Althos read and then promptly willed away the notification, all while maintaining a pace that he hoped looked casual but was focused on speediness. This must be part of how this city is kept safe. One of the rulers, possibly Mahmud, must have struck a deal with Paimon. He thought, reflecting on the varied uses of the massive tower, including as a prison, that loomed overhead.
He sped through the field, spurred on by the new knowledge he had gained, coupled with his awareness that he was closing in on the farmland of the giant who prayed to him. He walked just a bit faster than the fastest person he could see.
That person was a desert giant in the distance, who was walking while peering out at the fields with an inquisitive gaze. After a few moments of tentative exploration mixed with a healthy number of studious gazes, he began to mutter to himself.
"This whole area..." He said, exasperation audible in his voice. Althos could hear him clearly and listened intently even as he walked in another direction, away from the exhausted giant.
"Why are none of our ponds producing as much as they did last year?" The giant asked himself, sounding rather exhausted with the whole thing.
So it's not just Berk's family? How... suspicious. Althos thought, even as he sped down the centralized path leading in and out of the massive drug-fields.
I guess I can investigate the whole obelisk... though for now that may not be the right move. Or even necessary. The deity told himself, cautious about this development given the string of strange events in the city.
After thinking about that, Althos continued forward. He rushed just a bit faster now, curious to uncover the truth behind the assorted mysteries that were afflicting the city.
As he walked away from the frustrated desert giant, he began to make out a pair of small buildings that were off in the distance. They were small things, perhaps storage facilities or administration buildings for the fields, and the sight of them marked a notable change from the fields Althos was quickly grew tired of.
Those buildings stood out because they were the only buildings that were visible unless he turned around. He was naturally approaching them just by walking in the direction he had chosen to travel in and so he trotted along, approaching them with every step.
[The first prayer you're seeking to fulfill was made by someone who lives beyond those buildings. In a tiny farm, you'll be able to see shortly after walking past them.] The system alerted him, causing the mobile god to grin in delight. He proceeded towards the buildings, excited to see what laid beyond them.
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In less than ten minutes Althos' speedy pace got him close enough to the buildings for him to begin to make more sense of them.
During the trek towards the buildings, discoveries were made by the odd god. The first of which was that these buildings had multiple entrances. They were square-shaped buildings and each side of both buildings possessed a single entrance.
Those entrances were at first only known to Althos because he could see creatures entering and exiting the black box-like buildings. It was when he had walked for five minutes that he began to make out the rectangles that opened and closed without so much as a peep whenever a giant approached, the entrances and exits of the buildings.
They were precisely cut, neatly arranged in the center of each side of the buildings, and even when Althos drew nearer to the buildings he couldn't see what laid beyond them. Magic. Just like with Qut. He suspected, recalling how early on in his life, his senses had been obstructed by a barrier, a barrier which even his vision wasn't able to truly see-through.
Another discovery came soon after. At this point Althos was within two minutes of walking beyond the buildings and had been waiting for a pair of particular giants, ones who had entered one of the buildings a minute ago, to exit it.
Much to his surprise, the giants did exit the buildings. But they came out of the one that they hadn't entered. Althos, watching this, began to think through possible reasons for it: Is it magic? It's probably magic, but it could be that the buildings extend underground and are connected that way... He realized, at the perfect time for him to get close enough for tremor-sense to reveal the truth to him.
His steps, not on the sand like in the desert, but on a paved road leading in and out of the gigantic farmlands, educated him as to the nature of this particular mystery. Soon enough he felt a familiar sensation: the mental waves he regularly unleashed in all directions around him whenever he stepped close enough to a creature to sense it exploded out of his mind and subtly touched new creatures, immediately informing him of their proximity.
His mini-map was updated and revealed numerous giants lurking underneath the road, traveling to areas under the buildings, always in the same straight line. Assuming Althos kept walking straight, soon enough he'd reach an area where he'd be directly on top of them, something which he was fine with since he knew they were underground.
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It took the deity another five minutes for him to get just beyond the buildings. Once they were behind him he stopped for a second and examined his surroundings.
His enhanced senses and potent detection abilities did the bulk of the work necessary for him to understand the gist of what he needed to know. Because of his two powerful detection abilities, he could sense beings that approached him from any direction and had a powerful three hundred and sixty degrees of vision, rendering him difficult to surprise. That said he actually looked around to get a true understanding of where he was.
