[Belarus] - Ifum, Karkus and Golgomath

As Oz watched Alfreda and the Leader of the giants converse there was something in his mind that was gnawing at him. Looking at this giant he could tell that she was the leader, or a better term would be the 'Gurg'. However...

'Shouldn't the Gurg be Karkus?'.

Pulling a memory from his mind of the canon Oz remembered that when Hagrid mentioned giants and his interaction with them in the canon, Karkus was the gurg at the time. Although Oz was visiting the giants a couple years prior to the event in which Hagrid and Madam Maxey would go to the giants to recruit them for the order, Karkus should still be present here somewhere yet there wasn't any sign of him yet.

'Karkus and Golgomath... Karkus was the gurg before Golgomath killed him taking over the leader position. Golgomath then ended up siding with Voldemort...'.

Truth be told there were many theories Oz could come up with to these turn of events. The most viable one was the chance that Karkus was actually present here somewhere and he was planning on killing this female giant leader in order to take the gurg position for himself. Karkus main motive for taking the gurg position in the first place was to stop the decline of his own kind through the brutal battles they would enact on each other. Seeing that the battles were still present, especially after witnessing the most recent fight between the stocky and tall giant, it was clear to Oz that Karkus hadn't appeared and tried to change the norm at all yet.

'There's always the chance that fate has changed here again... Another weird butterfly effect thats led to Karkus not showing himself yet or maybe even being dead already'.

As Oz was thinking deeply about the situation going on here, he showed no sign of confusion on his face as he kept his cold countenance up looking at the current gurg. Although he himself couldn't speak in giants tongue it was clear to him that the surrounding giants were equal parts impressed with his bravery as they were mocking him for his foolishness in challenging their kind.

Whilst Oz kept up appearances, Alfreda continued to converse with the gurg. Telling the gurg Oz's name.

("Oz Ambrosius hmm? Far far more interesting than those little wizards that visit once in a while... On my authority as Gurg I will allow you your duel. However...").

The gurg scratched her head as she looked around the crowd.

("It seems our little 'Prodigy' isn't present at the moment").

Alfreda relayed all the gurg said to Oz and Oz listened intently. He was slightly surprised as he though that the gurg would just take place of challenger especially considering how she eyed him up like fresh meat initially when he appeared. As he thought more about the situation he felt the need to ask a question to the gurg. Relaying the question to Alfreda, she didn't question her masters motives and immediately spat the question out in giants tongue.

("What is your 'Prodigy's name?")

("Golgomath")

Even though the giant only spoke in giants tongue names were still distinct to some degree. Oz could tell what the gurg had said.

'Golgomath is the prodigy? What happened to Karkus?'.

Oz whispered another question to relay to the gurg through Alfreda and she once again followed her masters words asking a second question.

("Is there a giant named Karkus in this tribe?").

The gurg stopped in her tracks and her gaze seemed to go cold looking at the little witch and wizard. The atmosphere in the 'arena' dropped.

("Karkus died years ago").

Alfreda translated the gurgs words to Oz and as he heard the answer to his question his brow furrowed further.

'So Karkus is dead... Something strange has definitely happened here'.

Truth be told Oz didn't really care who or what was going on in this giant tribe however whenever there was a place he was in where the canon overlapped at one point he felt the need to probe how much the situation in a certain location had changed if it had changed at all. As far as he was aware canon wise, Karkus was always the gurg until Golgomath killed him, taking his spot and then serving Voldemort. Yet in this weird turn of events Karkus was already dead, Golgomath was the 'Prodigy' of the tribe and the new Gurg was an unidentified female giant never mentioned in the canon.

Whilst Oz looked confused the gurg continued to speak in a cold tone.

("You are lucky I like you little wizard. Anybody else mentioning that name in front of me I would have crushed in an instant. I hate being reminded of that pathetic giant").

Alfreda continued to translate for Oz as the gurg spat out some threats. Oz shrugged the threats off focusing on the gurgs attitude towards Karkus who was now dead. It was clear that she disliked him greatly.

'Well whatever... This actually works out better for me in a way'.

