Prologue

            Nami bolted across the floor as fast as her two legs would take her.  She could no longer fly as her small, delicate wings had been too badly damaged by the leviathan.  It howled noises which were incomprehensible to the tiny creature, filling it with a terror which seemed to penetrate the deepest recesses of its mind.  As she ran, Nami stumbled over a collection of artificially preserved plant matter which littered the room.  This is the same material which had once served as a floor in her tiny glass prison before the leviathan had tossed it across the room.  The entrance to her hideaway was so close, but Nami knew she would not reach it in time, nor did she want to, for if she did she would surely compromise the rest of her fellow Calculi.  Finally, out of a mixture of hopelessness and exhaustion, she collapsed onto her hands and knees and stared at the ground before her.  The light was immediately cut off by the looming shadow of the giantess behind her, which she could not see because her face was down.  Looking ahead, Nami saw the ground.  Her captor’s garments were scattered about.  She saw so many devices around her, all of which could be put to use by the giantess, and she realized she had no idea how any of them worked or what they were used for.  Far off in the distance, on the other side of a large tower lay the pulverized remains of her good friend, Xi, who had been killed by the leviathan.

            The sight made Nami sick, so she quickly looked away.  Above her the voice of the giantess boomed in an incomprehensible language.  Nami did not want to look up, because she knew if she did the giantess would see the defeat in her face, and would feel triumphant.  She was given little choice, however, as the round appendage which demarcated the periphery of her giant captor’s body smashed her tiny body into the floor and rolled it over.  The pain was unbearable, and tears began to welter around Nami's eyes.  The similarity in morphology between these two organisms was quite impressive.  They were both bipeds who expressed a bilateral symmetry.  The wet tissue which comprised the two orbs on either side of their faces seemed to serve the same purpose, to provide vision of the environment.  However, the eyes of the giantess were much closer together than that of the Calculus.  They contained a white sclera which helped to pronounce the darker pigmented iris which surrounded a contractile black pupil.  The sclera of the Calculus was a navy blue, but no iris surrounded its pupils.  Rather they took the shape of a clover and seemed to display more elasticity than the leviathan’s eyes.  As she looked up at her tormenter, Nami could make out the subtle movements of those enormous orbs.  The pupils slightly dilated as she looked back down.  Because of the consistency in body shape between the two, Nami could tell the leviathan was a female.

            Again the giantess spoke in her language, which Nami could not understand.  Her long, black hair shrouded the sides of her face and surrounded the wounded creature on both sides.  She had lowered her face dangerously close to Nami, perhaps to get a closer look or simply to savor this primeval victory.  A sharp pain struck Nami’s chest as her heart skipped a beat.  That face, with those horrifying features, was so close to her body she could feel its heat radiating down onto her.  The giant crease which formed her mouth was seemingly enveloped in the lush, moist tissue of the surrounding lips.  Another appendage, which was much more pronounced in her than in the Calculi, separated her eyes from her mouth.  As air traversed in and out of its musculature, Nami felt herself growing cold.  A teardrop rolled from her left eye down the side of her tiny head.   

            Most of her young life had been spent in the captivity of her giant captor.  During the daytime, when she was away, the leviathan would confine Nami to a little glass box which had unscented potpourri scattered along the bottom which served as a makeshift ground.  Before she left, the leviathan assured that a large cloth was thrown over her prison, further adding to Nami's feeling of isolation.  For a while her confinement was manageable because Nami shared her cell with Xi.  However, as the months pressed forward, the two of them grew more and more restless, and Xi began formulating methods of escape.  In one failed attempt, Nami was caught and severely punished.  As Xi watched helplessly from the confinement of the prison, the giantess first paraded a naked Nami outside the glass box for Xi to see, and then bent both of her wings in half, breaking them.  Nami screamed out in unrelenting agony, and promptly fainted.  Xi shuttered and fell backwards as the giantess dropped her unconscious friend back into the prison and finally threw a sheet over the two of them.  After that day, Nami never flew again. 

Now, several years later, a second failed attempt at escape seems to have proven the last chance for the long-suffering Calculus.  Her friend was gone, and Nami was too wounded, both physically and emotionally, to carry on her fight, for she knew it was in vain.  She looked up at her captor’s face, which depicted the sum of all evil in Nami’s small world.  She winced her eyes as the tears flowed; she had capitulated.  The giantess leaned upward, still looking down at Nami, and held her knees with her hands in a contemplative pose.  Nami folded her arm into a V and put it across her face, covering her eyes.  Her fingers, so strikingly similar to that of her captor, gently caressed the shoulder of her other arm.  She felt it with extreme precision.  Nami reckoned that when one is so close to death, they truly appreciate that which is easily overlooked in life.  Her shoulder, but more generally her body, had served as a more than adequate vessel which she had used for many years to carry out the function of living.  She stroked her arm with gratitude.  The thought crossed her mind that this would be the last opportunity she would have to feel it.  It was this though which caused her to break down completely and cover both eyes with her hands, so small and fragile, but meticulous enough to gently wipe away the tears.

The giantess rose, a dreadful colossus of power and destruction.  Her shadow extended over Nami’s body, as she went still, her blood cold.  She could feel her heart each and every time it slowly pumped hemolymph throughout her body.  Awaiting her fate, Nami’s tried to remember life before she had been captured.

Ch. 1

            Nami rested her back against the wooden panel of the wall.  A rusty nail jutted out next to her with a line of cobwebs extending from its shaft to the floor below.  She was a tall, slender Calculus with long arms and well defined shoulders.  The lower portion of her face was slightly pointed, not grotesquely so, but enough to give her a look of sophistication.  Two sets of thin, wiry wings rested between her shoulder blades.  While she, like all other Calculi, could fly, Nami preferred to run, as her long legs were perfectly suited for such an exercise.  Two medium sized antennae stuck out from the top of her head, between the tangled mess which was her dirty blond hair, which hung by her shoulders shaggily.  However, it was directly at the center of her chest which was her most remarkable feature, a feature shared by all Calculi.  A large crease ran from the bottom of her neck to the base of her sternum, creating a gap which was only a few inches wide.  The gap was filled with a unique type of photoreceptive tissue which glowed, right now a dimly lit crimson color.  The Calculi called these creases “the light of the soul”, as the color represented in the crease could change in accordance with the current mood or situation of any particular Calculus.

  Her bread was stale and dirty, but she ate it anyway, as her stomach had been empty for quite a long time.  Thankfully the day had been rather eventless, as the giantess had been intently focused on the black device which sat on her desk.  She would periodically look at an object which rested next to the device, consisting of thousands of very thin segments, and then resume her work.  This process continued for some time; the giantess would flip through the thin segments, staring at their glossy appearing surface, and then look back up at her device, quickly moving her fingers along the bottom of it while staring at the bright square in front.  Nami could only imagine what she was doing, for the life of the giantess was much too complicated for her to understand completely.  From a darkened notch of their hideaway, which occupied the space between the walls of the giantess’s home, Xi appeared and slowly approached her friend.

“Hello Xi.”   

“Hello my good friend.  Why do you sit alone?” 

            The two of them spoke in the language of the Calculi.  This language, unlike that of the giantess, from the times when the people witnessed her speak, combined elements of both sound and the movement of air.  Words and interpretations were formed not only by the creation of a noise, but also by the emphasis of the air which was used to expel it from the mouth.  Such articulation led to the creation of a language which was so soft it was almost whispered, but one which flowed together like a river.  Nami’s bread was gone, and she tried to cease her rumbling stomach.

“I mustn’t stir, else my stomach will disagree.  I am happy you’ve joined me, though.”

“I see.  Here, take this.”  Xi handed Nami a dirty sack, made of the soft fabric which comprised the ground in many rooms of the home.  Inside was a small volume of sugar.

“Thank you, Xi, you are kind.  I wish the large one would retire for the night, or at least go somewhere else.  The sooner we can make our way to the pantry the sooner I can repay your generosity.”

“Do not concern yourself with me.  It is true she has spent a large part of the day inside.  I fear it may be a while before we are able to move.”  Xi was somewhat shorter than Nami, and when she took a seat next to her, her bare feet only reached Nami’s shins.  Xi’s hair was dark brown, dirty, and braided into four separate pieces.  Two of these braids fell by her shoulders, and the other two fell in front of them.  She did not physically appear as athletic as her friend, but Xi was as swift as the wind when she was airborne, evident by the tone of the muscles surrounding her wings.  She was currently emitting a lime green light, which illuminated the dusty floor in front of them.  “You needn’t worry about that, but I fear that you are not alone in your growing hunger.  The others grow weary, as well.”  Some lights glowed dimly in the distance.  Nami gently took her friends hand, and the two of them closed their eyes together.

            It had only seemed like a few minutes had passed before the two Calculi were startled awake.  A teal light radiated from the chest of another Calculus, Jericho, who was hovering over top, trying to quietly awaken them.  They both groggily came to.

“Come on you two, she’s left.  We need to move quickly before she returns.”

            Jericho was an experienced guardian Calculus, responsible for organizing and preparing his section of the colony for events such as the acquisition of food as well as other expeditions.  Underneath his faded tribal garments, a large scar ran down his right shoulder to the top of his left hip, the relic of a mistake he had made long ago.  The scar cut through part of his crease, so the teal light shone on Nami and Xi in two unequally sized rays.  “Let us move quickly and quietly.”

            The three of them proceeded together down a dank corridor of their hideaway toward one of the only entrances to it.  The large “softbox”, where the giantess would retire each night (when she was there), was pressed against two sides of the wall in the corner of her room.  Underneath of it is where the Calculi entered and exited their domain, which they called “Sanctuary”.  A small piece of wood was easily slipped out of a crevice, which the Calculi themselves had created, along the long, hand-crafted board which ran along the bottom of the wall.  When slipped into place, it perfectly concealed their home.  When removed, it provided them the means to quickly enter or leave.  The ground was soft, made of the same material which Xi had used to craft her sack.

            “Ok,” Jericho spoke swiftly, “the pantry is only two rooms away, and she left only a short time ago.  We will operate the same as we have before.  Xi, you and the other flyers will make your way to the top of the white tower and collect as much bread as you can.  Nami, you must remain below with Leigh to ensure that the large one does not return before the flyers can escape.  Inform us immediately if she does.”

            Many other members of the colony had also exited and were patiently awaiting instruction from their sect’s guardian Calculus.  Nami did not particularly enjoy retrieving food, as she was a “spotter”, and much of her time was spent alone in a separate room staring out the window to see if the giantess was returning.  It was a lonely, scary time because she was almost always separate from her fellow spotter, Leigh.  It was useful to be an efficient runner as a spotter, because if the giantess were to enter, you did not want to be seen flying into the pantry to warn the others.

            Nami did like Leigh, however, who was a quiet, extremely fast Calculus.  Not only was Leigh undoubtedly the fastest runner in Nami’s sect, but she may have been the fastest out of the entire colony, making her a perfect spotter.  Nami took her place next to her as the two set out for the adjoining room.

Ch. 2

            “How are you doing, Leigh,” Nami gently asked.

“Ok, I guess.”  Her chest was bright pink at the moment.  Leigh was exceptionally shy, and speaking to others usually made her feel uncomfortable.  However, because she and Nami had spotted together so many times, Leigh had started to loosen her guard around her, and could more easily respond when spoken to.  “I’m quite hungry though.”

“I am as well.  Let us hope that Xi and the others will be able to recover enough to feed us all tonight.”

Leigh didn’t respond, but simply nodded her head in quiet approval.  She had a slight smile on her face which conveyed a mixture of both satisfaction and anxiousness.  “We must part ways here.”

The two had reached the far end of the room, very close to the entrance.  On either side of the front door were two windows, where the spotters would sit and observe the outside world.  Leigh promptly took flight and headed toward the window on the left.  She landed on the windowsill and made herself comfortable.  Before Nami took off, she surveyed her surroundings.  This room, which was much larger than any other, seemed massive, at least from the perspective of the tiny Calculus.  She looked at the many enormous devices which occupied the space.  To Nami, these items were nothing more than cover from the large one’s wandering eyes.  To the giantess, however, they were used both as tools and as entertainment.  If she weren’t so scared of what might happen to her, Nami sometimes imagined herself sitting beside the giantess as she used them, so that she may gain a clearer understanding of their purpose.

