The loose soil beneath Michael’s feet trembled, as the indomitable colossus paced carefully around him. All the while her fierce red eyes studied him with almost obsessive concentration, for him it felt as if he was subject to some kind of divine interrogation.

            One look at her vicious carnal gaze instantly suppressed any desire he had of escaping. He felt that if he so much as moved a muscle she would literally tear him limb from limb. Meanwhile, his mind raced back and forth between questions as he struggled to rationalize the situation.

            Then it dawned on him. This girl; whoever she was, could have effortlessly killed him at any time, and yet there he was, completely unharmed. Clearly she needed him alive for something.

            Michael looked up at the girl. She was now casually marching in a circle; her powerful blue painted toes ripping gashes wide enough to lay the foundation of a house in. All the while staring down on her tiny prize like a child would a toy. Needless to say it was fairly intimidating for him, and although it was only a single individual, he knew better than anyone at this point that even a single giant’s stare could make a man feel as if the entire world was looking.

            “What is your name?” She asked suddenly, dropping to all fours a few meters away from him, and crawling towards him, like the monster she was until her face was mere feet from him.

            Michael hesitated; it was difficult for him to be diplomatic when the other persons face took up his entire field of vision. “Michael.” He said simply, not wanting to show weakness.

            The girl opened her mouth to breathe, and when she did he could see clearly into the back of her gaping mouth. Shimmering translucent strings of hot saliva formed in the space in between her plump lips, as her breath cascaded out from her body these thin liquid strings vibrated like the cords of a harp to the wind produced by her mass. All the while, her slippery pink tongue stretched in the background; its damp surface, shinning from the near invisible curtain of spit that covered it.

            He briefly wondered what it would be like to be cast into that slimy pink oblivion, to find oneself trapped in a cage of flesh with nothing but her tongue as a companion. The thought disturbed him greatly as he had no intentions of becoming her next meal.

            “Mmm-eye-kah-el” she said without warning in an attempt to pronounce his name, inches from his face.

            Hot iron scented breath rolled across his entire body with every misspoken syllable, and as he looked deeper into her now dangerously close mouth he could see, swirling in the turbulent pools of saliva, thin red wisps of what was unmistakably blood. In his mind there was no doubt that, behind those thick plump magenta lips and sharp blazing scarlet eyes of hers was a killer.

            “You has power, yes?” asked the girl who then brought her eye straight up to his face.

            He could see his fear stricken face in the black center of her eye, which widened to put him into focus.

            “N…No.” said Michael who turned away, not wanting to look at the reflection his own exasperated expression.

            The girl let out a giggle which shook the air around him, strands of sweet smelling hair wide enough to be ropes fell around him as her mountainous head shook with amusement.

            Her face became fierce again, and he swore that her eyes turned an even deeper shade of red. “Where get power? You give to I, yes?” she said with a lustful smile.

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He insisted while backing away from her gigantic face.

            She gritted her teeth and slammed her hand into the ground with enormous force. The land itself exploded into a hailstorm of rock and dirt as if a meteor had struck.

            “The power! Where you get it!” she screamed in his face, spitting hot saliva all over his body, and deafening him with the thunderous volume of her unrestrained voice.

            Michael felt weak in the knees. He wasn’t one to be deeply afraid at the idea of something, but he dared not imagine what kind of horrors awaited him should he not satisfy her question somehow.

****

             Nephila looked across the horizon, even with her height advantage she could not spot anything remotely human looking.

            “Do you see anything.” asked Hermes, who had been trailing in her shadow for almost two hours, and was become impatient with waiting.

            “You could come up here sir, I could carry you again.” She said softly.

            “Umm, no thank you. Your hand shakes too much for me.” He said backing away from her slightly just to bring the point home.

            “I apologize for that sir, I’m just… stressed.” She said shyly.

            “Also are you always this formal with people? I’m not anyone important you know. In fact, you and I are a lot alike.” He said as he struggled to climb up a rock face that just seconds earlier Nephila walked over without even noticing.

            “I, disagree.” She said simply before increasing her pace.

            “It’s true you know. You’re a giant, who will never be accepted, and I’m a traveling thief… or a poet depending on who you ask.” He insisted. “Either way we both just don’t quite fit in do we?”

            “Are you trying to make me angry… sir?” She asked softly, but with a hint of aggression.

