"NO WAY IN HELL THAT IS POSSIBLE YOU SUPERNATURAL FREAK!" I shouted as I walked towards the shoreline. He casually adjusted his red tie and brush some dirt off of his jacket. He retracted his tentacles and stood on the ground in front of me as I came out of the water and casually slapped me in the face. I somehow felt shocked that he did it and all I could to was stare at him.

"Now if you feel better I am hear to explain some things and point you in the right direction so you don't screw up and die." He said without the slightest hint of anger or malice in his voice."Please refrain from attacking me until I get at least a chance to talk." What he said snapped me out of my shocked state.

"Fuck you." I growled "When I was younger you attacked me in the woods by my house and in my terror I made a bargain that I have come to regret with all of my essence." He looked at me with what I assume was shock as his face was featureless except for the slight line where his mouth was. "Furthermore I can't get myself out of the bargain until I either kill or convince Terra to end it." When I finished Alice and Skadi had shown up and both had a mixture of terror and surprise on their faces.

"Hm this is interesting news. Are you sure it was me? Because I haven't been to Earth since I placed you there as an infant." He asked me almost sounding concerned for some reason.

"Yes, You have the same black suit, The same white shirt and the same black tie. Wait your tie is red." I said becoming less sure about my accusation now that I had calmed down. I felt rage start coming off the man in waves and I backed away a little.

"That shit head he knew you were my son and he still tried to add you to his collection. Please excuse me I need to beat the hell out of my brother." After he said that he just winked out of existence with a faint pop where the air rushed into his place. The fuck just happened.

"Uh I think you just met your father." Alice said after we had stood there for a good five minutes." He might be going to kill your uncle as well." I turned toward her way to quickly and nearly lost my footing.

"I demand you tell me the origins of the Ursus Solarus NOW!" I said a little too aggressively. Alice gulped and backed up before she began to explain.

Over 50 Thousand years ago a group of rebellious demons and various other dimension traveler's got a little drunk and had to stop at the planet Equus to sleep it off. Of course they didn't do that, they partied instead and the party-goers ended up coming across some Ursa Majors. The majority of the little group decided to work some supernatural charm and ended up have a night to remember by even demon standards. A few off them though knew what would happen if they mated with the Ursas and decided to instead put up a little cover for the group and created a huge forest around them. But considering they were drunk it was a lot larger than was first intended and the forest also refused the planets laws involving weather and natural growth patterns. A few months later the hangovers finally stopped and a large amount off strange new creatures were born to the Ursa Majors unfortunately as they were too small the Majors believed them to be sick and wrong so they abandoned their children and left to go explore the new forest. Most of the new hybrids were bear like and had tattoos indicating what they were capable of. Most of the demons stayed to guide and protect their children. After a few hundred years the demons left and the new species began calling them selves Ursa Solaris or Solar Bears because of their mixed Ursa and demon blood line. Unfortunately their peaceful lives were interrupted by a strange plague that weakened them and removed their immortality causing an advanced aging in all but the Alpha who some how was immune to the disease. He devised a plan to save his brethren and the other creatures of the Everfree for it had started to even affect some of them. He called upon his father who was one of the few Tall-men who visited Equus. Together they tracked the disease to it's source which was a planet that resembled Equus in many ways but it was extremely chaotic. The Alpha was transported to the dimension with his uncle as a guide but he never returned. The Solarans slowly died out along with all but the heartiest of the Everfree's creatures.

"The Alpha left for that dimension over 25 thousand years ago. Who knows what happened to him but he is most likely dead." Alice finished the tale on that empty note which deeply disturbed some memories from somewhere. What the hell? They just died out. This does not explain anything! It just adds more question! I walked away into the tree line and laid down to get some real rest from my encounter with Saturn but rest would not come to me. What happened to the Alpha? What went wrong? What is a Tall-man? Ugh! So many questions! I rolled onto my side and suddenly my side was on fire. I leapt up of the ground with a cry of pain and looked at my side. Buried into one of my ribs was a silver fork. A fucking fork! I looked at where I was laying. I was laying on my left side and the fork is on my right so that means... SHIT! I dodged to the left into some bushes just in time to avoid a volley of silverware. I'm not joking I was being attacked with forks and knives. I looked into the woods were the silverware came from but saw nothing so I reached down to my side and pulled out the fork embedded in it. I let out a growl of pain just as I finished pulling it out and moved to the side quickly barley avoiding another fork. OK this is just fucking ridiculous. I jumped out of the bushes and sprinted towards the river where Alice and Skadi were.

