Lian -"Where are we going?”, asked Liandan after a while of not seeing an end in sight. Just more of the same barren vista as usual.

Blitz scoffs at her question and sends arrows through his gaze to others to say something in his stead. The Captain was almost ready to bite back until Goidel gently elbowed him. - “He is kinda right, you know? I understand that you want to play your games with them, but she is also in the right to be curious.”

Krass -” Well, miss, I don’t get the opportunity that often to wow people with what comes next, so what do you say we play a traveling game to pass the time ?” He then used his cat characteristics to charm the duo with his big, round eyes. 

Ogda was immediately persuaded and agreed.

Liadan, to her disappointment in herself later that day, was also immediately convinced. 

Krass -” Questions then! You get to ask one and we serve it back. Alright?”, both nodded affirmative. “And none about our current destination. You first.”

Lian -” Bastard”, groaned Liandan. She knew what her question would be then, and almost asked it, but then stopped. After which she asked Ogda to stretch to a whispering level -” What do you say, should we ask about the pact things?”

Ogda -” Well, whatever you say is fine by me”, replied agreeingly Ogda, which made Liadan happy for a second. But then felt a slight twist in her stomach, saying that it wasn’t fine and she felt a bit indignant about his reply. 

Lian -” I guess that’s what I want. But what do you think we should ask?

The monster was a bit confused by the occasional acidity in her voice and wasn’t sure why she insisted on it. “ Are you feeling ok? Are you tired?” he asked instantly while his unblinking eye got closer and closer to her face. 

Lian -” No...I’m fine. Just tired…maybe”, she shrugged, then addressed the hunters. “ You mentioned something about a pact. Between humans and your kind?”

Blitz -” Firbolgs, not your kind”, replied with venom Blitz, which was becoming concerning to both of his colleagues. The Captain took him aside while leaving Goidel to answer the question.

Krass -” You’ve got this, boy”, which did not encourage the bird-masked warrior.

Goidel -” Right…” Goidel paused for a few seconds. “ Sorry for Blitz, uh, first. He’s been a bit…explosive… since we chose Krass as a Captain for this mission. They’ve been kinda equal in the Union, but now that his rival’s a rank over him, well…”

Ogda -” I don’t get it”, replied Ogda, with no real interest in their problems.

Goidel -” Anyway, the pact. Yes…So, I read all the books in our library about it, but to keep this brief, it’s just like it sounds. A human and a Firbolg pick or make a totem to create a bond between them. After which they can share their powers to aid each other. And by the look on your face, I’m guessing you have no idea what I’m talking about…miss? Girly?”

Lian -” Liandan, or even Lian is fine. By the way, power? What are you…” she tried to ask before being interrupted by Krass and visibly dejected Blitz. Who then, somewhat sincerely, apologized to them…in a monotonous voice, repeating a verse like a bored child.

Blitz -“ I let my animosity get the better of me and I shouldn’t have acted so rude to you…Is that ok?” he dejectedly asked Krass at the end. 

Krass -” Perfect. Now, back to the game. It’s our turn, right? So then…you”, he intentionally pressed the last letter when addressing Ogda. “ I know some elementals, but none are transmuted by their element like you are. And you are still able to think. Curious… So then, my question is”, he paused for dramatic effect “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”

Liadan was bewildered by the question, but then even more by Ogda’s serious response- “ By Liadan’s side, as her guardian and probable pact partner.” He was sternly convinced that this was his path in life, while the girl was unsure what the next day would bring. Still, it brought a bit of joy knowing that he would be there for her, but also a bit of concern about how quickly he attached his loyalties to her. 

Then, an intrusive thought went out of her mouth without her consent -” Ogda…but what if I turn out to be a bad person?”

Ogda -” That’s fine. I know my role, I feel it etched into me.”

Lian -” But…”, but she stopped. “ Ok…I’m just probably jinxing myself, let’s forget it. Our turn then. Ogda?”

Ogda -” Right. So, what are those weapons you’ve got? The Captain’s chains, especially, were pretty weird back there.”

Blitz and Goidel, for the first time, had the same annoyed look and in unison shouted “ Keep it brief” towards a surprised Krass by the matching shouts. 

Krass -” Fine, fine. So…our God”, to which his colleagues mumbled under their breath, while Krass ignored them “ Made the world. Probably. And we, the Firbolgs all rose from the primordial water they brought with them, but not entirely…we are still malleable, and much easier to change ourselves. Mostly by inspiration, accidents or…how should I put this? We can’t directly choose how to change, but we can guide it. Blitz, for example, is a fan of humans flying inventions. Which is how, after years of obsessing over, gathering materials, building tons of models…his body copied characteristics of them and made him into this ugly block of steel and flesh.”

Blitz -” Says the zealous cat lover. I’ll buy the fact that there’s a flying city of a beast out there, but the God thing is way too much; I still don’t understand how what happened years ago convinced you so hard that it exists. You weren’t…”

Before the two could devolve into a shouting match, they reached the endpoint. Literally. Goidel jumped ahead of everyone and, with his right, he touched the horizon. 

Goidel -” Ta da…”, he proclaimed awkwardly like he was a performer. Fortunately for him, the act was good enough to leave the duo dumbfounded. “WHAT?!”, they asked in sheer surprise, while Krass snorted angrily as he wanted to present it.

The world, after all, has an end, where the skies can be touched. Or, as Goidel tried to academically explain it, “A layer covers it, the land, everything around here. A shell, I let’s say, that mimics types of skies and weather patterns… randomly, is my guess for now.” He then stops to take a break and relaxes his breathing from too much talking.

