The Higher Plain Ch 9: The Faint Voice

(Krelzor)

My fingers were shot. Numb. Useless. My arms felt like two sacks of wet grain hanging off my shoulders. Every pull upward was pure agony, and my legs weren't much better—shaking like they were made of jelly. Yet, somehow, I kept climbing. Not because I was brave or strong or even particularly smart, but because I was way too stubborn to turn back now.

My farm was miles behind me, probably smashed beyond recognition. My dad's field? Gone. My house? Probably a pancake. So what else could I do but keep going? This was my life now—climbing a living mountain.

And let me tell you, Xylarion hair sucks.

It looks all shiny and smooth from a distance, but up close, it's like climbing a mix between slippery silk and tree bark. Every time I thought I had a good grip, my hand would slide, or the wind would blast me sideways, leaving me flailing like a fool.

"Why couldn't she have short hair?" I muttered through gritted teeth, pulling myself up another strand. "Why does a giant even need hair this long? What's the point? It's not like anyone's looking up and thinking, 'Wow, what great hair she has!'"

I glanced down—big mistake. Below me, her hair cascaded downward like a waterfall, vanishing into the endless drop. I could barely make out the ground anymore, just a blur of green and brown far, far below. My stomach did a little flip.

"Alright, Krelzor," I said, forcing myself to look up again. "Don't think about the drop. Don't think about how one wrong move will turn you into a red smear on the ground. Just keep climbing."

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I saw it—the edge of her ear. A ridge of soft, pink flesh looming above me like the crest of a hill. My goal was so close I could almost taste it.

"Almost there," I grunted, pulling myself up the last few strands of hair. My arms screamed in protest, but I ignored them. With one final push, I grabbed onto the ridge of her ear and hauled myself up.

And then I was there.

I collapsed onto the soft flesh, panting like a dog on a hot summer day. My entire body was trembling, my muscles burning like fire. For a moment, I just lay there, staring up at the sky, letting the relief wash over me.

"Finally..." I gasped, barely able to get the word out.

After a minute, I forced myself to sit up, and that's when I saw it—the cavern.

Her ear wasn't just big. It was massive.

The entrance yawned before me like the mouth of a cave, a deep, spiraling tunnel of flesh that seemed to go on forever. The walls were smooth and glistening, curving inward like the ridges of a giant seashell. It wasn't just hundreds of feet tall—it was miles deep.

For a moment, I just stared, completely dumbfounded. "That's... that's an ear," I said to myself, shaking my head. "That's not an ear—that's a godsdamned cathedral."

I took a deep breath, cupped my hands around my mouth, and shouted into the cavern with everything I had:

"HEY, GIANT LADY!"

***

(Valtheron)

The Great Hall of Valtheron was alive with tension, a chorus of clanking armor and muttered prayers filling the chamber. King Aldren, ruler of the proud kingdom, stood at the head of the long oak table, his expression grim as his knights recounted their failed efforts.

"Your Majesty," Sir Corwin began, his voice tight with panic. "We used every weapon in our arsenal. The Skyspike Cannons—the pride of Valtheron—could not even reach her toes. The shots dissolved into nothing before they came close."

There were murmurs of disbelief from the gathered knights, but Corwin continued. "And the Eclipsion Bomb, our strongest weapon... it was unleashed directly upon her heel." His voice faltered, his hands trembling. "It could obliterate entire cities in a single strike, yet... yet it didn't even scuff her skin. It didn't even leave a mark, my King. I doubt she even noticed."

Another knight, Sir Berric, slammed his fist on the table, his face pale. "How can we fight something so massive? We're ants beneath her gaze—if she even has noticed us. What can we do?!"

The room erupted into arguments and fearful murmurs, the sound almost as deafening as the quakes that had begun to rattle the stones of the castle.

"Enough!" King Aldren roared, silencing the hall. His knights fell quiet, their fearful eyes fixed on him. "You are knights of Valtheron. You swore an oath to protect this kingdom, no matter the cost."

"But, my King—" Corwin tried to interject.

"Enough!" Aldren repeated, his voice shaking the air. He drew a deep breath, letting the gravity of the situation settle over the room. "Leave me. I will take counsel with myself."

The knights hesitated, exchanging uncertain glances, but they obeyed. One by one, they filed out of the hall, the heavy doors groaning shut behind them.

