My mind whirled as the words hit me. I hadn’t even once, for a single second, considered that I could become like those soulless abominations. I hadn’t even considered that they were once people. The reasoning was obvious: It was too horrifying and too drastic of a change. They may have the appearance and function of a thinking creature but I’d be less surprised if a person became a universe. The similarity was… barely skin deep. A shiver of fear and horror ran through me as Chieftess Hiyark continued.

“When The Lost first started to appear, it was our greatest warriors, our strongest people. Many would seemingly die instantly in the middle of a fight and the blow would be… horrifying from what our stories tell. But it became obvious quickly and… there was, is, nothing we could do. They were… gone. They struggled. No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say we struggled. They were… abhorrent. Horrifying to be around. They did not eat or drink unless directed to do so and it was… impossible for anyone that had been close to them to see them like that. They were no longer people.

And yet the fighting continued but with new fears. We needed the strength the Gema Verda provided, even as it continued to rob our strongest from us. So many died in the beginning and by the end of it… this is what we were left with. One city, one people, a shadow of our former selves. But we were finally safe, at least it seemed so. In time… we discovered we were wrong. More Lost began to appear. Not just taking our strongest anymore but seemingly at random. Safe and sharing one location, many were split on what to do with them and how to deal with this new threat.

Our answers were poor. We have and had no way to stop our people from turning. But we found ways to slow it down. Death is the Antithesis of Life. You called us Cannibals before. You were not… entirely wrong. We do what we must. The Lost are… put to rest.”

My heart hurt just from listening to their story. Jesus Christ, how horrible. Then… Hiyark’s brow furrowed as she looked deeply… mixed about her next words.

“The Gaieldr… they are a… Miracle.” She seemed to practically be tasting the words on her lips. “Not all of The Lost became Lost around the city. Many persisted, somehow or another, out in the Jungle. Long ago, by pure chance, two such Lost walked underneath a Murbrow flower. Natural Aphrodisiacs only grown more potent since the fall of the Gema Verda. At the time, it was merely incredibly disturbing from what our historical texts say. Our Hunters discovered the pair and dragged them back to Jivil, our city here. We thought that perhaps there might be something to it. That drugs may be a way to bring back The Lost.

The couple was exposed to the flower again. And others. In weeks… we discovered something that sent our ancestors into pure panic. The woman… she was pregnant. No one knew what would come of it. Would the child be born Lost? Would they be a normal Restante? They watched and waited as the days and months passed. When the time finally came, The Lost did not survive the process. In our hands was a child, seemingly normal except for her silver hair and bright eyes.

That illusion vanished within a day. She began to grow and grow. Bigger and bigger. In panic, our people took her out to the Jungle, worried she’d destroy the city. She grew… and grew and grew, aging as she did so. In only moments, no longer was there a child, but an adult Titan before us. She… she saw us and ran away. That is was the texts say. That is what has been passed down.”

There was something… there. Perhaps there was a bit more to that story that she didn’t trust. Did they attack her, did she attack them? Would anyone ever know? Either way, she continued her tale.

“She was smart. Our people spied on the Titan, watched her every move. Our people didn’t know how to feel, to react. The Lost had given birth to something, something not Restante. She learned and she grew, not in size anymore, but in mind. You must understand, our entire civilization had been destroyed. It had been a mad scramble to survive. She had little issue finding more Lost.

There… history blurs. It is said an envoy of our people reached out to her, explaining her origins, and was promptly crushed. Another says that she never learned of us and figured it out on her own. Another says that a few extremists among our people did it themselves, even going so far as to mate with The Lost. That last one is False, not even the most twisted could do that. Either way… more Gaieldr began to arise. And the First Gaieldr gathered more and more. A new civilization was born, using our dead as the fuel for their growth. Because that is what the Lost are. The Living Dead.

We… do not wish to meet our… creations.”

I blinked. Those last words… hadn’t been meant for us. I could feel the weight of her words and before she continued, I had to speak up.

