Chief Fritz was having a rare peaceful day before the giant appeared in the sacred forest. These kind of days were harder and harder to come by ever since the Marleyans invaded. He was 10 years old when they first came. At the age of 14, he lost his father and had to become the new chieftain of the Eldian tribe. The Marleyans had thought that a tribe lead by a teenage boy would be easy pickings. They were wrong. Fritz kept his tribe together and was able to fiercely resist the Marleyans even as the other tribes fell around them and they became the last ones standing.

But as he observed his tribesmen going about their day, he wondered how long he could keep this up. With the defeat of all the other tribes, Marley can finally focus their whole attention on them. No matter how many soldiers they kill, Marley can just bring more. Sooner or later, they were going to lose. His advisors had recommended surrendering many times. Fritz had gotten angry at them for suggesting such a thing then, but now he considered their words. His blood boiled at the thought of surrendering to those who killed his father, but was revenge worth getting his tribe killed.

He was mulling upon his thoughts when he saw the tribe's shaman and some others run upto him. Their frightened expressions made him expect the worst.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"...The sacred forest.." blurted out the shaman.

The sacred forest was a forest at the outskirts of the village. The divine tree Yggdrasil was supposed to be found there, planted by the gods. Because of this, no one was allowed to enter the forest.

Fritz resisted the urge to sigh. For a long time, the shaman had been asking him to post guards around the sacred forest, lest the Marleyans enter it and desecrate the place. He had refused. He did not believe in the gods. What god would let the Marleyans abuse them so? He didn't have enough soldiers that he could let some loiter around the forest.

"For the last time old man, I don't care if Marleyans have been spotted near it, I can't spare any soldiers to guard that forest."

"It's not the Marleyans, my chief, but something else entirely." said Baugi, one of his best warriors. "Something that no man has ever set his eyes upon, something only spoken of in legends."

Fritz frowned. Baugi was a levelheaded man not prone to fits of fancy or exaggeration.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"A giant, my chief" said Baugi "A giant has suddenly appeared in the sacred forest."