The FOX AND BEAR

It all started when…

The Fox had no name because, like horses, foxes don’t use names. It was a scrappy thing, winding through rocks before patiently waiting on the side of the road for a human car to drive past. Scurrying across the pavement and into the neighborhood, The Fox followed the same path it had taken dozens of times before.

He knew his way around the storm drains and train tracks of the town, nimbly navigating the streets and corners and front lawns. The dogs that got a whiff of him went mad inside, barking so loud as to upset their owners whilst The Fox dashed across their backyards.

The Fox found the human girl on the purple swing-set. She was a pup of only 6 years, and not nearly as frightening to the scrawny canid as the other humans. He watched her from a dark corner behind the shed. It was dusk, and the air was alive with the smell of cooking meat and sweet rotting garbage. He could sense the humans in the house inside, could hear them loud with their machines and their voices.

He crept out from hiding slowly, his tail tense and ready to dash at the slightest threat. The human child continued to climb on her swing, ignorant to her visitor until The Fox let out a tiny yelp. The girl looked around startled before spotting her guest.

“Kitty!” she exclaimed and hopped off the swing set to run at her friend. The Fox bolted, disappearing behind the shed once more as the child charged over. The Girl stuck her face into the cobweb to see her friend, but she couldn’t spot him in the shadowy corner. She called out to her kitty, but when it wouldn’t come out she ran back to her house. The Fox stayed dug, listening as the atmosphere of the house changed, before the girl came running back out.

“Kelly! The table’s being set!” A mother called from within. The human girl knelt over The Fox’s hiding hole and offered up piping hot cut of roast chicken.

“Here kitty kitty kitty kitty…” she blew kisses at The Fox. The smell of the food was overpowering for the animal, who hadn’t eaten more than grass and beetles for over a week. The human girl had always been generous to The Fox, and he hesitantly crawled out from hiding.

The girl spoke hushed to The Fox as it sniffed her hand before snapping the food from her fingers. She was elated and watched The Fox eat while regaling it with what happened that day in class with friends. The Fox ate the chicken ravenously, but froze when the mother shouted once more;

“Kelly! Now!”

“Okay,” She whispered to The Fox, “I gotta eat dinner but wait here kitty, I’ll be back.”

She hurried back inside, telling her mother that the kitten had returned. The mother insisted she washed her hands and get to the table.

The Fox did not wait there. It finished the chicken as quickly as it could then snuck over to the family’s trashbin. It was not difficult to knock it over, The Fox had had a lot of practice. Inside there was a heap of garbage for The Fox to sift through. Bones, half eaten meals, plastics, rotten vegetables and fruits. The Fox ate to his fill before finding the true prize. A broken CD caught the light of a street lamp and glinted; a glare caught in The Fox’s eyes.  It flickered and magicked before him. He snatched the miraculous gift in his bite and ran off, vanishing from the neighborhood and over the train tracks back into the Great Woods.

The weather was changing, and it hurt when Bear walked. He could feel it in his left thigh, where the buck shot still rattled. Rows of scars climbed up its hind leg and though the pain waxed and waned, three years later Bear still lived and foraged on his own. Though his kind had dwindled in the Great Woods the last several generations, Bear remained.

He ate when he could, he killed when he could. He stayed away from the humans, and stayed only to himself. That’s why Bear still lived, and the others did not.

The summer had been kind to Bear so far, but now the scent of the air had shifted. His eyesight was keen but his nose keenest. His sense of smell could detect prey for miles (as well as danger), locate berries in the woods and sniff roots in the earth. The change in weather and pain in his thigh was a sense could only mean one thing.

He sat on his massive butt, chewing away at the sprig and considering his options. Finding the perfect spot for his den this coming winter would be the first step, and he had been making note of excellent spots to return to in the last few weeks. He wondered to himself which would be the best place to start, the withered tree or the stream. He fell asleep deciding, still sitting up.

Bear settled on the withered tree, deciding to keep the stream for fishing. The withered tree’s roots made for an excellent structure to dig around for his home. But most appreciated by Bear was that the withered tree was on top of a great hill that overlooked much of Bear’s foraging grounds in the great forest. More than a birds eye view of his territory, it also gave him a view of the human town. It’s noisy lights and structures flickering in his eyes at night.