            “I may be a fool. Hell I may even be stupid, but even I’m not dumb enough to piss you off.” He said with a wicked smile.

            “That’s flattery right…”

            “Be quite, and stand still. I think I heard something.” He said suddenly.

            Hermes walked to the highest ground he could find and waited. Then just as he expected, the faint sound of screaming could be heard in the distance.

            He looked up at Nephila. She looked extremely healthy, unlike most giants who were malnourished. He knew that if things turned out for the worst that she would definitely be of use.

            He also found her to be quite attractive, but that was for later. Right now he had to go save the life of yet another idiot who wandered off on Nibiru without knowing what they were doing.

            “Alright.” He shouted up to her.

            “Pick me up and go in that direction. I think your companion is in serious trouble.” He said while pointing to where he needed her to go.

            The second after he finished speaking his body flew backwards into her hands. Nephila it seemed was determined to not let anything happen to him, and judging by her rate of speed, it looked as though she would rather sacrifice her life than his.

****

            Michael was caught off guard as 5 majestic fingers, each one thicker than his entire body curled gently around him, and then without care for his safety lifted him high into the air, until finally he was face-to-face with his tormentors soft lips. Looking carefully he could see that in between the moist succulent wrinkles of her lips were thin stripes of blood from what he could only assume was her previous meal.

            “You give power to me now!” she said in a low feminine growl while baring her teeth at him.

            “I have no idea what you’re talking about? What kind of power do you want?” he asked.

            “GIVE TO I NOW!” she screamed, clutching her fingers tightly together.

            A powerful force pressed down onto his chest, immediately flushed the air right out of his lungs. He tried to struggle, but the raw muscular power of her fingers simply would not yield. Soon there was an intense pain in his chest, as his body gasped for breaths only to become even more constricted by the leathery folds of her colossal palm.

            He began to slowly fade into unconsciousness, without even the comfort of knowing if he was going to wake up again. Then right as his eyes shut for what he thought would be forever, he heard someone say his name.

            “Ok. Let’s make this very simple, you give him to us and we don’t kill you.” Said what sounded like a man’s voice.

            “I want power! You give to I or he DIE!” shouted his gigantic capturer at whoever came to rescue him.

****

            Nephila looked on in horror at the dirty looking girl who so arrogantly held her friend as if he was a prize. She swore she would protect him, and yet there he was in this savage girl’s hand, unconscious and covered in what she could only assume was his own blood.

            “I want power! You give!” repeated the girl while shaking Michaels limp body back and forth.

            Rage began to boil inside her. She had now not only broken her promise to Michael, but was now standing idly by and doing nothing to protect him. She felt truly powerless, and not the type of powerlessness she was used to either, for her this hurt far more.

            The last time she felt such a feeling was the day her family died.

            “I’m sure we can negotiate, I think maybe I can give you the power.” said Hermes in a vain attempt to negotiate with the huntress.

            Nephila looked deep into the girl’s evil red eyes; it was obvious she didn’t believe a single word that came out of Hermes mouth. Not that she could blame her; Atlantian’s were terrible liars, and it didn’t help that their voices were at times, as faint as a giants breathing.

            Then a thought occurred to her. Perhaps, if she tried to convince her instead of Hermes then it might be possible to convince her to back down.

            She had to act fast as there was no time to think, and the life of her friend was at stake.

            Nephila stepped forward and looked the girl straight in the eyes, “If you want power so badly, then perhaps you would be willing to fight us for it.” She shouted in the deepest most threatening voice she could muster.

            “What in the god’s names are you doing.” whispered Hermes whose mouth was quickly covered by Nephila’s finger.

            “You have the power?” scoffed the crazed red-eyed giant suspiciously.

            Nephila said nothing; she simply stood there and stared the girl right in the eyes despite every part of her body telling her to run away. For this to work she needed to look confident, she needed to look as if the monster of a girl that stood in front of her stood no chance what so ever, and most importantly Nephila needed to look like someone who truly had what she sought.

            “You… you give it to I, or me kill this one.” She demanded with a look of skepticism on her face.

            Nephila examined her opponent carefully, making sure to not in the slightest way underestimate her. Physically she was no match for the girl in either strength or stamina; despite being a good number of years older than her. She was also at a loss mentally since unlike her, this blue painted pain in the ass also had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

            She did however have one advantage.

