Chapter 3

Into the Maw of Giants

The Sleeping Giant got its name from the simple fact that when viewed from a far enough distance, it resembled just that, a giant humanoid laying face up, whose face was captured in a perpetual snore. To get there, a visitor would have to travel along the Western Highway if leaving from the twin towns, or they would have to travel southward from Belize City until they reached the capital of the country of Belize, Belmopan. From there they were to switch gears and travel down southward towards along the hummingbird highway.

Since the goal was to sky dive however, Ray and his family stopped in the capital. Since the plan was to camp in the area after the dive, they ran one final check to make sure they had everything.

“Did you bring the box I gave you?” asked Ray’s uncle as they were checking that everything was in its place.

“Yes, I did. I still don’t understand how we’ll stay for 2 nights with just a few changes of clothing and some survival tools. I also don’t understand how we’ll be the only ones diving in. Don’t we need a professional to go down alongside us? I only see parachutes but no professional.” Ray asked with some skepticism. As the even that he’d been waiting for weeks was literally right at his doorsteps so to speak, a healthy amount of paranoia was beginning to worm its way into his psyche.

“Relax boy, I would not be doing this if I did not have the qualifications for such a thing. My family has been doing such things for generations. When we did not have planes and parachutes, we used cliffs next to the ocean. Now that everything’s been modernized, having a license to perform jumps like this are a requirement” Han said from the side as he did his own checks. Ray couldn’t help but notice that Han made subtle glances towards both the box that was currently in plain view as well his Uncle.

“Okay, baba, I’ll believe you. In, any case, I’m ready whenever you guys are. Let’s go Uncle”.

“You know you can start calling me by my first name right? You’ll be a man after today, so just call me George.” George said with a laugh “I know I said you can consider me your uncle, but no need to be so strict on yourself about it.”

“Okay…George” Ray said with a barely restrained smile.

“Alright you two, I’m done, let’s get this show on the road.” Han hefted his bags and led Ray and George towards the plane that had been waiting on standby for them while they were running their checks.

“I just need to verify one last time that at least one of you is a trained professional before we fly out of here” the pilot flatly stated as they boarded the plane. With a flourish, Han took out a card out of seemingly nowhere and presented it to the pilot. After a thorough investigation, the pilot handed it back seemingly satisfied. “Okay gentlemen, please hold on tight while we ascend.”

Ray eagerly looked out the window as the plane ascended. Below them, he could see the verdant canopy of the nearby forest stretch out into the far distance, the trees gradually blending into a lush carpet of emerald.

*******

“Okay Ray, come over here, this is important.”

Ray pulled his gaze away from the window and looked over to Han who was sitting opposite him. He switched seats so that he was now sitting next to him.

“This is important. Today…… today is a day that you must make choices. I’ve already explained why to George, but I chose not to tell you as you need to learn to make decisive split second decisions and learn to stick through them.” Han said as he began to lay out the different parachute packs in front of them. “The first decision that you need to make is whether or not you will jump out of here being strapped to me or will you jump on your own? Of course while you won’t be strapped to me for the latter, I will jump at the same time you do and will be beside you every step of the way. What’s important is whether or not you choose to go on your own or with aid.”

Ray’s eyes widened with disbelief. Jump down on his own? How on earth could he do that?! He would have jumped up with surprise had he not already strapped himself down to the chair.

“Why must I jump down on my own?! What does that have to do with this rite??”

“Son, this is important. This rite is ancient and it tests on the virtues of a man. Whether he has courage, whether he can display wisdom. Can he make last minute decisions? All of these things and more are what this rite will be testing while we’re here. Know that I have taken every single possible precaution to make sure that you will be safe while going down, all you have to do is pull that string while you’re facing down, then just relax your body as you gently go down. But you need to be the one willing to take that leap. So I ask you again, what will it be?”

“You…. you just called me son for the first time ever….” Ray gasped as his mind properly processed everything that had just been said to him.

“We’re running out of time gentlemen, if you’re going to do this, the time is now” came the pilot’s voice from up front.

