"Once upon a time there was a storm giant named Nimbus who lived with his wife, Cerulean, and their baby, Squall, in a marvelous castle on an island of magic clouds. They were all happy, until one dreadful day something terrible happened. Nimbus was feeding a flock of sheep to his roc, and Cerulean had just put small Squall down for his nap. Suddenly, there was a terrible grinding noise, and the baby giant cried out in fear. Rushing back to the nursery, Cerulean was just in time to see a horrible wormlike monster drag her baby down through a hole in the floor. "Nimbus! Help!" she screamed. Quick as lightning, Nimbus came thundering in. "What's the matter?" "A horrible worm stole our baby! And he went down that hole! And the hole is too small for us!" "So it is," said Nimbus. "And if we make it any bigger, our castle's foundation stone," which was white quartz, and magical of course, "will crack and we will crash to the ground." He put his arm in the hole and felt around. "It's too deep. I can't touch the bottom." Cerulean started to cry. "Don't cry, my dear," said Nimbus. "We have many friends who can help, and maybe some of those teensy humans and elves and things can be hired to bring back our baby. They like gems you know."
