My bones, structure, and muscles shifted smoothly from bat t as I nded on a thick branch. The y paws a granted me stable support while I healed the damage they caused to the bark.

  "That was fun." I cracked my neck with a sigh, and it had been tortu-pying; yes, pying with the cubs was always a pleasant experience, and while they whined a lot, if they came baore. That meant I didn't traumatize them all that much. All in particur ing Softjaw si had been her first, but she was strong.

  Who wouldn't want to be bounced off roots and thrown around as a cub without the risk of injuries stig around? And that only scratched the tip of the iceberg, but as, pytime was short, and I was a busy bear.

  Time was ted, after all. And since I was an adult–socially speaking–I could use this resource far more effectively. I mean, I still got plenty of lessons with asks, such as scouting the territories of our tribe regurly, but otherwise, I was free as a bird or bat in this case.

  Speaking of territories, I didn't have one like an ursa totemic should, well, not really. The Greenweald had seven of us ting me in, and that meant an equal amount of allocated terrain to create an ecosystem free of tension and over-taxation.

  Usually, that is, as ursa totemics came ahrough age, keeping our little not-so-little er of Ashenvale under our prote with the occasional kaldorei military outposts here and there. My presence broke the bance as none of our ursa totemics were close to passing the torch. To put it bluntly, rept only came when one was dying.

  And since we weren't by nature querors and preferred to avoid flict with people, carvierritory wasn't what we did uruly necessary, and it wasn't such a case.

  So my 'base of operation' was, for now, in the root of a random giant tree a twenty-minute walk away from Greenpaw Vilge. That was until I learo fly, of course.

  After I earned a pair of wings, gravity no longer restricted my vertical movements–not that climbing was hard, but it wasn't parable to flight–and I carved my abode around a hundred meters high, all while keeping the tree alive and well. It was a simple hole with enough space to sleep and store a few items.

  The branches around had pots of living wood from the tree itself housing various pnts and mushrooms, some found around here and some not as traded from night elves or hybrids of my making. There was some graft, too. It was my garden and boratory I transported from the vilge and expanded upon.

  It was nothing mind-boggling, but my progress was quid guided. I knew what I wanted and mostly how to get it.

  I ractig what humanity oh once did with domesticated pnts and anisms: selective breeding but at an accelerated a thousandfold. I have always found it incredible, and this life allows me to make it possible outside of video games.

  Geics certainly work differently here. ges occurred faster—especially with my mana as if responding to my wishes—though the principles of dominant and recessive genes remained rgely the same. As my magic let me skip the time frowth with my supernatural senses, I could swiftly isote desired traits and create pnts to suit my needs.

  My creatied from poisonous thorny vio trees that could withstand more mana, makier raw materials for totems and the like. There was more, oh so much more, that I made and was boung in my head, but little I could make real… for now. I would only get better, and all projects took time.

  It was more than just a hobby, and it would be vital to the future. Many of my pns were tered on those pnts.

  Aic modification wasn't a possibility I was ign either, but I wasn't quite there yet. It remained a certainty I would have with Life and Nature in my paws, and no one would tell me otherwise.

  A zy, annoyed grunt snapped me out of my thoughts as the owner of the said voice, a small treant, stomped out on little legs toward me—a head adorned by small leafy branches preening at my legs like a cat.

  "Ah, sorry, there wasn't anything of note while I was gone, Groot?" Aside from birds and the little treant, I asked more out of habit than fear of anythiing here. He repeated a series of grunt and snapping sounds of different tonality, pitch, ah, the equivalent of a 'nothing to report.'

  He couldn't speak yet; nature spirits took time to mature, so he wasn't much rger than when I made him a head or two more. It didn't trao weakness, however.

  He was like any baby, but he was a strong and smart baby, sapling in this case. Creating a treant from an older tree might have helped in those departments, but it wouldn't have been the same.

  Groot was loyal and trustworthy to a fault because I was his 'parent,' essentially bonding him with me. It was why I uood him; he was a familiar of sorts—my grumpy guard tree part-time helper and gardener. He was strohough, far strohan when I made him. Smarter too.

  "Good little tree." I cooed, giving my mana to the treant sapling, who happily cooed, ensnaring a leg in a hug as I went on to my abode. It arse and essentially a carpet of soft moss with stuff stored in the back.