Han just held out both hands, one empty, ready to take his hand and the other holding the bag. Ray was keenly aware of how, once again, Han had sidestepped a subject. Scrutinizing his face yielded nothing so he turned his attention to the hands and their contents or lack thereof. Honestly, Han had always been dodgy about certain things, but ultimately he did not know the man in front of him to do something without reason. He had always given Ray trust. Whenever Ray said that he could do something, Han would simply nod and let him do it. If it turned out too much for him, Han would always be there to catch him. Like the time Ray had been adamant that he could climb a coconut tree to the top for the very first time. He had only made it half way up before he slipped. The fall would have heavily injured him by rights, yet Han had been there at the right moment, even though just a few seconds before he had looked back and seen him several feet away on the porch sitting and watching with his usual indifference.

Yes, the man in front of him had many secrets and could act shifty now and then, but he was still the man who raised him when he had no one else, and had always been on the receiving end of his trust. This rite was important to Han, he knew this, so he steeled himself and gave Han what he rightfully deserved for everything he had been given. In exchange for a home, in exchange for a guardian, in exchange for a father… he would give his trust in its entirety. He would do this rite as he felt he should, because he had a feeling that if he did so, it would mean more than he could imagine to Han.

Without saying another word, he simply bowed his head to Han, as he had seen him do before in the past to other Chinese Elderly in his community, and took the parachute that was being offered and began to put it on. When he was done, he looked up at Han, “So what do I do no-“. Ray stopped midsentence because once again, for the first time since he met Han, he saw something on his face that he had no seen before, pride, joy and also…sadness?

“Are you okay Han?”

“Yes, I am. Hurry now, put on these goggles and swallow this pill. It will help you deal with the air pressure as you make your way down.” Han offered Ray a strap on goggles alongside a ceramic bottle. Opening said bottle and turning it upside down on his hand rewarded Ray with a single, mostly red pill, with streaks of blue, yellow and green marking the circumference.

“That was not what we talked about Han!” George suddenly admonished from the side. Up until now he had been sitting quietly, watching this touching moment between father and son. Yet the appearance of the pill shattered the rose tinted glasses he had been wearing.

“The bo….I mean, my son, is choosing his path George. You do not have any right to interfere. I only invited you to come here to witness this as you are family to him now.” Han said with a scoff.

“Choosing his path is one thing, but he needs to do it completely on his own Han! If he takes that pill, you might as well just catapult him over the divide ourselves!”

“I will not hear of this, I raised him, so I know him best, he will make the choice anyways. I have faith in that. So I will be damned if I do not give him the best start that my resources can provide” Han said with finality in his tone.

George looked like he was gearing up for another argument before the pilot sounded over the intercoms.

“Last change gentlemen, otherwise you’ll miss your window.”

Ray looked at both men who were staring daggers at each other. He did not know what was going on, and he knew he did not have the time to look for the pieces of the puzzle that were missing from this picture. Taking a deep breath, he chose to proceed with his initial plan. Trust his father.

“Uncle, I don’t know why you and my baba are fighting, but I trust my papa. From your arguing I realize that this pill may not be what he says it is, but from the looks of it, it is still something that is meant to help me. So I’ll take. I hope you can respect my decision uncle” Ray said, mimicking Han’s tone of voice.

George looked back and forth between both men in the room, and with a defeated sigh he placed his hands up in a placating gesture. Strapping on his own parachute, he gestured in a gentlemanly manner toward the door on the side of the plane.

“Just… just be careful Ray” he said and stood behind them as Han opened up the door and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ray.

“Take the pill now and jump on my count of 3 okay?”

“Yes papa, I’ll do so” and with that Ray took a mouthful of water after popping the pill in his mouth.

“That’s the first time you’ve ever used the Spanish version to call me”

“Well, since you’ve finally called me son for the first time, I thought reciprocating would make the occasion more special yes?”

