A stabbing pain had torn his senses. All kinds of awareness, anger, fear, pure and complete fury ...all of this was cleared away when something as cold as ice stabbed him in the chest, sank and turned, interspersed with a terrified breath beneath him in the newly created wound. Iorek let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, and it came out panting and fragmented, filled with purely physical pain.

a new rush of adrenaline dictated by seeing the blood clumping around the wood of the weapon tucked inside his chest caused the latter to go in a series of shocked breaths, up and down ... up and down ... up...

up...

up...

u-

No.

No, his lungs did not respond to the command.

Come on, chest, cooperate!

No. The chief had spoken and had decided to turn only upwards without allowing the organs that allowed him to breathe to take in air. Iorek found himself in apnea struggling to let a breath in, hindered by that object still inside his torso.

He had never, and I mean never, felt so much pain. Sure, the post-battle pain was mild enough ... but this was burning, tightening his muscles, draining his life.

He had never been without breathing for so long.

And then, the blood came out when the hunter drew his weapon with a sharp blow by pushing one knee against the rest of the bear's chest ... and that pain was even more ... excruciating.

Painful, a nagging, intense form of pain overflowing with blood that now spilled over his white fur, the hunter, the grass beneath him. Iorek leaned forward, neck arched down to find a way to tame that excruciating pain ...

But the adrenaline dropped in less than an instant.

His muscles went still.

The white bear collapsed on his side with a thud that was not deafening as the appearance of the lights was blinding.

The world calmed down.

The storm stopped, the wind stopped howling suddenly at the same time that a dazzling light forced everyone present to shelter their eyes. Denahi held his arms tightly over his face so as not to blind himself with the Northern Lights that had started to shine at that precise moment, in an impressive and sudden way with punch-in-the-eye graphics in stark contrast to the blue sky behind them:A huge eagle contrasted the beauty of the sky with dark wings and golden feathers, and a bear in its talons. That bear ... the bear he had been chasing for weeks, the bear that had stolen everything ...

but in the blink of an eye that bear vanished and in its place his brother's dark hair appeared beyond the golden glows that surrounded him.

Kenai.

Kenai?

Denahi felt faint for a moment ... His brother was dead ... he was killed like Sitka.

But now he was there, just as confused as he was and naked, skin exposed to the icy mountain air "Kenai ..." he called his name in a hinted whisper. When Kenai hit the ground the eagle dissolved and Sitka's warm, radiant smile returned to light up the air as only he could.

"Sitka ..."

the dead brother only came over to take the cloak off his shoulders, shut his mouth that had remained open in the meantime, and put it on Kenai's shoulders.

they were above the clouds so it appeared even more intenseas it wanted to be a theater of spiritual elevation, in stark contrast to the dramatic scene that was unfolding right next to him.

The little snow that remained was stained with blood, gushes and gushes of blood gushed from the white bear's chest when Denahi had pulled the blade from the wound caused accidentally but at the same time in defense of both sides.

The white bear was trying to defend the cub, Denahi to defend himself.He must have been used to hunting, but suddenly the animal's face seemed so human to him and ... he could see all the immense suffering on it.

He could see every gasp of pain, every labored breath and every spasm on the predator's large body, possibly dying because of him.

because of him

Denahi clearly heard a gasp of dismay from Kenai, so strong that he almost had a shock as he rushed towards the bear lying on the ground "oh no .. no, no!"

Seeing the blood dripping as the spear lodged in Iorek's chest was terrible from afar for Koda, and his little body quivered with all its atoms until the storm subsided ... and then ran.

He ran like a ditch, ignored the hunter,the other human that was now Kenai, ignored the sun and the cool breeze, ignored the dawn ... the only name that came out of his lips was that of the white bear "IOREK!"

pronounced amidst a flood of tears.

His first instinct would have been to lash out at him, but doing so would only increase the pain inhumanly, tremendously.

