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Cold.
How can I be so cold, Myra mused as her awareness and consciousness arm-wrestled, Did dad forget to bank the fire again?
She went to open her eyes only to find that her lashes were frozen shut. "What the..." her voice trailed off as the frigid air crashed into her throat like a tsunami of ice fairies at a climate change protest.
Cupping her hands over her face, she exhaled until she felt the crystalline mortar that held her eyes hostage to the visual world melt away.
She was lying on top of a block of glacial blue ice.
Myra bolted upright, only to slip as her feet hit the ice-covered surface next to her cube resting place.
"Mom!" she shouted as she ran her rapidly numbing hand through her long auburn hair.
"You really should quit yelling child, it's most unbecoming." a cultured voice behind her stated.
Myra swung around and gasped, “You’re a, you’re a!”
The great slate blue bear before her tilted its head slightly and replied, “Pressed for time is what I am, and if we are going to make the meeting on time you better get a move on.”
The cold forgotten, Myra was frozen in place. She was in some sort of cursed igloo with a bear, and a blue talking bear at that.
“I must be dreaming, right?” Myra spoke as she stared into the bear’s amber eyes.
“What you are is most probably hypothermic, and we don’t have time for such nonsense,” the massive bear delivered this statement in the most matter-of-fact tone as it swirled towards a wooden chest on the edge of the ice room.
“Well, get over here,” the creature huffed, “This trunk is for The Arbiter.”
“What?” Myra squeaked, the bear’s voice, while refined, also contained a bit of growl that she felt in her spine.
“Lovely,” the bear growled, “Worst dispute in a hundred years and they send us a squeaking mouse.”
Before Myra could draw another frigid breath the bear slapped the trunk with its massive paw and roared, “You are the Arbiter, you are also a fragile little naked skinned weakling, get over here and wrap that that fur-free pelt of yours up before you freeze to death!”
Something warm began to glow in Myra and she snapped back, “Well, I don’t know what the heck an Arbiter is, but there’s no need to be so dang rude!”
“Ah, signs of life, that’s more like it,” the bear replied as it used a long black claw to flick open the clasp on the trunk.”
Myra, having decided that this was all probably a bad dream anyway, strolled up to the trunk. Inside was a deep blue hooded fur cloak, a pair of blue fur gloves, and a matching pair of boots. There was also a blue leather ledger.
“You know, there are other colors out there.” She grunted as she shrugged on the cloak.
“Blue is the beginning, Blue until all ends,” the bear responded in a mechanical tone.
Myra jerked her head towards the bear as she slid on one of the gloves. The fur was the softest she had ever felt, and she marveled at how detailed her dream was.
“What’s your name?" she asked as she stared at one of the bear’s protruding canines. It was bigger than her dad’s index finger.
“Oh,” the bear replied, “How dreadfully rude of me, my name is Kolar.”
“Nice to meet you, Kolar, my name is Myra,” Myra replied. She was going to get the most out of this crazy dream.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance Arbiter, but could you please hurry it up a bit, they’re waiting,” Kolar replied, impatience coloring her amber eyes.
Myra reached down and grabbed the ledger. It was made of the most unusual leather and she felt a strange urge to plop down and pour through its contents. Kolar had other ideas,
The massive bear knelt down beside Myra and said, “Hop on.”
“Dang! This dream just keeps getting better and better!” Myra exclaimed as she tucked the ledger into a handy pocket she had just located inside the cloak, grasped a handful of gray-blue fur, and hopped up onto Kolar’s back. Before she had even found her seat the great creature took off out of the doorway and into the frozen waste that lay beyond.
“Where are we going?” Myra shouted into the frigid wind that enveloped her as they pounded across the snow and ice, her inquiry swallowed by the frosted roar. Myra clutched Kolar’s dense fur and flattened herself against the bear. The tips of Kolar’s fur lightened to a blue so pale that it was almost as white as the snow whirling around them.
Then she was flying.
Above the roaring of the relentless storm, a crash resounded, and Myra gasped as she flew off of Kolar’s back and into the swirling snow, only to smack into the ground moments later.
“Now, with a new and improved pain feature,” she spat as she rolled to a stop on her back. “This dream is getting a little too real for me,” she mused and sat up.
To her right, a battle raged within the Arctic tempest that they were engulfed in. Myra’s mouth popped open at the sight, for now, there were two bears, Kolar and one the color of a spruce tree in the twilight.
“Your time is over, Monotone,” the giant green-colored creature growled, its massive ruff standing on end. Myra glimpsed a golden yellow ring of fur around the new bear’s neck, even in the blinding snow it shined like a jewel of a royal commission.
“Interloper!” Kolar roared, “How dare you interfere in Blue business!” The blue bear rose on her hind legs and slapped the opposing bear so hard that Myra cried out.
Suddenly, the wind left her lungs. Myra’s scream was swallowed by the wind as she flew backward.
“Hush kid, no harm will come to you by my claw,” replied yet another bear.
Before Myra could blink, she found herself seated upon a blanket of mottled green and blue fur. It was as if someone had crafted a pelt of emeralds and sapphires into a tapestry of visually pleasing awe.
