Too Gentle

Despite the fact that he’s dangling from the claws of a giant bird, Saif really liked flying this high up in the air. The entirety of Brightside sprawled below, the massive city seemed so small. He also had a clear view of the Hall on top of the mountain, as well as the Great Abode and the volcano far off in the distance.

The bird circled around, shifting course back towards the forest. Looking in the far-off distance, he spotted a speck that was a familiar shade of purple. Could that be Shay Kha?

Like it heard his question, the bird landed on the edge of a massive nest atop a giant tree, one so high, the clouds were below them. Looking down, Saif counted four scraggly, newly-hatched baby birds. It would have been cute if they weren’t double his size.

Saif heard faint whispers around him, too quiet for him to understand. Instinct understood, taking over as the giant bird dropped him directly in the center of their pile. He twitched, pulling out his sword and narrowly jumping out of a baby bird’s beak before his hind leg was bitten off.

Instinct wanted him to lash out and kill anyone that tried to harm the vessel. With great difficulty, Saif struggled to hold Instinct back as he leaped out of the pile and onto the side of the nest. He didn’t want to kill the babies! Saif tucked his knife away. Instinct redirected its attention to attack the giant bird.

It raised the nail against the parent bird, pricking it directly in the forehead when it wasn’t looking.

The bird cawed in response, flailing off the edge and tumbling down through the tree line. Instinct only barely retreated, insisting he keep his weapon drawn in case the bird returned.

“Owww,” the bird complained, “what’s the big idea?” It flew back up, its already dirty white fur now smattered with blood. Saif drew his nail once more. The bird studied it for a few moments before huffing.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were sentient.” It closed its eyes, its breath evening out… was the bird falling asleep? It even started to snore before the baby birds started squawking again.

“Food, right. Huh? You’re still here?”

The bird motioned to Saif with his beak. “I thought you would’ve left by now. Need a ride?”

With uncertainty and no other options, Saif climbed aboard the giant bird’s back. The trip down was fast, landing at the base of the giant tree as the sun was starting to set.

“I was rude earlier. I apologize. You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?”

Saif shook his head no.

“I should have known. You see, ever since monster activity has increased within the Archaic Thicket, our usual food sources have gotten sparse, and our rations are insufficient to keep us all fed. Avians rely on bugs and small prey typically… ” The bird eyed him up and down.

Saif pulled out his map. He could see that they weren’t too far from Fayspass, though he didn’t have many details just yet. He pointed, showing the bird the location on the map, then the direction the city would be.

The bird shook his head, causing a bead of blood to trickle. “My people are scavengers, not traders. We tried to interact with city folk, though we had nothing of value to offer them. We were forced off the mountain not long ago. We are unused to hunting through thick foliage… even our beaks were designed to break rocks, not bark.”

Saif tilted his head, wondering if he could do anything to help. It was starting to get dark. “Allow me to take you to the city borders. Maybe I could find something for my children to eat?”

The trip was somber. It seemed like no matter where he went, Saif could easily find people struggling. Maybe after he found Time, he could fix things.

Maybe he can make things better, without pain.

Saif entered the city gates around nightfall. He wanted to admire the place, but an uncomfortable sleepiness stopped him.

“Hero!” Shay Kha appeared a few steps ahead. “You got here fast. Let’s stop at a tavern for the night. I’m exhausted.”

Saif barely sat on the tavern bed before he was dragged into unconsciousness.

He slept, arriving at the barren lands.

Saif found himself face to face with a strange bug-like creature. It had antennae twitching on the top of its head, and a body composed of several stacked layers with two little nubs on either side and…hands. The thing had two hands. Thin and stick-like with pincers on the ends.

He saw those hands every time he looked down at his body while he was awake.

Is that his body? Is that what he looked like without his green cloak?

The thing tilted its head, blinking. He recognized the thing inside his body as Instinct.

“Be warned,” it said, sounding exactly like he does, “other creatures will not spare you any mercy.”

Is he lecturing himself? For not wanting to kill baby birds?
Are he and Instinct two different beings? Or halves of a whole?

“The world is cruel. If you do not struggle, you will not survive.”
He understood, but he had to try and make things better.

Instinct frowned.
He had to, Saif realized. That was his purpose. He was brought to this terrible world to make things better.

Instinct blinked.
Saif blinked, and woke up in the room with Shay Kha as she tugged her cloak on.

“Oh! You’re awake. Would you like to join me?”