And Koda didn't want that, he just wanted to see if the invincible Iorek was just gathering his strength to get up and shake everything off like he always did ... but this time Koda had seen him fall.

He had seen him lean and fall on his side with a heaviness and for a moment he really thought that the spear had killed him instantly.He truly feared that that weapon had struck his heart, piercing him from side to side and making him join the spirits ... but when he arrived at his deathbed improvised by the growth of some flowers in contrast with the blood that continued to gush without end, on his face he saw an expression. It meant he was alive, but it didn't mean he wasn't suffering excruciatingly. The tears came as soon as he saw Iorek's face: pulled and twisted by pain, tense and yet more and more tired, more and more weak every second that passed. His eyes were shut shut, his claws clinging to the ground as if he was struggling with all his might to breathe ...

but every effort was rewarded by a sound of pain, a fatigued snort and a pang.

"Koda..." he managed to gasp just barely as he opened his eyes, almost inaudibly.

Koda let the tears flow looking for a place to hug him without causing unnecessary pain.

"why? Why did you run on him like that?!" the cub exclaimed, in the throes of tears that gave no sign of stopping. Iorek opened an eye "what kind of ... brother would I have been if I had let him ... hurt you?"

a string of coughs made him stop talking, and catching his breath after them was excruciating ...

he was trying to get some air into his agonizing lungs in all ways ... but maybe he had suffered damage there too .

"Iorek ..." Koda murmured in fear when he saw an outlet of blood on the edge of his mouth.

Kenai, the human Kenai, was kneeling behind Iorek and gently placed a hand on his side stroking the blood mattered fur of it with horror, tears welling up in his dark eyes too. So slowly that the white bear didn't even have time to be frightened. Kenai said something, but obviously neither of them understood. In desperation, Koda exclaimed to him "Kenai, please do something!" he pleaded towards him, but Iorek put a paw on his back "it's useless" he noted "he can't understand you."

Koda shook his head wildly, lurking near his head and crouching in the hollow of his jaw "don't leave me, Iorek, please ..." he murmured in sobs, clinging to him as if by doing so he could keep him from flying away .

"Kenai's human again, I don't wanna be without you ... please don't abandon me .."

The fear was so strong that he did not care about the blood that was staining him too. He did not bother to be cold or the sobs he came from Kenai.

"please ... please stay with me ..." His breathing was more and more labored and shattered by coughs and outbursts of blood in his mouth .. .but what scared him was that Iorek didn't seem to be afraid, not even with the sensation of his eyelids getting heavier and heavier from the death looming over them ... not even Kenai's brothers, the human one and that which was a spirit, they said nothing. Denahi was saddened by what he had caused, Sitka looked heartbroken ... Kenai was devastated.

His eyes traveled frantically over Iorek looking for some way to keep him alive, stop the bleeding somehow and save him. But it was all in vain, the weapon had been drawn and the bear had already lost too much blood to be saved somehow.

Slowly Iorek's paw landed on Koda's little body and his eyes, close to closing forever, looked at him "Koda ... you'll be fine."

As an answer the cub started to cry hysterically "No! I can't get by without you! don't die, I need you!" he exclaimed, having to stop constantly by sobs and tears as big as stones in those dark eyes and that face so devastated by pain.

"I'm sorry for all the times that I have bothered you and that I have been disobedient! but please, stay with me! " and the desperate tone in which he exclaimed that was enough to make those tired eyes moid, "you're safe...that's all that matters." his voice getting fainter and fainter. This Koda knew. He knew it well ... "but .." he said sniffling "I thought you didn't care about us."

Iorek's suffering face varied in expression for a split second and he found the strength to keep his voice low and steady and try to raise his head a little "you two are the best thing that ever happened to me." he said with a simplicity that warmed Koda's heart by bringing in new tears.

Koda sniffed when he saw the bear's neck drop back to the ground in the grass. He tried to breathe through his mouth, but ended up gritting his teeth every time.

"w-wow... it's cold...h-huh?"