  Without further ado, shaking my leg, I freed it from the ensnaring roots of Groot's disgru. I took off the little ors of my body, such as the head feathers, and plopped down my belly first, and limbs spread bonelessly in a fy sleeping position on the moss before drifting into the world of dreams.

  Eyes snapping open to the fairytale-like enviro of the Emerald Dream, I passed a few seds, getting my bearings and sensing the ever-ging pathways of this dimension.

  'Here.' I grinned, feeling the path leading to where I st exited the Emerald Dream, and promptly began my advance. As to why? When you got into here spiritually, your position was the parallel equivalent to the waking world. It meant no matter how far you go in the ever-living realm, your point of arrival always stays where you entered, as it's where your body is.

  It was advantageous in many cases, but for expl for extended periods… it could get annoying. I wasn't a male night elf reen dragon and couldn't pass my non-immortal life sleeping. Since I evidently couldn't get as profit as Shael'dryn ihan a month of traveling this realm the way she did, I made 'checkpoints' in the form of bear totems to help me recall the path and hidden pathway I found.

  But I was searg for one precise thing within a superti worth of superficies. It retty much Kalimdor of the a past here, after all. Luckily, asking for aid wasn't an offense punishable by death, but to whom I asked was important. Paranoia aside, limiting who would know me was the best option since I didn't want to be traced too quickly for my unnatural knowledge when shit hit the fan and be unprepared.

  So my choice fell on several possibilities, notably the as, not the As, aka A Guardians, Wild Gods, or some Loa if I don't make any mistake with others titles. I khe one I was seeking was alive, uhe kaldorei rec of the death from the War of the As was massively erroneous, the same for furbolgs legends.

  As to the as, not to be fused with Wild Gods. The as were an asded branch of treants that had grown into great power, wisdom, and knowledge from the dawn of biological life ih. And trolls who love riddles and non-straightforward answers.

  Well, at least from the only one I mao find, or mao find me, if I'm being ho. Given the text of who I was seeking, it was highly suspicious that it was an unworded secret as to whom she was w for and that everything until now was trials and the like to see if I was worthy of an audience.

  But why speak of the obvious?

  And she was right in front of me. The autumn-themed leaves shifted in her branches, indig that she was an A of Lore.

  "Greeting, Liande," I spoke with familiarity and respect to the a. She tilted her massive head, and a small, warm smile came ohick lips of bark while her glowing e studied my form fusedly until reition fshed on her like a grandma who finished her episode of dementia.

  "Oh, hello… My apologies… Little Spark of Life… for not having… noticed you sooner…" She excimed slowly, her smile growing wider by the sed at a snail's pace.

  "That's fine. Bits of advice for what to get tonight?" I asked, not letting anything show on my muzzle.

  For the past two weeks, it had been what I did, gathering shit, and it could as well be sidered 'quests' being thrown at me, the extremely long, annoying, and b ones, and my patience was wearing thin.

  It wasn't for senseless reasons that I was tasked to gather seemingly random and varied materials from the Emerald Dream; they were for some kind of or to craft said s. Or something of the like.

  But most of the objects asked were extensively lengthy to obtain from both the information given to me and the method of acquisition, uhe old tree was messing with me or insane, likely both. The purpose was evident, but it remained frustrating.

  Still, it was my best shot to meet him. and prayers, while not without response, proved... less than stelr i. It felt like an automated phone system with pre-recorded messages. Anring evidence he was alive if everything else didn't frame it this way already.

  I o stand out, to attract attention, and of the good kind. Not all publicity was good publicity; any who believed the opposite was a simpleton.

  "Hmmm…. Let me think…" She slowly hummed, "Maybe… no… yes… ah-"

  Then, she was interrupted, and my heart felt like it stopped.

  "I have seen enough." A gravelly and deep voice reverberated across the field, my eyes widening, and my heart thumped stronger and faster than ever as instincts from what felt like the depth of my soul fred up at the sight of the immense majestic figure walking through the dense flora unhindered.

  It iritual bear. His ever so slightly translut body of glowing two-toned blue fur did little to hide the power, martial and magical within, the tattoos etched on his fur remi of the ones I had been adorned a year ago only added.