Saif learned a lot about Fayspass through Shay Kha. She dragged him from one end of town to the other, pointing at various shops and people, telling him about their history and origin. He was relieved to see a compass stuck to the side of a building.

“-so the Magikos built this city as a middle ground between the rest of the populace and our home. This way, Magikos could still be a part of society without sacrificing our lands or privacy. It’s a win-win for everyone! What is it?” Saif tugged on her cloak, pointing to the compass with his map.

“Yeah, that's the map shop here. You could get a detailed view of the Archaic Thicket from there. Do you want to check it out?” Saif nodded.

“Alright. I’ll keep shopping then. The sun’s already setting though. I wonder what the Sun and Moon Greater Beings are doing,” Shay Kha shook her head. “Regardless, it's no use trying to cross the Thicket in the dark, so meet me at the tavern with the first rays of sunlight.”

Saif entered the map shop. It smelled like reading a book by the ocean.

Saif walked out of the map shop with a barren wallet. Mr. Carte really had given him a good discount. He wandered through the streets of Fayspass, map in hand, pinpointing oddities on the map and locating in person to see them with his own two eyes.

One oddity he noticed was a small, perfectly circular building in the middle of town. When he wandered up to it, he heard a faint ticking noise coming from above. Saif scaled the building, to check the roof.

He was almost hit by a metal needle that spanned the radius of the building. It didn’t make sense to him what the building was until he oriented himself just right and nearly hit the metal needle again. The roof was a clock face. The building was a giant clock, and he almost hit the second hand twice. Amused, he hopped down and entered the clock store, curious to learn more about the place.

The ticking of hundreds or thousands of clocks would have driven anyone insane, yet inside the store, the clocks ticked in unison, perfectly calibrated down to the millisecond. Saif was impressed. He expected to meet an eccentric clock fanatic, but only found a tired metal person laying on the floor instead.

Their metallic joints creaked and squealed as they got up, irritating against the clocks’ ambient ticking. They moved slowly, until they stood upright and faced Saif with a frown.

Saif blinked. The metal did so too, but a lot more noisily.

Saif wandered through the store, looking at the pieces on display.

“Apologies. I thought you were a pest.” Saif ignored the shopkeeper and continued deeper through the store, hyper-aware of them hot on his tail.

It was quiet aside from the rhythmic ticking and the metal’s squeaking joints. Saif delved deep into the store, finding a shelf dedicated to random trinkets. At the very bottom, there was a basket of various different bugs. Are these clocks too?

He plucked at random, pincers landing on a golden one with a black head and many thorns. Five-Horned Rhinoceros, Instinct whispered its name to him, startling him into dropping it back.

Saif frowned, picking a different one. It was longer and had a shining red and green shell. Metallic Wood Boring Beetle, the name tingled in his ear.

Tansy Beetle, it said about the green one with a shell colored like a heat map.
Elk Stag Beetle, it said about the large reddish-brown one with two claws on its face.
Blue Fungus Beetle, it said about the striking blue one with shiny black accents.

Something glimmered in the back corner, Instinct pushed him to grab it, not letting him place it back down, nor telling Saif its name. It was primarily gold, but it had a more unique face, with a long thick tapered top horn that slightly curled down, and a second thinner horn at the bottom that curled up to nearly meet it. The horns, legs and under-body were speckled black. He raised it to show the metal person, asking for its name.

The metal sighed, “we used to have many customers. So many. Though with time gone awry, only my clocks have remained accurate. I have made every piece in this collection by hand, yet none appreciate my efforts anymore. A lone bug is my only customer.” It sighed, solemnly shaking its head. “The prices are listed on the shelf. Even for Hercules here.”

Saif frowned, looking at the shelf. He was surprised to see that the numbers were written in Arabic. Not the standard Arabic Numerals that have been globally adopted, but the Arabic numbers he used back home.

Still, he wasn’t asking about the price, he didn’t have the money anyway. He wanted to know how the trinket works. He inspected the trinket, looking for a button or hinge or any sign that it could open. Finding nothing aside from a safety pin on the bottom, he shook the Hercules beetle in the shopkeeper's direction. They studied him for a moment, heaving a heavy sigh despite the fondness in their eyes.

“Here, let me show you,” the metal person grabbed it, Instinct finally easing its grip, and held it delicately between their hands. They used their thumbs to slide the beetle’s wings back, causing them to flutter open and out like a real beetle would, revealing the clock face.

Saif clapped in delight. A childlike sense of glee overtaking him as he admired the tool. The shopkeeper smiled.

“You are too gentle, little one.”