There was nothing eye-catching about the town in the sense that Waverly thought it looked a lot like hers. The only difference between RenderMore and Lake Borough was that the former was death silent.

Waverly stopped walking and gazed at the mountain. Even though it was still so far away, it looked frighteningly close and she found this very unsettling. She put a hand against her lip and thought about a way to defeat a mountain giant. She had never seen nor faced one before. The road she stood in was lined by small houses most of which were brick and roofed with reeds. She wanted to find out all she could about the giant before going up to face it. She walked to the door of a random brick house and knocked. They were blue flowers growing in beautiful brown pots atop the windowsill. Waverly thought of Judson when she saw them.

The door opened in an eerily gentle way. Inside was dark but a pair of eyes appeared behind the door. The person opened the door wider, roughly pulled Waverly inside then shut it quietly.

"Shh! Not a sound!" The person warned. Waverly was surprised to find that the house was not at all as dark as she had imagined. It was luminous enough to create shadows. And what caused this luminescence was a bunch of glowing butterflies inside many small jars that hung off wooden beams in the roof. Waverly sized the stranger up. He looked absolutely nothing like a Human or an Elf.

"You have no idea who i am and yet you dragged me into your house." She stated. The person grinned. His smile was exceptionally tiny - tinier than his face.

"I do know who you are, Waverly. I have been waiting for your arrival for over eighty years." The young boy said.

Waverly frowned and cautiously stepped back. Whenever strangers proved to know even a little bit of anything about her, she felt alarmed. "How can you. . . wait, who are you?"

"My name is FluffPick."

Waverly snorted then composed herself. The boy seemed unaffected by her outburst. He stared at her rather blankly.

"Are you making a joke? Your name is FluffPick?"

He nodded. "Yes it is. Do you find it strange?"

Waverly looked around the house. It was pretty in a comfortable way. "No. Not at all. Pleased to meet you, Fluff. May I call you Fluff?"

FluffPick smiled again. "Indeed you may and the pleasure is all mine, my Lady."

Waverly wanted to point out that she was not a Lady when Fluff took her hand and led her to a room in his house. It was intricately designed and it smelled like nothing Waverly had ever perceived. She inhaled deeply and the aroma went straight to her brain, making her feel giddy.

"What is that wonderful smell?"

"Remshan. It is a freshener gotten from the milk of a snow cat." Fluff replied proudly.

Waverly turned to look at him, her face clouding with confusion. She paused for a long time. "What?"

Fluff lead her to a chair and served her delicious bread smeared with honey, a deep yellow cream and a foamy sort of tea. It filled Waverly more than she expected it to. Fluff began to tell her about himself.

"I came here on orders of Her Majesty, Lady Maddei. She told me that Revvi the Seer has foreseen a vision and that i must travel to RenderMore to assist a Human on her Trials to make amends. It is the only way."

Waverly raised an eyebrow then put down her teacup. "Okay! So, i do not understand anything that you have just said, but i did get the part about being on Trials because i have to get rid of that mountain giant to proceed to my next Trial. Now, you said you have lived here for over eighty years. Can you tell me all you know about this giant?"

FluffPick nodded. His eyes were very dark and his nose bridged so delicately that Waverly thought it had been sculpted. His facial features were smaller than his face and it was very odd. Waverly tried to guess what creature he was, but found that she could not.

"I know that you will need my help in taking down that nogoodnik." Fluff said. He scowled when he referred to the giant.

"What must we do then? Combat? Trickery? Whichever?" Waverly asked standing up.

FluffPick pondered her question. "A number of heroes have stopped by RenderMore claiming to be able to defeat the giant but each one failed. They attempted both combat and trickery which gave no good results. You have to think outside the box."

"What box?" Waverly asked looking around.

"It is an expression. There is no box. Now come with me. We must alert the townsfolk."

"FluffPick, before we go. . . can you tell me. . . if you please, what kind of creature are you?" Waverly asked. She had had no luck guessing it and was eager to know.

Fluff grinned. "Why, i am Crysotoni."

Waverly gasped and her eyes widened. She fell silent for a very long time gaping at FluffPick, drinking in every bit of him. When she spoke again, her tone was spellbound.

