Vol had been riding in a makeshift, enclosed wagon that was pulled by large lizard creatures that the Giants rode. The Giants called these lizards Drakes. Vol was carted around like this for several days on his way to a place his captors called Atlas, stopping at mid day to eat and drink, and again at night to rest. Several times a day, they would also stop to add more people to the wagon as others met with them. After the first day, they needed a second wagon. On the third day, three more wagons joined theirs. On the fourth day, they were met with crowds of people, who were being marched along, too many to carry in wagons. Vol's guess was that there were thousands.
His captors turned out to be actual Giants, not just in description, but that seemed to be their actual race.
Their armor colors seemed to signify ranks. The copper ones seemed to report to the bronze and the gold seemed to be in charge.
A number of squads of Giants had joined their caravan with the humans that they had rounded up. Each squad had various compositions of ranks, however there was always a bronze or gold that led a squad.
The Giants didn’t talk to any of the humans individually. The most that they ever said to them was how long they had left until they reached their destination, which was apparently a city in the mountains. They could see the mountain range from the valley that they were crossing, but were told it would still be at least 3 more days. They would also tell everyone when a new group joined, that they were being brought to see the king of these lands, a Giant by the name of Sol, to get situated into shelter and be given purpose in these new lands.
There were lots of rumors being spread around by the people in the caravan. The most popular theory was that we were no longer on Earth anymore and that those portals brought us all here, which apparently there were many. Each portal apparently dumped thousands of people off in random locations. Some in calmer settings, and some in the midst of monsters that proceeded to tear groups of people apart.
Vol realized that he had just been unlucky, being in the latter group. It didn’t sound like there were any others that survived the Wyvern. From what he heard, most of the hostels encountered were Minotaurs, Goblins, some earth devouring Worms, and one unfortunate group that were dropped off in Spider infested woods. There weren’t many that survived the spider nests, but the 19 who had were added to Vol’s wagon. He didn’t know if there were others in the Caravan though.
The other groups sounded like they had fewer casualties since there were fewer creatures to flee from and less traps that impeded escapes. However, all of the groups that were attacked got scattered in every direction and only handfuls from each group were present and each had wagons.
The majority of the caravan came from a more peaceful portal that the Giants had discovered and had promised shelter, food, and answers if they would come with them. Not all came along, but many did.
Vol had tried asking some of the Giants questions on the first couple of days, but was ignored each time.
Thankfully Vol had Am, who had remained hidden within him. They kept each other company as Vol explained what he knew about himself to the familiar and Am explained what he knew about familiars and what that meant for Vol, which arguably wasn’t very much.
Later that day, they entered a valley between two mountains and as they rounded the base, everyone could see it. A massive stone wall connecting several mountains. The only thing they could see above the wall at this low altitude was a city that stretched up the peak of a single mountain in the center. It was the tallest peak that they could see and at the top appeared to be a grand palace.
“There it is,” called one of the Giants in gold armor. “Atlas! It will still take a few days’ travel at this speed, but we will arrive soon enough.
* * *
After two days, they reached a massive set of gates within the wall. Once through, they followed a road with huge stone buildings on either side. Buildings that were so big, that they hid all that was behind them. They didn’t have side streets or alleys that you could look around either. Every now and again there were people sized doors that seemed to be between where two buildings met, but mostly there were massive doors, clearly made for the height of the Giants.
All Vol could see, once in the city, were the massive buildings on either side of him. They lined the road until the road curved, the massive wall behind them, and the city built on the mountain side that stretched up so high it was the only thing that could be seen above the buildings around them.
This city was truly a marvel to behold! The streets were clean. All of the structures were white and gray stones. The craftsmanship alone was splendid. This capital truly put any government building or architecture from Earth to shame by comparison.
It all made Vol feel small, like a tiny mouse caught in a trap. It was both splendid and suffocating all at the same time.
* * *
After another day of traveling within the walls of Atlas, the caravan reached the base of the mountain where the road widened into a massive plaza that seemed to wrap around the base of the mountain.
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Here they let all of the people out of wagons and asked for the Risen leaders among the people. Everyone looked around at one another, not understanding what the Giants had meant.
The gold knight that led the squad that slayed the Wyvern came and retrieved Vol. He led Vol up onto a platform and spoke.
“This is one of your Risen. Those who rise up from death. Who else here is one? We will take you to speak with the king.”
Everyone seemed more confused. No one had heard of people coming back from the dead before.
Then someone raised their hand and stepped forward. Then another, then two more, four more. Before long there were about 30 that stood before Vol and the gold plated knight.
Then someone shouted from the crowd. “They aren’t our leaders. I don’t recognize any of these people. They can’t speak for us, we don’t even know if they can truly come back from the dead.”
