“Where am I? Who are ye that stand before me?” the giant inquired, struggling to sit upright upon the ground. He rubbed his eyes, adjusting his sight to the light that shimmered across the sky of Denendeh’s lower world. His dark hair was so long it brushed the earth, tangled with soil, grass, and stone. His face, filthy from having lain buried beneath layers of rock, bore a thick black beard. His eyes gleamed with a dark onyx radiance. Most peculiar of all, his lips did not move when he spoke; his words echoed directly within their minds.

  “Are you Yamozha, aren't you?” Loki asked, flying toward the giant’s face and positioning himself before one of the colossal eyes so that he might be seen more clearly. The immense being dwarfed him entirely; Loki was scarcely the height of the giant’s pupil.

  “Oh? Art thou one of the maidens of Denendeh? Aye, I confess, sweet slumber overcame me, and I have lost all reckoning of time. Yet soon shall I return,” the giant replied, as though attempting to excuse himself.

  “A maiden? Can you not see properly yet?” Loki asked irritably, as the rest of Orniskem burst into laughter.

  “Art thou some sorcerous beaver?” the giant asked again, squinting at the Norse god.

  Menrva floated upward beside Loki, offering a respectful greeting.

  “My name is Menrva, and this is Loki. We have come from far away to ask for your help.”

  “That hair, that countenance… I see now. Ye are strangers,” the giant said, both surprised and delighted.

  “Yes, indeed. Are you… Yamozha?” the Etruscan goddess asked carefully, hoping she had pronounced it correctly.

  “Aye, fair lady. I am called Yamozha, the noble hunter!” he declared, rising like lightning. Yet his muscles were so atrophied that his legs failed him, and he collapsed backward with a thunderous crash that shook the land and filled the air with dust.

  “Please, don’t try to stand,” Menrva said, fanning away the dust cloud. “You have slept long. Your muscles must be weakened.”

  But instead of concern, the giant burst into hearty laughter. Meanwhile, Susanoo sliced the air with his katana, dispersing the dust.

  “Have you ever seen a being so immense, Tania?” Ana asked in awe.

  “Except for the serpent we faced in Denmark, never. And even that was a behemoth,” the Punic goddess replied, still stunned.

  “They are ancient gods,” Loki said, descending beside them. “I had only heard that Ymir, ancestor of the Norse gods, possessed such proportions.”

  “Ancient gods? How ancient?” Ana asked.

  “No idea. Twenty thousand years, perhaps more,” Loki replied thoughtfully.

  “You’re saying this giant is over twenty thousand years old?” Tania asked, astonished.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “No one lives that long,” Bellona muttered, still staring upward.

  “They are from the age when great Anu ruled the cosmos,” Tania added.

  “Who is Anu?” Rodrigo asked uneasily.

  Of all of them, Rodrigo seemed the most frightened. The tallest anthropomorphic being he had ever seen was Surtr, nearly three meters tall. Yamozha, however, might well have exceeded five thousand meters.

  “An ancient god,” Epona replied without turning. “A tyrant, according to legend, overthrown by lord El some ten thousand years ago.”

  “Lord El is that old?” Rodrigo asked.

  “Yes. Our kind’s lifespan is about ten thousand years,” Epona explained. “Lord El is very old now, and his daughter Anat rules in his stead.”

  “A giant of such magnitude should have perished long ago,” Loki added.

  Yamozha ceased laughing and sat again, looking around.

  “Woman, whither have ye brought me? Once stood here great mountains and lakes. Now I behold naught but a vast green and frozen plain.”

  “This world is an illusion, Yamozha,” Menrva explained, hovering before him. “In the upper world, they tasked us with finding you. The illusion was crafted to protect them from attacking rodents.”

  “I came to hunt beavers, yet sleep overcame me,” the giant replied.

  “May I ask you something?” Menrva said. “How common are deities of your stature?”

  “In Denendeh, I alone am thus. This world I raised with mine own hands. Yet in the land whence I came, most were of such size.”

  “Hubur?” Menrva gasped.

  “Aye, that was its name. Long have I been gone from that realm,” he laughed.

  “Yamozha… I think you have slept for more than twenty thousand years,” Menrva said, alarmed. “Hubur vanished long ago. You are the first of your kind I have ever seen.”

  “How could I have slept so long? Should I not be dead or withered by age?” he replied, still amused.

  “Wait,” Tania interjected. “The wolves told us the portal to the human world was controlled by him. But he could not have known humans. Lord El encountered the first humans twelve thousand years ago.”

  “True,” Epona said. “At the Festival of the New Fire, Lord El brought flame, garments, and pottery to Lel, fostering civilization in the god's realms.”

  “Do you know Anu? Or El?” Menrva asked quickly.

  “Anu… aye, him I recall. One of the seven monarchs of Hubur. Of the other, I know naught.”

  “And humans? Beings like me, who cannot wield divine energy but build wondrous things?” Menrva pressed.

  “In the upper world dwell maidens such as thee. Of these others thou speakest, I know not. Speakest thou of beavers?”

  “Those wolves deceived us,” Ana muttered. “They said Yamozha vanished two centuries ago.”

  “For them, he may well have been legend,” Anpiel reasoned. “Perhaps they sought to trap us here, knowing we would never find a being from twenty thousand years past.”

  “Then the wolves and rodents have fought for over twenty thousand years?” Epona asked incredulously.

  “So it seems,” Anpiel replied. “None remember the true cause. Only that Yamozha wronged the beavers, and blame passes between them.”

  “And in slumber he entered hibernation, preserving his life,” Loki added.

  “Well then,” Yamozha said, “ye have awakened me. What would ye have of me, strangers?”

  “We must take you to the upper world to leave Denendeh,” Menrva answered.

  “Depart? That calls for feast and revelry! Let us ascend and celebrate!”

  “We would gladly, but we are pursued and pressed for time,” Menrva admitted.

  “Leave that to old Yamozha, maiden. Ye woke me, and I shall reward thee.”

  Menrva descended to the others.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “First, we go up the tree with him. Then we find a way out,” Tania replied.

  “But bringing him up the tree will be difficult,” Ana said.

  “Thou sayest this is illusion?” Yamozha asked.

  “Yes, Lord Yamozha,” Menrva answered.

  “Call me Yamozha only. I disdain formality. And speak to me as friend.”

  “Very well, Yamozha.”

  The giant began to unleash his divine power. A vast dark aura rose behind him. The ground trembled violently.

  Then the illusion shattered like glass, fragments falling away to reveal the true beauty of Denendeh.

  They stood upon the shore of a great lake. Majestic blue mountains rose in the distance. Pines and oaks stretched across the land.

  “Now this is the realm I fashioned,” Yamozha laughed.

  If you’d like to support the story, a follow or rating helps a lot.

  The next part will be released Tomorrow.