When the planet Earth was much younger, still newly protected by the neighborhood of the Sun system to which it belongs – that discouraged destruction from asteroids and gave the planet just the right amount of heat – giants roamed the land that was a conglomerate of all the continents that currently exist on the planet.
In this period of Earth’s history, there were three adolescent giants; Angoon, Inko, and Jit; one from each of the Bands of giants that divided the population by the types of magic that characterized their traditions. Each of the giants had grown up among communities that cared for them and trained them in the ancestral rites of their larger Bands. Angoon was of the Energy Manipulators, Inko of the Force Manipulators, and Jit of the Qualia Masters. The three came to know each other because their families lived near a large lake that they frequented in their downtime to swim and they were something like friends, but they were rambunctious males who often competed for dominance and the sexual attentions of their peers who also frequented the lake.
They were very advanced in the arcane rights of their bands for their maturity level and they enjoyed doing battle at the lake before crowds that gathered to marvel at their masteries. The clothing of the average giant was simple and usually consisted of dark pants that hung loosely to just above the ankle, and a loose shirt that was easy to remove; they rarely wore shoes and never any undergarments. When Angoon, Inko, and Jit met in their battles, they dressed in elaborate armor that they fashioned themselves from wood or stone.
Jit had dark, brown skin and he was the most pleasant looking and well liked of the three. He had one large eye and rough, brownish-black hair that locked into long dreads and created an impressive mane that framed his handsome face. Jit designed the armor that he and his friends used in their exhibition battles, or he was the first to create his armor by manipulating stone with his telekinetic abilities that his peers were forced to duplicate. He had elaborately carved stone as a chest plate and pieces on his arms and legs that protected his bones.
Angoon had alabaster skin, but much of his body was covered in rough, light brown hair, and he replicated Jit’s armor of stone to protect against the punishing blows that Inko was known for. Inko, with tan skin and straight, black hair that hung to his shoulder when he didn’t knot it up into a bun on his head as he usually did, had the shoddiest of all their armors because he was the most resistant to physical attack. He carved his armor of wood and decorated it to be the most shiny and elaborate.
One evening before a planned exhibition, Jit, Angoon, and Inko were refining their incantations as the night grew darker and the stars emerged.
“My mother taught me to see the Guiding Light,” Jit bragged as he levitated from the sandy ground at the edge of the lake and the form of his body was surrounded in a flare of yellow-white energy.
Angoon stared with amazement under the glow that bathed the area in enough light to forget that the sun had set. Then his amazement became jealousy as Jit descended back to the ground and channeled all of the white light into a ball that he seemed to cradle with both hands.
“The eternal heat of creation,” Angoon said with wonder despite the bile rising inside of him.
Jit nodded.
“With this, I am sure to be the heir to the Guiding Light distinction,” he said proudly as he launched the ball of light high above him as it dissipated and blended with the starry sky.
“Why would you want to be the Guiding Light?” Inko asked impetuously. “They only sit on a mountain far away from everyone. I want to become Band Leu like my father.”
Though all giants belonged to one of the three primary Bands of giants, there were smaller bands within each that were forged through alliances between families to secure lands for homes and gathering food. Each band chose a Leu who was not only the monarch, but also its chosen warrior in matters of conflict with other bands. Rather than form armies, the giants sent their Leu to war and defeat of a Leu usually resulted in the incorporation of their community under the winning leader.
“The Guiding Light is the ultimate goal of all manipulators,” Angoon said. “Those who can’t guide, Leu.”
Jit laughed as Inko spread the fingers of his large hand, pushing an invisible ball of force at Angoon that hit him like a punch. Angoon took the blow and then both his hands and his eyes burst into flames of blue energy. Jit stepped between them.
“Save it for tomorrow,” he said. “There should be a big crowd.”
“What we do, Angoon, we do for family,” Inko said. “We learn the masteries to protect those we love, not to occupy some high seat above it all, away from the dangers of everyday. The Leu lives so that the band thrives.”
“The Guiding Light makes this all possible, Inko,” Angoon said. “The first brought magic to our world and each new Light has maintained it. There can be no Leu without the Guide.”
“Don’t bicker,” Jit said. “We all know how this works and we can all agree that we do our best for a better tomorrow.”
Inko doubled over in laughter. When he composed himself, he said,
“You don’t care about anything but yourself. You are good, summoning the light of first creation is no small feat, but you do it for the glory. You couldn’t possibly care less about protecting your family.”
“Nothing would dare threaten my family,” Jit said. “My reputation protects my family.”
“He’s right,” Angoon said to Jit. “You are great, but your heart is in the wrong place. Inko and I may disagree about the best way to be our best selves, but we both know that the best we can do is to protect and preserve life. You just enjoy being above everything.”
Angoon and Inko stood in opposition to Jit who glared at them both.
“He’s nothing without admiration,” Angoon said to Inko.
“He’s so needy…” Inko said before the explosion.
When they came to, Inko and Angoon were surrounded by broken glass. They were both horribly injured and Jit was nowhere in sight.
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