Candlelit Shadows

Chapter 7

“Happy birthday, darling! Wait, say cheese! Perfect! So, do you like your new teddy bear? It’s—what? Fake? Well, I suppose it is… but then again, you should know that bears aren’t quite all the vicious killers they’re said to be.

      “Why, yes, there was a bear in the Tournament too. You sure are catching up fast, aren’t you? That’s my little girl. But it wasn’t a cute, brown bear like yours. Neither was it a cold-blooded killer like the Shark. No, like the Arctic fox, he came from amongst the coldest regions in the world. And he longed for a little of the warmth the traveling birds have described ever so vividly. 

      “So when news first came of a world-wide battle, the bear was more than eager to join. Anything, if it meant he could see the world outside his little snow-globe. He wasn’t enthusiastic about the killing, or the power granted to the winner, but kill he could, and easily.

      “Like all bears, the polar bear was strong, but clumsy. So, wisely, he chose the power of speed. With it, he could outrun the cheetah, outwrestle a rhino, outwit the wildcat. Utilizing all of these gifts and more, he incapacitated the eagle, using his speed as leverage to take flight temporarily.

He defeated a larger cousin, throwing the latter off a high cliff. But by far his most infamous venture, he cleverly manipulated the crow’s weaknesses, taking all of his victim’s powers. In fact, he was the very first to wield more than one kind of special ability.

      “By then word had spread far and wide of his achievement, and the top runners were beginning to eye him with wary. His own rivals didn’t stand a chance, resourceful as he was with his newfound abilities. But that itself was his undoing.”

      “Each power was chosen, and thus tailor-made to its user. By stealing and exploiting the crow’s power, the polar bear had unwittingly left himself vulnerable to the crow’s lingering regrets. He began to crave more power, and with it, attention. The simple, modest creature of the ice and all its humble desires for warmth were forgotten. As the bear rose higher in the ranks, he stole more from others, and lost more of himself.

      “Greed, lust, pride…With every new power, he gained his victim’s weaknesses as well. Finally, he outstayed his welcome, and was easily disposed of by the spider. To all his credit, he might very well have resisted her mind games, had he stayed true to his old self.” 

*

Cera left the Hall feeling slightly dazed. Aranae had left earlier to tend to her other business, and Cera just realized she still had completely no idea of her bearings. A few wrong turns and a strange crossroad later, she met with yet another dead end. It was indistinguishable from the countless others she had encountered in her blind wandering, and she was just about to turn back when she realized there was some sort of draft coming from it. Tentatively, her mind racing with stories of enchanted passageways and sealed rooms, she approached it, feeling around the edges.

      It was— Wait, was it…a door?

      “Oh, hey. Someone lost their way?”

      Instantly, she yanked back her outstretched hand and hid it behind her back and a nervous smile. “Well, actually… yes.”

      Perhaps unsurprisingly, she recognized that tall, stout figure as one of those from her Initiation, gazing down on her from his imposing throne. But up close, this man was older than the others, his grizzly beard flecked with grey, his twinkling azure eyes surrounded by laugh lines. 

      He radiated warmth, and a sense of security. Cera sort of saw why. His strides had none of the lumber his bulk would suggest, instead belied a casual elegance. And he smelled good too, like crops and summer sunlight. She took an instant liking to him.