With the prodigy allegedly being Golgomath Oz had no qualms fighting and killing him. After all Golgomath would eventually serve under Voldemort. With this 'duel' Oz would be killing two birds with one stone.

("Golgomath should make an appearance tomorrow... I'll put the word out and hope it reaches him. Can you wait till tomorrow for your 'duel' Oz Ambrosius").

After another signature Alfreda translation, Oz simply looked up to the gurg and gave her a nod. The gurg gave a slight smile back as she called out dispersing the giants in the crowd.

("Feel free to set up camp anywhere in the forest surroundings... Well you may need to exercise some caution as some of our kind wont exactly be accepting if you end up sleeping in their 'territory'").

Just as the gurg was about to leave Oz asked Alfreda to ask the gurg one last question.

("What is your name?").

The gurg smiled.

("Ifum").

As all the giants headed away from the clearing into different parts of the forest the ground rumbled with all of their footsteps. Oz and Alfreda despite the rumbling ground kept their stance firm as they watched all the giants disappear, finally watching the gurg, Ifum, disappear into the forest as well.

"Well that certainly went better than I could have hoped... Guess its true giants love a fight".

Oz let out a light sigh as he was relieved that the situation was dealt with cleanly. Worst case scenario Oz saw himself fighting hundreds of giants and escaping the ward with Alfreda and no gains.

"Master..."

Oz put his hand in front of Alfreda before she even began to talk.

"Let me guess, you were wondering why I asked those questions about Karkus and such?".

Alfreda looked at her master wide-eyed considering he had guessed exactly what she was going to ask.

"Thats... Master you don't have to tease me".

Alfreda pouted as Oz let out a light laugh.

"It's just easy to read you after knowing you so long. That cat like curiosity ebbs up and you need to know who, what, when, where and why".

Alfreda continued to pout deeply and blushed also as her master picked her psyche apart. Oz simply smiled and pretend not to notice her plight as he explained himself.

"From what I understood, Karkus was the 'Gurg' here which is why I asked about him. However, somethings obviously happened. Ifum the female giant is in the 'Gurg' position instead of Karkus and any mention of Karkus she seems to get pretty cold and defensive. Giants kill each other for positions in the hierarchy like the Stocky giant did to the tall giant. I think the same happened here with Ifum taking the gurg position from Karkus".

It all seemed simple on paper and even Alfreda nodded along fully understanding the situation yet Oz still had a confused look on his face. Ifum the female gurg was an anomaly in the canon, another character that was never present before yet was now present, much like Rose. Oz couldn't even begin to imagine the butterfly effect that lead to this situation.

'There's no point overthinking it though. As I thought before this situation is actually very beneficial to me with Golgomath being the 'Prodigy''.

Wiping the confused look from his face Oz and Alfreda started to make a move, leaving the large clearing in the centre of the forest and entering into some foliage, preparing to make a camp to sleep in for the night...

.

Night passed by quick and another day dawned. Oz and Alfreda both got up early, Ate breakfast and got ready for the day. Noting that today was the day he would participate in a brawl unlike anything he'd ever been apart of before, Oz's blood boiled looking forward to the fight.

"Should we just head to the clearing then master?".

"That seems like the best bet. Hopefully they have found Golgomath".

Oz put his hand forward and discarded the final ward placed in the area they camped in. As the ward was lifted both Alfreda and Oz's ears were assaulted with a myriad of roars and noises.

"Looks like yesterday was an 'official fight' whilst little skirmishes are present throughout the entire day...".

Looking around deeply Oz could see areas of different giants brawling. It was an incredible sight to see and made Oz realise why Karkus wanted to stop such things from happening. With this sort of sight going on every day it was inevitable that giants would eventually go extinct.

"Let's just head for the clearing at the centre".

Alfreda followed closely behind Oz as the two walked from their little campsite that was now packed up to the clearing at the centre of the forest. As they entered the clearing, Oz could see a few giants already convened. At the centre was Ifum who spotted Oz and Alfreda pretty quickly as they entered the clearing.

("Oz and little witch! You are both up finally... Looks like we can get this duel on the road now!").

