The dome above the land where Caer Sidi set was as clear as always. The source light shined from the back of the city, breaking through the excavated hills and mounds. The rays slowly crept on every building, almost reaching the main gate, as usual. 

An old firbolg did his early morning routine, following the light until it touched the giant doors; after this self-imposed alarm finished its run, he would go on doing his usual activities and enjoying his old age. Except for today, the bright line was cut just as it almost reached the finish line. The old firbolg was surprised, unsure if the problem was his old, his eyes, the mind playing tricks on himself- or all at once. 

Old man- “ Excuse me”, he dowry asked a passerby. “ Can you help an old man out? I’m sure what happened, but is the-”, but before he could finish his question, the asked one gave a shrill scream while he looked toward the light source. 

Screamer- “ THE SUN! ITS GONE!” His screams drew the attention of other passersby, who now stared at the white hole in the sky. Panic stirred up immediately, and fright grasped the caer sidians in the blink of an eye; until multiple public announcements were made through a network of intertwined trumpets, strung along the city.

Blitz- “ This is a message for the people of Caer Sidi! Please be advised that today we’ll receive a visit from an extinguished member of the Tuatha! If you observe any changes in the environment, like a giant hole in the sky, that’s a sign of their arrival from outside the layer! Please, don’t panic and let others know as well. This message will repeat itself for another half an hour over a 5-minute interval. …Thank you!”

A cube’s surface glittered from the morning light, leaving a shining trail of different colored lines just as it passed through the hole in the sun. A panel splits and draws inwards, leaving a window in its wake, through which a being clad in a golden, cubic armor was looking out. The being’s left hand was shivering very subtly, and he tried some breathing exercises to calm his nerves. 

Passenger 1- “ I’m guessing good morning is the phrase of the day-”, to which the giant quickly hid his hands in a tough, serious crossing to his chest. 

Golden Tuatha- “ We’ve arrived, fiar. Are the others….”

Passenger 1- “ Of course my lord”, replied the tiny firbolg, doing a deep bow. “ My wife is checking our baggage as we speak, and my daughter is preparing all the knowledge tomes we have for trading with their library.”

The Tuatha then moved his right hand around, commanding the vessel to descend near the city slowly. “ Understood…Fiar, bring me the book my cousin left for me. And don’t peek inside of it- the writings of Dia’s chosen are not for the lowly as yourself! Understood?”

The circle firbolg did a chilled salute as a reply and ran as fast as he could to search for the mentioned book. He passed by a young girl, whom he greeted in a fastened manner, and around the corner he disappeared. The teen then approached the control room and took a peek through a gap at the Tuatha. She saw his hand shivering…again, and waited a minute before knocking. “ Lord of Masks, may I enter?”, asked the girl dowry. 

LoM- “ Temitayo? You may enter, young historian. Have you discovered anything else on the matter I entrusted to you?” The giant’s unwillingly and giddily hunched his back at the prospect of being told good news, which he caught in the girl’s dilated pupils, rapidly straightening the back; which also led to him bonking his head into the ceiling. The teen left out a subdued snicker. 

Temitayo- “ Uhum! Yes, mighty Tuatha, it’s as you figured, the mask you use is incomplete; it is the mightiest I know of, but unstable. My parents always used to praise the library in Caer Sidi, so if we want to start looking for clues somewhere, it’s as good as any place to start looking from. Besides, my guardians are acquaintances of the librarian.”

Just then, two coin-like firbolgs rolled into the room, ruffling the girl’s unkept, long hair and doing a bow to the master of the ship. “ Our stuff is locked tight, and our food is refrigerated…uh”,

Passenger 1- “My liege”, whispered her partner.

Passenger 2- “ My boss”, replied the other coin firbolg before she heard what her partner said. 

Temitayo- “ Nice save attempt Grushie, but our dear Scramble is unfortunately faster on her with her mouth -” A coin that flew right next to her ear shut the teen’s slander before it reached the tipping point. She then quickly, but quietly, apologized. 

Scramble- “ I know that you're sorry dear, but we still need to work on how you handle your emotions. “ The coin firbolg then turned her attention back to the Tuatha. “ By the way, my liege, we received another message from the Union- It says that they have two failed pacts and want to ask you about it-”, to which the Lord of Masks started to sweat a little bit, and he started to tap his fingers in response.

