It was to be expected.
The [Garden of Bik] was a place where the Anima Mundi of Gielinor strongly flowed and, by the definition of the lore that Cole knew, was a place where Colossi would be naturally born. This meant there were animals who would ascend to a state similar to godhood through an overabundance of Anima Mundi and be immortal, lasting for untold millennia, to even where the game began in the Fifth Age.
Notable beings who are confirmed to be Colossi in the future are Araxxi, Fiara, and Loarnab. While the first and second Colossi would eventually meet the World Guardian in some way, it is the third one that would never meet the World Guardian. This is due to Zaros killing them in the early Second Age to help establish his Empire.
Combined with the nature of the whole archipelago, one could see why the Garden was a hotspot for primordial tree variants from all over Gielinor and those who'd call such forests home. Despite the transmigration to Gielinor roughly three days ago, Cole had not ever seen a single animal.
While he obviously knew that animals existed on Gielinor, both from the game and the way he could hear fish splashing near his cabin, Cole hadn't expected to come into contact with either land or air creatures for some time. He was more focused on getting the basics down for surviving this familiar yet alien universe before things really started ramping up. He would never have thought that, just after falling into a deep sleep beneath a magical canopy of ash and oak trees, his sleeping form would be found by three animal kings.
They were clearly patient to wait for the 'strange two-legged creature' to fall asleep in, what they considered, neutral territory between their lands before trying to figure out who and what he was. It was only after all three of them were absolutely sure the creature was sleeping deeply that one finally came closer.
The one who came closer first was one who stood on four legs. His fur coat shined like a deep starless night and, no matter how hurt or filthy he was, he would still bear a regal bearing. With each step forward, his paws left very little sound to the point one could mistake him for having no sound to his steps. His eyes, once shining bright with new life and long since hardened and tempered by time, carried a deep magenta color akin to a finely polished dragonstone gem. If Cole was awake, he'd recognize this one to be similar to a big wolf.
"What are you? Some kind of strange two-legged creature?" the wolf king inquired in his own language, which to most others would sound like a series of growls and whines.
"He is clearly something we haven't encountered before," another male voice answered back as he naturally understood his companions' language.
The owner of that male voice was indeed another animal king, but this one was no wolf. He, instead, had feathers that seemed to glow a serene yet ethereal blue. His talons were grasping on a low branch above Cole's sleeping form, his body clearly angled so he had a clear view, but what was more unsettling was that this specific animal king had eyes that looked completely white. Despite how it looked, he was not blind at all and his eyes held a special power that allowed him to peer past the flesh and into a person's very soul directly. In the far future, there would others who would look like him deep within the City of Um, but they weren't him.
If Cole was awake, he'd recognize this animal to be similar to a wise barn owl.
"Why would he be gathering fallen branches and loose stones? Do they hold some sort of importance to him?" one more male voice asked.
This last male voice was also another animal king, but unlike his compatriots who flew and hunted for meat, this one was a herbivore. While he too strode the land on four legs, his fur was the exact opposite of the wolf king. His fur shined bright like a white star hanging in the night sky and resembled his pure noble stature. His pure gray eyes contained a wisdom that was only second to his feathery companion yet held little ferocity compared to his wolfen friend.
Aside from the other two animal kings, this third one had some form of natural crown upon his head. That being his ivory-colored antlers that stretched high above his head, yet strangely felt lighter than pure gold. If Cole was awake, he'd recognize this last animal to be similar to a fully mature buck (aka a male deer).
"Let me get a good look at him," the owl king suggested to his compatriots. "Perhaps my Bik-blessed ability will work on him?"
"Perhaps, but there's something else I sense from this creature," the wolf king responded as he took a small whiff of the air above Cole's body. "I can smell something almost too clean coming from him. A clean scent that shouldn't be possible."
"A clean scent?" the deer king inquired. "Is it possible that he smells like flowers instead?"
"No, he doesn't smell like flowers at all," the wolf king replied earnestly, his tone confused. "He just smells too clean. Almost like his very scent is not there or stripped away from him."
Before the deer king could inquire further, their feathery friend let out of sound neither had heard from him before. When both turned to look at him, they found his blue feathered face somehow paler and his eyes wide in dread. It didn't take them too long to realize that their owl friend had let out a dreadful shriek as if realizing that the creature before them was...
"IMPOSSIBLE! How can he EXIST?!" the owl king shrieked. "His very nature is a paradox! He shouldn't be able to survive!"
What the owl king was able to perceive of Cole's fundamental nature was indeed impossible to encounter. While his two compatriots were discussing what scent Cole emitted, he took that moment to peer into the creature's soul and found more than what he would have ever expected.
Unfamiliar scenes unfolded before his peering gaze. A world where there were similar beings to the man sleeping beneath him lived and dominated over nature. A memory that emitted both a warmth that seeped into the bones and a deathly cold chill into the blood of a female who wanted to save her only child from death.
Then, another sensation passed over him. An open festering wound so deep that it left the slumbering man's soul dim. A soul that, despite it being dim, still shone amidst a dark void that threatened to devour him whole.
What else he managed to perceive in Cole's essence was a single word that both echoed in the light against the darkness and carried a heavy weight that would scare even others of his kind. A word that, despite its simplicity, held dual meanings of hope and despair. A single word that, somehow, sent a primal fear into his very soul.
He was Human.
=={RS:NS}==
It was expected at this point.
The three animal kings had no idea that this strange creature, this Human, was not of this world. Even as the owl king explained what he saw to the others, they held confusion in their eyes. The mere mention of other worlds, while true with the advent of the World Gate, left these creatures with a deeply profound sense of confusion and slight irritation.
"What in the name of Bik are you talking about?" the deer king inquired, his voice both inquisitive and confused. "What other world could there be?"
"I'm saying what I am saying," the owl king replied, his tone full of dread and shock. "This creature, this Human, is not of our world. He comes from... somewhere else."
"Oh please," the wolf king scoffed with a huff. "Are you trying to tell us that the place this human is from a world where his kind has dominated the planet and turned the animals there into their pets? I doubt such a world could exist in the first place."
The deer king nodded in agreement with the wolf king. He too thought that it was impossible for such a world to exist and that the man before them was from such a place to begin with, but unlike the wolf king, who only thought to deny the impossible, the deer king was less closed-minded. He understood that the man before them smelled too clean and looked way too young to have been here long, not to mention the strange behavior of him picking up twigs and stones, but he felt like there wasn't enough pieces to to everything together.
"Nevertheless," the owl king began, his composure slowly being put back together, "we will have to observe this human. Discover what is truly happening with him and why he was too far from home. I can already sense our Goddess' blessings upon him along with the others."
The mere mention of Bik and her sisters granting this human their blessings instantly silenced the other two kings' tongues on the matter. All three of them knew that, if the Goddesses knew of his existence and permitted it, the only thing they could do was observe him carefully.
With that revelation, all three kings left the human man alone in his deep slumber beneath the emerald shade of a primordial ash tree...
=={RS:NS}==
Unbeknownst to the three animal kings and the sleeping Cole, the System had counted this interaction towards a hidden quest related to the Summoning skill. While, in the future, Guthix would live in balance and teach a young Fiara about his philosophies, it would be Cole himself who will gain not only one partner.
For the three animal kings were natural-born Colossi never explored in the game lore.
Each of them, through this strange and awkward first meeting with the Otherworlder, had unknowingly formed a bond that would take them beyond the confines of the Garden and into the vast world beyond.
==={RS:NS}===
Continued in: Processing Survival I.