Han let out a deep laugh,” That it does son. I promise, that when this is over, we’ll talk and I’ll explain a few things. Believe me, there were good reasons. No matter what happens, I’m proud that you’re my son”

Ray’s eyes teared up upon hearing this. So many firsts, he always knew that Han felt this way towards him, but he was infuriatingly miserly with his words, so he had never expressed it out loud. Just this alone made this entire trip worth it and a better birthday than any he could have hoped for.

“For what it’s worth, thank you for picking me up when you did at the orphanage.” Ray said” now are we doing this or are we gonna go back and miss the window?”

“Of course we are doing this. On 3. 1. 2. 3!”

And they jumped.

****

As George watched the father-son duo jump out of the plane, his thoughts were in turmoil. This was not how the rite was supposed to go! Anyone going through the World’s tests need to do so without influence. Sure they can have people guide them, but not aid them. That was the whole point of offering the choices. Had Ray chosen to go down aided by Han, it would have been just a regular jump. They’d have made it down, camped for the 2 nights they were supposed to stay and leave. But Ray chose to take the test, and he did not know that he was doing so. That in itself was fine, so long as he had the courage to go down all the way, he’d be deemed worthy and take the other tests to join both men on the other side. But by giving Ray that Celestial Heaven and Earth pill, the world would make the test harder for him. Sure the potential rewards for surviving such a thing would be immense, but there was a very real possibility that the boy could die.

Even Scions from the great cultivator houses would forgo such an opportunity for the safer method, and that’s with them having knowledge and preparation since they were young.

With a grunt, George reached through the boundary and pulled out a double handed bone axe. The length of the haft carved with lifelike depictions of creatures of prey, and leather of a dire-wolf wrapped around the middle area. The head of the axe was hewn from the pelvis of a Saber Tooth Lion and the pike was from the fang. Unlike the haft, the blade was remarkably simple in design, with barely discernible spots of red being the only signs that it was ever used for battle. A trophy he had claimed from his time in the Northern European Mountains amongst the Vikings.

Checking to make sure that no one was looking, he gave a practice swing to inform his muscles that it was time to work. Telling the pilot that he was leaving now and wishing a safe trip back. He leapt after them as well.

“Sorry Ray, but I can’t let you risk your life like this.” George said to himself.

Almost as if on cue, two roars tore through the barrier of sound that was the winds buffeting the airplane. George cursed to himself, it seemed the troubles were already here.

****

There is something to be said about the experience of throwing oneself from a high altitude toward the ground. The feeling of liberation, of being above it all. As you rapidly make your descent toward the earth beneath, you cannot help but be keenly aware of the specter of death hanging close by. That knowledge would normally make you quake with fear, but then your hand goes to the strap on your shoulder. A single tug and your descent will slow from fatally fast to Sunday morning walk in the park. And in that realization comes the ability to truly feel free. All of your troubles in the past, all of your worries of the future, melt away in the presence of the sheer majesty of the moment. Here and now, you are in charge of your own fate, and that fate is to defy the forces of nature and not only survive such a descent, but enjoy the entirety of the journey.

It was exactly this feeling that Ray was being subjected to as he was falling alongside his father. Obviously, he had been instructed by Han how to move in the air, and he had always been excellent at putting theory to practice, so while he could not do fancy screw drivers or back flips, he could slow or speed up his descent with the appropriate movements. He gleefully spun himself in a 360 degree rotation, taking in the land and sky that stretched out all around him. It was beautiful. He had never truly appreciated how beautiful Belize was, not until this moment at least. All beneath him stretched the faint outline of the Sleeping Giant. From what he could tell, they were right above the head, the half lidded “eyes” and wide parted “lips” the only features that were easily spotted. Trees and mountains glazed the land as far as the eye could see. Here and there, streams could be spotted slashing the tapestry, giving the impression of veins flowing down from the mountains.

He turned around and looked at his father, and noticed that his attention was drawn to something below them, off to the right. Following his gaze, Ray could only see the canopies of what he figured to be Mahogany trees, if their height relative to their neighbors were any sort of indication. However, as he tried his best to focus on that spot, he saw a black dot, slowly getting bigger. Was…. was something coming up to meet them?