He could smell only deer and rabbits in the area, and no trace of humans. For almost a day Bear dug beneath the roots of the massive tree. There were few rocks in his way and when finished the den had room for the bear to curl up in and stretch. His new home was suitable, commendable, he felt. Time to start eating all he can before winter hit. He wondered to himself whether he should start fishing  before they all move downstream or go after the berries before they all fall and get taken by the rodents. He fell asleep deciding.

Bear started with the berries. Alone, he would need to consume more than 20 pounds a day of berries and foliage and roots. The entire shrubbery field was his for the taking, with no competition besides the insects and the birds and they couldn’t consume fast enough to compare. But when he cleared the shrubbery field of it’s resources he noticed the scent of another, of a stranger. Something that smelled rotten and musky and small. Bear grunted out into the cleared out field, but there was no response beyond the birds, who kept to their gossip.

Unafraid, Bear wandered on, discovering an ocean of mast; acorns and cones. Crunching away to his heart’s content, he again noticed the scent, and was certain then that he was being followed. Seeking out the smell he heard the creature scurrying away. A scavenger, Bear realized, trailing him. He sniffed at the tiny bites left behind on the roots and berry bushes. The trail lead him not to his stalker, but to the stalker’s scat and markings left on a mossy pit.

Annoyed, Bear let out a series of barks of warning to the creature, wherever it may be.

One warm day, while making his rounds through the Woods, eating the last resources before the fall and winter came, Bear came upon a stroke of luck. The smell of prey, and the scent grew nearer as he explored.

What he found was a rabbit. A pink streak of paint was splattered across it’s head where a teenage human had shot it with a paintball gun. The rabbit’s skull was cracked and it had ran out here before succumbing to its brain injury. Bear sniffed at the paint and reeled from the toxicity. The rest of the rabbit would do but he avoided eating anywhere near the rabbit’s painted head.

Bear hadn’t eaten rabbit since he was a cub. When finished Bear rolled in the dirt at the warmth of fresh meat and food. He fell asleep enjoying the nostalgia.

When bear woke he wasn’t alone. It was that scavenger’s scent caught up to him, and he could hear it next to him. Rolling on the ground Bear saw The Fox.

The Fox was tearing at the rabbit’s head. The Fox was not at all put off by the paint and had already eaten one of the ears, bits of pink paint clinging to his whiskers. When the Bear roared and got up though The Fox sprinted, rabbit’s head safely in his jaw. The Fox darted through the under brush and behind rocks before zigging in the opposite direction and leaving Bear far behind.

The Fox’s gambit had worked. For almost a week it had been following Bear around, scavenging whatever Bear left behind or didn’t notice. The Fox was clever, and had quickly realized Bear’s uncanny ability for finding food. All The Fox had to do was keep a safe distance and Bear would always lead him to his next meal.

And so Bear was cursed. Wherever he went, The Fox followed. Should Bear get a whiff of his stalker he would howl and threaten but could do little and less to stop The Fox, always on his periphery, always too fast to catch. Should The Fox be so careless as to wander close enough to Bear, it was still too fast and could dart away before Bear could land a killing blow.

As time progressed The Fox grew more brave, challenging that respectful distance, at times walking directly behind Bear.

From so close, The Fox could see ticks clinging to Bear’s fur. Fat, delicious morsels crawling through Bear’s fur. Fox trailed behind Bear, snapping at the ticks and nipping at the massive beast’s heels.

Finally Bear had enough.

Leave me alone! Bear shouted at The Fox.

Why? I’m not bothering you! The Fox answered back.

You ARE bothering me.

But The Fox ignored Bear.

In the stream Bear went fishing. In the water below a large fish was suspended in the current. It’s vision was poor, and it could see Bear’s legs ahead but could not discern it. The way Bear’s fur swayed with the current was hypnotizing for the fish, wading closer to investigate. Only a little closer and Bear could snatch it from the water-

The Fox crashed into the stream, startling and disappearing the fish. He twisted and yelped and howled at the cold delicious water, and after soaking himself immediately began overturning stones looking for crayfish. Bear was livid and charged at The Fox.

You creature! Bear bellowed. On land The Fox was always more nimble than Bear, but in water he was slowed. He escaped just fast enough to catch a bear paw swipe at his behind, almost knocking his tail off.

The Fox cried out and disappeared into the woods, yelping all the way.

Bear was alone again. He stood there in the water, silence returning after the chaotic storm. The fish were all gone and he could feel that pain his thigh again.

