Chapter 4: Chapter 4 Sala

Four men stood in a circle around a woman. She was unconscious, battered and bruised and was something of a mystery to them. She was covered in a thousand tiny cuts; all of which was a surprise to the men. They had not expected to find her in such a state, not after their goddesses sent them to find the Protector.

TimothyTomas, or TimTom was a giant. He was no giant human, but one of the rare and incredibly reclusive giants. He stood just shy of twelve feet with thick shoulders hidden by loose leathers. Short black hair and near perpetual smile, TimTom was an enigma with his monstrous sized body orders of magnitude smaller than his heart.

“Poor thing. Mattaeo, heal her!” TimToms booming voice ordered.

Mattaeo, the only human of the group, was tall for one of their kind, but fell short when compared to the giant. Tall and angular, he looked back at the giant with striking hawklike eyes.

“She… what is she? Should I?” he asked.

“She’s just a lass. Mattaeo, don’t be a dick.” a dwarf spoke.

Cameroon, a dwarf nearly as wide as he was tall looked up towards Mattaeo. Cameroon was not fat though his arms and chest were thick with muscle and history. It seemed like each time he was away from the others, he returned with another completely different hair style and sometimes even a color.

“This must be her.” The fourth one spoke. “Heal her please.”

Steff, a Demon Elf spoke. He was half a hand shorter than Mattaeo with a face that seemed to always be glaring. The others learned to listen when he spoke as he was a quiet and thoughtful person at heart.  With short red hair and a thick beard to match, the other nodded.

“On it.” Mattaeo began his spell of healing. “The Earth is all, and she is with you.”

His hand glowed with vibrant green energy and he placed it on her chest.

“Hey! Watch where you touch her.” Cameroon scolded Mattaeo.

Mattaeo kneeling was still taller than the dwarf and he looked at him half sputtering and half glaring.

“I… No… I… never…”

“He is poking fun at you. Don’t listen to the small one.” TimTom boomed.

Mattaeo ignored the snickering coming from Steff and Cameroon and continued to heal the woman.

Mattaeo clinically looked over her body she was hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. He was fascinated, she was unlike anything he had ever seen or studied before. She, for all intents and purposes, looked like a human, except that she was around nine feet tall and was skinny too skinny. What would look unhealthy for a human looked natural for this one though, and he could not explain why. Many magical creatures had the same effect on him. Mattaeo was raking his memory because something about her reminded of him of a book he had once read.

“She… She… I think she’s a Scholar. I think that’s what they’re called at least.” He told the others.

They all could feel the power emanating from her, but it felt off somehow. It was vast, yet tucked away, like the rising dawn. Her wounds began to heal unnaturally fast. The thousands of little cuts began to reknit themselves while the dried blood flaked off leaving clean and unbroken skin behind.

“A Scholar? That is what you are.” TimTom told him.

“No… I mean it’s a race. Even more rare than you, my friend.” Mattaeo explained.

“I am the only one of me. That makes me as unique as one can be.” TimTom said winking at the human.

“Hardy Har har…” Mattaeo said long since used to the giant’s poor sense of humor.

“A Scholar?” Steff asked.

“Yes, no one knows for sure where they come from. Some say they’re from Bas, but no one knows for sure.” Mattaeo said.

“Bas?” Steff asked.

“Yes, Bas.”

“Matt… You are the only one here who knows what that is.” Steff said with a sign.

Matt looked at the other exasperated when he saw all their nods.

“The Sea of Bas is at the other side of the world. No one has ever been able to explore it to its entirety.”

“Why is that?” Steff asked.

“It is the source of one of the first rifts.” Matt explained.

They all nodded grimly. Everyone knew of the rifts, the original extra-dimensional invasion that occurred so long ago that history had nearly forgotten of it. In thousands of years, nothing has been able to discover anywhere within five hundred miles of the rifts due to the many monsters roaming the area. Monsters were everywhere, but around the rifts, they could be as large as cities themselves.

“Bas? I can handle anything, perhaps we visit?” TimTom said.

“TimTom… No… Nevermind.” Mattaeo said shaking his head.

Steff stood over the woman who was beginning to stir. They all thought it was luck, but they did not trust in the Twins as he did. This was no luck, their fate had brought them to this odd-looking woman, and he was saw fit to follow through with what they were ordered to do. His gods were kind though unconventional, but he did trust in what they were trying to build.

“She’s awaking.” Mattaeo said.

“Thanks for letting us know…” Cameroon said rolling his eyes.

