“Agh-…!”

Glenn’s exclamation of surprise was followed by a few seconds spent blinking, one of his hands partially covering his eyes. He hadn’t been expecting to wake up with a brightly-glowing ball of flame hovering in the air before him. Once he had a moment for his eyes to adjust, he shuffled to a sitting position. Aine was on her feet already, leaning casually against a wall with one hand lazily held out in the air, keeping the sphere of magical flame alight.

The cave looked unchanged from the night before, when the group had settled in to rest.

After spending the remainder of their first travelling day making their way around the surrounding cliffs following the raider attack, everyone had been quite ready to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Most fortunately, they had come across a cave that seemed well suited for the job, and before long, supplies had been laid out and spaces had been claimed inside their makeshift shelter.

Glenn stood up, glad that he hadn’t been sleeping on the rocks alone. Bringing along their cots from the bar had been a wise decision.

He stretched for a moment, and was just beginning to move toward the cave’s entrance when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder. Aster had stopped him.

“Hold on.” she said, then looked backward into the cave. “Bade! Glenn’s up, so care to get rid of that thing you put outside?”

“I hear yeh, I hear yeh… give a man a moment…”

Bade looked quite a bit smaller without his greatcoat and collection of gear on. He approached the entrance to the cave, where light was filtering in, and crouched to the ground to locate something.

“Ah…”

With a firm pull, he wrenched free a component of some kind from a concealed trap that he had assembled in front of the cave, apparently disabling the device. Gathering it up, he returned to his place in the furthest section of the small cavern.

“Alright, go on.” Aster said, releasing Glenn’s shoulder. “Just thought you’d like it better if you didn’t lose your legs trying to walk outside.”

Glenn chuckled, giving his best friend a grin.

“Appreciated.”

Stepping outside, Glenn took a look around. The cave was fairly remote, and there didn’t appear to be any signs of raiders nearby. No one had sprung Bade’s trap overnight, at any rate.

“Glenn.” Doane said from behind him, walking up to meet him. “If you’re taking a walk first thing, don’t go alone.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Glenn agreed. “I guess you didn’t hear any Oeza footsteps overnight, either?”

The pair began to walk the area surrounding the small cave together.

“Afraid not.” Doane replied. “Not that any trap our new friend set out would be likely to help, if one of them came stomping around.”

Their walk wasn’t long; circling back to the cave, Glenn felt about ready to set out for the day once more, at least once he’d gotten something to eat. Aster was carrying the group’s food, though Bade naturally had some of his own as well.

Upon their return, they found the rest of their group gathered near a small fire Aine had set a short distance into the cave.

“There you two are! Get over here, you wouldn’t believe the food Bade’s got with him!” Aster called out, beckoning them over.

Doane laughed. “And the way I’ve seen you eat, I’d wager we don’t have long before it’s gone!”

“Right you are.” Aine said with a small nod. “Find a spot, old man. And you too, I suppose, Glenn.”

---

The travelling party enjoyed their breakfast together, exchanging further banter one way or the other. Even Aine could be seen laughing at the occasional joke, helped by the presence of Aster and Doane, two people she was actually willing to acknowledge as her friends.

When at last it came time to set out again, with the varied supplies and food gathered back up and stowed safely away, Aster was again the first outside, more than ready for another day’s travels. She had chosen a lighter outfit today, with her muscular arms out on display in the absence of sleeves. She fiddled with the bit of padded armour strapped to her left elbow as she observed her companions gathering outside the cave with her.

Glenn yawned rather loudly, not noticing as Aine rolled her eyes in response.

“Good to go.” he said, drawing his dagger and looking it over. Once it was stowed away again, having been thoroughly cleaned after the previous day’s run-in with the raiders, he looked forward in the direction of the still-rising sun and flashed a familiar grin.

“So,” Aine sighed, back to her usual deadpan, “Where to, hero?”

Glenn glanced back, and then shrugged. “Dunno. Same way as we were headed last night?”

“Aye.” Doane stepped forward, examining the path ahead for himself. “That coward raider seemed about ready to piss himself when he pointed us in that direction. It should be a safe start.”

