Calixxa was doing as well as he could hope. The little girl remained ensconced in her meditation, mana slowly drifting towards her from her attending watchers. They assured him of her continued good state and then prodded him for details regarding the assault. 

Ash didn’t have the heart to let them know all the gruesome details, and especially about the line of dead he’d seen being carried away by the shamans. 

That kind of image did no one good, and so he opted to simply inform them that the horde was destroyed, and the village saved for the moment. 

They were either satisfied with that, or understood enough to know to not ask for any further details. With that done, he bid them goodbye and returned to the wall where a frenzy of activity abounded. Ash spied strange glass-like contraptions through which copious amounts of mana was being funnelled into the walls and troops of what he assumed were engineers repairing ballistae and rearming defences. 

Goblins were being healed and fed and up, in the midst of all that activity, stood Sylaxxa and Senniaxx, the proverbial calm in the middle of the storm, Myr and a handful of goblins that looked like they were of some high rank right beside them. 

Ash quickly found his way towards the trio and was immediately beset by several pairs of eyes locked onto him with a keen focus. Myr simply nodded hello and he smiled in her direction as he joined the gathering. 

“You return! How is the little one you care so much for? Calixxa is her name, I believe?” asked Senniaxx with what Ash was quickly coming to realize was the goblin’s usual level of exuberance. 

“She’s still meditating but yeah, seems fine. Thank you for taking care of her by the way. Both you and er, honoured elder Sylaxxa.” 

The elderly goblin snorted at his use of her title. “Don’t go kissing up to me now, child. I get enough of that from everyone else.” 

He smiled sheepishly and nodded. 

“So, uh, how are the tribe’s preparations going?” 

“Preparations?” 

“Yeah, for the big finale against the Lord.” 

Senniaxx laughed at that and even Sylaxxa gave him an amused smile. “You seem to underestimate the depth of power that a being that stands on the threshold to veritable godhood can command, trusted human Ash.” 

“Preparation? I may make a speech every now and then that alludes to our indomitability and undefeated spirit, but every goblin in the village knows the stark truth, and that is the simple fact that there isn’t a Sinnaxx-damned thing that a small force like ours can prepare that can hope to defeat a tier six monster.” 

“Its tier five attendees? Perhaps we have a chance there, if we exhaust our every resource and paint this land in goblin blood to do so. But the true danger itself?” 

The chief sighed, his ever-present smile growing sombre as he left the conclusion unsaid. 

“This is not some last, desperate attempt at saving our village, child.” clarified Sylaxxa softly. “What you see before you is our final, petty defiance in the face of doom itself. Had we any sense, we would’ve abandoned our village like so many other tribes have done and taken our chances in the wilds.” 

“To the sky with that!” snarled Senniaxx lowly. “There is no honor in fleeing your home only to watch your kin be picked off one by one in this hellish forest of beasts and the elements. No, if I am to die, I will die here, on the earth upon which I was born and amidst my stalwart warriors. This village will be my resting place and no other.” 

Sylaxxa snorted at that. “And you’ll get your rest brat, that is, unless the prophecy holds true.” she added almost as an after-thought. 

And then everyone’s attention was really on him. Ash nearly shrank away from their gazes so filled with emotions of every variety. Acceptance, doubt, suspicion, hope and more. Perhaps the only thing he didn’t see in them was, surprisingly enough, fear. 

“Yes, the prophecy.” added a goblin that he had yet to be introduced to, though his garb and the way he held himself, and most importantly, his presence within this esteemed gathering made obvious his high station within the village. The goblin’s voice was thick with scepticism as he continued. “This tier two human is somehow meant to save us all? Is he the reason why you supported Councillor Cyrillaxxa in her decision to allow trusted human Myr into our embrace, honoured elder?” 

“Hardly. Her arrival in our forest precedes my vision by many years. I simply saw no reason to continue living as closed off as we are.” 

“I see.” The goblin seemed unconvinced, his thick bushy beard hiding what Ash didn’t doubt was a deep frown upon his lips. “Well, boy, as certain as I am of all our deaths on this day, I hope you manage to surprise us nonetheless.” 

