To protect one must be ruthless, and to love one must be gentle. Which shall you choose?

-✵

Gentle waves rolled upon the white sand shore line as the strong smell of salt stung one's nose. A man sat down by the shore as he stuck his feet into the pink water. The dark of the world reflected the stars upon the waters body. The swirling galaxy moved with the weak movements of the water.

Staring upon the ocean, the man didn't seem to be thinking of anything in particular. He just didn't feel happy. Why was it? He had started his adventure with just him and his new best friend. There were hundreds of things that he'd never seen before, and a trillion more to discover. They were all so exhilarating to discover and study. This was his dream, yet he missed home again.

He was having fun everyday. His friend kept him company as both his protector and peacegiver. Yet he still missed home, the one where he had nothing left there. None waited for him there. None worried about his safety anymore like Turul did, yet he still wished to return sometimes.

'Homesickness is stupid.' The feeling of crying came and went like the weak tides before him. He knew it was a stupid grief, yet even he couldn't stop his emotions. And although he didn't cry, he sure felt like it. It had been over 6 months since he'd left that cursed place only to miss it, and it's been every month since then that he's had a period of depression like this where he could do nothing but sulk for a while.

Behind the man stood the towering golden bird that made him look like a toy. It also sensed the man's unhappiness. Bending down, the bird rubbed against the man woefully with its large head.

Sniffling, the man quickly started to get over his unneeded sadness as he laughed at the birds silly expression and antics. Grabbing his walking stick and two backpacks, he hopped to grab onto the birds large head before they set off once again into the sky with a mighty screech and a large flap of the birds wings.

✵

Mike laid upon the broad bear fur near their campfire for the 'night'. Holding up a precious looking white gem they had just recently found within their adventures, he compared it to beautiful stars in the sky.

He had tens of these things. They were scattered all throughout this place in somewhat dangerous areas. They came in a lot of variants with colors and shapes, however they were all basically the same. They were just regular gemstones with not a whole lot of value to him at the moment besides looking pretty.

'I can sell these once I find a large civilization.' That was the only reason he even kept a hold on them, because they were apart of his plans for use in the future.

The amount of random things that were both useful and somewhat useful within both of his bags were astounding. From exotic plants that could be kept for long periods, Gems, small monster parts, and cooking ingredients, like the Queen's jelly, they were all stuffed within these bags. Luckily he could carry them without a whole lot of strain on him, however he had to many plans for everything he kept and didn't feel like just throwing them away. They were really useful in their own ways.

He had obvious ideas for everything he owned like selling the jewels, using the cooking ingredients paired with a very skilled chef, and using the monster parts and herbs for potion making or in some sort of special way. He would figure that one out as he went along.

And it didn't help that for the past 6 or so months that anything that he'd eaten tasted burnt due to his very lacking skills in using a wood fire to cook, so he really wanted to use those cooking ingredients well.

✵

A Night unlike any other, for the sky has shifted! A crack in the tides of Time and Space bring about the New Era. Tell me, can you Sleep on a Night like this?

It had all happened to suddenly. No shadowed forewarning of it appearing at all. The dark outer cascade of its body bent the very world around it! Its maw showcased spiraling sceneries of unseen proportions. Defying the laws of physics in each new change.

Absorbing only the essentials of what it wanted, the maw of that ravenous gourmand closed as quickly as it opened.

✵

Mike expected something quite satisfying when he reached level 10, after all it didn't seem to ever come forth no matter how much he scanned.

However finally on this day it came along. It made the usual quiet bell toll as both he and Turul leveled up simultaneously after killing and scanning a rather rare beast, and although he had scanned tens of things more exotic/unique, those never elicited a reaction out of The Explorers Log.

'I guess it finally decided it was time for me and Turul to level up?' Excited on the prospect of rewards for accomplishing another goal, Mike awaited a new window containing his reward. To which one promptly popped up.

{Congratulations for reaching Level 10!}

{Click here to Claim your reward: Claim}

The rewards for reaching new levels and gaining rewards excited anybody, after all it was getting something really good for free for simply growing stronger.

Anticipation in his broad smile, Mike clicked the claim button faster than he could think of all the rewards he may get.

'Maybe new functions on The Explorers Log, or maybe another guardian?'

Almost overwhelmed in his happiness, Mike had no time to register the split second before he fell flat onto the ground where he lay, unconscious.

✵

A brightly lit blue sky hung overhead as a golden yellow sun bathed the ground in a warm aftermath of its radiation. No regular soil lay here though. Strung high into the clouds lay the soft patch works for life. A mix of green grass and white cloud rolled on for a lifetime.

