Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Bear Witness

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Barbearian:

Size: 4.5 feet tall, 8 feet long

Alignment: mind

Rank: E

Description:

The crudely named Barbearian appears to be a metamorphosed black bear. The spike-like vents along its back emit a mana-charged gray mist that cause temporary mind-consuming rage in those that inhale it.

The Barbearian is slightly larger than a grizzly bear, and can run at speeds exceeding 80 mph. Its bite is no stronger than a bear of its size should be, but its legs and claws have significantly more power.

Personality:

The barbearian may use its intimidating form to scare off competing scavengers, but actually has a cowardly nature, and will not fight back if it thinks it can escape. It prefers to scavenge and rely upon its rage-inducing mist to procure food, rather than hunt for itself.

Diet:

Although the Barbearian appears to be a metamorphosed black bear, it appears to only be carnivorous. Whether that is a simple preference, a lack of observation, or a change caused by its metamorphosis is yet to be determined.

Combat:

Its rank appears to only be E, based on its relatively low combat power. However, as is usual with mind-aligned, it is unwise to fight it unprepared. It is dangerous to groups in particular, as its rage-inducing mist can cause infighting.

Origin:

Unknown

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I had memorized the barbearian's scent during my last encounter with it, so finding it again was a simple task. I tailed it for a few minutes, staying a short distance from it. It would be smarter to just scare it off, but I have my heart set on its form. Besides that, I can smell that the MacQuoids are still a ways behind me. If they get close before I find an opportunity, I’ll switch tactics.

A few more minutes passed, and the barbearian eventually scared off a smaller black bear from its kill of a giant constrictor snake. In hindsight, I should find a venomous snake for deadlier and easier sneak attacks, but I don’t think I have the time right now.

I considered going for a killing blow with the first strike, but decided against it. I doubt I can kill it quickly enough where it can’t retaliate. Instead, I’ll try to prevent it from running. I circled around towards its backside, waited for the moment it dug its face into the snake, then pounced at one of its hind legs. My teeth bit deep, and punctured into the bone. I dug into the ground, and let its own forward leap provide the force to tear the bone.

The barbearian yelped and stumbled as it landed. I ran in for another strike, but it turned quickly and swiped at me. I dodged beneath it towards its injured side, but wasn’t able to completely avoid the hit. It surprised me with its recovery and turning speed and grazed me, leaving a thin gash in my side. I raked its stomach as I passed under it and kept running until I was out of its strike range. We were both bleeding profusely, though not nearly enough for either wound to be fatal.

The barbearian's cowardly nature took hold once more, and it bolted away. I gave chase. I was hoping it wouldn’t try to run with an injured leg, but had no such luck. Aiming for its hind leg was the right choice, as with its injury I am now roughly matching its speed. Had it not been injured, It would have easily escaped.

We passed several groups of wild animals as it tried to escape. It spread its mist, trying to get me caught up in various battles. The mist was visible, though, so I had no trouble staying out of it.

My luck turned sour, and the barbearian pivoted towards the MacQuoids. We were far too close to them for comfort before the chase, but it became clear an encounter was unavoidable when we entered the smoke cloud from the fire Aiden started.

This is bad. My sense of smell and sight are limited, the air thick and black. It's hard to avoid the mist when it blends in with the smoke. And it would only get worse from here.

The bear slowed down and faced me. It seems this was where it planned on making its final stand. Right next to the people I was trying to keep safe from it. Just my luck.

With a mighty roar, the bear exploded outwards with every ounce of mist it was capable of producing. It matched and exceeded the smoke in sheer volume.

I heard screams nearby, and the heat around us intensified as flames began to manifest. The MacQuoids were already affected.

Damn it. This is exactly what I tried to avoid.

I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. Either I kill this thing now and end its rage effects, or I’ll lose myself, and me and the MacQuoids die. The MacQuoids... Don't deserve to die today.

I lunged at the barbearian, directly biting at its throat. It clawed at my abdomen, and I didn’t bother dodging. If I didn’t lock my jaws on it now, that would be the end. It slashed at me again and again, ripping off limbs, and spilling my guts from slashing at my stomach. Still, I held. A fireball came from the distance, and engulfed us both in flames. My fur singed, and my eyes welded shut. Still, I held.

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Eventually, my jaws loosened, and its swipes came to a halt. The beast was dead, and I would follow it soon after.

Before its effect on my mind completely faded, my rage-addled mind produced one last thought. The village would need the barbearian’s corpse. An unidentified monster species appearing in a low-mana environment is highly unusual, and someone might want to root through its memories to figure out why and where it metamorphosed. I know this, yet it doesn’t feel right to me. After all this effort, I’m just supposed to let it go? I may be dying, but this kill is mine.

Just before my consciousness ended, I bit down on the monster once more, and pulled it into myself.

My vision turned black, and my other senses faded. Death creeped over me, until a sudden blinding, endless void of white space filled my vision, and I once again dreamed of the space within me.

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My supposed death is affecting me less than it should be. I had died, right? There's no way I could have survived those injuries. Yet, for some reason, I'm having this dream again. Though I don't think it's a dream anymore.