Alfreda immediately translated what Ifum said to Oz and Oz smiled hearing the duel was set to go. Walking over to Ifum both Oz and Alfreda stood just on the outside of the makeshift 'arena' with her.

("Golgomath was busy yesterday killing some giants deep in the forest that didnt come to the gathering... I did feel the numbers were slightly reduced more than usual. What a great prodigy we have!")

Oz frowned as Alfreda translated this sentence to him. His knowledge on the type of giant Golgomath was was very thin. He did however know a single thing about Golgomath that summarised him entirely. He was fond of killing.

'It's almost like Golgomath is given a free pass on most things... surely that challenges Ifums power with him just ignoring big gatherings and going off killing random giants...'.

Oz withheld his thoughts about Golgomath as he knew soon he would die anyway. Call it arrogance that stemmed from his blood but Oz always believed he would win in a fight regardless of the circumstances.

For a while Ifum, Alfreda and Oz waited in the clearing next to the arena and slowly the clearing started to fill with giants. Oz noted that a fair few giants seemed to have fresh wounds, probably from the morning skirmishes that seemed to be going on. After the clearing filled up, Ifum took her place at the forefront of all the giants.

("Giants of my tribe! We have an interesting fight to watch today! A little wizard called Oz wants to fight our prodigy child Golgomath! The balls on this wizard are impressive indeed...").

As Ifum started to 'play up the crowd', Oz walked into the arena, handing Alfreda his cape he wore. He was now only dressed in full black. His forearms were the only bits of skin showing in this outfit Alfreda had fashioned for him. He slowly walked to one side of the arena with an unchanging expression, heart beating in beat with every step.

Alfreda stayed within the crowd however got as close as possible to Oz as she could from the crowd area. Enough to be able to call out to him if needed. Ifum who was done playing up the crowd turned her attention to Oz who looked ready to fight.

("There's is one key thing to mention Oz... If you use any of those sparkly spells to attack I will immediately terminate the match. You asked for a duel so thats what you'll be apart of, a 'Giants' duel. If you use anything but your fists this fight is over").

Alfreda yelled to Oz what the gurg Ifum was notifying him of and he simply nodded along. He was fully expecting these rules as the death eater mentioned something back when Oz question him.

'"The giants there loathe magic. If you use magic to beat them you'd be creating an enemy not an ally..." Seems that death eater wasn't lying about that part'.

Oz looked up to Ifum and gave her a light nod to which she replied with a large smile.

("Very good! Now, GOLGOMATH SHOW YOURSELF").

Her tone of voice changed as she mentioned Golgomath. At this point even Oz could tell what she was saying despite not knowing giants tongue like Alfreda did. Hearing mention of his opponent Oz smiled slightly. Silenced filled the air for mere moments before...

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

Into the arena walked a giant measuring 25 feet high. Black teeth, a brutal look on its face and to top it all off a necklace that seemed to be made of bones. The giant took its position opposite Oz and seemed to be excited at the premise of a fight especially against a little wizard like Oz.

("Me, Golgomath will tear you apart little wizard").

Oz didn't even need Alfreda to know Golgomath had instantly came in threatening him. Closing his eyes for a moment, Oz used the one spell he knew he could use in this moment to help.

'Augmentum'

The spell Oz created himself back in Hogwarts. A spell that augmented his strength. Even though Oz's physique was improved through his dragons blood he knew he still had a long way to go. He was up against Golgomath the prodigy who had a knack for killing, he couldn't withhold anything now. Using the spell wandlessly sapped a bit more energy than usual however it was still plenty manageable. The only issue with 'Augementum' was it fed off Oz's magic supply constantly as it was in action. Even with Oz's magic pool, he'd eventually run out. In that time, he needed to kill Golgomath.

Ifum looked at both Oz and Golgomath before yelling out once more.

("Both seem ready... Let's get this fight going!").

Ifum cleared her throat as she started to countdown. The crowd of giants joined in with the countdown causing the entire clearing in the forest to reverberate with their deep voices.

((("""3""")))

((("""2""")))

((("""1""")))

((("FIGHT")))