2. The Wise Bear
A raccoon, taller than him, stood on her hind legs and stuck out a flat paw. She looked magnificent: her black-and-white fur gleamed in the evening sun and her large bead-like eyes glistened.
“Bella?” Ardex’ panting made him incomprehensible.
“Stop! Who art thou?”
“It’s me. Your brother.” She remained silent. “Ardex, the fire god. At least, that’s who I was.”
“Proof?”
“Is that really necessary?”
Bella stamped and lifted her chin. “Proof?”
“Alright, alright! Let me think. When you were only three, you pushed me out of the playroom because my playtime was over. A deal’s a deal, you even said.”
Her hand lowered. Her ears shot up and her nose twitched, as if she smelled delicious food. “Oh Ardex! I’m so glad you’re here too, brother!”
She hugged him. With her hands around his neck, she swung onto his back. That made her realize how heavy she was now, so she jumped off of him immediately.
“Seen any of my brothers or sisters?” Bella asked while inspecting his tusks.
“I saw Darus. He’s sleeping somewhere now.”
“… you left him behind again, didn’t you?”
“Ah. Hadn’t thought of that. He was being annoying.”
“You may be the oldest and strongest, but you still have much to learn.”
“It’s difficult enough to lead all of you. I can’t be everyone’s best friend.”
“Funny. We never asked you to be our leader,” she said with a wink. Oh, dear reader, if only Bella knew what influence these words would have for the rest of their lives …
“Well, we could really use one now: a strong leader. Any idea where we are?”
Bella pointed to a bright constellation in the pitch black sky. Ten stars formed a shape that resembled a raccoon with an extremely long tail.
“The Big Dipper. A star system on the other side of the universe. As far from the palace as can be. With our mediocre powers, it’s impossible to journey back to the palace, even if we had millions of seconds.”
“So we’re stuck here?”
“It certainly seems that way.”
They ambled across the planet, so close together they seemed glued. They regularly had to dodge the next chunk of rock that crashed down, or nimbly jump over the lava streams.
The sun came up and went down an hour later.
Bella slowed down. “Did I just hear you correctly? You’re no longer the fire god? When you ran, though, your paws still hurled lava into the air.”
“I still have most of my powers, except fire. Do you think he took that away?”
“Why? You’re the god of destruction, of fire and explosions, of fighting and death, of the—”
“Yes, yes, that’s enough. I can only destroy things.” Ardex hung his head. Bella gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
“Sorry. But if Father wanted someone to keep their powers, it would be you.”
Ardex sighed and moved his head back and forth, as if weighing her words on a scale. After a short silence they resumed their journey.
“This place is missing something important. You all laugh at me, but I stand by my life force theory. Even we need to eat—but our food is living beings in our surroundings.”
“Then we must create life.”
“I can’t do that.”
I know life exists and what it looks like, Bella thought. But that’s very different from knowing how to make it yourself. I can draw a tiger for you, I can’t build one.
“I see your powers are gone too.”
“My powers have not left me! I still have my wisdom. Knowledge is something else—I don’t have that. At least, not about this planet. The others must judge if I still have my beauty.”
“Then you must have a clever way to find the others.”
Bella smiled and scratched her nail into the rockface. She drew a large circle and pricked a dot in the middle.
“Father sent us all away in the same vortex, which means we all landed in the same place. But then we were flung apart by the impact, and the wobbling of the planet.”
Ardex sighed. His front paws started crumbling again. The same happened to Bella, whose frightened eyes curiously studied the red snowflakes around them. “So the rest could be anywhere? We’re doomed to die here.”
“No, no, no. Don’t be like that. The lighter you are, the further you’ve been flung. You and I, we’re heavy. Our little brothers and sisters aren’t.”
She scratched larger and larger circles, farther and farther away from the dot. “If we walk around the dot in a growing spiral, we have to find everyone.”
“If you say so.” He followed the spiral in the rock with his claw. After doing so several times, he nodded. “Yes, now I understand. So we should go that way.”
“No, exactly the other way. But good try.”
“Clever how you always find new ways to make me feel stupid.”
A spluttering laugh sounded, as if someone had heard this remark. A short travel was enough to find the gigantic being.