.
Ashim: A baby?
Giant: Yes. A small human.
Ashim: Welllll, there are loads of those around. Any specifics?
Giant: It has a birth mark on its neck. I’ll recognise it when I see it. I don’t know whether it’s male or female though.
Ashim: Is that so? Then, let’s help you!
Nima: We’ll ask around for people that have seen a baby with the same birth mark.
They go around villages asking for a baby with that specific birth mark.
Next, they are sitting around a fire.
Ashim to Nima: But you know, something doesn’t quite add up. How can he be looking for a baby when he’s been in a deep slumber for at least 30 years?
Ashim to giant: Giant, tell us your story. How did you end up in a slumber?
Giant: Well… I guess I’ll go from the start.
Long ago, I met a human woman who was pregnant. This was when I still functioned in a tribe of other giants. At first I thought the woman was a burden. She was slow, and weak. But after a while I started noticing the amazing points about her. She could cook, she had language, and she was smart. She started telling me stories, and I slowly learned English. We became best friends. But I started noticing her stomach bulging.
‘Soon, I will give birth to something much smaller than me’, she said. ‘But its life is precious. It may be helpless at first, but it will grow to be something amazing’. [He puts his finger on her stomach.]
The tribe of giants is attacked by another tribe. The battle is fierce, and eventually the giant is the last one standing in his tribe. He runs away, carrying the woman that is in labour. She gives birth shortly after they find a hiding place. The giant is entranced by the baby. He looks back at him.
After a while though, the enemy tribe catches up to them. They fight the giant. There are three of them. One of them spots the baby and makes a lunge for him. The mother steps in the way, taking the blow, and flies off. Good giant then attacks that giant before he can get to the baby.
As he takes on the three giants, the baby sees an ancient capsule. He crawls towards it and inside, and his body’s energy awakens the capsule. The capsule lights up in green, and a huge explosion kills off the three giants but spares the good giant.
‘This was an ancient contraption that could intelligently let loose energy’.
The giant sees the dying body of the woman, holds her and cries.
‘But that baby saved my life. I swore to protect him’.
However when he looked, the baby had vanished.
‘However I knew I would recognise the baby, because of his birth mark.’
‘I just need to find him’.
‘However being alone took its toll on me. I couldn’t find enough energy to keep me going. And that is how I went into a deep slumber’.
Ashim: Wow. I wonder if there are more giants out there, sleeping until the time is right?
Giant: There is certainly more food around than there was then. I just might survive.
Ashim: Cool!
Ashim: But you know, mr. Giant. If that person was a baby back then, they’ll be an adult now.
Giant: An adult?
Ashim: You don’t know how humans grow?
Giant: Grow? We giants are born as we are. We don’t change.
Giant: (That must be what she meant when she said it’ll grow into something amazing.)
Ashim: So now, the baby that saved your life must be over 30, an adult. That means bigger than us.
Ashim: Why don’t we ask again, for someone over 30 who’s story fits your description? And with the birth mark of course.
Giant: Let’s do that.
Old man: Ohhh I know someone like that! He’s 36 years old, and they say he came out of a life-energy-powered capsule that came flying out of nowhere. He lives on that energy-generating site north of here.
Nima: Thanks a lot, Mr.!
Ashim: Let’s go that way!
They run forward.
An old man is keeping a look out from the energy generating site.
Ashim: Wow, they have such advanced technology here!
Old man: A giant!
Ashim: Hello, we’re looking for someone.
Old man: You’re just what we need.
Someone with great life force must power the generator.
Ashim: Do you think that generator is related to the capsule the baby powered all those years ago?
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