21 Stone-Made Miracle

Once most of the stones had been collected, the smaller gorts moved aside, while the colossal giant stepped closer. Pressing his enormous hands against the pile, he let out a strange grinding sound, and we saw a red, fiery glow.

From the titan’s head and body, through his arms, molten streams flowed—lava-like energy pouring directly into the gathered stones. It seeped into them, filling them, and within a few minutes, the shapeless mound… started to move.

The giant stepped back. And then something unbelievable began to happen with the stones he’d infused! They twitched, clattered, scraped, shifting and rearranging themselves until… they formed another gort.

This one was slightly smaller than the others, but still enormous— and I simply couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Incredible, isn’t it, Prepedollie?” the brunette murmured thoughtfully with a grin, watching me try to lift my jaw off the floor.

“It’s… something else entirely,” I breathed in astonishment— and for some reason, a warmth blossomed in my chest, a bright, joyful feeling, as if this wasn’t another stone monster coming into existence but a long-awaited child being born.

I smiled from ear to ear, unable to look away from the so-called newborn, surrounded by the other gorts. After standing together for a moment, all the giants turned and set off in the same direction, heading deeper into the mountains, climbing over cliffs and ridges as they went.

Waiting until they disappeared from sight, we left our shelter. Emotions were simply overflowing in me, not to mention that we were almost crushed into mince by those creatures.

“Kays, that was unforgettable!” I look enthusiastically at the smiling man. “It’s just some kind of miracle! I can’t believe it!”

“Yes, very few are given the chance to witness this process… and survive it,” the mage notes with a crooked smirk.

Whistling sharply and loudly, the mage turned around, and a few minutes later we saw Kays’s horse running toward him. Skillfully mounting, the guy reached out his hand to me.

The moment I placed my hand into the brunette’s hand, he pulled me up with one strong jerk and easily seated me in front of him on the horse. I didn’t even have time to understand anything, but in shock I acknowledged the sheer strength of this man. To do something like that with one hand and not even strain… you know… impressive!

We rode in silence. Kays was thinking hard about something, and I still couldn’t recover from the recent shocks.

“And where are the others? Did they abandon us?” I became curious, because we had already been going for more than an hour, and our group was nowhere in sight.

“They have instructions from me — in case of danger, to lead the unit far away and not wait for me, continuing along our planned route,” the mage answered calmly. “We’ll meet at the place of our overnight stay today.”

“And what if you needed help?” I’m surprised by such a decision, glancing back at the brunette — and burn myself on his intense gaze on me.

“If I can’t handle the problem that arises, then no one can,” the man smiles slightly. “There’s no point in the rest risking themselves.”

“And… aren’t you ever scared? Wasn’t there ever a moment when you felt desperately helpless at something?”

Kays suddenly lost his mockery and became serious and distant. He shifted his gaze from me to the monotonous road.

“There was one such case, a very, very long time ago,” he replies flatly, pressing his lips together from anger and swelling emotions. “Since then, I’m hardly afraid of anything. I used up all my fear. And it’s not that easy to kill me anyway, so you don’t need to worry about me so much,” he adds with his usual mockery, looking into my eyes again.

“You’re annoying,” I snort.

“Likewise.”