“Aah, finally!” Chloe exclaimed. Dylan yawned.

“How was the ride!?” A cheerful voice suddenly sounded from behind them. The four jumped up and turned around.

“Ho, no need to be startled!” The voice laughed. Two giant figures stood behind them. One crouched before them to get somewhat on the same level. The four stared at them wide-eyed. They had never seen giants before.

“We’re in Gaea…” Dylan stuttered.

“That’s correct!” The crouched figure said. “Welcome to the land of the giants!”

Sarah was shivering even more than she usually did. All her strong resolutions to be brave had left her. The figures stared down at them.

“No need to be afraid!” The figure tried to calm them. “We are your colleagues, I am known as Laugh or Laughter, my name is Calla.”

The female giant then gestured towards the male giant standing behind her. Gloomy in every aspect, he stood there glaring down at the group.

“This is my partner, who is known as Despair, his name is Milos.”

Milos did not say a word, he just kept on glaring at the group.

“We are stationed here in Gaea, together with 2 other teams of giants and half-giants, to protect Gaea against Seraphims.” Calla continued. “We will show you the ropes of everything concerning your mission and also the way the worlds work these days.”

“We’ve all been alive in these worlds before, I’m sure there isn’t much to tell.” Thomas grunted. He felt uncomfortable around giants and the like.

“Oh? You honestly think the worlds stayed the same, since the last time you were down here?” Calla asked cheerfully, but slightly mocking. Thomas didn’t answer.

“Anyway let’s go somewhere else first.” Calla said while reaching out her hands. Milos now also crouched and opened his hands to the group. The four looked at the hands confused, but before the two giants could say anything, Dylan stepped on one of the four hands. Calla smiled.

“This is faster.” She said. Sarah sat down at the hand before her, Milos cupped his hand, so she could sit better. Chloe sat in his other hand. Milos stood up and started walking away. Thomas hesitated, but then stood onto Calla’s other hand. He refused to sit down, but when Calla stood up. The speed and force caused him to lose his balance, Calla managed to cup her hand, so he would not fall off. Thomas did not stand up again. The two giants made the distance seem short, but they were right, if the four had walked by themselves it would have taken them half a day to get to their destination. They arrived at a city that none of them knew the name of. Buildings as large as mountains, streets as wide as lakes and its inhabitants just as large as their hosts. The buildings had 3 height differences. Gaea is home to giants, half-giants and humans. However, even the humans of Gaea were usually an average of 16 feet. Their hosts walked through the streets, other giants looked at the four visitors curiously, but smiled as a way of greeting to the four tiny humans. Each of them fit perfectly in their host's hands. Thomas being the largest of the group still did not fill one hand. The four looked around them wide-eyed. Never had they seen anything like this. There were so many things they had never seen before. Not even mentioning the architectural style. Although, it might also be the size of the building materials that make it so different. The tallest building seemed to reach almost as high as the Great Lift. Clouds formed around the top, so no one could see the actual top. The bricks used were as big as houses, the ones they had in their own world. The thing that made the buildings so interesting, was the fact that trees, plants and flowers, grew all over them, even through them or on top of them. As if nature was taking back their lands and yet it coexisted so well together with the buildings.

“How do the plants and trees grow from the buildings?” Chloe asked with an amazed gaze. Calla chuckled.

“We use biodegradable materials in our buildings.” She answered.

“Bio...what?” Dylan stuttered. He never heard anything of the sort. Calla laughed.

“Damn from what era are you!” She started. “Biodegradable… it means that it’s organic…? Natural? So it won’t hurt our soils?” She tried to think of an easy way to explain.

“Our world has been through a disastrous period for a very long time.” Milos finally spoke. His voice was deep and rumbled in the bellies of the tiny humans in his hands. “Our world was dying through pollution, so we now try to never let that happen again.”

“Won’t the houses fall apart over time?” Thomas asked confused. Milos nodded.

“This does happen, however, the trees and plants that grow through our buildings, also strengthen the structures and so our houses will stay strong for a very long time.”

“Unless you let the plants die!” Calla added cheerfully. “Don’t worry, the buildings usually stay strong for about 300 years!”

The four stayed quiet for a while.

“Don’t giants get older than 100 years?” Sarah asked timidly as she looked up to Milos’ huge face. He turned to her and pulled up one eyebrow.

“Have you only read fantasy stories, child?” He asked her. She turned her face flustered. “Giants grow no older than 80 or 90… just like humans.”

“Perhaps it was different when she lived, Milos!” Calla said. Sarah looked at her. “I mean, my grandfather had become 100 years and that was during the pollution!"

“When did you live, kid?” Milos asked Sarah. She had to think for a bit.

“I died 34 years ago.” She answered. Milos took a moment to think.

“Giants haven’t gotten older than humans for very long.” He answered. "Our houses now simply need a great deal of proper renovation after 300 years, so several generations can live in there."

"The building materials and the renovations are all fabricated, used and done with nature constantly in our minds." Calla continued. "We hope like this we'll never have a situation like we had before..."

Calla was quiet for a small second, but then added: "Of course no renovations have taken place yet, this is all a start of a big expirement, so far so good tho! The pollution is nearly gone, endangered species have made incredible come backs, amazing new discoveries were made!" 

She started to tell stories about how the pollution had started and had at some point gotten rapidly quicker. How the entire populations of some countries had taken down their running goverments, that did not want to change their ways. Great disasters that happened all through the world, devistating land for both animals and humanoids. Space travel enlarged greatly and quickly. 

"if you died about 35 years ago, girl, you only just missed the great change in the entire universe." Milos added. "It all happened so fast, the whole world was on the move, on your own planet a disastrous pandemic was raging, one after the other and still most of the people in charge, did not want to change their ways." 

Sarah looked up to the giant that was holding her. His thundering voice resided. 
"Why, if the world was in such peril, would the leaders still refuse to change their ways?" She asked, upset and frustrated. Milos looked at her.

"You needn't be upset about it now, child, it is mostly resolved now, but for sake of answering your question: Fear." 

"Fear?" 

"Yes fear, fear of losing the people, losing their position in the market, losing their voters, because they voted for them for different reason then care for the climate, such things." 

"I see, but didn't they lose their positions anyway?"

"Some did yes, but not all. Even now there are still some countries that stick to the old ways." 

They kept their discussiong going for almost the entire walk, until they finally went inside somewhere. It was a house, a large building and a crooked roof. Trees grew from the roof and smoke rose from a chimney sticking out from between their leaves. Ivy filled the huge brick walls and some covered windows or offered shade. As they went inside a cozy room the two giants reached their hands to a giant cabinet, where the four stepped off their giant host's hands and on top of the giant cabinet. Once on the cabinet, they found four comfy chairs in their own size. And a bit further away, four beds, a table with chairs and plates and silverware.

“It’s like we’re in a dollhouse and we are the dolls.” Thomas commented. But he was not unthankful for the chair. They sat down, a bit uncomfortable at first, but soon relaxed. The two giants sat down in their own chairs and looked at them.

“Let’s get started, tonight you guys will stay with us for a bit, maybe even tomorrow, we’ll see.” Milos said. Thomas looked around, it felt weird to be down on the worlds again, even if it wasn’t his own world. “Let’s start with what you guys will be doing from now on.”