“WHAT IS THAT?” Ray shouted, but his voice was torn asunder by the surging winds around them. He wildly gestured to Han trying to get his attention, but Han’s gaze was fixed on it. A sinking feeling began to rise from his gut as he noticed that Han’s face was scrunching up into a look of agitation. Turning back to the spot, he saw that it got bigger and was getting bigger the more he looked at it. In fact, he was beginning to be able to make out what it was. It looked like a…..WAS THAT A JAGUAR?!

It was true. As they came closer to it and it came closer to them, it was definitely a black jaguar running up to meet them. And it was fast, fast enough to outpace the rate at which they were going down. They were not even at the halfway point of their descent and already the cat was past that and then some.

“Ray, listen to me that watch that you’re wearing, the one I gave you for your 13th birthday, I need you to pay attention to it as you go down. When it lights up, you need to pull the cord on your pack. It is important that you do not move from where you land. I don’t think I’ll be able to guide you down. I’ll look for you when I get down.” Han’s hushed voice came to him. It shocked Ray as he shouldn’t be able to hear any sort of verbal communication.

“HOW CAN YOU TALK WHILE WE’RE GOING DOWN?!”Ray shouted, but it was of little use, the winds were merciless in their fury.

“Listen, we don’t have enough time. Just do as I say. I’ll explain later.” Han then glided over to Ray, took him by the shoulder and shoved him in the opposite direction of the Jaguar, sending him tumbling.

Just as he had barely managed to right himself, he heard two sets of roars slice through the air. He looked in the direction of the Jaguar, who had come close enough to be seen in more detail. It was a massive thing, easily 4 times what a normal Jaguar should be. As if that wasn’t strange enough, other than the fact that the cat was running on air to meet them in the sky, it had what could only be described as clouds draped around its body. The clouds seemed to be thickest around its legs. However that was all he could make out as the gap between the two grew. As he made to turn back around and get away as Han told him to do, the last thing he saw was his father spear dive toward the cat, and to his immense shock, flames of all things blasted out from the man’s body.

It was almost too much for him to handle. He wanted to turn back to look what was happening, but his rationale won out, and he clung to the fact that Han promised him an explanation to all this when they reunited on the ground, and Han was nothing if not a man of his word. So he focused on gliding away, as behind him roars kept slamming the air around him. It was then he realized, he had heard two roars earlier, but he only saw the one Jaguar. If so, where was the source of the other roar coming from? His curiosity getting the better of him, he furtively glanced around, and finally looked up, where he could barely make out what looked like a bird of some sort struggling against a man wielding an axe in both hands. Was that George? And how were they fighting like that without falling?

So many questions were jumping around in his mind as he fell away from the above scene, becoming vaguer as he fell. He felt a buzz on his arm he looked down to see his watch lighting up. He made to pull the string on his pack, and that was when several things happened at once.

As he tugged at the cord, it opened, releasing the parachute. Then, almost immediately, he felt an immense amount of pain surge through his body. It quickly subsided and was replaced with a warm and cold sensation spreading through his body. The parachute thankfully held, and began its job of slowing his descent. Ray made sure to maintain a careful balance so that he would not go too far away from their original destination while he tried his best to figure out what was going on with these feeling surging through his body.

Before he could make heads or tails of it, a tremor from below shook him out of his introspection. He looked at the mountains below, wondering how he felt at tremor from all the way up here. It was then he noticed that the giant was no longer sleeping.

There was a pulsating glow emanating from the eyes and mouth. No longer slightly open and gaping, they stretched wide and seemed to focus on Ray. The light stretched out in the form of pillar, encasing Ray for a brief second before subsiding back down. Ray was confused as to what the light was, that is, until he began to rapidly descend again. He looked up and saw that his parachute was gone. Practically vaporized out of existence, nothing but the back pack remained. As he fell, a scream tore through his throat. The light pulsated once again and he began to fall faster.

The ground rushed up to embrace him, but before he could get there the mouth of the giant rose up to meet him and the last thing he remembered was being swallowed by it.

After, there was just darkness.