Bear Witness

The giant skeleton of a bear drew her attention first. The bone seemed fused to stone, merged with time and gravity. Due to the grayish color of both surfaces, there was little to tell them apart from far away, but the rock in the form of a bear skull was a dead giveaway. She giggled in the cold air. The winter winds have descended already, but she was ready with an item to keep her warm. A glowing orange stone on a gold chain around her neck produced radiating heat around her.

The skeleton sat against a cliff facing the sea. There was no indication how it died, but looked peaceful gazing into the distance with empty eye sockets. There had to be a reason who this giant corpse ended up here, but the girl was more excited the finally find it to speculate.

There was no easy way to approach the giant structure. The ribcage twisted up with time forming a makeshift staircase up the cliff. Upon closer inspection, the bones and rocks were both chiseled out. Someone would be upset when their hard work disappeared, but she needed to take this skeleton with her. A flicker of light appeared inside the left eye of the bear skull for a moment before it faded out. It couldn’t be. She didn’t even start the spell yet.

The girl rushed up the staircase to find a mechanism blocking her way. It was a gate working on absurd physics where it closed further the closer she got. The only way around it was to climb on the outside and swing into the opening when open. When she got past the bone-gate, the girl wondered who did all this. The light in the bear’s skull returned without fading. Did someone make this dead warrior into a dwelling? They had to be desperate to do so, but maybe it was a knack space for a home..

The carving of steady footing in the bone surface was indication of how long this person had been there. It was a pity all of this would be undone once the creature came back to life. It needed to happen. The girl had been searching for just one of these creatures after finding a claw of Marmut, the last life-giving charm that worked specifically on the members of the giant bear-warrior tribe. This was the last chance to protect what little remained of their village.

Upon approach, she noticed a string stand out as a trap to alert the resident of the skull, but it was too visible and easily avoided. The girl smiled at bypassing the makeshift tether, only to realize she’d been outsmarted. Right past the string was a weight-loaded branch which threw a net over her when nudged. As a bonus feature, the sound of dried wood clinking together drew the skull squatter out of the bear’s head. It was a man, dressed in a uniform of nightmares.

The Semsem Brigade was the main army of their worlds, motivated by pure greed. They hid that craving in code of honor broken time and again. In that moment of stunned silence, the man drew a shard bone from his belt, and attacked, but the girl was not someone so easily killed. At her vocal command, the stone that kept her warm around her neck fractured to cast a gout of bright flame forward. The man dodged into his dwelling to avoid the blast, but his net burned down to ash. He peeked out when the fire dissipated.

“Enfirth,” he called out. “What do you want from me? I’m just a deserter! I no longer serve Semsem!” That was a great relief for the girl, but the uniform scared her back to the first raids, a time when Semsem gathered soldiers from all countries by force. She was young when her father had to leave her to fight. The girl calmed herself and switched out the fractured crystal. It was nothing more than glass after the contained soul was released.

“Come out, soldier,” she spoke. “I have no issue with you if you’re no longer under Semsem command.”

“What do you want here, Enfirth?” He asked from inside the skull. “I have nothing of value. I lead a quiet life. Leave me be!”

“I can’t do that,” the girl replied and sat at the edge of the carved path to the skull home. “Talk with me, soldier.”

“Fine,” he said retreating inside. “Come in.”

When the girl walked through the opening, he still had his hand on the bone dagger, just in case. She had to be careful with him. No man of sane mind decided to live inside a carcass of a fallen beast. It was difficult to imagine a person who’d leave the Semsem Brigade. Though it required people to put their lives on the line, being on the payroll ensured survival beyond the battlefield.

Walking into the makeshift cave, the girl had to avoid uneven patches of bone where the soldier did not carve a surface. He sat in his corner beside a flame, and motioned to a carved step by the skull’s left eye socket. It was comfortable, almost unbelievably so, but it had a hole carved in the middle. When she found his eyes, he confirmed the suspicion.

“That’s the toilet,” he said. “You wanted to talk, then talk, Enfirth.”

“The name’s Pira,” the girl said. “What’s yours?” He turned to the eye socket window carved by hand and looked out into the night. After an extended pause, she stood up from the carved utility and crossed his line of sight.