He had eaten so much already but still was not full. When he finally entered hibernation he would be asleep without food for months. He would to need eat more and more each day to be ready.

No time to waste. He told himself, and marched on to the forbs.

But he had been beaten there. All the flowers were gone, eaten. Acres of fields that had been rich with wildflowers were now barren. His nose told him it had been the deer that cleared the area, the small rodents and birds had followed. From that point on it was like this. As fall waxed and waned and the woods prepared for winter, the resources grew fewer and fewer.

Bear wasn’t ready for winter. It had been two weeks since he had eaten his fill, and the fall rains were incessant. His nose and desperation lead him to the outskirts of the human town. Bear was on edge, and dangerous. His camouflage at night was broken only by the striped buckshot scars on his leg. He was overwhelmed with the smell of food but the human roads and fences and walls barred his entry. And despite all these years Bear was still scared of them.

Sniffing around the parking lot of a grocery store Bear caught that familiar scent. He followed it to a dumpster, one that reeked of delicious food. He could hear the creature, rattling around inside so he waited in the shadows for some time before letting out a low growl.

The rattling stopped, and then at last The Fox popped his head out of a hole atop the dumpster lid.

Oh its you. The Fox realized smugly. Bear was silent, refusing to make eye contact.

Are you hungry? The Fox taunted. There’s tons of goodies in here.

Bear sniffed the locks and stood up on his hind legs (he could feel the buck shot smart). I can’t get in there, Bear admitted.

Oh well that’s too bad, The Fox twisted, I’ll just continue to leave you alone like you asked! And disappeared into the dumpster and continued to eat.

Bear investigated the dumpster further, finding no way in. Defeated, he left. The pavement of the lot was hard on his paws and he felt uneasy in human territory. But as he left the lot he heard a crash and looked back. A trashcan had tipped over, its mouthwatering contents spilled out.

The Fox stood at the edge of the lot in silhouette, its eyes reflecting moonlight, before disappearing.

Bear grew to tolerate The Fox’s scent. The Fox would steal food from humans (and the occasional shiny object, which he couldn’t resist)). Bear rarely ventured on these trips, and often warned against it.

Human’s are danger. They are death. Bear explained.

Not all humans…. The Fox protested meekly, remembering that savory chicken he had enjoyed so long ago.

Bear continued to snap at The Fox as they foraged should he dare to come to close. But when the rains came, and Bear was huddled in his cramped den and shelter, he allowed room for the small shivering creature. Bear couldn’t stretch while The Fox was inside, but he said nothing and the two watched the rain fall over the busy human town below.

With the fall winding down, Bear was getting sleepier. He had a lot weight still to gain due to the food shortages, but his energy was dissipating. He was falling asleep munching on roots when a familiar scent startled him awake.

Creature? He called out for The Fox. The Great Woods were still. Silent.

Bear was alone.

The Fox did not hear his friend calling to him. He was deep into the woods, were the shadows grow thick. Ahead of The Fox was bait. Appetizing, enticing bait. A subtle shadow spilled over it, and the foliage was parted just perfectly to present it.

At Bear’s insistence the two had stayed away from the human town and it had been days since either of them had eaten properly. His appetite almost rivaled the Bear’s at this point. The Fox neared the bait, gently resting against steel blades.

A gift The Fox could not resist.

Bear burst forth, screaming at Fox. The roar shook the trees and The Fox vanished into the underbrush, terrified and confused.

Bear watched his tiny friend run while angrily sniffing at the air, then turned to the bait. His fear was confirmed. Blood, Iron, and Human; their killing traps. He marked the area, so as not to stumble upon it again and to warn others, then went to find his friend. The bear trap lay there in the grass, exposed and waiting.

Just before Bear’s hibernation was to begin, the duo happened upon an even greater danger.

They had been foraging that morning, and it was only midday but Bear realized all at once how tired he was. He decided he was full for the day and would return to foraging tomorrow, maybe.

Going to bed? Already? The Fox was confused.

Yes. Bear answered

Your loss! I’m going to try to get that bird’s nest again. But The Fox did not split up with Bear, and instead continued to follow Bear back to the den, talking all the way. Nothing at all would have happened if they had proceeded in this way, but something caught The Fox’s eye. Something he couldn’t ignore.

Something shiny.

Hey, look at that!  The Fox pointed out excitedly.

