Merek's Ascendance Read Online Free PDF Page A

he looked up to see a bear child licking him. The other bear was there as well, licking his obviously wounded arm. He didn’t know if that would help him at all, but it actually made the lingering pain a little better.
    “Well, hello again. It seems you do remember me.”
    Their mother was next, and Merek couldn’t help but be a bit on guard. Perhaps she wouldn’t be as welcoming as her children were.
    Merek’s jaw dropped when she stood up on her hind legs and bellowed. He stood there, frozen in fear, as the bear’s arms lunged down.
    Into what Merek was almost sure was a hug.
    He had no experience with such things, but he had seen those in town from the few shop owners who had children. While it was definitely strange, it was also comforting to receive this… bear-hug.
    He awkwardly hugged her back until she went back on all fours and resumed hunting for fish.
    “Today is… weird. Very weird.”
    The bear babies followed their mother, though they were much more interested in playing in the water than actually trying to catch fish.
    “Y’know, Father always said bears would eat me without a second thought. Surprise, surprise, Father is wrong again.”
    Merek washed his hands in the stream. It took him almost two minutes to realize he couldn’t stop smiling.
    “Is that what it feels like?” he called to the bears, “to be free? To do… what you want? I could get used to it. Maybe.”
    His gaze turned to the distance, to the only home he had ever known. Was his mother alright? Did she make it? If she had, they’d probably be glad to never see Merek return. But if she hadn’t…
    If she hadn’t, how was Merek going to live with himself?
    One of the bears sauntered over to him and flopped lazily at his feet.
    “What am I doing out here? I don’t belong here. I’m not like you.” Merek reached down and scratched behind the bear’s ears. It stuck its tongue out. “I’m not free to do as I choose.”
    The mother bear growled loud enough to get their attention. The bear child immediately jumped to its feet and ran towards its mother, and the three of them ran off into the distance.
    Merek looked towards the sky, shifting uncomfortably. He looked back at the running bears, his face screwed up with worry. Anything that scared the bears was more than enough to give him pause.
    “Okay, Merek, I think it’s time we ran away.”
    He got to his feet and looked around, wondering where he should go. The sky looked completely normal, the ground wasn’t shaking with occasional tremors… everything seemed fine.
    So why didn’t that help his sense of foreboding?
    He followed after the bears, though their pace far surpassed his own. He raced down the stream, moving as quickly as he was able until a new noise made him pause. It sounded like a torrent of water, not unlike the wall of water from the night before. But there was nothing around him, no clouds or rain. He started to take a few steps back, his unease starting to shout in his ear.
    “Something is…”
    Before he could finish the thought, his foot landed on nothing and he was thrown to the ground. His back smashed into a pile of rocks and before he could control his momentum, he fell over the side of a cliff.
    Only a desperate grab for the edge saved Merek from falling what looked like hundreds of feet to a pool of water far below. But he had no leverage, nothing for his feet to grasp in order to help him get back up. His fingers started to slip; he couldn’t hold on to the rocks much longer. He was determined not to scream, despite the paralyzing fear that gripped him.      
    Even his resolve couldn’t keep the gasp of denial from escaping his lips as Merek’s grip failed and gravity pulled him away.
    Roughly three feet.
    His feet his something solid and mostly stable. It took him a few moments to realize that he was, in fact, not falling to his death, but when he did he let out a long sigh.
    “What am I doing out here?” he asked the rocks that