"You are a Crystal Fairy? Can you fly?"

"Yes and yes, occasionally." Fluff shrugged.

"Can you do good magic?"

"All day long."

"Can you visit Crysoton?"

"Not until the giant has been defeated. I have been charged to remain here until that happens and i strongly believe it is about to."

"Will you show me your Crystal wings? Will you please?"

"No, no." Fluff chuckled. "I must remain in this form at all times. The people here do not know that i am Crysotoni. They believe i am just one of them."

"But can you at least tell me what Crysoton is like? I had no idea it was real."

Fluff gave a hearty, polite laugh. "It is real. I also had no foreknowledge that Bremeton was a real place either until i came here. A realm where people walk all the time sounded like tall tale to me."

Waverly nodded, her excitement fading only to a marginal extent. "Fair enough. Lead the way, Fluff."

"Oh and by the way, you should turn down that light, just a little bit. The giant hates it and you would get yourself killed if you do not." Fluff pointed out.

Waverly looked about the room for the light he spoke of. "What light is that then?"

Fluff rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I wonder why Zanaan can barely see despite having eyes. The moonlight is blaring all around you and could blind me if i was not Crysotoni. The giant would see you coming from a hundred miles away. The last three made the same mistake - walking around brandishing the power of the gods about them."

Waverly gulped wondering if it were that obvious that she was a daughter of the moon goddess and how one was supposed to turn down moonlight.

"Uh. . . how do i uh. . . ?" She stuttered gesticulating around herself.

"All you need is focus. You must know that already." Fluff advised.

Waverly nodded then focused. She imagined she was surrounded by blazing light then she imagined that the light was dimming to nothing but a faint glow like a dying candle.

"That is much better. You should learn to detect when that power comes on. You simply wield way too much. Now come on."

FluffPick lead Waverly, rather stealthily, across the town. Along the way, he made frequent stops to call on a few men whom he claimed were eager to end the giant but did not know how. Together they quietly made their way through to the large town hall.

There were about twenty men and ten women by the time they had arrived there. The ladies proceeded to prepare a meal for the gathering whilst the men arranged chairs around a really large round table. Waverly admired how quietly they did things. No sounds came off striking a match, lifting and closing a lid, fetching water, pulling back a chair or even shutting a door. Waverly felt admiration but also sadness, the townspeople had lived so long in silence that it had become a part of them. A skill they harnessed more than anyone.

Waverly watched as one of the women noiselessly sliced meat on a chopping board, another made a large dough, one was bent over shoving short pieces of stovewood into a bristling fire while others quietly put together plates, drinking cups and cutlery. Even when they walked passed one another, Waverly saw they did so without touching. Their skirts made no ruffle sounds and their feet tapped lightly against the marble ground as they walked.

There was a large stone fenced hearth in the middle of the room where all the fire came from and this was what served as light for the hall because according to the men, too much light attracted the giant. Waverly joined them at the table as the food was finally being served. She watched the men eat and talk in quietude. Halfway into the meal, one of them snapped his fingers lightly. Everyone turned to him. Waverly wondered how that small sound had gotten across the room.

"Eighty years is a long time to train one's ears to be as keen as an Elf's." Fluff whispered to Waverly.

"Now, i welcome you all to this council meeting." The man who had snapped his fingers said. He did not speak as if his intention was to whisper. Waverly thought he might have done this a thousand times over for his voice to adapt that way. He seemed older than the rest of the men. Fluff revealed to Waverly that his name was Jonah.

"FluffPick here tells me that we have a new hero. Another god's blood that has come to try to redeem us from the hands of Gruggun."

Waverly looked at Fluff. "That is his name?"

Fluff nodded calmly.

Jonah continued. "He also says that he believes this time will be different. We will succeed."

A low grumble passed through the room. The people sounded unhappy.

"He also said the same thing the last two hundred times." Another elderly man added grouchily.

"We have lost all hope already. It is unfair to give us another when it will only blow in our faces." A woman complained calmly.

Soon, the room began to buzz with angry voices. Waverly voiced anxiously that the giant would hear this but Fluff assured her that the giant only heard piercing and sudden sounds and even if he did hear them, he could mistake the sound for animal noises.

