Don't Try to Understand It All at Once!

My lungs were tired, my legs weak, but I couldn't turn back. We were halfway up the mountain—halfway to that colossal thing that had emerged from where that mysterious stone had stood.

"Slow... down!" Marigold panted from behind me.

"Why don't you speed up instead?" I said, keeping my pace. "I can hardly tell my hands from the brush up here." It was dark in the woods, and the only thing keeping us on the proper route was the glow of Marigold's staff.

"That thing isn't moving anymore," she said. "Just... wait a moment."

"It may be standing still now, but it could start up again at any moment, you know! We couldn't hope to keep up with its stride. Make haste, make haste!" I hurried on, but the light faded further, and so I was forced to stop. I turned to face Marigold, who was leaning against a tree, wheezing. I sighed and shook my head. What could I do? If the witch couldn't go on, then neither could I. I crouched down and allowed myself a short rest.

"Alright," said Marigold. I looked up to see her staff planted in the soil. She held it with both hands, her eyes shut with a calm, focused look.

"What are you doing?" I asked. In response, she breathed in, and thin tendrils of light began to appear in the darkness. She breathed out, and the lights dimmed. Finally, she inhaled again, sharply, and the lights brightened again and grew into long, luminous strings of energy that were drawn into the staff, which glowed ever brighter until all the lights had been taken in.

"Touch it," said Marigold.

I stood up, but a painful memory flashed in my mind and I hesitated. "I won't get shocked again?"

"No," Marigold chuckled. Gritting my teeth in anticipation, I stepped forward and placed my hand on the gnarled end of her staff. It was warm. Marigold opened her eyes, and the glowing light dissipated as the warmth diffused into our bodies, and I felt my fatigue evaporate.

"It's a rejuvenation spell," Marigold said matter-of-factly, tapping her staff to turn it back into a sort of flameless torch, and she continued along ahead of me. "Come on, Godwin, 'make haste,' wasn't it?"

"But... why didn't you do that earlier?" I said, jogging after her.

"Casting takes focus." A very vague answer, but I got the gist—a spell like that probably wouldn't have been possible while exerting oneself in some other strenuous effort, like, for example, running up a mountain. I guessed she wasn't much interested in wearing out her breath again with a long-winded explanation, but that was fine; we had more pressing matters to attend to.

Soon, we began to notice changes in the landscape, and we had to slow our pace to keep from falling victim to the unfamiliar terrain. Trees were down. There were large rocks where before there were only ferns and shrubs, and small ravines and cliffs had appeared where the ground had been torn apart. I even spied the mangled corpse of some unfortunate animal that had been thrown up violently into the branches of a tree, and I gestured for Marigold to look, hoping to get some amusing reaction of horror out of her, but when she looked back at me her face was as expressionless as ever.

"This is dangerous," she said. "We should turn around."

I felt my chest tighten. "What!? Turn back now? No, Marigold, you said it yourself: this is dangerous! Tell me, have you ever once experienced danger? Chaos? The unknown? No, for the perils of the past have all been tamed and eliminated. But, the dangers of the future are my domain! This thing out here—you saw it! It came out of the ground with a light brighter than any flame or magic spell, and the size of it... It may be a god, or a devil, or something else entirely. Does it not excite you? The possibilities are innumerable! And yes, there are many unknowns, but there is one thing I do know for certain: I cannot back down from this, Marigold—I have waited far too long."

She breathed a hesitant sigh of resignation. "You really are crazy. You better pay damn well for this." I grinned back at her.

As we crested a boulder, a pulsating light came into view ahead of us, and as we drew nearer, I saw the giant's massive, stumpy feet buried partway into the ground. The trees thinned out, and I looked up and nearly fainted.

