Chapter Twenty Two: reading the Mythicon's first entry- Titans of Agnak.

"in a world shared by the big, the medium, and the small, one must expect there to be a bigger race to balance things out."

"the Roculites of the floating island Rocul; the smallest... the Bukis, originating from the primal country Bukaraj, are the medium-sizers sharing their slot with humans... the Gikis, originating from the primal country Giklazovechia, are the bigger race standing at ten times the size of Bukis and humans... and the 'Titans', aka: Agnakans, are the biggest race, ten times larger than Gikis, and nearly as advanced as modern-day Gentikan Bukis in their timeline... all originating from a central point of existance, but that is not today's tale..."

-Alpha.

-Beta.

the Mythicon is an ancient tome, it is where Xlenian secrets call their home.
its author is long, long dead, but before he died, his final words were said:
"be there ever a creature thus; of man and beast, a visage of Demigod Flus. let it come, let it come, save us all, though our evil be some. none is without darkness, and none without light, i mean no harshness, and it is within sight... save our souls... and let us take flight..."
his words are well known, through many generations sewn...
but the story of one creature he came to know...
never before has impacted us quite so...
i reveal it now; the titan, Vurogh.

[well over two thousand years ago, the original Xlen in initial orbit, far from planet earth's solar system.]
[Current Era: "Before The Reset" - 15500 years before first ravaging upon estimate, 98.75% accuracy.]
[planetary status: supercontinent is one millennium away.]
[location: Agnak, far to the west.]

[Mythicon Author's journal] my name is beluqi, that's bell-uck-ee, and i am human, i hail from our colonies in Bukaraj, since our origin land; Omisa, has left us.
to help our world better understand each other, i have taken the role of a travelling historian, documenting my finds in this text for future generations.
ever since the mysterious light reached us from on high, we are a divided people, humans and beast-men are no longer alone, not completely, some men have shrunk, so have some beast-men, other beast-men have grown tremendously, and some even beyond that!
at the scholarly council, the few of us of each race of true intelligence while we still posess it, have decided upon a name for our world before the beings on high take our sanity back.
we have decided: Xlen.
the word means "of many sizes", so, as planet Xlen, we are "planet of many sizes".

i am presently in Agnak, where the largest creatures reside.
i am quite frightened, i do not know if i will be safe here, i may fall underfoot of a beast-man if i am not careful.

"'ey human, you done there?"

i look up to find the welcoming gaze of my host, Vurogh, a 'titan' here in Agnak.
"ah, sorry. work must come first, my friend." i tell him, and he smiles at me from his high vantage, it is a wonder to me how he can even manage to hear or see me at his humongous size.

"yeah, guess so." his expression darkens "any word from on high?"

'on high' is where the celestial beings live, they have given us civility, but it must be returned at some point.
i frown sadly, and break the bad news to him.
"yes... they wish to recall civility soon, we will regress into mindless beasts for a time before we are allowed evolution once again."
this makes the huge rotwiler whimper in distress.
"but," i continue with a grin "your kind and the smallest will be exiled from the world until that time comes around."
he grins at this "pity you'll expire before then."
"yes it is" i reply, but i do not fear death. why fear the inevitable? "that is why i write, to channel the secrets of this world before i become a savage."

at that, he transmits all his knowledge of Agnak to my book, and leaves to be with his family before we are reset.

this was my last stop, i've ammassed all the secrets in this world.
now, i must go to the council to speak one last time with those on high.

[a week later]

the reset is close, we all feel it.
the countries of Rocul and Agnak have been salvaged by those on high already.
i am here to speak with the grand celestial; Flus, a mortal-born celestial creature from on high of man and beast, the spiritual guardian of our planet.
he has given me a gift; i am to live until the 'Era of the seperation' and will keep my civility.

but truthfully, i worry...
is this lengthened life really a gift...
or is it a curse in disguise?

[two days later: Day of the reset.]

it's happening.
as i sit up here on those on high's holy mountain, i can see everyone below returning to medium size and reverting to a more savage form.
beast-men are now beasts.
men are primates.
i feel something in my chest... sadness? loss?
i do not know, emotion was not a gift we were given in full.

so now, i must wait...
wait for this world to cycle through once more...
what cruel fate is this? to be endlessly reset after we reach prosperity each time?

judgement is a vicious creature.

---

[present day, Xlenari, Briokomi librarium, Gentiki]

after ian read through the author's diary notes, he went on to the legend of Agnak itself.
"Agnak is a Celestial-salvaged city like Rocul, but it is known as it's opposite; a country of titans, creatures that stand one hundred times the size of humans and Bukis..."
the Angel chuckled at that "talk about size differences! this planet's like a mix-and-match of sizes!"
Amelia bat a paw in his direction and smiled "you've got a point, i guess... what? nobody bigger than you guys up there?"
"if you mean heaven, no, apart from the gods and constellations, everyone up there's the same size... the angels at least... as for souls... not quite..."

before she could ask what he meant, he continued reading.
"Agnakans were reportedly as technologically advanced as modern day people, possibly even more advanced.
not much is known about Agnak or it's people in general, aside from the knowledge that they were researching the Mutoflux event, and studying size modulation methods before 'the reset'
however, it is known that Agnak originally existed in the visunkon gulf."

