Chapter 25 - Intentions

Everything felt like a blur, Curtis felt amazed with what he saw. The city, no it was more appropriate to call it a fortress. It had everything it would need. Farmland that was layered behind the walls of the fort, animals being reared to the side, the fields were full of farmers tending to the crops, at the moment they looked like they were just finishing up with harvesting the crop of the season, the fort felt alive. Workers were bustling about doing whatever work they were assigned. Everything felt so smooth, the city, no, the fort was functioning like a well-oiled machine.

Curtis only snapped out of his daze when he heard someone call out to him.

"H- he- hey, you alright?"

Looking to his left he saw the captain of the ship, Edna. Was tapping his left cheek, which felt more like a slap with her, trying to get his attention. Edna, finally seeing the clarity in his eyes, breathed out a sigh of relief "At least you're still alive, we kind of need you to pay attention here kid.". And then proceeded to look forward.

Curtis has been staring into space for a while now, racking his mind in consolidating his story, he was held up the moment he saw the inside of the fort, he needed to practice the tale that he'll need to spin to the people who wanted him here, but now. It seemed like time was up.

Their group stood outside a pair of huge wooden doors they stood at about 15 feet tall. With a loud creaking noise the doors slowly opened revealing a wide circular hall, surrounding the hall were marble seats arranged in line with the circular pattern, in the middle of the hall was a stage where one might speak to the people in the seats. Thinking back to his previous life, the hall emulated a Greek theater, he once had the chance to watch a play being performed in one, back when he enjoyed traveling when he first made his money.

The moment they entered the hall the doors slowly closed, being pushed by half a dozen men each door, proving how heavy they were. Curtis' group moved directly onto the middle of the stage, a special seat was prepared for him, as he was sat directly in the middle. Edna sat on the marble seats in the second layer from the center. While the woman named Sally kept pacing back and forth, from the looks of things, they were waiting. Curtis's mind ran like a rabbit on a treadmill. I am a country boy, who got lost in the woods and was kidnapped against my will and was brought here. It was the same story he told Edna and the others on the ship. He kept repeating it in his head thinking, if I believe it, then it must be true.

"Kid, now that we're here, I'm telling you now. Don't lie and you will keep your head." came the worried voice of Sally. Before Curtis could wrap his head around with what she meant, the doors flew open, slamming itself onto the walls of the hall. What came in was different from what Curtis had thought. It even had to duck just to get into the hall, sounds of its footsteps echoed in the hall as it approached him. Fear crept up Curtis' heart. In front of him was a real, live, big ass, giant. It picked him up like a bag of rice and brought him up to its face.

Staring right at him with its blue eye and scruffy beard, it analyzed him. He felt it's eye staring deep into his soul, searching for something. Something clicked in his head the giant WAS in his head, he was being studied and his secrets were being found out. He felt naked, the giant could see deep into his very being. It terrified him, his secrets were being laid bare and there was nothing he could do. The giant was grinning even more so. The terrifying grin it had was getting bigger and bigger as Curtis felt his whole life in this world being dissected into its very core, and soon his past life was next.

But suddenly the giant's grin was gone. Replaced with an even scarier look. One of a person finally having the one he hated most on a chopping block. The air became icy, darkness flooded his vision, he panicked, he felt his soul leaving his body at that moment and all Curtis could do was scream.

"Noooo!" Curtis shouted out, he felt death coming to him and he didn't want to take it lying down. Desperation came to him and Curtis lashed out, digging deep from his very soul and bringing forth a tide that was his will to live. Curtis held onto the hand that was holding his body and released a torrent of anger infused with his will to keep on living.

~~~

Hjilmar was looking at the tiny boy he was holding. He started slow, viewing the boy's memories, but based on what he saw, he didn't like it one bit, so he went faster and saw the interactions of the boy with the gods, he couldn't make out what was being said as the gods protect themselves and as he wasn't that powerful. And so he went in deeper until the birth of the boy, at first he had made the decision to listen to the boy seeing as he lived a life aligned with good, but then he felt there was something more, before his birth there was a secret. Hjilmar didn't like secrets, as secrets get people killed. And no matter what he tried, he couldn't get past the wall and it irked him.

Anger filled the Giant, he didn't like it when he didn't get his way, his pride as a Giant kept him from admitting defeat, and so he dove deep into the subconscious mind of the boy. And that was where he found the part that connected him to the evil god. The Bruha(Witch) did something to the boy, he couldn't find out what, but with just that connection to her, he wanted to snuff out his life the moment he sensed it. Being connected to a god was one thing, being connected to the evil god was another. The boy had a connection to the gods and not just one, he didn't care who the others were, as they were all bad news, and so he wanted to end him right here.

Hjilmar steeled himself to kill the boy, but looking at him his body was glowing, showing signs of life, signs of awakening, but he was too young. With his one good eye he took a closer look at his body, rapid changes were happening, his body was fusing with the essence of nature. His essence was taking form, it was firm, sharp, and dominating. The boy's essence formed a sword, it was pure, too pure to be evil, so his decision to end the boy slowly fizzled out. He tried to nudge it with his essence but was pricked instead. The boy would grow to be a fighter. Hjilmar decided to watch over the boy, he smiled finally coming to a decision, and slowly withdrew his essence.