A bright pink light from the distance, emitted by Leigh, already in position, signaled to Nami that she needed to get moving.  She took flight, quickly traversing the distance from the floor to the adjacent windowsill.  Once she was seated, Nami took another look down at the room.  It seemed as if she was inside of an enormous cavern with passageways leading to different underground compartments.  Directly below her was another piece of furniture, similar in texture to the softbox, but this one was in the shape of an L, and as far as the Calculi knew, the only thing the giantess ever used it for was relaxing.  Underneath her feet it looked like a giant plateau which extended out from the wall itself.

Some time went by as both spotters continued to gaze out the windows.  Leigh sat innocently with her legs crossed and her hands upon her knees.  Nami maintained a similar posture, however her elbows rested against her knees so that her hands could support the weight of her head.  It was one of those strange days where water fell from the sky.  Nami was grateful to be inside of the giantess’s home, for she would surely drown if she were outside.  Occasionally a mechanical beast would zoom by on the blackened track which seemed to be designed specifically for their use.  Such a wondrous sight only fueled Nami’s curiosity about the world outside of Sanctuary.

After the better part of an hour, Jericho appeared in the distance, flying toward the windowsill.  He approached Nami with a sense of accomplishment defining his visage.

“We have finished, it is time for us to go.”

“Ok, thank you for informing me, Jericho.  I will tell Leigh.”

Jericho nodded and took off in the opposite direction.  He flew uneasily throughout the musty, darkened landscape.  It was clear that he was growing old and could not maintain the speed and vitality of his youth.  He rounded the corner into the personal chambers of the giantess and out of sight.

As Nami made her way over to her Leigh, she once again took in the grand spectacle around her.  Though dimly lit, she could see many of the objects in the room quite clearly.  An enormous, wooden box with multiple levels rested against the opposite wall.  These levels held a vast assortment of various trinkets.  Particularly fascinating to the small Calculus were the tall glass frames which sat upright on the surface of each level.  They all possessed a window, of varying shapes, which seemed to have captured miniaturized versions of other giants and giantess’s which had been frozen in time.  Some even depicted the very girl that her colony tried so desperately to avoid.  She stared, wide eyed, at Nami mid-flight, and Nami stared back.

“Come now, Leigh, it is time for us to depart.”

“Ok, I’m ready to go home.”

The two Calculi made their way off of the windowsill to the ground below where they began walking back toward the entrance to Sanctuary.  Leigh quietly looked around, taking in the sights around her just as Nami had.

Nami broke the silence.  “It’s quite amazing, I think, that the large one knows how to put all of these devices to use.  Sometimes I imagine myself the same size as her, and that I could communicate my thoughts well.  That way I could ask her all about her confusing world.”

“Yes, it is truly fascinating.  I wonder myself how these objects serve her.”  As they walked by a smaller version of the softbox which was positioned under Nami’s windowsill, Leigh reached out her hand to touch it.  Nami stopped to survey the enormous structure in front of her.  From ground level, it was so large that it almost did not seem real, as though Nami was staring at it from a distance.  Her chest glowed dark violet as she took flight, gracefully landing on the plateau of its surface.  The purple light radiating from her body blended well with the red fabric which made up the structure.  In front of her was a large, rectangular object which was also made up of the soft fabric.  At each of its corners was a puff of cotton.  Nami sat down at the edge of the plateau and looked down at Leigh, who looked back up, her chest glowing bright yellow.  She smiled softly, but was quickly interrupted by a noise coming from the entrance of the home.  The giantess had returned.

Ch. 3

In an incredible stroke of bad luck, the giantess had returned at the exact moment that Nami and Leigh had begun making their way back to Sanctuary.  Ordinarily this would not be problematic, as the two of them could simply hide until the danger passed.  However, Nami was trapped on the large surface of the softbox.  She could not jump down because of the damage she would take in the fall, and she could not fly away without risking alerting the giantess to her presence.  Leigh, looking panicked below, quickly hid away in the space under the softbox.

Not knowing what else to do, Nami quickly took a position behind the soft rectangular structure which rested within the crease of the plateau.  It was difficult for her to maintain her balance as her feet continually slipped into the crevice of the structure.  She was, however, very well hidden and could furtively peer around her cover to observe the giantess.

Nami quickly became flooded with a feeling of terror embroidered in fascination.  The power possessed by the large one, she thought, in even one of those massive hands, was enough to annihilate her entire sect.  But there was something mystical about secretly watching this powerful creature, and Nami could feel herself overcome with phenomenal awe.

Before she had time to react, the giantess quickly turned around and made her way toward the softbox.  Curiosity gone, Nami darted her head back behind the softened structure and tried to bury her body as far into the crease as possible.  What happened next came as more of a shock than when the giantess had first entered.  Almost instantaneously, Nami was struck by an immeasurably powerful force, which caused a flash of light to appear before her eyes, and also knock the wind out of her.  Spatially, she could tell that there was a lot more pressure being exerted on her tiny body from every direction, and she figured that she must have slipped very deep into the crevice of the softbox.  One of her wings was stretched uncomfortably along the back surface of the structure, but she could do nothing to move it as she was stuck.

It was only a short while after that Nami heard the comforting voice of her friend, Leigh, desperately searching for her amongst the suffocating fabric.

“Nami!  Nami!  Where are you Nami?  Please answer me!”  As Leigh searched the crevice, she saw the extended wing of her fellow spotter.  Nami could just barely turn her head to make out Leigh’s horrified expression.

“Oh no.. oh no!  Just wait Nami, I will pull you out of there!” 

Leigh had grabbed one of Nami’s only free limbs, her arm, and pulled with surprising force, jutting the helpless Calculus out of her darkened, fabric tomb. 

“What happened, Leigh?”  It was clear that Nami was still mildly disoriented.

“Oh my… oh my goodness I am so happy you are not hurt!  I thought that you had been crushed when the large one threw her handbag on the softbox.”  Leigh’s chest burned a fierce pink color which illuminated the entire alcove.  “Are you ok?  Are you ok?”  Leigh spoke frantically, obviously still frazzled by the entire situation.

“Yes, thank you so much, Leigh, for coming for me.  I’m just a little shaky, but I think I can make it back.”

“Of course, I would never leave you out here, alone, Nami.  I just don’t know what I would have done if you had been badly hurt..”  There was pain in Leigh’s voice as her chest burned even more brightly.

The Calculi did not have long to savor each other’s company, as the giantess had re-entered the room, speaking loudly to an unidentified person.  As her voice grew closer and closer, it became apparent to both Leigh and Nami that she was again approaching their hiding place.  Leigh, still holding Nami’s arm from when she pulled her out of the crevice, yanked her closer, and Nami crossed her other arm over, hugging one of Leigh’s shoulders.  The two of them huddled together, waiting in terror for the giantess to depart.

She stopped just in front of the softbox and began rummaging through her handbag.  At each and every violent sift through her leather-bound sack, the giantess applied pressure to the only object between her vision and the frightened Calculi, sending mild undulations through the fabric which only added to their mental anguish.  When she was finally satisfied, the giantess departed for another room.

“We should leave, we cannot stay here,” said Nami with a viciously serious tone in her voice.  Leigh reluctantly let go of her grasp and began to pull on her own antennae as she nervously followed Nami out from behind their cover.  The two of them quickly flittered to the floor and began sprinting toward the entrance to Sanctuary.  It was in the adjoining room, so they had quite a distance to run.

Leigh was clearly faster than Nami, but she ensured that she did not pull too far ahead of her friend.  The two of them were able to stay out of sight until reaching the giantess’s quarters.  They promptly took cover behind a large tower while they caught their breath.  The giantess was seated at a large table.  She was interacting with the same device she had hours before, but in her right hand was a smaller rectangular device which she pressed against her head and spoke into.  The Calculi figured that she was using it to communicate to other members of her species.

“What do we do?”  Leigh was panicked and not thinking clearly.  It was obvious that she had the intention of remaining behind, while using the tower for cover, until the giantess left the room.

“We cannot stay here, Leigh; this is no place to hide.  We must make it back to Sanctuary.”

“I cannot, my legs are trapped in position.  My fear has gotten the best of me.  Please just go and let me stay.”

Nami gently took Leigh’s face in her hands.  “My friend, I will be right with you.  Together we are stronger than when alone.  Let us combine our speed and make it back home to safety.”

Leigh’s cloverleaf pupils met the ground as she physically prepared herself to run.  Clearly she didn’t want to, but, honestly, she did not want to separate either.  The softbox, underneath of which was the entrance to their salvation, was on the other side of the room, and between the tower and it was absolutely nothing but open space.  Luckily, the giantess, as she sat, was facing the opposite direction, so unless she arose and turned around, the two Calculi had a fairly good chance of making it across unnoticed. 

“Ok, get ready.”  Nami’s hands gradually slipped from Leigh’s cheeks down her arms as she prepared herself for the trek across the room as well.  Without warning, Nami sped off, with Leigh following close behind.  It was a very frightening experience.  Both Calculi were very exposed and would surely be discovered if the giantess were to shift her gaze even for a moment.  Even though they measured only about two inches in height, the Calculi had a naturally lighter skin pigment than did the giantess.  The musty cream color of their skin stood out quite well against the crimson background of the floor below, and could therefore easily give away their position.

As she ran, Nami stared at the giantess, (Leigh kept from traumatizing herself by keeping her eyes straight forward).  What an incredible creature, so large, so powerful.  She had removed the garments which protected her feet, and only the silky smooth epidermis now protected them from the ground below.  The giantess rubbed one foot over the other, perhaps scratching it or just providing a comforting self-connection.  Those feet were massive powerhouses, and again Nami was struck with awe as to just how fragile she actually was in comparison with the domineering titan.  The slightest amount of force applied by one of those appendages could be more than enough to wipe any trace of Nami’s existence off the planet.  This thought was quite unnerving.

Nami and Leigh both made it safely under the softbox, where their entire sect and many other members of the colony were anxiously waiting.  Upon their arrival they were greeted by a magnificent aurora of color as the members of their sect quietly rejoiced.  Jericho had been pacing back and forth with one hand over his forehead, emitting a blood red hue from his body.  Once he saw that they had returned, he immediately marched in their direction.  The stragglers simply waited as he came just within reach of them.  Jericho gave them both a stern look, and then promptly embraced them both.

Ch. 4

            “For the love of Mariah and Isabella, what were you two doing out there all this time?!”

            Their reprimand was inevitable.  Leigh guiltily looked at the ground, but Nami knew that Jericho was speaking more out of a father-like concern rather than any real desire to berate the two of them.  She knew that throughout the years his watchful eye had kept all the members of her sect alive and fed, and that his judgment as guardian Calculus was always in their best interest.

            “Apologies, Jericho, for we were in error by staying out in the open,” Nami responded.

            “The two of you could have been killed, or worse.  If I instruct you to return to Sanctuary, you will heed me, do you understand Nami?”

            Nami shook her head yes.

            “Leigh?”

            She was still looking down.  She quickly shook her head, similar to how a child would after being yelled at.

            Jericho began to lower his guard.  He approached Leigh and reassuringly put his hand on her head.  “Look, you two just scared me, that’s all.  You scared everyone here.  You must be careful when not at home, because you never know just what the large one is going to do.”  He took his hand off of her head.  “Let us return home.  You both look hungry.”  With that he turned towards the entrance in the wall.

            Almost immediately after Jericho had left, Xi came running from the crowd of Calculi, most of which were now heading back into Sanctuary.  Her chest was lavender, and in the darkness created by the shadow of the softbox, it was almost the only feature Nami could make out.  Xi almost jumped on her as she took Nami in her arms.  Nami returned the hug and the two Calculi squeezed each other in harmonious affection.  Xi let Nami go and then pounced on Leigh, who was clearly unprepared for it.  She stiffened up, looking very unsure of what to do.  Nami just laughed as Xi let her go.

            “I am SO happy to see you two alive and in one piece.  HA!  I can believe it though since it would be you two lunatics who would try to take on the large one all by yourselves!”

            Leigh looked around anxiously and quickly responded, “thank you, Xi, it is good to see you as well.”  With that she hastily shuffled back into the wall, comically pulling both antennae to either side of her head.