Be easy¸ warned Bear, it could be human. But The Fox was not easy, and following the flashing glint in the distance until he arrived at te artifact.

What the Fox saw before him he could not yet comprehend. It was a large, mechanical object of serpentine design. Half of it’s body was buried in the earth, the other half covered in roots and moss. It was dull colored but for a golden iridescent scarab like device attached to the thing. The scarab had Nomidian Inscriptions engraved into it’s metal.

Bear was nervous, and would not get near the thing.

This wasn’t here before. This is where the badgers hid. This wasn’t here before. Where are the badgers? Bear struggled to understand.

The Fox was cautious, but not deterred.

What could it be? The Fox asked

It doesn’t matter. The Bear answered. Let’s leave.

But The Fox was transfixed on that golden scarab

It remained embedded in the machine’s dull eye. While the rest of the artifact was colorless, the scarab stood out; a luminant and hypnotizing object. The Fox couldn’t help but to wrap his jaw around the golden thing and tug, pulling on the Nomidian bind that kept the machine suspended in time and place.

Bear shouted for The Fox to stop but his words went unheard. The Fox was fixated on the object and was determined to make it his own. He would have failed if not for his canine slipping into a button on the scarab, triggering it’s release.

In that moment the Scarab came alive, and it’s metallic legs which had been gripping the machine turned on the fox. It latched on to the mammal, digging it’s legs into his upper jaw and snout. The Fox yipped and screamed in a panic and pain as the parasitic Scarab embedded itself to The Fox.

You are Mine Now.

The voice drummed into The Fox’s panicked heart and mind. He was only a fox, an animal driven by nature and bound by limited intelligence. But the Scarab was more, a divine object, and as it began its process of control over The Fox the animal’s very nature began to change with it.

Creature! Called Bear, terrified and unsure what was happening to his friend. The Fox flailed and kicked in a vain attempt to pry the Scarab from his face. As the two panicked and struggled, a third party came awake. The Scarab’s previous host, that massive serpentine machine which it had been latched too had come alive.

The Machine rose, the earth shaking as it unearthed tons of soil and tore through roots. Soil and stone rained from it’s reptilian frame, it’s massive red eye scanning Bear who was frozen in fear. The Fox’s panic turned to a frozen terror as the furious monster towered over the both of them.

It had been out of commissioned for thousands of years, and now woke to find itself in a world it did not recognize and in a time it did not know. It’s infernal mechanisms whirred to life. It stretched itself awake, uncoiling a mess of tendrils. The thing scanned the woods for life, detecting hundreds of signatures. The largest of which was the bear before it.

Run. The scarab commanded, and The Fox was woken from his stupor.

Bear! The Fox shouted, spurring his friend to run. The Fox darted across The mechanical monster’s vision. Bear barreled away, following the quick and nimble fox. Behind them the Machine continued to wake up its processes.

But as it’s massive Eye came alive, a brilliant and terrible red, it gazed upon all of creation and felt only one thing inside. Fury.

The eye seemed to inhale, and then unleashed a devastating  exhale of hellfire that stretched for nearly a mile. The fiery red beam incinerated and scorched all that it touched, cutting the forest nearly in half with one blast.

The forest collapsed in flames around the two friends as they raced to safety. Behind them the Fury unleashed a hellish roar, the sound of metal tearing. The dry forest was quickly tinder and was soon aglow with flame and ash. The Fox sprinted forward, blinded by terror as the birds and deer and fowl scrambled for safety, the strange Scarab still latched to his face. Bear watched in horror as another hellfire blast incinerated the treetops and all that dwelt within. It was all Bear could do to keep up with his tiny friend as they escaped.

But the terrible thing gave chase. It existed only to eliminate life and that it did with gross efficiency. The Fury slithered through the woods, scorching the earth and killing any wayward stragglers with its bladed tendrils. It would have caught Bear as well if it hadn’t gotten distracted by an even bigger target. Coming into a clearing, this hellish machine caught sight of it’s true target.

The human town and the thousands that dwelt within it.

The Fox stopped running when he saw Fury’s trajectory change.

The people… The Fox realized with grim horror, before being barreled over by Bear.

Run! Bear hollered.

Wait! The Fox called out, Look!

Bear slowed and saw that The Fury was no longer giving chase. The terrifying golem was barreling towards the lights and sounds of the human territory.