“I don’t have a name anymore,” he said and draped a fur blanket over his shoulder. His mind felt tested, as if he was the only surviving member of his battalion.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to make one up,” Pira said and put a finger over her lip to think. “You’ll be Witness, Witt for short. How’s that?” He shrugged and looked away from her again. Being there must have reminded him of something from his past.

“Well, Witt, I hate to say this, but you’re going to have to vacate the giant bear carcass,” she said. In that moment of her relaxation, the man charged her and severed the chain around her neck. The broken chain would mend magically once the ends met, but that principle made it weak from being pulled apart. Though the gem was not the only magic Pira could do, it was the strongest. Without it, Witness had the advantage. Damn Semsem and their rigorous training regimen. It was their fault.

“Why?” Witt asked. “What do you want here? Tell me, or I’ll throw your nexus out of the eye!” Pira put her arms up to calm him.

“It’s easier if I show you,” she said and reached into her round satchel no more than six inches in diameter to find the claw of Marmut. The contents were miniaturized and reduced in weight while inside the confines. “It’s called the claw of Marmut, and with it this bear warrior can live again.”

“Haven’t you seen enough war?” He asked. “Why bring back the beast only to use it as a weapon? I don’t understand Enfirths! You have all this magic and yet you still behave like children!”

“We’re just people, Witness,” Pira replied. “We just have perks. Ultimately, these special features make us stand out, but we don’t seek out fights.”

“Once you become invested in war, it becomes all you do,” Witt said.

“Is that why you ran away?”

“I was a casualty of war,” he answered. Pira didn’t understand. He had no scars or maiming wounds. In fact, he looked brand new. “I died.”

“You saw Marmut?” Pira asked. She had the claw, but that was nothing in comparison, a piece he cast off while still alive. It was hard to imagine the giant bear ever dying given one shed claw from him could bring this son of Marmut back to life. “What was he like?”

“When I died, I woke up on the flatlands,” Witt said lowering the nexus in his hand away from the skull’s eye. If there was any time to get the pendant back, it was now, but Pira gave him a moment. “There was nothing in the distance until I noticed the bear. It stood on hind paws, clasped his arms behind his back and approached. To my surprise, it turned out to be Marmut, the giant bear of olden times. I ran, but every two steps away from him turned into two steps toward him. He was death himself, inescapable and persistent.”

Pira sat down on the toilet again, entranced by the story. The only tales of Marmut she heard was his part in battle of the giant bears. After Semsem Brigade subdued those territorial beasts, Marmut died of his own will to prevent his body being used to revive the enemies. From that point, he was said to walk in limbo, the bridge between life and the natural order, only returning to life those who would be needed in the future. In the human and Enfirth minds, Marmut became the herald of life and death.

“When I gave up running he was already beside me,” Witt continued. His immortal frame towered above me. He identified me by scent and licked my face. When I asked why he did so, he replied that he was sampling my future, and what it could amount to. Not long after, one of these claws pierced my chest. Rather than pain, I felt pressure of being back inside my body. I was still on the battlefield, among the dead. A brand new fear of death gave me strength to escape.”

“Wow,” Pira said. “You actually saw him. You must play an important role in the future. I wish I could know if I did, but maybe this encounter is meant to be. Join me, Witness.” She held out a hand in his direction.

“That’s not my name,” Witt said. “My name’s… Never mind. I’m no longer that person, no longer a soldier for Semsem. I’m nobody, Pira.” For the first time since she met him, Pira felt bad for the man. As far as the world was concerned, he was dead. Any semblance of him remaining so hinged on keeping out of the public eye. This was the moment he had to choose if Marmut was right to bring him back.

“Come with me and become someone new,” she said keeping the hand out toward him. “You know, I never said that I wished to bring this giant bear warrior back to life for battle. We seem to have one thing in common, Witt. We both ran away.” His head lifted in surprise.

“Why then?” he asked. “Why bring a warrior back if not to make him fight again?”

