After awakening bright and early the next morning and pulling ourselves out of our makeshift hotel room, we hustle back to the Eternal Evergreen to meet up with the Helio Hawk once more.

“Hello, fair hawk, we have returned!” I announce as we re-enter her clearing.

My mind processes what I see for a moment before I even realize.

First, I notice the blackened and smoking tree. Next, the scattered remains of our friendly hawk’s nest lay strewn across the ground.

My suspicions begin to percolate in my mind, even as we move into the clearing.

I drop into a combat stance, hatchet at the ready while Artemis sinks into her stalking posture and growls ever so slightly as our anger feeds off of each other’s through our bond and burns ever greater.

Our anger fades minutely, only to be replaced by sadness as we near the tree close enough to see the charred corpse of the hawk and several other smaller, burned body parts…

Our rage flares back stronger than before as we hear the scrabbling of someone or something in the underbrush off to the side of the clearing, roughly 15 feet from the remains of the nest and our friend.

Gritting my teeth, Artemis and I approach from both sides before we launch ourselves into the stretch of bushes.

A lone {Rogue Racoon, Lv.19} jumps in fright as we push our way into the bush, causing it to move away from the small form it had been about to chow down on!

Noticing the small avian form move, I nearly shout in happiness and I can feel Artemis sharing the sentiment.

She uses her bulk and judicious application of her claws to shepherd the Beast away from our fallen friend’s chick.

I come in from the racoon’s other side and send a strike that bisects the thing’s shoulder viciously, eliciting enough of a reaction to allow Artemis to chomp down on the back of the Beast’s neck with her great jaws, crunching spine and spinal cord to powder.

Swiftly, we both turn back to the chick, even as the XP notification streams in.

Congratulations! You have killed a {Rogue Racoon, Lv.19} for a total of 3,000 XP!

You have leveled up!

You have 2 free attribute points available!

Con +1

You have a Class Path choice available for reaching level 10!

Intrigued at that last note but ignoring it for now, I come to the small, still sparsely feathered hawk as it gathers itself to its small feet, shaking in fright as it does.

It stares at the ground, appearing too terrified to even look at us, but looks none the worse for wear, physically, at least.

How the little guy managed to escape I do not yet know, but as I sit down to bring myself to his level, he turns away and seeks to make himself even smaller by hunching in on himself.

Heart breaking for him, Artemis attempts to comfort him herself, sitting down and curling her fluffy bulk around him in a barrier to keep out the scary world.

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The bird, still shaking, seems to take at least some solace from our simple kind actions and plops himself down before falling right to sleep!

Letting the fella rest for a moment with Artemis keeping a watchful eye upon him, I pull my PAID back up.

First, I place my 2 free points!

To get everything to 10, I place the final point needed to do so into Intelligence, sending a fresh notification shooting up in front of my eyes.

Congratulations! You are in the Top Ten of your world to reach Apprentice tier in all Attributes! Your title Top Tier 1 has been upgraded to Top Tier II!

Top Tier II: All Journeyman Tier leveling (Skills, Spells, Levels) will progress 10% faster than normal.

Now that should help my sluggishly advancing Journeyman tier abilities to go at least a bit faster!

I place the final point into Strength, eager to see some of those gym-like gains, my muscles tightening and growing denser, the fibers nearly approaching the feel of steel cables.

I turn a careful eye upon our ward before continuing, watching as he still slumbers away, his dreams hopefully an escape from the horror he has experienced so early in his life.

Moving on to the final bit of PAID work to complete, I pull up the choices for my Class Path.

Class Path Choices: These choices appear at strategic levels and further the capabilities of your Class toward any of THREE available choices based upon your actions since the previous milestone. Choose wisely, each Class is different and each Player unique, there is no accurate way to know when a choice will appear or if one will appear more than once.

1. The Contest Hunter- For drawing so much attention from the System and being a prime candidate for Contest combat, you have shown your drive to advance, to win, to Grants additional Class ability--Leading Edge: All hunts, contests or games raises stats by +1 and increases XP earned by 5% for every 100 competitors (stackable, competitor restriction may change with further choices down this Path).

2. The Natural Destroyer- Through training, trials, and tribulations you have embodied the unbridled power of nature to destroy your foes. Grants additional Class ability Juggernaut: Each loss of 8 HP, gain +1 to all stats and ignore 5% of pain taken (stackable, HP restriction may change with further choices down this Path).

3. The Beast Kin- You have walked the wilds with one Beast and befriended another, standing side by side in defense of nature’s children. Grants additional Class ability Advanced Companion (will absorb Animal Companion Skill): May now bond up to 3 Beasts, granting them a 10% bump to their stats as bond is formed and allows each Beast to gain access to a Spell or Skill from Player for one engagement per day (additional feature due to absorption of Skill).

These are amazing! Each fills a critical role in expanding or focusing my talents and combat potential to make me stronger.

The first choice will prove endlessly beneficial in the Contest, of that I have no doubt and likely beyond as well.

The second choice is far more offensive, far more physically powerful but I find that my Style will likely unlock similar effects or benefits as I further its growth.

But only one will make us stronger and I don’t just mean Artemis…

I look down at the softly breathing Hawk, his tender snores a balm to my aching heart and my tormented mind over our failure to properly predict the threat that claimed his family.

What better way to walk my Path than by helping a new friend in need? One all alone without us, weak and small in this hungry, hungry world.

I smile slightly, so small you would barely notice, but it is a smile nonetheless as, with a light heart, I choose The Beast Kin!

I go momentarily blind as energy, pain and power fill my mind as the changes take effect, the new Class ability writing itself into my brain matter with what feels like a metaphysical scalpel. A moment later, my vision returns and I find myself crumpled on the ground, our chick friend now awake and sniffing at my suddenly sweaty hair.

Smiling more this time, I ask with a slow and deliberate cadence to help him understand, “So, little guy, would you like to join us? I can’t promise our lives will be easy but I can promise opportunities to advance, to get revenge should you desire it, a Party to stand at your back, but most of all, a family to stand at your side.”

The hawk seems to understand, tilting his tiny head in consideration, before nodding his beak with a newly birthed fire beginning to burn behind his beady, amber eyes.

And as the bond begins to form, not just between us but between him and Artemis as well, Artemis raises her great head to the sky and howls out in victory, in celebration.

For our Party grows.

Our family grows.

The future better watch out, for we are coming.