"Incredible..." It was, as I had seen from the edge of town, what seemed to be an enormous man, or something vaguely shaped like a man, but up close it was truly a thing of beauty. It was taller than any building I had seen, and how it did not fall to the wind while it stood completely still was a great mystery. Its skin was a rusty color, scarred in places with small indentations. Its face was mostly featureless but was adorned with a sort of visor, and two curled horns grew out to the sides. Set in an ornate gold fixture on its chest was something like an enormous cut amethyst. Chains were hooked into the gold and draped over its shoulders almost like a cape. Its arms were the most bizarre of its features, for they were unattached to the body, instead suspended in midair by some unseen force. The hovering joints of the arms and the jewel-like structure on the giant's chest all emitted an eerie violet glow that illuminated the clearing and the alien being that stood within it.

I sprinted up to the thing and ran my hand across the side of its foot. I was surprised to find the surface hard and cold, like metal. Although, anything probably would have surprised me at that point; I had no idea what to expect. I glanced back at Marigold, who was craning her neck in awe.

I threw my arms up and called out, "It's fantastic!—isn't it, Marigold?"

"Why... what is it? It almost looks man-made. I've never seen anything like this," she said.

"No, you wouldn't have, would you?" I smirked, amused at her obvious unease at the sight of the unknown.

Marigold glared at me. "Have you?"

"No," I said, "though I suppose no one has! Or at least, no one of this world."

Marigold let out a snort of disapproval, but then her eyes suddenly widened at something, and she squinted and pointed up at the giant's arm. "Those markings—don't they look similar to the ones on that stone?" Engraved on the hovering forearm was what looked like a short passage of text. Looking closely, the writing did appear similar... no, not just similar!

"Yes!" I shouted, unable to contain myself. "Yes, Marigold, it is absolutely the same—I'm sure of it! Oh, I knew it! That rock wasn't just a rock after all! Blasting it with magic really did... Ha! Haha!"

"No," Marigold muttered, massaging her forehead in deep thought. "Why was it so delayed? And, I didn't detect anything then. Even now, the energy I sense from this thing isn't normal. It's something like magic, but... Huh? Are you crying?"

"Don't try to understand it all at once," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. Emotion flowed strong as a torrent, but what emotion it was—awe, reverence, vindication?—I couldn't say. "This is the beginning of a new era—I can feel it. We will learn, and I'll do what I set out to do. I'll uncover the whole of reality, and I'll bring the world to its senses."

"How can you be so sure of yourself?" Marigold crossed her arms. I kneeled down and faced up to the grand figure that stood before me, and Marigold sighed. "What are you doing?"

"Oh great giant, you who have risen from the stone!" I called out. Marigold tried to shush me, saying not to talk to it, but I would not fall victim to her fears! There was a new visitor in my realm, and as a Holy Knight, it was my duty and honor to make first contact, and so I continued. "Long have I sought to discover what lies beyond this world. Long have I believed—no, known—that a being such as yourself would someday appear. And now, with the help of the witch beside me, I believe I have reached you." At the mention of her assistance, Marigold became more agitated and began desperately gesticulating and whisper-shouting for me to shut up. I did not. "And, you have responded. You have appeared. For that, I am infinitely grateful. But, please, tell me—why have you appeared? Where do you come from? I seek knowledge, so if you have it, please..."

Suddenly, the ground shook, and I stumbled back with a gasp. Marigold yelped in terror and ran to my side. She planted her staff in the ground, shouting for me to keep still, and a thin barrier began to form around us. 

I paid little mind to the magic, preoccupied with the towering creature that stood before me. Its purple glow grew brighter, and its whole body vibrated. With a sound like a fierce whistling wind, an enormous golden band of light came into being above its head, illuminating the clearing and the surrounding woods with such power that I was almost convinced that the sun had somehow risen in an instant. The arms shifted slightly, and the six-fingered hands rotated slowly until their palms faced out in what I assumed to be a gesture of acceptance.

Then, a deep and booming voice—powerful, yet somehow comforting—came down from the giant and met my ears, setting my soul aflame.

"Integrant," it said, "my integrant... you have been searching for me?"