Marcus was feeling kind of foolish now looking at how he acted recklessly and brought upon this on himself. It would have been better if he had just given up. But another part of him told him that the bear would have been true to its words squash him like a bug before even he had a chance to explain if he did not do the way he did the deed.
After a couple of minutes, the bear spirit returned to the cave while Marcus was still resting.
"I HAVE TAKEN A LOOK AT HER".
Marcus as if he was talking to an old friend asked "how is she? what is her condition?".
"THERE IS SOME PROBLEM WITH THAT BLACK BASTARD. WHATEVER HE IS HE IS TOO YOUNG TO BE A STAGE 6 CREATURE".
Marcus was taken aback. "I thought he was stage 4 at best no wonder all the animals in the surroundings started fleeing as soon as he came to this place".
"THERE ARE TWINS IN THE WOMB OF HERS AND I HAVE SEEN THE BIRTHS OF FEW AMALGAMATES IN MY LIFETIME BUT NEVER THIS SERIOUS THIS IS STILL A START OF THIS CONTINUES THEN SHE WOULD JUST DIE LIKE THAT IN FEW WEEKS ALONG WITH THE CHILDREN WITHIN HER WOMB".
Marcus listened carefully.
" HIS BODY IS NORMAL BUT THE REST OF IT IS NOT. ALL OF HIS BODY IS GIVING OUT A WEIRD AURA. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD IF I WAS STILL ABLE TO SMELL I WOULD HAVE SNIFFED HIS PROBLEM OUT FROM MILES AWAY. HIS FIRE ELEMENTAL AFFINITY IS TOO HIGH. ABNORMAL FOR A BLACK FLAME BEAR BUT AT THE SAME TIME HE HAS MANY SCARS UNDERNEATH HIS FUR. SOME LOOKED LIKE RECENT BATTLE SCARS BUT OTHERS WERE MORE LIKE SCARS FROM TORTURE HUMANS USUALLY USE. MANY OF HIS WOUNDS ARE QUITE OLD PROBABLY FROM WHEN HE WAS YOUNG".
After listening to his description a thought occurred to Marcus. "is it possible that he was caged by humans?".
Marcus's hunch was not far off.
"I FEEL LIKE HIS INTENSE FIRE AND HIS ABNORMAL GROWTH IS DUE TO HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION. BECAUSE ANY FORTUITOUS ENCOUNTER IN THIS FOREST HAS A TRACE OF NATURE'S ENERGY IN IT. BUT, INSTEAD OF THAT, THERE ARE MANY RESIDUAL ENERGIES IN HIM ALTHOUGH AS FAINT AND HARMLESS AS THEY ARE THEY CAN NOT ESCAPE MY VISION".
Marcus was quite surprised to know that. Because if a higher level beast knows that humans have blatantly experimented on a beast from the forest. A war with that organisation if not venting their stress on the Corinth barony would occur.
Suddenly he remembered the day when his father mentioned unusual occurrences in the forest.
"my father said that there is a possibility that a beast is slowly expanding its territory in the forest. is it possible that this is the beast that is wreaking havoc in the forest?".
The giant ethereal bear gave a sound of realisation "AH! EVEN THE FOREST SPIRITS MENTIONED SOMETHING SIMILAR. WAIT HERE I WILL GO OUT AND INTERROGATE HIM ".
the bear spirit once again turned into a small orb of yellow light and ventured out of the cave.
It's not like Marcus was in a state to move around and see what was happening.
He slowly sunk into slumber. After what appeared to be a lot of time he woke up with a jolt remembering that he was still in the cave and his comrades are still searching for him.
The bear came out from the orb as soon as it noticed him waking up.
"OHH HUMAN CUB! I FORGOT TO MENTION BEFORE YOU DO HAVE SOMETHING IN YOU YOUR SPUNK IS QUITE ADMIRABLE, TOO BAD YOU ARE NOT A BEAR. IF YOU WERE ONE I WOULD HAVE ASKED MY DAUGHTER TO BECOME YOUR MATE".
Marcus felt relieved that he was not transmigrated as a bear and stuck up being a Magical Beast's protege and mate with his daughter for better offsprings.
The bear spirit explained to him what the situation was. It told him the contents of its so-called conversation with the Bear outside.
In a nutshell, the Black Flame Bear was an experimental subject when he was young. And due to the researchers believing that the natural energy of the desolate forests helps Magical Beasts in their growth better than Labs and cages or any other forest in the whole Greivaris. They tricked the bear into forming a Soul Contract with them with unfair terms.