“So we’ll jus’ hope no more o’ them oxygen-wastin’ pansies decide t’step into our path again today, won’t we?” Bade jibed.

“What, out of darts that melt brains?” Glenn asked as he began to jog forward. “C’mon, keep up!”

Aster darted forward, and her comparatively massive steps passed by him almost instantly.

---

They were nearing the last of the cliffs. Whatever was beyond would most likely be considerably more flat and open, which meant that they would at least have more warning if they were about to be attacked.

“Hold on.” Bade suddenly interjected, after the group had been silent for a minute or so. Glenn looked back to find the older man pointing off in the direction of a forested area. “Trees’re missing.”

“What?”

Bade turned from the path, moving off toward the area he’d indicated. When the others followed, they could see what he meant; an entire open space in the adjacent forest that ought to have been as densely populated with trees as the rest seemed to be quite barren at an initial glance, but upon closer examination, it was actually marked by dozens and dozens of fallen trees, jagged stumps left in their place, and trunks split and broken all across the area. It looked as if a particularly vengeful but exceptionally unskilled team of lumberjacks had worked the place over, taking everything they could reach down in crude fashion.

“… Oeza. Not a doubt in my head.” Bade stated plainly.

“Wait, you’re sure?” Glenn asked. He spotted a withered-looking tree that remained standing and clambered his way up to an upper branch. His eyes visibly opened wide. Sounding a bit breathless, he nodded and said, “I-it looks exactly like…”

“Glenn!”

Aster rushed up to meet him, standing beneath his position in the tree. Glenn had suddenly slumped in place, only barely catching himself against a branch. His usually-cheerful expression was almost blank-looking.

“Glenn, talk to me!”

He blinked a few times, then groaned, shaking his head.

“S-sorry, it just…”

Aster was looking out at the fallen mess of trees that scattered across the wide space before them now for herself. “… It looks like Ashoh, doesn’t it?”

Aster hadn’t been there for herself at the time of the attack, but she had visited the ruins of the village with Glenn before. He never handled visiting the place well, but insisted upon returning every year or two. Aster had to admit that the destruction here in the forest distinctly reminded her of what was left following the attack on Glenn’s home village. She remembered seeing entire homes and shelters crushed into rubble and scattered bits of debris, and patches of earth torn up entirely, as if the Oeza rampaging across the village had done their level best to devastate as much of the area within as possible. The footprints were horrifying enough, indicative of feet large enough to crush several people to death at once, but the pattern of the damage on the ground almost seemed to show that the attacking Oeza had been outright wrestling atop the devastated ruins, treating the destructive attack as little more than entertainment.

“Glenn, c’mon…”

She helped him down from the tree, leading him back to the rest of the group. Staying around here, in an area that reminded him so strongly of the trauma in his past, wouldn’t do Glenn any favours.

“We know the Oeza have been around here. We can check the surrounding area.” Aine advised once they had regrouped.

“R-right.” Glenn agreed. “Didn’t want to go clambering around on a bunch of fallen trees, anyway.”

Aster gave an encouraging laugh, but watched her friend closely for a few moments to follow. She wasn’t afraid to admit that she was worried about him.

---

Back out of the forest, the group continued along the trail separating the trees from the last of the cliffs.

“Seein’ as the Oeza were near enough t’be tearin’ up tha’ stretch o’ forest,” Bade was thinking aloud, “I’d say it’s a fine wager we’ll see plenty more signs of ‘em ‘round the place.”

“I did already say that, but you have a point.” Aine remarked. “No one as oversized as them could get here and away again without making a mess of the area.”

“Aye, but yeh might not know tha’ there was a fierce rainfall here jus’ two days ago.” Bade went on next. “Could make whatever they might’a left behind a touch harder to spot.”

“Hmm. Also true…”

Falling silent again, Aine began to gesture with her hands in the space just in front of her, magical energy beginning to swirl in place between her palms.

“’Nother o’ yer spells?” Bade inquired.

“Just practicing my control.” Aine answered without looking up. She didn’t even have her eyes open as she walked along.

Doane was the next to speak. “Cliffs are ending.” he remarked. “If the Oeza did leave any other evidence out here, it should be easier to see once we’re past-“

His voice was cut off by the sudden, roaring noise of an explosion. An entire stretch of trees to the group’s right erupted in a sizeable fireball, leaving minimal time to react as debris and ash scattered into the air.

