Chapter 13: The Bear’s challenge

Chapter 13: The Bear’s challenge Gebreth strode into the training room, his eyes narrowing when he saw Aramith standing in the dress again. A flicker of disappointment passed over his face, but he quickly masked it. "Ready yourselves, " he said. " The task is simple: touch me, and you win. (Sus) The only rule is no powers are to be used," Gebreth declared. As soon as he spoke, the room began to shift. The ceiling vanished, and a bright sun materialized in the sky. The ground trembled, walls folded away, and in a matter of seconds, the entire space had transformed into a sprawling terrain. On one end of the field stood Gebreth, watching them intently. "I’m still waiting!" he called out, his voice laced with impatience. Lia, without hesitation, dashed forward. "Wait, it might be a—" Aramith began, but Lia had already vanished after stepping a few steps. "Idiot," He slapped his forehead. Aramith’s eyes scanned the terrain, his mind racing to anticipate Gebreth’s next move. He spotted the patch of ground Lia had stepped on before disappearing and made a mental note of it, carefully avoiding that spot. ROARRRR! Mozrael’s quick thinking and sharp focus guided her and she leaped aside to dodge a bear closing in behind her. Another one emerged from the ground, and she kicked it away, pushing herself further into the air, evading its snapping jaws. As she landed, she couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of Aramith in that dress, the serious look on his face giving him an odd, almost comical appearance. The first bear quickly went in for the attack. Seeing this, Aramith shouted at it to get its attention, giving Mozrael a chance to avoid harm. He pushed against the bear after landing to put some distance between himself and the bear. A piercing sound shot into their ears and the air started to feel thick as everything distorted The ground shimmered under their feet and once again they were at the starting point. "Something’s not right," Aramith said, noticing the bears had also disappeared. "Did you notice where you last stepped?" He asked Mozrael. She studied the ground for a bit then pointed. "There, on the grass." "Hmmm," First Lia, then this. He wasn’t moving the moment they were teleported, so It must have been where Mozrael stepped. "Let’s go," They both nodded in agreement and quickly set off again, determined to figure out the puzzle. As they advanced, more bears appeared, charging at them relentlessly. Each time they were forced to restart, the tension between them grew. The unpredictability of the bears made it nearly impossible to plan their next move. They couldn’t predict when another bear would appear or where it would strike. The piercing sound rang again and once again, they were teleported and had to start all over. Aramith took a mental picture of the places they were standing once again and they proceeded. It didn’t take them long before they returned and had to start once again. They had been training for very long and had superior agility, making them able to dodge the bears but still, there were many close calls. Aramith wondered if they would receive real injuries If they were hit but he wasn’t ready to test that out. After having to return to the starting point a couple more times a path was starting to form in Aramith’s head. Mozrael just followed his directions quietly, moving where he asked her to. The most frustrating part about the situation was the unpredictability of the bears. They didn’t have a specific pattern they could study after having to repeat the same thing so many times which proved a major headache for Aramith. With time, they had only been able to cover two-thirds of the area but it was getting more and more challenging for them to advance as the bears were coming in relentlessly. One thing he noticed though was that the maximum number of bears was always 8. If another came when there were eight, one would disappear, balancing the number. A path was starting to form, but the narrowness of the path made it very challenging to move without getting hit by the bears. "Let’s go," He said once again and started to advance with Mozrael behind him. The first bear appeared before them, swiping its paws and growling at them. They both dodged it, narrowly avoiding the other bear that came right after. With only a few seconds to spare, he jumped over the next bear, running ahead of the four that now chased them. Halfway across the field, the choices they had seen so far were two so they split up. He glanced once to see Mozrael dodging a bear with poise and grace as if she were dancing. Focusing on the path ahead, he ignored the bears chasing him. His only problem now was where the remaining two bears would come from. Whether they would go for mozrael or attack him, he couldn’t tell. They were almost there, but the fear of being hit by a bear, or worse, touching one, weighed heavily on them. A loud boom erupted to Aramith’s right. He felt the searing heat of a bear’s presence before he even saw it, landing right in front of Mozrael. She yelped as dust obscured her vision. Without thinking, Aramith changed direction and leaped into the air to help her. But as he did, he realized his mistake. He was about to land on one of the unsafe zones. Panic shot through him, but then an idea struck. He would step on the unsafe zones, forcing a restart. He landed, but instead of being teleported, he realized something was wrong. He was still there, and the bear raised its paw to strike Mozrael, who was frozen in fear. "Damn it!" Aramith swore, diving forward to grab her. He was fast, but not fast enough. The bear struck him in the back, a low groan escaping him as he and Mozrael were sent tumbling. Before he could react, another bear slammed into them. The world around them shifted as they found themselves back at the starting point. "What just happened?" Aramith exclaimed, his confusion growing. He rubbed his back where the bear had struck, the pain already fading. But his mind was consumed with thoughts