When Mountains Walk

The mountain shook. Not once. It kept shaking.

Cracks raced across the cavern walls as the Heart of Noctrium pulsed behind them, each beat sending another tremor through the stone. Dust poured from the ceiling in thick clouds. The children stumbled, struggling to remain on their feet.

Nino looked back. Number Two remained unconscious beside the Heart.

THUMP.

The ground shifted beneath them. An entire section of the cavern tilted several degrees, sending loose stones sliding toward the opposite wall.

“What’s happening?!” Lahna screamed.

Nino already knew. The legends had never described what happened when a sleeping Colossus awakened. Now he understood why. No one who had witnessed it had been standing inside one.

“Move.”

The children didn't need to be told twice.

Darien grabbed Lahna's hand while Rentarou followed close behind. They ran toward the passage they had come through, but another violent tremor threw all three against the wall.

A crack split across the ceiling. Nino heard it before he saw it. He looked up. A massive slab of stone broke free directly above Lahna. She froze.

Nino vanished. The rock crashed down.

BOOM.

Dust exploded through the passage.

“Lahna!” Darien screamed.

Something moved inside the cloud. Nino emerged with Lahna beneath one arm. He grabbed Darien with the other.

“Hold on to me.”

Rentarou didn't wait for an explanation. He wrapped both arms around Nino's back. Another section of the ceiling collapsed behind them.

Nino ran.

The cavern continued twisting around them. Walls that had stood for thousands of years cracked apart as the enormous body beneath the mountain awakened. Stalactites fell like spears. Deep within the stone, something groaned with enough force to make the air itself vibrate.

Ahead, faint daylight appeared. The exit. Nino accelerated.

The passage opened before him and he stopped. There was no waterfall. There was no river. There was no ground. Only sky.

Wind struck his face as he stood at the edge of an opening hundreds of feet above the forest. Far below, the river that had once poured across the entrance now twisted through the trees like a thin silver line.

Nino stared.

For the first time, he could see what the mountain had become. Except it had never been a mountain.

The enormous mass of stone surrounding them continued to rise. Forests clung to its back and shoulders. Entire cliffs shifted as gigantic limbs pulled themselves free from the earth. Thousands of tons of soil cascaded from its body, tearing trees from their roots and filling the valley below with an expanding cloud of dust.

A hand larger than a village square pressed against the earth. The world shook. Darien slowly raised his head.

“No way...”

Lahna had forgotten to scream. Rentarou stared at the landscape beneath them.

“We were...” His voice barely came out. “We were inside it.”

Nino tightened his grip around the children. The opening where the waterfall had once been was part of the Colossus's upper body, and it was still rising.

BOOM.

Another step.

The impact traveled through the creature and nearly threw them from the opening. Nino looked down. Far below, through the enormous clouds of dust, he caught a faint violet flicker: his sword.

“Hold on.”

Darien looked down. His face went pale.

“Wait—”

Nino jumped.

“AAAAAH!” All three children screamed.

Wind tore past them as they fell alongside the moving Colossus. Nino twisted in the air and landed against the creature's enormous arm. His boots scraped across stone. He bent his knees and began sliding.

Trees, moss, and shattered rock rushed past them as the colossal limb moved beneath his feet. Darien buried his face against Nino's shoulder. Lahna clung to his coat with both hands, while Rentarou held on from behind with enough strength to make his arms ache.

The slope ended. Nino jumped again.

He landed against the Colossus's leg and slid farther down, using protruding sections of stone to control their descent.

The ground rushed toward them. Nino pushed away from the creature. For several seconds, they were airborne.

He landed.

The impact shattered the earth beneath his boots. Dust surged around them. Alicia immediately turned toward the sound.

“Nino?!”

Cael was beside her, pale and covered in dust. Nino lowered the children.

“Darien!” Cael ran.

His brother barely had time to turn before Cael threw himself against him.

“You're alive!”

Darien wrapped his arms around him.

“I thought I'd never see you again.”

Lahna and Rentarou stood beside them, still struggling to understand what had happened. Cael laughed, although tears had begun running down his face. Then another sound rolled across the valley.

BOOM.

His smile vanished. Everyone looked up. The dust briefly parted. A silhouette rose behind it.

Higher and higher. Until its head disappeared among the clouds. Cael stared in horror. The mountain was walking.

Each movement displaced entire clouds of dust around its legs. Trees covered portions of its back like patches of grass. The remains of Elora Falls poured from its body in broken streams, raining into the forest far below.

