“After loss and grief, Reality comes, knocks on your front door to ask you a simple question. You open the door, and behind it, you see what is coming for you. And then after that, and then after that, and then after that, and so on and so on.”

 

“The point, my friend, is this.”

 

“When Reality knocks you down, it matters not if you've been knocked down.” 

 

“What matters is what you've learned while rolling down in the mud. What matters, even more, was how you stand back up and brace yourself for the next knockdown.”

 

“Therefore, my friend, to Live a long and prosperous Life, you need to roll with the punches thrown at you.”

#Quote - Inspirational Quote of the week - 3x Boxing World Champion - Mik Tison

 

*

 

Central Continent - Southern Forest - Survival Tribe

A mighty conflagration of White Flames blazed into existence.

 

It was of such strength and volume it swallowed everything around itself for at least 20 meters in circumference. 

 

Because of that range, every Hunter and Shaman got included, as all of them had been very close to the enemy in order to kill the Intruder.

 

What exactly happened to those engulfed in said Flame? 

 

Goldy did not know, and neither could he see inside to check. 

 

While he could not see inside, it did not mean he was clueless about what was happening. Not when he can set his sight on the outward expression of the White Flame doing its work.

 

The most obvious of those was Mana radiating out into everything, the ground, the rocks, the grass, the trees, the air, and even into Space if Goldy’s perception was informing him correctly.

 

Maybe there was more, but without being connected to the Observational Platform in the Dream Realm, he was more limited in his observations. Limited as he was now, by being in Reality for the first time in years and years, Goldy still professed a greater proficiency than when he first came into his new form. 

 

As such, he saw enough to make a conjecture of the Truth that he was observing, and the Truth was simple to him. 

 

The White Flame consumed everything connected to the existence of the creature it engulfed. Whether that be their physical body, the energies once giving it life or the remnants of their Consciousness. 

 

Everything got stripped of the color that was once an existence leaving behind nothing but neutral energy. 

 

Energy, that would take but a simple conscious touch to once more attain a color.

After many years of observing the Honey Badgers and their subsequent evolution, The Badg’Er, Goldy was used to its existence and workings. 

 

Still, even for him, seeing such a sight was impressive. However, it was not ‘That’ outstanding when one lived in a Dream Realm surrounded by Wonders made by somebody.

 

Focusing and observing the Flames workings, a sound reached Goldy’s ears. 

 

Tilting his head in the same direction, four Badg’Er cubs reached his awareness. They leaned out of a Den. With primal awe, they gaze into the conflagration at the edge of their Tribal Clearing.

 

Seeing them, Goldy smiled for a moment, but only for a moment, before his attention returned to where he needed it. However, as Goldy gazed at the radiating effect of the White Flame, he noticed a small discrepancy compared to just a moment ago. 

 

At least, it was small in the beginning. It was different when enough Mana infused itself into the ground. 

 

Trying his best to make sense of what was happening, Goldy realized after enough unbiased Mana saturated the ground, the ground attained absorptive and conductive properties concerning Mana.

 

“I don't think it will last for a long Time?” Goldy said to himself. 

 

His left hand propped his right. In return, his right paw cupped his chin in what his Master once called a thinking pose. “Then again, the timing is more important than the hows or why.”

 

Saying it, Goldy tilted his head down. His eyes penetrated slightly into the ground, yet it was not the physical earth he saw. 

 

No his gaze settled on the sight of energy moving from point A, which was a conflagration made out of White Flame, to point B, which was the center of the Tribal Clearing.

 

There was a slight angling to the energy draw. As such, Goldy knew, the true target of the flowing energy was the spherical base of the black-gold obsidian Tribal Totem which stood at the center of every settlement, his Master, made for the Badg’Er.

 

Focusing once more, Goldy shifted his visual perception to filter out things as much as possible. When he did, his eyes settled on the underground section of the Tribal Totem. 

 

Compared to its inception, the underground part of the Tribal Totem grew even deeper into the ground. At the same time, the sphere holding the Digital Gestalt Mind, also called Tribal People by the Badg’Er had grown. 

 

Once, it was two meters in radius. Now it was double that. Yet, Alexander ignored the sphere, as he could not see inside it. No matter how he tried, all his visuals saw was a glowing effect radiating up the Tribal Totem and into the Honey Badger statue at the top. 

