Chapter 2

Ascension

A crash of thunder echoed through the valley as the rain fell heavily to the ground. It had all but drowned out the clashing of the swords in the distance and the screams of its warriors that answered in unison as life faded into the nothingness of the darkness of the night. Every now and then, a flash of magic exploded from deep within the battle as carnage fed on every side.

"As we enter a golden age for all Gummies, I Chancellor Gumreias of the High Council of Ursalia hereby sign the peace accord, on this day, in the city of Beartamer and form a new alliance between Gummi Bears and the Human race…"

On the edge of a ridge three shadowy figures riding their small stallions emerged on the crest overlooking the ongoing conflict.

"The battle draws near" Arida whispered.

"In accordance with the peace agreement that you have signed with King Balisone the Third, we shall dismantle all weapons along our borders and place into storage, all magical and non-magical devices to prevent a future of annihilation and become a new nation in unification…"

"Your orders Sir," Said the one from behind in a low, calm voice.

"A few years ago, in the name of peace, we have opened our doors and our minds and welcomed our new allies into our schools of magic. Now let me be the first to congratulate…

The first humans to graduate from the Magic Academe of Gummadoon..."

Arida sat mounted on his battle Rama. His armor was heavy with sweat while his mind flashed back and forth along the pages of the past and he cursed himself for not doing anything when he had the chance. By locking the most powerful spells known to Gummi Magic and placing them inside the orb, it created the pathway to our own extinction. And now that Zaneris has been corrupted by that power, the orb is almost unstoppable.

"Zaneris has allied himself with the human King Balisone and our destruction is almost assured but thankfully Argumedies and the other council members had the foresight to place the key to the orbs full potential inside Great Book of Gummi. The peace treaty was hoax and we fell for it. The humans have always wanted our power and they will soon have it as they drive us from our land. For years I have warned the council that this would happen. Zaneris may be a powerful Arch-mage but he is nobodies' fool. Even before he was removed as headmaster of the school, the humans had us out numbered. We may have been able to slow him down my taking out his apprentice Zorlock, but he still has possession that human witch along with these abominations that they created." he spoke to his lieutenants'

As leader of the High council's new military defense forces it was up to him to defend their nation from such attacks and wore his new armored uniform with pride as it bore the colors and symbols of the Gummi Bear Nation. With the exception of the Knights of Gummidoon who kept to the old feudal traditions and the barbarian clans of the northern forests they had done their best to prepare for tonight's exodus to the new city of Gumbria across the sea. But deep down he wept for those who have been caught up in onslaught of this holocaust. He didn't understand why humans hated us so much. Inside we are no different from them. We have two eyes to see, a nose to smell the air, and hands to work and play. We eat, we breathe, we laugh, we bleed, we cry, we live, we love, and we die.

But they also grew afraid of us. Our power we possessed and our knowledge we have learned. We were a growing threat to them because we were different. We are bears and they are human. They have skin and we have fur. Humans stand tall and have strength in numbers while Gummies are half their size. But we are still the same when it comes to the influences of desire and selfishness and there are those of us who have fallen into that pit of darkness, lusting for that domination of control.

Arida closed his eyes and sighed "If only the council had listened to me, that traitor would have already met his demise long ago. But now, we struggle from the grasp of our own annihilation." Lieutenant! Have the council members made it to the ships?"

"Yes sir, with the exception of Councilors Wooddale and Berrybowum of Gummadoon, the other council members were the first to turn tail and run and the rest of the civilians are waiting for the Gumorison and the Berrybourn to return."

Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky as a massive surge in the human ranks blew over the exhausted Gummi infantry.

"Our numbers are few but we must hold out until those ships return!" shouted the Lieutenant.

Arida tightened the reins on his Battle Rama. "Zaneris and Balisone's forces have broken through our defenses and the brunt of their human and ogre armies will be here soon. We must protect the last of our people until those ships arrives."

Sir Plucki! The south wall along the river has been breached! Can your bears hold the position at the gap of Berrin falls?"

"That they will old friend, no human is going to turn ME into a rug. You just watch your fur and leave the rest to us."

Arida looked back at the grizzly old bear and grinned "Good luck my friend and I will see you on the shores of New Gumbria."

With that Sir Plucki turned his Rama and sped off down the slope.

"Lieutenant, Gather what forces we have left and rally near the harbor. We will set up a perimeter to guard the last of the civilians.

"Lady Maria we must hurry!"

"Yes! Consance, I am well aware of that, but when you're with cub it's not that easy."

Consance held her paw as they made their way down the steps of the cottage to the rain soaked streets below. The only light they had come from the lightning that flashed across the sky, and they both knew that the fighting was closing in on the city walls. Consance covered Maria in a heavy cloak to try and prevent Maria's blue dress from getting soaked or muddy.

"Humph!" Typical humans, always thinking about themselves before anyone else; at least they could have at least had the decency to wait few more days before they came and ruined everything. That cub of yours will be here any time now''

"Arugg!" Maria cried, as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Consance looked back and helped her to sit on the bottom step.

"I'm all right Consance. "She" just gave a little kick" Maria reached into the pocket of her tunic and drew out a small medallion. Her paw dimly lit up as she made small circles over her belly quieting the cub with a calming spell.

"You shouldn't waste your time or your strength using spells. Said Consance, "He" knows it's dangerous out here and he's giving you a boot telling to get your tail moving"

"And how do you know it's a "HE" Consance?

"Because when you've been a Grammi as long as I have, you tend to know these things. Now come on!"