LoM- “ Dam it…Of course right when it’s my first assignment of this kind I get to deal with more intricate issues than first expected!”

Scramble- “ And two successful pacts- wow, that’s quite a number of deals right there.”

Grushie- “ Right? I am a bit more interested in the failed ones, though. It ain’t that hard of a process, to be honest. I was surprised when our pacts went down so easily-”

Temitayo-” I blame my parents for that. They were too easy to get attached to”, she replied, before taking a look at her guardians. “ Well, I guess you two as well”, she remarked, resulting in her trapped in a tight hug from the firbolg couple.

LoM-” Right, thank you for that fiars. Please leave the control room now, you’re becoming too mushy for my liking.” To which all three took a deep bow and left, with the teen being the last to do so, but not before dropping a whispered “you can do it” to the master of the ship.

…

An endless, dark murky sea extends from one end of a white horizon to another. The wind is stale, actually non-existent as neither a breeze grazed the cheeks of any living being in this place. The water is devoid of waves, and any minutia of flow happen only around objects that float aimlessly in this liquid void. Objects, or creatures that found themselves trapped here, such as Ogda, who has been staring through patches of haze and mist at the blindly white sky.  Just like the ocean he was floating in, the other side of this natural hourglass was an endless stretch of nothing. 

He doesn’t recognize this place, or how he even got here, but for what felt like an eternity of just drifting, it didn’t irk him. Ogda felt at peace, mostly just numb and content to stay like that for an eternity. 

Sometime later, his rafting brought him to the first sign of land existing in this place. Out of the mist, a mound appeared and Ogda bumped into it; for the first time in a while, his curiosity caught on to the water firbolg after he noticed that the land seemed…weird. It was gray and moldy, a bit soft to the touch, only for a single layer- afterward, whatever the mound was built by, was the toughest material and coldest material he had ever felt. Another issue was the angle it rose by- The top of the hill angled at a very sharp point, which made Ogda think that maybe it was an iceberg, or something similar to that. “ Still, it’s not cold enough for such a structure to form here…is it also drifting aimlessly?”

Before he could investigate further, a sudden shake awakened the dormant waves and Ogda had to latch on the mound to be washed away; for naught, though, as he discovered that the source of the tremors was the very same land he was holding on to.

The pointy tip then started to loosen up, and the hill slowly flattened its shape, like a knee that was being straightened up. Ogda then realizes there was a second hill, hidden by the first and the mist, which was doing exactly as its pair. He then realized how gravely mistaken he was in his comparison- “ These aren’t like, these are actual knees!”

A tidal wave formed soon after as the rest of the giant’s body pushed the murky sea to rigidly raise its upper body. The being was too enormous for Ogda to understand its shape, but he could see how a simple hoist created a tidal wave that went on for way beyond his eye’s scope. The creature’s head went way above the mist line and it made a small typhoon that induced the much lost act of moving in the stale world. 

Ogda’s latch on the creature’s skin was shaky at best from the start, but he held on enough not to be taken by the waves until his grip felt weak and he splashed into the water below. Still, his gaze was fixated on the being, who now hunched forward and stood still, staring at nothing, as if it just woke up. A sudden gust started when another limb moved. Two hands leaned on the knees and Ogda could swear that something else moved from the back; but he no longer had any time to investigate those, as a sudden shiver went through his whole body. From just a single look from the creature. 

The water monster couldn’t see any features of the giant, just a shadow figured hidden by the mist and height- still, Ogda could feel that it noticed him; he could tell that it slightly turned its head around and that whatever eyes it had were fixated on him alone. 

A palm with a single finger came closer to Ogda and lifted him from the water, higher and higher into the sky. There, Ogda stood in front of a giant yellow diamond, with multiple black lines surrounding a dot that changed its color every few seconds. Before he could figure out what he was looking at, the voice that had spoken to him for months now bellowed louder than before. 

????- “ Middll..e one…sufferi…from Lethe…”

After that, Ogda woke up, panting and hyperventilating. Happy that all of it was just a dream, but a part of him knew that what he was was a real place- The ocean from the other side. And the creature, something he didn’t want to ponder about.