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.