Iorek trembled, and Koda knew for sure he was dying.

Ignoring the so called cold, Kenai reached over his cloak to put a hand on his shoulder ("please, please Iorek ... hold on ...") to somehow try to offer him comfort and allow him to pass peacefully, surrounded by love ...

because even Kenai understood that there was nothing they could do for him.

Again the cub rushed to hug him as hard as the fatal wound allowed and hearing his breathing slow down he clung to him even more. "Kenai ... Koda. I love you."

Koda closed his eyes by force and at the same moment the white bear's eyes were emptied of all light and a last breath emptied his lungs.

His head dropped to the grass and the fragmented movement of his hips ceased, as the aching expression was replaced by an expression that Kenai had already seen on Koda's mother's face and that was too clear about her fate to be wrong.

An expression of peace. Eternal sleep had just fallen upon him, and there was no way to awaken him. Never again.

Iorek was gone.

His last words had been spoken at the same moment he had taken his last breath and left this world to join the world of spirits, and had been addressed to both of them ...

this Kenai didn't know though.

He was only aware that his third brother figure was gone just as Sitka had left life. Protecting what was dearest to him and passing away with the knowledge that they were safe ... maybe now he could really rest in peace. Perhaps he would rejoin his parents, and finally know what it meant not to struggle every day and thus find true happiness. But now the only painful awareness was this: he would never see him again ... with a desperate sob he wrapped his arms around his now inanimate head and hugged him, embracing it and giving it all the love in the world expressed in agonizing sobs"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Iorek."

Iorek didn't react.

He would never react again: his relaxed face would remain so for eternity.

Therefore when Kenai lifted him into an embrace, his head remained in his arms like an inanimate object.

Iorek didn't know if Kenai and Koda could see him standing there enveloped in a golden aura ... but he could, and what was supposed to be the replacement of his mortal heart was locked in a vise to see those tears pour over his lifeless body. . "you did the right thing."

Kenai's brother's voice echoed in his head

... was that how spirits communicated? "I know." he answered automatically looking at the scene.

Kenai was crying desperately holding his head in his arms and rocking it as if he could somehow bring him back to life with them, Koda instead sobbing in the hollow of his neck. "it's your heart that led you to sacrifice yourself, isn't it?"

again Iorek didn't hesitate "the only thing I want is to see them safe." he said, and it was nothing but the truth. A truth as hard and sharp as the blade that had killed him and it was a truth that he had realized only at his last breath ...

Before meeting Kenai and Koda, he hadn't known happiness and lightheartedness for a long time. His main moods had always been annoyance and perennial anger.

Yet now thanks to them he had known many other emotions such as happiness, that sparkling sensation that makes you smile, real fear: the one that grips your lungs in a vice ... and love. Love was the most beautiful of all ... that strong, destructive but so beautiful feeling that you would like to keep feeling forever. You would like it to keep warming your heart forever ... and even though he no longer had a heart, that love still burned powerfully. So powerful, so powerful that normally he would have felt overwhelmed ... but now he was just at peace.Sitka's alert and warm gaze burned on his shoulders, so that Iorek turned to him to see those human eyes full of admiration.

The northern lights were in contrast with the tragedy that had just taken place "so now I ask you: what do you want to do?"

"...what?"

Sitka looked at him again with nonchalance, a nonchalance typical of those who know everything about everyone.

Hands behind his back and gaze towards the sky "I told you: you have a choice. Do you want to remain a spirit or return to them?"

Iorek looked at him in amazement and then looked at Kenai and Koda again: the boy had stopped crying, and now he was looking at him with lost eyes.