“This dream is getting out of hand,” Myra croaked as she grasped two handfuls of the swirled fur.
“Easy with the grip kid, that hair’s attached you know,” the bear grunted.
“I didn’t ask to be snatched!” Myra barked in return, “Where are you taking me?”
“To end this nonsense once and for all, kid,” the bear replied, “You are going to lead the revolution.”
The best fantasy's are those that question the premise of their world. Here we are forced to accept Myra's experience as 'real', precisely because she questions it. All her questions are answered by the blue bear (well, not nearly all of them!).
This was a gently woven dreamscape which is not a dream. Or is it? Your descriptions are vivid. We can see the blue bear and can appreciate, with amusement, the bear's dedication to the color blue.
A lovely story, well-told and a pleasure to read. Thank you for posting this in the Ink Well community.
You know, you really hit on something there. I love having a resolution to every story, but I also love being left with questions my imagination has to paint the answers too, and fantasy tends to be a cornucopia of that type of fodder.
Of course, what's real and what's not largely depends on perspective, and it's easier to accept illusion and go with it over the cold starkness of reality. You touched on one of my favorite aspects of storytelling, the application of all the layers of linguistics within the reality and fantasy of each and every human's story.
That said, I am so pleased you enjoyed the tale, thank you for such an awesome prompt, well, and just being awesome too:)
I love your illustration. I love your story. For me, the door to fantasy is always open, and you go through it so skillfully.
The bear has an endearing personality, and Myra strikes a believable balance between incredulity and acceptance. Her acceptance of the extraordinary and her perplexity give the reader permission to enter the universe of the blue bear.
I had fun with this. What welcome departure from....everything 😄
Good morning @agmoore! Thank you so much for the love, and for the chuckle, for I envisioned myself tripping through the fantasy door as I read that line. I trip through lots of doors I'm afraid. lol!
You know, I read this week's prompt as I was taking a break from cataloging books, and in that moment I just departed from it all. Although there are good things about being an adult, sometimes I miss the hours of being lost in the what ifs. It was nice to hang out there again, even if it was only for fifteen minutes or so.
Hope you are doing something fun today.😊
Yes, I am, my friend. I am rejoicing in the day (that doesn't happen all the time, but it is happening today). We have to hang out in the land of fantasy. I believe that, in imagining the so-called fantastic we open doors in our lives to the extraordinary. That is where dreams are made.
Have a most wonderful day, and keep writing!
See, NOW I need to read the rest of this! I can feel the cold blueness of the environment, the warmth of the fur, the mixed emotions of Myra, and I need to know: is she going to wake up, or lead the revolution? Well done!
Oh my ice realm! Your comment transported me back to Myra's world, lol! Thank you for that and all the kind words:) All of these short stories have been so much fun to write, I think I just might have to continue some of the narrative threads.:)
A magical tale! The imagery is rather vivid, so as I read, I kept seeing images in my mind-screen like a Studio Ghibli animation. Well done @generikat!
Oh! Thank you @litguru! Don't you just love it when a story kicks your brain into imagery painting gear.:) Your comment made me so happy, I'm gonna go drink coffee and write more now, lol!
Hope you are having a most enjoyable Saturday!
This story reminded me of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman.
Very nice and curious how the action takes place in the story. I'm sure it has a sequel. The narrative itself is delightful and mythical.
Oh! The His Dark Materials Trilogy! I haven't read that in forever, but what a wonderful epic that is! And you are so right, those talking polar bears and the frozen north take center stage in that book, much like in my tale.
You know, I've noticed that a lot of the short stories I've penned for these prompts make me feel like there needs to be a sequel or more written in world they take place in. Guess I won't be bored😉.
Thanks for the kind words, I hope you are having a fantastic weekend!
Well this is quite the wild romp through space and time and dreams, @generikat. It's one of my favorite types of fantasy stories, in which one really doesn't know whether it's intended to be real, and it doesn't matter. I think really vivid colors and details bring this story to life, so that in the end whether it is dream or a reality within the story's world is inconsequential. Thanks for sharing your story in The Ink Well!
Good afternoon @jayna:) I'm so pleased you enjoyed my frozen ramble through it all. It's so fun trying to figure out what is and isn't or isn't and is, isn't it? Heh.
I loved it! Everyone should have their own bear!
Oh I so agree, mine would be shades of purple and we would go salmon fishing and play kickball lol lol!
Thanks ds:)
I want a blue bear so I can call him Boobear. I will teach him to play kick the can and how to let me win. I'll feed him berries and honey and OMG! This would be so fun.
You are a riot. :))
Oh, Boobear sounds like a kick! I just had the best image of the can being stuck to his honey covered paws, lol lol!
Hope you are having a lovely weekend fellow awesome rioter:)
A beautiful story, bears and snow.
I really hope this is not the end.
Myra still thinks its all a dream. I'll love to see her reaction when realization dawns.
Good job @generikat
I fell 'way behind in my Hive reading, and almost missed this delightful tale. I got cold just reading it, and had the urge to go find something blue to wear. There should be more to this story, I think.