Alan stretched his new, enormous self as he woke up in the morning. While going through his daily stretches, crunches and even a few pull-ups from the bed hanging. He began to wonder if all the working out he’d done in his life had been worth it. No girls had shown any interest in him, well…he did feel some chemistry with one girl…but that’d be crazy.

“Hahaha…I see you are enjoying your private time and early morning rising young human?” Tiala chimed laughing at the silly motions he was making to prepare himself for the day.

“Tiala! Uh…ahem…don’t you guys knock first? And yeah, I dunno why but maaan…do I feel good today! I feel like I could KO a giant…uh…without being a you know um…giant…” Alan responded flushing and tumbling off the bed rafters he was doing pull ups on.

“Oh dear I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…now may I come in?” She asked with a chuckle knocking on the door as she spoke.

“Very funny…sheesh…some weird princess you are…but…I like it…alright let’s get going.” Alan responded with sarcasm as he cracked his neck and marched out the door.

At this remark, Tiala raised an eyebrow…he…liked that weird sort of behavior? Perhaps…it wasn’t wrong for a girl to act as if she were male, depending on the context of said displays. Fortunately, though, she just enjoyed being self-asserting and somewhat witty; perhaps a bit more sarcastic than most girls her age despite whatever species they were born in.

“Okay…so…this sword…teaches me how to use it as I use it? And…what about this weird outfit, it looks like something out of a fairy tale…ugh, just forget I said that.” Alan face palmed himself as he worked on getting the feel of the blade.

Rather surprisingly, Alan did find it easy to learn the sword; it felt as if the blade was teaching him. In fact, he almost got the basics down pretty quickly and felt confident. Again, he was presented with another weapon the minute he was finished learning to the best of his talents.

“This bow was crafted especially for you, once you get your artisan powers back, you should be able to channel whatever magic abilities into the arrows as you shoot them.” Tiala explained with a big grin on her face as she handed the strange weapon to her new friend.

Alan’s eyes widened as he took the bow in his hands, he wasn’t one for armed combat; but this was the one tool he’d always been fascinated with since he was a kid. Oddly, there were similarities between this bow and the emblem. Its curvature was beautiful, albeit a tad exotic, the designs and artwork of the face was incredible. The four symbols of the elements, which he controlled, were etched in wonderful detail, the weight of the wavy bow was fairly light, however it seemed like it could withstand hundreds of battles. The bow itself resembled a golden-bodied Chinese dragon, its string was silver and felt taught, almost like a long-range bow.

“Dang…just for me…thanks, but…one question…why the weapons?” Alan raised an eyebrow as he was aided in the proper positioning for each of the weapons holsters by Tiala.

“Haha, well every hero has a tool or two in their inventory do they not? Consider these two weapons our gift to you; I’m sure the other tribes will also give you such gifts as praise for freeing their lands. On top of that, the Crystal Caverns is a massive palace for evil and wicked low-brained creatures; you’ll have to defend yourself somehow yes?” Atl’at asked with a big grin on her face as she watched the young man eagerly await his quiver.

Tiala’s eyes went wide when Alan drew an arrow and prepared to fire it, the bow wasn’t a child’s plaything. It was a weapon, and in the hands of a master a deadly one!

“Stop! Are you mad…do you have any clue how to use the bow??” Tiala asked in frustration as she grabbed Alan’s hand in order to prevent him from firing the weapon.

Alan felt Tiala’s cold, blue skin on his wrist and immediately flushed; there was no reason, he just felt amazed. He looked her over as his ears drowned out her little rant, what was it…something about responsibility? He chuckled a little as he let the taught bowstring return to it’s neutral position before moving on to speak, of course his young adult hormones prevented him from thinking otherwise.

“Relax princess…I’ve used the bow once or twice, and…I get your point your majesty; ha, and these are common dragon slaying tools! If I’m lucky I’ll run into one, and me and sweetheart over here can take em down no problem…” Alan chimed with a grin on his face as he drew the weapon and fired it; his target was a small bulls-eye right above the head of the scholar Tiala had been complaining about.

“Hmph! Humans…bah, no wonder they believe your kind are linked to primates. Tiala…you should probably go with him, he’ll be a lost little child in the temple inside the caverns anyway without your help!” The Amazonian man stormed off in a huff as Alan chuckled at his, and the reactions of the others.

“What…he was asking for it…” Alan added sarcastically retrieving the arrow from his real target, a painting of a dragon being slain by an Amazonian warrior.

