《Just Bear it》 Chapter 1: It all Sarted with a truck "Ahh This is nice." ren states as he is sitting tired at a bus stop. The hot summer sun beating down on his head. Only the ice cold slushy in his hand and the small amount of shade that the bus stop provides is helping him cool down. Ren is recovering in the middle of his walk. He decided that today he will start working on his New Years resolution. To get out more and stress less about people. ¡°Walking seems like the best of both worlds.¡± Ren thought. He can see more of the town and get some needed exercise. Ren is walking to the library to access the internet, and get some cold air, as a brownout had hit his house. The power won¡¯t be on for three hours, and his backup generator wouldn¡¯t start. ¡°I had to forget to charge my phone. I really wanted to see that new episode of that vampire barista web show I have been watching all summer. That is the last time I buy emergency supplies at a yard sale.¡± ¡°After I finish this slushy I am going continue-.¡° Just as Ren started to recover. He sees a child fall off this skateboard and into the street. A truck is coming, and the driver can¡¯t stop in time. ¡°No!¡± Ren, dropping everything charges towards the child quick as a flash. He hurriedly tries to grab him before it is too late. Ren manages to push the boy out of the way right before the truck arrives. .......... ¡­¡­.. Cries A child¡¯s cry wakes him up reeling from the fall. ¡°That was close.¡± He then turns to the child to see how he is doing. The little boy is fine, if not a bit shaken up by the whole thing. He then runs to a house that Ren figures are his. A crowd of concerned people starts to gather to see what¡¯s going on. Panicking Ren runs away from the crowd, ignoring the onlookers. After he gets away from them, Ren is able to calm down. ¡°Why am I running, it''s not like I was hitting him.¡± Ren thinks even as he hides around the corner on a shop¡¯s side, but as he relaxes he hears a noise. Buzz Aaaaagh ¡°Shit what bit me.¡± As he looks around he begins to feel his eyes swell, and his gut turns sour. Finally, he feels his throat close, as he is passing out thinking ¡° @#$&# I am allergic.¡± Chapter 2: The Sea of stars ¡°What, where am I.¡± Ren looks around to find himself in a white void. Unable to see anything, but the blinding light. He tries to move, but he can¡¯t feel his limbs. It seems all his senses but sight are gone. ¡°Could I be in a coma? No, that does not make sense. I got stung by a bee. You don¡¯t go into comas by bees you ¡­ die.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°So this is the afterlife.¡± Ren''s sight begins to clear and the surroundings are revealed to be an expanse of lights. Every light like a star. Each one a different color. One of the lights passes by. It pulses with energy and an unintelligible voice. It touches him, and he feels his own power. It pulses in its own light. A light just like the others. ¡°These are souls. I wonder if all there is to it?¡± Time passes, and Ren thinks back to his death. I can''t believe that I died in such a sad way. Not a fight, or an illness, not even the truck, but some dumb allergy. No one could have seen that coming. Nobody in my family is even allergic to bees. Ren begins to think to his family. "I wonder how they will take the news. I hope they can move on. I mean, at least I got to do something good before going. I saved a child, would rather they take solace in that rather than mourning me. Even if the way I died was stupid." After some time passes he lurches forwards he and all the others are drawn in one direction. ¡°Aaargh!¡± As the movement increases, a great amount of pain is brought to him. It rakes at his soul, like being awash in a sea a glass. Crack He feels his sole begin to creak and twist. Looking around Ren sees other soles begin to break down forming more of the void. He sees before him the soles where eroding all the time it was just his way too strong to tell. ¡°No!¡± Ren tries to fight it, but as he cracks a peaceful feeling presses down on him. ¡°Why should I fight does it matter?¡± Maybe This is how it should end. As he is drifting off he remembers his last moments and a noise. buzz ¡°#$%& that! I refuse to go down this way! I don¡¯t care if this is the way things are supposed to go. I won¡¯t be reduced to nothing, not after such a stupid death.¡± ¡° I don¡¯t care even if i is a test. If I have to fade to pass then I fail!