“A tier two felling a tier six. That would indeed be a surprise. As much as the earth turning to sky and our Lord Sinaxx adopting the colours of his mother.” remarked another goblin, likely a commander or general by the looks of him, with a hearty laugh. More voices rose up in chuckles at that, and Ash was left awkwardly smiling at the verbal jabs. 

Their conversation quickly turned to other matters after that, and Ash allowed his gaze to discreetly turn towards the elderly shaman herself. 

He had no clue what Sylaxxa had seen in her prophecy that gave her even the faintest shadow of a belief that he could do a damn thing in this situation, but after facing a tier three and nearly dying, he knew well that he didn’t possess diddly-squat in his repertoire to save the Everwatch tribe. 

He had no hidden power-up. No secret kekkai genkai or over-powered item that housed some ancient master willing to part with a godly spell. 

No nothing. 

All he had was himself and the miniscule level of power that he’d managed to cultivate in the scant month and a bit that he’d spent in this world. 

He doubted that it would be enough. He withheld his frustrated frown and instead quietly parted from the group, Myr following after him a moment later. 

“Don’t take that prophecy stuff too seriously. I don’t think anyone’s really expectin’ you to save the village from a tier six.” 

“Sylaxxa would disagree.” 

“Yeah, well, I don’t claim to know what goes on in that head of hers but from what I’ve heard an’ read of ‘em, prophecies are either fake prattle made to satisfy dumb folk, or the stark truth, in which case they’ll come true no matter what you do anyway. So, stop makin’ that dumb face and relax. Whatever’ll happen will happen, and once things start goin’ downhill, we’ll pick that brat up and run for the hills. We owe this village a fair bit, but not our lives.” 

He cringed at her absolutely pitiless tone, as if abandoning the tribe she’d worked with for years to, and likely owed some debt to, their doom was done as easily as breathing. It brought the words that Kross had said rushing back to his mind, but Ash shunted them away and refocused himself. 

As hard as it was to accept, she was right. They didn’t owe these goblins their lives, and more importantly, he couldn’t let Calixxa die here. Worse comes to worse, he’d flee as far and as fast as he could and live with the consequences. 

It was the smart thing to do. 

Ash grit his teeth and stared into the distant tree-line, his heart weary and his body more so. 

◆◆◆◆◆ 

It had started like a drum-beat. A vibration that shook him to his very core. Without being told, he knew then that the Lord had arrived. It was still far away, Sylaxxa had told him. Perhaps a few kilometres still, but the simple fact that they could feel its approach even from that kind of distance made clear the sheer power held by the foe they were facing. 

And with every passing moment, that drum-beat grew louder and stronger, until it was less a drum-beat and more an all-consuming thunderous clang upon his soul itself. It had nearly become unbearable when both Sylaxxa and the chief exuded their presences like a blanket over the wary goblin defenders. 

That had helped, but the aura of mere tier fours couldn’t stand easily against one twice their better. Still, they tried their best, as did every shaman and mage the Everwatch could bring to bear, the collective power of an entire tribe raised to simply keep its warriors standing in the presence of the coming threat. 

The thought left him weak at the knees, and yet he firmed himself and stood standing nonetheless. He had come too far now. Running wasn’t an option... yet. 

It took an hour before the Lord was nearly upon them, its figure hidden from them by a scant few trees. And then, like a candle in the wind, its presence fled and the air was light once again. Ash nearly reeled from the sudden and unexpected shift, and many hapless goblin mages and shamans stumbled on their feet as the weight they were struggling to buoy disappeared. 

A few seconds passed with every being looking towards the treeline in tense silence, waiting. Watching. 

And then, finally, as if the coming of the last act in some long, drawn-out play, did it finally appear. The Lord stood before them. 

It was a beast of multitudes. Ash could hardly understand just what he was looking at, such was its shifting, bizarre nature. It had at first resembled a monstrously sized lion thrice as large as one had any right to be, but then its back sprouted thick black fur and a goat’s head that shifted through the body as if it were wading through placid waters, features churning and blending as the two heads made contact until the lion was gone and only the goat remained. 

It shifted again scarcely a second later, the goat disappearing in ripples to be replaced by a snake, and then again, a hippo, and then an eagle before it finally returned to a lion once again and then the cycle started anew. 