            “What were you doing out there, Nami?  You really could have died.”   Xi was now presenting herself with a more serious disposition.

            “I’m sorry, my friend, I never meant to worry you.  I just wanted to observe the large one’s domain for a bit, to examine her way of life.  Sometimes I am just very enamored by the thought of it.”

            “I am, of course, elated you are fine.  But you must not do things like that on your own.  Separating yourself from the colony can be suicide, unless you have much wisdom like Jericho.  But come, dinner waits, and our seats grow cold.”

            Unlike other activities, which each sect usually performed independently, the colony always had dinner together.  It was not difficult, because the colony numbered only about 200 members, and Sanctuary was more than large enough to accommodate them all.  Each sect numbered around ten members, so the entire colony contained 20 sects.  The members of each sect were assigned specific duties both in and out of Sanctuary.  The guardian Calculus was in charge of directing all members of his sect, providing instructions on just about every major event that took place.  Flyers such as Xi retrieved all of the materials needed for survival while the spotters kept watch.  Inside Sanctuary, Calculi were designated cooks, cleaners, medics, and any other position deemed necessary.  They were assigned each position based on skill, but so long as each performed his duty to the best of his ability, all were entitled to the splendors of the colony. 

            The oldest members of the colony were organized into a separate sect known as the Concilium Ultim, or the Final Council.  This council never numbered more than five members, and it was constructed from those members of the colony who had the most experience outside of Sanctuary, and who could no longer physically make the perilous sojourn outside for supplies.  Their role was purely administrative, but that is not to say that the colony required any lawful jurisdiction.  There was never any dispute between the Calculi, and the Concilium Ultim usually served as nothing more than an advisory council that the guardian Calculi could turn to.

            Having dinner together usually allowed the Calculi to talk, eat, drink, and be jovial.  Exploits were shared, and members of each sect were given the opportunity to intermingle.  Before it began, Thelonius Maximus, head of the Concilium Ultim, would usually give a motivating speech.

            “Brothers and sisters, and dear friends of mine, welcome!  Let us now dine together, so that our unity as a colony may bring us happiness in these unsettling times.  Let us give special thanks to those of you who have, once again, risked so much to bring us this plentiful bounty!  I am in your debt.”  With that, he took his seat.  Outside the distant rumble of the giantess’s footsteps could be heard, creating a bittersweet atmosphere.

            Nami and Xi took their seats.  A very long plank of wood used to support some other part of the house was flipped on its side and used as the table, supported in various areas by the nails which stuck from its surface.  A variety of trinkets, acquired over years of scavenging, served as chairs, plates, bowls, and just about everything else the Calculi might need to enjoy their meal.  Nami was seated on an old thimble, while Xi rested on a spool of string.  The two of them had to eat with their hands as there were not enough utensils for everyone.  The ground around them was dirty and cold.

            Despite these inveterately drab surroundings, dinner time was an exciting time for the colony.  Worker Calculi buzzed here and there brining others who were eating water and other delicacies.  Those Calculi would then, in turn, toss a treat back up to their server.  Only about half of the table was actually seated, as many Calculi moved around, forming large groups as they talked amongst one another.  Thelonius took most of it in at the head of the table; periodically a guardian Calculus would approach him for discourse. 

            Nami and Xi began to feast on what was some dried bread, water, and salty lunchmeat, which had been acquired from a cylindrical receptacle outside of the white tower.  Two children ran by behind Xi, almost knocking her off of the spool.

            “A toast, Nami, to our longevity and our good fortune!”

            Xi raised her “cup”, a hollowed out piece of wood, and clanked it against her friends.  “For it is always fortuitous when we are together.”

            Nami smiled and then looked around the dining room.  She was pleased by the good spirit that togetherness brought her colony.  Before she could resume her dinner, someone had tapped her on her shoulder from behind.  This startled Nami, and she quickly peered toward the source of the disturbance, only to be greeted by the withered, smiling face of Thelonius.

            “Nami, I should speak with you alone, my dear.”

Ch. 5

            Thelonius’s chambers were warm, and Nami felt a sense of regality upon entering them.  A large cardboard box originally used to hold wooden torches was filled with cotton, serving as a mattress, and actually looked very comfortable.   A wooden support ran across the wall to the left of his bed, on which similar, smaller wooden planks had been perpendicularly attached, serving as a place for Thelonius to put his valuables.  Another, smaller torch box was positioned in the corner, and held his garments.  Above his bed hung a thin strip of metal attached to a wooden handle, which appeared to be hand crafted.  The metal was of the same variety that the giantess used to cut hair from her legs when cleaning herself. 

            “How do you feel, my dear?”  Thelonius spoke softly.

            “I feel good sir, thank you.  Are you doing well?”

            “I cannot complain, my young Calculus, but I fear that my old age is beginning to get the best of me.”  He chuckled, “as if these old bones were returning to the earth itself.”  Nami smiled at him as he continued.  “I understand that you took it upon yourself to go sightseeing alone this afternoon.  Is this correct?”

            There was a faint trace of authority in his voice, but Thelonius easily smiled as he asked, comforting Nami in her response.  “Yes sir, I apologize.”

            Thelonius slowly shuffled across the room, dragging his feet more than actually picking them up.  He glanced at an amulet on his shelf before returning his thoughtful eyes back on Nami.

            “Oh my darling how innocent you truly are.  Do not mistake me for a hobbling old man, for my eyes are keener than they may appear.  I see the wonder in your eyes as you gaze at the magnificence of the world around you.  I can sense your lust for adventure; it cannot be quelled.  Your curiosity is inspiring, young one,” he said, quietly giggling to himself.

            “Thank you, sir.”

            “Oh yes, yes Nami I do see a great deal of potential in you, but you mustn’t forget your foundation.  That which makes you strongest should not be so easily overlooked.  I say, have I ever told you the legend of how Sanctuary came to be, and how our race was born out of such an ambitious man?  He was quite like yourself, I do believe.”

            “Um, I do belie..”  Nami began to speak, but was abruptly cut off.

            “Oh yes it is a wonderful story.  Tell me, have you heard of Vilitrus Vesaro, founder of Sanctuary?  It is said that his discovery of this place was fueled by his love of exploration, and the same curiosity which ignites your soul, young one.  After many a night of wandering the outside, and I do mean outside of this HOUSE, not our concave within, he managed to enter this place and take refuge, escaping the bitter cold of the air outside.  The house was abandoned, and Vilitrus could not see in front of his own face.  This scared him, because he was alone and did not know where to go next.  It is said that, in his loneliness, Vilitrus was visited by the spirits of Mariah and Isabella, the mothers of the Calculi race, who together represent the soul and the light.  They took compassion on poor Vilitrus and joined hands, becoming a singular unified beacon of energy.  They swiftly entered his chest and formed his crease, providing him with the light he needed to guide him on his way.  It is said that Vilitrus, on his way to where Sanctuary now resides, met another Calculus, a female also lost in her journey.  Vilitrus took her head in his hands and raised her off of the ground.  In their connection, the light of Vilitrus’s soul began wrapping around her, as he himself wrapped his arms around her, providing her with the same guiding light as he.  Together the two of them founded our home.”

            Nami listened intently the entire time, absorbing every word with great reverence for Thelonius’s wisdom and character.

            “Oh my, but I believe that I’ve told you all this sometime before. Ha ha!  Forgive an old man his poor memory.”

            “It is alright, sir, you tell the story very well, and will always have my ear.”

            “Above my bed, Nami, is Vilitrus’s sword, admittedly a crude instrument, but forged through the labor of a unified people.  Do you understand?  Your loveliness must not give way to carelessness, Nami, for it is this unity which built our civilization from the ground, out of nothing.”

            “Yes sir, I do, and I apologize.  I, of course, value the connection between myself and all of our people.”

            “I do believe that in your words there is honesty, Nami, but you do not yet fully understand just how important the bonds which hold us all together are.  Without them, we are nothing.”  Thelonius looked toward his shelves, smiling contentedly to himself.  “I have kept you long enough, dear, for you must still be famished.  Please, return to your friends.”

            Nami bowed to Thelonius before leaving his room to rejoin Xi at the dinner table.  As she left Thelonius watched her with curious look on his face.  When she was gone he glanced at the sword hanging above his bed, and then, satisfied, rejoined the Concilium.

Ch. 6

            The giantess gloomed at Nami, who was still shivering under her massive shadow.  Arms at her sides, the giantess took one hand and put it on the smooth, tan skin of her face.  She seemed to be considering what to do next.  Her black hair hung by her shoulders, straight and pretty, gleaming under the artificial light provided from the sky above.  She raised her massive barefoot over the wounded creature, ready to deliver the final blow.

            Nami squeezed her eyes shut and tensed every muscle in her body.  She felt sick, as though she had eaten something rotten.  It was the feeling which accompanied her inevitable death, a disgusting pathogen which slowly destroyed her soul.  Through her gritted teeth Nami made the faintest sounds, not speech, just murmurs which were a result of her fearful anticipation. 

A wall of warm, sticky flesh enveloped her tiny body almost immediately.  Nami was positioned right at the center of the giantess’s sole, in the softest part of its crevice.  She could not move her head, as the giantess’s foot held her securely in place.  She did not apply enough pressure to squash Nami, but she was bearing down enough weight to severely smother her.  In the darkness, Nami could not even see her chest glowing, for her eyes were surrounded by the leviathan’s skin.  Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of her current situation was the inebriating aroma, which seemed to penetrate the vacuum she was trapped in.  The giantess wore footgear often, so unlike the Calculi, who usually walked barefoot, her scent was foreign and powerful.  It seemed to sting the back of Nami’s eyes, as now they were watering not only because she was crying, but also because of the odor.

Nami was made to suffer in this suffocating atmosphere for only a few seconds before the leviathan retracted her foot.  It seemed much longer to Nami, however, who desperately filled her lungs with fresh air as soon as she could.  The giantess looked down again with the same countenance of decision on her face as before.

“Why do you torment me!”  Nami cried out from below.  The giantess ignored her as she turned to pick something up from the table next to her.  Nami briefly sat up and began to scootch backward on her butt.  She stared upward, filled with all the terrible emotions she had experienced before.  The floor was cold and uninviting.

After only a second the giantess returned her view to Nami, a glass cup in her left hand.  She extended her free arm toward the helpless insect with her other hand wide open.  Nami outstretched her arms in a futile attempt to prevent the leviathan from grabbing her.  She had to admit, as those soft, fleshy pads wrapped around her broken body, the warmth they conveyed was a pleasing substitute to the coldness of the floor, now quickly shrinking away as she was lifted into the air. 

The relief was only temporary, however, as Nami quickly found herself being thrown into the glass.  The giantess was not particularly delicate about it, as Nami slammed her head against its surface upon entering, causing her to bleed from her nose.  Nami used one hand to gently tend her damaged face, which was somewhat numb because of the impact, and one hand to maintain her balance as the giantess tromped into her washroom.

The two of them reached what the Calculi called the “white waterfall”, aptly named because of the giantess’s ability to harness water from its spout anytime she pleased.  Such luxury briefly fueled a jealousy in Nami’s heart, who could only dream of having such easy access to the life-sustaining liquid. 

Nami, sitting at the bottom of the glass, looked up as the giantess positioned the opening of the glass under the spout.  ‘Oh no..’ she miserably thought as she shielded her head with her arms from the shower she was about to receive.  Then it hit her.  The steady stream of water lasted only a second, until it was up to her waist as she sat.  It was icy, and everywhere, and immediately caused Nami to begin shivering, this time not from fear.

The leviathan viciously said something to Nami in her language, and then dropped in a small, pale green brick.  It splashed Nami as it dropped into the water, and then began dissolving.  Nami, of course, didn’t know what the giantess had said to her.  However, throughout her captivity she had been exposed to certain situations enough to know how she was expected to behave.  As much as she detested the authoritarian rule of her master, she feared much worse what she could do to her, and so Nami obeyed as best as she could.

The green substance emitted a wonderful scent, reminding Nami of the way the giantess’s garments smelled after being washed.  She did not know what the giantess called the substance, but she did know that she was supposed to use it to wash herself.  By now the blood from Nami’s face had diluted in the water below.

