Driven by renewed purpose to find her poor favorite flying pet, Narina marched across the land. Her eyes were locked to the horizon, even as the sun disappeared fully and night overtook. This meant she was wholly unaware of the next massive convergence of troops, which she encountered after another hour of walking. Unfortunately for those men, in the dark, the princess’s confident gait was a major hazard. Narina tramped straight into the waiting crowds before they even had a chance to ready a single ballista. These armies were ravaged far worse than the last, as the princess didn’t know she had need to step lightly, and her ordinary walking pattern easily squashed thousands of troops into jelly, while again knocking the rest clean off their feet with the windy brush of her passing skirts.

            She walked through the night. In the process, several more collected armies were defeated entirely on accident. All it took was a few steps, and the princess wiped out a substantial portion of the forces under her soles, and often whatever engines of war they’d brought, kicking these aside like wind-up toys.

            A few of the clever militaries tried to arrange traps. Ropes designed to trip the princess were stretched between valleys, though they often underestimated the sheer scope of the young woman until she her gargantuan silhouette appeared, and she shuffled straight through the stringy lines without even noticing. Other armies went for more dramatic means: avalanches of their own were devised, with rocks rigged to hurdle down cliffsides when Narina passed near. These, though, did little more than bump like pebbles off the princess’s ankles, which she noticed only long enough to take off her slipper and remove a boulder that became lodged inside, as this would make for an uncomfortable walk indeed.

            In the morning, the weary and famished princess took a rest beside a lake. She leaned down, pursed her lips on the waterbed, and slurped up the entire crystal-clear pool until the basin was bone-dry. Wiping her mouth after the satisfying beverage, the princess next found some convenient topography which she could use as a sort of reclining seat, easing her back against a mountainous slope, while her legs were crossed over the adjoining hillocks. This grassy terrain was deceptively populous, as another gathering of armies had taken secret refuge in these trees, choosing to take an entirely stealth-based approach to the fight. These plans, like so many others, were foiled when Narina chose to take her rest directly on top of them. Many were crushed instantly when the princess’s slender yet monumental frame sunk lazily into the hills. Others were briefly spared, as the wrinkles of her shimmering dress were bunched up, but their offensive forces were shattered, and they could do little more than patiently wait until the giant woman elected to rise on her own.

            Narina took her time, though, and unloaded the pack of food prepared for her by the kingdom’s farmers. Each parcel she opened contained whole bushels of apples, thousands of bread loaves, and carts loaded with hams and roast beef. The thankful princess dumped each impressive quantity into her palm, and in just one bite apiece, polished off every variety of foodstuff in her knapsack. There wasn’t even a need to chew, except for the meat carts, which Narina didn’t notice until she’d already crunched through the miniature vehicles and swallowed them too.

            Contented and rehydrated, the princess at last rose from the hills and dusted herself off. This process smashed yet more of the survivors underneath her. Those little troopers who still serendipitously clung to her dress were soon shaken off like termites, or otherwise loosed their grips once the princess started moving at a rapid pace. Narina, being as colossal as she was, couldn’t tell the sneaky soldiers apart from specks of dirt as she smoothed her palms down every crease in her gown. At last, she set off again. In the far distance, the princess could make out the coastal sea, but at the center of the horizon, she could see where the sky blackened above the mountains. The place she was told about. She only hoped Argus was still safely there and hadn’t been kidnapped in his sleep.

            Narina scarcely bothered with the other armies she passed during this second day, even as they too tried to get her royal attention by flinging their weapons and arrows at her ankles. The princess did feel bad to have to ignore their kind requests for attention, and offered a wave and her sincere apologies while walking by. She still noticed the ticklish sensations of their armaments bouncing off the back of her neck as she departed, some of them cascading all the way down the nape of her dress and past her spine, which made her giggle, but Narina held firm. This was a serious matter, and she had to stay focused.

            Another night came. The princess again marched through the darkness, flattening the remaining lines of defense Argus had set up to divert her, all without realizing. She was tired and hungry, as the provisions from the farmers had only lasted so long, but carried on toward the shadowy mountain range. She clambered across them as if they were dunes, occasionally catching some of the spires like dull thistles on her gown, but these were easily pulled away. Argus lived in a cave underground, she was told. It had to be somewhere here.

            Unsure where to start her search, though, Narina simply pressed her ear against every major mountain. Eventually, the sun rose, but the princess had a hard time seeing it through the black smoke, which she found unfortunate; maybe Argus would be in a happier mood more often if his home had better access to sunlight. Altruistic as ever, she proceeded to blow cold air and wave her hands in a typhoon-powered fanning motion. After a minute, most of the volcanic air had cleared away, and the area looked rather pleasant. Then, perhaps by kismet, Narina pressed her ear to a mountain, and heard snoring within. She knocked her fist on the side, confirming it was hollow, and then without hesitation, proceeded to break apart the mountain with the ease of peanut brittle.