During most days of the year, Gadon Island was only inhabited by a few hundred people. It was during the summer that the tourists came in droves, quickly overtaking the island’s only town, Angstrom. The locals put up with them because they spent their money freely…that, and they needed people for the Offering that occurred once every fifty years.

And, unfortunately for the tourists visiting Gadon Island, this was an Offering year.

***

Tobias was the mayor of Angstrom and had been for many years. He looked like a stereotypical New Englander, his lean face perpetually pinched by an expression of mistrust. To the tourists, he appeared to be in his early forties but in reality, he was much, much older. In fact, he could recall the time before the American Revolution, although those memories were dim and distant. Immortality was one of the benefits of serving Him, although that meant that Tobias and the other islanders could never leave. They were trapped here, forever.

The tourists never really suspected anything. Tobias would get questions from time to time about the lack of traditional places of worship such as churches and synagogues. There was one white clapboard building that resembled a Congregational church, except for the symbols that none of the tourists understood. This was His place of worship, a being that the locals simply called The God. When they did speak of Him, it was in hushed tones, for He was a terrible deity, ravenous in His appetites. What He wanted most of all were human lives and He came for His due every fifty years.

On the day of His arrival, Tobias walked up to one of the highest points on the island. There wasn’t anything there but the old lighthouse that was automated these days. The spot gave him a good view of the ocean and one of the beaches below. It was sunset but tourists were still on the beach, just as he expected. The islanders had arranged for a large end-of-summer celebration, complete with music and copious amounts of free alcohol, in order to lure unsuspecting victims to the beach. Of course, none of the locals were there.

They knew He was coming.

Tobias glanced down at the people far below, mostly college students and young couples, and wished that he could feel regret. But he had participated in this ritual too many times. All he felt was a dull emptiness as the air began to rise in temperature and the barometric pressure dropped, which were always the first signs. His attention turned toward the ocean, where the setting sun shone bright red against the water. The waves were beginning to pick up, crashing into the quay.

None of the tourists noticed the waves or the swelling bulge far out in the ocean. Tobias saw it, though, and he watched in reverent fascination as the bulge grew and grew. He was high enough up that he could see the dark shadow underneath it, vast and terrifying. It was far larger than any submarine on Earth; in fact, it probably could have put an aircraft carrier to shame. By the time He emerged from the water, the waves were ravaging the shore. The music and conversation had stopped as people finally saw Him. The only sounds were the violent waves as they slammed up onto the beach.

To say He was awe-inspiring would have been a gross understatement. He was gigantic beyond human comprehension, His tremendous shadow falling over the water as He rose up from the ocean’s depths. And He was beautiful in a way that no human could ever be, the sun’s last rays highlighting the sculpted muscles of His mountainous body. Thousands of gallons of seawater cascaded from His chestnut-brown hair as He swung His head around. For one brief second, the giant’s eyes, which were the same gray-blue as the Atlantic Ocean, seemed to focus on Tobias. The mayor felt utter dread, like an insect who had been spotted by an exterminator. Instinctively, he dropped down to his knees but the giant had already turned His attention back to the shore.

The tourists began to panic as the colossus approached, his massive legs churning up the water. There was a speedboat directly in the giant’s path and it tried to get out of the way, but it was too late. It slammed into the solid wall of muscle and bone that was the giant’s leg and exploded into fragments that were soon swept away by the roiling water.

The God didn’t seem to notice or care.

Near the shore, the boats at the pier were heaved about as if they were caught in a hurricane and the waves were now thirty-foot monsters. People were fighting each other to get away but He moved too quickly for them. Before anyone could get off the beach, the giant had lifted one mammoth foot from the water. Saltwater poured down onto the people directly underfoot, knocking them over. They didn’t even have time to try to get up before the colossus stepped down, crushing them like ants. When He lifted His foot again, sand and the flattened remains of the tourists rained down from His sole. So far, the giant’s expression hadn’t changed; it was strangely neutral, like the face of a man watching leaves blow across a yard.

But His footsteps appeared to be deliberate and He seemed to target large clusters of people, stepping on them and leaving crater-like footprints in the soft sand. The tourists were also trampling one another in their animalistic panic, shrieking and crying as The God approached. Even though Tobias was relatively far away, the ground trembled beneath him with every one of the giant’s lethal steps. He would have liked to say that he felt sorry for the hapless people on the beach, but he didn’t, really. He just watched their inevitable fate as they tried in vain to escape.

The giant took one more step, the people below trying to avoid His footfall. Then, without warning, He lowered Himself down, tourists scrambling to avoid being squashed beneath His muscular ass. With amazing dexterity, considering His mind-boggling size, the giant reached out and grabbed a handful of men and women. Tobias knew what came next…he had witnessed this so many times that it was almost a carefully-rehearsed play at this point. He wasn’t sure what The God really was or what He did most of the time below the ocean. But he did know that when He came to Gadon Island, He was hungry.

The teeming mass of people in His hand looked utterly insignificant as He raised them to His mouth and unceremoniously licked them up. This horrific sight drove those who were still on the ground into a more intense frenzy. He reached for another handful, and another and another. A few people wiggled free of His hand and fell to their deaths on the ground far below. But most of the tourists were devoured by the colossus, their lives sacrificed to His endless appetite. He nonchalantly crushed the few survivors who were running up the beach or trying to flee into the ocean under one fingertip.

After all, their lives were His.

The beach was now eerily quiet, except for the waves splashing against the shore. The giant stood back up to His impressive height, the sand beneath Him stained crimson. He casually brushed off the pulverized specks from His ass and once again, looked over in Tobias’ direction. The mayor held his breath until the colossus turned and headed toward Angstrom.

***

Tobias had been a young man when he had first seen Him.

That had been hundreds of years ago, when his family had moved from the mainland to the island. It had been summer then as well, the air stifling despite the breeze from the ocean. He hadn’t been able to sleep from the heat and the nightmares, which he had been having frequently. He dreamed of seas of blood and cruel gods almost every night now. So Tobias decided to take a walk on the beach to clear his head.

Usually, he was alone when he took his midnight walks. But not that night.

In the silver moonlight he could see a small rowboat out on the ocean and he had recognized several of the town elders. As he had wondered what they were doing out here, the water churned violently and a vast shape rose from the water, unimaginably huge. The rowboat and the town elders were insect-sized in comparison. He had heard of the biblical Leviathan, but this creature looked like a man as He glanced down at the tiny rowboat bobbing in the water before Him. Tobias had been staring in utter fascination when a voice had startled him. It was his father, who looked equally surprised to see him.

Tobias had started to open his mouth but his father anticipated the question.

“He is our new God. Good things come to those who serve Him,” his father explained. The giant seemed to have heard him, although that was ridiculous considering that He was half a mile away and over a thousand feet tall, surely too big to hear human voices. The immense man looked over at Tobias, His face inhumanly beautiful despite its size. The gigantic eyes gleamed in the moonlight and Tobias trembled in dread, especially when the faintest hint of a smile quirked the titan’s mouth.

“Look, He’s noticed you,” his father said in awe. Tobias hadn’t been certain that was a good thing. Even now, hundreds of years later, the memory of that enigmatic smile still sent shivers down his spine.

***

As the giant headed toward Angstrom, Tobias started up his motorcycle. Gasoline was ridiculously expensive on the island and so he rode it whenever possible. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine was drowned out by the thunder of the colossus’ footsteps in the distance. He followed the giant’s path of destruction, which looked far worse than anything that a hurricane or another natural disaster could do. This disaster was deliberate in its actions and he could see the smashed remains of buildings, shattered into toothpicks. Worse were the crushed cars and people, ground deep into the rocky soil. Most of the tourists who had been unfortunate enough to be caught beneath the giant’s footsteps were now hideous splatters of broken bone and pulped flesh, like obscene mockeries of police chalk outlines.

There were some unfortunate souls who were still alive, only half-crushed, and Tobias pitied them even more. But he dared not slow down to help them, for it was The God’s right to decide who lived or who died.

The wind shifted, the air unseasonably hot. Beneath the salt tang that came from being near the ocean was the odor of smoke and blood. It made his stomach churn but he fought back the nausea as he drove past the white clapboard building that served as His place of worship. The structure stood undisturbed amidst complete and total destruction. Most of the islanders were probably huddled inside, praying fervently to the unstoppable being who was stomping His way across the town. They would be spared, as they were at every Offering; the tourists wouldn’t be so lucky. The giant would pursue every last one of them.

There would be no escape.

***

When The God had appeared all of those years ago, most of the islanders had accepted their new deity, especially after they had witnessed all of the benefits that came from serving Him. The community had become prosperous and hardships such as illness had vanished. Of course, there had been some dissenters, most notably the widow of one of the wealthiest men on the island. Margaret had been very outspoken against the new religion, warning the townspeople that they knew little about the being or His true intentions. No one paid her any heed; then the elders began to have visions in which The God instructed them to bring the blasphemer before Him.

So they did.

Tobias had looked on as they rowed Margaret out to one of the large rocks jutting from the ocean. She had remained stoic as they chained her to the rock; Tobias remembered how she hung her head as the elders left her behind, heading back to the shore. He also remembered what happened next, a memory that was often replayed in his nightmares.

The giant had emerged from the water, His eyes narrowed dangerously as He regarded the tiny woman on the rock. Margaret’s calm composure had melted away as she stared up in horror at the titan. Tobias had been able to hear her shrill howls from the shore; her cries had continued until she ran out of breath. When The God had grabbed for her, she had twisted frantically, trying to break free of the chains. But it had been to no avail; the enormous fingers pinched her and lifted. Margaret had let out another shriek. This time Tobias had heard the pain in her voice, her shoulders dislocated as the giant pulled her from the chains.

The God had lifted the wailing woman up, His eyes glittering with sadistic delight. His voice filled the minds of all of the townspeople gathered on the shore:

“Pathetic insect…how dare you defy Me?”

Margaret had just screamed and screamed.

Her screams had abruptly ended when the giant placed her in His cavernous mouth. Looking pointedly at the people on the shore, He had chewed her up like a sweet, devouring her body and soul.

That had been the first Offering.

***

It was quickly becoming night but the colossus was impossible to miss, dwarfing even the largest structures. He was currently towering high above the Marsh Hotel, a three-story tall building that looked like a model railroad prop in comparison to Him. Swarms of tourists were trying to flee but He ignored them for the moment, regarding the hotel with thinly-concealed lust. Tobias pulled over on the side of the road. He could actually feel the giant’s lust and dark pleasure, a sort of telepathic side-effect of his proximity to the gargantuan being. His own body responded involuntarily and he was beginning to develop a painful erection when a young woman ran up to him. She was probably one of the college students who came here for summer work or to party. Either way, she looked utterly terrified, her makeup a ruined mess.

When she spoke, she wasn’t entirely coherent.

“Ryan’s dead and so is Will and oh my God, the giant killed them, we have to get out of here-“

The woman was trying to get onto the motorcycle with him. Tobias pushed her off and she looked shocked and betrayed. She started to protest but a horrific ripping sound interrupted her. Both she and Tobias looked to where the giant had torn the hotel from its foundation, debris and hotel guests tumbling to the ground as He lifted it up.

The God cradled the building in the palms of His mammoth hands, gazing down at it with a bone-chilling hunger. Then He lowered it down between the thick slabs of muscle that were His thighs. The giant’s titanic sex dwarfed the hotel and Tobias wondered what the people inside the building were thinking, gazing in awe at a multi-ton scrotum and penis that would have emasculated the most manly of men. But they didn’t have much time to stare because The God pushed the entire building against His mighty cock, the hotel yielding and crumbling. The giant growled in pleasure as the building imploded inward, dust powdering His pubic hair.

Beside Tobias, the college student began to whimper in fright.

The God opened His hands, regarding the smashed building with utter contempt. Then He tilted His palms, the rubble that was once a hotel burying several luckless souls who were at the giant’s feet. His monstrous penis was already stiffening and Tobias knew that it also required blood-sacrifices. The ground quivered as the giant began to step on restaurants and gift shops as though they were mushrooms, trying to flush people out into the street. Tobias honestly wasn’t worried about the buildings; there would be a convenient hurricane after The God left and the insurance adjusters would be strangely, almost magically, compelled to pay whatever was necessary to fix the town.

In the street, a mob of panicked people was steadily forming. A sneer tugged at the corners of the giant’s mouth, His mammoth penis throbbing insistently as he loomed over the frenzied crowd. Those who tried to break away he crushed, smearing their remains across the asphalt in wide streaks of maroon. By the time the giant dropped down to His hands and knees, the crowd was bleating like a herd of cattle who knew they were being led to the slaughter.

The God’s gargantuan hands crushed dozens of people as though they were berries, blood splashing across the huge fingers; likewise, people were also pulped beneath his knees. The giant’s body spanned the length of the street, His torso forming a vast ceiling over the mob of tourists. He looked down at the tiny people, grinning fiercely, and then He playfully thrust His hips forward. The sight of a monstrous one-hundred foot penis barreling forward only caused further panic amidst the tourists. They tried to run but the column of rockhard flesh simply smashed over them, flattening them underneath its astronomical weight. Another thrust and more people were mashed, the purplish-red cockhead oozing gallons of clear precum onto the pavement.

It was evident that The God felt His Offerings as they died beneath His most sensitive flesh. He groaned thunderously and dug His gigantic fingers deep into the road, sinking them dozens of feet into the ground. Tobias watched, mesmerized, but the college student ran for her life. He didn’t bother to pursue her. By morning, she would be as dead as the liquified bodies beneath the giant’s murderous cock.

The pace of The God’s thrusting began to increase and again, Tobias felt that eerie mental connection. His own body tingled with carnal pleasure, his erection more intense than anything that he had ever experienced. That was when he heard the telepathic voice of The God, frightening in its power.

“Yes, die for me, insects,” the voice commanded. The tourists only replied with agonized squealing. The giant snarled and when He came, His orgasm was godly in its own right. Jets of milky semen struck some of the surviving people, the sheer force shattering almost every bone in their bodies. Breathing heavily with pleasure, The God glanced down at the few people still alive beneath him, the street a ghastly graveyard of mutilated sacrifices.

Those who still could move were trying to crawl away when the giant began to lower his torso down, his colossal arms bending as if he were doing a push-up. The people trapped on the street shrieked and tried to ward off the countless tons of muscle and bone as it slowly pressed down onto them. It was useless; they popped and compressed beneath the massive pecs and abs of the titan.

Then there was silence.

By then it was fully night, although Tobias could see the giant’s enormous eyes shining in the darkness like those of a cat. He knew, without a doubt, that The God was watching him, studying him. How long they stared at each other, he wasn’t sure. He finally snapped out of his trance when other islanders began to appear. They stopped at a respectful distance, completely in awe of the behemoth who towered over everything even though He was still prone. When He rolled Himself over onto His side, the islanders immediately prostrated themselves before their deity. Tobias stared in morbid fascination at the tiny scarlet splatters dotting the giant’s torso before he also dropped down to his knees.

“Mayor.” The word was unspoken; rather, it filled his mind and he knew it was the telepathic voice of the giant. The knowledge that he was being addressed filed him with elation and horror. Slowly, Tobias raised his eyes and met the giant’s cool gaze. He was too overwhelmed to speak.

“Tobias Howard, come here.” Again, the words seemed to just appear in his head. Tobias quickly obeyed the titan’s command and walked toward the living mountain before him. He had never been this close to The God before and he stared up in wonder at the towering cliff-face that was the giant’s chest. It rose up hundreds of feet in the air and expanded and collapsed as the colossus breathed. When He moved, Tobias cringed and cowered until he realized that the giant was merely placing His immense hand down onto the street.

It was evident what the giant wanted, so he tentatively reached out and touched the gargantuan hand, afraid at first that he might spontaneously combust from touching divine flesh. But Tobias didn’t ignite into flames and the skin beneath his fingertips was warm and oddly human. The giant did smell like the ocean, a briny scent that he knew too well. His heart pounding in his chest, he climbed onto the expansive plain of The God’s palm. There was nothing to hold onto as the titan lifted Tobias before His face, the dark gray eyes regarding him.

“I require an additional sacrifice,” the giant told him in that strange telepathic way.

An additional sacrifice. Yes, Tobias understood now. For some reason, his mind brought him back to that night hundreds of years ago when his father had told him that The God had noticed him. He was just another sacrifice, another Offering for the giant’s ravenous appetite. For an eternal being, a few hundred years meant nothing. He had waited to come for Tobias and He would come for the other islanders eventually.

Oh, they had been wrong, so very wrong, Tobias realized with utter dread and despair.

The last thing that he saw before he was dropped into the abyss of the giant’s mouth was the pitiless and eternal gaze of his God.