¡± Ren screams into the void as he beings to pull himself together. He begins to pull himself together and is able to reform his souls. But as he tries to fix the cracks even more form. ¡°I can¡¯t keep up with this.¡± As he fights to keep together he gets an idea. If I can fight it then why should I? Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Ren begins to purposely crack himself apart. Scattering his soul into many shards. But before he can dissipate he spreads his control to the sea around him. If this was all reduced sole then I can do the opposite. Ren forms the sea around him into strand connecting each piece together. The resulting object seems resembles a large weblike structure. With a high tensile strength, and reducing the strain on him to repair the damage. Finally able to relax after the treatment of loss is gone he begins to look around. His new form allowing him to be a bit more alert to his surroundings. Many of the souls are gone less than a tent remains from the before. Some are far larger than they were before forming hard shells. some seams to have formed limbs and are moving about. There are in broken webs like himself. Finally, some look to have even group upon the planet like clusters. The souls all begin to move faster. Ren suffers some brakes but is able to repair it. The souls are all deposited in a somehow larger expanse of the void. It is like a river to an ocean. In the distance, other groups of souls are seen. all souls seem to move to flow in a downward direction. To a thing that is at a scale I can¡¯t even fathom solar systems aren¡¯t this big. The body of the creature is beyond confusing. The thing seems to possess multiple limbs that each has as many manipulators. Its movements are an oddity. It constantly bends twist and stretches in every direction. Each soul is heading for it. The ones who can actively seek to get close, and when they do they are grabbed retuning to the previous state. Then it releases the flying out into the deeper parts of the sea. It¡¯s doing this with each of the billions of souls that are coming in at once. the thing is like a living optical illusion. You can¡¯t tell what it is so you try to put an image on it, but with each motion, it brakes that image and into another. ¡°I guess this is our judge.¡± Ren thinks as he too is drawn toward the creature to then grabs him in his limb. A loud noise then resonates in him. It sounds like the enter population of a planet is talking to him at once. Not just people all thing are speaking at once. At first I the sound is deafening, but as he listens he feels his soul is healed. ¡° I know what this is. it is a song a lullaby, he thinks as he drifts off to sleep. The creature sending him away Chapter 3: sweet dreams and bitter reality
fly that landed on his nose. ¡°It was you who woke me up!¡± Ren reaches out his hand to swat the bug, but before he can he notices something wrong. Wait a Minute, what is on my arm? Did I wear a coat to bead? Ren sees him, surprising small arm covered in hair. ¡°Wait do I have claws!¡±
abundance of smells revealed to him was like seeing in color for the first time. After a while, ren locates something a berry bush full of bright red berries. ¡°Food!¡± Ren rushes to the Shrub. Desiring the upcoming feast.
chapter 4: Ring Around The Berry bush The beast before him, a large boar that towers over ren small form. Covered in coarse brown fur with one tusk black as pitch. He posses a black strip down the side. The beast returns to face him with aggression clear on his face. The bear ground beneath him is caved by those hooves as he makes a threatening posture. The beast charges. Closing the gap between them. ¡°Shit!¡± Ren rushes to the side. He crashed into the bushes avoiding the charge. grunting in frustration the bore untangles its self from the berry bush. ¡°Ha, that is what you get for sneaking up on me.¡± The beast turns to free itself. Terrifying ren as he moves for another charge. ¡°This thing must be in charge of this Territory.¡± That thing must be four times my size. I stand no chance of beating his head-on.¡± Ren sidesteps trying to look passive in order to seem like less of a threat, but it is useless. As the bore is determined to get ren to kill ren and remove him from his territory. Following him in a circle around the clearing. Ren avoids another charge. ducking between the trees failing to keep the bore in sight at all times. ren then proceeds to zigzag through the trees to lose him. ¡°Ok calm down. As long as I avoid his line of sight, and can avoid the charges.