CHAPTER 2: BOOKS OF OLD

When I was a young boy, my mother would read to me, not out of duty, but to fill the endless hours. She chose books of old, their pages thick with dust, untouched on the shelf for years. They told the tales of the greatest Colossals to ever walk our land, the rulers who shaped Caelum into what it is today. Each had a legend, passed down through generations, and as I listened, I dreamed of following in their footsteps. Conquering cities, slaying beasts, exploring the unknown, these were the stories that stirred my heart. What I never realized was that my fate had already been written. No matter how I tried, I could never escape it.

Xanthe was the first to tell me that the legends were real, not just myths whispered in the dark. By the time I turned ten, she had already been gone for two years. I often wondered where she was, how she fared, and if she still thought of me. Mother never spoke of her, and as time passed, I began to see the world differently. There was something wrong, something undeniably strange about me. My body was nothing like my mother's. I had always known I was small, but only then did I realize just how small. I barely reached the size of her hand.

Questions flooded my mind, refusing to leave. Why wasn't I as big as Mother? Or at least as tall as Xanthe? Why didn't I have a name like they did? Why did we live so far from the city, from the other Colossals? It felt as if these questions gnawed at my very being, and deep down, I knew Mother held the answers. But she kept them hidden.

A part of me longed to ask. Another part wanted to run, to leave these woods and the memories they held. I yearned to see the city with my own eyes: the towering stone houses, the castle rising above them, the horses and chariots racing through the streets. I had dreams too, ones that couldn't be caged within these trees. Xanthe had shown me that there was more to the world than this quiet existence, and staying here felt suffocating.

But in the end, I remained the obedient son. I couldn't defy my mother. She had her reasons for leaving the city, for hiding us away in this lonely place. And though I didn't understand them, I wasn't yet brave enough to find the truth on my own.