Amelia gasped "Rocul's supposed to have reappeared in its original place... so..."
he nodded "yeah, i bet Agnak's down in the sunken valley; Visunkon reef."

after a 15-minute flight to zandi bluff just off the Gentikan south coast by angelwing, Amelia, Ian, and Velian could see a bright light at the bottom of the submerged valley.
Amelia put on scuba gear, and the three of them dived in, Ian and Velian could breathe fine underwater due to their angel power.

as they went deeper, the luminescence was revealed to be coming from a huge field of light beneath the coral bed below them... and under that...

""what?! the heck's going on here?!"" Ian's voice crackled through the diving radio he wore into Amelia's earpiece.

the coral shielded an underwater city, and as they reached it, they could see wispy clouds and even a few birds in the 'air' behind the light barrier.
""weird..."" amelia said through the radio
""doubly weird, there're people down there, and air, too!"" velian added.

it was obvious what they were looking at.
the scale of the people on the ground millions of miles below told them exactly, without a shadow of a doubt.

this was Agnak.

merely hours later, back on the surface, news crews and journalists from across Xlenari were researching the sunken civilisation, just as they had with the airborne island of Rocul.
only this time, Collin, Bailey, and Zenef were to be the envoys to be heading down instead of Beta, as he was in a coma.

the three of them were equipped with breathing masks, and collin was presently at Giki size with Bailey, and Zenef was standing on the wolfdog's shoulder.
Alpha appeared beside him, he looked worried "you sure you don't wanna become Omega? you'd be safer if--"
"Alpha, we can't be Omega without Beta, and he's in a coma."
the gold spectre sighed dissapointedly "and he just had to return to his body, too..."
"wouldn't you if you could?" Collin suddenly cut in, directing the question at Alpha.
the lupine apparition laughed a little, and raised his right paw to cover his eyes "touché, Collin... you've definitely got a point there..."
Oriado and Kevin stood behind their son, anxiety radiated off them.
"why does Bailerich have to go?" Oriado groaned to kevin, who sighed in return.
"'cause Collin's the only titan we've got, and he won't go anywhere without Bailey."
"that i will not." collin confirmed "besides, you know Bailey's safe with me."
"we do..." Oriado trailed off with a glance away from the white wolf, returning his attention to the conversation a few seconds later "... but... parental instincts, y'know? i just want to keep him as far from danger as possible..."
Collin nodded "yeah, i get it, but both of you know that i'd sooner eat a flaming brick in a tornado than let harm come to Bailey, right?"
kevin laughed "yeah, so you've said!"
Collin fiddled with the shiny gold tag hanging from his black leather collar, smiling a little.
Zenef noticed, and made a face to show he didn't understand "why do you keep it on in this form? you're not exactly a pet when you look like that..."
the white lupine just smiled broadly "because i kind of still see myself as one... plus, it's... it's like a key to a family... since my real ones think i'm dead..."
Kevin looked apologetic "you don't have to talk about--"
"no, it's fine," Collin cut him off "i feel like i'm part of a family because i have this.." he clenched the tag tightly in his paw "to me, this little piece of metal represents more than being a pet... yes, it shows that i belong to you three... but if you think about it, that also means you guys kinda belong to me, too!"
Oriado smiled, the black-and-white lupine looking like he agreed "hadn't thought 'bout it that way, you're our pet, but we're your--"
"not 'owners' or 'masters'," Bailey cut in "we're just 'his'."
Collin smiled down at the young cub-pup "well put, but i'm comfortable with saying you're 'my master' in either form, Bailey... especially in beast form, 'Master Bailerich'." he said with a big grin.
Bailey groaned "come on, i've said it a ton of times already, just call me Bailey when you're in this form!"
"yes, i know, i'm just being playful," he said as he crouched down and pulled Bailey in for a hug "but you can't blame your pet for that, now can you?"
Zenef clutched his sides as he laughed on Bailey's shoulder "he's got a point!" he managed to say between his laughing, succeeding in getting an annoyed look from his friend.
"just whoose side are you on?"
that set Zenef off in even more laughter "obviously yours! where do you think i'm standing, clearly i'm on your 'side' ... your left side to be exact!"
after that joke, everyone was laughing, the reporters and journalists included.
it was Alpha who brought things back on task "okay, calm down! we've got a sunken city to see, remember?"
that made everyone focus, and they began setting up their breathing masks and air tanks.

soon, they were swimming down.
as they approached, Alpha was struck by an odd sensation that blew through his mind like a powerful wind.
everyone stop.
the trio looked at him oddly.
i can sense something...
they gestured for him to continue.
they know...
Zenef's expression seemed to say "know what?"
Alpha sighed, nonexistant breath expelled from his non-physical lungs.

the Agnakans know we're coming.

(Next Chapter: Origin of the curse)