They're trapped.
Breath like rotten leaves blasts over them as the creature bellows, creating winds as strong as a hurricane that threaten to blow them all away.
Crouching low to the ground behind Arthur, the sound of trees snapping draws Alfred's attention to the wall of destroyed forest to his right. The massive rocks move as, what Al can only describe as fingers, wrap around the plants and stones, gathering one impossibly large handful up into the air, it brings the mass to its open mouth. Lifting his hands to cover his head and neck, bits of tree splinters, dirt and stones rain down over them as the creature crunches on the mess.
As he watched it, Al saw something squirming around, trying to get free of the trapping beast. Though it was only for a second, he could have sworn he saw a spider leg the size of his arm and what looked like a grey-skin baby face poking through the dark branches before being swallowed up by the rock monster.
But he didn't have time to dwell on it, as the rock creature, mouth still working over it's earthen snack, turned it's attention to the forest once more.
Bolting as fast as his legs can carry him, Alfred rushes for the only cover around, diving down into the steep sloped pit created by the things arm only moments ago. The soft, damp soil causes him to lose his footing halfway down, and he tumbles to his side, ending up rolling down to the bottom of the pit. Gilbert is right behind him, making it look easy as he hops over the dirt edge and skilfully skids down the side, while Arthur simply jumps straight to the bottom, finally putting Matthew down who was beginning to feel like a rag doll.
Another bout of rotten air rushes over their heads as a cacophony of large trees snapping like twigs rings just above them.
"Holy shit!" Al cries, pressing his back to the pit edge as he watches the immense shadow the thing casts as it effortlessly clears more of the area around them. "What the hell is that thing?"
Slowly crawling to crouch beside Al, Matthew murmurs in awe, "It's a Titan…"
Frowning, Al tries to think back on any of his training mentioning Titans, but finds his knowledge severely lacking. To his left, Alfred can see Gilbert looking up at the edge of their cover, his red eyes glowing as a deep frown settles on his face.
"It's stripping the entire forest around us, eating or crushing anything it sees trying to get away." He sighs, looking to his feet as his eyes return to normal, "If we try to run, we'll be crushed."
"But we can't stay here." Matt argues.
"No," Gil agrees, hurriedly thinking of a plan.
Alfred knows that look, and he feels his stomach drop at the sight. "Oh no," he shakes his head, not wanting to believe what he's seeing, "Gil, your not seriously thinking of trying to take that thing on are you?"
"We don't have a choice!" Gilbert snaps, unconsciously reverting back to treating Alfred like a trainee under his guidance. Decision made, he turns to Matthew, "Matt, do you know any spells that can alter weight at will?"
"Um, maybe?" Matt answers, caught of guard by the odd question. Not used to being put on the spot so suddenly, he quickly runs through his index of spells he's memorised.
But they don't have time to wait around, as with another deafening roar, the ground violently shakes as the tips of the Titan's fingers curl over the top of the pit, and pull back, effortlessly digging away their cover as mounds of dirt collapses in on them.
Scrambling to not be buried alive, they rush through the long trench away from the Titan's hand.
"Matt?!" Gil pleads desperately as they run.
"I-I don't know!"
The shadow shifts, looming over them again as a warning of the Titan's attention now on them.
Fully taking charge Gil orders, "Alfred, you and the wolf distract the beast, buy us as much time as you can!"
"Distract it?!" Al balks at the order, "How?!"
"Hell if I know, just go!" Gil orders, they're quickly running out of cover.
Seeing the same predicament, Alfred groans in frustration as he waves to Arthur. Through their bond, the message is easily understood, and a moment later the wolf comes to a sliding halt as Alfred hurriedly turns to climb onto his back.
"We're so dead..." He moans, but grips on tight anyway as Arthur quickly pushes up to stand and easily leaps out of the pit.
He draws his sword as he effortlessly finds his position on Arthur's back once more, and swallows as he looks up at the Titan before them.
A somewhat humanoid shaped mountain of stone and rippling branches looms. Still kneeling in the crater it woke up from, the sky is completely blotted out by the uneven bulk of rock that forms it's head. Alfred can't see anything that could be called eyes, or any facial features really besides the massive cavern that splits open like a mouth as it stuffs more trees inside. But it must see him, as it's rocky hand lifts from scraping away the trench to drift over towards them.
"Arthur!" He urges as the sound of rocks grinding fills the air above them, the dark shadow of the limb slipping to cover them.
He doesn't need to say anything more as the wolf charges, easily picking up speed over the soft and uneven ground. They leap over and around the remains of downed trees, and misplaced boulders, and as the hand descends, Al grins up over their heads.