of the puzzle. He looked at the vast expanse before them. "I stepped on the same spot we’ve marked as unsafe before... why didn’t it teleport us?" "But we restarted the first time we stepped there," Mozrael affirmed, confirming his suspicion. "But then... Oh," He dodged the first bear once again. Without paying attention, he realized he had once again stepped on one of the spots he stepped on and restarted earlier. "This isn’t right," He said. "Maybe we misunderstood how the test works," Mozrael chipped in. "I can see that, but I can’t figure it out." he kept an unreadable expression as he studied his surroundings. He dodged another bear quickly. "This may sound weird, but I need us to step on every spot on the field just to be sure there aren’t any traps. Ready?" He asked Mozrael. She didn’t fully understand what he was thinking, but "Okay." They run in opposite directions- Aramith to the right, Mozrael to the left, stepping on every piece of land they found. Having no movement restrictions made it easier for them to dodge the bears and within a few minutes, they had both reached their earlier checkpoint, uncertainty on their faces. They had put distance between the bears but who could know when one would disappear and reappear right before them. The remaining one-third of the land was the only part they hadn’t stepped on and that made them think carefully. The bears were fast approaching and they had to make a choice. Aramith took note of the area and made a mental note of the spot he was about to step in, thinking he might just have to restart the test if he was wrong. Nothing happened. He took another step. Nothing happened once again. "Let’s continue. The ground is safe." The moment they both moved, a bear exploded from the ground, hitting them at once. They were back to the starting point. "Gah!’ He was frustrated. "We were almost there" Boom! Boom! Crash! Without giving them the usual time before starting, two bears came from the ground and another landed before them. With only their agility and instincts, they dodged the beasts but ran into three which struck them, making them restart. The moment they reappeared, Aramith quickly grabbed Mozraels arm and ran very fast, dragging her away from the bears. He noticed the bears became more aggressive when they were too close to Gebreth but what bothered him was what made them restart. He still couldn’t figure it out. "I don’t think it’s about where we step." Mozrael said to Aramith. "I’m thinking but it doesn’t seem to make sense."He said, visibly frustrated. "Did you notice what happened before we got teleported again?" "Maybe...tell me what you noticed," He said, hoping inwardly that Mozrael had figured it all out. A bear charged at them, but they dodged it, continuing with their chat.- Huh? "The time you jumped in to help me, we only restarted when I was hit and after that, we have restarted anytime I got hit," she explained. Aramith furrowed his brows. "But that doesn’t make sense. How about the times we restarted before that?" He frowned again in serious thought. "What if Gebreth is constantly changing the rules of the test?" The bear came at them again but they easily ignored it, frustrating it more. ROAR!! It angrily slashed at them but they just ran away and put some distance between them. "That’s unlikely," Mozrael shook her head. "I think even touches make us restart." "Oh I get it now," Aramith’s face brighter as he looked at the bear they had been ignoring completely. It growled, Aramith chuckled then started running towards it. The bear was confused. Has this human lost his mind? The bear hesitated but roared at him once again and charged at him. "Aramith No!" He quickly dodged it and kicked it on its side. "See? We didn’t restart." The kick did nothing but anger the bear even more. It turned to the boy but he was nowhere to be found. He quickly runsback to Mozrael. "Nothing happens when I touch it. I think you may be right, but what about killing them?" He didn’t wait for Mozrael’s response and shot at the bear he had just escaped from. "What?" Huh? The word was written all over the bear’s face The moment he neared it, it lunged at him with open jaws, ready to maul him. He jumped into the air this time, spinning as he descended with a fist, crushing the skull of the bear. Instantly, they were sent back to the starting point. Smack! "Ah!" Something bruised Aramith’ s forehead, falling to the ground. It was a pebble. "I said no powers!" Gebreth exclaimed from afar. Mozrael found the scene funny but remained focused. This time the bears didn’t hesitate to attack. Mozrael was hit by the closest bear which made Aramith panic. They both dodged and put some distance between them and the bears. Upon reaching a safe distance, they shared confused looks at each other. "I thought we would have to restart if you were hit," Aramith said, utterly confused. "me too," Mozrael responded. "I think I finally get it," Aramith said and ran towards the bears they had just escaped from. It’s the crazy human again- The bear he’d tormented earlier turned and ran away, whimpering. " Get ready to run again!" He shouted to Mozrael as he approached the bears. When he got close enough, he lightly touched one bear and instantly, he was standing next to Mozrael at the starting point. "Let’s go to Gebreth," He grinned. "I understand the whole thing now," He laughed as they both ran to Gebreth like their life depended on it. Aramith gave Mozrael a confident smile. "The trick is, we can touch the bears. We can’t kill them, but we can use them to our advantage. If one of us touches them, we don’t restart. But if both of us do, we’ll have to start over. We need to outsmart them." Mozrael smiled at his intelligence in deciphering the puzzle. She wouldn’t have been able to do that alone. "But they get more aggressive the closer we get," Mozrael chipped in. "Exactly. We just have to confuse the bears." With unspoken intentions, she quickly understood what he meant and what she was supposed to do. "I’ll do it." She spoke with resolution