Felarya - Jade - The Protector arrives

"Make the old man proud, huh?"

These were the last words she had ever heard of Then, the more than unusual wizard that had accompanied Jade almost a decade of her life. After that he had opened her a gate to this strange new place and without a chance to return – like she had asked for. It was strange walking into an uncertain future, only knowing that there was no easy way back this time, but it had to be done. Over the last ten years the young giant Jade had become a woman and she also had learned a lot, especially what it meant to stay humble and not to rush head straight forward. Nine years ago, a life changing encounter with an enemy way stronger and more powerful, that had almost cost her life, made her finally see. Thanks to the training of her old master and her friends she had become strong, sure, but she was not invincible – quite the opposite. That day when she had lost this fight, she barely escaped with her life and many broken bones and damaged organs. She should not have survived but fate was with her that moment and so she had learned her lessons. The following years she had tried to help smaller beings all over different worlds but all the time there was this nagging feeling, that she did not change anything. Whenever she had left a world and returned later, she had to learn that most of the time the status quo was set up and if Jade would have known what they are, she would have understood the term “fighting against windmills”.  And so, she had asked Then if he knew a place where Jade would be needed more permanently, and he had an idea. “It is a dangerous place though. I have only heard about it and even for us bigger species it’s not always safe, but I don’t think this will stop you, huh?” and he was not wrong: It did not stop Jade in the end and so, after some preparations and a goodbye that felt it was meant forever, she had stepped through the portal.

That had been two days ago and since then Jade had tried to figure out more about this world. Felarya was it name and it was completely different than she had expected. When Then mentioned that humans here could need some help, she imagined a world that was full of cities and building of people like her or of similar size, but this world was more wilderness than civilization. The vegetation seemed off too since there were trees that did not grew extremely high and then again, she could spot a specimen that seemed to vanish within the clouds. Jade could not see why exactly this place was so desperately in need of someone like her, but she trusted in Thens advice. The first day she scouted the close are, hunted some game and inspected the vegetation for eatable fruits. It was some of the basic tasks she always did first when she arrived at a new world but at such a huge and wild place like this, she almost felt loss.  But even if she felt overwhelmed all the time, her basic instincts still did work quite well and why she was standing at the top of a hill that helped her overlook the larger area, she only pretended to be on lookout. In fact, she was more focused on listening because half the day she was followed by something … or someone to be more precise. It was not a wild animal, that was clear, but it wasn’t also a being like her walking on tow legs. For now, the giantess was sure that the stranger didn’t mean her any harm, since she had given him or her some opportunities where she seemed to be in a weak position, but there came never an attack. And so, she stayed alerted while she was exploring but all this pretending became tiresome. And so Jade decided to end this game of hide and seek.

“Whoever you are, I know that you are following me for some time now. Come out now or I’ll force you out.” Her voice was determined, and she tried to radiate a strong aura, moving her shoulders while she turned around to relax them. For the moment nothing happened but then there was some rustling between some of the trees and a creature came out of the protection of the woods. Jade blinked surprised because she had never seen such a creature before. It was half her size, and the upper body was clearly humanoid: a quite beautiful female face and a naked chest that presented two firm breasts. But the human parts ended below her belly where her body went into a snake-like tail. Her scales shimmered in a soft green tone and they gave her a strange but exotic look, enough to startle Jade for a moment so that she almost took a step back, before she reminded herself that she was the one who had to use the offensive if she wanted to be the one who kept the initiative. The snake-woman looked up to her and when Jade studied her face, she allowed herself to relax a little more. Whatever intention this creature had to follow her, almost everything, from her body stance to the sheepish expression on her face, told Jade that she did not mean any harm to the giant woman. Her arms were folded in front of her belly and she seemed to be trying to avoid direct eye contact.

“Um, hello …” she mumbled and suddenly she seemed to rethink if it was a good choice to get out of the protective shadows of the trees.

“Hello …” Jade replied still suspicious “Why are you following me?” she asked and crossed her arms, straightening her back.

“Oh, erm … well … I saw you arrive here and since this is kinda my territory I wanted to check out if you are dangerous or trouble. I mean, are you? You did not come here to take my territory, right?” the smaller creature tired everything to look at least a little bit threatening by making herself bigger while she lifted her upper body a little, but it didn’t really work.

Suddenly Jade felt almost sorry for the snake-lady and she shook her head. “No, I am no trouble. I’m sorry for entering your territory, I didn’t know about it. I arrived here two days ago from another world and I could not choose my entry point. I’ll be out here as soon as I know where to go.” She gave the stranger an awkward smile – Jade had never been too good at Smalltalk with others.

The other one seemed to be relieved to hear that news. “That’s good to know. I mean … I could have fight you, of course, but I prefer not to.” She added the last part quickly after she noticed the muscles all over Jade’s body. “Uhm … so may I ask you a question?” and without waiting she continued “why are you so big? Did a fairy use the wrong magic on you?”

