DEEP IN THE JUNGLE – NIGHT

With the giant monkey out of their way, they could get back to business. Despite Lio’s complaints of landing far away from the temple entrance, the trek itself was short and uneventful. While the lack of excitement left Nira wanting, the overwhelming emptiness of Ina reminded her of old feelings she hadn’t given any thought about for a long time. Seeing the broken remnants of a civilization made her wonder if the same fate could fall upon her own people.

Why am I even thinking about this?

The worry was as fleeting as her desire to remember her childhood. Besides the color of her eyes, she was an outsider. They made their decisions, and their vision of the future did not include her.

“Nira, before we head inside… What was up with you back there?” Lio fiddled with her holster flap.

“What do you mean?”

“With Gayne… You threatened to kill him if something happened to Blueberry. I get being cautious, but you took it too far.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I don’t know him.” The question irritated Nira. Lio knew why she didn’t like dealing with strangers. She feigned indifference to mask her frustration.

“And? You would’ve never done that back then.”

“This is not then. This is now.” Nira said to herself in a low whisper.

“Ok, I get it. Let’s continue. Mr. Kook’s sword awaits.” Lio sighed in defeat. She’d given up on continuing the conversation.

Nira nodded, and they walked the rest of the way in awkward silence.

She doesn’t get it.

Lio knew her past. Well, some of it. But if anyone could understand her it was Lio… She knew what happened with her family and her people.

They cared for her.

They believed in her.

All so they could betray her.

Lie to her.

Trust was the last thing Nira would give away. They tossed her aside with little remorse the second she was no longer what they needed. Nira wasn’t a person to them. She was a means to an end. Nira didn’t have to explain herself.  She shouldn’t have to. Life had given her plenty of reasons to justify the path she chose.

Enough.

Nira’s mind cleared the closer they got to the temple and realized that she’d been quiet this entire time.

“You know, I forgot that this temple was built for giants for a second.” Nira said to move past the silence.

Lio sighed. “The temple’s massive. How are we gonna find the sword? Did Mr.Kook tell you where it was?”

“Nope.” She smiled, remembering the quest the brought them here. A mission to recover the unrecoverable and to survive the un-survivable.

The temple’s architecture itself was an archaeologist’s dream discovery. The staircase design constructed from a unique mix of brick and iron was the only one of its kind in Ina.

“Can we even open this thing? These gates weren’t made to be opened by tiny people.” Lio squinted as she stared at the top of the gate.

The entrance to the temple was mind-bogglingly huge. A surprise to no one who knew about the Ina. The Giants who resided here could range from a ‘meager’ twenty feet all they way to an earth-rattling sixty. Of course, they only get that big once fully grown. The temple’s entrance must have been higher than that by at least twice as much if Nira’s estimate was correct. Lio would argue that you shouldn’t trust any guesses from Nira unless you wanted to end up dead, kidnapped, wrapped around in a zombie lizard’s tongue, or anything else that could cause extreme discomfort. Nira disagreed, as if any of that was going to prove her point.

“Well, not with that tiny people attitude we won’t.” Nira waved her Hain arm. “You forget I’m part Hain. Those bastards made a mistake by giving me this thing.”

Nira’s Hain arm did not make her an unstoppable being, nor did she have the strength of a typical Hain soldier. What it did, however, was make her stronger than any human had any hope of achieving by natural means. She took a wide stance and snuck her fingers deep into the gap between the two doors.

“Could you give me a hand? It’s still really heavy.” Nira grunted.

TEMPLE OF JARR – MAIN ENTRANCE ROOM – NIGHT

Nira had heard stories of this place since she was a child… And it helped that Lio was a freak for history. According to one of her many campfire history lessons, the temple was the last bastion of the original Ina Giants and served as the final resting place of Jarr, the most revered warrior in recorded Ina history.

The entrance hallway led them into a large open room filled with drawings that circled the walls. Some of it made little sense, but most of it seemed to be depicting a great battle.

“What is this?” Nira wandered deeper into the room, moving past the drawings quickly.

“This is fascinating!” Lio darted off to the right side of the room and studied every little inch of the drawings. This was her comfort zone. She had all but forgotten how they could die at any given moment.

“I wonder what battle this is referencing… The weaponry they’re using is nothing like the modern obsidian-based ones that I’ve read about. This must have been hundreds if not over a thousand years ago.” Lio followed the art's trail across the room.

“Ina soldiers charging at some kind of enemy… Burned corpses…” She ran over to the left. Lio had to dissect everything. She hoped the other half of the room held more answers… But it raised more questions than answers. A stylistic interpretation of an eclipse surrounded by stars was the last thing she expected to see in Jarr’s temple.

“Interesting… What do you think, Nira?”

Nira didn’t really care about all that stuff. History was interesting and all, but that’s not what she came here for. Still, she was glad that Lio was enjoying herself. It would help offset the stress caused by the, hopefully, dangerous things yet to come.

“Not sure but take a look at this.” The room split off into three paths. The one in the middle had two large statues, the one on the right of an ancient Ina ruler. On the left, a shrouded figure holding the sun and moon in their hands. A familiar presence, although Nira couldn’t figure out why that was.

“Who’s this guy? What do you know about him?” Nira pointed at the Ina statue.

“By the crystal… That’s the rampaging bull, Ayaxa!” Lio rushed over to Nira’s side.

“He was known to be a fierce warrior, yet a compassionate ruler. It was under his rule that the Ina began to truly prosper as an empire to be feared.”