Bade cursed loudly, whirling around on the spot. He hastily wrenched his elaborate crossbow from its holster at his side, hefting it upward and looking around for any further signs of hostility. “Raiders again!” he said aloud. “Eyes open!”

Glenn was better prepared this time, drawing his dagger and moving toward a sturdy rock formation for cover. Aster suddenly dropped into place next to him, having vaulted over the largest boulder entirely. She pushed him downward a bit, one hand on his shoulder.

Back out in the open, Aine, Bade, and Doane had moved into a tighter formation together, watching different directions.

Another explosion suddenly rocked the area again, this time above them. Fragments of rock came tumbling down, forcing the group to reposition.

“Got ‘em!” Bade aimed his crossbow upward, beginning to move again. “Bastards’re up on the cliffside!”

Another explosion. Now that they all had some idea of where their attackers were, it became clear that the raiders were hurling explosives of some kind down from their vantage point above.

“We aren’t safe here…” Glenn said, drumming a hand uncertainly against the boulder. “Aine! Anything you can do?”

“Pipe down, it’s a work in-progress!”

Bade fired a shot upward, then bolted toward the same rock formation Glenn and Aster had taken as cover. The bolt he’d just launched was attached to a length of some kind of cord, which was now rapidly unwinding from a brace mounted to the back of his greatcoat. He grabbed the end of the line, and extended his arm toward Aster. At the same moment, a voice cried out from above, suggesting a raider was in pain.

“Only got one o’ these. Be a peach an’ give this line a pull, would yeh?” Bade asked as Aster grabbed the cord from him. She did as requested, firmly yanking on the line with both hands. The same voice from above was suddenly heard again, this time letting out a drawn-out scream.

A raider fell into view, and Glenn grimaced slightly at the sight. The bolt that Bade had fired had embedded itself in the unfortunate target’s chest, and the raider was now hurtling down from the cliff, still bleeding from the entry wound.

A heavy-looking bag was falling with him. Reacting quickly, Aine performed a spell of some kind, and the large satchel slowed in its descent, coming to a gentle stop on the rocky ground.

Its owner was less fortunate. With a sickening impact, the raider crashed to the ground, his scream ending very promptly. His survival seemed unlikely.

Aine rushed toward the cliff to join the others now, Doane just a few steps behind her. He only narrowly evaded another explosion as a bomb was dropped onto the space he and Aine had just been occupying, resulting in another fireball seconds after it landed. Momentarily stopping to wrench the grappling bolt out of the dead raider’s body, he joined his comrades under the cliffside as well.

“Stupid bastards…” Bade was saying, accepting his grapple line back from Doane. “Got enough explosives there t’level a village, an’ they just stand up there chuckin’ ‘em down at us. Could’ve jus’ set a trap big enough t’send every one of us t’the void in one go.”

“Well, seeing as they didn’t, what’s the next move?” Aine asked, panting with the strain of having to so quickly switch between concentrating on spells and sprinting for safety.

“This.”

Bade suddenly launched forward, and at the same moment, several more bombs landed nearly, setting off yet more explosions that threatened to bring down the entire stretch of cliffside above the group. Deftly avoiding the landing zones, Bade reached the dropped bag of explosives the fallen raider had been hauling and turned on his heel, bringing it right back. He stopped early, reaching into the bag and pulling out three of the handheld explosives it contained.

“Magic lass – any chance yeh know a barrier spell or summat?”

Aine sighed, but threw her hands forward, her usual display of ghostly runes appearing around both her arms and Bade’s position. Bade, meanwhile, was fastening the three explosives he’d taken to another different bolt from within his greatcoat.

“Get ready teh run!” he called out, before aiming his crossbow upward again and firing off a shot.

The bolt looked unlikely to make a lot of distance with three bombs crudely fastened to it, but it seemed to perform at least as well as Bade had hoped. A moment passed, and a deafening blast shook the entire space around them.

“Move!!”

Wasting no time, the group took off from their position behind the rocks, following Bade’s lead as he slung his crossbow back into place at his side.

All around them, streaks of bright flame fell from the space above, as if the sky was raining fire down on them. The raiders up on the cliffs were in a complete panic, screams erupting all around. Bade’s shot had clearly caused all the trouble he needed.

Keeping pace with his friends, Glenn briefly looked back, and his mouth fell slightly open.

The entire cliffside above where they’d been positioned was a miniature inferno, flames blanketing the band of raiders from above. Whatever had been in the bolt Bade had used, it had reacted quite powerfully with the pilfered explosives.

---

Moving back into the forest, the group came to a halt as they arrived next to a river.

No one could speak completely clearly, their exhaustion from the past few minutes finally taking effect. Glenn slumped into the grass, panting for air, but when he looked up again, he had a wide grin on his face.

“Bade, that was-…” He barely even knew what to say. The new recruit in their travelling party was already proving to be a more valuable addition than he ever could’ve hoped to receive.

Bade laughed for a moment between heavy breaths.

“Raiders? They’re nothing.” he said. A moment later, he gave a strained groan and toppled to his side, clearly also exhausted.

“You could’ve saved at least one of them for me.” Aster laughed. “Haven’t punched anything today.”

For a few minutes, the group exchanged only the odd comment here and there, just resting in the aftermath of the attack. The raiders seemed unlikely to try and pursue them, if any had even survived Bade’s counterattack.

Aster was at the riverside, splashing water onto her face.

“Aine, you still worried we aren’t gonna make it back home?” she asked, grinning. Aine didn’t respond. “Aine?”

She looked back to find Aine staring at the ground, her eyes tracing a path along it.

“What, see something?”

Aine stood up, taking a step back.

“Look at where we’re sitting.” she said plainly. Aster blinked, pushing a bit of her black hair away from her face.

“… W-wait…”

“These are footprints.” Aine said, backing up for a better look. “We’ve all been sitting right in them!”

“Huh?”

Glenn rose to his feet as well, and to his amazement, he could almost immediately tell that Aine was exactly right. The ground at the riverside, where they’d all been resting, was visibly sunken down in several different areas around them, and now that he looked, he could pick out the shape of a bare foot, several toes…

“The Oeza have been right here?”

It seemed so. The recent rain appeared to have partially masked them, but there were clearly footprints left by at least one Oeza woman dotting this area, looking identical to human footprints, though obviously much larger.

Doane gave a low laugh.

“So those raiders actually pointed us right to where we needed to be.” he said. “By the void…”

“Then we follow the tracks.” Glenn said. He darted along the river for a moment, and his face lit up. “Yes! They go right along here!”

The shift in luck was hard to believe.

---

Once everyone was sufficiently rested, they were on the move again. Following the river upstream, they were able to continually track the movement of at least one Oeza woman, if not more, weaving along the thinner area of forest that now surrounded them.

It was hard not to be intimidated by the incredible size of the footprints, each one large enough to match the entire bodies of at least two people, but with the addition of Bade to their group…

“Oeza won’t stand a chance against us…!”

The group was silent, and Glenn became aware of what he’d just said a moment later.

“I-I mean…”

“And there it is.” Aine sighed. “You keep saying it, but you just can’t get your fantasy about fighting them out of your head, can you, Glenn?”

“I didn’t-… look, I know we can’t hope to just walk up and starting swinging, but…”

“Glenn, I followed all of you out here because Doane and Aster are my friends, and even if you’re a stubborn moron who can’t shake his delusional hero fantasies, I’d really rather not let you get killed. But if you start trying to pick a fight with the Oeza, you can forget about me backing you up.”

“Aine.” Aster interjected, sounding stern.

“If Glenn wants a suicide mission, he can have it, but I’m not sticking around.” Aine went on, turning her glare to her friend. “Being ambushed by raiders twice was enough for me. He’s lucky to even still be alive, Aster.”

Aster sighed. “You always call Glenn an idiot, but he isn’t one. He’s a great guy, and I’ve got his back no matter how this goes.”

Doane nodded. “Aine, I’ve known you since you could barely speak, let alone use magic well enough do half of what you can do now. I won’t tell you that you have to agree with Glenn, but just think again about why you’re out here. And you know -- if you’re afraid, you’ve got every right to be.”