Now it was on Jade to blink confused. “Beg me pardon? What do you mean?”

“Well … normally you humans are much smaller, and they only change size when a fairy gets to grab them when they shrink them. Usually, they are not making them bigger in size. Did you convince a fairy to enlarge you?” the shyness seemed to have vanished since the snake-woman was now eying her curiously.

“I … erm, no. That’s my real size. No one enlarged me or whatsoever. Did you say Fairy? They really exist? Not just in …. you know … fairy tales?”

The other looked at Jade like she was some kind of strange creature. “It is hard to believe that this is your size. But well, I’m not getting around quite a lot so what do I know? And yes, of course fairies are real. You sure some didn’t enchant you and you just lost your memory? That would be pretty cool … a human that was enlarged by a fairy and it went all crazy and you grew too much. I’m Leya by the way.”

“My name is Jade, nice to meet you Leya. What is this with fairies and humans? Why would they change the size of them? Is this some kind of game?” The whole situation seemed kind of weird to Jade and she needed to put some of the pieces together that the Leya threw at her. She didn’t really seem to accept the fact that Jade wasn’t from here or she just had overheard her explanation why she was here.

“A game?” Leya laughed and her long greenish hair dance din the air. “Well, maybe for the fairies. But the humans are probably not so happy since they end up in their bellies.”

Jade could feel a knot within her stomach when she had processed the meaning of Leya’s words. “They are eating them?!” she asked aghast.

“Well, yes, why wouldn’t they? We all do if we find some. They are tasty but there are rarely some that are so lost that they end up here. So, if you are looking for some for yourself, I have to disappoint you. And even if, I had the right of getting them first, since this is my territory. But I would share!” Leya nodded eagerly and gave Jade a happy smile.

Eating them. Well, there it was: The reason why she was here. For a moment the knot within her stomach seemed to loosen and cold anger tried to find it’s way up to Jade’s mind. They all did it, Leya had said and so the snake-like woman was hunting those humans too. Jade had to force herself to stay calm when she continued to ask. “And why is everyone eating them? There is plenty game in the woods, fruits, and all that. Those humans are intelligent creatures, aren’t they? You could say, like me, just smaller.”

Leya seemed to think about it, then shrugged. “Maybe. To be honest, I have only eaten two of them in my whole life. They taste great and are delicious, a real nice treat that is easy to hunt because they don’t seem to know anything about surviving out in the wilderness. The last one I got was lost here and when I found him, he just stood there, whimpering, and crying. If I would meet a huge predator, I wouldn’t just stand there, I would try to run. But he didn’t. Tried to tell me why I shouldn’t eat him. Silly human, really. If they are sooooo intelligent, they would defend themselves or run away, or whatever, right?”

Jade took some deep breaths. The urge to punch the creature right in the face was growing stronger and stronger but hen she had to remember that this wasn’t the right time. Back in the past she would have jumped at Leya, pushed her down to the ground and probably would have hurt her pretty bad. But there was something innocent and naïve within her voice and she wasn’t that wrong: If one of two humans she had ever captured was stupid enough to just stay there than it was probably his fault. Plus she needed more information and hitting the first friendly creature wouldn’t do her anything good. “I disagree with you Leya, I see them as worthy of my protection, but I won’t blame you for your point of view. But maybe you could help me out?”

Now the other one blinked baffled. For a moment it seemed like she thought about refusing but then again Leya looked over Jade’s athletic and muscular body and it seemed like she thought through her next words very carefully. “Well, erm … sure, how can I help you, Jade? And you are sure you’re not just a huge human with memory loss?”

“Pretty sure. Do you know if there are some human cities and where I could find more of them?”

Now Leya stared at her like Jade hat lost her mind. “What? Why? Why would you …? Look there is Negav but if you just get close to that city you’re in trouble. Even if you’re friendly to them they won’t like you. They are quite defensive. But if you’re looking for other humans you should probably heading towards the great tree that you see in the far. There are several rivers that are used by humans. But there are also some very mean predators that you should avoid. Just saying.”

Jade turned her head again and looked back at the huge tree in the distance. “Okay, maybe I’m gonna do that. Thank you Leya. It was a pleasure to meet you … just one more question. What exactly is your species called? I mean you have a tail, I have two legs ….” She didn’t continue in hope that the other one would understand where she wanted to go with this thought.

“Oh, I’m a Naga! It was a pleasure meeting you, Jade. But I have to go hunt now or I’ll have to go sleeping with an empty stomach. Good luck on your journey and I hope you’ll find whatever it is you want with those humans.”