  Above his front paws air of metallic bracer, and beyond on his shoulders were a pauldron of the same material on each with the tattoos creating an imagery of two moons joining together, the smaller passing over the rger, simir to the union of the Twin when Ursol's Wisdom passed over Ursoc's Might.

  On his snout, from where two massive saber-like e teeth groard, was a mask of metal c his upper mandible and face but doing little to hide the two shining orbs ht gold me.

  I was staring right back as they appraised me, yet the gaze was unlike any other. It was… sad, no, mencholic, maybe? I wasn't sure, and drawing any clusions would be unwise, but the eyes didn't possess wariness, hostility, or anything like that—quite the opposite. And all of it came as quickly as it vanished, repced by pure calm, curiosity, and warmth, nearly fatherly, almost like the earlier demeanor was an illusion.

  Any description I had of him until this instant was ridiculously inparable. This blue armored bear was one of the Bear Lords. He was Ursol the Wise and twin brother of Ursoc the Mighty and only of the Twins Bears among the living.

  And he was chug amicably.

  "What wisdom do you seek from me, young furbolg?" The Wild God gently asked, zily slumping down on the grass before putting his head on his front paws to look at me at eye level, and I froze.

  He was huge. The suddenness of it all, with my instincts at fault, was not helping. The shyness I thought I had lost from my anterior life swung bato full force.

  "What weight is on your mind that I may free you from its burden? It must be of great importao you if my presence was one you seek to alleviate it." He asked again, his voice eveler, and I snapped out of my daze, my muzzle opening and closiedly, trying to find the word and clear my thoughts.

  It was a moment I had waited and pnned for years… And no pn survives first tact, so…

  First…

  I took a deep breath.

  "Ursol, we talk more privately?" I asked, my tone as measured as possible. And as the words escaped my lips, I dreadfully realized it might have e off a bit too blunt… Shit. He didn't seem to care, though, so that was good. Still, I will keep it formal.

  "Hn? You do not o be so timid, young cub. None will eat you, audience or not." He chuckled softly but still heeded my rude demands by nodding Liande away. He misuood, but that was expected; he saw me as a child, which I was–if more of a teeo be pedantic–but I will use this to my advantage.

  So I tentatively shook my head to his great fusion, "Pardon me, Ursol, I mean what I said. I wish for secrecy."

  This time, he remained silent, his thoughts a fog of unknown as he tilted his head. The tension grew for a long sed until mana pulsed downward from his body, and the ground shook. Roots busted from the grass and created a hermetic sphere around us, blog outside light, sound, and mana alike. The only prote against total darkness was biolumi mushrooms and flowers.

  Sed…

  "Thank you for your patiend uanding." I the head-on to why I urgently wao speak with him, "I have e to you because I have knowledge that I must share… knowledge that has haunted me from my first moment, horrific visions of green baleful fire across withering forest from winged and horned monsters but also hordes of walking corpses. Destru, death, and corruption ierrible glory."

  The atmosphere grew incredibly heavy in an instant. I didn't know what Ursol was thinking, but I took his silence as my cue to tinue. I spoke, the most immediate matter ing first and ohat would ascertain I wasn't bullshitting. It was important to me as a furbolg and him as the brother of the ed party, and I didn't want this tragedy to happen.

  I just o keep it vague and to the point. Luckily, I remembered these quest lines quite well, as Ursoc had always been one of my favorite characters. He was one of the characters that always got the short end of the stick for some odd, sadistic reason, too.

  Well, and now it was far more personal.

  "Ursoc is in grave danger if nothing is done soon, Ursol." He tensed up, breathing became harder, and the o y low grew. Still, I kept eye tad my stanwavering to the Bear of Wisdom's, "My kin of the great north would attempt to revive him by using one of the corrupted seeds of the World Tree fallen for its great darkness by a druids. My kin will succeed. Their kindness, ignorant of the greater force at py, would cost them their and Ursoc's minds and bodies, leading them to nightmarish bloodshed and insanity."

  He paused, my breath hitched, theood up, and my heart felt like it was going to explode, staring down at me, and it all vanished as he looked somewhere above for an unfortable amount of time.

  "I'm sorry to have scared you. But you inform me of grim news. Your words do not possess falsehood, yet I hope the truth differs, Ohto. I dearly hope for us all. But I know not to ighis cry of despair of a cub. I will depart immediately to see from my own eyes. I have been absent for far too long…" The bear demi-god intoned dolefully, using my hout me telling him barely a footnote pared to what he said at the end.