Lio noticed the other statue. “And this one… It can’t be.  ”

“Do you know who this is?”

“Knowing is a strong way to put it. It’s related to an old myth.  The image of a being holding the sun and moon in their hands is the most common way of depicting ‘The Celestial Witch’. A supposed magical entity that harnessed the power of the sun and moon. Come to think of it… The Sun Mages worshiped a deity called the Sun Witch, right?”

“Those fanatics believed in a lot of hopeful nonsense. But yes, they did." This struck a chord. Another witch? Nira could not deny her intrigue. She wanted to ask more questions, ask further details… But she shouldn’t. Nothing good could come out of involving themselves in that web of mystery.

“Did they ever mention another witch? If so… It’s likely they’re connected somehow. But then that…” Nira had gone quiet. A clear indication something was wrong and Lio could always tell when her friend’s mind wandered. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Mhm.”

***

Nira’s refusal to share anything bothered Lio to no end. A familiar feeling that recalled memories of them as children. Back then, Lio could trust that Nira would come around eventually when she felt comfortable. Now, however? She never spoke up about anything. Nira let her know as much as she needed, but nothing more. They’ve been together for a little over a year and Lio knew nothing of what Nira went through at Hain. Other than losing her arm and gaining a new one, those three years she went missing remained shrouded in mystery. She could only be certain of one thing.

Her best friend had changed.

“Which way do you think we should go? The one in the middle is a trap. Always is.” Nira nudged Lio towards the middle.

“That or the Ina are messing with us and the other two lead to our deaths.”

Nira grinned at Lio. “Only one way to know for sure!”

At this point, she didn’t have much energy left to complain and had accepted that this was the way things would go. Death or not, Lio also reveled in the excitement of the unknown even if did take her a while to get fired up.

“The trap it is. Let’s see what they have in store for us.” Lio smiled back.

Unfortunately for them it didn’t take long for the temple to reveal its true intentions. The path in the middle was indeed a trap. A shock to no one except perhaps to the Ina peering from the great beyond, cocking their heads in utter confusion as they walked straight into the madness. Nira and Lio took but a mere three steps before a series of dramatic and quick events took place.

FIRST:

•         The two statues turned and activated a mechanism that closed the temple entrance.

SECOND:

•         Spikes rained down from the ceiling. A certified ancient temple classic according to Nira. Lio almost died countless times evading them.

THIRD

•         They ran deeper into the temple, but then Nira noticed a stone tile that stood out from the others. A trap.

FOURTH

•         Lio begged Nira not to step on it.

FIFTH

•         Nira stepped on it anyway. The floor gave way, and they fell into…

THE DUNGEON KENNEL – NIGHT

Nira and Lio landed on what could only be described as a sand-filled battle arena that doubled as some weird giant doghouse. The set of audience stands and an ominous metal gate with a thick iron lock did not inspire confidence that they fell into a nice cozy getaway. Adding to the relaxing vacation-home vibe were dozens of human corpses littering the arena. The stench of death ran loose... And giant dog toys? Nothing about this place felt right.

“Are you alright?” Nira shook the sand out of her hair.

“Why didn’t you use the charm?” Lio stood up, coughing sand that got stuck in her throat.

“I tried, but it slipped from my hand.” Nira picked up the charm from the ground in front of her.

“Slipped from your hand? Just like your foot slipped into the obvious trap?” She raised her brow.

“We both know those are not the same.” Nira said with complete confidence that they had said some manner of a sound argument.

Lio scoffed. Nira’s obsession with danger was a lost cause. At least they were safe. “Oh god… We’re lucky we’re a couple of centuries too late.”  Lio saw not one but two giant skeletons that belonged to what she could only assume were giant demon dogs. She had read about the fascination the Ina had with pets so she was grateful that the only interaction they would have with them was with deteriorating fossils and not a bloodthirsty, very much alive, demon dog power couple.

“Disappointing, but I can’t lie that it would’ve been a tough fight. One of them we could take on no problem, but two? That might be more than even we could chew.”

Lio could hardly believe her ears. A sentence with a semblance of rationality. Horrendous pun aside. “Not like that would’ve stopped you from trying.”

Nira laughed. “Nope. The challenge would’ve been nice.”

The two of them looked up. Getting out of the Dungeon Kennel (term courtesy of Lio) would prove to be difficult.

“You think you could get us back up there with the charm?” Lio gazed above. Any normal person would’ve died from this height. For the first time in a while, she was glad they were anything but.

“I’ve never tried using it while holding on to someone else… But I like the idea.” Nira chucked the charm upwards at full strength. “Get ready to hold on tight!” The prospects looked good. Nira pulled Lio in close and waited for the charm to reach the apex of its trajectory.

“Almost there…”

A rampaging set of steps shook the entire arena. Nira and Lio lost their balance and fell to their knees.

“What the hell?!” Nira said.

A giant dog jumped above them. The hound swallowed the charm and crashed back down to the arena. No way out now. Fantastic. Nira and Lio stood back-to-back.

“Looks like the demon dogs had a baby.”

“Nira… Look behind you.”

The demon dog couple had left behind quite a legacy. Three demon dog pups surrounded them, growling and hungry for the taste of new meat. Make no mistake, these were not small creatures. Each one of the demon pups stood at least twice the height of any regular human. Tiny by Giant standards. Terrifying by any other.

“Now this is more my speed.”  Nira drew her blade with a wide grin.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO.

Author's Note:

Oh Nira... She's one of a kind, isn't she? But what do you guys think of Lio?

Let me know your thoughts!

- Juan