Goidel -” Also, there are multiple biomes like this. Or layers, as we call them. Divided by a space which can’t be easily crossed, and neither of us has seen it. I did find some descriptions of it in the library back home. The few Firbolgs that can travel it tell of a colorless void, stagnant in its lack of motion or rhythm. There is no sound, no light or energy, just a lack of anything.”

Blitz tried to add his bits of knowledge to add to what his traveling companions were lacking. He was short in his words, but his loud tone made up for the lack of the usual arrogance. They learned that each layer is of different sizes, they are either stacked on one another, parallel to each other, or like in their current one,“ it's like a satellite, around the size of a medium country in the human world. And right now it’s hovering around a large layer, a continental one the size of those Americas from Earth. Can’t remember which one.” He still ended with a  pointy-“ Do you get it?”

Liadan was now wondering how they made the proverbial jump from their land to this one. Krass, as if replying to her thoughts, pointed towards an assembled stone formation in the middle of an empty field. It wasn’t natural, that was clear, but now came the question of who built it like that. 

Krass - “Ah, the magnificent workings of God’s Divine Beast”, Krass yelled out proudly. “ At least I had time to wow you with this one. But yes, this little thing here was built by something out there, somewhere, our deity and its enormous beast, a giant with golden scales covering its body, and crystal tips at the end of its fingers. Or at the tail, people are still arguing about that.”

Lian -” Not to sound rude, but how do you know if that’s real? I mean, from what I can tell, you all believe that the monster is real, but not the god. Why is that?”, the girl tried to ask as politely and skeptically as possible.

Krass -”  Yes, even our malleable world is filled with skeptics. I was one of them.”, " remarked the Captain, glancing sadly at his teammates. “ Years ago I met the survivors of a certain incident. We all did, but they left a real impression on me. Before they were survivors, they were witnesses. Of the Beast rushing through the shell of their world. They never saw it before, but then it just flew by, casting its shadow for a mere second, before disappearing. Then, a ball of blinding light shined for some moments, followed by a shriek of unimaginable proportions, heard by hundreds of layers.

Goidel -'' I read some records of the incident. It said that the shriek sounded like it was talking”, added Goidel. “But that was never confirmed because everyone near enough lost their hearing or passed out instantly from the noise. 240 thousand victims was a rough estimation, I think.”

Multiple -” That’s horrible”, was the only thing the two could reply with. 

Krass -” No one found out the source of the light, or the shriek but there was a sort of happy ending though.”, smirked Krass as if he won a gold medal. “ The Divine Beast brought with it… God.  A small being as some said, but mighty enough to command the enormous creature. When it talked in its weird language, the Beast did as instructed. No one could see itself, only hear their words. “

Ogda -” Hear? But didn’t you say” wanted Ogda to interject, but then realized what happened.

Krass -” Yap”, quickly added the Captain. “It healed one village, then moved on to the other, and so on for all the affected layers. That was the day we learned about those above us. And I saw that they are caring, which in turn makes me happy.” He tried to hide his proud remark, but Liadan could tell that the Captain wasn’t just a true believer, but a devoted one as well.

The girl didn’t know how to reply to that, so in turn tried to change the subject -” So they put together these rocks? Are they connected somehow to another formation like this? Is that how you travel?” 

Blitz -” Oh, I’ll give it to ya girl, except for manners, you catch on quickly”. Blitz’s attitude towards them still seemed to waver between first impressions and current times. But  Liadan wasn’t interested in keeping a long-term friendship with him anyway, and Ogda only really valued the girl’s opinion over most anyway. “ By the way, Mister Captain, can we go already? The cocoon has started to shake for a while now”, he added, a bit concerned.

Krass slowly and carefully approached one of the stones, shaped like a pillar, as if careful not to wake it up. A whispered word covered every step, and for each one, a sliver of blue, red, green, and white streaks would appear on the side of the pillar. When he got closer, he gently pressed on one of them, and with the tip of his finger moved a tinted line. There were no striations on the rock, but somehow his fingertip grabbed the color and guided it on his demanded path.

Lian -” Is this really the only way to travel?” asked Lian, bewildered by the method required. Goidel waved his palm to indicate that there were others, but this was probably the best way for now. “They are a bit out of reach. For now, hopefully.”

A sudden static change in the air lets them know that Krass finished his ritual. The portal he created was a small one, considering their group, but was still good enough to fit all of them if they entered it one by one. As a show of good faith, the Captain was the first one to pass through it, with their spoils from the hunt as well. Blitz, mostly forced by the former, followed secondly and Ogda insisted that he should be the one to enter next. “ I need to make sure that it’s safe for you, ok?”

Lian -” But I’ll be right after you, so you’ll only be a second, or two ahead of me? Right?... Goidel, how long does it take to teleport to the other side?”

Goidel -” Teleport? Oh no, you got it all wrong. Sorry, I didn’t…I mean the Captain…I mean”, he stopped, grabbing his breath after fumbling his words. “The portal forms a physical tunnel to the other layer, made out of rocks and dirt and other minerals. We’ll be walking.”

With that information on board, Ogda gave up on hiding his abilities and bent his body to create a space where Liadan could sit on his back. Goidel was surprised by this, and even felt panic for a second, before brushing it aside as his usual paranoia. After which he posed a brazen request.

Goidel -” Can you make space for one more?”