The place he stood in was a thin square that separated the massive communal fields from nearby, thin, privately owned fields that appeared to be attached to nearby homes, tall buildings with multiple floors that Althos' powers alerted him were populated with a number of desert giants. Althos' sense of smell was assailed by a range of scents, due to a healthy mixture of drugs growing here as well as being produced here.
A few of the homes Althos could see not far from where he stood had thick chimnies coming out of them. Dense clouds of white, speedy smoke billowed out of them, and those chimnies were also the origin-points of the assorted, possibly mind-alerting scents that filled the strange square.
The young god himself would learn this after requesting knowledge notifications on the nearby plants. He didn't have to wait long for a notification from the system to inform him as to the nature of the plants he could sense
[New Plant Knowledge Alerts: Papaver somniferum, Cannabis sativa, Ephedra Sinica]
Drugs. A lot of drugs. Althos realized, shortly after reading through the trio notifications piled into one single, lengthy notification.
Do these giants grow food? He wondered, before opting instead to ask that to one of the giants who was nearby.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Althos stood square in the center of a square. He was far from the only person either in the square or who stood in it, taking in the sights and smells of the district's central square.
All around him were other giants, some working near their homes or the homes of their employers, others who were merely traveling through the square on their way to some other part of the city. And there were a few nearby giants who like him were still, taking in the sights and smells of this part of the city.
Althos turned and looked at one of the ones who was still, probably distracted taking in the odd sights before him. He was a giant of average height, perhaps 4 meters tall, and he seemed content and mellow where he was, breathing in the potent smell of a number of different drug production facilities being so close to each other. Althos didn't study him extensively at that moment instead he approached the man while continuing to look around.
The inquisitive god inched closer to the mellow giant and whistled to get the man's attention. It didn't work. The giant wore clothes that were reasonable for traveling in the hot desert, an open shirt and light-colored pants, not unlike Althos' own outfit.
As Althos drew nearer to him to try and engage with him again, he was able to smell the man over the powerful scent that polluted the square's air and wasn't particularly surprised at what he realized. The giant smelled of a powerful scent that mixed the smell of mint and of a fresh pine forest. He couldn't identify which specific drug the man had used without using his powers on the giant, but the smell was vaguely similar to the scent pouring out of one of the chimnies.
He had a handsome, but currently slack face. The expression on that face was one of impressed awe, but his eyes were glazed and nonresponsive.
So "drugs" can make someone... less responsive? He hypothesized, after nearing the giant and waiting for the man to respond to his sudden closeness. While he waited for the man to react to him, he got a message from M.A.
[Well... yes and no. Drugs can do a lot of things. Drugs can be used to heal mortals and their kin, or they can be used to harm them. Some drugs have mind-altering effects, others can cause their bodies to heal quicker. The sorts of drugs these giants are growing are all mind-altering ones that cause a variety of physiological effects on those who consume or otherwise use them. Some of those effects, but not all of them are harmful.] She informed the desert-dweller.
Althos sent her a response that was the mental version of him respectfully nodding at her and at that same instant the giant Althos was waiting for began to stir. The giant looked up, his facial expression changing gradually from one of awe to one of moderate confusion. And then he tilted his head towards the deity disguised as a giant. I guess I can talk to him now? Althos wondered, before opening his mouth to speak.
"Hey, are you also a newcomer to this city?" Althos asked, now taking some time to study the giant. The giant listened, but his eyes remained glazed and it took him a second to begin to open his mouth. The scene Althos was watching was like watching someone mock a sloth by speaking in slow motion but without any humor.
Althos waited, albeit impatiently, as the giant opened his mouth and began to mutter sounds. The young god got to see the giants imperfect teeth, and his long yellow tongue, in the time it took for the giant to begin to speak.
"He...llo. I am... Taruk. Yes... I am... new to this... city." The giant responded, over the course of nearly an entire minute.
"Hello Taruk. I am Quinn. I'm also new here. It's nice to meet you!" Althos said, introducing himself using his pseudonym. Taruk nodded in response, still slowed down.
"It's... nice... to me...et you too. I apolo...gize for... my... difficulty... speaking." The giant told Althos.
Oh no did my impatience appear on my face? Yikes. Let me do something to make slight amends for that. He told himself, mistakenly thinking that the giant must have apologized because of a detected hint of impatience.
Althos scoured his healing spells and it took him just a second to find the perfect spell: Clean Slate.