Familiar sights always rung true as a man in grey clothes lay face down upon the ground, however the key difference being he also had a 20 foot beast right beside in the same position. His bags still on his back, the man slowly stirred from his nap with a grumble.

Shifting his body upon the soft and slightly cool damp feeling of cloud and soil, the man felt the flashback of fear from bygone days.

Lifting himself up quickly after groggily realizing something wasn't right, he immediately regretted his actions. Spending half a year in a land of darkness, the man was not used to such bright lighting.

Along with noises of pain and furiously rubbing his eyes while crouching for a few minutes. The man could finally barely make out the area he was in.

The vast new world laid before his eyes. It truly was to much to take in all at one time. Going through 6 months of the same thing still didn't prep him for this much of a change, and although it might be a welcomed one. It was still to much of a fast pace to truly adapt quickly.

'Will this happen every time I level up 10 times?' Fearing such a unexpected occurrence he made a mental note for the next time he was about to reach level 20.

Over the horizon yonder, on a separate large cloud land of its own that resided above them lurked the white clock tower of fate, where unknown congregated life resided. Civilization was right around the corner this time after searching for it for 6 months.

Two almost as equally tall needle point sentry towers stood as the guard posts for entry to this unknown kingdom, connected by an overhanging archway. Surrounding this massive clock tower were large swaths of buildings that grew like a mountain would upon the kingdoms domain, with the clock tower remaining ever vigilant on top. Cascading waterfalls fell off the beautiful kingdom falling towards the clouds of the land below.

An entire kingdom of white, pure and ethereal.

✵

It was not long after Mike and Turul had awoken that they were flying high into the sky. With Turul's larger frame and higher level allowing for faster speeds, it was also not long before they were circling the entire kingdom like a buzzard does one's prey. And although the kingdom was relatively in the middle for a kingdoms size, based off pictures, it was still something that only Turul could do to circle it so quickly multiple times each minute.

Staring at the kingdom from high above, Mike felt a rush of absolute excitement and curiosity, forgetting all about anything else, including how he had just gotten here.

'Maybe it is a kingdom of angels or some type of winged race?' Hypothesizing allsorts of ideas for what may inhabit it, Mike took the time to make a plan. Rushing into a brand new civilization with a legendary being following right behind his heels would spell trouble. Even if they couldn't recognize what Turul is, he releases enough of a suffocating atmosphere already to bring the army marching, not to mention his 20 foot tall size.

But he couldn't just leave him behind. Without Turul, Mike was basically a normal human being that could only create relatively useful weapons out of nothing. Months of living the survivalist life didn't count all that much when you are protected from any danger 24/7.

The best news about arriving at a place with a sun is that they could now distinguish the day and night cycles clearly.

Rapidly processing all of this, Mike had a rather easy time accepting and adapting to this new environment. After all, being an explorer was all about exploring new and unknown places, he'd have to get used to it.

Making up all of the plans, Mike considered how they were going to get inside without alerting the whole kingdom anyway. If Turul didn't get them caught, he certainly would. If it was some sort of Avian race with wings and bird faces, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. How would he explain himself then if they were hostile to humans or to him for some reason, or where he came from for that matter?

He'd have to wait to flesh things out until he figured what race was actually in control of the city. He'd only been assuming it would be some sort of bird race so far.

As Mike assessed their options, ten white jet like constructions flew out of the city from some unseen area behind the white clock tower. It seems like they had been caught.

The hull of the creations were fast moving gears. Lightning had spread out crazily through the automatons before collecting into the small guns on both sides of it. They had no wings with only a body allowing it to fly through the sky. From the back, they left a trail of white clouds behind them that didn't disperse. They quickly flew a circle around the city as they grew close, speeding towards Turul from the front.

Thunder cracked loudly as their formation made its way towards Mike's location. Their speed was crazily fast, reaching their position in seconds, even though their height above the city was considered huge.

Firing volley like shots of lightning as they flew past, loud booming explosions rang from the sound barrier breaking, with each shot accurately aiming at Turul. However Turul easily bypassed every shot.

The loud sounds severely hurt Mike's ears as he covered his ears with his hands, luckily they flew far enough away to where it didn't burst his eardrums.

As the lightning shots that missed collided into each other, an after explosion rang throughout the air, creating a billowing cloud of black smoke and fire that covered part of the cities sky.

Suddenly, the clock tower struck loudly as it echoed in a reverberating fashion throughout the land.

Fate shall stick its hands within this world once more with a crashing of new existences and a white city resting below a strange clock tower.