            Nephila had lived around Atlantian’s for almost the entirety of her life, and as much as she hated to admit it, apart from size and other minor differences she acted and thought just like one. This was her biggest advantage, the simple fact that mentally, she was Atlantian. So much so that even this ignorant girl realized that she was not a normal giant.

            Nephila smiled, it was a fake smile, but it might be enough to convince her, “So? You want power hmm.” She said with disinterest while staring out into the distance.

            “You give it to I! You give the power of life and death you wield! Or he will die.” insisted the now defensive looking girl.

            Nephila felt a pit in her stomach ever second she spoke; it was painful for her to hurt another person, even someone who deserved it, with the same conceit that hurt her for so long. This was only made worse by the irony that she needed act this way to save the one Atlantian who didn’t act this way, and who encouraged her not too.

            “Why should I care if he lives or not? He made the decision to come down here, it’s not my responsibility if something goes wrong” she said pretending to be arrogant, before stomping her bare foot into the ground.

            The blue painted girl was shocked. She clearly didn’t expect this kind of response, and most likely was expecting them to simply give her what she wanted.

            “Coward,” She shouted out of panic and confusion, “You let him die by I hands, but you have power to save?”

            Nephila’s arrogant smile became genuine; her bluff it seemed was working.

            “I don’t know what you doing, but her confidence is shattering, keep it up,” whispered Hermes from the center of her palm.

            She looked down at the bewildered Atlantian in her hand who was clearly as confused as the girl. Hermes was centuries older than her and under normal circumstances could disintegrate her with a single thought, and yet without her support he would probably also be in the same position as Michael, or worse.

            How the mighty have fallen, she thought, amused at the fact that for her entire life she actually feared these people. People, who now relied on her just to survive, just as she had to rely on Athena to survive, just like a pet.

            “Me? A coward? Please, you must be joking,” she continued before raising her free hand towards the girl, “I just wanted to see if you’d do it.” said Nephila pompously while pretending to inspect her nails.

            The girl took a step backwards, then another, and then yet another. It was obvious she was scared and didn’t know what to do. This was the opportunity Nephila was waiting for.

            “And another thing, if you even think about killing him, I will destroy you!” declared Nephila triumphantly, before lowering herself to the ground and leaping as high as she possibly could into the air.

            This time she had gravity to thank. After all, since she was accustomed to feeling 5 times heavier than what was considered normal on this planet, so when she jumped; she flew.

            It took her at least a minute to fall about halfway to the ground, but in about half that time the warrioress had already placed Michael on the ground, and was looking at her almost with a sense of awe as she floated back to ground.

            Hermes on the other hand was panicking and had wrapped himself around her thumb.

            “You…You have the power.” Praised the blue painted girl.

            “Yes!” shouted an exasperated Hermes from the end of her middle finger, “she does!”

            “…And if you don’t want to suffer her wrath… or mine, then you will leave, and tell everyone about us.” He declared with renewed confidence.

            The gigantic girl fell to her knees, not out of respect, but simply because the she was shaking too much to support herself.

            “Why he not use power then?” she asked pointing to Michael’s still unconscious body.

            Nephila could see lingering doubt in her eyes, but was quick to respond as she knew that any hesitation might destroy the careful lie she and now Hermes had built. “It was a test…” she said.

            “To see if you were worthy!” finished Hermes, “which as of now you clearly are not.” He added.

            “When do me gain power?” she asked, almost pleadingly.

            Nephila felt an unusual rush of emotions as she stood over the groveling girl who had no doubt killed many times in her life, and who now bowed to her will. She looked deep into her red eyes and instead of anger or instinct she saw that there was nothing but admiration and fear.

            For Nephila, a girl who had been forced to take orders and be obedient her entire life, this feeling of security, liberation, and control was almost intoxicating.

            “Go! Get out of here! You will know when you get it!” shouted Nephila to the once imposing girl.

            The girl didn’t hesitate for a millisecond, and before Nephila could follow up she had already began to run in the other direction.

            “What you name, goddess.” She whimpered turning around suddenly.

            A warm surge of emotions shot up through her body as the fearful girl uttered that last word. Never before in her life had she received such admiration from anyone, and for her it was a moment of pure ecstasy.

            Nephila snapped back into focus, she couldn’t afford to get lost in the moment; not even for a second.

            “My name is Nephila” she said simply, this time from the heart and not as a lie.

            And with those final words the blue painted red-eyed girl fled the scene with more zeal than she had at any point when fighting them.