As she began to apply the sweet scented brick of washing material to her skin, the giantess turned toward the door, leaving the glass sitting atop the white waterfall.

Nami jumped to her feet and called out to her.  “Wait, please, do not leave me here!  Come back, please, PLEASE!!”

The giantess did not respond, but rather nonchalantly switched off the light coming from the sky and closed the door behind her, leaving Nami in the darkness with only her own hazel emission to keep her company.

She yelled out and slapped the water with her hands in agonizing frustration.  Nami could already begin to feel the tremors returning as her body temperature chilled further and further.  She scooted her back against the side of the glass, which was moderately warmer than the water below, and curled her knees as high out of the torturous puddle as possible.  She was beginning to lose control of her muscles.  Spouts of urine escaped from her as she no longer had the strength to hold it in. 

As she sat in that repugnant sump, containing dissolved bits of the washing brick as well as her urine and blood, Nami hit the back of her head off the side of the glass in anger.  Why such lamentable circumstances had fallen into her lap was beyond her understanding.  What had she done to deserve such treatment?  Nami didn’t know, but did not particularly feel like thinking about it.  She once again cradled her sore head in her arms, but did not cry, for she had dried herself of tears.  She comforted herself by remembering her sect, but was soon struck by despair as she remembered the merry time which should have been the festival of light.

Ch. 7

            The cold months were approaching, and the giantess was more active than she usually was.  Such was her tradition; every year, around the middle of the cold season, the giantess would depart from her home for several days, leaving the Calculi free to roam and celebrate in relative safety.  Ironically, she would also decorate the inside of her domain with an impressive array of multi-colored lights during this time, which drooped from her ceilings in a spectacular display.  The occupants of the other houses outside also seemed to engage in the festivities, making men out of the white powder on the ground, placing plastic replicas of other animals in their yards (many of which the Calculi had never seen), and illuminating their homes with magical looking decorations.

The Calculi particularly enjoyed watching the giantess during this time, as her mood seemed higher than during the other times of the year.  The colony buzzed as she swept a green wire, off of which hundreds of colorful beacons protruded and shone, across the top of her door.  Many of the Calculi would try to match the light radiating from their chests to those of the lights on the wall.  This beautiful display of color took hold of their imagination.  Not knowing what their purpose was, the Calculi took to calling this holiday “The Festival of Light”.

The colony was also busy during this time of the year.  During her absence, the giantess usually left a fairly large amount of supplies behind, which the Calculi happily took, in order to engage in their own celebrations.  To the Calculi, the Festival of Light was the time to celebrate not only unity, but connection, specifically the connection between light and soul.  Their traditions could be traced back to the days of Vilitrus, but had certainly evolved since then.  Typically, two Calculi would choose one another in order to carry out an old ritual.  On the second night of the giantess’s departure, both individuals would find a quiet, private location in the house and join hands, representative of the way Mariah and Isabella had.  Through this action, they were glorifying the unification of light and soul, signifying that the two had become one.  They would then spend the rest of the night together, alone, to relish each other’s company.  It was a wondrous ceremony which was caressed by love’s comforting touch.

Nami and Xi walked together through the halls of Sanctuary.  The colony flourished with activity as every sect began preparing for the festival.  Various precious metals and reflective mirrors were strewn across the walls.  The dining room table was a great menagerie of food, flowers, clothing, and generally anything else the Calculi needed to prepare themselves.

Next to the table were a series of metal tubes which spanned the distance of the ceiling.  Sanctuary had interesting architecture because, unlike the rooms which the giantess inhabited, the region above the ceiling actually provided much more space for the Calculi to live.  The narrow spaces between the walls of the house usually only served as a conduit for movement to other regions in the ceiling.  These metal tubes ran up the wall in this narrow space, past the table the colony dined at, and down another narrow passageway which bordered the washroom.  It was from these tubes which the Calculi obtained their supply of water, albeit slowly.  Small leaks in the metal surface, which they had intentionally damaged, slowly oozed water out into a region of the floor which had been hollowed out into a stone basin, allowing the Calculi to retrieve water when needed.  Nami filled a cup she carried with her and drank.

“Have you been outside, Xi?”

“Not for very long.  I saw the large one eating earlier in the pantry, but that was a while ago.”

“No, that is not what I meant.  I mean have you been on the outside, outside of this house.  It occurred to me that I never have.”

“You are surely joking now, Nami.  Why would I want to go out there, in that bitter cold abyss?”

“Do you not grow tired of the stale air of this house, Xi?  Outside of this place, I imagine, is a world beyond our understanding, but one which offers hope and new beginnings.  I believe that as the fresh light from the sky above hit our faces, we would be rejuvenated.  If I could, I would bring my partner outside for the festival, if only for a short while, before the cold became too much.”

“Ha ha, and how would you expect to get out, or back in for that matter?  Once we got a hold of you we would have to thaw your body out in the warming vents!”  Xi laughed kindly.

“Maybe.”

“Who do you plan on asking to perform the ritual with you, Nami?”

“I haven’t decided, but I feel like that boy from Sinderion’s sect likes me.  I’m actually quite flattered.”  Nami coyly smiled as she looked at the ground.  “What about you?”

The two of them continued talking as they rounded a corner.  Leigh was sitting by herself fussing with a torn piece of parchment.  Upon closer examination Nami and Xi could see that she was actually drawing a picture on it using a piece of graphite, which she most likely obtained from one of the giantess’s writing sticks. 

“Hello, Leigh.  What are you doing?” Nami spoke first.

Leigh, startled, quickly tucked the parchment away in her faded drabs and looked at the two of them.  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Oh, hi, hello, Nami, Xi!”

Xi pressed on, “Hey Leigh, what have you got there?”

“Nothing!  It is nothing..  I, just, uh… how have you been?”  Xi could tell Leigh was growing more and more flustered, so she changed the subject.

“We have been well, just walking the halls, talking about the upcoming Festival of Light.”

“Have you chosen a partner for the festival yet, Leigh?”  Nami inquired.

“Me?  Oh, well, no, I mean, I don’t think I’m going to participate this year.  That is, I have some other matters that require my attention, and, um..”

“Other matters, Leigh,”  Xi cut in, “Just like every other year?  Honestly, I do not believe I have ever seen you with someone during one of these events.  Why is that?”  Xi moved closer toward Leigh, like a detective pondering the validity of a witness’s statement.

Leigh scooted away from her, further back on the small door that the large one used to seal her bottled drinks which served as her chair.  She pulled one antennae down as she responded, “Now I have indeed been with someone!  That is to say I will be this year, uh, I mean, I don’t know.  I suppose I am just too busy, but, I..”  Leigh was amusing both Xi and Nami as they continued to playfully poke at her shyness.

Xi continued, “I believe, Leigh, that you are simply too afraid to approach someone and that you shy away when approached.  Why is that?  Nobody here holds any ill will towards you.”

“I, uh..”

“Xi, go easy on our poor Leigh, for she has done you no ill either.”

“That is true, but I don’t mean to attack you, my friend.  It saddens me, though, that you again choose to spend the festival alone.”

“I am fine, truly, please do not concern yourselves with my shortcomings.”  Leigh was looking around sheepishly, as she seemed to be searching for any excuse to end the conversation.

“What about Aieté?  Have you asked him to be with you?”

Leigh jumped a bit in her chair as she heard his name.  Aieté was an energetic young flyer in Nami’s sect who was known for his enthusiastic personality.  He was a handsome Calculus, with broad shoulders and a masculine complexion which did not sacrifice his youthful demeanor.  He was known for having conversation with as many members of the colony as he could in a given day, a characteristic which complimented his naturally helpful personality.  Socially, he was the exact opposite of Leigh, who shied away from any and all social situations she was presented with.  That isn’t to say that Leigh was not a helpful individual.  If you could actually manage to secure a conversation with her, she was perhaps one of the sweetest Calculi in the colony.  She simply suffered from severe social anxiety, choosing to spend her time alone drawing rather than interacting with the others.

Nami gently continued the discourse, “I see the way you look at him, Leigh…  its actually very cute!  You watch him desperately from the corners, but don’t dare approach.  Why is it?  Is it because you feel that he is too good for you?”

“No!  Of course not!  I mean, yes he is wonderful and attractive, but I mean, no!  I don’t stare at him or anything, I just, watch things happen sometimes…”  Leigh was now pulling both antennae even harder down the sides of her head as she seemed to physically curl herself into as much of a ball as possible while still looking at the two of them.

Xi sat next to Leigh, causing her to become even more uncomfortable.  She took off a pendant which hung around her neck by a piece of string.

“Here, Leigh, I want you to have my necklace.  It helps bring out those pretty eyes of yours.  Please ask him, and wear this when you do.  He would be crazy to deny.”

Leigh uncoiled a bit, and slightly opened her eyes to look at Xi.  Xi placed the necklace on her lap and then stood up.  Nami spoke to her again.

“You better have a wonderful story for us after tomorrow night Leigh, I mean it!”  The remark was again, lighthearted.  Nami and Xi then walked off.

“Thank you, Xi.”  Leigh quietly said as they walked away, a slight quiver in her voice.  She took the necklace in her hand.  It was simple, like much of what the Calculi owned, consisting of a piece of polished red glass which had had a hole drilled through the top, allowing a thin piece of plastic wire to pass through and be tied at the back.  Leigh looked at it for a moment, and then covered her eyes with her hands.

Later in the night, after the giantess had gone off to bed, most of the Calculi were making way to their bunks as well.  Aieté sat in the area outside of his room and conversed with some other Calculi as they ate some bread and drank.  At the far end of the hall, Leigh, donning her new piece of jewelry, stood in the shadows and watched him.  Their conversation seemingly over, the other Calculi walked off as Aieté sat alone, finishing his water.  He looked at the wall in front of him, appearing to be in deep thought.  Leigh, with those long, athletic legs perfectly suited for running, slowly made her way towards him.  The closer she got, however, the more she began to tremble.  Aieté, believing he had heard something, turned his head, but by that time, she had already vanished.

Ch 8

            It was the day of the festival, and happiness seemed to flood the halls.  Groups of female Calculi could be seen giggling together as they scanned potential partners.  Even the few children that inhabited Sanctuary had their own role to play in the ritual, decorating the walls with all manner of ornaments that they could find lying around the giantess’s home.  Some Calculi who had already chosen partners had made their way to the spot of the house where they wished to conduct the ritual so that they could fix it up the way they pleased.

            Nami had been asked out by a boy named Mali, who was a flyer for another sect run by a man named Sinderion.  She walked alone in anticipation, as Mali had already made his way to their warm little nook in the house.  As it turns out, Nami was not in fact going to perform the ritual outside, but had instead chosen a spot in the large room where she spotted, on a shelf very close to the ceiling.  On that shelf were many of the windowed structures she was so fond of looking at, as well as a variety of bowls and dishes the giantess stored her belongings in.  However, the middle of this shelf was elucidated by an enormous band of leaves which had wonderful looking white lights weaved throughout its porous surface.  The giantess only ever put this on her shelf during the cold season, and Nami thought that it would be more than exceptional if the two of them spent their night behind its radiant shine.

            Xi was making her own preparations, so Nami walked alone in thought.  She passed by Thelonius without even taking notice to his presence.

            “Why hello there, my dear!  Thinking about tonight, I presume?”

            “Oh, hello sir!  I did not see you walk by.  Yes, I am actually quite excited.  The Festival of Lights is my favorite time of the year, but I suppose that it is how it is for everyone.”

            “Have you found yourself a suitable partner?  I cannot imagine that someone as lovely as you would have any problems with that.”

            Nami giggled, “Yes, I have, thank you sir.  I am going with Mali, from Sinderion’s sect.”

            “Ah yes, young master Mali, a fine companion.  His strength and naturally independent character will perfectly complement your attributes.”

            “What about you, sir?  Are you going to take somebody from the Concilium?”

            He chuckled at the thought, “Me?  Oh Mariah no, lass, for I have enjoyed many festivals.  My place is here, within the walls of Sanctuary, my home.  Do not fret, however, as I will be able to feel the energy as it swiftly takes hold of your souls.  That is enough to make me happy.”

