'The life of a Transmigrator is bound to be dangerous and mysterious. Now is the time for me to face the tribulations this life has prepared for me'.
Marcus steeled his heart. He knew he can't always hide in the shell of the castle and wait for others to help him. He also knew the threat by demons to this world is far larger than many other dangers this world has to offer. For a minute he reminded himself of all the protagonists who went through life-threatening situations in their life irrespective of their willingness.
'this is my turn to go through the same things you guys did, I will make you all proud!'.
Marcus took his first step with firm resolution. He is between a rock and hard place now. A super-strong bear behind him and a mysterious cave ahead of him. He didn't know what to expect from the cave. His rather imaginative mind created many scenarios within the short amount of time he took to cross the shallow stream. His hand gripped his magical dagger hard, it was his only means of self-defence for now. His heart was beating loudly.
Step by step he went into the smaller cave ahead. The air was stale and he felt l.ike this part of the cave was never touched before. tensing him a bit.
Every step felt like a mile. After a minute he felt like the path was getting narrow as he went ahead.
The path was now narrow enough just for a grown man, without light he wan left only with touch as his sense. Then something like a hazy light caught his eye he was not sure over what it was. But his instinct told him it was the other end of this slowly narrowing tunnel. The only hope he has to overreach the other end is if stops getting smaller with each passing minute. If this happens then even the smaller body of a child won't be leverage for him.
After a silent 5 minutes.
He had to bend on his knees and crawl to go further. But the haze got brighter and brighter as time passed.
The moment he reached the end of the tunnel. The bright haze turned into a well lit open space.
it was a crude looking space underground. Larger than a tennis court. And the top was the same as the rest of the cave covered by soil and rocks.
What he saw there made his legs shiver. There was a gigantic skeleton in the middle of this place filled with creepers and climbers grown around it.
In it was a fallen orb glowing yellow. There was nothing else in there. But that skeleton was quite imposing as if it still has a will of its own and is warning Marcus from reaching it.
He read in few books that powerful creatures leave something behind for their descendants even if they die. Something like an essence. Where the power and comprehension of the deceased being can be transferred to the recipient of the essence. But if a human were to ingest such essence there are bound to be consequences that result in their slow transformation of Wereform of the species the essence belongs to. The stronger the essence's owner is the more violent mutations.
Marcus now knew what the male bear was after. Something in the female's womb is not right but with this essence, there is a hope that would be solved. He gritted his teeth and moved forward towards the giant skeleton. It was as intact as a bone dinosaur in a museum. Except here it is postured as if it fell sideways and some strange plants grown within it probably using its flesh as a source of nutrients and the light from the essence orb as the source for photosynthesis. It was almost 20 feet if not taller if it stood and a couple of meters wide. The essence was right beside its carcass. He did not want to stay here for much longer. The longer he stayed the creepier he felt as if someone was looking at him. But he failed to notice anybody or anything.
He took few steps towards it and reached for the orb.
"WHO IS IT?" Then a thundering voice pervaded the underground space.
Marcus was shell shocked by that. "Umm Umm I am ...".
"A HUMAN CUB EH!!".
The voice said in a depreciating way.
"THE SPECIES I HATE THE MOST!".
"BUT YOU ARE THE FIRST THING I SAW SINCE I DIED THAT CAN SPEAK. SO I WILL GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO GO BACK IF YOU SATISFY ME".
At that moment all the stress that is brought upon him broke something in Marcus.
At a young biological age of 11 and mental age of 21. he wanted a break from this world every corner has danger and he was tired of being afraid. His thoughts went suicidal, for a second he forgot about the new family he got and the barony or the friends in his squad. He felt ashamed for always being afraid of the strong.
'what is this fear for? What is all the practice I did all these years for? '.
'survival instinct? Like hell, I will live another life being afraid of others and cower back and dance around their thumb!'. He did not want to be someone's plaything. Someone who can be pushed and pulled by mere fear.