"It's big, but slow!" He cries as the hands slams into the ground several meters behind them.
Looking to his sword, Al doubts if it'll have much of an effect, but it's worth a shot. His intentions travel through their bond, and before he's even fully formed the thought, Arthur is skidding into a tight turn, twisting around to run straight for the hand partially embedded in the ground behind them.
Not much aiming is needed to strike the massive rock pillar that is the Titan's arm, but just as he thought, even Al's newly upgraded Soul Reaver clanks uselessly off the solid rock, his arm bouncing back with the force of the hit.
"Damn it." He huffs as the Titan tilts it's head, it's other arm rising to chase after them. "Just how in the Gods names does Gil think we can take this down?"
"Matt," Gilbert urges in a voice sounding a strange mix of desperation and comfort, his hands resting on Matthew's shoulders as they both kneel in the shallow end of the trench, "Just concentrate, I know you gotta have something we can use tucked away in that big head of yours."
He flicks his gaze up to the edge of their remaining cover. He knows Alfred'll do everything he can to buy them time, but time is against them here. Looking back to the teen in front of him, Gil holds his breath as Matt closes his eyes, a slight frown creasing his brow as he no doubt runs through every spell he can think off.
Finally after what feels like a small eternity his eye's snap open, nervously shifting around as he thinks over something.
"I might have something, but it'll only last for a few seconds."
Gil nods, "That's all I'll need."
Suddenly looking around them, Matt snatches up a oil black leaf and a dirt covers stone the size of a small pebble.
"Lighter of heavier?" He asks.
"Both," Gil frowns as he runs through his plan, "able to switch at will would be best."
"Got it." Matt hurriedly clears the ground in front of him of any other leaves and stones, then quickly digs rings through the soft soil with his fingers.
Gilbert recognises a few of the ruins he rights, but he's more preoccupied keeping an eye out for the Titan as he hears the ground being impacted once more.
Dropping the leaf and stone into a circle each, Matt holds his hands out over them and quietly begins chanting, the rings lighting to glow with his magic. There's a roar from the beast above, and Gil tenses, but remains still, ready to grab Matt and run the second things get dangerous. Well, more dangerous.
The spell ends and Matt gestures to the objects, now slightly glowing with an imprint of the ruins running like violet veins across them.
"The leaf will lighten you to that of a feather, and the stone will weigh you down to that of a great boulder." He explains, pausing before worriedly adding, "Or it should, but it was rushed so I can't say it'll be exact, but each one will only last for four seconds." He then grimaces slightly, "To use them you have to, um, eat them. Sorry."
Not even fazed, Gil snatches up the items, stuffs them in a loose fold of his tunic, draws his sword, looks up at the trench edge and grins.
"Stay here." He warns, then springs up, vaulting over the edge.
The Titan grumbles in what Al thinks might be annoyance as he and Arthur run under it's hands, causing it's arm's to cross, then doubles back to have Arthur leap across it's slow fingers, his sword clanking loudly as he swings, aiming to at least chip off some rock.
Though perhaps frustrating it wasn't the best idea, as much to his horror, the Titan rises up to it's feet, now even larger as it aims it's much wider rock like feet to step on them. However, Alfred happily realises even as it's massive foot rushes towards them, they're not out played yet.
"Arthur!" He shouts, and is infinitely thankful for their close bond letting him tell the wolf exactly what he's thinking.
At his name, Arthur leaps atop a large boulder in his path, but this time as his paws make contact, he let's his magic flow down into the stone, and out over the soft dirt all around. Alfred can feel the cold radiating off of Arthur as ice rapidly spreads out over the once forest floor.
He had hoped the large Titan would be destabilised by the ice and fall, but he didn't account for the creature being so heavy that it's dropping foot only cracks through it.
"Welp, I'm out of ideas." Al sighs, then his eyes bulge as he quickly ducks, "Oh shit!" He cries as the Titan twists to swing it's hand back through the air, only missing Al's head by inches.
Sitting back up, he doesn't have time to relax, as the arm swings back like a pendulum, now even lower, it's fingers rushing through the icy ground, hurtling toward them. Al's eyes widen in panic, Arthur's moving too fast to change directions in time, and he doesn't have a chance at blocking it.
Arthur must feel his sudden panic, but rather than sense fear back, Al feels a confident assurance as, much to his surprise, Arthur only picks up speed, running at what Al can tell is his top speed. Arthur is panting heavily below him, mouth open to take in as much air as he can, while his shear speed causes the wind to whip Al's hair around, his tunic flapping out behind him.