            Nami smiled as she listened, but still couldn’t help but feel a little bad.  She quickly gave Thelonius an affectionate hug.  “Ok, sir, I understand.”

            Thelonius returned the gesture, gently patting the back of her head.  “Nami, I want you to do something for me.”

            “What is it?”

            “I want you to see your friends today, before the ritual.  Spend time with them, share yourself and let them share with you.  While the ritual may only be carried out with one other person, you certainly do not have to alienate yourself during the whole of festival.  Allow your positive energy to flow through yourself and through your friends, so that they may be that much happier when their moment finally arrives.  You can never be sure what the future holds.”

            “I will sir, I promise you.”  With these parting words, Thelonius continued about his business, carelessly looking around at all the decorations, as though he didn’t have a care in the world.  Nami laughed as she shook her head, and then proceeded to the dinner table.

            Meanwhile, in the personal quarters of Sanctuary, Aieté spoke with his friends.

            “But surely there must be someone else, Aieté!  Come on now, the ceremony is tonight and you still don’t have a partner!”

            “I realize this brother, but my heart is set and will not allow me to follow a different path.”

            “You cannot still be referring to the quiet girl!  I do not even know her name, for she makes herself invisible to just about everybody here.”

            “Yes, you are correct.  I feel, however, that she never speaks because she is never spoken to, thus your judgment is misplaced.  Besides, there is something enchanting about those eyes.”  He looked out in the distance in fantasy.

            “Your choices are yours to make alone, my friend.  I just pray that you do not wind up spending festival in isolation because you insisted on pursuing a fool’s errand.”

            “Thank you, brother, your opinion has been noted.”

            With that, his comrades took off, leaving Aieté to ponder his next move.  He always was a strong willed Calculus, and such words would not deter him in achieving his goal. 

            Leigh sat in her room, melancholy in expression while continuing to draw on her parchment.  She sat on a flattened rock and used a thick piece of metal (the same kind that stuck to the vertical side of the white tower, a phenomenon which baffled the Calculi) as a table.  She did not even hear Aieté as he entered.

            “Leigh?” He asked softly.

            She quickly turned around to be greeted by his nervous looking eyes. 

            “Oh, oh my…  H.. hi there.”

            Aieté closed the curtain which covered the entrance to her room, giving them some privacy.  “Hi, Leigh, how are you?”

            Not wanting to be rude, she fully turned around on her chair so she was facing him.  “Um, ok.  You?” She said each word quickly and anxiously.

            “I’m fine, I suppose.  I have been wanting to speak with, you, actually.”

            “Me?  What, uh, is there something you need?”

            Aieté found himself staring right into her eyes.  He had a bewildered sort of expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe someone could possess such a flawless feature.

            “Yea, um, actually yes.   The festival is tonight, and, uh, I don’t yet have a partner.”

            Leigh could feel her stomach drop a couple inches inside her abdomen.  The problem is, this time she had nowhere to run.  “Uh, yea?”  Her words were dangerously shaky, like she was riding a train.

            “Would you (he darted his eyes to the ground for a second) like to come with me, to the festival?” He rushed the last words out, “and perform the ritual, WE, we can perform the ritual together?”

            It was an endearing sight, the social butterfly of the community stumbling over his own words as he tried to talk to the social recluse.  Leigh stood up and briefly put her finger in her mouth to chew some of the nail off.

            “Um, uh..”  She was trembling uncontrollably.

            “I mean, it ok if you don’t want to..”

            “NO!  No, I mean, um, yea Ithinkitwouldbefun!”  Her last words were even more rushed than Aieté’s.  And it was done.  Leigh almost immediately regretted her decision, but it had been said.  She said it without thinking about it, but she had just committed herself, and there was no backing out now.  She pulled both her antennae hard.

            “Ha, great, that’s great!  I mean, yea, that fantastic!  You don’t have to worry about anything, I mean, I already have everything planned out.  If you can just meet me at the dinner table, we can set off together.  Yea, this is going to be so great, ha, I can’t wait actually!”  Leigh could tell that he was growing more and more excited with every word.

            “Yea (she gulped), fun!”

            “No I promise you, Leigh, you’ll be happy you came out tonight, I promise!  Oh this is going to be amazing!  I’ll see you later on, later tonight, that is.”  He was staring into her eyes again.  “Oh, and Leigh…”

            “Yea?”

            “That necklace looks very nice on you.”  Aieté cautiously moved forward, pecked her on the cheek, and hustled out of the room, leaving Leigh in disbelief.

Ch.9

            Dirty water and old, salty tuna fish.  That’s what Nami had to eat that day.  The water was warm, as it had been sitting in the basin for quite some time before she retrieved it.  The tuna was also warm, and it stunk, indicating that it might be somewhat sour.  As she sat in her glass, freezing to death amongst that horrid concubine of unwanted bodily waste, pressing itself against her as if it were trying to force its way inside, Nami tried to think hard.  What could she have done differently, on a day which was filled with so much joy and hope?

            As she happily nibbled on her old lunch just hours before the festival was set to begin, she saw Leigh strolling in from the darkness, a magnificent golden glow accompanying her as she moved.  It was a strange sight, her obvious confidence, her steadfast resolution… Nami wasn’t sure she was looking at the same girl she knew and loved.

            “Hi Leigh, what are you so excited about?”

            “Nami, Nami Nami!  I’m so excited!  So terribly frightened but excited!”

            “Ha, ha, what are you talking abo…  wait.  You asked him didn’t you?  You asked Aieté to join you in festival?!”

            “Well, no, not exactly.  Even better than that… he asked ME to go with HIM!  I cannot believe it..  and, and I actually said ok.  I’m either really lucky or very foolish!”

            “That’s my Leigh!  I so very much wanted you to find a partner this year, and you have.  But not only have you found a partner, it is Aieté!  And I know you are excited to spend the night with him!”  Nami gave her a sly smile as she said that last part.

            “Yes, yes, I am, but I mean, no I’m not, I mean, oh dear Nami!  What have I gotten myself into?”

            “What you have gotten yourself into, Leigh, is a romantic night with your dream, that’s what!”

            “Nami, I cannot do this, this is not me!  I, I should not have agreed to go.  Oh, what am I going to do?”

            “What do you mean this is not you?  What is ‘you’, then, Leigh?  Is ‘you’ that somebody who is always going to sit alone, in the back of the crowd, enviously watching all of her close friends live their lives?  Is this ‘you’ going to be somebody who passes by every good opportunity that comes their way because they lack the willpower to follow through with their true desires?  If it is, then I don’t think I have a lot of respect for ‘you’, Leigh.”  Nami, firing at her from every direction, was quickly able to bring Leigh back to reality.

            “Nami… I…”  But she didn’t know what to say.  Nami had never seemed so worked up before.

            “Leigh, you are my friend, and I only want what is best for you.  Of course I respect you, but time and time again I see you pass up great opportunities because you lack confidence, confidence in yourself, and for the love of Isabella, I do not know why.”  Her chest was practically pulsating color into Leigh’s face.

            “What should I do?”

            “Ha ha, you should go, dummy!”

            Leigh smiled, “of course, of course I should.  It would be silly not to go.  But, will you help me, Nami?”

            “Help?  What could I do to help you?”

            “I don’t know Nami, but you know how to do this kind of stuff!  I do not.  What is the secret?  How do I get Aieté to like me?”

            “You are a silly girl, Leigh.  Aieté already likes you, else he would not have asked you to perform the ritual.”

            “Nami please…”

            Nami stood in deep thought for a moment with Leigh practically hanging over her shoulder.  She looked around.  Beads of glass decorated the walls next to the table.  Just a few seats down from her were some flower petals which other Calculi had picked.  She walked over and picked up a yellow one which was almost as large as her entire body.  It fanned outward like a great umbrella. 

            “I have an idea.  Come with me.”  She hurried off without waiting for a response from her cohort.

            The two of them hustled through the halls; their movements were quickly absorbed into the tremendous mass of activity which flourished throughout the colony.  They rounded a corner and approached the entrance to Sanctuary.

            The giantess’s room was dimly lit.  The great orb which provided everlasting light from the sky above was sinking closer to the ground, and it glowed soothing orange life onto their faces.  Nami could basically feel the anxiousness in the air, as if it were a thick cloud which had encased them all.

            “Come with me Leigh, to where Mali and I will spend the night.  Perhaps being exposed to the atmosphere of the festival will be inspiring to you.  You do have a spot picked out somewhere in the house, do you not?”

            “Well, yes.  Aieté said that he had already handled everything, and that he was going to surprise me.  All I actually have to do is show up!  Oh, please Nami, I do not wish to look like an unprepared fool!”

            “You won’t, Leigh.  I promise you will be the most beautiful Calculus in the colony tonight.  Leigh, do you know why?”

            “Why?”

            “Because tonight is your night.”

            The two fastest Calculi in the colony then sped off toward the large room.  The room with the two windows where they had sat together so many times before.  The room with the wooden tower where Nami’s spot awaited.  The room where Leigh had saved her.  This was definitely a special room.

            Upon reaching the great cathedral of wood, on top of which rested the banded plant material with the magnificent white lights, the two of them took flight, quickly spanning the distance and landing on the hard surface.  That living, shining ring of flora created a perfect halo for the two of them to reside.

            “You see how alone we are up here, Leigh?  That is how it is going to be between you and Aieté, wherever you happen to nestle.  This place that you share with him will be serene, peaceful.  He will tell you all about how he feels, just as you, too, will tell him.”  Nami slowly approached her, then took her hand.  “And when he takes your hand, Leigh, oh believe me he will take your pretty hand, the two of you will be forever connected.  It will be like magic.  Believe me, we see far too little of that in our fearful lives.  So let him, and then embrace him.  You may cry, as will he, but it will be beautiful.”

            The great orb outside had almost retired for the day, but a darker hue of orange penetrated the two windows facing their retreat.  It came through the top of them in bands because it was partially blocked by the long plastic strips the giantess sometimes used to provide herself with some privacy.  As it mixed with the white lights from their guardian plantation, it created an abstract pattern of light and shadow on the ground before them.  Leigh, still holding Nami’s hand, shone a deep orange color from her own chest, as Nami shone white.

            “Thank you, Nami.  You are the best friend I have ever had.”

            “Here, Leigh, one more thing.”  She took the yellow flower petal which she had been carrying with her and tore a piece off from the edge.  She rolled it into a tube and stuck it into one of the many tears in Leigh’s dirty garb.  She then took another piece and reiterated the process.  She did this over and over again until, on the left side of her chest, Leigh had a miniature, yellow icon of her affection.  “Let’s get back.  I’m sure you are more excited than ever.”

            Leigh laughed through her teeth, “yeah!”, although she was crying a bit.

            The two of them gradually descended the high altitude to the fabric laden floor below.  What happened next was something Nami was never truly able to understand.  The two of them looked at each other, with Nami facing the door.  Her gentle smiled almost instantaneously turned to dread as she switched her attention away from Leigh to the ceiling above.

            Leigh looked at her, puzzled.  “What is it?”

            And then it happened.  The heart stopping shriek which echoed from above never left Nami’s head; it never left for the rest of her life.  The massive, black, fabric clad surface which came careening down is an image that never left her head.  It only knocked Nami over, but crashed directly on top of Leigh, who instantly disappeared under its terrible, foul smelling surface. 

How the giantess had entered without their awareness is a question which Nami would never let go.  It was one of those imponderable “what if” questions which would keep her up for many, many nights.  Nami could hear faint crackling underneath of that monster’s enormous foot, which she could only imagine was the breaking bones of her dear friend.  She screamed a pitch that she never knew she could reach.

Upon hearing this, the giantess ceased her merciless grinding and focused her attention on Nami, who, only because of her nimbleness and dexterity, was able to take refuge in the space under the wooden tower.  The giantess walked away, giving Nami a perfect view of what was left of her friend.  She covered her mouth with both hands and screamed again.

Leigh had been seemingly strewn across the ground, and looked as though her limbs had been tied into knots.  A large splatter of hemolymph stained the ground next to her tattered body.  Tiny fragments of the giantess’s soft footwear were intertwined amongst the macabre image of what seemed to be most of Leigh’s bodily fluids.  Within no time, the giantess had returned, a cloth in one hand.  She swiftly bent over and carelessly squeezed Leigh’s body between her fingers, as though it were weightless.  She then directed her movement toward the pantry.