“But… why? The Gaieldr seem…” What were my impression of them? I still remembered how careful they were with The Lost, how they’d ‘taken care of us’, how they’d drugged us but all without knowing we were ‘alive’ in a way. “Innocent? Of a sort.”

It wasn’t just Hiyark that had a deep frown on her face, the leader of the hunters near me looked practically anguished at the question.

“Because we’re killing them.” Hiyark said.

I blinked.

“We do not let our Lost wander out among the Jungles anymore. We devour them to give us strength against their condition and use their bones to remember their sacrifice. As time, as generations, have gone by… less and less Lost have arisen. It is a joyous thing, a great accomplishment. Perhaps one day, we shall be free of the curse completely.”

There was a pointed look at us as she said that.

“But… it means that their civilization will die out. They age and despite their care and methods, they can not protect The Lost forever. Theirs is a doomed race, whether it be in a year or a hundred. They were made by us, by Restante, and we will be their demise.”

A heavy weight fell over me, from the atmosphere of it all. I felt sorrow in me. The Giantesses were careful for a reason after all. It went beyond merely caring… they must know as well how valuable The Lost were. Despite Generations passing, hundreds of years apparently… they only had enough people for a single large tribe. There had to be, what, maybe 200 Gaieldr? Were there more in the past? Were they already dying out?

A Miracle extinguished.

The atmosphere suddenly broke as Chieftess Hiyark looked down at us with a sort of fire in her gaze.

“You have heard our story, our history, Foreigners who seek the Gema Verda. Would you still take it from our lands?”

I gaped a little bit. What a mixed question. Taking it was necessary but the consequences… I didn’t want to see this thing be anywhere near people ever again. The Restante probably couldn’t take it away. Partially it was their strength but also just leaving this Jungle seemed impossible. Jungles weren’t small places even before they grew to such titanic sizes. It was a lot of very dangerous ground to cover and the risk of ‘drawing’ upon too much strength and becoming Lost had to always be in the back of their minds. I hadn’t felt anything like that… but my eyes did glance at Konohora. She had been… stronger than I would’ve expected recently. I already suspected it was related to the Gem but…

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And taking away the Gem from here… it would probably both save and weaken the Restante and how on earth would it affect The Lost or Gaieldr? For all we knew… all The Lost could just die immediately once the Gem was gone. That would be a death knell for the entire race of Gaieldr. Their whole future could be extinguished immediately.

We could hope for the best but we didn’t know. Not the damage bringing it back would cause or the damage taking it away would cause. But my eyes glanced to Happy. Smiling. Still smiling. The whole way through. He was not emotionless but… he was a sociopath. He would take the Gem in a heartbeat either way.

One last glance at Konohora and she nodded back at me, before looking towards the Chieftess.

“We still intend on taking the Gem and keeping it safe from others.”

Chieftess Hiyark nodded once and it seemed like the mood was… finalized? Like the decision had been made and now it was lighter only by comparison.

“So be it. We will give you directions towards where it fell. We ask that you stay for the rest of the day and night, so that we may prepare.”

I quirked an eyebrow.

“Prepare?” I asked.

“Hmph. The Restante have been cursed by that thing since long, long before my time. I shall not let foreigners do all the work. I shall personally accompany you to the temple with my strongest warriors. You are able to return the same way you came, correct?”

I nodded and Konohora frowned. Alright, we didn’t know that but it was a fair guess. Worst case scenario, we walk it the fuck out of this jungle, somehow. I’m sure Happy can just spawn birds out of thin air or something.

“Then… I welcome you three to Jivil. Terok, begin the preparations and inform the warriors. I shall lead the three myself through our City.”

Terok stamped his spear and then began to walk away to do as she had said.

For the first time since Chieftess Hiyark began her story, I saw her crack a smile and return to her ‘normal’ self.

“So, I wonder just how strong you three are.”

I felt slightly surprised.

“You want to spar?”

“You think you’re stronger than me. I can see it in your eyes.” She said that while scratching Bob’s chin, as she stood up and began walking towards us.

“Maybe some food first?” I said.