¡± Ren then proceeds with his evasion strategy. Instead of constantly hiding. Hiding from the bore seams useless as it can follow him threw smell. ¡°dam sense of smell.¡± Ren thinks crash ren proceeds to dive as the boar barrels throw a bush. This also made it difficult to find a proper hidden spot." hmm I wonder why it did not get through the berry bush. it does not want to hurt its food source." Ren proceeds to go back around trying to find the location of the berry bush. "If I can get there I think I can stop his charges." Ren manages to get to a familiar clearing. ¡°yes a little more.¡± Ren hears the boar rushing through the trees. Panicking Ren Manages to go to the other side of the plant in time. the boar sees the bear and prepares another charge. but then it sees the bush and it stops itself then. ¡°yes I was right.¡± Ren excitedly moves to the tree-line. ¡°Now I just get away from this monster.¡± Ren looks around for an escape. ¡°What can I do now.¡± He thinks for a while then looks to his claws. ¡°oh right I can use these.¡± He then runs up to a nearby tree. ¡°Now all I have to do is-¡° reaor The bore then charges around the bush. Seeing this forces ren to go back around the bush again. ¡° I can''t get anywhere without this stopping this thing¡± I cannot keep running forever.¡± Looking at the bush Ren gets an idea. He then rushes to the bush using his small size to slip under it as the boar approaches. he clears the bush and manages to make it to the other side while the beast is distracted. ¡°Gota move fast.¡± He then springs up the closest tree as ren can. Ren begins his arduous climb up the tree. ¡°man this is harder than I thought.¡± Ren then hears a noise as the monster boarjust gotten from under the bush. It has come in front of the tree ren is staying at. ¡°Ha, you can''t get me now you future hotdog.¡± ren finally relaxed as he made it to the top. At that moment the bore bashes into the tree. Causing the entire tree to shudder. ¡°whoa!¡± Ren is shaken about with the tree but is not knocked off. ¡°This sucks I thought the boar would leave once he got out of reach, but this thing won''t quit.¡± The little bear then moves to the other branches. Trying to escape by hiding in the leaves. In ¡°I get out of this I just have to be careful.¡± He climbs up higher and higher, but as he climbs he hears a small nosie . creeeak ¡°Oh no, not today!¡± The cub steps off that branch to another nearby one, only to slip off the branch as the boar rams the tree again. ¡°no no no no!¡± He manages to cushy landing. ¡°ugh where did I land?¡± He looks down to see he is standing on the bore. ¡°$&#%¡± The bore enraged beings to buck in order to take him out. In return, Ren digs his claws into his back, and even bites to get a better grip. This drives the boar insane thrashing every which way. At first, Ren¡¯s claws and teeth do little damage to the bores hide. All he is doing to the bore is the same as a pinch. But as the boar thrashes Ren¡¯s claws and teeth start to dig in. Finally cutting in and causing blood to flow. the tase of the hot blood in his mouth. ¡°wow this is delicious.¡± Ren begins to try to tare into the boring side. The desire to hang on forgotten and is trying to actively eat the bore alive. *squeal* This proves to be the boar limit as the bellows in a voce he has herd a living being emits. None of this is in Ren¡¯s mind as he is lost in the tase of the flesh. The hot blood in his mouth the blood is so good. ¡°So delicious warm.¡± Hmm isn¡¯t this blood a little to warm. this confusion helps wakes ren from his blood-crazed state. ¡°what a minute it¡¯s hot hot hot!¡± The blood stops from being warm to as hot as boiling water even burning his mouth. ¡°The hell?!¡± terrified at what will happen next ren jumps from the boar. ¡°What was that it was like the thing-¡° and just then the bore entire back ignites in flames soiled red in coloration. Ren stares up at his monstrous sight with a weird thought in his head. ¡°Magic is a thing here. Yes!¡± The joyful until he remembers where he is. Theboar looks to him.¡°shit¡± Ren thinks as he hides from the bore turns to face him. ¡°this has to be the worst way to learn the facts that magic is real.¡± He starts to run while the flame pig chasing after. Feeling the heat clear on his back. The flames seem to not touch the plants. as he is running he notices something. ¡°That pig a bit dull.