In the back of his mind Al knows he needs to get better at reading Arthur's specific intentions, as only a rough idea forms for him, but he trusts the wolf regardless, leaning down close to Arthur's back and tightening his grip. As the hand nears, Alfred feels the tingle of Arthur's magic flowing into him, but there's something different about it this time. Rather than the gentle ebb and tug of usual when sharing power, this surrounds him, encompassing his very being. His skin tingles sharply with the sudden cold, an almost oppressive, demanding force invading him, pulling him apart, and then, the Titan hand strikes.
They should have been splatted, turning into a crumpled pile of bones and blood from the sheer force of the impact, but… they weren't.
The massive rock hand rushed forward, finger tips digging dips into the soil as it aimed to flatten the charging wolf and rider, only for the pair to vanish. One moment there, the next, a flurry of snow flutters and rushes, spiralling around, over, and between the fingers of the Titan. The snow rushes, collecting back together into the shape of a wolf and rider behind the hand, and just like that, melts back to their original forms.
Alfred gasps, almost falling off Arthur's back. He felt like he'd just been shattered into a thousand tiny shards, scattered about and then rather abruptly shuffled back together, which, is pretty much what just happened.
He gapes, dozens of questions rocketing through his mind, but they don't have time to stand about as the Titan is far from done with them. Pushing the event from his mind for the time being, Al holds on tight once more as Arthur turns, running around the back of the beasts legs just as Al spies Gil climbing out of the trench.
The second he's out of the trench, Gilbert takes in everything he can. The Titan, now standing tall and swinging it's arms low at Alfred riding the wolf, the distance to the edges of the remaining forest, the distance from him to the beast and finally up to the sky, eyeing the small shape of Gilbrid circling above.
Tightening his grip on his sword, he breaks into a run, straight for the Titan. With his blade in hand, he swings and flicks the metal, the low glint of light reflecting off it gaining Al's attention, as with his other he signals the teen as series of commands; Turn, Hand to Ground, Retreat, get Matt. He know's the kid's got the message when he purposefully runs under the Titan's legs, striking them with a seemingly pointless clank of his sword, but actually drawing it to reach it's arm after him.
As the pair draw near, he calls a trilling whistle to Gilbrid, signalling his partner where to fly. He'll only get one shot at this, but that's all he needs.
Exactly as he planned, he watches as Alfred baits the Titan to slam it's hand down into the ground a few meters away, not breaking stride once as he raises his spare hand to tag Al out. He hears a rushed good luck as the kid and wolf run past, but he doesn't answer back, focused on jumping onto the Titan's fingers and up to the back of it's hand. With it's focus still held on Al, it doesn't even notice him, that is until he drives his sword down into a deep crack between the stones, his Flame Blade glowing orange inside.
Something like a howl of pain escapes the Titan as it jerks it's hand up, just like Gil had planned. At the exact moment the Titan recoils, he pulls his sword free with one hand, while with the other he finds the magic imbued leaf and stuffs it in his mouth, biting down on it to activate it's power. He feels the effects instantly, Matthew's magic lightening him to fly high into the air from the sudden momentum. He quickly whistles again, and before he can fall back to the ground, Gilbrid loops through the air behind him, talons reaching out to grasp Gilbert by the back of his tunic. He whistles out quick directions for the bird to adjust his angle and position, all while silently counting down how long he has before the spell wears off.
He whistles again, signalling his eagle to release him just before his time is up, and he begins to fall down over the Titan's head.
Just like before, with his left hand he twirls his sword, making it glow brighter and brighter with it's fire magic, and with his right hand shoves the magic stone in his mouth, crunching down on it to release it's magic.
Aiming the weight of his landing into the hilt of his sword, he crashes down onto the beasts head. His weight massively increased, the blade easily sinks deep into a carefully pinpointed crack, and the rest of his weight slams down, the force enough to topple the giant, falling face first into the ground with a deafening crash of rocks shattering and soil blasted out under it's body. The vines all around spasm as they try to reach for Gil, but the bright orange glow of his swords flames travel out from his strike, shining out of every crack like veins of power, and a horribly pained cry rips from the Titan's mouth in the dirt. Pushing down more, Gil feels as his sword burns the creature from the inside out, and then, silence.
The glow dies out in an instant as Gilbert pulls his sword free, charred rocks and vines crumbling off it as he rises to stand, the beast still beneath his feet.
Matthew stares. Alfred stares. Arthur stares.
The Titan is dead.
Authors notes: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Gilbert is a badass.
So yeah, we've only been in the Wilderness for a short while, an already our boys have faced mind bending enchantments, smug wolves, a trap and now a Titan. And there's still much more to come.
R & R people.
Until next time, stay awesome!