Shorter chapter than usual, but please enjoy.

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Hiro woke up to the songs of the morning. Birds enjoying the crisp morning air as it gently flows in between the trunks of rich oaks. The falls in the background churning up the water as it tumbles down the steep cliff into the water below. Hiro was comfortable, gone was the excruciating nightmare he experienced yesterday.

Slowly getting out of his shelter, Hiro began to stretch his stiff muscles and yawn.

“Fuuuwaaaa~”

‘I haven’t had a peaceful sleep like that for a while.’ He thought to himself.

Suddenly realizing that something was missing, Hiro ran back into the shelter.

“He’s gone?!” He exclaimed, looking at the bare spot where a furry creature was sleeping yesterday. Running out of his shelter Hiro began looking for any signs of where the cub went.

“KUMAAAABOOOOOO!” He called.

Meanwhile, hidden under the brush just outside of the small clearing by the falls was an ominous creature. The piercing eyes showed hints of hunger and… playfulness?

Hiro kept on calling out Kumabo’s name and wandering around the area until he arrived right next to the spot where the beast was waiting. Totally oblivious to the licking doom that he was about to experience, Hiro kept on walking towards the brush. Once Hiro had reached a certain point, the beast pounced.

“GAOOOO~!!!”

“AHHH!!!”

Taking Hiro by surprise, the small and furry creature knocked him over. Soon Hiro began to feel a rough and yet sensation brushing over his face. It smelled like berries and very earthy, as if someone had mixed a huge handful of herbs and let it sit overnight.

“Gah…ahaha.ha…Stop it Kumabo!!!” Hiro began to laugh as the cub energetically washes his face.

“Gao~~~” Kumabo was playing. He had awoken earlier and began looking for something to eat. Finding a small blueberry bush near the falls, Kumabo enjoyed his breakfast to the fullest. Once finished eating every berry, he saw the strange man that had taken him away from his mother. Although he felt wary interacting with the man, he didn’t hate him. After all, the man did feed him, so he couldn’t be that bad.

Finally able to break free from licking hell, Hiro panted softly while in the orz position.

“Hah…Hah… That was dangerous…” He had almost lost himself in ecstasy. Well truthfully, in happiness. It was the first time he had any skinship with anybody else other than Lena. Reminded of Lena, Hiro blushed and changed his train of thought.

“So?” He looked at the excited cub as it pranced back and forth, “What were you doing?” Although he asked that, Hiro knew perfectly well the cub was playing around.

As if understanding Hiro’s rhetorical question, Kumabo jumped up and leaned against Hiro and tried licking his face once more, though too short to reach.

“Ah~ fine!”

Surrendering himself once more to licking hell, Hiro wrestled around with Kumabo. And that’s how their morning passed by, lots of playing, wrestling, and laughter.

Getting up from the ground, while panting kind of hard, Hiro gave up on checking his traps and pulled up a few lines from the water. He had used the entrails from the hares yesterday as bait, on the other end of the tough strings were a few decent-sized fish.

“This’ll do.” Slinging a few on a string, Hiro left them aside and cooked one for himself. Earlier he had tried feeding a raw one to Kumabo but the playful cub just burped, surprising Hiro.

Once breakfast was done, Hiro got up and walked over to the cub.

“Well Kumabo, wanna go look for your Mama?” Hiro asked.

“Gao~!” The cub roared, while getting up to its feet.

“Alright!” Hiro slung the fish over his shoulder, “Let’s go!”

With his life energy refilled and his morale raised, Hiro began his search with Kumabo. Today he planned on reuniting the cub with its mother and wasn’t going to return until he did so. He had brought along the pile of fish as a peace offering, in case the mother decided that he was a threat. Going back to the site of the wolf attack, Hiro hoped there were still some clues left after the rainstorm the previous day.

‘As expected… No clues left behind…’ Getting up from the barren ground. The tracks from yesterday were obliterated by the storm. The wolf carcasses somehow were mysteriously picked clean and some were even missing, though Hiro paid little attention to them.

“Kumabo…” Hiro stared hard at the cub by his side, “I don’t know if you understand me, but do you know where Mama is?”

