Rescuing Amikin: Tales of Embria

Amikin the giant god.

Calum glanced up at Karns face.

"We need to take back your village." Karn looked at him. He was clearly lost. They were a people that had mastered the way of the hammer. And they were defeated. Calum looked at him.

"Look, we know the sorcerer cast a spell on Amikin, so maybe if we break the spell he could help take the village back. Maybe Zabic and the others were taken prisoner." Karn looked at him with uncertainty but he knew it was their only hope now. More than a quarter of the warriors were either missing or killed. Calum nodded at Karn who nodded back.

They had found a small outcrop of land to settle down in. It looked nice enough. The women already began setting up tents as the men and children began the cooking. Warriors stood watch. It had been an hour and no centaur seemed to have followed them.

Karn walked to Calum.

"So how do we get to Amikin then?" Calum took out the map the queen had given him.

"We need to find the opening of the mountain, but remember we must not harm the giant, it will unbalance the kingdoms and the mountain people will have nothing to keep them safe. Karn simply nodded in understanding.

"No harm will come to the giant. We will free it and take back the village."

Karn stood on a rock and began to speak.

"I am going on a quest, me and Calum will enter the mountain and free the giant who dwells there, captured by an evil curse made by a wizard. We will free the giant, take back our village and destroy this wizard and his centaur army. We are not dead yet..." he said so calmly. Calum was in awe. This Nephilim just saw his best friend make a last stand and mourn the destruction of his village but he seemed so calm. They all did. But once the speech was over the crowd clapped their hands and smiled at their leader. They had full trust they could succeed. Calum couldn't let them down.

Walking to Karn they nodded

"We better get moving. It shouldn't take long to get to the entrance with Arkius with us. They walked to Arkius who had already written in the dirt

"get on." and so they did. Calum pointed at the mountain that lay behind the village and immediately was off at half speed, gradually getting faster and faster till he was at ninety percent.

In no time they were at the base of the mountain and Arkius was climbing up the mountain. Calum was still amazed at how fast the enormous Tourous went. Then soon enough there was a cave entrance close to them. 

Suddenly a ball of light smashed into the side of the mountain. Calum looked back at the village; it looked so far away, but he saw the little man. Another blast of light came from his hand and smashed into the rock face next to them. Then another and another and another. Repeatedly smacking into the rocks around them. Arkius ducked and weaved, not a single shot hit them and they made it to the top. A ledge stuck out Which they left Arkius on. The next part was vertical and with four legs the mighty Tourous could not climb up. They had to go on foot.

They made sure Arkius was out of sight of the shooting. Then began to climb to the cave entrance. Karn looked back at the village and saw the little man. He noticed others they were a distinct purple.

"There are Nephilim still alive!" He shouted. Climbing the cliff face with more determination than ever. Calum tried to catch up. They reached the top and there they were, finally at the cave entrance.

They stepped in and there was Amikin the giant. His white fur was a darker colour than Calum had seen on the map before and he looked weaker. Its cold blue eyes shone with fury hiding the tiredness. His feet were enormous and looked mangled. Noticing the presence of another god, Amikin seemed to calm down. He stared at Calum then his eyes turned green and energy flowed through Amikin, a dull green outline shone from a Huge boulder that seemed to drag Amikin back towards it. A mighty roar erupted from the giant and it began to thrash the side of the cave as if trying to get an invisible collar off of his neck and arms.

"We have to destroy the rock!" Calum said pointing at the giant green boulder.

"It seems to be drawing him back into the cave!" Karn nodded and leapt for the rock. Amikin saw this and jumped in the way. He swung at Karn who jumped out of the way just in time. Then landed perfectly on the floor.

"This will be harder than I thought if we cannot harm him." said karn with a keen smile for action. 

"We need to distract him. One of us needs to stop him from attacking the other." said Calum. Karn smiled and jumped towards the giant. Amikin tried to hammer Karn but the Nephilim was too fast. The giant roared with frustration as his hammering blows missed their target. 

Calum jumped to the stone but heard a mighty

"crack!" Karn was hit! The only way to save him was to hit the rock. He continued to rush towards the rock. It glowed a vibrant green. From the sounds of the footsteps behind him Amikin was getting closer and closer. A roar went up, the footsteps grew louder and louder. With a fearsome war cry Calum leapt at the rock with his hammer raised and swung it down. It hit the rock

"Crash!" it shattered to bits and the green light escaped from all the rock. No... not all the rock he looked at and saw that one shard still had green light coming from it. He stashed it away in his trousers for later.

Calum turned to see Amikin cradling the limp body of the mighty Nephilim tribal chief in his arms. Placing the limp body down for Calum to talk to, the giant moved away. He pressed his head to the middle section of the Nephilim warrior trying to find a heartbeat. After searching he finally found it. It was faint. 

A blue mist appeared and Calum sore a familiar face. It was Gard. He quickly rushed to sit beside the fallen Nephilim and waved his hand to the giant. Amikin understood and lifted Karn and Calum to his shoulders then went out to collect Arkius who he reached down and lifted with one hand seeming to put no effort into it. Gard stood at the top. At first Arkius panicked but then Amikin patted the Tourous on the back which seemed to calm him down. Then the giant turned to see Gard who simply said.

"See you at camp... yes?" and walked through a portal he had created earlier. 

Swiftly Amikin ran down the cliff face with ease and ran into the woods. With directions from Calum they made their way back in no time. Gently the giant clasped the body of the chief and put him in the hands of shocked Nephilim warriors. People began to gather round seeing whether their leader was ok.

"He'll be fine, he's the descendant of death. The third ever Nephilim." said some of the people that knew Karn best. Suddenly, at the thought, they all agreed he would be fine. Then they turned to Amikin and worried for their leader, turned to mysteries for the giant. Seeing the giant give them their leader, everyone began to bow to the giant showing there respect for helping. Then they turned to Calum and bowed. Than Arkius. 

One of the warriors stepped forwards.

"Mighty giant. Our home has been ransacked by rockfalls and attacked by an evil wizard and his army of turned centaurs. He trapped you in chains and made you destroy our home. We ask your assistance to take it back. We are assaulting them tomorrow." The giant looked angry then patted the Nephilims horns gently and nodded.