It was enough.
The first giant reached the Abbey the next morning.
Not the one from the capital.
A different one.
Its body resembled pale granite.
One shoulder carried trees still rooted in soil.
It stopped at the cliffs.
Monks ran.
Aren did not.
The golden symbol on his palm burned.
The giant lowered itself.
Aren shouted before it could kneel.
“Stop!”
The giant paused.
Everyone stared.
Aren walked closer.
“You don’t have to do that.”
The creature’s voice entered his mind rather than the air.
The Covenant recognizes you.
“I don’t care.”
The giant waited.
Aren swallowed.
“That sounded rude.”
Corvin whispered to Oren, “He argues with mountains.”
Oren whispered back, “You should try it.”
Aren looked up.
“What’s your name?”
For a moment, the creature did not answer.
Then:
Gaelor.
“Why are you awake?”
Because you turned the Key.
“What do you want?”
Silence.
Aren frowned.
“What?”
No Heir has asked that.
That sentence bothered him.
“What did the old heirs ask?”
Where shall you fight?
Who shall you destroy?
What shall you defend?
Aren looked toward Oren.
The historian looked uncomfortable.
The ancient royal bloodline had apparently not been composed entirely of wise heroes.
Aren returned his attention to Gaelor.
“What do you want?”
The giant’s golden eyes dimmed.
To remember.
“Remember what?”
Why we slept.
That night, Gaelor told the first full account.
The Stone Giants had not been created by humans.
They had existed before Eldoria.
Mountain spirits.
Slow minds.
Ancient.
The First Kings discovered they could communicate with them through the Crown Seal.
Over generations, communication became alliance.
Alliance became expectation.
Expectation became command.
The Stone Throne was built to amplify the royal bond.
Eventually a king named Varos tried to control every giant at once.
Most resisted.
Some obeyed.
Civil war followed.
The giants fought one another.
Cities disappeared.
Then came the Shadow Beneath.
Not a god.
Not exactly.
A force trapped beneath Eldoria’s mountains.
Varos attempted to use it to strengthen the Crown Seal.
Instead the Shadow corrupted him and many Stone Giants.
The remaining giants defeated Varos.
But afterward they made a terrible choice.
They slept.
All of them.
To prevent humans from controlling them again.
“Then the old bloodline lied,” Aren said.
Gaelor answered.
Some did.
Oren looked stunned.
The histories he had spent his life studying were built on stories written by survivors with reasons to simplify blame.
Aren asked, “Why wake for me?”
The giant stared.
Because the Covenant changed.