Without thinking, Nami immediately left the safety of her hiding place and followed her from behind.  It was the cylindrical receptacle next to the white tower where the giantess thoughtlessly tossed the cloth, containing the body of her friend.  As if nothing had happened, she then turned her attention to the white tower itself, opening it as though it were an impenetrable vault which only she had access to as she began searching through its contents.

Nami rushed over to her friend as fast as she was able.  As she dug through the desensitizing piles of trash, she eventually made her way to the cloth, which, luckily, was already starting to unfold on its own.  She practically fell over herself trying to get inside of it.

“LEIGH, LEIGH!”

For the briefest of moments, Nami had wished that she hadn’t have found her friend, for the sight was more than she could take, and she vomited off to the side.  Suddenly, seemingly from beyond the grave, Leigh spoke to her, just barely.

“Na.. Na..”  She was hyperventilating, looking at Nami with an expression of stupefied horror.

“Leigh, oh my, oh my, oh no, no, no no!”  She started to lose control of herself, but quickly regained her senses and took action.

“I, I have to get you out of here.”

“Na.. UGHH!!”  Leigh’s attempts at speech were cut off as Nami lifted her into the air.  She wanted to get Leigh back to Sanctuary.  Perhaps there was someone there who would know what to do.  However, it became more and more clear that the longer she held the near lifeless body of her fallen comrade in her arms, the closer she came to death.  Realizing this, she began to descend, eventually making her way to the ground, where she brought Leigh underneath the same softbox where she had been rescued months before.

It was pitch black underneath.  The only light available was coming from Nami’s chest, which burned a deep, ocean blue.  Leigh’s chest had faded to almost nothing.

“Leigh, oh no, oh no…”

“Na.. Nami?”

“Leigh, I’m here, I’m here!”

She started breathing very quickly again as she tried to respond.

“W.. Why?”

“Leigh…”  Nami put one hand on Leigh’s head which, amazingly, had not been damaged.  Her body, on the other hand, had caved in on itself.  Her arms were twisted in a sickening misrepresentation of what they should actually have looked like.  One leg was turned the opposite direction, and a few bones protruded from her thorax into the air.

She spoke, more calmly, but in stuttered words.  “I.. kn.. knew you would not l.. l.. l.. l.. leave me, either.”  She smiled in an eerie way.

“SHUT UP LEIGH!  Quit speaking like that!  We are going back to Sanctuary, NOW!”

“Nami..” She whispered so softly it was practically inaudible.

“Leigh… no…”

She closed those beautiful eyes, and the light disappeared from her chest for eternity.  Nami closed her eyes as well, making incomprehensible sounds as she mourned her friend.  A mixture of salty teardrops and sebum coalesced on her face.  She put one hand over Leigh’s eyes, and another on her chest, as she positioned the side of her head over where Leigh’s heart once beat.  Then she noticed something, something deep in Leigh’s tribal garments, behind the miniature flower replica, now destroyed.  It was Leigh’s parchment.

Nami unrolled it, barely able to see through her watery eyes.  It was drawn quite well, with the use of shading and depth.  Leigh stood at her windowsill, with Aieté next to her.  The two of them held hands as they gazed out of her massive window, partially covered with frost, at the powder falling from the sky.

Nami slightly warmed the water of her glass prison with her tears.

Ch. 10

            The water around her had warmed to a reasonable temperature.  Nami figured she must have already been stuck in that horrid environment for hours.  Her knees were scooted as far close to her chest as possible, as she attempted to minimize how much of her body was actually submerged.  Burying her face between her legs, she openly sobbed.  It didn’t matter to her if she had been stuck there for two minutes or two hours, because she knew that she was never going to escape from her miserable captivity.  She didn’t even notice the giantess as she re-entered the room and turned the lights back on.

Nami found herself being yet again hoisted into the air.  She continued to cry, oblivious to the giantess’s eyes peering at her from outside.  The giantess, who was apparently cooing to her, gently shook the glass, causing Nami to lose her balance.  Using one hand to re-stabilize herself, she assumed her original position and again buried her head.  She didn’t want to look at that monster.

The leviathan, however, did want to look at Nami.  There seemed to be a mixture of confusion and what some may call compassion in her eyes.  She carried the glass into her room and delicately placed it on the same table which held her many gadgets.  Reaching two fingers through the top of the glass, she gently plucked Nami into the air.  Nami did not resist as there was really nothing she could do about it anyway.  She insisted on keeping her eyes away from her captors, however, because she just couldn’t stand the sight of her.

She was then placed into another container, albeit this one was much larger and wasn’t soaked in water.  The walls were made of metal bars which ran vertically from the ground to the top, where they turned 90 degrees, forming the ceiling.  She was, undoubtedly, now being held captive in a cage.  In the corner sat a large fabric garment, which the giantess used to cover her feet.

Nami looked around.  Her eyes drooped a bit and despair filled her heart.  Her torment was not over.  In some twisted reverberation of her already grief stricken mind, Nami had sort of hoped that the giantess was going to kill her;  at least then her misery would be at an end.  Clearly, however, this was not the case, as she had simply been moved from one prison to another.  The only difference this time was that her good friend Xi was not there to keep her company, but instead Nami occupied this cell alone.

She was tired, and her weary legs could no longer support her weight, so Nami sat down on the steel floor of the cage.  In the bathroom, the narrowness of the container she was being held in had at least formed sort of a vacuum, insulating some of the heat inside which kept Nami moderately warm.  This cage was much larger, however, and she could feel the slightest breeze grace her pale, white skin.  The feeling was intensified as a result of her wetness.  As the giantess rummaged through some things on her desk, Nami sat alone, shivering, her light barely shining a drab metallic color.

  The giantess quickly retrieved additional strips of fabric, which had seemingly been cut specifically for Nami’s use, and abruptly wrapped her shaking body in them.  The warmth that was conveyed was enough to make Nami instantly drowsy.  Her eyes began to sag, and she quietly yawned almost out of reflex.  The leviathan carefully picked her up and placed her on the soft linen in the corner, where, despite all of the angst and sadness she had been through, caused Nami to fall asleep immediately.

Ch. 11

            The Sanctuary was dark and gloomy.  There seemed to be an indefinite haze as Nami looked around, similar to the fog of war.  Waves of transparent mirages floated by as fellow Calculi walked by in silence.  Something was off.  There was no light; not one crease was glowing in the dimness.  Nami’s hair stood on edge.  When the chest of a Calculus failed to produce light, their soul was no longer a part of this world, and they were believed to pass into an infinite unity in the afterlife. 

            Though she tried, Nami couldn’t look down.  It was as though her head were in a fixed position, forcing her to look forward.  She didn’t pay mind to her paralysis, however, for fear had gripped her nerves.  Was this the afterlife?  Had the leviathan found her underneath that tower and killed her?  The corridor she was staring down was endless and gray, and an innumerable amount of Calculi were randomly walking one way or the other, not speaking a word.  Nami wanted to speak to one of them, but some invisible force held her head in position and prevented her from speaking.  Nami, amongst all the rest, walked a dirt path, although she couldn’t feel it directly.  It was as though the filth itself manifested the sensation below the soft pads of her bare soles as it slowly creeped its way up the rest of her body, filling her with a displeasing taste.  The silence was torturous, and she wanted nothing more badly than the get away from that place. 

            “What are you doing?”

            Nami turned around.  The lamp on Tracy’s desk illuminated the entire room.  Facebook was pulled up on her computer as she put her earring in.

            “Come on, let’s get going, were gonna be late!”

            Nami looked around.  This was it, the giantess’s room, although parts of it went by so fast that she couldn’t make out what was there.  A clock ticked by on the shelf, surrounded by pictures of Tracy and her family.  She looked down at her hands, but they weren’t hers.  They were tan, and her fingers were much shorter.  She was wearing clean clothes which faintly smelled of lavender.  Though she couldn’t make out most of what she had on, Nami could tell she was wearing sneakers. 

            ...”Wait, what the hell are sneakers?  Why am I talking like this?”

            Nami stared at Tracy, eye level, as she walked by to her bedroom door.  She was sitting on the bed, and the blankets felt very comfortable on her bottom.  “Wait, what are blankets?”

            “Damn it girl, we need to get an exterminator in here, pronto!  I fucking hate bugs.”

            Tracy pointed at the ground and Nami looked down.  She saw herself staring back up, horrified, seemingly stranded in the exposed area in the middle of the room.  Nami, who apparently wasn’t Nami anymore, stared down at the real Nami, who was frantically darting her head back and forth between the two behemoths, seemingly unsure of which one to avoid.  Tracy walked over to her.  The big Nami tried to scream, but no sound would leave her mouth.  Tracy promptly smashed Nami, the insect, in a second under her blue high heel shoe.  The crunch was sickening and seemed to resonate in the room.  Upon impact the larger Nami felt as though every bit of her hemolymph and viscera had been squeezed through the pores in her skin, and she immediately blacked out.

            She awoke in the linen, which was damp from her sweat.  The terrible dream had frightened her so badly she felt her heart stop for a minute.  Realizing it was not real, Nami sat up but couldn’t stand, for her legs were too shaky.  It was morning time; the orb in the sky penetrated her suffocating prison with its comforting rays.  The giantess wasn’t there, and the solitude gave her a temporary peace of mind.

            Because the cage which held Nami was positioned on top of one of the tables the giantess owned, it gave her a unique perspective of the room.  She couldn’t remember her dream very well, so she was unsure as to how this room compared to the one of which she was an inhabitant earlier in her sleep.  The softbox, underneath of which was the entrance to her home, was embraced by a giant fabric which looked as though it created waves, underneath of which the main body of the object lie.  Nami remembered that in her dream, she was sitting on it, and she knew what it was, but now she no longer did.

            A number of devices were littered about the table.  There were a couple large blocks filled with thin sheets which the giantess would stare at from time to time.  Some metal bars rested against one another in a staircase-like configuration which were held together by a smaller metal hoop. 

            A cup was sitting right next to her prison, opposite from her bedding.  Nami, having snapped out of her post-nightmare trauma, stood up and walked over to it.  She reached her hands through the bars and touched the side of it.  It was very warm, not uncomfortably so, but enough that she couldn’t keep her hand on it for more than a minute.  Compared to her it was massive, towering overhead like a great, ceramic megalith.  Though she didn’t know much about the giantess’s life, she knew that she drank from this thing, and the curved apature on the side was meant for holding.  It was navy blue and had yellow characters along the side, although Nami was ignorant to their meaning.  For a moment Nami admired it.  The colors clashed nicely and she thought that it was quite pretty.  Whatever the giantess had been drinking, she must not have finished, for its warmth was obviously conveying itself through the ceramic to Nami’s hand.  It smelled delicious, like a buttery souflee, and it near made Nami cry she wished to sample it so badly.

            There was a new hole in the wall, which was still conveyed an image of great destruction, the origin of which still deeply saddened her as she sat idly in her prison.

Ch. 12

Pandemonium ensued outside, unbeknownst to Nami who was too busy grieving over the tattered remains of her friend. A shrill roar initiated by the leviathan caused her to jerk her head in confusion; in her sadness Nami had forgotten about the other Calculi. Although it greatly anguished her to do so, she tore herself away from Leigh’s body to investigate the commotion. Upon emerging from underneath the softbox, Nami was greeted with a metaphorical symphony of sweeping lights and buzzing wings, with the leviathan as the conductor. She had flown into a rage, swatting at Calculi here and there as they swept past her in a frantic attempt to make their way to safety. Nami furiously attempted to cover up her own crease as the giantess came stampeding in her direction. Like an enraged mastodon she stomped just besides Nami in a fit, attempting to smack a fleeing Calculus out of the air with one of her titanic hands. Now that the ambient glow of the giant orb outside the window was finally at rest, the frightened Calculi were easy to distinguish in the dark because of the myriad of colors they were inadvertently creating.