He activated his Chaos rune. The Chaos energy coursed through his body like never before filling him with energy to the brim. His legs that were going weak gained strength. But, only God knows where that strength came from. Because Chaos energy indeed made him stronger but not invincible at least not in front of this dead spirit that hates humans.
He answered defiantly. "I came here for that orb on the ground and I will leave after I take it ".
he knew speaking to something at this level of existence is way worse than suicide for him. But, he did not want to show weakness in front of anyone in his second chance at life again even if it meant absolute death.
'I already died once, another time won't matter.
He maintained his poise and took a step ahead. As soon as his foot touched the ground. An enormous weight compressed his body. He was on verge of collapsing just like that. His helplessness his human weakness showed itself. But he urged the chaos energy to run amok in his body. He knew that he was going overboard. But if he was asked to choose between a rock and hard place he was going to choose the path that will push him ahead rather than the one that pulls him back. The pain was an old friend for him so despite the pain he felt he went on and took another step. It was a lot more difficult than the previous step. But, this gave him the confidence and satisfaction that he was able to do something despite the heavy odds. Just like that amidst the pressure, he reached the Orb near the carcass.
He bent down with a lot of care because he knew bending down in this kind of situation is rather dangerous he was afraid that he would never stand back up on his feet. But even with his body parts creaking like old rusted mechanical parts. He took the orb in his hand. All of a sudden all the pressure and weight on him ceased to exist. He immediately fell to the ground and panted like a dog. All of his body ached like never before this was the first time he felt the purest form of physical exhaustion and Marco's training was child's play in front of his current sorry state.
A corner of his mind reminded him of the system he recently acquired. He closed his eyes to look at it there was no change except for his physical state. It said 'on verge of Physical break down'
The voice spoke at last "ENOUGH! YOU SUICIDAL BRAT! I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO APPLAUD YOUR FOOLISHNESS OR PITY YOUR STUBBORNNESS OR SQUASH YOUR SORRY ASS RIGHT HERE".
A question arose in Marcus
"Who are you anyway?".
The voice's source showed itself. Ethereal energy rushed out from the orb and slowly turned into a giant bear. And stood in front of him. It was quite light it did not even have some density. And it glows pale.
"I AM THE OWNER OF THAT BODY",
"Then why are you here if you are already dead?".
The bear growled as if it felt uncomfortable with that question.
"I WAS A VERY POWERFUL EARTHSON BEAR AND I WAS ON THE VERGE OF ASCENDING TO THE LEVEL OF A GUARDIAN BEAST BUT I FAILED THE TRIBULATIONS AND DIED HERE. MY DEEP DESIRE TO ASCEND TURNED ME INTO A LINGERING SOUL. AND THAT TUNNEL IS THE LAST THING I CREATED TO LET MY KIN COME AND RETRIEVE MY LEGACY BUT THOSE INCOMPETENT FOOLS NEVER WERE ABLE TO DESTROY OR CONTROL THE ROCK OF THIS GOD FORSAKEN MOUNTAIN AND MADE ME AND MY INHERITANCE WAIT FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. WHO KNOWS IN FEW YEARS EVEN MY SOUL WOULD HAVE DISSIPATED". Despite its violent, loud and imposing voice the spirit of the bear was happy to be able to talk with someone other than the usual baby forest spirits of the outer forests that sometimes visit him. But, they were not the best companions as they are not capable of intelligent speech. They were only able to tell him what was going on outside with what little words they learn from their awakening and from humans that visit their domains.
Marcus listened to him while mulling over his overexerted body.
He thought of the current mission that the black bear forced him into.
And he explained it to the Bear soul.
The bear was disgusted at first when Marcus mentioned the Black flame bear.
'seems like there is a blood rivalry between the Black Flame Bears and Brown Rock Bears'.
But when he mentioned the Pregnant Bear and her circumstances. The Bear spirit's heart melted in an instant. And he even actually went outside in his spirit form to take a look at the bear couple.