Crossing the Plains by Talha Ahmad
Afsha receives a message that her long-lost mother is dying, and she must cross the Middle Plains to see her before it's too late, but the annual invasion of giants is worse than usual. Image generated with OpenAI Afsha pulls her machete out of the giant's thigh, twirling away to avoid the jet of blood that arcs from the wound. The lumbering beast falls with a wet smack on the crimson-soaked grass of the prairie. The ground shakes as Afsha advances with her squad, finishing off giants lying prone and close to death around her. She had always heard of Crossing the Plains as if it were the final battle before the Day of Judgement. When she grew older, she learned it wasn't a final battle, but one that recurs every year as Winter slowly melts into Spring. But this truly feels like the final battle she had feared as a child. Screams cry out from every direction. Blood squelches under her boots with each step. The smell is unimaginable. "There's too ma...