 

It had little effect currently, but Goldy doubted it would remain that way forever. Not when his Master was involved. 

 

If there was one thing Goldy realized about his Master over the years of his absence, it was that everything his Master did would become prominent, with consequences taking decades, upon decades, to manifest. 

 

Probably, even centuries. Goldy thought.

Once more identifying that fact, Goldy focused on the Tribal Totem as a whole. 

 

Specifically, his golden-slitted eyes focused and shifted through the vast visual Truth the Tribal Totem emitted. 

 

A Truth Goldy only ever saw four times, and each one was unique, to a degree.

 

The similarities between each Tribe were numerous, and his observations and recordings, over the last 77 years proved those observations.

 

While the similarities were numerous, it was the discrepancies that stood out. 

 

There were a few unique things for each of the four tribes. Yet, unlike what he'd reasoned, it was the least populated Tribe that managed to awaken the Individuality of the Digital Mind residing in the Tribal Totem.

 

Yes, it was forced, but when Goldy thought about it for a moment, he realized, it made perfect sense. 

 

Before one could profess higher Ideals and Moralities, one would first need to survive to develop those Ideals and Moralities.

 

All this time, Goldy knew the Names of the Tribes correlated to their purpose and development path. 

 

Only now, he understood, each Tribe would face different Trials and Tribulations in order to develop its unique Path. 

 

And for The Survival Tribe, the first thing needing to happen is to have one's mortality tested.

 

“But it's not the survival that counts.” Goldy reasoned to himself softly. ”It's the How, and the Why, in the survival that counts. Therefore, the summoning time was not for me but for the Badg’Er. After all, there was no need for my summoning to take a full ten minutes.”

 

Finally figuring out the minute relations of his appearance, in Reality, Goldy sighed with relief at casting away the heavy stones of the unknown and expectations forced upon him.

Done with understanding the larger whole, Goldy’s mind began processing his emotions.

 

The first moment Goldy realized he'd be summoned to Reality to fight and protect his Master’s creation, a Panic gripped his everything. That he'd been gripped by the Dream Realm, without any way for him to offset its grip and the subsequent summoning, only fanned his Panic more.

 

Yet, it was not the summoning or the grip of his Home upon him that created the core of his Panicked self. 

 

No, the core came from being thrust into the unknown and the chaos.

When everything occurred, Goldy had been in his study room. 

 

There he contemplated the current events of every Badg’Er Tribe. However, his main attention was nailed on the Survival Tribe. 

 

Aside from contemplating, he was also recording everything happening, with as much neutrality in his wording and experience as he could write. 

 

Then, the next moment, Goldy felt the very Realm he lived in for the last 80 or so years constricting him. 

 

At the same time, a notification was delivered explaining the reasoning for the summoning.

 

The timer for the summoning itself helped him settle down somewhat. It gave him the time to contemplate everything occurring and would probably transpire after his summoning. 

 

However, as the moments of rapid contemplation occurred, Goldy became aware of two things.

 

One was the Unknown. 

 

Before attaining a moving form, he had been a stationary object, a mirror. Before being able to move, his whole existence was to be rooted in one place. Not that he was that aware of those times. Most of it was blurry, but that was his Truth. Yet, even after gaining the ability to move, he still rooted himself in the Dream Realm, and he never even imagined himself going somewhere. 

 

Much less returning to Reality in his new form.

 

The second was Chaos. Once a mirror, there was no way Goldy got exposed to conflict. Yet, despite having said possibility now, he never even came to imagine himself fighting anything. 

 

Much less experiencing the Chaos manifested by conflict.

 

As such, after the summoning finished, after he arrived in Reality through the shimmering Portal, Goldy was extremely grateful the Badg’Er were able to eliminate the incoming threat.

 

Another reason for his gratitude only manifested when he innately realized how Reality impressed itself upon him.

 

It wasn't exactly a restrictive force upon him, but he construed it as such. 

 

Why it existed in the first place, Goldy did not know, but it was there. 

 

Unconsciously, Goldy touched his chest and immediately felt the rhythmic beat of his Heart and the rhythmic bellow of his Lungs he'd never before utilized in the Dream Realm. 