Sala groaned with the early stages of consciousness as she tried to remember her dreams. She could always recall them as a child, so vivid, but now… but now she would be luckily to remember two or maybe three in a year, and they were always horrific. She felt full of energy, but also a soreness that felt more of memory than physical. Her eyes cracked open.

Sala was shocked into complete alertness when seeing four strange men circling her. One was a dwarf, another was a human, while the other two were just different, unlike anything she had seen before. One with the tall ears and sharp eyes of an elf, he had charcoal color skin and flashing red hair. She could only assume he to be a sub species she had never seen before. The other looked human, but he was enormous. Sala had never met any other person in this world that was taller than she, other than the other Scholars back home. She had met a few Trolls that came close, but this one was taller than Sala, and not by any small measure.

She scooted back, finding herself in a field of tall grass. There were thick cattails around her, and the ground felt thick with water. It was midday and she could see the edges of a forest far in the distance.

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The huge human raised both hands and spoke in a voice so deep and resonate that it shook Sala to the soul.

“Calm yourself little one.”

“Little one? She is ten feet tall!” the dwarf said.

“You are all little compared to me!”

They all stared at her as if waiting for her to speak, but one spoke after seeing her terror.

“We are not here to hurt you.” The human said.

“Who… who are you?” Sala asked.

“We…”

“We are the Gang!” the dwarf cut off the human.

The huge man backhanded the dwarf with a loud slap.

“Grow up Cam… that name is childish. We must be named something more elegant.” The big one said.

“You are the youngest one here TimTom…” The dwarf replied.

The four of them then turned to each other and began bickering, completely ignoring her. It would have been comical if Sala wasn’t terrified due to waking around the strange men. So, she continued to scoot back and surprised by their lack of awareness, she stood and ran.

She was only twenty feet away, when the weird looking elf suddenly appeared in front of her. It was not a teleport that she was aware of, there was not the loud clap that normally came from such abilities, yet he stood in front of her there.

“Do not run. We mean you no harm.” He spoke.

His mouth did not move, yet the voice echoed in her mind similar to something else…

“If you mean me know harm, then leave me alone!” she told him.

“We cannot do that.” He replied.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” She said quietly.

He smiled slyly, but they didn’t know what she was.

“Listen… we were sent to find you; not to harm, but to help. But there is a village not forty miles away with everyone missing, presumed dead. Now, this was no work of bandits, that leaves you.” The voice spoke in her head.

Sala fell to her knees grasping her head ignoring the words.

“Scath!!!! Is this you?” she cried out. “Stop your games!”

She was crying now, thinking of the poor people she had killed. But she hadn’t killed them, it was the demon inside her and… and did she need to feel bad for them? They were all going to kill her even after how much she had helped them.

“I love games!” Scath, the demon spoke in her head.

She was unaware of a spell casted on her, but Sala’s eyes rolled in the back of her head, and she fell over unconscious again.

“Why did you do such things?” TimTom asked Steff.

“She… She Is possessed.” He said.

Grim faces covered each of them. They all knew the meaning behind this.

“Who do you think it is?” Cameroon asked.

They all looked at each other, then to Mattaeo. He shook his head, but knew that he would never win an argument against these stubborn fools, so he capitulated.

“Okay… You all will be carrying me back also, just so you know.” He told them looking for an excuse to not go through with what they wanted him to do.

“You are little. This is okay.” TimTom said patting his back.

“I hate you all…” Mattaeo said with a glare.

“We love you too.” Cameroon said.

The tall human rested his hand on her chest.

“Hey, don’t touch her…” Cameroon began when a loud slap echoed through the field. “Fine… stupid giants…”

Mattaeo ignored the other men, rather he focused the energy inside him. He was a Shaman, one of the world around him and its promised protector. Invaders were never welcome, and he had made it a profession to rid his grove from any who sought to pillage the land he called home. Such devotion had led him into learning of other magics, other magics such as possession, the other form of invasion. He did not know much of the soul, but he knew enough to determine of what possessed one. With another spell, he dove into the poor girl’s soul.

Light surrounded him. Mattaeo was in a bubble of… of something that made him feel safe. It was a radiant white light with flowing midst creating an ever changing yet symmetrical pattern. It was kind, loving and protecting all at once, and yet he could feel the darkness outside its confines. It protected him from something immense. He probed the walls, and he found it malleable and soft. He pushed through the bubble of light and the instant his finger permeated the barrier, nothingness consumed him.

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