Ascenders: Rising To Hero

8. The Dual Elemental Giant

The 9ft towering figure made of a condensed mass of tightly paced stones picked his steps carefully as he made his way away from town. The air was fresher at this time of the year because it was the time for the infamous festival of Masquerades in Fair Weather.

And as result, the people of the town had done their bit in making it work free and everything a festival time should be. That meant that there was no need to do anything which would present an issue to the air.  And there were fewer people out there on the road, allowing for better ventilation and movement now. 

It was this time that he enjoyed the most, that is the figure who was made of stone. He was not like the usual Magmorians who were made of stones too, his own dermatology a little more complicated than those of the race of Magmore. He was an elemental Giant, or rather as the people would call him, the last surviving Lava Giant.  Despite the fact that it was common knowledge that he was pretty much a Dual Elemental Giant. 

He had the ability to manifest lava through the curvatures in his skin and just about everywhere where cracks appeared. Although this only happened when he was pissed and chagrined. .

When he was most solemn, his skin would resort to depicting the features of the energy which was calmer. And that was, Ice. 

He would literally be a moving, living piece of giant life ice form. But that was when he was really solemn or moody. And neither of those moods did  suit well with the people of Fairweather for he could very much harm them in either state. 

It had brought him some public scrutiny and some ill mannerism his way. It was to be expected, after all, he was far away from his hometown where his race had all been wiped out. It was hard to cope with the news, knowing that the war of Trixius the Great on his path to the 5th heaven had wiped out his entire tribe.

He had been pissed, angered and sometimes really moody and for a long time, he had not known how to control his emotions. In the long run, it resulted in him wrecking a lot of damages in the town. 

Up until he came across Iyabo,  a healer and a proficient user of the Law of Love. She had taken him in and then and there. Established a healing home where she used her knowledge of the law to render respite to the town. That aside, he had become her attendant, living with her and helping her run the basic errands, anything that ensured he learnt how to master the power of dual elementalism in him.

Except today, he was on leave because Iyabo had willed it so. And so, he picked his lute and headed to his most favorite part of town where he was allowed to go wild with his emotions. The place where almost no one in town went to, the hill which overlooked the town in the distance. 

And so, walking  with his heavy steps, he ignored the children running past him while chasing a kite, he ignored the scent of dainty dishes wafting through the afternoon air or the sounds of the birds chirping sweet sweet melodies in the multicolored trees that littered the sides of the untarred dusty streets. He would catch up with the mood later but now, he needed to be intune with his emotions. 

So with this mindset, Macabu crossed some more distances which was between himself and the hill, bending down to avoid his head from tangling with the wires of randomly placed bits of glittery material. 

A while later, Macabu gets atop the hill and then with the flute in one hand, that is, his left hand, he hoists some loose granites and then hurls into the distance. As he does that, his body begins to glow with blue light, a chilling presence settling over him.

“It is the festival, how can I help Iyabo?” He asked, his voice sounding like the grating of two stones together. 

He put the flute to his mouth now, holding  it towards his right hand side while he artfully filled the spores with his fingers and then shut his eyes. As he did that now, his lashless eyebrows arched up as his eyes shut up, bursting out into a fiery glow of blue.

As if being pulled by something beyond his control, his head jerked to the far right, his eyes squinting until he saw something that set all of his body alight with anxiety. There was a ship that was hurtling really fast for the center of the town. And from the way it looked, the ship did not seem like it was going to slow up. 

It was broken, bits of matter scattering from the sides and bottom like a rain of meteors into the still afternoon sky. Macabu gasped, the town would not be alarmed by this but this was not a usual day. 

They were all preparing for the festival which meant that everyone, except the kids, would be indoors looking on how to make this festival most memorable. This would be the most perfect time to strike them into casualties; When they were not even aware of what was happening. 

The only one person who was… Was Him. 

“Ha! Macabu grunted now, throwing himself to his feet in one instant. 

No second could be wasted.

He had to rush out there in no time and see that he could save the people of the town. He wondered who it could be that would be sailing some flying ship like this into their town but he did not have the brain matter to think the details neither did he have the time. The only thing on his mind now was how to get to town. 

His body elongated, the stones grafting out some more until he added some more bulk like he was rounded while his height shot to 12ft in an instant. 

While being an elemental Giant, he could access to the generic bloodline ability of Expand which every Giant used.

STOMP! 

Macabu’s left foot tore through the ground as his mass fired out in gusts of wind. His body suddenly flashed with the color of red, lava peering through the cracks and fissures of his skin.

He grunted, bending his head as he tried to control his body stat, forcing the red lava to morph back into the blue airy ice energy within. However, this came at a cost as his body, unable to suddenly stop from a dash, bounced over for some good meters. 

Luckily, he crashed down into a street. The only audience which he had were the children who ignored him promptly as they went about their kite flying and every other thing that the kids in Fairweather often engaged in. 

However, now that he was back in the reach of the town now, Macabu could see that he was far in a better area about the almost crashing ship. He pushed himself to his feet now and then with solemn breaths of air, controlled his anger, forcing the emotion to once more give way to the calm resolve within him. 

And then… 

Macabu fired out, another burst of energy into his legs as his mass traversed through the air in one mighty jump. In the little distance now, he could see the ship and the now rising cries of those who were in the range of it, at the city center as they cried and ran helter skelter. At this, his eyebrows or whatever was there crunched down in distress now  while his skin tone began to phase back into the Lava Giant that he was.