 

After all, why would he need to when the Dream Realm itself sustained him? 

 

However, the strangest part was something completely different. 

 

It was something much more primitive. Primitive in emotion and objectivity of living in Reality where mortality is forced upon one to succeed or die trying.

Trying his best to shake away the feelings manifesting inside him, Goldy focused even harder on observing everything, as observing is part of his core identity.

 

*

 

Never-ending and ever-expanding bliss whiteness washed over Tina. 

 

She forgot about the outside world. 

 

She forgot about her Mate, her Son, and her Tribe. 

 

The only thing left was her own Expansion. 

 

Expansion of the very core of her existence while trying its best to fill itself with blissful whiteness. 

 

When Tina had filled herself with whiteness to the brim, she began adding color to that whiteness. 

 

How Tine perceived things and how she added the colors to the whiteness got ignored. It was there, so she did it.

 

After everything was colored, more space was made available, so she repeated it again, and again, and again. How long this went on, Tina did not know. But after following and coloring at least a few times, Tina realized things were coming to an end. 

 

As such, little by little, the whiteness receded. 

 

The perception of Reality began to settle back inside her. Halfway there, Tina recognized the world for what it was. At the same time, Tina remembered what was around her. Who was around her, and most of all, why she was where she was.

With everything settled, Tina’s eyes noticed White Flames receding before they settled down while licking the brown and green ground, only there was more green than there was brown. 

 

Far more than she remembered. 

 

However, that fact got ignored in favor of understanding the irregularity of the White Flames. What her perception told her was that the White Flames had a flow. With a Flow, it had a direction. 

 

Tracking that direction with her eyes, Tina turned around and recognized where it all went. 

 

Yet, the thing that came to her attention was something else.

 

Right before the Tribal Totem stood a Badg’Er. Of that, she was sure, as its form and shape were distinct to her people. 

 

However, the golden fur decorating its back, head, and tail emanates a different quality to her people. 

 

What kind of quality? Tina forgot to even think about it. Worry and instinct shaped her following behavior.

 

Acting upon that behavior, she growled loudly. 

 

“Khrya - ya - ya - ya.” 

Her growl echoed out once more. 

 

Whether they be Hunter or Shaman, it reached their ears, and therefore, it reached their minds. All of them snapped to attention from wherever their awareness had gone. Giving them no time to ponder, Tina growled once more while pointing at the figure with golden fur, and all of them sprung to action.

 

Moments later, they were beside the figure, only for a voice to reach their ears.

 

“Calm Down! I have no ill intentions regarding You, Your Tribal Members, or your Tribal Spirit.” The Golden-Back Badg’er declared, only it lacked a tiny bit of conviction. “In fact, it is the opposite. I am here to protect or help your Tribal Spirit.”

 

Slightly stunned and speechless, they all stood still for a few moments. While his words lacked conviction, they did contain something far more essential to Tina and fellow Badg’Er. 

 

The words, the Golden-Back Badg’Er, spoke contained a fluency that all Badg’Er understood even though none of them recognized the sounds themselves. 

 

At the same time, the first words it said to them all contained something deeply ingrained into them as a species. 

 

Immediately, it did its wonder. Every Badg’Er entered a relaxation process. Within moments, the combative states of their bodies soothed them physically and emotionally.

 

However, as the other Badg’Er calmed down, two individuals remained vigilant. Not because the words had no effect on them. No, on the contrary, it still worked on them, if to a lesser degree. 

 

However, Tina and her Mate, Scar, knew what was happening. They had felt it many times before. Thanks to that experience, they could distinguish the real from the fake attempting to imitate the original.

 

Still, Tina knew something very straightforward about her people. Just because their bodies were relaxing slowly, it would take but a growl from her or her Mate to rouse every single one of them into full combat mode. 

“Who, Are, You?” Tina urgently asked. 

 

Immediately she heard her Mate grunt for that knowledge as well.

 

With the question possessed, the Golden-Back Badg’Er stopped its observations and faced her directly. 

 

“I… Am… Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams… “ Tina and every Badg’Er close by heard. 

 

“You can call me Goldy, as we share the same Master and Maker.”

 

“Goldy?” Tina repeated the word.