“Very well. It has been… we have never had visitors before. Once word spreads, no doubt a feast will begin being prepared. Understand this, if you do not take away the Gema Verda, I will have to kill you all for staining my legacy and honor.” She said that with a smirk and I couldn’t help myself.

“Well you can try I suppose.”

She squinted at me. Damn it, my Power Gauge was starting to give me a big head.

“Confident, entertaining.”

“Yes, Derek is quite entertaining.” Happy said and it was like he had been invisible up till now.

Hiyark looked at him… and I could see she was already getting lost in his beautiful face, eyes, hair, and just about everything about him. He may be ‘naturally’ charismatic but he definitely had some kind of control over it. At least to suppress it, as he suddenly seemed to become so present and overwhelming that I felt my blood start to race and my heart start to beat as-

“And who, exactly, might you be? I don’t believe we’ve exchanged names yet.” Hiyark said with a smile.

Happy’s smile was radiant.

“Happy! Happy Go Lucky, at your service my mujer hermosa.”

Hiyark gasped. “You know our ancient tongue? How?”

Happy just chuckled and pulled out a fucking guitar from thin air. What looked like an old classic wooden one at that. He strummed a few notes and to my ears it sounded distinctly… wait was he speaking fucking Spanish before?

“I know many tongues and my tongue knows many things. Perhaps it could teach you a few things later tonight.” He began to play… and I could feel heat and passion and the urge to dance rise up in me.

He began to sing and… holy shit. He was singing in spanish!

And even more astoundingly, Hiyark began to blush deeply as she seemed to fully understand him.

What on earth? Ancient tongue my ass! How the fuck… mysteries for later. If I stayed here for another second, I’d wind up on my knees. His voice was so… oh god, that wasn’t fair at all.

“We’ll… just… leave you two alone.” I practically grabbed Konohora and scrambled away, shocking her out of her trance.

Hiyark didn’t follow. But something else did. Happy’s music began to travel, to spread across the whole cavern, the whole city. It danced in my mind and I couldn’t help but tap my foot to the beat and move a little. But whereas I only felt the music begin to move me, the rest of the city had a far different reaction.

They all froze, many of them viewable from our place up this high. And then… noise. So many voices speaking at once, in joy and celebration. The words I didn’t understand, they all knew with all their heart. Even from this far up, I could see tears of joy on more than a few of their faces, husbands beginning to dance with their wives, old men and women gaining new life, children becoming overwhelmed with excitement.

I gaped as the whole city began to break out into a party, a mass celebration. I felt it myself. It was like Happy was reaching into the deepest parts of their souls and unleashing it onto their weary selves. Even as he sang and his voice carried, as his strums of a guitar played, images rose up before me. Images of a far larger civilization, images of a people happy and dancing around fires as they celebrated not just life, but their past and their future. In moments, moments, Happy had reignited passion across a beaten and slumped people.

A passion that only grew more and more as he continued to play. Fires started, but not mindless ones of chaos and pain. Cooks were shaking to the beat as they began to prepare food, warriors stomped their spears in time and rhythm to the beat as they looked at the temple we stood upon, other voices began to sing, melding into the music seamlessly regardless of skill. It was like… spice to a dish. It was like I was in a perfect stew swirling together, music seamlessly blending all around us.

My heart began to pound as the music began to overtake me.

I could feel it. Feel it in my heart, my bones, my soul. The pure absolute joy of these people. Their enthusiasm, their passion, their own beating hearts and power. Their love for each other, for their people, for their whole existence. My body began to move more and more and I knew it was a losing battle.

“Happy… is very dangerous.” Konohora said, but a smile was on her face.

“He has definitely… chosen his name well.” I said and then gave in.

I grabbed Konohora and smiled.

“I don’t know how to dance.” I said.

“I do.”

I laughed at the absurdity of it all. Magical Bards were cheating.

We joined in the madness, our own passion joining theirs. Some things you couldn’t and shouldn’t fight. Happy still needed to die… probably… but for now there was only the music and the beat of the drums that had just started.

A beautiful woman in my arms and a dance in my step.

I knew today was going to be a good day.