Immortality, or pseudo-immortality was rare for powers to grant, but not exactly unheard of. The phoenix — both the monster and the powered nicknamed after it — resurrected after being cremated. A few time-aligned have admitted they had a few failsafes in place to turn back time on themselves when they died. There was always a way around immortality, but it was useful nonetheless. I guess this is another part of my specialization. It’s rather weird how complex my specialization is, but again, not entirely unheard of. I think.

The space within had doubled in size since last I saw it. The floor was perhaps 800 square feet, up from its previous 400 feet.

The inhabitants were currently in a panic. Its newest inhabitant, the Barbearian, was currently snacking on the wolf. It seems as though its wounds from our battle had transferred to the wolf whose form I had taken. Apparently my death was merely transferred to the form I took when it happened. I doubt I can take its form anymore, but that's certainly much more convenient than myself dying.

This raises many questions. Would an animal being injured or dead in here have the same effect on me on the outside? If I no longer have a true body, and dying in another body merely kills that being, then how can I die? Would I be fine if I run out of mana before being killed? Would I die if this marble were infiltrated and shattered? What would happen if all inhabitants were dead at the same time?

It seems the Barbearian intends to find out the answer to that last question. Most of the marble's floor is covered by its smog, and the bugs and beasts are killing each other.

“Stop fighting! Stop with the mist!” I yelled at the Barbearian. It didn’t respond. Either it doesn’t hear me, doesn’t understand me, or doesn’t care. Likely all three.

I don’t have any hands to move the Barbearian with, but I’m sure there’s something I can do. I tried to pick up the bear as I had with the locust before, but I didn’t have the strength to do so casually. Eventually, I figured out the problem. On the outside, I could control my body by envisioning it moving my limbs as if they belonged to whatever beast I was in the form of. In here, though, there were no limbs to move. I was the space itself, and the only thing I could interact with was the space.

Instead of picking up the Barbearian, I created a vacuum in the air above it, and let it “pull” the monster. I don’t actually understand how this works, but it’s a trick I’ve heard many wind and space aligned with enough power use to make themselves fly.

I brought the Barbearian up to the edge of the marble, and pinched a piece of the edge off, using it to encircle the bear in a whole sphere of it. I don’t actually know what’s outside of the marble, or what it’s made out of, but I seem to have control over everything within the space, including the glass-like barrier itself.

Wait a second. A glass-like container, specifically designed to contain an animal. A terrarium! Well, technically a vivarium, but that doesn't fit as well with my last name.

Through a similar application of molding space to create vacuums, I sucked up the remaining mist. A few minutes later, the various insects and fauna calmed down, and I assessed the damage. Several hundred bugs were dead, with only a few dozen left alive. The deer were decimated, the hogs were hurting, and the rabbits were ravaged. The crops and berries were still mostly there, though most of them had already been eaten, and what was left had no chance to grow without sunlight or soil. The ecosystem here could use work. It won't be good if everything were to die of starvation before the next time I got here.

The Barbearian slipped from my mind for a moment, and I dropped the Barbearian’s terrarium. It rolled away, using the terrarium as some kind of hamster ball, and somehow phased through the wall of the outer marble.

Crap! Don't leave! I need you!

I tried to move my consciousness towards it, but instead of moving through the empty space surrounding the main terrarium, my mind simply transferred into the new one. Apparently the empty is off limits for me. Again, weird, but at least this means I won’t be losing the Barbearian if it tries to roll away.

I don't have much left to do in this space, so I prepared to leave. I picked up most of the dead fauna and tossed them into the Barbearian's terrarium. It likely won’t keep the bear fed for long with its appetite, but it will have to do.

Leaving turned out to be a slight issue. Last time, I just had to wake up. This time, it seems I don't have a body to wake up to. After several hours, I eventually tried to create a portal to another subspace within my subspace, and was fairly certain that it led back to where I had "died". I tried to move my consciousness through it, but simply passed through. If I had to guess, it’s because I don't have a body to go through it with. I have to choose one. I smiled at the obvious choice, but had to restrain myself. If I just pushed it through, it might escape, leaving me behind. I have to do some testing first.

I returned to the main marble, created another rip in space, and tried to push a frog through. The frog hit the rip, and smacked it, rather than passing through.

The tear shouldn’t be covered by anything, so why? Is the space itself rejecting it? Why would the frog’s native plane reject it? I don’t have any schooling in the mechanics of space, so I have no way to answer the question, nor work around it.

So I can’t simply resurrect creatures and instantly let them back out of this space to return to their normal lives. A trapped monster also won’t be able to escape through a hole I leave open. That’s good to know, at least. I won't be leaving behind any portals where all my hard-earned monsters can escape through in the future.

As an experiment, I tried changing back to the wolf’s form, but was unable. This confirmed my suspicions that I needed a living specimen within the subspace to transform.

I returned to the Barbearian’s terrarium, and created another portal there. I changed once more, shrinking my form from some sort of entity that felt like space itself into that of the Barbearian. I immediately heard a growl from behind me. Not wanting to overstay my welcome in case it's still aggressive, I stepped through the portal.

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