Both Tiala and Atl’at blinked at the boy for a moment, then busted out laughing. No wonder their ancestors considered the humans so juvenile, then again he did overhear the bit about Tiala not liking the professor. Of course, the human would be judgmental on the man over his new friend.

“Alright you silly child, let us begin our journey, we have much ground to cover before night comes…” Tiala laughed as she started off toward the exit of the palace with her gear, a bow, a sword and a grapple hook as well.

Alan just shrugged, tagging a girl along with him might not be so bad after all. He’d been on a few missions with Lady Thorn before, oddly enough, Tiala reminded him of the girl. He couldn’t help but laugh when she said much ground to cover, it must’ve only been a few strides at this size!

Upon Alan’s surprise, the land of the Amazonians was as enormous as them, the trees looked normal at his new size. The mountains were the size of his new self, the lakes were technically oceans, everything big or small in this side of this strange world was enormous. He had to guess that anything in his normal size would’ve been ten times bigger, no…twenty times more massive here! It’s no wonder the food and drink of this land made its locals grow to such massive size. As they approached the crystal caves, after crossing millions of miles of beautiful fields and forests, Alan felt a little uncomfortable.

“Man…being this huge…it’s baffling…and these crystals…they’re beautiful…” Alan felt drawn toward an octagonal shaped diamond probably the size of a skyscraper in his human form.

Tiala’s eyes widened as Alan carelessly approached one of the larger crystals. Was he a fool, did he have a death wish, no matter…there was danger this time around.

“Alan of New York, pull backward!” Tiala grappled him from underneath the arms and yanked him quite a few feet away from the massive gem even in this country.

“Huh…what’s your beef princess, god…it’s just a gemstone…a damn big one but still!” Alan laughed and shrugged as he stood up from the awkward position, now on top of the large four-armed girl.

Tiala didn’t speak as she looked around the high walls of the cavern, lined and filled to the brim with silver, gold, platinum, sapphire, and many other forms of precious metals. Instead, she scoffed at his remark and captured a horrid cave lizard, disgusting insects. The creature itself squirming it’s multiple heads and two tails out of her hand as many times as it could before being tossed at the gemstone, shortly after coming into close proximity to it, the slimy, slug-snake like creature was electrocuted and destroyed by an odd energy field.

“Damn…is that…why these precious metals haven’t been mined here yet?” Alan asked curiously noticing the abundance of even rare magical metals.

“Yes…ever since that horrid Eris broke free of her bindings, these crystals have grown everywhere in these caves. We’ll need to watch our step…even one the size of a thimble in our land can harm you..” Tiala responded a little sadly, as she showed him the several Amazonian warriors lying on the ground, apparently dead.

Alan chuckled a little when she said thimble, for them maybe…for a human it’d be the size of a freaking house! Wandering the caverns wasn’t too difficult, Alan’s experience in the video game arts helped him a lot in solving the many traps, tricks and puzzles littered throughout the maze-like caverns. He had to laugh even more when he watched Tiala slay a massive spider bigger than even King Kong. Now he really felt like he was in a particular video game, rather than a fairy tale. He gallantly pushed forward, despite all his downfalls, and speaking of falling…Alan froze when all that lie between them and the chamber of the gods in these caves was the one thing he hated.

“Great…a god knows how old rope bridge…this’ll be fun…” He muttered nervously watching the pit underneath the bridge grow ever larger.

“What’s the matter…you scared or something, the mighty Alan of New York…afraid of a little bridge?” Tiala asked teasingly rocking it a little with her weight as he started across.

“C--cut that out, who knows how old this stinking bridge is! It’s not like that…m…my folks…” His anger and fear of the bridge soon turned to sadness as he tried to make himself cross.

At this, Tiala raised a brow, what a complex child this young man was. Perhaps his aggressive, sarcastic persona was just a cover for horrid incidents in his past he’d rather not discuss? Interesting, strange how similar in emotion these humans were to her kind.

“Your folks…you never mentioned them in your tales…please…let us discuss as we cross…” Tiala offered her warm heart and an even warmer smile as she put her hand out toward him.

“Okay…it’s…about my father…he mentioned a place like this once…” Alan started to explain, then started crossing the bridge as he told her the rest of the story.

Alan admitted that he had once been fascinated by fairy tales, the wondrous worlds of Neverland, Arabia, maybe many many others. Though his father was an odd man, he raged the libraries trying to find one book Alan thought he’d never have to see with his own eyes. The very book he was now living within, for the time being of course.