"Hey girls! I need a little bit of help here!" I shouted out before coming upon a scene from some of my glimpses of Tartaros and it froze me in my tracks. Dear god no. In front of me were the corpses of Alice and Skadi. They had been impaled multiple times by large silver spikes and blades. After that their heads had been torn off and placed in what appeared to be plastic bags then hung from the nearest willow tree's branches. Their bodies also had claw marks and chunks taken out of them. Looking around I saw frosted patches of grass and flowers showing that Skadi had used some kind of ice skill. Other than that there appeared to be no resistance as if Alice went down first before Skadi noticed. I collapsed to my knees right beside their bodies and started crying. They were my first friends in this world and in my old one. Why would someone do this it's inhuman.

"But that's the thing I'm not human." I looked to my right and very nearly had a panic attack. Standing 10" from the willow tree was the figure of all of my rage. The white faced, black suited and tentacles of the thing that attacked me was all too familiar but that is not what made me stop it was who he was standing beside. The bronze coloured armour covered his chest and left arm, the sword in his right hand just felt wrong its very presence made me feel terrified, the blood red eyes that seemed to pierce my soul and the hair that matched his eyes in colour and his sword in wrongness.

"Mars?" I barely could say his name. How could he the one god who didn't try to use me but guided me in the art of warfare so I could protect myself. I felt betrayed not only on a personal level but also a spiritual one because I felt devastated and broken. "What are you doing here?" I asked tears still streaming from my eyes.

"I am here to kill you so that the last of the abominations called Ursa Solaris will finally die out and I can get back to causing wars to entertain myself." He said with a chuckle. "So Ivan any last words before you join your father and race in the depths of Tartaros?" I suddenly felt myself not being bothered by his sword or his gaze. I slowly stood up and turned to face him full on. I felt power surging through myself and felt a slight burning on my chest, when I looked at my chest my eyes widened. Another tattoo was being made visible like it was their but was hidden. It was a large ouroboros but instead of black like the others it was the color of amber laced with silver and red. after it fully formed I felt different like there was no such thing as fear. I roared and charged at Mars punching him full force at just the right moment sending him flying into a tree across the river. I straightened up and reached over and ripped a tree out of the ground. I did a quick look around and realized I was at least 60" tall at that moment and the tree I was holding was about 30" tall. I looked back at mars to see he had tossed the sword to the ground and was about the same height as I was.

"You wanna dance? OK let's dance you freak!"  He shouted. I snapped.

"You can call me whatever you want I probably won't react but nobody calls me a freak! Even you." I swung the tree at hit knocking him back and breaking it in half. Before he could recover I rushed him with my right shoulder so I wouldn't open myself for an attack. Of course a stumbled a little as my size was vastly different from my newest 12" tall. Of course Mars was quick to take advantage of this, he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up off the ground before dropping me straight on my back. He followed up with a series of punches to the face breaking my nose and splitting my lip. I lunged forward and bite into his arm and then tore it off with a quick jerk to the side splashing golden ichor everywhere. I pushed him off of me and spat his arm out the taste of his blood was like eating fire and ashes. I swung at his head with my claws making him back off so I could pop my nose back into place. Once I did a few teeth fell out without the angle to hold them in. I turned to him and growled letting some energy build up so I could do something other than go invisible. He used some kind of fire to seal the stump of his arm to stop the bleeding and once he did his detached arm dematerialized. We both looked at each other at the same time and both realized we were preparing some kind of energy release and we both released to try and beat the other, it didn't turn out like we planned. I threw my hands forward like to launch the energy which manifested as some kind of fire while he punched forward with some kind of lightning and the result was an implosion which sucked us into each other before forcing us to the ground causing dents as large as us. When I could stand again I realized I was back to 12" high and I felt exhausted. Looking around I noticed Mars walking into a fiery portal in the air with my "uncle" just in front of him. Just before he stepped through he turned around.

