The ground shook ever so slightly with the trembling steps of the massive hulk that was Zuberi. The world was no longer the same and it had taken a lot of convincing from the others for him to decide and leave the mountains in search of help. Upon his back he carried all the food he could manage, so he looked much like a huge turtle with a stone shell. The hammer rested on his shoulder, the nicks and cracks stained in the blood and gore of battle. No more could he and his people be peaceful, no more could they sit and wait for the world to go back to how it was.<br/><br/>No.<br/><br/>It was his job, as their leader to do what needed to be done in order to ensure the rest of them survived. In the distance a forest came into view. If he could recall correctly, this was the forest the Hero spoke of. Perhaps here he could find the answers he sought.<br/><br/>Off into the woods he lumbered often his passing caused the weaker trees to simply fall over. It was when he noted the rocks they kicked up that he stopped. Unable to pass up a good chance to add to his stock, he began to purposely knock over more of the trees. In search of the rocks that were clutched in their roots.<br/><br/>Voices…on the edge of his focused mind were there. Whispers at first. Just barely registering as the giant worked for the meal that he so desperately needed. Even if the rocks that he kept slung about his back would have lasted him a bit yet, it had become second nature and habit for the creature to gather as many rocks as possible whenever he could.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">”Why have you not returned?”</span><br/><br/>The voice of a child, familiar and filled with such sorrow and disappointment that the usually slow being whipped about to try to locate the source.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">”So hungry….where are the rocks?</span><br/><br/>Another voice and he spun only to be greeted by the thick fog and dead silence of the empty woods.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">”YOU LEFT US TO DIE!”</span><br/><br/>This felt like it was right at his back Zuberi stumbled forth to get away only to lose his footing and go crashing to the ground. Literally. A gaping hole now stood, like a wound torn into the earth itself and the giant of a beast had not time to appreciate the rocks that were to be found there. No. For he was tormented by the voices of those that he left behind. His people that he had left to save and yet here they were not telling him that he had left them to die. All of his people.<br/><br/>Even his own…<br/><br/>“NO!” he bellowed and took off. Faster than he had run in what felt like year. Tree after tree, fell to his might and did little to stop him until he finally burst forth into a clearing. Such was his momentum that it took him literally falling to stop him from trampling over those who had gathered there. Now, lying there on his face, the giant pushed to his knees painfully slow and gazed at the clearing. “Rocks?” is all he could ask slowly, his mind back on the original task at hand and ignoring the true significance of the place.