  I was immensely relieved, but he would leave, and I o say more. But first...

  "Wait Ursol! I ask for two favors before you depart?" He stopped, turning to me inquisitively, seemingly pleased.

  "Would it be possible to keep my identity hidden and a method to unicate with you?"

  "A first peculiar demand, I will grant it as for the sed… I fear this is unfeasible for now, but this shall serve as pensation." He hummed pensively. I felt his mana pulse again, and the root cage went baderground; then, on the side, everything that I had gathered aly stored began to float between us.

  Then they glowed with his mana. He added a droplet of his ethereal by nig his paw with a cw, mixing to the final result that suddenly was affected by gravity, f me to grab it. The thought of it falling wrong to a part of my instincts. The closeness gave me a better sight of this masterpiece of a magical artifact.

  It was a simple, discrete desig beautifully intricate. It was a bracelet of leather cords anized irical knotwork and spiral, red beads, and tiny iron ptes with specks of gold to tie it nicely with amber in an iron g at the first and st knot. The only intricate part was the small musical instrument, a small ohat was the horn tip of an a, heavily damaged reptile skeleton. It olished and carved with Ursine ruhe imagery of a bear r aimed toward where the sound would e out at the ter.

  This bracelet was marvelous from a magical standpoint as well. It was below the Totemic Ritual in sheer plexity and reach, but it there.

  All from the materials I gathered and now that I think about it were material furbolgs only used with a matg aesthetic, the iron in particur. We knew how to manipute and ent metals even if we didn't necessarily mihem. Rivers with our pseudo-ey sufficed, and it was how I got it.

  "Wow… so all these tedious tasks were for this… I k." I thought aloud in a mumble and got a grin iurn, one full of sharp teeth. It made me feel oddly good.

  "This is my present, and it will follow you outside the Dreaming. It shall be of assistan time of need, calling the ones vowed to defend their blood and honor beyond the gate of their earthly shackles. I trust you to use it wisely." Ursol expined as I listened with bated breath, "Our first iio a different path than I had foreseen, but may we speak ier dition soon enough. For now, far well, Ohto of the Greenweald."

  "Uood, and thank you, Ursol. And-oh he is gone…" I trailed off, scratg my head delicately to avoid cutting myself with my cws. It had happened many times, I was unfortable to admit, siheir metalization.

  'That's just happened…' I thought with mixed feelings, relief at the top of it all as I stared at the magical bracelet in my paws. There would be more to do and tell from my sporadic memories of the future. I won't cim victory, but it was a win, and I leased about it.

  'Hm, Miel won't have a problem if I nab a bottle or two bits from his hidden cache?' I wondered, and then it went dark as I fell asleep, the Emerald Dream vanishing to slumber this time for real.

  The_Bip_Boop2003

  Thanks, EmilBigErk, Mike Stewart, Dyn Mayfield, BzeSavage, What Ewer, Jeff Fischer, Hope Bain, Vex, Jackietron201, Crach Grey, Michael Carter, Ben Lockwood, Kunta, Nezih Süzer, PeerlessCaster, Devon Emmons, Furry Bear, Jarvis Schellinger, jacob griffin, Mitch, Velzon, Cameron Youngman, TheFuzzySamurai, Grey Heart, Marc Smith, James Wood, Proxy, shadowSeth, Talberts, Scott, Gal Anonim, PIEGURU8, Thomas Hendrix, léroy jenkins, Tobias, Jose Matos, K, Alex pritchard, Falk Hüser, SirSp, Sam Mbya, Alexander Amann, Name, Man Robertson, Aaron Taylor, Mika Willems, phil, Brian Beard, JchuckS, Wold Layman, Gee Dean, Nateica Burlock, Wildvoid, andre, Eioe, Scarletmenace, Pilot Pirx, er Ja, Carlos head, Thomas Dey, Asura, Gronnr, Lucas Gossett, ton Jenkins, Desote, Tristan Nadeau, Mest450, Ang, Sabypyz, charlie wagner, Hedgeboar, JJ JJ, Linus Bengtssone, Mason for the support it's greatly appreciated.

  [colpse]