“What is happening!” Nami shouted this out loud, but the room was in such a state of havoc that nobody would have heard her anyway. The early return of the giantess was a surprise not only for Leigh and Nami, but the rest of the colony as well, many of whom had made their way to various regions of the house in preparation for the festival. With her arrival, the giantess had effectively trapped those Calculi who were already hidden in place. It would be very easy for her to spot a traveling body in this darkness because the light that shone from their chests was uncontrollable, and could only be extinguished through death. It would be madness to return to Sanctuary now; if the leviathan were to track Nami or anyone else the safety of their home would be forever compromised.

Nami slowly began to digest her situation, and began to flood with a feeling of hopelessness. She could easily have scampered back under the solitude of the softbox, but another, more horrifying thought had dawned on her.

“Xi…” Xi had also left Sanctuary to meet her mate for the festival somewhere else in the house. Though they had been gossiping about it for several weeks now, Xi had never actually told Nami where she planned to stay. Whether it was because she wanted to keep that secret or simply because it never came up in conversation was irrelevant… all that mattered now to Nami was that she find her friend as quickly as possible and bring her to safety. Turning to look at the softbox one last time, she bid farewell to her companion, her eyes still red and swollen from crying, before lifting off into the air.

While the giantess was preoccupied in the main room, Nami swiftly made her way to the pantry, flying past two panic-stricken Calculi on her way.

“Where are you two going?!” Nami was able to make out the faces of Veii and Lucretia, two female flyers who belonged to an all-female sect of the colony supervised by their guardian, Sappho. She was not too familiar with these two, but had been introduced at some point before and enjoyed a cordial relationship.

“Oh goodness, Nami, goodness praise you are ok!”

“We don’t know who is out here and who is still at home!” Veii and Lucretia were always together and everything they did seemed to be in sync. They didn’t finish each other’s sentences, but their train of thought was so in tune that speaking with the two of them felt more like speaking to one person. They were an oddity, but still beloved amongst the colony.

“Well where are you two going?” There was urgency in Nami’s voice, for the more time she wasted, the less likely she would find her friend.

“We need to get back to Sanctuary NOW!”

“Nobody is safe out here. The monster is uprooting her home. She means to kill us all!” The two looked at each other in unison with fearful eyes.

“No no! You cannot go back there! You must not go back home! If you lead the large one back to Sanctuary… oh for the love of Mariah please don’t go back there!” It was becoming clear to all three that they were spending entirely too much time idling in the middle of the room. The sound of thundering footsteps could be heard in the distance, and they were closing in on the group fast. Veii and Lucretia sped off towards the adjoining room immediately.

“Wait, WAIT!! Have you seen Xi, oh please, have you seen her!!” Unsure of what to do, but in dire need of an answer, Nami flew back and forth in the air biting her arm while praying the leviathan did not stumble across them at this exact moment. The two flyers stopped together.

“No, no we haven’t. We are sorry, Nami, we know you and Xi are close.”

“Good luck! Please, both of you come back home unharmed!”

At that moment, almost satirically, the giantess rounded the corner to the pantry, stopping just between Nami and the others. Like an impenetrable organic mountain, she completely blocked their view of each other, while swinging her appendages as weapons toward Veii and Lucretia. They both shrieked while desperately escaping into the room just behind them. The leviathan did not pursue them, however, opting instead to openly say something to herself in her native language, with an inflection implying that she was asking a question.

Nami had frozen with fear. Her entire life had been devoted to survival, a concept which encompassed not only acquiring provisions, but avoiding this titan. This titan. She could not formulate the right combination of words to describe what the leviathan looked to her right now. She was wearing heavy clothing in what appeared to be several layers. A long, soft-looking fabric thread was wrapped around her neck several times. Some of the powder from outside had settled on her head, and was beginning to form moisture. She shuffled in place for a moment before twisting her body around to face the helpless Calculus. Even the gust created from such a motion was enough to knock Nami off balance. As she turned, a droplet of water careened from her silky black hair onto Nami’s chest, wetting her.

They stood (well, Nami hovered), locked eye to eye for a moment. An immobilizing fear had encapsulated every crevice of Nami’s body, and despite how badly she wished it, she could not relinquish her stiffness. She was only at waist level with the giantess, and had to crane her neck upwards to meet those colorful orbs staring back down at her. While Nami looked at her with insurmountable horror, the leviathan gazed back down with a suspicious, almost curious complexion. She tilted her head slightly to the side, causing Nami to flinch backwards, her hands raised just below her chin in a vain attempt to defend herself. The deafening silence was cut with the voice of the giantess, who was seemingly cooing at the frightened creature.

She slowly began to move her hands from her hips to either side of Nami, who was still mid-flight. Nami slightly (for she was far too terrified to make drastic motions) rotated her head from side to side to see both of them as they precariously surrounded her. Despite her fear, Nami had to admire their beauty. They were unblemished and soft; a small amount of heat radiated from their surface. Although the bottoms of Nami’s hands were similar, it was quite exquisite to see such a thing up close. The way her skin perfectly folded over itself in the natural U of the giantess’s hand tantalized Nami, and though she knew it was insane, for a moment she wished she could be curled up in them, like massive, nurturing blankets, and fall asleep. Her deliberate patience implied that the giantess meant to capture her.

“Flee! Flee you fool! Go now, flee!” Her window of opportunity was growing smaller. It took Nami more courage than she though she possessed to zip up and out of the clasp of the leviathans hands, who had cupped them together just a second after Nami had escaped. Failing to detain the insect gently, the giantess began swiping her hands more roughly in an attempt to smack her prey out of the sky. Nami took off in the opposite direction, a cold sweat trickling down her forehead into her eyes.

She didn’t want to turn around and see how far behind the giantess was, for that would only rejuvenate her abject terror. Nami knew that her only advantage was that she could fly and the leviathan could not. That would have to be how she escaped. A massive hand swung at her back, nicking her with a fingertip and causing her to swerve mid-air but failing to secure a grip. To her distant right Nami could see two bright lights, one forest green, the other a lighter shade of green, emulating from a pair of Calculi who were cowering behind cover. High above was her salvation. Attached to the wall in the pantry were giant wooden shelves which could be open and closed via doors which were connected by a hinge. In these containers the giantess stored everything she used to dine; a veritable museum of glass and ceramic. Because the shelves did not attach to the ceiling, there was a large space above which Nami could hopefully use to escape to safety. It was her only chance, so she took it. Ascending high in the air, she closed the distance to the platform so quickly that when she landed she fell over and rolled to her side.

The amount of dust and cobwebs on the surface indicated that the leviathan did not use this space for anything, and Nami desperately hoped that she had not seen her make her way up to this place. She delicately perched herself on the edge of the wood and peered out into the darkened abyss below. The leviathan had ceased her dreadful pursuit, relieving Nami but again leaving her in confusion. The dark room had a stillness to it which put her on edge. Was this some sort of trap? Far below Nami could barely see the outline of various objects which occupied the floor space, such as the squarish appearance of three giant wooden chairs sitting neatly underneath a larger wooden table. The white tower was to her left, just past one of the great fountains of the house. The colony was always interested in the fountains which were scattered throughout the house; from their openings flowed that precious substance which maintained the lives of every Calculus.

Without warning the room flashed to vibrant life. Emerging from the side of the white tower, the leviathan made her way back to the center of the pantry, now perfectly visible with the activation of the artificial sky light. Nami was temporarily blinded. Her eyes, having had adjusted to the darkness, were not ready for the shock and could not stand to remain open. She fell backwards on her butt, rubbing her eyes, only to periodically gain a blurry image of her surroundings. There was clatter as the giantess rummaged through her belongings just below where Nami hid. As her vision became clearer, she inched her way onto her knees and carefully poked her head out over the wooden edge once again, nervously clenching her hand into a fist and chewing on the ends of her knuckles. The powder still clung to the black hair, but as time passed by it began transforming into more and more moisture. For a moment Nami forgot her fears and marveled at such a magical phenomenon, for it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Her delicate antennae could pick up the slight motions the giantess was making.

Off in the distant corner of the room Nami spotted something. A light, and it was unquestionably coming from one of her people. As she squinted her eyes to obtain a more accurate view, her stomach dropped. Xi was in the corner, but she wasn’t moving. Something was wrong.

Ch.
13
           From a distance Nami could tell that Xi was struggling
against something, but she couldn’t see what it was.  There was desperation in her movements, but
she was still too far away for Nami to completely make out what was going
on.  The leviathan continued her rampage
below, moving various devices from their usual spots and exposing the Calculi hiding
amongst them.  Xi wasn’t moving, and if
Nami didn’t help her, she was done for. 
Just as she was about to take flight, a familiar face appeared at the
other end of the platform.  Jericho
approached her with vicious speed, his countenance more serious than she had
ever witnessed.

            “We are leaving NOW Nami! 
Come with me, I will lead us to safety.” 
He immediately grabbed her arm and began tugging it along.  He did not move very far before stopping,
however.  A strange look upon his face,
Jericho momentarily peered out at the distance. 
It took all the strength he could muster not to cry as he turned to face
Nami and embraced her with both arms.

            “I am sorry, my haste, please understand, I…  I am so glad you are alright.”  The ever watchful and caring father-figure
that Nami had known and loved could not keep itself from creeping to his battle
wearied exterior.  Nami returned the hug;
his chest shone a warm violet light on her face in two distinct rays.

            “Listen, Nami, we cannot stay here, it is too
dangerous.  You are coming with me.  Have you seen the others?”

            A sharp sadness pierced the recess of Nami’s memory as
she instantaneously recounted the events of Leigh’s death in her mind.  However at that moment she decided not to
bring those terrible circumstances up, focusing instead on those friends they
could still help.

             “There!  Jericho,
in the distance!  Do you see her?  It is Xi, she needs our assistance!”  Jericho gazed in Xi’s direction.  He was immediately stricken with a very deep
fear, not for his own well-being, but for that of his disciple, who struggled
in vain against the inexorable bonds which held her.  There was no doubt that the giantess would
soon notice her as she continued her merciless hunt for any remaining Calculi.

            “Please, we must go to her!  We must help her!  Jericho, please we must hurry, for the large
one will surely crush (this word was a bit shaky as Nami spoke) her if she is
found!!”

           Jericho seemed unsure of himself.  For the first time in her life, Nami could
sense weakness as she looked into his eyes.

            “What is the matter? 
Please, let us go now!”

            “Nami, I… we cannot… we cannot go to her,” he winced
“There is no way for us to save her.”  As
he said this he put the tips of his thumbs in the crevice of his eyes closest
to his nose in what Nami took to be a posture of defeat.

            “What, what do you mean we cannot go to her?  We HAVE to go to her Jericho!  That is Xi who is trapped over there, can you
not see?!”

            “Nami, the device, the device she is stuck to.  I have seen it before.  It has a singular purpose, and that is to
capture unsuspecting prey as they fly through the air.  We will not be able to pry her from it once
we reach her… we, we will not be able to. 
If we attempt a rescue, all we will do is endanger ourselves.  We cannot go to her.”

            Nami was in disbelief. 
This was Jericho, her protector, her father of sorts, suggesting that
they leave one of their own to her fate. 
The events which had been transpiring over the course of the last hour
were so foreign to her that she momentarily lost her judgment and sense of
self.

            “Jericho, what are you saying?  You would leave her to die?  Mariah… you would leave her to, to perish??!!  I… I… I need help… Jericho, please do not
make me do it alone.”  Her tears had
renewed as she looked at him, unbelieving, her magenta chest practically
pulsating as she spoke.

            There was a rare sternness developing in Jericho’s
voice.  “Now you listen to me, young one,
you listen to me!  I am the guardian of our sect, nobody
else!  You will do as you are told and
come with me… you will come with me now!”

            “Jericho… 
Jericho.  Please…”  Her words were broken.  Nami was flooded with a swell of emotions the
likes of which she had never before experienced.  Sadness, preparation, betrayal, fear, anger,
every feeling her adrenaline saturated limbic system could conjure up seemed to
be reeling itself to her forefront, choking her words back into her throat.

            “Please tell Aieté I am truly sorry about Leigh.  She is under the softbox against the window
in the main hall.  Ensure that she
receives a proper funeral… I think she deserv… I think…”  She could hold her tears no longer, but
rather than stay to face her guilt, she took to the air in the direction of her
helpless friend.