“Not all warriors are so by choice,” Pira replied. “It took me years of infiltration to find a claw of Marmut within the Enfirth School, and another year to steal it. I’ve been searching for this lone bear giant ever since then. You either come with me now, or become an enemy standing before something I’ve wanted for a very long time. Choose wisely, Witness. You may have my nexus, but that is not the only magic Enfirths can do.”

The principle of the nexus was trapped magic. By replacing gems loaded with different forms, no Enfirth ever had to use up their own time-replenishing life-force. In truth, the trapped magic had to come from somewhere, but that was the industrial nature of magic hidden from common folks. Each gem had a different nature, ranging from fire-making to healing. Some Enfirths even told stories of souls trapped in gems, creatures of old invoked to grant power. It was well and good until they cracked open to release those very ancient beings upon the world.

“Ok,” he said. Pira smiled and stepped closer to retrieve her gemmed pendant on a gold chain that mended itself. “What do you have in mind? Where are we to go? Both worlds are in disarray. There is nowhere to run.” He handed over the chain.

“I’ve got a few friends in the worlds,” she said. “Have you ever been to Naera?” Witt shook his head.

“Since I was a soldier,” he said. “I figured one of those days we would be going there to fight. In the end, I died on Kliro.”

“It’s a great place,” Pira said. “And I have a buddy there that owes me a favor, but first, let’s bring this bear back to life. We should clean this place up first. Dump your stuff out of the eyes, we can get them later.” In a few minutes of cleaning, the enclosure looked more like the inside of a skull, with holes carved out to connect to the eye sockets.

“Let’s agree not to tell this giant bear about me living in its dead skull?” Witt asked.

“More so, don’t tell him you carved his left eye into a toilet.”

“How do you know it’s a male?”

“I told you,” she replied. “I’ve been looking for this bear for a long time. He was like us, died in a time of war, but did not want to be there. He’s known in history as the only soldier to be cast out of his tribe. I do hope he’ll like me. I’ve always wanted to be friends with those big, cuddly warriors of legend.”

“Right,” Witt said with a hesitant look on his face. With most things gathered up or dumped out of the eyes, Pira and Witt headed out of the skull using the path carved into the side.

“Great job on that gate by the way,” she said, testing each step like before. Bone wasn’t a strong support when the structure was messed with.

“What gate?” He asked. It wasn’t him. Then who did it? Witness motioned down the remaining few stairs just as a gout of green flame burst out from the forest and hit beside the entrance. From the look of it, the whole skeleton was about to snap off the rock thanks to that shock. As for the green fire, Pira was certain the Enfirths had come looking for their stolen property.

“So, we’re going to run for now,” Pira said and took out two orange slippers. “You take one, just try not to land on anything that can hurt the slipper, or you, I guess. They’re rocket pads. One tap, one blast. Come on!” They ran out of the entrance each holding an orange slipper. Pira put her fuzzy slipper on, but Witt held her back from rocketing off.

“Don’t we have to revive the bear?” he asked. He had a point, but those damn Enfirths could destroy both the claw of Marmut and the skeleton.

“I’ll lead them away, here,” she said taking the claw out from her satchel. It was a hefty thing, but had a containment matrix that eliminated size and weight of matter. “Keep this safe. As soon as they clear out, rocket out of here and meet me at the beach by the bear. Got it?” Witt nodded while looking the claw over. This was the item that stabbed him back to life. Marmut worked in mysterious ways.

“Good luck, Pira,” he said. She looked back and smiled before tapping her fuzzy orange slipper into a burst of orange light that propelled her into the sky. While there, she tapped it gently to sustain flight.

“Come and get me, you magical wimps!” she yelled until three gouts of green fire engulfed her. Witt kept watching in shock, but Pira flew out unscathed. “Gonna have to better than that, you crap princesses!” She took off into the forest to lead them away. Witt had to do as he was told. Was the claw any more complex than just stabbing the bear with it? He decided to wait for Pira to do so. It was best not to mess with unknown magic.

When the outside got quiet, Witt slipped the fuzzy orange thing on and almost lost his head by tapping his foot on the ground. He was launched into the sky by a powerful blast, but once the energy dissipated, he was only falling, clinging to the claw for dear life. Another few bursts of orange stabilized him. Descending on one of these was a hassle. He ended up melting the sand into glass upon touchdown. Now all he needed to do was wait for Pira to return, but would she be alright?

