Chapter 106: Stone Giant

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Valera’s heartbeat pounded in her ears, a thunderous drumming that overshadowed her thudding footfalls. Despite that, her breath came out even, composed. As worried as she might have been, she was well aware of how important breath control was while running, particularly if she wanted to hold a dead sprint for any notable length of time.

And besides, Valera told herself, she could very well be panicking for no reason. Or, another part of her whispered, she could have a very good reason.

Her mind flashed to an image of a small statue, pushed past what it could handle, exploding into a cloud of deadly shards. Then, of course, it shifted to an even bigger statue. She hadn’t seen the statue that the Council had commissioned, of course, so her mind went to the worst places; Valera imagined a gargantuan monstrosity, exploding with enough force that the fragments it created could shatter buildings.

It was ridiculous, but she found herself moving just a little faster.

She whipped around a corner, just barely dodging the edge of a bench whose existence had slipped past her mind, rushed as she was. One hand thrown outwards, she pushed herself up and over, vaulting past the obstacle and continuing on her way.

Her hand stung, pain blooming across the palm. A tickling sensation trickled down from the injury, blood welling from the small wound.

A few shouts had civilians moving out of her path, some of them more quickly than others. Regardless, Valera made good time, quickly arriving at the marketplace.

It was less than the work of a single moment to locate the statue.

The stone carving had been placed at the very center of the marketplace - a choice that made a great deal of sense. The Council had commissioned the piece as a way to raise morale; it was meant to be a reminder of the positives of Orken’s current situation. A way to redirect attention away from more troubling things.

It made sense to place it somewhere that it would be frequently seen by most citizens.

On any given day, the marketplace was a bustling hive of activity, filled with crowds exploring the many trinkets and necessities on offer. It always held a chaotic, joyful sort of clamor - one that Valera dearly loved. It was filled with life, more than any other place in Orken. Children happily weaved through the marketplace’s wide plaza, dodging away from the grasping hands of their caretakers. Traders hawked their wares, proclaiming the superiority of their products to anyone that would listen. Adults browsed and mingled, hunting for deals and gossip.

Valera heard none of that. Valera saw none of that.

Not now. Not today.

Instead, the plaza was unnaturally silent, the crowds peeled back towards the edges and away from the brilliant blue light that grew at its center. It was a natural reaction, a safe one, keeping back from something that glowed with such powerful mana-light - and so they backed away.

All except for one small, solitary figure that toddled ever closer, hands reaching out and eyes wide in wonder.

Valera sprang into motion. She crossed the distance with an even greater speed than before, flinging herself between the child and the light. Her knees hit the ground with a painful thud, strong enough to leave a bruise; one arm reached around the curious toddler, holding her tight against the shield that was her own chest. Behind her, the light flared again, strong enough to force tears to run from her eyes.

She flinched, clenching them tight. Pinpricks danced across her skin, phantom impressions of what might be; already, she could imagine the great statue behind her bursting in a brilliant flash of light, sending fist-sized fragments to pierce through her back. Her free hand found its way to the Totem around her neck, blood-slick palm held tight against the wooden surface, and she pushed extreme thoughts of warning and alarm to the forefront of her mind.

It wasn’t hard. They were already there.

The child gasped, and Valera braced herself for an agonizing explosion.

It never came. Her hand twitched slightly, the bloody Totem nearly pulling itself from her grasp, as if tugged by an invisible hand.

“Pretty…” a tiny voice whispered, voice dripping with a naive sense of wonder.

The world returned in a slowly-widening slit, Valera’s eyes cracking open with a sense of relief.

The light was fading.

Her palm twinged uncomfortably, sliced skin catching minutely on a carved wooden scale. As if chasing the fading light, Valera twisted her neck, careful to keep the child safely behind her.

In the center of the plaza, resting on a raised plinth, was a massive replica of the Little Guardian.

Does that make this the Giant Guardian?

It wasn’t funny. Not at all. Even so, a slightly hysterical laugh pushed past her lips, and she found herself hugging the child tighter. By the time that she pulled herself together again, others had begun to move forward. Soft blue light - far gentler than what had so recently been filling the marketplace - spilled from the cracks between their fingers.

They had noticed it too, she realized.

The strings of her necklace shifted again, tugged ever-so-slightly by an invisible hand. She let herself move with the pull of that ethereal hand, lifting the child to her hip with one arm and turning around. Tiny arms wrapped around her neck, and a head pressed against her chest.

Slowly, carefully, she moved forward - ready to turn back at the sign of any danger, but not truly believing there would be. The danger had already passed.

“Pretty snake…” the child whispered again, wriggling in her grasp. One hand reached forward, grabbing at the air.

It was pretty, Valera thought. The Little Guardian was cute and tiny; the statue was neither. It was almost majestic, with its obsidian-black coils that seemed more scale than stone twisted underneath its bulk. The light around those coils dimmed slightly, and yet that only drew the eye to the rest of the strange statue. Light poured from the half-sphere that protruded from its head, shining a brilliant blue undercut by gold.

And below that, filling the beast’s gaping maw, was a mass of flickering blue flames.

They weren’t real, she could tell. They didn’t give off any heat, not like real fire would. Even from paces away, there was no change.

It was only light, just like the rest.

She stepped forward again, following the almost imperceptible tug of the [Little Guardian’s Totem] still clutched between her fingers. Another tug. Another step.

A tug.

A step - and Valera was standing before the flames.

The child on her hip giggled, eyes shining bright as she stared at the flames. Only now did Valera notice that there was a [Little Guardian’s Totem] around the child’s neck, bobbing and swaying to an intangible breeze.

She turned back towards the flames, blinking away the dazzling brightness. The flames reached out, questing tendrils reaching towards the [Little Guardian’s Totem] around Valera’s neck. Another tendril reached toward the one that the child wore; Valera turned to the side, blocking its path with her own body, and it pulled back.

Just in case. She was confident that it was safe, but there was no need to endanger a child.

The necklace in her grasp twitched again, stronger than before. The flames reached out, slipping through the gaps between her fingers.

They touched.

A strange sensation pressed against her mind, feeling like a mental muscle that she was only now realizing she had. A burst of energy filled her muscles. A tingling itch ran across her palm. She shook it off, pulling her hand from the [Little Guardian’s Totem] and wiping it carefully across her leg. The strange sensation pressing against her mind went away. The energy drained. The itching stopped.

She turned her hand back around and froze.

The cut was nearly gone.

She touched her necklace again, only letting go after her palm stopped tingling, and smiled happily at what she saw.

Then, hand pressed against her altered Totem once more, she flexed a muscle that she never had before.

The light around her dimmed, and the illusory flames twitched.

She flexed it again.