            “NAMI, NAMI NO!!” 
Jericho reached out to grab her, but was she was already out of arms
reach.  A combination of his pleading and
Nami’s takeoff was enough to catch the attention of the leviathan below.  Before Jericho could take off after her one
of those enormous hands came steaming at him; the giantess had jumped from the
floor to try to capture one of the two. 
Although failing to grab a hold of him, she managed to knock him backwards
to the hard surface of the platform. 
Jericho slammed the back of his head against its surface, rendering him unconscious. 

            Nami had already made it halfway across the room before
the giantess had turned to pursue her once again.  The checkerboard pattern of the stone (as far
as she could tell) floor below made her dizzy, so she kept her eyes straight,
growing more and more impatient as Xi grew closer.  Xi had been too preoccupied trying to free
herself from her bondage to notice Nami’s arrival.

            “Xi! Xi!  I am here
now.  What is this that has you
entrapped?”  Xi’s hands and knees were
perpetually stuck in a submissive position on what appeared to Nami to be a
large, thin strip of waxy paper which was suspended from the ceiling.  Similar to the material the inside of the
leviathan’s blocks were composed off, this paper was covered in a sticky, gold
film which ensnared Xi’s appendages, holding her in place.  Although she wasn’t sure, Nami thought she
recognized a slight fragrance of dried meat radiating from its surface.

            “By Isabella Nami what are you doing here?!  You should be back at home in the safety of
Sanctuary!”  Her voice had a drastic tone
to it, as if she were dreading some fateful impact.

            “I am here for you now Xi!  What is this awful substance that has you so
consumed?”

            “I do not know, I do not know!  When the large one entered the room, I.., I
could not believe she had returned!  I
flew away as fast as I could but did not see this contraption.  As soon as I touched it I could feel this
slime creeping its way up my hands to my wrists.  It is like some sort of glue.  Do not touch it, or you will be trapped as
well!”

            “I need to get you out of here!  I will not leave you, I promise I will not
leave you!”

            Xi desperately looked at her friend.  Her eyebrows were crinkled over her eyelids
and her lips were quivering.  “Don.. don’t
be foolish Nami!  Go now!  Go now and (she blew a puff of air out of her
mouth hard) leave me to my fate!  Do not
make me responsible for your death…”

            The leviathan, having forgotten about Jericho, turned her
attention to Nami and Xi, a sense of satisfaction gleaming in her face.  The two Calculi looked down to see her
staring up at them, ready to attack. 
Because she was not tall enough to reach them where they were (they were
very close to the ceiling in the corner), the giantess went to retrieve
something to stand on.

            Xi snapped her head back on Nami.  “GO, GO NOW! 
Please, please, please do not wait here Nami!  I am done for, but you can escape!  Please, Nami, my best friend, do this for me,
do not die with me!”  She was openly
crying as she pleaded with her.

            “Xi you be quiet, quiet yourself right now!  I am not leaving you!”  With those words she took Xi’s head in her
arms and the two of them sobbed together. 
If her arms were not stuck in place, Xi would have hugged her back.

            With the leviathans’ return, their fates had been
sealed.  She carefully positioned herself
on one of the wooden chairs from the table and appeared directly level with
them.  Her face, menacing, cast a shadow
over their bodies, sucking every emotion out of them except agonizing
terror.  They creatures at each other for
a while; the only light between them was being cast from the chests of the
Calculi.  Nami continued to hold Xi’s
head as she looked right into those massive orbs, each of which was larger than
she.  She could make out every intricate detail
of that face, from the gleaming layer of fluid which covered the tops of her
eyes to the miniscule folds defining her light pink lips.  There was no smile, nor a frown.  The giantess remained stoic, revealing
nothing more than a peculiar curiosity as her image.  Nami continued looking on, too fearful to
move.  The back of her throat felt like
swelling shut.  It was only her reassuring
embrace with Xi which kept the hemolymph flowing properly throughout her body.

            Those massive hands scooped the two of them up faster
than either Xi or Nami could move their head to see it coming.  Submerged in blackness, the insects could
still make each other out from their own intense glow, Xi’s a dark orange
color, Nami’s a bright white.  There was
a thud as the leviathan jumped from her stool, slamming Nami into the soft
fleshy wall of their temporary prison. 

            “I am scared, Nami…,” Xi trembled.

            “I am too.  Stay
with me.”

            There was indistinct clattering outside, and suddenly
Nami found herself being forcefully jammed into a large container.  Unable to contend with the wall of flesh bulldozing
her downward, she allowed herself to fall to the wooden floor below.  The ground itself was not solid, but was
instead made up of several maroon pieces which maintained a pleasing
scent.  As she looked around, Nami became
more and more horrified.  Four glass walls
surrounded her, connected at each of their corners by a superimposing glass
ceiling, which the giantess was quickly closing off using a sliding door.  Taking a moment to regain her senses, Nami got
up and flew to the door just as it had closed, effectively trapping her
inside.  She watched as the leviathan
walked off with her friend, leaving her in sadness and isolation.

            “Xi! Xi!  Please,
large one, do not hurt her!”  Her cries fell
on deaf ears, however, as the giantess had already rounded the corner into the
adjoining room.

Ch. 14

 It took her a long time, but Nami eventually allowed herself to move away from the glass. Though the fate of her friend was unknown, there was little she could do to help her now. The thought crossed her mind that right now the leviathan might be killing Xi in some unthinkable way; perhaps she was dismembering her, or maybe she had decided to smash her into nothing. The image of these horrible possibilities sickened Nami, who was forced to sit down to relieve her wobbly knees.

Glass surrounded her on every side. A glass ceiling above securely closed her in captivity. Its only inconsistency was centered square opening which could be manually opened and closed from the outside. It was not solid, but took the form of a dense meshwork, allowing minute amounts of precious oxygen to trickle into the chamber. The ground was covered in a wood-like substance which was broken up into thousands of miniature pieces small enough for Nami to walk across without tripping. It conveyed a wonderful smell unlike anything Nami had ever experienced; she imagined that the smell must be replicating something beyond the artificial appliances with which her colony had become so acquainted, something more natural. Outside was the giantess’s room, as it normally looked. It served as a tortuous reminder of the freedom of movement which she would most likely never again enjoy.

An absolute helplessness overcame Nami, who had finally collapsed under the weight of her own defeat. Her life seemingly over, it occurred to her that she would never again enjoy the benefits of her colony. There would be no more harmonized dinners with the Calculi and their many enjoyable personalities. Never again would Nami get to listen to the anachronistic legends that Thelonius habitually repeated in comedic forgetfulness. No more festivals. And Leigh, Leigh was gone, and the two spotters would never again be able to relish each other’s company. And now it seemed as though Nami was going to lose one of the only things left she felt was worth living for, her freedom, for it had been swept away the minute she was kidnapped. Her only purpose now was, well, she wasn’t even sure, but it most likely involved her imminent death.

“Oh Leigh, Xi, I am so sorry. I was unable to help either of you. If I was faster, more perceptive I could have…” her voice trailed off, “… No. I am, was, too naïve. To believe that there could ever be any good in this world outside of Sanctuary, our home. Oh Mariah, Isabella, please help me, for I need it now more than ever.” Nami, who had been resting her weight on her ankles in a crouching position, allowed herself to fall onto her side, totally crushed. She mindlessly began manipulating a dried piece of wood in front of her, as if in some inescapable limbo.

A rumbling of feet on the floor indicated that the giantess was returning. Nami did not look up; she did not care. She had nothing left, and while the thought of death scared her, it now seemed a fitting conclusion to this tragic game she found herself forced to play. An indistinct clattering above; the time was growing near. A click, the sliding of the mesh door, and a dreadful shadow cast prepared her for an unceremonious mortality inside of her own special glass tomb. Nami closed her eyes and tried to think of something better; at least her last thoughts could be of happiness.

There was a thud beside her, and the sliding of the glass door above signaled that her prison was once again sealed. But she was still alive. What is going on she thought to herself.

“N… Nami?”

Nami slowly curved her head upward, and was greeted with a familiar face. Xi stood over top of her, her hands and knees red and scabbed, but still strong enough to support her delicate frame.

“Xi. Xi!” Nami shot up and the two Calculi embraced once again, only this time Xi hugged back, tighter than ever. They stood there for a moment in blissful relief, crying over each other’s shoulders, until they were once again emerged in darkness. Under the ominous shadow of the giantess, the two of them turned their heads to meet her eyes and found themselves yet again locked in a staring contest. Although both of them were incredibly fearful of their new master, they looked on with a hint of fascination, for it seemed logical that if the leviathan had intended to kill them she would have done it already. What her overriding purpose entailed was, like everything else in her confusing world, beyond the understanding of the Calculi, who at that moment only hoped that throughout their captivity they would be able to remain together.

…….

“What, what do you mean she is no longer with us? Where did she go, Jericho?”

“Aieté, my boy, I… I did not realize. I am sorry.”

 
Aieté looked at him with patience, as if waiting for some further explanation. “Well, can we not send a search party for her? We cannot sit here while she is out there alone Jericho!”

“Aieté… please. Understand that she is not coming back. Neither are Nami or Xi. I… I could not save them in time.” Such pain was apparent in his eyes that for a moment Aieté remained silent, taking a graceful step back. As Jericho walked off down one of the halls of their hideaway the young Calculi called after him…

“Jericho, we must go after them! What are you doing? Where are you going?” His words were becoming more and more broken the farther away Jericho went.

He quietly emerged in Thelonius’s doorway, and both men looked at each other, Jericho with a hardened soul, Thelonius with apparent resolve. Jericho was the first to speak after a long silence.

“What do you want to do, sir? What should I do? I have failed not only my sect, but the entire colony.”

“Do you remember when I was guardian, Jericho, long before I became a member of the Concilium?”

“I vaguely remem…”

“It was some years ago. I had a voracious young man under my leadership. Yes I remember that lad well, ha ha, very eager to prove his worth. Remember that this was during a time when there were fewer of us, and we were less organized. Hunger was our closest associate, and many of us could not survive the conditions of our poverty. This man had a love interest, what was her name again? Elysia, no no, Elusie, oh, uh..”

“Elusiasus.”

“That is correct, Elusiasus. She was a fair young woman… what an amazing smile she had! A very quick flyer for her age, but she was not a part of my sect. She found herself in serious trouble, if I recall correctly. Out scavenging I do believe, for she had not eaten in quite some time. None of us had, really, and no one could deny the severity of our situation. This young man I knew defied my orders. He went after her, against my will, steadfast and determined. So badly he wanted to believe that he alone was strong enough to conquer the world. So he went to her, to find and help her.”

“That is right. He went to her, and he failed. You were right all along, old man. We are nothing alone.”

“But he had the courage. Please sympathize, but my mind does not always function as it should. But if I recall correctly, he was ready to die for her, was he not?”

“That was a long time ago, Thelonius. I was younger back then.”

“Well, only by number! Where has that courage gone now, Jericho? Do you still possess it? Do you not care for your very own as you did her, for is it not your job to protect Nami and Xi, no matter what unfortunate circumstances may have befallen them?”
“What can I do, old man?! I am only one man. No. I am merely an insect. We all are.”
“We live and die together Jericho. Remember that Vilitrus was only able to find his way home because Mariah and Isabella united. Without those two girls up there who are trapped, fearful for their own lives, our colony is incomplete. We must be united, Jericho, so you must find that courage yet again and put it to good use.”

“Our colony will be forever broken with the death of poor Leigh.”

Thelonius looked to the ground, contemplative and esoteric as ever. “Do not concern yourself with such things. Just know that I love you all very much.”

…..

The blue ceramic had cooled and the beverage no longer radiated its wonderful aroma. The floor of Nami’s new prison was cold; its surface seemed to be composed of a material which would not absorb any heat. The leviathan’s absence was welcome, leaving her in a peaceful solitude broken only by the never ending chain of her memories. Nami grabbed the fabric she had been using as a blanket and wrapped it around her legs. The orb in the sky was a beautiful hue of orange, and its warm rays emanated through the window in a spectacular aurora of dust and light. Her own chest beamed. How something so beautiful could penetrate a place filled with so much sadness and suffering left Nami with an optimistic vision of the future. Perhaps it was a sign, that even the darkest places can be penetrated by hope. She prayed that in time, like the founder of her colony, her own light would similarly lead her to her own desperately needed salvation.