After they left the bear in the forest without being discovered by the Guardian Beasts Using a Special Artifact, every year they return to the forest and inject something into the bear which helps him to Advance more efficiently. But the only requirement is for it to go through continuous life-threatening situations to trigger that reagent in its body to induce a mutation in it and make it breakthrough much earlier than a normal bear. And the bear has described the process of the breakthrough to be quite painful, unlike the true breakthrough which feels quite refreshing and enriching. And he was quite helpless in front of those humans due to the contract he signed.
The bear spirit told gravely "SEEMS LIKE THE STAGE 4 SOW IS UNABLE TO CONTAIN THE MUTATED CUBS SHE IS CURRENTLY BEARING AND THE FIRE IS DOMINATING HER TOO MUCH AND LEADING HER TOWARDS HER DEMISE. IT IS DANGEROUS TO THE CUBS IN HER IF THIS GOES ON LIKE THIS AND IMBALANCE IN THE ELEMENTS MAY CAUSE THEIR DEATH AND THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS IS TO ENRICH HER AND THE CUB'S EARTH AFFINITY. AMD SEEMS LIKE MY DESCENDENT HAS TOLD HIM ABOUT HER ANCESTOR COMING TO THIS GODFORSAKEN VALLEY FOR FACING TRIBULATIONS AND MET HIS DEMISE AND THE ESSENCE IS STUCK HERE FROM MANY CENTURIES AND DUE TO BAD LUCK OF MY KIN NO ONE EVER TRULY REACHED MY HEIGHTS AS I HOPED AND FAILED TO RETRIEVE THE INHERITANCE AND THOSE FOOLS WERE AFRAID OF DISCLOSING THIS TO ANY OTHERS TO ASK FOR HELP AS THERE WAS A RISK OF BEING BETRAYED AND THEY JUST WAITED LIKE ROCKS".
Marcus understood the cause of the anomaly in the pregnant bear perfectly now and why the Black flame came to him for help but one thing he did not understand was how the bear was able to communicate with each other and he immediately shot his doubt"How did you even talk with each other. from what I know the beasts can't talk until they reach higher levels? ".
"WELL, IT IS NOTHING MUCH HIGHER LEVEL BEASTS LIKE ME HAVE THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH LOWER LEVEL BEASTS".
"ohh that is interesting is there anything I can do to be able to speak with beasts?".
"OHH THAT IS AN OPEN SECRET, YOU JUST HAVE TO BREAK THROUGH YOUR FIRST TIME IN A FOREST. THAT WAY THE FOREST SPIRITS WILL BLESS THEM AND THAT INCLUDES THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE CREATURES OF THE FOREST AND FEW OTHER PERKS".
Just like that, the Bear spirit hounded Marcus with various questions about the outside world. Marcus with his limited knowledge of a library answered the best he could. The bear came here and enclosed himself deep in the caves and completely isolated himself from the ground above. And how his ascension was disturbed by something mysterious in this valley and finally died after his core broke. And he also said that he created this tunnel into the cave as a last-ditch effort to leave contact outside for his kin to find his inheritance and help them. All this while Marcus did not see a giant and grave Bear spirit in front of him. It was a person who has starved for a good old conversation.
When Thomas regained his ability to move around. He asked the bear spirit if he could leave.
The bear spirit went silent for a couple of seconds "ACTUALLY CUBBIE I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY I NEVER DISSOLVED INTO THIS FOREST INSTEAD LIVED LIKE A SPIRIT. I NOW REALIZE THAT I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GREEDY AND NEVER SHARED MY INHERITANCE WITH THE FOREST".
He gave a small laugh. "I ONCE MET A GUARDIAN BEAST SHE WAS A PHOENIX. SHE SAID TO ME 'IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR TERRITORY IT IS ABOUT THE FOREST.' I NEVER REALLY TOOK HER WORDS SERIOUSLY. BUT, NOW I REALIZE ONE OF THE REASONS I FAILED MY TRIBULATIONS IS BECAUSE I NEVER TRULY CARED ABOUT THE FOREST BUT ONLY MY KIN AND TERRITORY BUT DUE TO MY MISTAKE, MY KIN FELT THE CONSEQUENCES. THE ENEMIES I MADE HOUNDED THEM AFTER MY DEATH. BACK THEN WE LIVED IN THE INNERMOST PART OF THE FOREST BUT NOW THEY ARE PUSHED TO THE OUTSKIRTS. I BLAMED THEM FOR BEING WEAK BUT I ALSO HAVE A PART IN IT."
The bear spirit took a moment to deeply look into the eyes of Marcus. He told, "WILL YOU HELP ME WITH SOMETHING?".