“I've never...” Cael whispered. “I've never seen a Colossus this close.”

“Most people haven't.” Nino walked toward his sword and pulled it from the ground. The violet glow faded from the blade. “Colossi are usually brought down near the borders before they can reach populated land.”

Cael looked at him.

“Then why is one here?”

Nino's expression hardened.

“It shouldn't be.” He looked toward the enormous creature. “Not this far inland.”

Another step shook the valley.

“And not one this large.”

Nino suddenly felt a small hand searching for him through the dust.

“Alicia.” He reached her first. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head.

“No.” She gripped his sleeve. “But what's happening? Everything keeps shaking.”

Nino crouched and lifted her onto his shoulders.

“The mountain woke up.”

Alicia became silent.

“The... mountain?”

Before Nino could answer, Cael's breathing changed.

“No.”

He had moved several steps away from the others.

“No, no, no...”

Nino followed his gaze. Beyond the trees, barely visible between the clouds of dust, the Colossus had begun moving in a clear direction: North.

Cael's face was drained of color.

“Arvendel.”

Nino said nothing.

“That's the road to Arvendel.”

Darien turned.

“What?”

“Our village...” Cael pointed with a trembling hand. “It's walking straight toward our village.”

Nino clenched his jaw. The next step shook the forest.

BOOM.

Another followed.

BOOM.

Slow. Relentless. Every step brought the Colossus closer to Arvendel.

For several seconds, no one spoke. Until Alicia raised one hand from Nino's shoulders.

“Well...”

Everyone turned toward her. She smiled.

“Good thing you have two adventurers here.”

Silence. Nino slowly turned his head toward her. Alicia proudly placed a hand against her chest.

“You fight the giant mountain. I'll protect everyone.”

“...”

Cael stared at her. Even Darien seemed unsure whether she was serious. Nino faced forward again.

“First, I need all of you somewhere safe.”

Alicia's smile faded slightly. He surveyed the forest. Five children.

He could carry several of them, but not all of them safely while moving at the speed necessary to intercept the Colossus. Leaving them there was impossible. The creatures that had fled from the awakening would eventually return, and the arrival of the Shadows made the area even more dangerous.

“Is there another settlement nearby?”

Darien nodded.

“On the other side of the valley.”

“How far?”

“Not far. But nobody lives there anymore.”

“Why?”

“It was abandoned years ago.”

Nino looked in that direction. That could work.

Get the children away from the Colossus's path. Leave them somewhere sheltered. Return before the creature reached Arvendel. But there wasn't enough time.

BOOM.

The Colossus took another step. Nino tightened his grip around the sword. He couldn't carry all of them. He couldn't leave them. And every second he spent deciding brought that creature closer to the village.

Something moved through the forest. Fast. Nino turned. A shadow tore between the trees with enough speed to send leaves spiraling into the air. It stopped only a few meters away.

A woman in a black cloak nearly stumbled as her boots dug into the earth. She was breathing heavily, one hand pressed against her side.

Nino's eyes narrowed.

“Three.”

She raised her head.

“Zero!” There was no calm in her voice. “You need to get out of here. Now.”

Nino remained still.

“One is coming. The others are with him.” She struggled to catch her breath. “They have orders to capture you no matter what it takes.” Her expression changed. “And One...” She looked directly at him. “He's lost control. He wants to kill you.”

Nino's eyes widened. In that instant, something struck Three from the side. Her body flew across the clearing. She crashed through a tree. The trunk snapped in half.

“What?!” one of the children screamed.

Silence followed.

A man stood where she had been only a moment before. His black cloak moved slowly in the wind. One arm remained extended from the strike. He didn't even look at Three.

“Never...” His voice was quiet. He raised one finger toward her broken silhouette among the remains of the tree. “Try to restrain me again.” His eyes shifted toward Nino. “Or you'll suffer the same consequences this traitor is about to.”

Movement appeared between the trees behind him. One after another. Black cloaks emerged from the dust surrounding the valley: The Shadows.

Nino lowered Alicia from his shoulders and shifted her onto his back. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck. The children gathered behind him. Cael pulled Darien closer. Lahna and Rentarou followed, all of them staring at the figures appearing through the dust.

Nino raised his sword. Number One smiled. Steel slid from its sheath. He pointed the blade directly at Nino. Behind them, another colossal step shook the world.

BOOM.

The Colossus continued toward Arvendel. And the Shadows had arrived.