LII: Zoran The Titan

In the novel 'Sojourners of a Titan,' the human species lived on a literal world-sized titan who they had named Zoran. The titan Zoran gave life and nourishment to the humans and other inhabitants living on its body in exchange for, well nothing. It just did.

Of course Zoran required protection and maintenance in order to keep him healthy and strong, which meant that humans would have to fight off parasites and help mend wounds/rifts on the titan. But this was of their own accord. If they wanted a healthy and strong planet to live on, they had to ensure that would be the case. A perfect symbiotic relationship.

Zoran, though a planet with a living breathing ecosystem, looked much like a human. After thousands of years of research, the humans inhabiting Zoran discovered that the titan had a head, a neck, two hands, two legs, a pelvis and a torso.

All of these aforementioned parts each held its own ecosystem and a variety of creatures living on them, with humans being the forefront of said creatures. Civilizations were built across each body part, Kingdoms were built across each body part, with the leading Kingdom being that of the torso, Qugan.

The reason for this was because the torso was the greatest landscape with the most stable climate. As opposed to the arms, which frequently came too close to the phoenix that orbited the titan's upper body, causing the landscapes on the arms to go through drastic climate changes ranging from very hot to very cold every decade. Torso/Qugan, never moved too close to the phoenix, as it was incapable of moving at all. Which was why Qugan was the leading Kingdom.

Not to mention they had the secret to evolution that made their Tethereds surpass their limits and become practically unstoppable. But this was a story for another time.

Judith remembering all the texts which were written in her novel, and then seeing it before her very eyes, felt a strange mix of existentialism and euphoria. She felt all of this was overwhelming, and also beyond compelling.

Staring at the phoenix, Judith smiled, before removing her now burning eyes away from this world's sun and onto the ground below. Somehow, she felt like the world was not solid.

This feeling was brought about by the fact that the great distance of landscape which she could see was nausea inducing. She knew this was as a result of their location, which was on the titan's abdomen. This meant that the world, for a fixed and very great distance, was flat, so she could see quite well into the distance, no matter how small the objects on the far end were.

Trying to already get accustomed to this, she shook her head and at once was brought back to reality. Following this, the clamor of a very busy city had hit her auditory senses so she felt more disoriented. Though this clamor sounded distant, Judith didn't think on it.

Partially seeing stars, Judith removed her gaze from the Way-Point under her feet and placed it to the path ahead, trying to get a grip on herself. She thought it funny how a few seconds prior, she was all but astounded, having the rug pulled from under her feet in the best way possible. But now, she was very overwhelmed and almost nauseated.

No matter, she held herself together and brought her thoughts to her immediate environment. The first thing Judith had noticed, was that this this Way-Point in stark contrast to the one before, was not built in a depression in the earth. Instead, it was on an elevated platform, an elevated platform high above the ground, probably forty or so meters high.

Upon coming to the realization that she was high above the ground, Judith felt her nausea getting much worse. Trying to hold in the meal she ate the day before, she shut her eyes and began to breathe hard.

With a gulp of air, she felt the ground underneath her feet, or rather, the Way-Point underneath her feet, beginning to move. When she opened her eyes, she found the buildings that were a meter or two below her had begun to rise into the air.

Though in actuality, these buildings weren't rising, instead, they — who were on the Way-Point — were falling. It had taken some time, but when they finally made it to the ground, Judith found herself becoming more balanced.

'Finally, it's over.' Judith thought with a reprieve. She was not one for heights, so finally being on the firm ground had instated a great relief within her. With a quick breath, Judith looked around, and found they were in the midst of the city, surrounded by buildings, people, carriages, Tethereds and Lergobeasts by the Tethered's sides.

Lergobeasts of all shapes and sizes.

Judith removed her thoughts from the world around her, and brought it to her immediate environment.

One quick glance had made her understand that they were literally surrounded by Tethereds, who were standing in a circle around the slightly elevated Way-Point. And to boot, the Way-Point was encased in a barrier Judith hadn't realized was there, but instantly remembered when a flicker of light shimmered around them, then disappeared.

Following this, a woman had walked up the small flight of stairs and toward to Qui Lin, who was standing at the forefront of them all, with the prince at her side, Judith behind, Tsai behind Judith and everyone else at the back of them.

Upon reaching Qui Lin, the woman greeted her, and then the prince, before leading them off the Way-Point. As Judith was about to follow, she turned to Tsai for a moment, to check if she was doing fine.

When she turned, she found Tsai standing dazed beside her.

At first, Judith thought this to be a bad thing, but then she felt the aura emanating off of Tsai was not fear or anything of a sort. But rather, excitement.

"Tsai?" She had called out, hoping to grab her attention, but yet, she received no response. "Tsai?" She had called out once more, this time she received a reaction akin to a response.

Tsai had turned to Judith, with a smile on her face. Though this was supposed to be a good thing, Judith felt something about this smile to be off, wrong even. At once Judith shook this thought off, as she felt she was over thinking things.

"Let's go." Judith said to Tsai before turning her sights forward and walking ahead.

Tsai had followed behind, now letting go of her grip on Judith's hand so their physical contact had been broken.

Judith didn't mind this, though she still felt something off, but she didn't think on it. Although, not trying to think on it had failed, when Judith found her head drifting back to the moment she turned away from Tsai to walk forward.

She didn't notice it then, but thinking back on it, Judith had seen a strange purple glimmer in Tsai's eyes. Not in a metaphorical sense, but a literal purple glimmer.

Shaking her head, Judith dismissed this thought, chalking it up to being a trick of the light. It was nothing to think on, Judith told herself. But if that were the case, why was she feeling so uneasy?

Turning to Tsai, who was walking behind her, she found her gaze was on the ground, but strangely, the smile on her face still prevailed.