Aine cast him a frustrated look. “The only thing I’m afraid of is Aster and Glenn getting the rest of us killed.”

Bade had slowed down, trailing behind the group to avoid participating in the conversation.

“Oi!” he called out suddenly. “There’s a lake up ahead!”

Distracted by their conversation, the others hadn’t noticed, but he was right. There was a large clearing up ahead, and with it, a reasonably large lake came into view, the sun sparkling off the clear surface of the water.

“Good time for a proper break.” Aine said. It sounded as if she very much wanted to end the discussion that had been building up. “Is anyone hurt at all? Healing is… complicated, but I can probably help, if you’re in any pain.”

“Aye, brilliant.” Bade said, stepping forward. He removed his greatcoat, all of its equipment clattering loudly on the ground as he dropped it. “Haven’t had the time teh check for bruises, but…”

“Let me see.” Aine said, examining him.

“Aster? Wanna go for a quick swim?” Glenn asked.

Aster blinked in surprise, but then grinned. “You’re on.” She shook her heavy boots off, kicking them aside.

Glenn removed his own boots as well, along with taking off all of his travel gear and the blue coat he favoured. By the time he worked his undershirt off of his head, Aster was already moving toward the water.

With most of her clothing removed, her imposing figure was put on full display. Her back was scarred in several places, much like the rest of her body, and the incredible muscle mass she was so proud of was accentuated more than ever now that she was dressed only in thin shorts and a bra.

She rushed into the water, beckoning for Glenn to join her. He tossed his undershirt aside as well, and followed.

While the two friends enjoyed a bit of time swimming in the lake, Aine had moved on to checking Doane over for any injuries.

“Oh, Doane, why didn’t you mention this earlier…?” she asked sadly. “It wouldn’t have been hard for me to patch up, and you wouldn’t have been in pain for so long…”

“You’ve got bigger concerns, Aine.” he said earnestly. “No sense in worrying over an old man all the while.”

She shook her head, finishing up the job of healing a jagged gash on Doane’s right leg from the previous day’s fight with the first raider ambush.

“Alright, stand on it.” she said, the runes hovering around her hands vanishing.

Doane stood up, chuckling. “Good as new.” he said. “Why don’t you take a swim with Aster and Glenn?”

She gave a little laugh. “Are you trying to say I need to bathe, old man?”

Doane responded with a louder laugh, his deep voice echoing across the clearing.

---

When Glenn and Aster returned from the lake a short while later, chatting idly with one another, Aine held a hand up to stop them.

“Hold on.” she said. “Don’t move; I want to try something.”

Aster raised an eyebrow, but didn’t object. A few seconds passed before another swirl of runes appeared around Aine’s extended arm, and a sudden, violent flurry of wind began to rush past them.

“Whoa-…!!”

Aster’s lengthy hair was flapping wildly in the air behind her, and fell against her back in a messy curtain when the wind finally stopped as Aine lowered her hand.

“Well… I guess we’re dry now?” Aster said, glancing toward Glenn.

“That’s the idea.” Aine said with a nod. “Now, are you two ready to set out again?”

---

The trail of footprints next led them to the end of the forested area. Ascending a hill, the group soon found themselves overlooking a huge valley.

Leading the party, Aster froze.

“Uh… Glenn?”

He caught up, and his breath hitched in his throat.

They had found the Oeza.

Down in the valley below their position, an incredible sight had appeared. A woman could be seen strolling casually along a path carved into the barren ground of the valley, but this was no human woman. Standing well over one hundred feet tall, the first Oeza woman Glenn had seen in twelve years was unmistakable.

She wasn’t alone. Following the footprints had led them to an entire community of Oeza, at least a dozen other similarly colossal women in plain view, some walking around, and others seated and engaged in other activities. They wore only patchwork clothing, looking more like underwear alone. Gathering enough materials to make clothing at their incredible size was quite a bit harder than it was for humans, no doubt.

The sight was already enough to stop Glenn dead in his tracks, his body completely frozen up, but as he and his companions looked down into the valley, there was one Oeza woman in particular whom he couldn’t tear his eyes from once he spotted her.