"If you ever come near Olympus you will die but I am no longer going to actively kill you, you suffer as the last of your kind now that I killed that fox shaped one. Have fun with Phobos will you as he no longer sees me as his master." With that he stepped through the portal and it dissipated with a loud pop. I was left in a clearing of destruction save the tree with my friends heads on it. I took a few steps towards it before I collapsed and cried out all of my rage and sorrow.

I awoke a few hours later in the darkness of night. I stood up and looked towards the distant mountains and saw what appeared to be a series of lights like a celebration of some kind. I am not even going to bother trying to find out I need to bury my friends. I walked over to the tree and took their heads out of the plastic bags and placed them by their bodies. I was about to pray to Mars to allow them passage to his battle field but then I remembered what happened and I started crying again. After a few more minutes I decided to forgo saying anything and was about to start digging when I found I was actually standing in front of a plain stone sword stuck into the ground. Is this the sword Mars was using? Because it looks a lot different. I reached forward and grasped the handle and then I felt a mixture of power and madness flowing through my body but I couldn't let go of the sword. I started panic before the madness took over my mind and I smiled. I started chuckling like a madman and I couldn't stop. I pulled the sword out of the ground to see it had embedded itself in a rock in the ground. I am one of the four great swords. I have been around since the creation of time and I have chosen you as my new wielder. Now give me a name to bear so our foes... HA! I'm sorry but I just realized you were a bear and I asked for a name to bear. HA! The madness seemed to drain out of me but the power stayed which felt invigorating.

"Wait. What?" I asked out loud as I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from but I knew it was the sword. I placed the sword on the ground and sat down with a gasp of pain. Looking to the source I noticed a rib sticking out of my side so with a loud groan of pain I pushed it back into my skin and tried my best to set it but my ribs refused to heal like my gashes and my nose had. Hey! You bear guy whats your name?

"My name is Ivan and just lost some friends so if you will excuse me I need to bury them." OK but I need a name and a sheath or my power will drain out of you and you won't be my master anymore.

"Ivan use my body as a scabbard for the sword." I whipped around in the direction of Skadi's body and saw a ghostly apparition version of her sitting by her body and looking at me. This is impossible. How can you be here? I felt tears begin to appear in the corners of my eyes.

"I am here to say goodbye and to let you know that my body can be forged into the scabbard for this blade. Please consider it my gift to you. I must go now the Forest of The Fallen calls to me." With those words she turned around and bounded into the forest disappearing into it's leaves. I slowly walked over to her body and knelt down.

"For You Skadi as your last wish." I said before getting to work crafting a basic scabbard for the sword. After a hour or so I finished the Scabbard and had buried both Alice's body and the rest of Skadi's. I turned around and picked up the sword and felt another surge of power and I watched in awe as it changed before my eyes. It's hilt had lengthened a little and the grip went from leather to what felt like shark skin with a wire wrap. The cross-guard sprouted some kind of spikes and ended up with two longer ones on top and two shorter ones underneath. The pommel jewel disappeared from the pommel and moved to the middle of the cross-guard and for all the world it looked like and emerald green cat's eye. The blade lengthened and the tip turned into a chisel point like a katana but it stayed straight like a broad sword. after a few seconds a flash of light passed over it and the scabbard and when it passed the scabbard had changed to match the new blade and it now sported two snowflakes on either side half way up. My form changes to match my wielder's soul and mental design. Now I need a name that matches both your soul and my appearance. I looked at the guard gem to realize it was looking at me. Then suddenly the name came to my mind just like it had for Skadi.

"Facio." I said quietly before I sheathed the sword and started walking down the river following the current and Hoping to not trip on anything in the dark.I understand how you feel but you should know that of all my names that is probably the most touching one and I hope to help you find peace in yourself. I must now rest or you will find me useless. Safe travels Alpha. I looked at the sword in shock but his presence disappeared and I felt the Power from him dwindle to seem like he was sleeping before I started walking again.

"I hope I am not the Alpha because that would mean I am truly alone." Next Chapter: The Guardion pt.3 Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes