Warm. The warmth radiates throughout the body. Warmth is everywhere. Hands are warm, legs are warm, the world is warm.

Heat. Everything is too warm. Discomfort. Why is there so much heat? 

Burning. Engulfed in fire. Agony. Need water!

Rageus opened his eyes, his throat dry and his lips cracked. He wheezed in the thick, warm air. Where am I, he thought. All around him stretched an expanse of brown. Barren, dry dirt covered the landscape as far as he could see, the terrain expanding in a uniform level. No hills, no valleys. Nothing except the brown. So much brown.

"Beautiful," a voice whispered, the sound seeming to echoe throughout the air, coming from everywhere yet nowhere.

"Who's there," Rageus exclaimed, turning franticly to catch sight of the speaker.

"You're asking the wrong question Rageus," the voice answered in a mocking tone. It sounded like hundreds of people speaking in unison, each with their own pitch and sound. "The question is, who are you?"

"Show yourself!"

Then Rageus saw it. A white silhouette approaching from the distance. It appeared to be human, yet had no features. Just whiteness.

"Do you have an answer yet Rageus," the being asked as it approached. "Do you know who you are?"

"What manner of creature are you," Rageus spat, as he slowly began to back away.

"You would speak in such a manner to you mother Rageus?" The white being began to take on a new form. Features began to develop, and it began to shorten. Suddenly, Rageus's mother was standing before him.

"M-Mother?" Rageus was baffled. He had watched her die. He had seen her sightless eyes. How was she here.

"Not quite," his mother's face answered, still speaking in the strange voice. Suddenly, it was his father that he was staring at. Then his commander. "I can take on many forms, be many things."

"What are you," Rageus whispered. He was trembling with an uncontrollable fear. This being had an aura of power, power so strong that he felt it encroach on him. His breathing became shallow, and his legs began to tremble.

"We have no name. We have no identity. We are simply the keepers of balance."

"What do you mean?"

"Balance. Without it, the universe would crumble. Life would vanish. We maintain it. We keep balance so that Life can go on. And right now, the balance of your personality is in peril."

"W-What?"

"You, Rageus, are the key to a balanced future for you world. Balance can exist in many ways. Your world may be balanced by maintaining the isolation between the giants and the humans, or it may be balanced by one side wiping the other out. There may be balance by establishing peace, or they may be balance by destroying everyone. You are the balancer of your realm. You are the one who will determine how balance is made."

"Why me," Rageus demanded. "What have I done to warrant such a burden?"

"You were born. No one controls the universe. It was simply your fate to be born with this responsibility. The why is unimportant however. Now the balance is at risk."

"What's wrong?"

"You are torn. The views you have held your entire life have been shed in a new light in a matter of minutes. You do not know what you desire anymore. If you cannot redetermine your ideas, this internal conflict will destroy you, and your world will be destroyed by the imbalance that follows."

"So what can I do!?"

"We have come to you to warn you. You must decide what you want, and it must be before the humans leave the walls. You must believe whole-heartedly in whatever you set your mind to, or else you wil not succeed. This is your duty."

And with that the being began to dissipate into the air. 

"Wait," Rageus cried out. "How do I do that?! What path should I take?!"

"Do not ask us. Ask yourself. Our time is up. Awaken."

Rageus sat up suddenly, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Instantly he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see a poorly wrapped bandage around his waist, with a large crimson patch on its right side. Suddenly, he remembered why he was injured there, and what had happened before he passed out. He struggled to get up, to find somewhere to hide, but he found his legs trapped under some soft white sheets, the sweat causing them to cling to his bare skin.

Recognizing the futility in acting out of blind panic, Rageus breathed deeply a few times to calm himself, then looked around. He was in a dark chamber. Far in the distance he saw a wooden wall looming high above him. To his right was a large wooden table with two chairs, and to his left was a window, beams of moonlight piercing through it and into the room. Rageus himself was on what he thought to be another table. The white cloth over his lower body was identical to the cloth he found himself laying on. He was wearing nothing but undergarments, and he couldn't see his equipment anywhere.

Rageus realized he was far too injured to risk leaping, and without his equipment he was as good as dead should he escape. He lay back down, the pain proving too much for him, and attempted to think of a plan.

He did not know how much time passed by before he heard the loud footsteps, accompanied by the creaking of floorboards. Rageus knew what they meant, so he shut his eyes and feigned sleep. This giant had clearly bandaged him and put him in a bed, so he felt her intentions were not bad. Still, he didn't want to take any risks.

He heard the door slowly open, followed by the sound of the footsteps approaching him. When the sound stopped, he felt small gusts of warm wind wash over him, and knew that the giant was close enough for him to feel its breathe.

Suddenly, a loud, feminine voice whispered right next to him. "I know you're awake," it said. "You're too tense and breathing to swiftly to be asleep."

Rageus was surprised by her observational skills, but decided it was useless to feign sleep. He sat slowly and opened his eyes. Then his jaw dropped.

In front of him were gigantic, startlingly green eyes. They stared at him, and he felt as if they were boring into his soul. Black, beautiful hair cascaded around a glowing, beautiful, tan face. Gigantic lips, large enough to consume him, were forming a smile. Rageus had never felt so terrified by something so beautiful.

"Hello," the giant whispered. "Are you feeling okay?"

Rageus nodded dumbly, unable to do anything else. 

"I am so sorry that I did this to you," the giant said sadly. "It's such a relief that you're okay. I don't know what I would've done had the injuries been any worse." She paused to see if he would speak, then kept going after he didn't. "You're a human, right?"

Rageus nodded again.

"No one has seen your kind in such a long time. We believed that you all lived inside the walls. How did you get here?"

Rageus just stared at her, knowing he couldn't answer the question even if he was capable of speaking. It was a secret that the humans could escape.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My names Katarina, but you can call me Kate." She smiled at him, with the most lovely, inviting smile Rageus had ever seen. "What's yours?"