The flight took him 4 and a half, maybe closer to 5 hours to complete. Along the way, he noticed many pellicular things that bothered him. At first, he dismissed them, but as he flew closer and closer to the cluster, he noted flying contraptions, floating galleons, and winged bovine took to the sky, and riders mounted them. It seems like this cluster of floating islands are home to thousands, if not millions of people already. He wasn’t the first to discover it. Not even close, he assumed. ‘Maybe if I was 4 millennia faster….’

 

Saddened, he slowed down, and decided to see what the inhabitants of such an island have to offer, he landed on one of the smaller islands. “Maybe I was not the first here, I am certainly the first in my world….I would have heard of a realm where floating islands are a thing from those old farts already, if any were discovered.”

 

Making half a dozen stops along the way, Gargan found the smaller islands seem to be untouched by people. Some of the larger ones are, and Gargan thinks that this is ingenious, built for and houses different types of facilities. The ones that are grassland and prairie houses ranches and farmlands, while those that have a more mountain nature serves as base for large mining operations and, or, piers for larger airships.

 

Speaking of airships, Gargan noticed that none of them seem to be fuel my ether or magic, but by some sort of locomotive. There are steam and smoke stacks escaping the tall, long and cylindrical structure centers to most ships. “New technologies….How did they make that possible? Those galleons could put the Imperial Navy to shame!”

 

Stopping on those help him to have a good gasp of the civilization level of these floating islands, being more technological advance than his old one but not that much else is different, the aarakocra make his way over to the largest island at the center of it all.

 

As he headed further and further into the center of the cluster, Gargan observed that the individual island started to grow in sizes, and some were so large that they contained not only one or two, but sometimes 3 towns or villages, with some even having, or were having bridges connecting one to another!

 

Right, there are some islands that were interconnected by bridges, but that seems not to be the case anymore. Most have collapsed, with only those that appeared to be the largest or sturdies survived. Something has stuck this place, as Gargan also sees ruins, collapsed buildings, fires, and debris spilling on and into the streets below. And everything seems new too, as the citizens and island dwellers are still trying to salvage or recover their property, fixing their broken houses, and excavating the blocked roads and travel paths.

 

Still not sure what has transpired, Gargan hurried himself to the largest island. If anywhere, the center, the grandest island of all this should serve as the capital, and if his travel experience stands true to this world also, then they should have some news about this.

 

As he rises up and over the ledge of the largest island, and up above it, he sees that the city, occupying almost a sixth of the island's total area, was in a much better shape. He saw signs of fire and stacked of black smokes, but no raging inferno, nor anything that could indicate a still hungry fire. Most of their main street and roads have already been cleared too, and people seem to still carry it on with their live….Or perhaps still havens let it set in just yet.

 

Whatever the case appeared to be, Gargan landed on the pier nearest to him. This one seems to be intact, save for a burned down building in the vicinity. Strangely enough, there is no ship anchored anywhere in dock except for smaller vessels.

 

As he lands, the dock workers and salvage crew around can’t help but turn their head to him. Soon enough, a circle started to form around him, but none dared to approach the 6ft tall falcon man. Murmurs and whispers filled the docks, and Gargan couldn’t pick up any of it. He recognized the language, Common Tongue, but the gossipers were just out of his earshot.

 

‘Man, elves, dwarves….Oh, even demi-human too.’ He counted the onlookers. Nothing he hasn't seen or heard of. The demis aren’t as exactly as he knows them of, as the demi-people of this floating archipelago inherited more humanoid features, and less of the animalistic one. 

 

From the crow, he could see a few from what he presumed the feline clans, having rounded and triangular ears dotted their head, and long but slender tails coming out of their lower back. Those from his home world inherited more of their beastly features, appearing closer to humanoid animals instead. Maybe that is why everyone's eyes are on him right now.

 

While Gargan was pondering about the ‘native of this world’, the people of Sky Harbor too, whispered words of a ‘naitve of this world’, a giant flacon with hands and appeared to be sentient, wearing clothes and having a rather large and intimidating sword hanging by his side.

 

“Is-Is that a monster?” Someone said,

 

“No….I don’t think so. Look at it’s cloth!” The man next to him replied

 

“Maybe it is a native of this world? Humanoid bird?” Someone else chimed in. “Do you think it is hostile?”

“I don’t know….Maybe you should try and approach it.” The first man said, pushing his mate over.

 

“Hello there!” The crowd parted, creating a path for a large, booming bear. No, to be more accurate, a bear-folk, demi-human that Gargan was much more familiar with. Large, bipedal bears in a heavy leather apron dusted by the heavy lifting he has been doing. “I am Harold, this harbor's Harbormaster.”

 

As the bear approached him, Gargan noted that he was a just half a head shorter than the bear.

 

“I am called Gargan Kiri, hailed from a different realm to this one, and an explorer.” He offers a courtesy bow with one hand on his chest. “May I ask, did some kind of disaster hit this place?”