The knight turned to Vol and asked, “May I?”
Vol quickly realized that the knight was asking if he had permission to kill Vol. Vol’s initial reaction was horror, but it wasn’t really a secret. The knights already saw him resurrect. So who cared if other people saw it. Perhaps it will assist them in talks with the king if fresh proof was provided.
“Hey Am, be ready to bring me back,” and then Vol nodded at the knight.
The knight drew his sword and shoved it through Vol’s chest like the copper knight had on the field with the Wyvern, piercing Vol’s heart, causing it to burst in his chest as the sword passed through his chest and out his back with the crack of breaking ribs. The knight pulled his sword back out and held Vol’s body up to the crowd by his neck like a prized animal, fresh from the hunt.
The crowd gasped in horror. Panic ensued. A crack of thunder boomed out as a lightning bolt was discharged into the air and the crowd ducked for cover.
The gold knight spoke, “behold your Risen!”
The bleeding from Vol’s chest stopped as the hole sealed itself, apparently on its own. Then Vol’s eyes shot open as he sucked in a breath of air with a gasp. Vol reached up to the hand holding him by the back of his neck as he felt like his head was tearing off of his shoulders from his own weight.
The crowd gasped again in fright at the sight of Vol’s resurrection.
The knight put Vol back down on his own feet. Vol began rubbing his neck where he had been held by and looked back at the knight with an awkward glare and the knight shrugged back at him.
Immediately seven of the 30 that had stepped forward as Risen, slunk back into the crowd, either not wanting their bluffs called out, or not wanting to be the next example made in front of the crowd.
Vol noticed that each of the supposed Risen were from one of the wagons that contained people from groups that were attacked when appearing. That must be how they knew. They had died during the attacks and manifested their familiars. Oddly enough, all of their familiars seemed to be hiding like Am at the moment.
“Hey Am,” Vol thought. “Can you confirm that each of these Risen also have familiars?”
“Not without me exposing myself and them choosing to do the same. But this feels like a dangerous situation, and as a familiar, it feels safer to remain inside you and undetected,” Am answered.
Then the man from the crowd stood back up and shouted. “These Risen aren’t Human! Mankind can’t raise themselves up from the dead! We will not accept these imposters as our leaders! As an elected official of the Tennessee State Senate, I will speak to the king on behalf of Humanity.”
Another man stood up. “As an elected Congressman for the state of Kentucky, I too will speak as a leader for these people.”
The Senator glared at the Congressman for being one upped, but these Giants had no idea how Human politics worked. He could definitely spin this to his advantage as long as he got a seat at the table.
11 other elected officials from various states and countries also stood up, self nominating themselves as speakers for Humanity.
Vol noticed that all of these so-called leaders came from the group that didn’t have any trouble upon arriving from their portal. If there had been politicians that arrived at the more hostile portal sites, they probably died quickly. An old saying came to mind; “natural selection.” Vol feared that these politicians were bad news.
The Giant in gold armor behind Vol spoke up, “Very well. You 13 can come as well. Those of you who choose the Risen as your leaders, please follow the bronze knight to the left. Those of you who choose the elected officials as your leaders, please follow the bronze knight to the right. We will set up separate camps for you as we take your leaders to see our king.”
About 70% of the crowd of people moved to the right, choosing the elected officials as their representatives. The other 30% moved to the left, choosing the Risen as theirs.
When the Senator saw this he couldn’t help himself and shouted at the 30% who had chosen the Risen. “Y’all are traitors to Humanity! The lot of you! May the Lord have mercy on your souls as lucifer scours them in damnation!” He spat venomously at them.
Some from the 30% made unkindly gestures at the Senator and jeered at him. Some simply booed at him. Many just quietly did as they were told.
Of the 70%, some cheered at the Senator. Some mocked and jeered back at the other crowd. Others looked ashamed at their choice in leader but had already committed, and again, most just did as they were told.
Some people from both sides hurriedly changed their mind and shuffled to the other crowd.
The knight spoke once more. “That is enough. Your people have made their decisions. There is no reason to cause an uproar.”
The Senator turned with a smug look and walked with the other elected officials, now following the gold knight as he led them towards the base of the mountain.
The group of leaders stayed divided into two groups as they walked. There were the Risen and there were the Politicians.
The knight brought the 37 leaders to five huge carriages, clearly built for Giants, and pulled by a team of Drakes. The Politicians tried to split up into four of the five carriages, but quickly left two of them when Risen stepped into the carriages, not wanting to be near them. They instead ended up splitting the Risen evenly across three carriages and the Politicians split up evenly between the other two, making a fuss about space while they did so.
Then they were all off, led by the gold plated Giant knight up Atlas, the mountain city of the Titanic Mountains.