Crisis woke the next morning and smiled. Never before had she ever slept so well. She even forgot why she was upset before she slept. She stretched out and gave a mighty yawn. “Wow, that was a good sleep,” she said, her pleasure plastered on her face. “Most everyone says that,” a voice came from behind her. Crisis turned to see Guar perched on his bo staff dug into the Giant Tree about level with her eyes. He sat there with an odd smile on his face, eating a dragonapple. Crisis smiled back at him. “Well good morning,” she said, “did you sleep well?”
Guar just shrugged. “Not really. We don’t sleep. I spent the night sparing trees and such. That’s how I found this thing. Not bad, actually.” He took another bite of the dragonapple before tossing the core away. He then stretched himself and allowed himself to fall. Using his weight, he yanked the staff out of the tree and, after a few summersaults, landed next to Crisis with a soft thud. Crises clapped her hands, delighted at the trick.
She picked him up and placed him on her shoulder and began to slither off. “So,” she said, trying to create conversation, “I know why you came here, but how did you get to Felarya?” Guar reached behind his cloak and pulled out a small, black device. “This is what we call a Dimensional Gateway Projector. It opens a tunnel into other dimensions and all you simply do is press the button and walk in. It’s odd, though, because on my way in, Cobalt fired at me and I think he hit it. I wasn’t even aiming to come here, it’s just where I landed.”
Crisis took it from him and looked at it. “It sounds all technologic-y. And I don’t know anything about that stuff. Maybe Anna could look at it. She might even fix it for you.” She began to slither toward where Anna had her work bench. After a minute or two, they found her working on something. “Hey, Anna!” Crisis called. Anna jumped several feet and turned toward her, anger burning in her eyes. “CRISIS! How many times have I told you never to sneak up on me like that when I’m working on something important?” Crisis just smiled and ignored the comment. “Good to see you too, Anna. What are you working on?” Anna just huffed and turned back to her bench. “I’m trying to fix my computer… again… after you broke it… again.” Crisis blushed a bit and then remembered why she had come. “This is my friend Guar. I met him in the woods yesterday. He has a Desentual… Demen… What did you call it again?
Guar just laughed, “A Dimensional Gateway Projector. You can call it a DGP for short if you want.” Crisis nodded. “Yes, that’s it. He said it was shot at and broke and we were wondering if you could fix it.” She handed it to Anna who looked at it very closely. “Hmm,” she thought aloud, “Seems easy enough to fix.” She used her tools to open it and get a look on the inside. She removed a crystal from inside and held it up to get a better look at it in the light. “What’s this crystal? I’ve never seen one like it.” Guar sighed. “That is a very rare crystal. It’s only found in my home land and its magical properties are very great. It is responsible for powering the gateway. Please don’t damage it.” Anna took an even closer look. “Well, from the looks of it, it is already damaged. Looks like the bullet punched through it and cracked it in half. If this is what powers it, you’ll need a new one.”
Anna put it back together and handed it back to him. “I say talk to Subeta. She might have one. Who knows what that fairy has collected.” As she handed it back to him, she noticed his gaze, and it was disturbing. But from Guar’s point of view, she was just as disturbing, if not confusing. “Anna, you’re not completely Naga, are you?” Anna shook her head and gave Crisis a dark glare. “No, I am not. I use to be human until I was, ahem, swallowed. Next thing I know I was like this, a filthy Naga.” Crisis didn’t notice the reference to her. “Guar,” she said, a bit confused herself now, “I thought you can’t see.”
Guar nodded, “You’re right, I can’t…’least not like you, anyway.” Sensing the confusion spreading to Anna, he elaborated. “You two see a certain spectrum of light. Because of that, you see both picture and color. I am guessing that because that’s how humans see and you have a human-like face, from the feel of it. Some beings, on the other hand see the infrared spectrum. They see body heat and base their sight on that. My people’s sight is similar. We see aura. Every living thing emits an aura. In lands like yours and mine, everything emits it and we might as well see as well as you if not better. In others, like this one I went to where everything was based on technology, we are completely blind because nothing emits an aura.”
“Once we lock onto a person’s aura, we channel it. We called this The Gaze and it allows us to experience everything the person did. Though most tell me it feels a bit disturbing. I’m sure you have experienced it, but believe me, it’s harmless. It only allows me to know you better.”
They talked about it half the morning, and then talked about Guar’s home dimension as he played a few songs for them. About noon, after saying their good-byes to each other, Crisis and Guar headed out toward Subeta’s cave.
Back in Negev City, Hollister and his group of hunters were hard at work in the apartment they captured. Cobalt stood at the window, staring at the jungle, deep in thought. His second in command came up to him and cleared his throat. Cobalt never turned as he replied, “It better be good news, Stevens. I don’t want you to tell me what you told me last time we tracked him down. I won’t be so tolerant.” Stevens nodded, rubbing the once cracked rib, and replied, “Definitely some good news, sir. We have our bearing on him and where we are, though it is definitely not what we thought.” Cobalt walked to the makeshift desk that he had set up and ushered Stevens to have a seat. Stevens sat and explained, “We have arrived at a virtual gold mine of supernatural creatures. Apparently this land is full of them. Everything from Fairies to Nagas to Harpies. We could make a fortune from this place if we could capture them.”
Cobalt raised an eyebrow, “If?” he commented. Stevenson gave a perturbed look, “Well, we run into two problems with capturing them. First, all those creatures I listed are at least 40 feet tall and have a taste for human flesh. In fact, just about everything here enjoys a good human or two. Second, the natives speak about some sort of beings called Guardians. They seem to be some sort of god-like figure here and we might encourage one to attack if we were to try to capture anything. But I put no stock on that. Just thought I would mention it incase there is some grain of truth in it.” Cobalt was fascinated by everything. “How is it that we have never come to this place before?” Stevens smiled widely. “That’s the most interesting part. Remember what the reader on the DGP read?” Cobalt nodded. How could he forget? Most of those things gave a four digit and one decimal number. But the reader just said “ZERO.” Never before had they gotten such a reading. They would have thought it broken, if it wasn’t for the tracer they tagged the werewolf with.
“Well, the natives told Jones that this is no dimension at all. It’s more of a cross roads between dimensions. That’s why the reader said “ZERO.” We could be looking at the origin of every supernatural being that ever lived!” Cobalt only stared blankly at him. He was just as excited to hear this news as his second, but he couldn’t show it. He had a reputation to keep, after all. “Great,” he said rather blandly, “But what of our prey? The Nagas and all that will still be here, what of the werewolf?” Stevens straitened and cleared his throat. “We have a fix on his position. He made for the jungle what locals say about three days ago. We fallowed his trail to the river and the tracer picked him up several clicks to the north-west of the city. Compared to the map of the land we bought, we think he is by an enormous tree in the middle of the jungle. But locals also say that a Blond-haired naga lives over that way. He might have been eaten already.”
Cobalt shook his head. “No, Stevens, he is alive. He and I have been in this chase for quite some time.” He stood and retuned to the window. “I’ve been chasing him since I was a second like you. He knows I am here just as I know he is alive. But soon the chase will be over and he will finally be bagged for the taking.” He turned and faced Stevens with a cold look in his eyes. “Gather our equipment. We make for the Giant Tree at dawn.” Stevens saluted and left the room to relay the order. Cobalt turned back to window and whispered to an ear to far to hear him. “Oh I am coming, Guar. You can bet your shaggy head that I am coming…”
Giantess World