It Exists to End Human Life. Rose the Scarab’s voice. It spoke through empathy,wWhat the Scarab knew, it’s host knew now as well. The Fox winced as it felt the Scarab’s grip tighten on it’s face.

The Fury was a weapon. Ancient Nomidian Architects had created it for their petty wars but found it too terrible a weapon to contain. With an inner rage programmed into it’s very core, it was designed with a hatred for life. A monster bred to kill the gods, a machine designed only to take life. A writhing mass of metal and neurons, with a singular hellish Red Eye at it’s center. It felt no hunger, no remorse, no exhaustion. Only a need to kill. Only hate towards all living things. Only Fury.

The Nomidians were unable to destroy it. But they created the Scarab to placate. A divine, parasitic being, the Scarab alone was the key to deactivating The Fury, to drain it of it’s energy and render the weapon inert.

Once activated, the Nomidians banished the sedated Fury and the Parasite to another realm, finding it’s way to the Great Woods on Earth.

We must return to the den, Bear explained and interrupted The Fox’s train of though, before it returns for us!

The Fox lacked the vocabulary to articulate what was happening to him. Thoughts meant for more advanced minds were flooding into his brain. The Fox understood, yet could not hope to explain it to Bear. He had not the words to say and Bear had not the understanding.

It’s heading for the humans now.  The Fox pointed out, That monster will kill them all.

The bear growled uninterested.

It’s awake only because of us, something strange was happening to The Fox, a rare moment of self reflection for the canine species, It’s awake because of me. The Fox felt the scarab’s grip tighten, and did his best to bear it.

Bear had not been gifted with the same epiphany, and neither understood nor wanted to.

The Fox protested but was met with a roar. Bear stood up and hollered, showing The Fox the scars where he had been shot, where the human’s metals still burned beneath his skin.

When Bear had been a cub his mother would bring fish to the den for he and his siblings. It was a meal they had come to count on but one morning mother did not return. The anxious and starving cubs went out looking for her, Bear included.

They found mother already dead, bleeding from the mouth and neck. She was just laying there, no fish, no life, no mother. There were sounds that startled Bear and he ran when his siblings didn’t. He watched two human hunters come out. Seeing the cubs left behind, the humans killed Bear’s siblings, then began posing with them before hauling mother away and leaving behind the dead cubs.

Bear had never needed anyone else since. He survived that winter as a cub alone, and when spring came he survived that too, and then the next year and the year after that. Bear ate when he could, and killed when he could. When the hunter shot at him, the buck shot searing into his left leg, Bear had not hesitated to break the humans neck with a single swipe of his paw.

Bear would not do a thing to help the humans.

Humans are death, everything they make is death. They bring it on themselves.

But The Fox could not be dissuaded. Something was tamping down his baser animal instincts, and allowing something greater, something from deep inside The Fox to take over.

The Fox knew he couldn’t do it alone. He wanted desperately to tell Bear how much he needed him, but he had not the words to say and Bear had not the understanding.

Bear turned his back on his friend, and disappeared into the woods.

Behind them an explosion tore through the town, followed immediately by sirens.

Go.

The Town was devastated. No one could have been prepared for the terror that came from the woods. The Fury was hate, and as soon as it entered the town limits there was death to be had. It killed indiscriminately, targeting any living breathing human as it had been designed to do. It worked with liquid efficiency, ambushing his unsuspecting and unprepared prey before unleashing a devastating hellfire beam that ripped across the municipality.

When The Fox returned to the towns edge with the Scarab in tow it was already far too late. A trail of death and destruction was left in The Fury’s wake. The old route through the town The Fox knew by heart had been twisted and torn down, replaced by rubble and fire and corpses and unrecognizable.

He was terrified of course. The Fox could only barely understand what was happening and understood even less what was happening to him. As he bound in out of alleys on the trail of The Fury, the veins in his gums were turning blue. His animal instincts were on auto pilot and he deftly and nimbly moved through the town unseen, but something greater and more self aware was taking control in his mind.

He arrived at the backyard with a purple swingset. The shed had been pulverized, and the little girl’s house was split in half by a hellfire blast and left to burn. The Fox saw no sign of the little human cub or her pack. The flames and screams of the town climbed into the sky, as sirens and gunfire rang out.