‘If someone were to see me talking to a bear, they would think I’ve gone crazy…’ He thought to himself.

Kumabo just stared back, not understanding anything Hiro said.

“Of course…” Hiro replied, disheartened.

Suddenly, Kumabo’s nose began to pick up a scent. His nose began twitching and sniffing back and forth.

“Gao!” He roared excitedly and began to run east.

Hiro seeing the bear beginning to disappear from his sight, ran after it. Dodging low hanging branches and weaving through the underbrush, Hiro kept his eyes trained on the small brown tuft of fur ahead of him. He kept it up for about a quarter of a mile until they arrived at a small hill. Kumabo had disappeared behind the rocky hill, causing Hiro to slow down and look for the cub.

“Kumabo? Where did you go?!” He called out.

“ROAARRRRR!!!!”

The familiar roar of a certain mother bear appeared from behind him.

Quickly turning around, Hiro came face to face with the mother bear he had encountered the day before, only this time in a much worse condition. The right side of the bear’s face was a long gash through it, with its right eye closed. The bear’s body was riddled with cuts and wounds, visible even through its thick coat of fur.

“*Gulp* I mean you no harm…” Hiro began, “I’m just here to bring back Kuma- your child…” Hiro unlaced the pile of fish and threw them down in front of the mother bear, as it slowly moved up on him.

Hiro’s knees were shaking, there were two types of rages. The hot-blooded and ferocious rage, and then there’s the cold and collected rage, this was the latter. The eyes of the mother bear looked calm and understanding, but hidden deep inside the exterior, Hiro knew there was bomb ticking, ready to explode at any moment.

The mother bear let out a growl as it approached the now frantic Hiro.

“Kumabo!!!” Hiro screamed softly, trying not to provoke the bear in front of him.

Once in front of him, the mother got up on its hind legs and peered down on him from above. The growl began to grow louder, its barely contained rage began to spill out.

“GrrrrrRRROARRRRRR!!!!”

“AHHHH!!!!”

The bear swung down its massive arms right where Hiro stood.

Seeing what the bear was going to do, Hiro frantically jumped to the side and ran. He ran as hard as he could to where he thought Kumabo went. Close behind him was the enraged mother.

“AHHHHH!!!!” He kept on screaming out as he dodged the swings from the mother bear and kept on running.

Blame it on his shitty luck or his clumsiness, because he somehow managed to trip on a root hidden within the grass. Falling over and turning, Hiro landed on his behind and began to crawl away only to face the wall of rock that was the hill.

The bear seeing its prey cornered slowly walked up to the man, while baring its fangs.

“Grrrrrr”

The bear approached Hiro’s face and began to terrorize him, growling and intimidating him. Finally opening its jaw to deliver a killing bite, the mother roared one last time.

“ROAAARRR!”

‘I’m dead!!!’ He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for his life to end… Only it didn’t.

“Gao~?”

A furry little head popped out from beside Hiro. Hidden neatly right next to Hiro was a small hole. When in danger, Kumabo was supposed to run into it and hide and wait until his mother came to pick it up. Doing just that, Kumabo ran to the small hole and hid inside it. Now that Kumabo heard his mother’s roar, Kumabo popped his head out to look.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of her cub, the mother bear stopped short of biting the defenseless man in front of her. Ignoring the man, she began to lick her cup as a sign of reuniting.

“Eh?” Noticing that he was still alive, Hiro opened his eyes to see a mother and cub reuniting.

Slowly, his fear began to dissipate and a warm smile spread across his face. Feeling no more animosity between the she-bear and him, Hiro carefully approached the mother.

Wary of the human, the mother back up with Kumabo and growled a warning.

“No…” Hiro held his hands up, showing he meant no harm. Though the mother still didn’t let him approach.

Kumabo, as if understanding Hiro meant no harm called out to its mother.

“Gao…”

The mother paused for a bit and as if relenting slowly laid down, letting Hiro approach. Though she had let him approach, she still kept her left eye trained on Hiro.

[Tenga I’ll need your help once more.]

After a short pause, [Fine.] Tenga still felt somewhat guilty for yesterday, so he decided to help out Hiro. Understanding what Hiro intended to do, Tenga began to concentrate.