Koda was sitting next to him, Denahi had approached and was holding a hand on his brother's shoulder to comfort him. And then a deep voice intervened "it's not that bad to be a spirit, you know?"

and the white bear froze in place as Sitka's presence was replaced by two warm and familiar presences ... and to their surprise Audunn and Gunnar were standing next to their son, smiling and playful like never before. Iorek turned from side to side

"mother ... father ..."

words failed him ... seeing his mother's face after so long. Audunn's eyes were full of pride and love for her son "you were so brave, darling ..."

he hadn't heard himself called that in years. His mother's voice and his father's paternal warmth were enough to melt the hard armor he had created after their death. Iorek, for the first time in years, wept.the family hugged him in a warm embrace as Gunnar hugged him by hooking his muzzle on his shoulder and Audunn gently rubbed her nose against his "mom ... dad ... you're here ... you are here ..."

"my cub ..." Gunnar murmured "let me watch you, oh you look so much like me!"

"Gunnar!"

"But that's the truth!"

the usual banter between them. He had always been there and always would be ... Iorek wiped his tears and let go of laughter. Gunnar smiled at him again, then looking at Audunn "have you decided what to do, son?"

The white bear spirit turned to Sitka, who was still watching impassively but kindly, commanding but patient, warm but distant ... The spirit boy looked at him as if he already knew what the answer would be, but wanted him to dig into his heart to find it and give it definitively.

He turned towards them: evidently Kenai and Koda could see them, because the cub and the boy, who was holding Koda in his arms, were looking at them. Kenai seemed to be pondering, shifting his gaze from the ghost to the lifeless body still lying there. It was clear what he wanted to do ... he didn't want to leave Koda.

He turned to Denahi and proclaimed "I can't leave him"

Iorek looked at the ground, then looked at his parents again ... they could make up for all the lost time. But in his heart there was a greater duty "they need me ..."

" your final word?"

Iorek nodded "I love you and I miss you, but they need-" Audunn silenced him lovingly exchanging a smug glance with Gunnar. "You're young, and asking you to give up on life would be selfish, son." Iorek sighed, then looked at them again.

More tears surfaced "I love you so much" he said, holding back sobs by force.

his parents smiled sweetly. "We love you too," Gunnar said.

"Now go. Live your life, my darling." The family hugged again more strongly. In his heart he knew he would see them again one day and finally cleared up, gave them one last loving glance which was promptly returned by his parents before turning and walking towards his body lying on the ground at the same time that Denahi and Kenai exchanged. a hug.

He took a deep breath and lay down on his side in the same position as his mutilated body ... and then a beam of multicolored light blurred his vision until then clear and clear. Multicolored flashes of every color he could imagine ran down the wound, closing it with a beam of light, making the blood disappear in a blatant act of miraculous healing.

And then, under the eyes of spirits, humans and bears, Iorek felt his lungs open from the constriction of death and went with the flow, taking a deep breath that caused him to suddenly lift his chest. In an instant everything started working again. The blood began to flow again,his heart started beating steadily and his eyes opened

He was alive.

Confused, Iorek blinked and took another breath as he looked around ... at the same time, Kenai was back to being a bear with his totem around his neck in a masculine necklace and still holding on to his brother. The two looked into each other's eyes with toothy smiles, Koda and his mother's ghost hugging each other tightly in turn. After Kenai, Sitka and Denahi hugged each other in turn, the older brother started running with Koda's mother and Iorek's parents and disappeared into the northern lights flying over it like two birds would, completely out of sight of the living.

The sky was calm again, but without the shadow of a storm with a clear, almost blinding blue, when the three bears and the human stood watching the lights disappear on the horizon: Iorek rose slowly, going after Koda and nudging him with his muzzle on the back. The cub turned, and his eyes brightened as they saw his face alive and his eyes full of life again and a few tones lighter. As if he were more alive now.

"Iorek!" he shouted happily, rushing to embrace the white bear with all his strength. With a powerful laugh Iorek landed on his side holding Koda close to him with his paw then holding him straight on his paws, making him fly in the air and catch him playfully.

As soon as Iorek stood up, Kenai attacked him in a hug putting his paws around his shoulders

"big brother!" he exclaimed holding him tightly. The two bears rose on their hind legs and hugged like two humans would.

Bears and Humans danced together in the mountains that day