¡± The bore seems to have a harder time tracking Ren. ¡° I guess magic really tiring.¡± The flames on his back peter out. ¡° That move must be a purely defensive move.¡± Thou his being tired is not that big of an advantage as he is also just as beaten up like him. ¡°This won''t last long I have to find a way to get out.¡± he does another clumsy charge. he notes a sound of rushing water. ¡°Is that a river?¡± Seeing the opportunity ren changes course and heads toward for it. maybe the bore won''t enter the water as its fire element might make it a poor swimmer. However, Ren notices something odd. ¡°where is the pig?¡± ren looks around and can¡¯t find the smoked bore. confused he decides to book it for the river. Hoping to get there and leave this freaks Territory. He has to get there as fast as possible. ¡°Maybe I should climb that tree?¡± No, he can¡¯t be slowed down by trying to climb the tree. ¡°I have a better chance on land anyway.¡± He has made it to the river. It vary wide with heavy flowing water. ¡° I have no chance of swimming this. I better find another way to get there.¡± SNORT "What!" when he turns to look down the river he sees the bore approach. A devious look in its eyes. ¡°Did it know where I was going.¡± The boar charges at full speed at Ren. He tries to doges towards the trees but can¡¯t escape. bash asdfsd Ren is hit hard on his side and crashes heavily into the trees. ¡°Arrrag!¡± ren back feels on fire. He feels the blood run down his right arm. confused and pain he looks defiant at the bore slowly coming in for the kill. ¡° I won''t die here.¡± He then steps off the edge and into the rive ren would rather take a gamble with the river then lose to the boar. Plunging into the water below and is pulled away by the water. Chapter 5: Satifing My Ass! In the river, A small bear is being tossed about by the currents. Long since leaving The bores area due to the fast water. Constantly being pulled across long distances and crashing into rocks. Being dragged under the water where he sees the flashes of fish. Crashing into the bottom and being knocked back up for a momentarily gasps for air. He is constantly trying to Grab on to something ultimately being pulled away by the water. Coming on to a calmer part of the river he tries to pull himself together as the ice-cold water threatens to drown. Suddenly Ren smashes into a large Rock he manages to hold to it. His claws somehow digging into the stone resisting the heavy current. Fighting the water carefully looks around and find some self to be in the middle of the river. He tries to scale the rock forgetting his bad arm and flinches slip into the stream. Determined not to sink he spreads himself out. Tiered finally Ren is thrown in the bend in the river and washes up on the riverside. Ren wakes with a horrible feeling. cough hur pukes Ren empties his stomach and lungs from all the water that enters his body. Weakly lays on the ground tired and falls unconscious. After a while ren eyes open. Shaky and could with aces all over his body. and with his body lying in a muddy shoreline. Disgusted ren prepares to over to the riverside to wash off the mud. But pauses as he stands. ¡°gha¡± Ren¡¯s arm lights up in pain forcing him to stand on only three of his legs. ¡°Man it¡¯s weird to think that standing now requires four limbs¡± he can''t seem to even rest on it. He sits and looks his body his black fur matted and messy from the water. The arm scabbed over well and healing. Hmmm looks fractured to be not completely broken ¡°I just need to stay off of it for a few day or weeks? I don¡¯t know how long these injuries take.¡± he checks his side to see a large bruise in his shoulder. ¡°Man that thing messed me up¡± with how strong is that bore seems to have done well. That thing could light itself on fire and smash bushes as they went even there but I survived its charge. hmmm, I guess I must have some durability in order to survive all That. And I am just a cub Imagine what happens when I get older. Hahaha, the little bear grins at the thought. As soon as I get big I will march back to that pig''s land and take him to pieces.