The Human Giant



"Two questions? Please ask ahead, sir. As long as I know the answer and it doesn't cross our temple's lines, I will be happy to help." The young man was shocked at first before calming down and letting out a charming smile to Yoze.

"My first question is, what kind of bird is this, that it can be your sacred bird?" Yoze asked.

"Donta, I can answer this one," The young woman said to the young man and stepped forward with a smile.

"First of all, we belong to the mighty Rainbow Phoenix Temple, which believes that the Rainbow God created the world. A being whose whole being is made out of all the elements that make up this world."

"We are all children of the Rainbow God, and thus is the Rainbow Phoenix, which is believed to be his first form when he descended into the world he created. Therefore, treating the Rainbow Phoenix with respect is the same as treating our all-mighty Lord with respect." The young woman's eyes glowed with passion as she moved her body with grace, mimicking the movements of a bird.

"The bird in your hands is a direct descendent of an ancient ancestor closest to the Rainbow Phoenix, the Earthly Phoenix. With the Lord's closest bloodline so close to us, we have protected the Earthly Phoenix bloodline for generations, and they have protected us as well."

"Unfortunately, as time passed on, the purity of the Earthly Phoenix bloodline became tainted with time. Leaving each generation of the Earthly Phoenix weaker than the last."

"The baby bird in your hand is one of the last five Earthly Phoenix in the world, so we have to do our best to protect her. So I beg of you not to harm her." As the young woman finished her story, her eyes turned slightly red as she held back her tears.

"There, there, Soma, we all have been through a lot over the years. But as fate has it, just as the Lord's direct descendent was being rowdy and trying to escape, this gracious young man helped catch him." Donta patted the young woman's back as he held her tightly in his arms.

"You are right, Donta. This is the Lord's work. The Lord would never want to see any of his children hurt. Still, he must provide us with difficulty to encourage us to improve ourselves."

"To meet this strong sir at this time means that the Lord believes we are fated together, and we must help each other grow." Soma passionately said, easily overcoming her sadness. 

"..." 

As Soma made her speech about being fated to meet Yoze, he could not help but notice that her eyes never left Donta. To him, it was obvious that she didn't care about being fated with him but with the young man who had his arms wrapped around her.

"Thank you for the information. My second question is, where is your temple? I would love to visit it to make sure that this bird is truly being treated fairly." Squeezing out a soft cough to draw the two young couple's attention back to reality, Yoze asked his second question.

"Sir, you would like to visit our temple!? Please, please follow us. We will take you directly there." Donta looked at Yoze with surprise as if he never believed that Yoze would ever be interested in their story. Still, once he recovered from his shock, he passionately encouraged Yoze and Leah to follow along.

Yoze looked at Leah and noticed that even though he was silent, he didn't seem to be unhappy that they were getting detoured. But it also could be because this was simply a way for Yoze to figure out the directions to this temple so that he could directly visit once he returned.

They were not going to be staying long, and at the end of this, Leah wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath since he wouldn't be coming back. Seeing that he was fine with it, Yoze turned his head back towards Donta and Soma and nodded his head.

"Perfect, please follow us. It isn't a long walk from here." Donta smiled as he regretfully let go of Soma and began to walk to their temple.

Ten minutes passed by as Yoze chatted with Donta and Soma to try and find out more about their identity and their faith. Luckily, they weren't trying to hide anything, so in the short amount of time they were walking, he was able to find out a lot of information.

For one, the Rainbow Phoenix Temple was a small part of a much bigger temple called the Rainbow Temple. They were the guardians that the Rainbow Temple had entrusted for centuries to take care of the Earthly Phoenix.

Because it was their core duty to take care of the Earthly Phoenix family, which normally hated to be around people, the Rainbow Phoenix temple was separated from the main headquarters of the Rainbow Temple. Their separation was so thorough that many followers of the Rainbow Temple and the Rainbow Phoenix forgot that the two temples were originally one.

They often weren't allowed to access the resources that were supposed to belong to them to take better care of the Earthly Phoenix bloodline, which resulted in a steady decline in the maintenance of the temple and a reduction of followers, causing them to struggle.

When he asked them how they knew so much information, they simply told him that Soma was the daughter of the Temple leader and a candidate for the future saint position. In contrast, Donta was someone adopted by the time and raised there since he was a child.

"Just from this little bit of information, I feel that you two are the main characters of a fairy tale of two lovers. A princess with immense status has fallen in love with a normal man to the dissatisfaction of her Nobel family." Yoze said jokingly as he heard their story.

"Well... I never thought about it like that." Soma said with a stutter as her face turned bright red.

"Sir, does this story have a happy ending?" Donta let out a soft cough as he tried his best to hide his embarrassment but couldn't help himself and asked Yoze for more details.

"Most of the time, they end up together and live a fantastic life." Noticing their reaction, Yoze pieced together that Donta's and Soma's relationship must not have been approved by their family. Still, he didn't want to let their dreams of being together become tarnished, so he just casually told them stories with happy endings.

"Fantastic! Before we forget what we brought you here for, that beautiful temple on the hill is the Rainbow Phoenix temple." Donta let out a wide smile as he pointed towards the temple in the distance.

Turning focus toward where Donta was pointing his finger, Yoze saw a large golden pyramid that had been painted with multiple colors to give it a rainbow pattern. Yet he was able to notice that there were countless scratches and clear traces of the paint being eroded by the weather over the years.

It fit perfectly with Donta's and Soma's story of their temple being cut off from the resources that the main branch had promised them. Being forced to rely on their followers' support and to ration everything, they had to keep up with the high cost of attending to the needs of the Earthly Phoenix family.

"Your temple is quite beautiful even when you have been enduring hardships. I could only imagine its beauty when it was in its prime." Yoze said with seriousness.

He could easily tell that the amount of effort that was needed to upkeep a temple of this size wasn't easy, especially when they had to deal with an increasingly tight budget and protect their sacred Earthly Phoenix bloodline.

"Thank you, my father, and everyone would appreciate your praise if they could hear it." Soma smiled when she heard her home being praised.

"Who said I can't appreciate it right now," A hearty voice suddenly echoed from the Rainbow Temple as a tall figure around 7 feet and 8 inches tall walked outside the temple's doors.

The figure took on the appearance of a middle-aged man with graying sideburns and a thick gray beard hinting at his age. Even though he was getting old, the middle-aged man's muscular body and bright brown eyes showed he still had a long life ahead of him.

"Dad!" 

"Saint Griffin!" 

Both Soma and Donta before shouted in shock the moment they saw the middle-aged man walk outside the temple and placed their fists in the air. Seeing that they had completed the Rainbow Phoenix temple's greeting, Saint Griffin also raised his fist in the air and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"The Rainbow Phoenix blesses all!"

The shockwave that came from his mouth was deafening and could be easily heard from miles away. Yoze could tell that from the mere power that came from Saint Griffin's shout, his body could be as strong as a Blood Master.