Hiro placed his palm on the mother bear and calmly said, “Hèill.” He felt an unimaginable drain on his life energy as the spell began its job. Sowing flesh together, restoring bones and regenerating blood. Amazingly enough the mother bear’s right eye began to reform.

“Wow…” He let out a sound.

What Hiro didn’t know was that Tenga had also casted a regeneration spell. The spell was intended to regenerate the mother bear’s eye, which seemed to have been mauled and torn out.

Soon the mother bear looked as good as new. There were no wounds at all on her body, which left a bewildered stare on her face.

“Gao~!” Kumabo roared in delight and began licking his mother again.

As if understanding what Hiro had done, the mother bear began licking Hiro.

“Haha….” Hiro laughed a little, he still enjoyed the feeling of the rough tongue and cold wet nose. Though he laughed a little, Hiro felt drained. The size of the mother bear was larger than the cub, so it required more life energy to fully heal her.

The mother and cub continued to lick Hiro as he laid there worn out. After quite a bit of time passed, and Hiro managed to regain some energy he got up.

Kumabo noticing something was wrong also got up.

“Gao~…” He cried out.

Turning around with a complex expression on his face, “Sorry Kumabo, this is where we must part.”

As if trying to follow Hiro the cub began walking at his side once more. The mother, who Hiro had decided to call Kumama, stood up and followed.

“No…” Hiro pushed away Kumabo, back towards his Mama, “I have something I must do. I can’t stay with you.” Hiro held back some manly tears. It was also hard, he had genuinely enjoyed the time he had spent with the bear family. Unlike humans, the Kumama and Kumabo openly showed their feelings, not holding back anything.

“Gao~…” Kumabo seemed to cry. Running back to the disappearing figure of Hiro, Kumabo bit down on the edges of his pants leg to try to stop him.

“Hah~… Look…” Hiro bent down and petted the small cub, “I said that I have to go back. You can come visit me if you want at the falls.”

Kumabo seemed to understand what he was saying and let go. Smiling gently to himself, Hiro walked back to camp, while constantly being watched by the mother-cub pair.

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Life seemed perfect for Hiro. A bit of time had passed since he had reunited the mother and cub. After leaving the bears and returning back to camp, Hiro began his usual training, focusing on controlling his body under the weight of the gravity spell. He sometimes met the two Kuma’s from time to time, as they visited him to play. He had gotten close to the Kuma family over that period of time and seemed to have been accepted into the family.

There was only a few more days until the registration for the tournament. Hiro had begun to pack up his tools and things. He wanted to be back in Adetia a day early just in case. Since he seemed to attract trouble where ever he went.

Today was also another day that the Kuma family visited him. Appearing from the forest, Kumabo ran up to Hiro and tackled him down. Kumama only silently watched as her cub licked Hiro all over.

“Hahaha~” Hiro laughed as he tries to wrestle free from the energetic child.

Finally broken free, Hiro said, “Hey Kumabo, stop it! I have to go now!”

Although he tried to look angry, he couldn’t help but smile a bit at the prancing cub.

“Gao~?” Kumabo tilted his head.

Hiro returned back to packing his things while the inquisitive Kuma family watched. Noticing something wasn’t right, Kumabo pulled on Hiro’s sleeve.

“Gao~” Kumabo called, as if saying ‘What are you doing?’

“Haha…” Hiro laughed, he had gotten so close to the Kuma family, it seemed as if he understood what they were saying.

“Look Kumabo. I have to go back.” He pointed to his things and pointed to his bag.

“RaaaWW!” Kumabo roared, coming from a cub, it didn’t look threatening. Kumabo suddenly grabbed Hiro’s bag and ran off toward his mother, who was patiently observing them.

“Hey! Brat!” Hiro gave chase. Hiro chased the small cub as it ran around Kumama.

Finally after what seemed like ten minutes, Hiro finally caught the elusive cub.

“There!” He said as he got back his bag.

“Gao~…” Kumabo cried dejectedly.

“I’m sorry Kumabo, but I really have to go. I promise I’ll come visit you whenever I have time…” Although Hiro promised, he wasn’t sure when he’ll possibly have time, or if he could even fin Kumabo afterwards.