¡± His heart out his rage fuming the little bare rises his good arm in vengeance producing a small roar. *GROWL* Started Ren Stumblesback sacred. He looks around trying to find the threat until is sound again. Growl it is coming from his gut. Oh, it is just my stomach Ren laughs. That entire thing must¡¯ve really worked up my appetite. Ok, I¡¯ll need to find some more food without getting more Hurt. He then looks towards the stream. Slowly Ren limps toward it. A few fish are swimming in the water. Ren looks at his arm still throbbing from that walk. Ren turns leaving the riverside not willing to face that river so soon after falling in. Since I can¡¯t fish I guess I¡¯ll forage instead. Looking around Ren sees his a lush forest the trees densely packed. Only enough space for about two people to walk side to side in the animal trails that cross it. the tree canopy blocking much of the light. He is surrounded by many different smells dead trees the river fish in the sun and tons of animals. In the tress, he spies some birds singing. A couple nests are dotted in the canopy. His stomach sounds again I could eat eggs I think I can still climb if I use my claws. Hmmm no, that won''t do. The work is too much for the small food and it not like I will be able to find more eggs every time I get hungry. Besides I best not antagonize another animal. Until I understated what possess magic is. Looking to the brush he sees little animals some squirrels rabbits with horns. They are next to some weird hairy thin that looks like a pine cone with little arms and teeth. Ok, that thing i is definitely don¡¯t want to mess. Ren turns hearing rustling tree leaves as something large dashed throw the trees. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Sniff sniff , Following an interesting smell. He finds a small patch of mushrooms growing on the side of a tree. Hmmm, these smell delicious. Ren goes in to take a bite before hesitating. No mushrooms can do crazy stuff on earth no telling what the magical variants. After a bit of searching ren comes upon a new sent it seems familiar sent. Following it he comes on a clearing in which is a berry bush covered in Bright yellow berries. Ren eyes the bush Cautiously. ¡°Oh no let¡¯s be a little more careful .¡± Ren checks the area for any lingering scents of creatures or any territory markings. Finding no dominant sents he looks at the area from a distdone. To see which of these are making toward the bush. Ren looks to the bush ¡°it seems that none of the animals go near him he looks to see none away to see what comes near.¡± After a few minutes, nothing seems to come by. Nothing seems to have claimed this bush. ¡°I guess this place lacks any territorial creatures.¡± The cub limps towards the bush for the cub then grabs one small berry. He proceeds to eat one careful to not eat anymore just in case it is poisonous. The food carries an incredible taste, even more, delouse that the other ones. Ren chomps on more loving the taste. Mouthfuls of berries later, he looks to his injured arm. "if I remember correctly I need to eat more protein in order to heal my arm. I''ll have to look for more food sources than this." ren leaves the bush remembering the location and looks for a more easy location of meat. as he searches he reaches a terrible smell of rotten wood he comes across a rotten tree. he recalls the fact that a large amount o larva inhabits an environment like this. he struggles for a bit and manages to pull the log up form its place and spies all the larvae just swarming it. ug ren reaches at the sight and backs away. Ok from what I saw from nature shows the only creatures who lack poison that gather in large numbers. There is no way any of them is poisonous so I can get more than enough food form this. He goes down and eats a large grub. "Mmm slimy yet ¡­¡­.disgusting. Spits this just had to be the only other food in the area." He continued to eat the bugs until he couldn¡¯t take it anymore and stops. ¡°I have to find a more appetizing source of meat.¡± The cub returns to the bush to grab a few berries to wash out the taste. after eating a couple more berries and drinking from the river ren notices the change in light. is it getting dark I will have to find a place to sleep? I don''t want to end up at in a bad place when I wake. after looking for a while the sunset hits and it gets even darker meany of the animals he has seen before have left. getting nervous ren looks to a tree nearby the bush he eats from. I can''t find any caves so I will have to try a tree. Ren slowly begins his assent careful to avoid using his injured arm. this is surprisingly easy so long as nothing is chasing me this is easy even with one claw out of duty. after making it to the top ren nestles in the trunk. Safely supported by the branches of the tree letting his arm lay off the side as he drifts off to sleep.