Wordlessly and without any odd hand-motions, Althos activated the spell and aimed it at his new acquaintance. The spell washed over the giant, invisibly and nearly imperceptibly doing so. The giant felt little more than a refreshing breeze blow over him, and in an instant, the man's full awareness began to speedily return to him, though it took him a second to feel his buzz begin to fade.
The deity began to speak to allow Taruk a second to truly regain his full awareness. "Hey, don't apologize. It's okay to need a second to adjust. I was just wondering if you knew if all of these farms just grow drugs? I'm from far away, and this is my very first visit to Namira." Althos asked, grinning by the time he finished speaking.
After hearing this, Taruk smiled. The few seconds Althos was speaking were enough for the giant's senses to adjust to their new, corrected reality, even if he wasn't aware of exactly what had happened. He opened his mouth to speak, revealing thick and misshapen teeth.
"Why yes my friend! I'm a newcomer here too, but even I know that. You must be from really far away, perhaps a mine, if you arrived here without knowing of Namira's somewhat infamous drug-fields." The giant said, braggadociously. "You see, what Namira offers the other... less friendly inhabitants of the desert are little things that make them more friendly." The giant explained, educating Althos even while gently mocking the fake-giant for his ignorance.
Althos chuckled at the giant and began to speak up to clarify his origins. "I'm not from a mine, I'm from an outpost. One... very far away." He explained, grinning freely at the giant.
"Well... regardless of your origin story, I thank you for... whatever you did. My head feels far more clear than it has in days." Taruk told him, smiling softly at his newfound friend. His eyes were a soft green color and they were filled with genuine happiness. "Perhaps you'd like to meet my friend Berk?" The giant asked.
Are you kidding me? Is it really that easy? Althos asked himself, nearly inadvertently displaying his inward shock outward. The deity managed to control himself enough to speak and had even opened his mouth to talk right before Taruk continued speaking.
"I was supposed to meet her today but I got... distracted." The giant explained, somewhat sheepishly. This gave Althos pause. The giant was quietly poking fun at himself, in his own way, but Althos didn't notice it right away because of something odd that Taruk had just said.
Her? He wondered, having believed that Berk, the prayer-giver was a male desert giant. Althos looked at his new pal and began to speak.
"What does she do?" The fake-giant asked, curiously, and slipping in that she rather seamlessly despite his shock at the realization that this particular person might share a name with the person who prayed to the cosmos but may not be that person. Taruk's eyes narrowed and his gaze intensified after Althos asked him that. It caught the deity off-guard, but again he hid his surprise well.
If this Berk person is a farmer or the children of farmers than it might be worth going with Taruk. He might just lead me to who I've been looking for. Althos realized, readying himself for a bit of an unexpected surprise either way.
Taruk looked him up and down, appraising him for a moment. There was a previously hidden sharpness in his stare, that the giant hadn't had before, and he spent several moments studying Althos before opting to speak. "You helped me sober up so I'll pay one kindness with another: there's a rumor that Berk is the daughter of..." Taruk spoke softly now, his voice low and Althos could have sworn he heard a sweet note of fear in the giant's voice.
"I... I heard that Berk is the daughter of hags. That she's the child of nobility and a hag. We met at a get-together and she took a liking to me, because I give her some of my... happy powder, but she's got some real powers. Magical ones!" The giant said, his eyes filling with a bit of genuine fear, even as he almost whispered the words he had just said.
The child of a hag and nobility? I don't know what a hag is, but if this person is a noble's child... than it's possible that this specific Berk might be one of the ambitious people I need to identify for my quest. Althos thought, in the wake of hearing about this other person, also named Berk.
But for now, I should stay focused on what I know. On who I know needs help at the moment. It doesn't sound like this is Berk needs anything urgent. I need to not lose focus on none-time-sensitive things. He thought, remembering what drove him out to this part of the city in the first place. He looked at his new acquaintance and shook his head.
"I'm sorry Taruk but I can't join you. Not this time anyway. I've got my own tasks to do. But let's meet up later." Althos told the drug-dealer, smiling gently at him, before stealthily establishing a mental connection with the man.
"I've got... a feeling we'll find each other again." He added, chuckling knowingly. Taruk studied him again, his eyes filling with a strange emotion, perhaps some sort of extrasensory awareness, before he chuckled himself and nodded back at the fake-giant.
"We'll see Quinn. That said... I won't forget that you... were here while my head cleared. I appreciate the company." The giant told him, smirking more at himself than at Althos. Althos nodded at the man, and then Althos turned to keep on walking towards the base of the black tower, and the farm owned by the family of Berk, the male desert giant.