~~~

"So you are evolving!" the giant laughed out loud as Curtis was trying to cut off the giant's arm with his own. Curtis didn't care about what the giant was saying, he just wanted out. And wouldn't take no for an answer. With all his remaining strength he brought up his arms and brought them down onto the giants.

"ENOUGH BOY!"

The giant let him go and Curtis fell flat onto the floor. Looking up a couple more people were standing with the giant. And with the sudden fall, all the adrenaline that was keeping him up started to die down. Pain assaulted him as soon as he relaxed, his body was aching all over. It felt like his whole body was being pricked by pins and needles, only it was ten times worse. The changes currently going through his body was unbearable but Curtis saw the giant was laughing at his predicament, his laughs echoed throughout the hall and he forced himself not to give the giant any satisfaction. Curtis kept quiet, silently enduring the pain while glaring at the giant.

"Don't fall asleep now boy, you must hold on or you will die." To Curtis' left came the voice of an old man. "You must endure, your body is currently evolving and you must be awake for the process, otherwise it will fail and you will die," he added.

"Let him be. Let us discuss what Hjilmar knows now, I'm sure he has seen enough of the boy now." another person chimed in, ignoring Curtis rolling in pain.

The giant faced the 5 other people he came in with. "All right everyone takes a seat, I'll relay what I've seen inside the boy's head." the giant named Hjilmar gestured. "Let me get him out of the way first." with a chuckle he picked up Curtis by his clothes and dropped him onto the chair, hearing a grunt off of him he gave him a noticeable smirk which just served to make Curtis angrier.

"I, Hjilmar of the Giant race will precede this discussion of the boy, Curtis De Leon, his relation to one of the founders, Alfred De Leon, the relation to the last star that passed, and lastly the events currently happening in the Origin Continent." the giant stated out formally,

"I, Klee of the Night Elves, motion for the discussion to continue." the cloaked woman backed him up.

"I, Pumba of the Dragonkin, agree, let us start the discussion, anyone in opposition may speak now." the red-haired man looked to his colleagues before continuing. "I see everyone is in favor, Sir Hjilmar please proceed."

~~~

With the giant Hjilmar, leading the discussion about Curtis, everything went on smoothly as had a view on his memories, quickly verifying him to be a descendant of Alfred De Leon, and the abysmal state of the De Leon house on the Origin Continent, which left many factions disappointed with the head of the house. Curtis tried to get a word in every time they bashed his father, but all he could really do was do small grunts as the pain in his body was not letting up.

The topics got very heated and took many tangents, with the giant arguing non stop that he should be the one to train the boy. But what really took Curtis' attention was the mention of the star. Hjilmar stated earlier that a *star* passed and that was what led to him being brought here. Curtis overheard or rather heard as he was in the same room as the people talking about him, that the star displayed a boy running in the forest alone, and that he should be trained here as soon as possible.

Curtis could only think that it must have been Vera's *star* that caused him to be brought here as that was the only reason he went into the forest in the first place, Vera guided him there. Curtis couldn't really pay attention to the discussion as the pain was only growing stronger, he could only bite his teeth and trudge through the process, he could only try to pay some attention. Edna walked onto the stage, said a few words, and then left the stage. It was a dutiful process, the companions he had from the ship walked onto the stage and gave their accounts of what happened in their journey and left the discussion to the six representatives of each race.

With the discussion dying down, Curtis finally got a bit of reprieve from the pain. It took approximately 7 hours for the process to finish. All the while Rook kept an eye on him and would tap him to keep his senses every once in a while. With the pain leaving him Curtis was able to feel strength back in his body, and he felt stronger than before. But that was only a fleeting moment as he was already back on his knees, fatigue eating at his body. Looking at the 6 people that were discussing him, the last thing he heard was.

"I GOT THE BOY! HAHA!." the echoing laugh of the giant