The Confused Explorer

With that as the plan for the next couple of days Mike got to work with cleaning up the area as Turul was still gone.

Putting everything in specific piles with foliage, twigs, and moss in one pile while rocks went into another and anything else of interest in another pile of its own.

Not even a quarter of the way through, Mike not only heard but felt Turul come back as a large amount of wind hit the area blowing the leaves out of the pile and pushing Mikes hair back as he looked at Turul descending to the ground. With a sigh Mike would have to pick all of those leaves back up later and put them in an area where Turul couldn't blow them away with a flap of his wings.

It seems that Turul was getting more and more embarrassed with things like this happening a lot throughout the past 3 days. Shaking his head, Mike headed towards Turul to see if he had anything of interest. Shaking his head it seems like Turul was unable to find something that could be of help to them, so Mike went ahead and started back up the 'cleaning home' project.

Though Turul tried to help somewhat he could only do so much by either picking it up in his mouth or in his talons so it wasn't as much as what Mike could carry with his hands and shirt.

After working on this for what felt like ages without a rest Mike laid down exhausted unable to move a whole lot due to pain, Mike had been working on picking up both large and small objects all around the area making long walks with large loads of materials, it was no wonder he was so tired and in pain.

Laying down for a while and letting the occasional breeze cool him off Mike felt better, though he was still sore, at least he wasn't out of breath. Stretching to help, Mike looked at the now almost back to normal scenery except for the still few strewn about occasional items and the massive piles of stuff off to the corner, everything looked a lot better with the hill in view and it full of healthy moss and strange glowing flowers, which Mike still needed to scan, and down the slope to the side of it was the small river which was full of fish and fresh water no longer cluttered with rocks and other junk.

Looking at the river, Mike wanted to go over there.

Walking over and sliding down to the river side that was a mix between moss, weird grasses, and mud, Mike laid down in order to enjoy the scenery and hopefully see anything interesting in the water as he rested.

Turul, now in the water, was catching fish and hooking them back up onto the bank as they splashed about, had managed to find a weird creature, and not wasting a minute brought it over to Mike to look at.

"A clam?" A short questioning sentence was all Mike said as he looked at the very familiar looking mollusk.

Pulling the clam up closer to his eyes Mike looked all over this little muscle trying to see if there was anything interesting about it, but to no avail Mike couldn't see anything off or strange about it, though he had never studied clams at all when in his old world, and he wondered if it actually was special.

Not worrying about it too much Mike pulled up The Explorers Log and scanned the clam.

A glow of resplendent light was cast over the clam for about a total time of 3 minutes before it was done. Looking at what it was called, it was simply a 'Freshwater Clam'.

--Freshwater Clam: As a part of the mollusk family, a Freshwater Clam is indigenous to fresh water rivers, lakes, and ponds. These muscles shells are dark brown in color and can grow up to 20 cm.

Environment: Fresh Water

Effects:N/A

Danger Level: None

Rarity: Common

Slightly disappointed Mike tossed the clam over to the area in which Turul put the fish at.

Mike looked at the amount of fish Turul had caught it was about 5 with another two clams added that Turul found as Mike was scanning the first one. Doing a quick look over all of them Mike found none that were of interest to scan and so he left it at that in order to make another fire for cooking.

After a period of 5-10 minutes of work with the original wood and tools from yesterday, Mike managed to make a fire that burned nicely. Along with getting Turul's help Mike had skinned and cleaned up the fish that was finally prepared for cooking.

Putting the fish on sticks to roast over the fire, Mike didn't leave this time and stayed beside them since he knew it would only take a period of about 10-20 minutes to finish cooking.

Turning them every once in a while, Mike was getting ready to eat some good fish. After a period of about 20 minutes of cooking the fish were ready for consumption.

Taking a bite after they cooled down somewhat, Mike had a weird expression on his face as he chewed on the fish.

"This tastes like garbage compared to the fish from yesterday." With an exasperated face since he had thought that yesterday his cooking was getting good over fire, when it was just that no matter what you did with that fish to cook it, it would still remain delicious.

"Well I have to eat them now, can't waste food." Mike had to force himself to eat as many as he had cooked which was about 2, and having Turul eat the rest of the fish so that they didn't have to worry about them.

Getting a big chug of water from the river in order to get rid of the taste off his tongue, which didn't work that well, Mike looked at which option he should do first.

Go to the Broad Bear cave and see if there was anything of worth in there, or go search for anything of interest out in the forest since Turul wasn't able to spot anything up in the air, even with his good eyesight he could miss a small plant or animal that was rare or maybe even more if he wasn't looking specifically for that said plant or animal.

