Caidoz

Chapter 39

~Cancer

   I shiver involuntarily, eyes narrowing in confusion.
   "You would think I cursed or something with that expression, Princess." Ursa Minor laughed before walking back over to my direction.
   Fear pounded my heart, and I took a step back.
"Aw, don't be like that," he said, eyes still cheerful, but his emotions becoming washed into a small amount of concern. "I was just joking around."

   "How so?" I asked, trying to calm myself with reason; there was no motive for Ursa Minor to wish me any harm.
"Ha, well, you'll see," Minor said. "But first, take off your boots. Don't ask why, just do it!"
Lips frozen in confusion and inquiry, I knelt down, and undid my laces on both shoes. Taking them off, I placed them on a soft patch of mass growing on the trees. Then, I rose to stand barefoot, my feet brushing the smooth branch.

"Come on, let me show you!"
I took cautious steps after him as he bustled away, my hand brushing a soft curtain of still healthy leaves to reveal the sight beyond.

A hazy spray of mist settled on my skin, and my eyes grew wide. The wooden platform broke off onto a thick tree branch ledge with small handrails made of light rope which trailed out to a farther platform that was positioned beside--
"A waterfall!" I exclaimed.
Ursa Minor smirked, his eyes like glowing coals in the fading light. "See? I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to show you my secret spot!

"That's not even the best part!" he said, running down the branch without a moment of hesitation.
I tentatively followed, walking slowly out, the railings the only thing preventing me from toppling to either side out over the small flowing river below that flowed from the massive waterfall beside a small wooden tree cabin. The thundering sound of the crashing waves brought a familiar comfort into my heart, and I couldn't contain a smile.

"Aw, someone's feeling relaxed, isn't she? You like it, yeah? Isn't it amazing?!" Ursa Minor asked, revealing his own fascination in his enthusiastic tone. "Ya see that cabin over there?" he asked, pointing a finger at the wooden house that came closer and closer with every step we took.
"It used to be a part of Haven, but when it rained, the waterfall's river overflowed often, and then it would get rather damaged. We made repairs, of course, but it just happened too often, so we decided to just make it more of natural sight-seeing area. I never tire of its beauty!"
I nodded, my own curiosity beginning to grow.
Ursa Minor's hands never touched the rails by our sides, his arms stretching out around him. "I love it here; it makes me feel wild! It makes me feels me!"

"Wild?" I asked.
Ursa Minor snickered into laughter. "Yeah wild! I am a constellarmation! No, even better, I am a bear! Hear me roar!" His mouth suddenly snapped into a broad muzzle with loud constrained hisses of pain as his massive jaws let loose a loud roar, his eyes sneering. With only a moment, it was withdrawn back into his skin, shooting muscles back into a slender nose. "Ah, that was totally worth it!"

   I felt a bit disgusted by the sounds of the transformation, and horror pulled at my heart when I realized he had gone through pointless pain simply off a whim. "Why did you do that? Procyon had taught me that it was painful change forms, and so, to change only one part of you, and then back, isn't that horribly stupid? Why do it?" I took quicker steps to catch up. The trees rustled in the slight breeze, their leaves moving in a beautiful rhythm.
   "Because I can!" Ursa Minor said with a nod to the wind. "No better reason than simply for the heck of it! That, and because, of course, I am, no, not stupid, but instead, all powerful!"

   At that moment, he tripped heavily over his own feet, and came slamming down on his own face to break his fall.
   I ran to assist him, and he stumbled to his feet.
   "Are you alright?" I asked, helping him to stand.
   "Ugh, almighty..."
   I chuckled, shaking my head. "The Ursinians are getting to you," I said, watching as he brushed himself off. "You couldn't possibly actually believe you are a god? That's madness."