As the rain subsided, the two of them made their way through the muddy streets and towards the docks of Gumbria. They had just rounded the corner of an abandoned worker building when they found themselves in the mists of a huge crowd waiting on the docks.

A few lanterns now lit the area and Maria saw many bears. Some were helping soldiers build a makeshift wall out of broken timbers, others just huddled together around the few small fires that were not quenched by the rain, trying to keep warm.

They walked around through the crowd when they came across a young soldier that sat against a fallen log. He gasped as he held on to his side, his dark brown fur soaked in blood from a spear wound.

Forgetting about her own troubles, Maria went over to him and knelt down to get a better look. Consance reached into their satchel and pulled forth an old shirt to use as a bandage and handed it to Lady Maria.

"That should help." Maria said as she wrapped the shirt around his waist.

"Thank you he plied. I have seen better days"

"Well let's just hope we all see better days" "What is your name?"

"Sabearton Barbictus of the Brutetarian tribe."

Maria reached into her pocket and pulled out the medallion "I can take some of the pain away…"

"No!" He shouted as he slowly batted her paw away from the wound. "I am a warrior and have been trained to deal with pain in battle."

"Well! I see that in all your training you didn't train your blood to stay inside because you forgot to watch out for sharp pointy sticks! You're not in battle right now and you're not about to die on me today if I have anything to say about it. But first, we need to get you out of the mud."

They soon found shelter in an abandoned storage house. And Consance soon had a small fire going. Maria had taken clean, dry linen and made strips for bandages and began to re-dress his wounds.

"Consance, Go around to the others and see if there are any more that need help and bring them here," Said Maria.

"Yes ma-lady! But you take it easy and don't strain yourself!" I'll be back shortly."

Maria knelt down next to him and began to clean and re-wrap his injury. "Well at least it stopped bleeding," she said. "But it could use a few stitches." She reached and pulled out a needle and thread then handed him a stick wrapped in a cloth. "Here bite down on this while I try and sew the stuffing back in you."

The pain was intense but quickly faded after she was done. The fire crackled and popped and Sabearton noticed that there was a soft glow upon her golden brown fur from the fires light. She was young and very beautiful and her boldness earlier sent a warm but subtle feeling in him that he had not felt in a long time. But then he noticed the soon to be cub.

"How long?" He asked.

"It should have been days ago but he's being stubborn just like his father. But now I hope he'll wait until after I get to the new city." She looked up into his face and caught his gaze and she paused for a moment. But after a moment he turned his head and broke the stare.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing," He said, "You just reminded me of someone for a moment"

For a fleeting moment his thoughts had quickly turned a hand of time back to the days of his beloved Genari and how much he missed her. He had not realized that it had been days since he last thought of her and how the humans took her from him in their first assault as they burned and destroyed everything and anyone… in their wake.

The silent moment was shattered as Consance walked into the room.

"My-lady, we have more wounded to take care of. There are a lot more then you may have expected. But I do have some news that Lord Arida has come with reinforcements."

"Tend to the others Consance, I must go see him." she said as she picked herself off the floor and walked out of the warehouse.

A few minutes later she had found him outside a make shift tent overlooking some maps of the area and it didn't take him long to notice with little surprise that she was here.

He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her and embraced her "What are you doing here!" He scolded yet at the same time being very concerned. "You shouldn't be here! Why did you not leave with the rest of the council members?

"Because I couldn't leave Consance and the others, someone had to stay behind and help those who were going to stay in hiding until the return. Besides! I'm giving your cub, a first paw look at war and what not to do!"

He placed a paw over her belly and felt the cub kick in agreement. "I love you, you know this, but seriously, this is no place for either of you. Zaneris will be here soon and hopefully Argumedies will have two ships here before then and when he does, I want you to get on the Berrybourn as soon as it docks"

"I will, but right now Consance and I are helping the wounded so you may have a few more bears able to fight with you, as soon as the ship arrives we will be there. I do not intend to have this cub in the middle of a war zone."

The wind blew through the window of the darkened tower. A small figure stood in its opening as the glow of an orb dimly lit the small room. On its surface it showed the pictures of the battle and the bodies of the fallen that lie scatter on the field. It quickly turned and showed what was left of the remaining forces of the Gummi armies in what was left of the city of Old Gumbria and then to the last defense position of the armies of Gummadoon at Berrin Falls.

"SO, they think they run from me!" The voice rumbled as a small paw came from under the shrouded figure and pointed to the ogre dressed in its full metal armor, halberd spear, and shield.

"You will prepare our armies for one last frontal assault on the city of Gumbria and we will crush the last of the resistance and…"

"…And then, we will find the city of New Gumbria to finally unlock that blasted orb's power and unleash its full potential and destroy them completely!" a new voice said from inside the darkness.

"Patience my apprentice," Zaneris shouted, "The orb has gotten us here even if Argumedies has locked away its true power."

"Yes! But as it is, anyone could use the power should they get their hands on it. But only when it has been unlocked can a true master of magic such as you can wield its might."

"Do not praise me with your false flattery witch! They do not have the Great Book out of my reach yet. It lies in the city of Gummadoon and I need you to take Olaf and whatever resources you need to retrieve that book and remove the infestation around Berrin Falls. Then you should be able to surround the city of Gummadoon and conquer it with ease. They will try and make a break for the ships but if you attack now in their weakened state they will be no match for you he paused for a moment as the scene changed and focused on the fallen city of Gumbria and those who whom have yet to escape. "And then I will deal with Arida personally."

"It will be done my master!"