Crystal

Three weeks before

Surrounded by cold stone, a giant was resting in total darkness. Sitting still and tall like a hill, the earth rumbled as the giant suddenly raised its arm toward the sky. With a point of its finger it send shivers through the stone ceiling, cracking it open and letting the sun peek inside. The sunlight pierced the darkness like a laser, until met by a pond at the far bottom of the cave.

The giant lowered its arm to lean over the water. Next to it the pond looked no larger than a puddle, with the surface so calm it reflected the giant as clear as a mirror.

“Show me... Reina Rubina,” the giant demanded, disturbing the pond with a tip of its finger. Circling waves distorted the reflection till it formed a new image.

Sight onto a city opened, filled with thousands of people, buzzing around busy like a swarm of bees. The view closed in on a giant mansion, and then further into its vast inner courtyard. There a young woman was training, kicking and punching a training dummy without missing a beat. A man standing at the sidelines shouted at her to speed up and use more power. So she did.

The woman pulled back for a final kick to release into the puppet’s side. A kick so powerful it cut the puppet like a sword, smashing it in two. Tumbling over the ground, the remains joined a dozen more destroyed siblings in the dirt.

“Next!”, the man shouted, but the woman didn’t move.

“I am done... I trained the whole day.”

She turned around to face him, wiping sweat from her face with the arm of her shirt.

“You’re done training?” he asked, raising his chin to glare down on her. She glared back, barely a centimetre shorter than him. “Fine, so you want a real fight? Then prepare the horned monster.”

“That is not-”

He reached out to slap her across the face. She evaded. For a moment that felt like eternity neither of them moved a muscle. They stared at each other in silent argument, tensed up, ready to respond once the other chose to attack.

The giant leaned closer over the pond, observing the woman’s every move, anticipating. Her fingers twitched, her lips grew pale from forcing them together, but in the end she gave in.

The giant let out an earth-shaking roar and destroyed the reflection.

“How I despise her parents! Stole my favourite pet! And holding back my new one...” The giant started to pace the cave, sending an earthquake with each step they took. Then it stopped.

“Scorpio!”

As soon as the giant called, a rustle sounded at the far end of the cave. A pair of purple eyes appeared in the shadows, glowing bright despite the little light.

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

“When is their next hunting trip?”

“In three days.”

“Good.” The giant lowered itself back to the ground, resuming the wait. “Her parents have strained my patience long enough. I wonder if she kills them for me... Scorpio, see to it. Make her my puppet, one way or another.”

Location Deepdive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AnwEHKk4Go

Chapter 0 Audiobook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WJ4lbPZIlg&t=95s