Aldren stood alone, his heart pounding. Slowly, he turned and walked toward the balcony that overlooked his vast kingdom. The tremors underfoot grew stronger with each passing second, the air itself seeming heavier, thicker.

When he stepped out onto the balcony, the sight that greeted him was nothing short of apocalyptic.

The Titan dominated the horizon, her immense form blotting out much of the once-blue sky. Her towering figure stretched into the heavens, a living mountain that cast the land into shadow. Her every step was a cataclysm—earthquakes rippled through the ground, sending massive fissures tearing across the plains. Trees were uprooted, rivers diverted, entire villages swallowed by the trembling earth.

Aldren's eyes widened as he saw her foot rise into the air, the sole an unfathomable landscape of flesh and creases. Dirt, rocks, and entire trees clung to the grooves of her skin, only to fall like meteors as she moved. The sound was deafening—a thunderous crack as her foot displaced air and earth alike.

And then it hovered above them.

The sole stretched across the horizon, its sheer size defying comprehension. What was once the sunlit sky was now replaced by the textured underside of her foot, a tan colossus that seemed to contain entire worlds within its ridges and valleys.

"This... this is the end," Aldren whispered to himself, his voice drowned out by the cacophony of destruction.

The ground beneath him shuddered violently as the Titan's foot descended. Walls cracked, towers crumbled, and the very foundation of Valtheron quaked. The air grew unbearably thick, the pressure suffocating.

And then, with a final, deafening boom, the foot made contact.

The weight was incomprehensible, a force so massive that it obliterated everything beneath it without resistance. The castle, the city, the kingdom itself—all were reduced to nothing in an instant. The shockwave alone tore apart everything for miles around, flattening forests, leveling mountains, and sending a ripple through the earth that was felt continents away.

King Aldren didn't feel a thing. No one did. There was no time for pain, no time for fear—just an overwhelming nothingness as the weight of the Titan ended their existence.

High above, Faylina took another step, her thoughts miles away from the destruction she had unknowingly wrought. She was lost in the wonder of the lower realm, oblivious to the kingdom that had been erased beneath her heel. The land shook as she continued her journey, a goddess unaware of the ants crushed beneath her tread.

***

(Faylina)

The ground felt strange beneath my feet. Every step I took sank slightly into the soft earth, leaving behind deep impressions of my soles. It was like walking through damp clay—not unpleasant, but odd. Everything about this place felt different. The air was cooler, thicker, carrying scents that were unfamiliar yet intriguing. A faint sweetness mingled with the musk of soil and greenery, unlike anything back home.

I looked around, my gaze sweeping over the horizon. The land stretched far and wide, much more open and sparse compared to the dense beauty of Xylarion. The trees were small, barely reaching my knees, and the mountains in the distance seemed more like hills to me. This was the human world, I reminded myself, the place I'd dreamed of for so long. But still, something felt off.

"Where are they?" I muttered, brushing my hair back from my face as I scanned the horizon again. "Aren't humans supposed to be everywhere?"

Back in Xylarion, I'd read countless stories about how humans were so numerous they covered the land like leaves on the ground during autumn. Yet here I was, wandering this strange place, and I hadn't seen a single one. Was I in the wrong area? Had I landed in some barren wilderness?

Frustration bubbled up inside me. "This isn't what I expected," I grumbled to myself, kicking a small boulder out of my path. It tumbled across the ground like a pebble, disappearing into the distance.

I stopped and sighed, looking at the blue and green foliage scattered around me. "Did I mess this up? Am I in the middle of nowhere?"

Just as I was about to take another step, a faint noise reached my ears—a sound so small it was almost like a squeak. My senses, sharpened by my Xylarion nature, picked it up immediately. I froze, tilting my head to the side, trying to focus on the sound.

"Hey, giant lady..."

I jumped, almost tripping over myself as I whipped my head around. My heart raced as I spun in place, searching for the source of the voice. "What?! Who's there?" My voice came out sharper than I intended, echoing into the vast emptiness around me.

Nothing. Just the rustling of leaves and the distant sound of water trickling. I frowned, narrowing my eyes. Was I hearing things? Maybe the journey had been harder on me than I thought. But no... I definitely heard someone. It was faint, yes, but it was there.