“Gao!” Kumabo seemed to say, ‘You better come and play once you have time!”

“Pftt! Hahaha, yea I will. If I can find you again that is.” He petted the bear cub’s head. Hiro began to remember the short time he had spent with the Kuma family. How he had found Kumabo and how he had nursed the cub back to health. Hiro reflected back to the playful character of Kumabo and all the small quirks Kumabo had.

Suddenly something strange happened. A strange word, not present in any letters Hiro had learned appeared. Although written in a different language, Hiro could read it.

“Ursadýr.” Hiro mumbled as he read it.

A sudden bright flash appeared, as the symbol on the back of Hiro’s palm shined.

‘What’s happening?!’ Hiro thought as he began to panic.

It was the same feeling as using a spell, except he didn’t breach the barrier holding back his life energy. He didn’t plan on using any magic, yet he felt his life energy draining as if he had used a spell.

[Calm down Hiro!] Tenga frantically yelled.

[What’s happening Tenga!]

[It must be the doing of your symbol.] Tenga quickly explained, [For now concentrate on the unknown spell. I’ll help you!]

Hiro began to focus. Not knowing what was happening and feeling his life energy quickly draining, Hiro was trying not to panic and lose control.

“Kuh!” Hiro bit his lips, he could feel his life quickly ending. As he got weaker, he felt the spell drawing more power from him. Just as he was about to lose consciousness and lose control of the spell, thus ending his life, the spell ended.

[Hah… Hah…] He could hear Tenga trying to say something through the heavy breathing.

[…Tenga?] He barely managed to say.

[… What was that?...] Hiro could feel that Tenga was weaker than before, the spell probably took quite a bit of energy, even from the great sage Tenga.

Throughout the whole ordeal, the surrounding area seemed frozen, as if time had stopped. In reality, the spell had only lasted a millisecond. Though it felt very long for the person casting it.

Looking at Kuma, who was the target of the spell, Hiro’s eyes widened. On the bear’s forehead, where Hiro had petted was the same silvery symbol that was on his right hand. It shone from under the bear’s fur.

“What? How?” Hiro asked incredulously.

“Gao~?” Kumabo seemed to be saying, ‘What?’

“It doesn’t look like you’re hurt…” Hiro concluded, relieved that no harm was done.

[Hiro, don’t call on me unless it’s an emergency. I must recuperate.] Tenga requested.

[Alright.]

Tenga had secretly transferred some life energy over to Hiro, to prevent Hiro from dying. In doing so, he had unknowingly and temporarily given a bit too much to Hiro. If he were to take it back, Hiro would definitely feel a drain similar to casting a spell, so he decided not to. Although he would have to once more enter deep meditation, Tenga hoped that the boost in energy would help Hiro while he’s gone.

Nothing seemed to have happened except for the strange symbol, Hiro disregarded the strange phenomenon. Soon he finished packing and waved goodbye to the Kuma family and walked towards the main road.

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Later that day

“Almost there.” Hiro said as he continued his trek through the woods. His goal was the main road, although it was his goal, he had taken his time and gone around to check and remove his traps. That’s why it had taken him a while, since he didn’t want another situation like with Kumabo from happening. Now that he was done, he had just reached the hunter’s clearing from a while back. It looked like someone had just recently used the clearing, judging from the pile of ashes and burnt firewood.

Hiro decided to have a small meal before continuing. If he kept up his current pace, he would reach Adetia by the end of the day, just when night is coming.

Soon Hiro had a fire going and had just added the chopped pieces of a wild chicken into the pot. When suddenly the brush north of the clearing began rustling. Alert, Hiro pulled the hunting bow from his back and nocked an arrow, prepared to fire if needed.

The rustling soon stopped and out popped a familiar looking figure. The exhausted brown eyes were looking in Hiro’s direction. Atop the figure’s head was a bed of roughed up hair. The body of the figure was clad in some strange blue and purple clothing. The figure looked tired and was dangerously swaying as if ready to fall over at any moment. A barely audible word escaped the figure as it collapsed into the clearing.

“… Help… Me…”

Though a bit different from how Hiro had last remember it, he knew straight away who it was.

“Lynn?!”