Looking at the huge cave Mike thought it might only take an hour or so at most to do a comb over the cave and see if there was anything of interest in there.

As Mike got up Turul followed along suit, following him as he walked towards the cave.

Once Mike and Turul got in front of the cave they looked at the almost looming look of it since it was over 14 feet tall in order to accommodate the giant of a bear.

Walking into the cave Mike could see nothing inside, but Turul could and as they walked in Turul had stopped to stare at whatever it is that laid inside of this cave.

Not realizing what was going on or what he should be seeing Mike turned around and stopped to stare at Turul, confused on why he was stopped and staring.

Quickly thinking of a solution, Mike ran over to the still burning fire, grabbed a large stick of a suitable length and lit the end on fire in order to bring light into the cave. Running back over to the cave Mike still saw Turul, but instead of being dazed he stood near the entrance waiting for Mike.

Walking up to Turul, they both nodded at each other and continued the walk inside the cave, except this time Mike could see, albeit horribly along the walk Mike could only see about a 5 feet radius all around him and nothing more.

This cave wasn't that deep only about enough for the Broad Bear to walk for a couple second before reaching the end, after all this was its home. The cave had a few occasional small twists and turns but nothing of great changing.

Reaching the end of the cave after maybe a little under a minute of slow walking due to Mike being careful not to trip, and making sure they didn't miss anything. By the time Mike and Turul reached the end Mike didn't need the Torch anymore, since all around them were both large and small glowing plants, flowers, and mushrooms. A soft blue light had settled in the area along with a large growing of natural moss, that started with the plants.

The soft sound of a waterfall echoed through out the cave as a naturally made waterfall, up to Mikes shoulders, was at the very end of the cave with a small little pool under it.

On the left and right of this waterfall were huge statues of warriors past in full suits of armor from medieval times. These statues were holding their left hand on their swords as it was drawn and held up into the sky, the other was held to their heart as a fist to signify probably a salute of sorts.

These statues were under a small pedestal that held their already large height even higher. Along these pedestals were words of an unknown language to Mike, the statues also had a crest on their b.r.e.a.s.tplate to the right of their hand.

This crest showed a bird spreading out its wings and legs as it looked to the left towards the statues hand, behind this bird was a large closed gate made of a darker material in the shape of an arch that had many a drawings and symbols on it with two weird looking flowers on both sides of the bird.

Mike looked around at the not only beautiful scenery but also strange statues and waterfall confused on how they could be here.

The waterfall was obviously natural, but then why were there statues surrounding it? Unless it was so well made that it looked natural, but that was a feat more difficult than building a castle for the people of ancient times.

Walking up to the statues Mike slowly c.a.r.e.s.sed the the pedestal that was already tall as him, it felt rough and looked strikingly similar in color to the rock surrounding them with the cave, though Mike didn't know rock types or any thing about them it'd be a safe guess to assume that the statues were made of the same rock as the ones in the cave.

But how'd they get these statues in here? This was an open area at the end of a cave, like a circle room, and it was at least a dozen feet higher than the entrance to which would only be up to the statues waist in height, unless they made these statues in the cave but that'd be beyond difficult what with you barely being able to see.

Along with this strangeness was the waterfall especially, it wasn't clear, the water in the waterfall was bluer than the surroundings and looked like a chemical dump of blue paint that was as smooth flowing as water.

Looking at Turul, who was just as confused about this as Mike, he looked for answers at whatever lay around them, maybe if he knew the language of these statues Mike might've been able to figure out what was going on in this cave.

Walking closer to the waterfall Mike kind of wanted to touch it, but more so than that he wanted to scan it.

With quick movements Mike pulled out The Explorers Log, which had changed to the even more beautiful scenery of the cave, and stopped, which tab would this liquid be under? Materials?

Deciding to just use the 'Materials' tab Mike pressed the magnifying glass and scanned the liquid with a thought.

A now eerie looking light was casted over the entire waterfall and pond of sorts to show the starting of scanning.

Sitting down and staring at the liquid, Mike didn't want too touch it in case it may have been something like poison or some sort of toxic material. As Mike sat with Turul beside him in front of this waterfall and its small pond, there was a somber and sorrowful tone that radiated about the room once it was quiet and without thought, the beautiful scenery added to a tale of these knights that fought for something they believed in.

Sitting there for a couple of minutes and with those thoughts in mind and neither paying any attention to the words that slowly changed with Mikes thoughts, the words slowly read out:

"Justice for those who were sacrificed by someone who was never willing to sacrifice themselves. Glory and Requiem to the king and his sacrifice for the uncaring and dying subjects."