“So, we’re going to run for now,” Pira said and took out two fuzzy orange slippers. “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 just 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 spot 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’d 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 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.
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