Pira burst into the sky. Those damn Enfirths were ready for her, but a few blasts later she escaped into the wooded areas. The forest would be a great place to lose them, but she still needed more distance. She flew out again without trying to strike back. One of the gems she had for the nexus could be used to sneak around, but Pira was saving it for a more dire circumstance. Losing these chumps was not such a difficult of a task. She hoped that Witness got out ok.

He was on the beach when Pira returned, hiding to the best of his ability under the massive skeleton. If the Enfirths did come back, they would’ve spotted him, but those bastards were still under the impression she was somewhere in that forest by herself. On the side of caution, Pira didn’t make herself known to Witt for a few moments, scanning the surroundings with amplified hearing. The three who chased her could have had a fourth member still at the bear skeleton, but the sound did not indicate anyone except for Witt who was now waving and calling her over. She sighed and descended.

“Are you ok?” he asked, claw of Marmut in his arms.

“Nothing a bit of time won’t fix, give it,” she said and held out her hands. The heavy object dropped to the sand in her arms. Witt stepped in to assist, but Pira held out a hand to stop him. With great effort, she picked up the claw and stood tall. “Slipper. Now.” Witt hurried over and slipped the one he was using onto her other foot. With both of them on, Pira flew up gracefully as if she was skipping in the air until she stopped to hover.

“Here we go!” she called out and charged the bear skeleton. The claw pierced the bone at the spine and stayed there with no supervision. Pira flew around looking if the bear was healing yet, but there was nothing going on. “Marmut of the clan of bears, return this one of your sons to our world.” They waited for something to happen, but nothing did. Pira descended and landed gracefully.

“Huh,” she said. “Guess it was dud. It happens more often than you might think. Someone finds this powerful artifact, but it has a one-use limit, so they never test it. Damn Enfirths and their pointless bull. Sorry, Witness, I guess this is where we part ways.” It was a shame, but he was a deserter and she was a thief. Their worlds could mix well, but not without a mascot.

“Wait,” he said. It was best to get some distance from this man before he clung onto her for his dear life. “Something’s happening.” Pira turned back to the skeleton. The claw was producing a bubbling mess of flesh. It WAS functional! She almost jumped for joy, but kept it bottled up. She’d been let down too many times by stupid things. Her inner child was freaking out from utter excitement.

The muscles and bones formed first, correcting the edits Witt made and filling up what he carved out. When the flesh draped over the raw skeleton, the bear looked weird. It had no hair just yet. They all grew at the same time, with Pira and Witness watching the whole spectacle. Two eyes grew from inside the eye sockets, only to be hugged by furry eyelids. In no time at all, the bear that’s been dead for centuries was emanating a pleasant heat. Pira waited for his brain to be healed up and took a common bear stance, standing with legs wide apart and holding her hands locked behind her back, hands to elbows.

The claw fell from the chest wound, disintegrating at the same time as the gaping hole healed closed. The bear took weight onto his hind legs and sniffed the air.

“Down here, Map!” Pira called out. The giant bear landed in the sea with his front paws and walked forward to turn around. The steps he took were the size of a whole battalion. “I’m Pira, an ex-Enfirth! This here is Witness, an ex-solider from the Semsem Brigade! We’ve been looking for you!” Witt tried his best not to move, though the bear of his size would not even snack on such tiny prey.

“Why?” Map asked with a booming voice. “Why did you bring me back?” Pira hesitated with the answer. Did he not wish to be alive?

“What do you mean ‘why’?” Pira asked. A “thank you” would have been the appropriate response. Was Map not the happy-go-lucky deserter of the giant bear tribe she read about? Curse those Enfirths and their stupid stories. “I wanted to be your friend, Map!”

The bear brought his nose close to her and sniffed, which turned into a wild gust that almost picked Pira off the ground. Next, he turned to Witt and did the same. The giant’s eyes blinked slowly as he growled a shaking tremor.

“You both reek of magic,” he said and turned toward the sea. “That’s what I get for wanting to see the sun set before my demise. Next time, I’ll just walk into the ocean like I should have done.

