The Confused Explorer

Stars that speak of their million year lives like story books tell of emotions unseen to the world and the eyes of the intelligent. We as humans hold out heads high as we are superior to other beings, for we are smarter! But when did that mentality bring us to our ruin? When did it cause the end of our world with the intelligence that we were so proud of? I know not what may happen to our species for I am just one of the billions, yet even a blind man may see the destruction we will wright upon ourselves.

-✵

The trees hold their fickle lives by a candles heat to stay alive upon the mountain they reside on. The cold and harsh winds cannot kill them for they hold on by their thread of life and not the winds.

The titans harsh breath brought Turul's attention to Mike as he fell to his death. With one quick motion Turul brought Mike away from dancing on the Grim Reaper's blade.

Cold winds and darkness surrounded Turul as he protected his master from the harshness of the outer world. Pulling in the white and cold figure further into his wings, Turul dug his head closer near Mike.

He didn't know what to do, he was a Roc after all, he didn't know how humans got sick and for what reasons so it was obvious he didn't know how to cure one. Mike's cold white, almost bluish, hands showed a case of frostbite. Hypothermia seemed to rack his body as he shivered in the darkness. A sickness was quickly encroaching upon his body, whether it was a cold or the flu was unknown by this time.

They seemed insignificant in the vast world of darkness and ice that stretched beyond the border of ones eyesight.

Turul would not be able to bring Mike down the mountain anytime soon since an avalanche would surely end Mike, and flying down with the rapid change of pressure and temperature would be about as fatal as the avalanche, plus even if he used wind for protection he wouldn't have enough energy to even glide down the mountain safely using such a method. Mike only had around a day to live, and moving would waste energy that neither of them had anymore. It had been hours since they had last eaten, maybe even a day, and hunger was something prominent in an environment such as this one.

✵

The borders of darkness expanded and contracted in a series of blinding and small spurts of light as Mikes hazy eyesight tried to focus on the surroundings. His foggy memories and thoughts caused a slow process on where he even was or what he was doing. Shapes, colors, and even faces of loved ones floated in the stuffy darkness as he searched for anything real in the surroundings.

His whole body felt painful and shaky with the only real feeling being in his hands as a prickly sensation. A splitting headache adorned him as his crown and sweat dripped easily from his pores.

Slowly organizing his thoughts, Mike didn't know what happened after he was blown back by the large gust of wind. He didn't even have the strength to move his arms that much anymore and he lost his two most important senses, Vision and Touch.

Clearer minded, Mike felt more sad than anything. Death never had been prominent in his life, even after being moved here. And for this first time he was dancing to the rhythm of his song. A marionette in the puppeteers hand. Why was it that after finally finding his true path in life he had to lose it so early over the most stupid of mistakes? He had been too relaxed. He knew the danger yet he didn't plan for it at all. To caught up in his delusions of grandeur he lost sight of what was more important, his survival to find that success.

Lost in a forest, most people would prioritize survival over the beautiful flowers yet Mike forgot that swiftly. It was understandable that he was lost in the new sight and smells. However he lost his senses to early. Maybe Turul was added to his new life to early. Due to his reliance on him so much he had even forgotten the unrealistic pain he had when he first got here.

He didn't even use his randomly acquired powers correctly. He could create whatever his imagination could create so why couldn't he use that efficiently? It was practically the best ability for someone who explores. It was all of the bags and equipment needed to explorer within the nifty pocket of imagination yet it still wasn't able to save him from a stupid death due to misplanning.

In this cold abyss Mike only had a day left to live. If he could not get out, it would spell doom on him.

Darkness was the only thing in his sight as his parents floated in and out of his vision with smiles on their faces while holding each other closely. He didn't even know what they looked like as old people, he had been to busy with his own unimportant life that he hadn't seen them until they were on their deathbeds in a closed casket together.

'Would it honestly just be better to die rather than continue on with this?'

His stupidity had costed him dearly for the first time since coming here and he may lose his life because of it. If there was an afterlife, would he be able to see his parents and talk to them about his brief yet exciting adventure away from the world that they knew? Would they be disappointed in his risky actions? Admonish him for leaving behind a true companion? Or would they embrace him and tell him it's okay to fail sometimes?

He honestly didn't know. He hadn't seen them in almost 20 years so he would be hard pressed to tell you what their personalities were. They were the single chain that held him down to the old world, yet they were one of the chains that held him to his current one as he died.