Waverly listened as everyone threw complaints and grievances around. She stood up from her chair and walked over to Jonah. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned.

"May i, good Sir?" She requested shyly, gesturing to the people.

Jonah examined her for a few minutes then snapped his fingers. The room quietened again. "The young girl would like to speak."

"Actually. . . " Waverly started. She felt every eye on her. Being in a room full of people whom she could have as grandparents or guardians or even teachers - she felt uncomfortable addressing them. "I would like for them to speak. Tell me what this Gruggun has done to you good people."

A moment of silence passed before a woman sniffled and spoke up. The sorrow on her face could have ripped Waverly's chest open. "He killed my twin boys. They were only four."

"He's been eating every one of me family sheep since me great great grandpa began herding them. He trampled on me new vegetable garden - not once, not twice, not thrice either." A man complained.

"I lost my parents. We were farming. He came out of nowhere." A man said. His eyes held fresh tears. "I only escaped because my mother screamed to avert the giant's attention."

"When did this happen?" Waverly asked quietly.

The man looked up. His grey eyes sparked with pain and hatred. "Two days ago."

Waverly was not sure she could say anything that would remove the pain the man felt so she kept quiet.

"We sympathize with you, Teth." A woman said and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. He touched her hand and nodded.

"I believe you have more to say. Tell me all of it." Waverly requested. For the next hour, she got an earful of all Gruggun had done to RenderMore. The people retold the various experiences of their predecessors which had been told to them as bedtime stories. They also retold stories of the heroes who had attempted to free them from the terror of Gruggun.

"They all tried to fight Gruggun or trick him. Nothing worked. He simply is too powerful, too wise. He hears too much and sees far. He is the last of the ancient bloodline of Fourth Generation Mountain Spirits." Jonah explained.

Waverly stared hard at the table. No one had ever defeated the giant in any way possible. How could she? The heroes before her - men and women of great strength - were older, wiser and more experienced. She was only thirteen and from the looks she got from nearly everyone, she concluded that they did not believe she could do anything to help them. It was ridiculous to even think of it. A child facing a giant that was thousands of years old. Waverly felt small and insignificant.

"We must believe that this time, we will succeed." Fluff said and gave her an encouraging look.

"I will hold you personally responsible if we do not, FluffPick." A man threatened glaring at Fluff. He was noticeably the shortest person in the room. "That scoundrel has squashed my fishes to naught, filling my lake with mud more times than i could count."

"He snatches all my glass to pick his teeth with and glare at his ugly face." A man added. "I do not wish to lose my only source of income."

"We must believe, my people." Fluff insisted.

Waverly stared at the table. The back of her head began to tickle with a forming idea. It came slowly but progressively.

"Fluff?" Waverly asked absentmindedly, staring into the bristling flames of the hearth.

"Yes." Fluff answered.

"Why does Gruggun hate light?"

Fluff frowned. "It disturbs his eyesight. He cannot stand it."

"Of course." Waverly breathed. Her idea finally pieced together in her mind. Brijjet would have been proud of the crazy thing she was about to do.

"Do you have a plan, young lady?" Jonah asked. Every eye in the room stared at Waverly expectantly.

"Yes i do in fact. A very brilliant and tedious one and i guarantee it might work."

Jonah looked at the faces of the men and women in the room. He seemed reluctant but he also seemed eager. It was much easier to try than do nothing at all and be left to wonder and regret.

"Well, we might as well get to doing something. This council will not be held in vain. What do we have to do, young lady?"

Waverly grinned. "We need to dig a pit."

"How large?" A man asked standing up. He looked enthusiastic even though Waverly was yet to reveal her plan.

"Large enough to contain a giant." Waverly replied.

It was a miracle that seventy five men could dig up a large pit without alerting Gruggun. Waverly tasked another group to bring hundreds of gallons of crude oil. RenderMore thrived on it and they were blessed with it as well. Another group was tasked with silvering a very large beautiful mirror. They did this by the waterfall called Greenstone, a place where they carried out all their trades. The overwhelming noises of nature present there successfully blocked out the sound of their work.