The Fury Does Not Stop. It was liquid, it adapted, it evolved. Leaving behind a trail of corpses and flame it approached a gas station, while police cars surrounded the block and a helicopter circled the monstrosity. A hellfire blast removed the helicopter from the equation, and when it barreled into the petrol statin The Fury was engulfed in the blast. The gasoline and flame seared and burned away at the horrible machine.

But it adapted. The Fury’s skin hardened, it’s texture changing. It adapted to become fire proof. The police bullets penetrated The Fury and it’s skin grew resilient. The more it was attacked, the stronger it would grow. It quickly did away with any organized opposition as the police and citizens of the town were thrown into horror and chaos. The Fury laid waste to all before it, scanning the area for any and all signs of life to extinguish.

It detected a large concentration of humans. Survivors had retreated to a shelter beneath the firehouse. Fire trucks had been used to barricade them firehouse itself. Nestled deep within were several hundred people, trying not to breathe as they crammed into the bunker and listened to the terror above them. Screams erupted when they heard The Fury begin to tear down barricades and cut through the walls of the firehouse.

KILL. The Fury’s mind was singular. DESTROY.

Inside the shelter the people cried in terror waiting for the Fury to reach them. A mother clutched her daughter close, promising her they’d be okay and reassuring the little girl that they were safe.

The wall of the fire department came crashing down and The Fury slithered inside. It could detect the humans in the bomb shelter below and unleashed a devastating hellfire blast at the shook the very ground. But the shelter was designed to withstand a nuclear blast, and while the building was engulfed in flames and the concrete disintegrated, the shelter was remained steady.

But The Fury fired again. And again. And like it’s skin, with each failure the hellfire grew hotter and stronger.

Enough! The Fox barked. The Fox’s eyes had turned blue, and the scarab’s prongs had clipped into his fur and skin above his mouth. Under the fur his skin was turning gold and beneath that a blue light pulsated over around the scarab’s grip.

The Fury turned around confused. It scanned this creature, unable to read or recognize it as the same fox from when it had first awoken. But it recognized the scarab, the damned chain that bound The Fury in eternal purgatory. With deep breath it exhaled a hellfire beam at The Fox, incinerating all that lay before it for a two mile stretch.

The Fox was nimble as ever, and had already disappeared under the rubble and wreckage of the fire department. It darted unseen beneath The Fury. He was hedging his bets with what he thought was an insect, the scarab. If he could get close enough to The Fury, The Fox reasoned, the Scarab would free him and the do away with the monster.

No. You Must Submit. The Scarab commanded. But The Fox’s mind resisted control, it’s animal instinct too rooted in his core. It darted fearfully around the The Fury, to scared to commit and hoping to defeat it with minimal risk to self. The Fury unleashed a precise hellfire beam that caught the small mammal’s fur on fire. A second scorching beam was a hit and incinerated off The Fox’s tail, leaving only a burnt and bloody stump. The Fox yelped in agony as it’s fur turned black and it ducked undernearth cover. But the cover was felled by a whip of The Fury’s tail. Above a portion of the burning roof collapsed and fell on top of The Fox. He was crushed and pinned and for all the wonder of the Scarab it had done nothing to even the battle. The Fox could not move though he struggled.

The Fury was to kill The Fox and destroy the Scarab when Bear burst through and bellowed

Leave my friend alone!

Bear charged and barrled into the Fury, nearly half it’s size but throwing all his momentum into the attack. The machine had not the time to react unable to scan and recognize it’s threat at first.

The Fox struggled to break free of the rubble. The scarab was trying to communicate but he wouldn’t listen, the poor thing was terrified. Breaking free at last he bolted, reverted once again to his base animal instinct.

Run. Get far. The Fox was gripped by fear. Get far NOW. RUN.

No.

The Fox came to a sudden frozen stop, his eyes illuminated. The Scarab spoke to him, through him.

Turn Back.

The Fox turned, his mind and will given over to the Scarab. His eyes were  radiant blue light.

I Am the End To The Fury’s beginning. A wealth of knowledge poured into The Fox from the Scarab.

You Are Not Merely A Beast

Not Anymore

We Are Now

More

Bear sunk his teeth into The Fury’s metal, which crumpled under the bear’s bite. It adapted, healing itself around Bear’s bite. But Bear was strong and relentless, and tore at the machine as fast it could repair itself. With each swing of his paws he sent The Fury into a spin before crashing down on top of it again. The ground beneath them, the shelter, was giving way. Another blast caught both Bear and the shelter, Bear was engulfed in flame as the shelter finally collapsed beneath them and they tumbled downward

Bear was rage and panic and pain, as half his body was burning. He tore into the terror machine as they both fell through the stormy collapse. The Fury stabbed at Bear again and again with his bladed tendrils before the entire structure collapsed upon them both within the bomb shelter.