✵

Amongst the diamonds in the sky that were held like dew drops on ones fingertip laid ones questions and hope, fear and aspirations, guilt and happiness. They guide us to what we seek yet they also hold the answers to so much more.

Mike would have died that hour were it not for Turul and his eyesight being so good. On the slope that they had been walking up just a couple minutes of walking would have led to a clearing where it leveled off and no snow or ice fell. A few minutes walk had determined whether Mike would have died that hour or not, yet it was still up for interpretation on if he could live through the day or not.

Carrying Mike within his expansive golden wings Turul walked up the slope quick easily.

Upon reaching the leveled clearing Turul surveyed the surroundings. It felt like this clearing was infinite, it reached far beyond any normal humans eyesight and yet even Turul could not see the end of it. In the background far off into the distance all around them laid the rest of the mountain as its spiky and rickety edges pierced further into the stars. It surrounded them on all sides except for the place they just came from, almost like a chair. occasional spikes of ice and snow laid in the plain of desolation. Very little to no plants at all lived up here except special ones that weren't within seeing range.

It was a sort of strange ice savannah that was far above in the sky within the clouds. Although it could be called desolate, it could also be called beautiful. It was one of those once in a lifetime seen sceneries that almost no one saw.

The clearing didn't have single cloud above them, however looking back towards the slopes there was only darkness and harsh wind awaiting their return.

Walking forward, Turul followed the deep pits of the walking creature towards its destination as the distant rumbling and creaking showed signs or resurfacing.

✵

Walking with the rumbling, the large creature found its destination. Surrounded by the desolation of ice and snow with the eclipsing of stars that shined like universes upon the planet it stopped the movement that had kept it afloat after all of these hours. Its rumbling body and creaking joints showed its weight as the deep pits trailed to its beginning. However what stood in front of this leviathan was an empty field. It's sickles, that were as long as cars, moved rhythmically as it seemed prepared to do something.

Pushing forward, Turul ran swiftly in order to catch up with the large creature in hopes of snagging whatever it came here for so that it may hopefully cure Mike. Protecting both of them with the wind elements Turul was able to move much quicker than without it. The flat, barely undulating, ground made it a simple act to catch up within the next hour or so.

Reaching the eclipse of its mission, the creature had a strange l.u.s.ter in its compound eyes as it slowly stretched forward, however it stopped. It slowly rested again as it waited patiently for something.

It was quite easy for Turul to know when he was close to his destination. Although there wasn't any noise from the creature, it was so large that it would be hard to miss in this desolate landscape. However it was just standing there.

Not stopping for a single minute Turul ran a half circle around the large creature to get in front of it. Taking a wide arc, it took longer for him to reach his destination, but it was better than them being caught.

After reaching a point where he could see what the creature was looking at-Turul found nothing.

Coming to a halt Turul looked on confusingly for a minute. There was nothing here. They had toiled through hours of harshness and bleakness, his master was suffering from fatal problems only for this creature to show nothing but a ruse to them. Mike would die here for a stupid mistake because he had wanted to follow his new path to closely. He had looked to the sun too much and got burned deeply. They both had believed that as long as they got up here to this creatures destination everything would be okay, yet Fate played its cruel jokes like the puppeteer that it was.

Angry, Turul knew that there was only one way in order to save Mike at this moment, and that was to kill this large leviathan and use it to cure Mike. After all both of them were hungry and almost dehydrated, Mike more so than Turul. If he could kill and let Mike eat some food maybe they'd be able to get more time to diffuse this situation.

Mike's frostbite and hypothermia might be able to be alleviated somewhat with the monsters internal body heat and its meat could be used as food to help Mike feel better. His Flu or Cold would probably be there for a while but hopefully by the time he gets over mostly everything the storm on the base of the mountain would disappear.

Turul pulled back on fighting the monster just yet, after all Mike would be in a dangerous zone if they fought now. Turul couldn't afford to take his time and would have to go all out from the very beginning. If Mike's situation got worse just because Turul took his time, it would only be his fault. Rushing away from the leviathan for over half an hour, Turul lightly laid Mike down onto the snowy ground. Pushing snow onto him, Turul made sure Mike would stay warm. He also brought over 3 large spikes of ice that were piercing out of the ground as to lay a landmark to he could find him later.

Looking at the barely hanging on man with no small amount of anxiety, Turul unfurled his wings and flew into the radiant night sky, determined to hunt down that beast and save the only other being he's known.