 

“Aye, you could say that,” the Harbormaster turned around and waved his hand around, pointing at different collapsed buildings and the badly burnt offices. “There was a series of quakes a couple of days ago. Largest I have ever seen in the history of the Sky Archipelago. More than a dozen houses and buildings in this area alone collapsed, and hundreds more throughout the city. Some folks were luckier, only having a broken window or two, or just lost part of their roof. Other, not so much. Some folks were buried under their own house, and hundreds died.”

 

“That….That is terrible. My condolences to the city,” Gargan politely replied, as he learned how difficult it is to lose one on home. He might have been evicted from more than one due to his length of travel causing the landlord to believe him to be dead….

 

“Hah! That wasn’t the worst of it!” The bear spat out, turning increasingly frustrated . “By the time everything seems to calm down, we discovered that the entire Archipelago has been transported to a whole different world!”

 

“Huh?” The last bit of information caught Gargan off guard. “Trans….Transported to a whole different world?”

 

“Aye. we just appeared here. In your own world. This must have caused some commotion below, I reckon?” He turns back to Gargan, his eyes seem a little more calm now.

 

“I’m sorry, but I thought….I think we are having some misunderstanding here, Sir Harold.” Gargan swiftly replied. “I am not a native resident of this world. In fact, I only arrived here yesterday!”

 

“What? Do-” This time, it was the Harbormaster that got confused. “You aren’t of this world either?”

 

“No-” Before Gargan could even finish, the bear cut him off with a grunt.

 

“Argh! And here I thought we could establish some kind of trade!” he shouted, but more to himself instead of anyone in particular. Gargan didn’t know what to do, and just stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to return to their conversion instead.

 

“I’m sorry for my behavior….” the Harbormaster scratched the back of his head apologetically. “It’s just….We lost most, if not all of your trade partners overnight, most of our caravans and transport also seem to be lost too. And the whole Archipelago relied on an extensive trade network for virtually most of our items. Foods, salts, ores, crops….There are farms and orchards around on the Lesser Islands, but they couldn't feed all of our islands.”

 

‘That is certainly a predicament….Wait!’ Gargan realized, and handed the furry bear his hand drawn map of the Great Lake. “Sir Harold, if it is food that you are concerned about, I think I have something that could lift the burden a little!”

 

“This….” The Harbormaster studied the map, as hope and light beam up from his eye. “Hah-ha! This would certainly help! Although we are lacking ships to be sending out currently, this lake seems to be a good place to set up a fishery.” He handed back the map to Gargan.

 

“Gargan, is it?” The birdman nodded, “I advise you to head to the Guild right after. Last I heard, they are looking for people to explore the Lower World. They would pay handsomely for this map, I’ll tell you!”

 

With a short and simple direction from the Harbormaster, Gargan landed in front of the Guild, a large tavern-like building. With the door propped open, Gargan could see how lovely the place was. People running about, drinking, contesting, and trading information. In there too, he saw, each of the adventurers has with them a small Butterfly trailed closely.

 

He took his first step in, his exposed claw clicked against the polished wooden floor, and every eye was on him, again. This time, their interest seems to be on his equipment however, rather than on him himself.

 

And his attention was taken by a small little girl behind the counter, too. No, it was not her beauty nor the bubbly charm that she had, but rather her animalistic features. She doesn’t have many of them, only a large, rounded pair of ears adorned her head, and a long and lively tail trailing behind her. By all accounts, she is one of the more popular receptionists of this office, due to her cute, bubbly and extroverted-ness that ease most adventurers’ tired days.

 

But to the aarakocra himself, she is the embodiment of his childhood demon. Rats! Those little vermin that eat and nibble at absolutely everything! His eyes widened, his plums stood up, and his beak quivered. ‘NO! Not here! Calmdowncalmdowncalmdown!’

 

Unbeknown to Gargan, his fear-driven display has somehow passed the test of the more veteran adventurer present, all by a misunderstanding. They thought that Gargan showed that he wasn't some hotblooded youngsters, but someone that could stand up for himself, and wasn't afraid to show it.

 

The truth couldn’t be further than that however, funnily enough! Gargan himself does not really fancy a confrontation. If taking a step back could avoid it, he will absolutely do, provided that they did not cross his lines.

 

With his pride, Gargan has calmed himself down enough to step into the farthest corner possible away from the mouse girl, and waited for someone else, preferably the quiet human girl at the desk  in the other side of the room furthest away from the mouse girl, to finish up whatever paper she was working on before registering himself and turning in his map.

 

Curiously, he has to write a report about his find, as there are already quests posted looking for both a new food supply and to explore the Lower World. Thanking the receptionist for her thorough explanation, Gargan rushed himself out of the Guild’s office and took to the sky.

 

‘Let 's look for a deserted island with nice trees and gentle gale….And no rats!’ He thought to himself, “Just a nice place to write the report. Oh, maybe I could employ some help to look for my pendant too! ”