The humans had escaped through the doom. As the building crumbled they made their way out the shelter’s tunnel two blocks away where a national guard escort was waiting. Above them the military was arriving, as well as expert consultation.

The Fire Department was smoldering rubble, and death. Nothing stirred except- a tendril. The Fury squirmed silently out from the collapsed ruin. It’s systems were already fully repaired, and it’s armor had evolved once again, stronger against all manner of melee and wild animal attacks. The Fury lived.

It scanned the rubble, what was left, for any sign of life.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Then something. A tiny blip of life. The Fury’s goal remained. KILL.

It was The Fox and the Scarab, now one, passing judgement on The Fury with illuminated blue eyes.

The Scarab had transformed The Fox, revealing it’s Nomidian form. Gone was the Fox’s dull and bloodied orange fur, replaced by a golden armor the same texture as the Scarab’s carapace. The Fury unleashed a hellfire blast on them but the flames dissipated to nothing before they reached the Fox. Even without his tail, The Fox was nimble. It ran up the slithering tail of The Fury, it’s bladed tendrils only bouncing off The Fox’s golden armor.

Fear not The Fury.

The Fox was simply too fast. The Fox sunk his golden teeth into The Fury’s tendril, being pulled upward and bringing the Scarab within range. Within clawing distance of The Fury’s horrible red eye, the Scarab released its hooks from The Fox and flew at the weapon’s weak point.

The Scarab stung deep and burrowed it’s claws into the nightmarish machine’s eye. The Fury could do nothing but squirm and tantrum and scream in protest; it’s fatal flaw by design. The Fox’s limp body tumbled away from the The Fury’s agony, the gold already melting off in sheets.

Like an insect shedding it’s skin, The Fury twisted, curled, cracked, and curled up deflated and inert. A lifeless grey took over machine’s skin, all but the glowing scarab affixed to it’s horrible, but dead, eye.

The Fox, freed of the Scarab’s control limped away from them both. It was injured, and burnt. The Fox’s body, which had been transformed by the Scarab had returned to it’s natural state, revealing devastating injuries. Worse yet it was confused, released from the strange mental influence of the Nomidian artifact. As The Fox’s primal instincts returned and the Nomidian influence waned, it grew more and more desperate and scared.

And there was Bear, splayed out in the rubble.

Bear?

His fur was scorched, his body twisted and bloody.

The Fox nestled up against Bear’s massive body.

Bear?

It was a month later and winter never came. It stayed decently cold but the snow never arrived, only rain. The Fox watched the rain and the town beyond it from within the Den. Military helicopters and relief efforts were still coming in and out, and it made for noisy woods, even in this weather. His ears remained perked up, as he watched the humans below ever vigilant.

Behind him Bear shifted, feverish and deep into his hibernation, his body still battling the wounds all this time later.

When spring returns again, Bear does as well.

Leave me alone. Bear begged. The black bear had lost much of his fur, and his skin was scarred from the fire. A patchwork of fur and scars, the Bear’s nose worked just fine. And after the hellish hibernation he had awoken with an insatiable hunger.

What? Why?! I’m not doing anything! The Fox snapped back. Leaping from bush to bush before falling for a roll in the grass and snapping at Bear.

You’re annoying me.

But The Fox didn’t know what that meant. The Fury had crippled Bear in their battle, and alone Bear would never survive.

But Bear wasn’t alone. Even in those few precious moments where he was able to evade or duck The Fox, his alone time never lasted. The big ursine would let out a satisfied sigh as it fell on its fat butt and consumed berries from the thorn bush.

 The Fox’s scent wasn’t nearby at the moment and he enjoyed his respite and his food. Quiet time. He fell asleep sitting up right there.

The Fox sprung out from the brush then, with a fish in his mouth

Bear! Look what I caught for us! He dropped the prize on the ground and found Bear asleep.

Not a worry. The fish would be there when he woke up. And The Fox would keep an eye on his friend, with luminant glowing blue eyes.

For more stories from the Nomidian universe, check out Oni Second Edition