It was hard and disorienting to watch, but none of the defenders upon the wall dared to look away. 

“Azgarde the Everchanging. Third of the Four Lords, and Master of the South.” said Sylaxxa in a dread tone that somehow carried across the wall. “Of all the Lords, it is the one that we know the least of.” 

“Some claim it to be the weakest of the four Lords.” remarked Senniaxx. 

The elder shaman scoffed at that. “Even the weakest giant is still a giant. Our doom remains the same.” 

There was no contesting that. 

The Lord spent a few quiet moments staring at them, its chimeric eyes betraying its abundant intelligence, before finally, something happened. From the forest appeared three other figures, all monstrous beings of various shapes and sizes and though their presences were muted, Ash could immediately tell that these were the tier fives that served the Lord. 

One of their number, a stone-skinned beast that vaguely resembled a wingless gargoyle stepped forth, its mien reserved, but its intent obvious. It was a challenge. 

“Win against my servants, and be spared.” 

Its voice was a soundless ethereal thing that pierced directly into the skull of every being in the village, resonating like the clang of thunder from the skies above.  

Ash reeled from the spell, a fit of dizziness overtaking him as he tried to endure the mere voice of a tier six. And he wasn’t the only one. Worse off were the tier one warriors, their faces ashen as they stumbled onto the earth as if exhausted from a long bout. It took them a long while to recover, and some had to be hauled away for healing. 

Ash found his feet again eventually, and turned to search for where Myr stood. The woman seemed as stricken as he was though her abundant constitution allowed her to weather the effect with a greater ease. Still, it did little to take away the fear made plain on her face. 

A fear he failed to find on Senniaxx’s visage. The goblin sported an enthused grin as he chewed on the Lord’s challenge before finally, he turned to his warriors. 

“The Lord doesn’t wish to waste its power on us. It sends forth its attendants instead. How insulting.” remarked Senniaxx with a wild grin. “Come then, elder. Should we not go forth to meet this challenge?” 

“Aye. I’ve lived too long anyway. Might as well see this end in a fitting manner, no?” she said with a smile before turning to Ash, her silvery eyes open and her bearing betraying not even an ounce of fear. 

“Are you prepared to see this one’s final stand, child?” 

“Not really.” he admitted, a grimace on his face. 

The elder laughed at that. “Then change it, oh prophesized saviour of ours.” 

“I can’t. I’m just a tier two! I can’t save anything!” 

The woman stared at him then, her expression placid despite the fact that she was walking to her death. 

“And that is the problem, child. That simple thought. You do yourself a disservice by trying to convince yourself that I must be wrong, or the prophecy false, or some other explanation why the burden of this village’s salvation was placed on your shoulders. I say otherwise. You hold within you the power to save us, Ash Pale, so even if you cannot believe in yourself, believe in what’s here.” 

The elder pressed a small palm against his chest, an unknowable look in her eyes. He frowned, he didn’t think the power of love would be of any use right then, but he said nothing. 

She stared at him a moment more, not another word said, before with a final lingering smile, she leapt gracefully onto the field below, Senniaxx and seven other goblins following closely behind. 

Ash watched her go, his heart in his throat as a torrent of guilt and disbelief wracked his mind. He clenched his fists, unsure of what she meant or how she could be so sure of something even he didn’t know of, and thoroughly resentful of how powerless he was to help both her and the village. 

He clenched his fists, the desire to leap into the fray rising in his gut, only for a hand upon his shoulder to quell him. 

Myr’s piercing blue eyes stared into his green. “No. This ain’t your fight. Think of Calixxa, if nothin’ else. She needs you alive.” 

And like cold water washing over him, he felt his fury die down at the thought of leaving that girl alone again in this world. Ash grit his teeth, his heart in conflict as he forced himself to look upon what likely would be the tribe’s last stand. 

“Sorry about this, but a one-on-one fight against a tier five would hardly be fair. Seven tier threes and two tier fours against your champion will likely be enough to even the odds some.” 

The Lord gazed upon Senniaxx, its ever-shifting eyes almost appraising, before it nodded slightly. 

And thus did the clash of giants begin.