“Ah…so the last hero…intriguing development…I am certain that time will sort things out eventually young one. And look…we made it across just fine…” Tiala responded with a laugh watching Alan walk in front of her without a care in the world.

“Huh…wha--dang…tsk…gee, nice move princess…haha I had no idea you cared that much!” He chimed teasingly as they approached the final chamber.

“Hahaha, so…a few mortals have finally made it into my domain…bah, your bravado will end here human…” A dark voice growled lowly from the sands within the massive room.

“Hmph, I figured you’d be guarding the seal…the oh so mighty dragon Cerekuse. Show yourself coward…we mean you no harm…all we need is that seal…” Tiala busted out laughing as she recognized the creature’s familiar tone.

“Bahahaha and the ever so proud Amazonian princess…ohhh…the mistress will be pleased when I bring your head home to her on a plate!” Cerekuse responded before the entire arena like room started to rumble.

Slowly, a gruesome five fingered, well…talon…hand rose from the pit, then another and a pair of arms. As a laugh rang loudly in their ears, the sand clouds in the room formed the body, a huge snake-dragon with furs like a dog and five deadly tails. Its head was as sickening as its body, stretched out wide rather than long with fangs that looked like they could shred diamond. Finally wings formed and became the same color of the crystals, these wings as bat-like as they could be matched the rest of the dragons design.

“Your domain, HA, you’ve been locked up here for eons and you know it! In fact, I don’t think you were even locked up here at all!” Alan laughed at the dangerous but not very scary dragon as he drew his blade, this dragon wasn’t as tough as it thought.

“Be…careful…Alan of New York…Cerekuse…it is stronger than the last time I’ve seen it…much, much stronger…” Tiala cautioned with concern as she backed away to the entrance, not sure what to do.

Alan grinned big as he watched the dragon rise up on two feet and stomp down in an attempt to frighten him off. Though the beast was massive even for being a giant, he wasn’t that intimidating, nor were the massive teeth and deadly black claws, of course, its saw blade-like tail was a little annoying, but not frightening.

“Haha, you dare challenge me…for what…this? I‘ve been given orders not to part with this nor it‘s powers till the day I die!” Cerekuse laughed as he made a necklace appear around his neck with the seal of earth on it.

“Tsk…what a shame…I guess I’ll have to kill you then won’t I? I need my powers back sooner or later ya know…” Alan responded chuckling as he cracked his neck and drew the sword, taking a familiar stance, ready to fight the beast.

Kill a god…he must be insane, what can I do to aid him… Tiala thought with much concern as she watched the battle begin.

What a mighty battle it was, the massive dragon against a mere human is, was, and always will be a thrilling sight to see! Whenever the dragon launched its massive hands at Alan, he lunged back and struck with pinpoint accuracy. Though his blows did nothing to weaken the dragon, as it started to use its earth powers, Alan began to wish he had his. The fantastic dual between man and mighty beast raged through the temple, with Alan occasionally being tossed around and battered as if he were a mere toy. Eventually, a thought struck Alan, he’d fought dragons in games before…why would this dragon be any different?

Right…just gotta think, think like Link bro…okay…Alan pondered his strategy as he continued to allow the beast to have the upper hand.

Tiala managed to keep pace with the two, but she never had time to make any blows or moves of her own. Unfortunately, for her she was unaccustomed to close quarter’s battle, and the caves crystals made it even more difficult to navigate. She was ashamed of being an Amazonian and not having a thing to do with the bout.

“Alan of New York, watch yourself…the cave Crystals…” Was all she could say before an attack from the dragons mighty tail thrashed the stalagmites into the ground and blocking her way any further.

“Crystals…wait…the crystals, that’s it!” Alan thought aloud as he avoided yet another of the dragons mighty swings from its chain whips.

“Bahaha…these crystals give me power boy, just being around them makes me stronger…you couldn’t possibly be thinking of trying to use that against me! There’s no way you could!” Cerekuse busted out laughing at the thought of a mere mortal taking it down.

“Oh is it…then…why not prove it…” Alan grinned evilly as he looked at four large crystals that practically had bulls eyes on them.

“Ah…a little prideful are we, go ahead then boy…show me your clever wit, give me a mortal name to fear the next time I hear it in the same breath as me!” Cerekuse began using its sand powers to forge larger chain whips and raised them into the air as it spoke.

“Hold that pose will ya?” Alan chuckled slightly as he quickly drew his bow while the dragon raised its arms up.

At the first chance he had, he targeted the chain with his arrows and pinned Cereuses’ left arm against the nearby crystal on the ceiling. As Cerekuse reeled in pain, Alan shot another arrow and pinned the dragon’s right arm against the nearest crystal, again causing the beast great pain.

“This…is…nothing…boy…I am a God…a god do you hear me?! I cannot be beaten…it is impossible…” Cerekuse began to rip free of his new bindings while Alan thought of his next move.

“Oh yeah…well…dragons can be killed, so I’ll just kick that part of your ass instead!” Alan responded laughing as he chained the beast up even more, by tagging it to two more crystals with his chains around his feet.

Once the beast was filled with the magic electricity, and its pain seemed at its worst; Alan made his final move. While feeling a bit of his earth powers returning to him, he walked up the wall, jumped off, and thrust his blade into the diamond on the dragons head. This, as he suspected was the final blow, causing the creature to cry out in agony as it glowed brighter and brighter with the red energy. Eventually, the sword glowed a gold color, and the dragon became glass, then shattered shortly after…leaving the seal of earth behind.

“What…no heart container?” Alan thought aloud with a chuckle as he placed his bow and his blade back in their usual spots.

“You did it…you actually…defeated…Cerekuse…” Tiala muttered in shock, as she broke free from the rubble that blocked her way out of the temple.

“Yeah…I wouldn’t have been able to if you hadn’t come in with that little comment about the cave Crystals.” Alan responded with a laugh as he shrugged off the pains that he’d received from this fight.

“Really…I aided you…in such a simple way, odd…many humans take such victories as their own.” Tiala tilted her head to the side as she spoke, watching Alan as he walked up to claim his prize.

“Not this human, heck, I always credit my friends for their work…no matter how great or small an effect it had in what I do.” Alan chimed laughing as he placed the seal of earth around his neck with pride.

“Defeating a god…haha, of all the things I’d never think to see…this one is surely an odd sight. A mere human, powerless and armed with nothing but a bow, his wit, and a blade…it’s just like a fairy tale!” Tiala commented with a big smile on her face as she relaxed her body.

“Not really much surprise if you ask me, I am the hero of this story after all…supposedly anyway. Ha, either that…or someone got a little careless in training their pets!” Alan grinned wide as he took Tiala’s hand and looked to the sky while speaking, as if he were talking to someone who’d been watching the entire time.

Indeed someone had been keeping an audience view of the action that Alan was a part of just now, and rather expectantly, she was a very unhappy camper. The goddess’s eyes widened as she viewed the death of her dragon, they became filled with rage as she listened to Alan’s coy remarks about her creation. Now, of all times, she was angry…devilishly angry…and for Alan that would soon prove to be a bad thing.

“GAhhhhh! That…whelp, that…little…imp, that moron, ear scratching…breast staring human destroyed my dragon?? Agh…what madness is this realm of ours coming to, no human has ever defeated Cerekuse before!!” Eris’s rant was drowned out by cries of rage as she continued to complain about her loss.

“I--if I may make a suggestion, your evil-ness…p-perhaps we should make…precautionary adjustments to our plan?” Again, this voice of concern came from the old warlock who remained ever fearful for his life in the presence of his master.

“That retch has destroyed Cerekuse…and he took the seal, and he’s actually getting stronger somehow!! No matter…I do believe you have given me a wonderful idea…” Eris responded with a sexual tone as she walked around the viewing pool.

“An…idea my mistress?” The old man asked with nothing but undying fear in his tone as he backed away from his master.

Eris glared at Alan, then her thoughts drifted to the four beastly cages and she grinned evilly. So what if the human could defeat Cerekuse, he was just a dragon, so she sort of expected it. With a big grin on her face, she simply raised an arm, and four massive creatures walked into the shadowed area of the room.

“Awww….my precious children…are you all bored…I’m quite certain you are. Pyrus sweetie, why don’t you head for the meadows and have a little fun? The rest of you, go to where your elements reign, destroy…pillage…go as free as the wind takes you!” Eris chimed loudly praising and cheering the creatures as they grew more and more angry.

As the creatures went off to do their jobs, Alan sleeps uncomfortably, tossing and turning in his bed. Of course, he had no concern for the first part of his venture, which was always the easiest part. However deep down he knew things were about to get worse, much, much worse…that or more annoying…whichever came first. To him, this wasn’t an adventure, this was still some stupid part of being an Artisan that he hated, in a way. And yet, oddly enough…seeing these freaky Amazonian people happy…made him feel…good; true they were sexy giants and deadly warriors, but they were people as well.