The pit took quite a long time to dig but by late noon, the men finished it. It was roughly over two hundred feet wide and a hundred feet deep. The rest of the workers began to empty their gallons of oil into the pit. Waverly watched with Fluff as they worked noiselessly by emptying the black liquid through a large pipe that was channeled into the pit.

"I truly believe this plan will work." Fluff said with emphasis.

Waverly turned to him. "You do?"

"Absolutely."

Waverly paused. "Did you believe it when the others came too?"

FluffPick sighed. "Each time they came; Humans, Elves, Shades - i was certain they were not the ones who would put Gruggun down for good. I told them oftentimes but they wanted to try nonetheless. It was a Trial, of course, they had to. Good people they were, honestly. But they died. It was tragic."

"You are very patient, Fluff. I think your Queen knew that and that was why she sent you." Waverly commented.

FluffPick smiled. He wore a bright red scarf around his neck. His clothes were comfortable ones because as the day progressed, the weather became cold.

"Gruggun does that. He absolutely despises the heat." Fluff said.

"Then i am sure he will absolutely despise this surprise." Waverly said slyly.

The men stationed the finished glass directly in front of the forest only a few inches from where the pit was dug and cunningly hidden. After the tedious setup, the men wished Waverly good luck and dispersed for it was her Trial to finish.

"Let the fortune and luck of Andaie be with you, young lady." Jonah said solemnly and led his men back to the town.

"Who is Andaie?" Waverly asked Fluff. He was also prepared to leave.

"A minor deity. She is the goddess of good fortune and luck. A few know or worship her, but everyone wants her. Most of the minor deities are like her - never seen, but always requested for, their essence rather."

"That is quite depressing." Waverly stated. Her hands trembled. Fluff took notice and held them gently.

"You are the bravest Human i have ever seen and i have lived for two hundred years. You can and will succeed. Trust yourself."

Waverly nodded, feeling a bit worse, but did not make it obvious. Then, she began her trek through the forest and toward the mountain.

The forest was quite a comforting place. It was beautiful and quiet like the town. A yellow sun peeked from above the canopy of branches, illuminating the undergrowth and the trees. From where Waverly was, she could see almost a hundred leagues further and around. This was because the trees grew separately, allowing for a ridiculous amount space.

Abandoned houses were sprinkled here and there in the open space. Waverly hated to think what had happened to the residents. She arrived at the mountain faster than she wanted to. It was as high as the ones in The Haven, the forest behind her own house.

A large dark cave opened at the base of the mountain, its entrance strewn with bones and skulls of both animals and Humans. Waverly made to take a step toward the cave but every fibre in her being screamed in objection. The plan was to lure the giant out and not waltz in and get killed.

She focused on her dim aura of light, willing it to blare a hundred times brighter than it had been.

Inside the cave, an alarmingly loud rumble resonated. Waverly took several running steps backwards and just then, a large man walked out of the cave. He was dressed in goatskin and bleached white bones clattered noisily around his enormous gut. His large feet was bare and his head was bald. His face was covered in warts and blemishes and his round nose was incredibly red. He growled, showing his sharp teeth with pieces of glass stuck in between them. Waverly wondered if he felt uncomfortable but he seemed to be content with leaving pieces of glass in his teeth. A cold wind surrounded him and it reminded Waverly of her mother but the wind around the giant reeked.

"Who dares to try to hurt my flawless eyesight with that annoying light?" The giant bellowed.

Waverly looked up at the giant. He was big indeed but not all that scary. She suddenly felt confident. "That would be me down here."

The giant looked down and when he saw Waverly, he groaned in frustration. "Why did you come after i've had dinner for the eighth time? I can't eat after number eight. But i could keep you for a midnight snack."

Waverly shrugged. "Alright."

The giant grunted and lifted a very bushy eyebrow. "You agree that i should devour you?"

"Yes, if you would like to."

"If that is not the strangest thing i have heard all day then i don't know what is. Alright then, come over here so i can pick you up, you little thing."

"You did not let me finish, Mr Giant." Waverly said.

"Finish what?" The giant growled.

"I will allow you to keep me and have me for dinner only if. . ."

"If what?"

"If you can catch me." Waverly said.

"Nonsense. I will not run after a sickly child such as you."

