Chapter 20: The Silent Colossus
The path into the Second Zone was a graveyard.
Bleached bones rose from the cracked earth like the ribs of a god. Each one was larger than a fortress wall, their shadows stretching endlessly under the blood-red sky. A single femur, toppled across the dirt, was the size of Vaelor's entire village.
Keal walked at the front, hands in his pockets, eyes scanning without a single ripple of emotion. Astrili hovered just behind him, her golden hair drifting weightlessly in the air, eyes flicking from bone to bone.
Nyx… was simply gone. Somewhere in the shadows. Somewhere near.
Myros trailed at the rear, muttering under his breath as he occasionally glanced at the skeletons.
"Even dead, they're worth more than armies," he said with a grin that made Selvaria roll her eyes.
"Worth more if they stay dead," she replied, voice smooth as silk but with a warning edge.
The crunch of gravel echoed unnaturally loud in the still air.
No birds. No wind. Not even the faint hum of distant life.
"Creepy," Astrili whispered. "I don't like it here."
"You don't have to," Keal said flatly. "You just have to keep moving."
They walked for nearly an hour before the bones thinned out, revealing a flat expanse of cracked stone. And there, in the center of the wasteland, stood it.
A giant.
It towered over them, easily sixty meters tall, skin the color of old stone, eyes closed. Its hands hung at its sides, massive fingers curled like the roots of a petrified tree.
The group stopped.
"…That thing hasn't moved in centuries," Myros muttered, leaning on his staff. "Probably just another corpse."
Astrili tilted her head. "Why is it standing, then?"
Selvaria smirked. "Some of the dead like to pretend. I say we ignore it."
Keal's cosmic eyes flickered open—glowing rings of violet light that sliced through illusion and shadow alike. And instantly… his expression changed.
"Move," he said.
Nobody moved.
Then the world blurred.
The giant was simply gone. No sound. No warning. Just—gone.
Astrili blinked. "Wait, wher—"
A shadow fell over them.
Keal spun just as the giant reappeared behind them, arm already in motion. The punch came down like a collapsing mountain.
BOOM!
Dust exploded. The ground shattered into spiderweb cracks. Keal's body slammed into the dirt, the impact sending a shockwave that rippled through the field.
If he were human, he'd be paste.
Nyx melted into the ground without a sound. Astrili shot into the air on reflex, wings flaring. Selvaria's form flickered and vanished. Myros raised a wall of bone between himself and the giant—only for it to crumble instantly under the thing's presence.
Then… Keal stood up.
The dust parted around him as if afraid to touch. His head was tilted slightly, his glowing eyes fixed on the giant.
The colossus stepped forward, every motion a thunderclap. It drew its massive fist back, preparing another blow.
Keal didn't move.
Not until the giant's arm descended—
VWOOM!
—Keal was gone.
One moment, he was standing still. The next, he was in front of the giant's face, moving faster than even Astrili's eyes could follow.
"Sit," Keal said.
And then he punched.
The strike was quiet. No booming explosion, no grand theatrics. Just a sharp thud—and the giant's skull caved inward like wet clay.
Its massive body froze… then toppled backwards with the sound of a collapsing cathedral. Dust rose in a suffocating wave.
When the air cleared, Keal was standing there, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve as though he'd merely swatted a fly.
"…One punch," Myros whispered. "I hate you a little bit."
Astrili landed lightly beside him, eyes wide. "You… you weren't that fast before."
"I am now," Keal said simply, stepping over the giant's corpse. "We keep moving. That was the slow one."
The rest exchanged glances. If that was the slow one… what waited for them deeper inside the Second Zone?
They followed in silence, the shadow of the dead giant stretching far behind them.
Somewhere in the distance, faint and low, came the sound of heavy footsteps. Many of them.
The City of Titans was waiting.