And so the Giant and the Naga departed. Occasionally Jade stopped just to make sure that Leya didn’t follow her anymore but the snake-woman seemed to have spoken the truth. Plus, Jade was quite sure that Leya would not pick a fight with her. Still, it was an interesting but also disturbing chat about this world. Now she understood why Then had heard that the small-folk had trouble here. If the Naga had spoken the truth, humans were kind of endangered here – anymore reason for Jade to try and protect them as much as possible. But this could become quite a hard task. For now she was heading toward the Giant Tree which seemed to be far enough away so that she had quite some time to think about her strategy and how to deal with those kind of locals that weren’t that friendly and cooperative like Leya.

Days later

When he got up, Rhys was sure that this would be a good day. And he wasn’t wrong. The sun wasn’t shinning too hot today and when he made his usual route, he stumbled across two smaller elves that seemed to be lost. Once he was asked if he didn’t feel bald for hunting and eating his smaller brethren, but he didn’t see any differences to human, nekos or whatever he could catch. He was atop the food-chain and so everything that could fill his empty belly was welcome enough. The athletic giant Elf was just on his way back to his hideout, when he suddenly stopped, and his body stiffened. He could hear something … or somebody approaching. Was this another hunter or maybe someone he knew? He tried to locate the source of the noise but then it was gone again. Maybe the wind? He remained silent for a while and only the muffled whimpering and whining elves inside his closed left hand were to hear. When he was sure that there was nothing else, he turned around and continued his walk – it probably really was just the wind. And within a few seconds a great day turned into one of the worst days since weeks.

First Rhys didn’t notice the second sound and when he did, it was too late. Something hard hit him right at the back of his head and led him stumble forward. His vision became blurry and for a moment he had to struggle just to keep his balance. His free hand went to he back of his head where he was hit, and he could feel something wet. When he looked at his hand, he saw some blood on it, not much, but enough to let him frown.  His gaze went to the ground to look for the object that hit him and then he found a flint lying at the ground. For a human it would have been huge but for him it wasn’t much and especially not enough to hurt him seriously or even knock him out. But before the Elf realised the true reason for all this, it was too late. He didn’t see the knee that was aiming for his face in time and so the hard bone struck him right in the face. His head moved back and he could hear a breaking-noise where his nose was, while pain was shooting into his brain. He fell down on his back and tried to get up but he felt dazed so that his opponent was again faster. A shape was looming over him, grabbing his self-made grass-shirt by it’s collar and before he could even make a sound, someone punched him right in the face with a fist. It was a hard hit with enough momentum so that his head was slammed against the ground.

Rhys could taste blood in his mouth and he had trouble just to stay awake, when he heard some words that tried to reach his brain through all the pain. “LET THEM GO!” it was a female voice … another predator? Someone who tried to steal away his prey? “LET THE HUMANS GO! OPEN YOUR GOD DAMN HAND OR I SMASH YOUR HEAD TO PULP!” Now the words echoed within his pointy ears and he was able to focus. He gave the muscles of his right hand a command; there was no need to die for some food. He watched how he opened his own hand and the two captured Elves stumbled into their supposedly freedom. Foolish creatures, they did just change one belly for another. But to Rhys surprise the two were looking up while the other predator … spoke to them? He couldn’t really understand, his ears were ringing, and he had trouble to stay focused but later he remembered some strings of words like “You’re free, run!” and “I won’t repeat myself! I’m here to help you!”. Then someone leaned into his field of view. It was a woman … a human? No, she was way to big … a Giant … like this Teniya and the blond one he had seen once. But this one was different. She had a very stern expression and the only thing he remembered clear as water was that she wore a bandana with a green stone in it’s centre. “I know you want to dooze off but look at me. LOOK AT ME!” the woman slapped him right in the face and Rhys focused her. “Who …” he managed to croak. “I’m the new one here. I’m the one who is protecting those small ones from now on. If I ever find you hunting them or humans or the furry ones, I’ll beat you up again or even worse. Remember my face when you wake up … some things are about to change.” And before Rhys could even give an reply, the fist hit him right between the eyes and he fell unconscious. When he woke up, he was in pain. His nose was broken, and he had several bruises all over his face. He would remember this face of this woman … this so called “protector”.

Both Elves were able to escape, and Jade was happy. They were the third couple she had saved within the last days. This big Elf was the first one she had to beat up, the other two predators had been intimidated by her appearance so that they left their prey alone. It had been a risk to attack the elf and Jade was glad that she had the element of surprise on her side. She probably could have beaten him in a one-on-one battle but if there was no reason to force an open confrontation then she wouldn’t try to. Something she noticed that wasn’t different on this world was the fact that the freed small-ones didn’t seem to trust her, not matter how many times she told them that she wanted to help. At least they seemed to understand her, which was strange enough – but this wasn’t the only thing that was crazy about Felarya. Jade had lost her sense for time since she had been arrived and so she wasn’t sure if she was here for merely a few days, a week or even longer. But she had a good feeling about her work and it seemed like the small-folk here really could need her help.

Little did she know that within the next day, she would meet someone, that would change her life drastically and give birth to a place that would become a Safe Harbor for many more innocent souls.