"Then the stories must be correct - you are a coward and a really big one at that."

The giant became enraged and tried to grab Waverly but she pulled out Calaire and sliced off two of his fingers. He roared in pain.

"Now catch me, big ugly." She yelled and dashed across the bedrock, straight for the forest. The giant bounded after her but Waverly ran only for a few minutes because all of a sudden, the giant had materialized a few feet ahead of her with his arms out in readiness to grab her.

Waverly screeched to a stop. Her eyes bulged in surprise. "How did you. . . ?"

"I am a spirit, you urchin and that means i can never be outrun." The giant said cackling. "Now come here so i can crush your bones to make my beef stew or maybe i'll just have you raw. You godly things taste good and i'm starting to think number nine won't hurt."

The giant lunged at Waverly and caught her before she could move away. His fist tightened around her small body causing her skin to grow hot with intense friction. His hand was scaly and cold and irritating but not as much as his breath.

"Not so smug now, are you Zanaan?" He asked.

Waverly writhed hopelessly in his grip. He moved her towards his mouth and she let out a long bloodcurdling scream. The giant's eyes widened and he let go of her in a moment of shock.

"I hate noise." He cried angrily and shook his head, dipping his fingers into his ears as if he could clean out the noise.

"If you kill me, you will never get the gift i have brought for you, you imbecile. I was supposed to lead you to it but you ruined the surprise by trying to eat me." Waverly yelled at him.

The giant seemed taken aback. He ignored the insult. "What gift?"

"If you will follow me, you will see."

With that Waverly stomped onward without looking back. The giant reluctantly lumbered behind her until his eyes caught something afar off.

"Is that. . . ?" He asked gasping in awe.

Waverly grinned maliciously. "Yes. Your own personal looking glass. Designed by the best glassmakers in all seven realms."

The giant stared at his reflection in the beautiful glass and began to inch toward it as if in a trance. Waverly watched him closely. Halfway to it, the giant stopped. He turned to face Waverly. She cursed under her breath. If he perceived the trick, she was as good as dead.

"Why do you present me with a gift, Zanaan?" He asked, raising a distrustful eyebrow.

Waverly sighed and walked to stand near the glass making sure to keep away from the trip line the men had rigged in front of the mirror. It would be the icing on the cake.

"Well, it is because everyone keeps talking about how amazing you are ever since i got here."

"I don't believe that. The town fears me. I feast on them."

"Indeed but you know fear is often accompanied by respect. You have taught them to respect you and now they have no other choice but to hold you in high reverence. I heard them all talking earlier."

The giant scratched the back of his neck nervously. Flakes of dead skin rained down on the ground as he did. Waverly had to struggle to keep her stomach from exiting her mouth.

"What. . . exactly did they say?"

"They said Gruggun is wise. He sees far and knows all. They said you are descended from the Fourth generation of mountain spirits. The most powerful giants of all. They tremble at how powerful you are. They gossip about great feats you have accomplished and the terrors you have brought to their town. They say no other giant can scare them as much as you have. They simply cannot manage it even if they tried."

Gruggun beamed. "They are correct. I am all they say and i have done all."

"Then you deserve a gift. That is why i have presented you with this looking glass so you can gaze upon the only other person as great as you. . . "

Gruggun stared intently at her.

"You."

Gruggun gave a complacent laugh. "You are not as stupid as the others before you."

He reached for the glass and grabbed the edge with both hands in an attempt to lift it. Waverly kicked the trip line and the frame that held the glass upright noiselessly tipped backwards.

"What?" Gruggun exclaimed, tilting forward.

Before he knew it, he had fallen face down into a deep pit full of the blackest crude oil. He surfaced and spat the oil out of his mouth.

"What is the meaning of this?" He roared, flailing his arms hopelessly. It was obvious that he could not swim.

Waverly provided a tinder box from her shorts pocket. It had been in there since the first time she made a fire during her travel but there was only one stick left. "The meaning of this is - it is about to get very hot down there and you are even stupider than I suspected."

She struck the match and threw it in the pit then ran off to hide behind a tree as flames roared out of the pit, Gruggun roaring with it.

The Honor of Light|
Book 02