“Don’t go, Map!” Pira called out with an amplification spell on her vocal cords. She slipped the rocket slippers off and ran up to one of the furry legs before they entered water. Watching her climb with such determination, inspired Witt to do the same. By the time he started running, Map was already too far to reach without swimming. Instead, he slipped on the orange fuzzy magic rockets and tapped his way into the sky above them in case Pira got thrown off. He hoped there was no limit to the amount of bursts these could do, otherwise he’d drown. Below him, the magical girl was already running on the giant bear’s back toward the head, but he stood up to shake her off.

“Come with us, Map!” she shouted while hanging on the fur. Her persistence was admirable, but Enfirths often messed with the natural order. No creature would accept one, but Witt was revived by Marmut. His natural life was over. “We’re going to Naera, Map! Don’t you want to come with us?”

“NO!” he bellowed. “I left this world because I wished to! My only mistake was dying in such a visible place.”

“I was revived by Marmut just like you!” Witt shouted down while flying near the bear’s head. “It’s a second chance! Do not let her effort go to waste!” The bear stopped trying to get Pira off and landed in the ocean on all fours. Even now, the water was barely up to the bear’s elbow joints. She ran up to the bear’s ear and whispered something Witt could not hear. Without a word more, the giant turned toward the shore and walked out of the water. Giant tracks of his paws left imprints on the sand as the water dripped in a river from his fur.

Witt set down on the rocks this time. They could take the heat of the rocket blasts. With fuzzy orange slippers in tow, he made his way over to where Pira was being set down. Was this Witt’s accomplishment? Pira reached into her small bag and pulled out something that defied belief. It was a tiny fish at first, but by the time she threw it onto the beach, it became gigantic. Enfirths had too much freedom of magic to play with.

“I agree,” Map said as he started tearing into the big fish. Once it was mostly gone, he licked his paws and sat back against the rocks. “Is there a spell you can cast that would shrink me a bit? I doubt getting to Naera will be easy when I’m colossal.”

“In fact, I do,” she said and dug into her bag. What she took out was a nexus just like hers, but the center glowed gold. “Here. Hold it and think of the size you wish to be.” She chucked the pendant on a chain toward the bear. It only fit on a claw, but when Map held it, a yellow light burst forth, encasing him. A few moments later, a slightly large bear was standing on the beach next to the gigantic carcass of a fish. Pira made her way over, and instructed him to wear the nexus around his neck.

“You seem to know things about me,” he said. “How?”

“Well, you ended up as a story,” Pira answered. “Not everything in the book is accurate, but at least the name was right. My name’s Pira.” She extended her hand and shook the bear’s paw. Even at this size, the beast could kill.

“This is Witness,” she said pointing at him. “He may look like a soldier, but he’s a deserter.” Witt nodded and approached.

“I’m Maripan,” Map said and raised his right paw in greeting. “My friends call me Map, but I prefer Rip. Use the name you wish. Are you afraid of me, Witness?”

“Just ‘Witt’,” he replied. “I don’t have much positive experience dealing with beasts of the forest.”

“I am not a beast,” Map said and sat on the sand. “I am the last surviving member of my race.”

“Give him a chance, Witt,” Pira said with a smile. “We’ll all be friends in no time. Let’s head out to Naera.” A larger gout of green flame burst forth from the sky toward the three of them, but Pira acted quickly to counter it with another soul release from her pendant. Before the three Enfirths floating above on hover-pads had a moment to announce themselves, Maripan grew to his original colossal size and swatted them to the rocks where his skeleton once was. Just three green stains remained of them on the rocks when the paw departed the surface. Before Pira and Witt could react, Rip turned back to his miniaturized size and licked the paw used.

“Wow.” Witt said after a stunned silence.

“Ouch,” Pira added, “Serves them right.”

“Let’s go.” Maripan said and set off down the beach toward the sinking bridge to Naera. Pira ran up and jumped onto his back. It felt like a bed of warm fur, brand new and ever soft. She rolled around in this happy feeling until she fell off. Witness helped her up and followed behind the bear.

“This is going to be fun,” she said and ran up to leap onto Map’s back again with a grin on her face that made even Witt smirk.