A little Problem

After making sure that he was all warmed up for the morning, Curtis headed out to scout the mountain. It was a beauty, he couldn't even begin to guess how tall it was, it had a conical shape, its sides shaped beautifully to form a gentle slope, but the top of it looked like it had been chopped off, he had to reach it to make sure, but if it was truly flat, he already had an idea where to build their settlement.

Curtis left their encampment to Royce and Carter, Dean was nowhere to be found for the moment, he was probably with his wife: Clara, she hasn't woken up ever since the attack. Curtis was worried for the woman, she should have been up already given that she was gifted with an ability. Being asleep for this long meant that something was wrong with her, Curtis didn't want to lose a person this early, but he couldn't really do anything, he wasn't skilled in healing so he could only leave it up to fate.

He had separated from Silva the moment they started the climb, Silva was to head directly to the top and scout out an area for building their settlement, while Curtis investigated the immediate surroundings of the mountain to see what they were up against.

The way up the mountain proved treacherous, the mountain was built of solid rocks, but hidden in between the rocks were soft patches of earth, sometimes he would step onto a rock that would sink for a bit. As he scaled the mountain, Curtis doubted the possibility of even making this place their base.

The way up was too dangerous, there was still no sign of any drinkable water, and from what he saw, there was a chance there were Thornback Bears here, and from the number of tracks he had seen, there were more than just a few. He had learned their characteristics not just from Hjilmar but also from his father, in the book that he was always made to read years ago, Thornback bears lived in small sleuths, although there were cases that they formed a larger collective of bears, that had always depended on the location and environment, if it was suitable there were chances that they had more than a small number of members.

Curtis found some rather fresh tracks from the beast that inhabited the mountain. He had chanced upon a pile of fecal matter that was still steaming. And what remains of a kill that had already been taken away.

It was something that was to be expected, honestly, it would have been weirder if there were no beasts that inhabited this mountain, Thornback Bears were rather a welcome enemy, he would rather deal with that than something nastier like a group of Steelwinged Skreechers.

As Curtis scaled the mountain the air grew colder, the trees became less and less, he had finally begun to see a possible drinking source, a small stream had formed flowing down from the top of the mountain, it flowed from one stream into another, creating few small waterfalls before gathering into one small mountainside lake.

Curtis followed the stream earlier and it had answered his suspicions about the beasts that lived here. A sleuth of Thornback bears had been in the small lake, drinking their fill before pathing towards the top of the mountain. Curtis had counted 9 bears in total, 7 adult ones with one particularly big member among them, it must be the leader, while there were 2 smaller ones, must be only a few months old if he had to make a guess.

This group of bears was bigger than normal. Usually, there would be 4 or 5 in a group, but with 7 in this one, their habitat must be abundant in food, otherwise, they would keep their number low. And the other part was that for the bears to breed more than their natural number, it meant that there were territory disputes, the bears needed numbers to fight their enemies.

It was both good and bad news for them. The good news was that somewhere in the mountain there was an ample amount of food to be had, and the bad was that there were more beasts in the vicinity of the mountain, and it was something that could threaten Thornback Bears to the point that they had gone out of their natural breeding patterns.

As he moved towards the other side of the mountain to see if he could find out what the Bears were fighting, Silva with a streak of lightning shot down from the sky, blowing up some dust in the process.

"Hey! I finally found you." he opened as he dusted off his vest. "I've been to the top and I did a few round trips, I must tell you its beautiful up there, I also found a place where we can settle," he said. His voice was eager to bring him the news but there was hesitation in his words.

"But?" Curtis probed, having already seen the Thornback bears.

"There are a few monsters up there." Silva sighed, "The area at the top of the mountain is huge, there is more than enough space for us to build a few houses, and still have a bit of land to farm, I already checked, it's pretty fertile, there's a ton of vegetation growing there, more than a few edible plants, and some trees that have some fruits."

"I was wondering how such a thing even happened, usually mountains are pretty harsh environments for greens to grow on."

"You still haven't told me what was dangerous up there." Curtis pointed out.

Silva hesitated, he had already decided in his mind that he would settle the people here, with or without Curtis' permission, the area was pretty suited for setting up a settlement, it was just that they had to drive away the natives.

"There's a few bears up there." Curtis eyed him like a hawk that found its prey. "An-n-nd a few lizards." Silva gulped.

"What did the lizards look like?" Curtis asked. There were only so few predators that would be able to match the Thornback bears. First was the Acid Geckos, a particularly tame breed of lizards, it was usually fine if there were only a few. But if they grow to a considerable number, things get pretty nasty, one small lizard spitting acid was fine, the amount they put out can be considered harmless, but when a hundred of those little buggers worked together, things would get pretty hairy.

The second was the fire breathing ones, again with Thornback bears, they had tough hides, and the Molten alligators were one such predator to the bears, their skin was so hot that you'd find them easily in the dark, they glowed a fiery orange depending on how old the beast was. But you'd usually find them in volcanoes.

And the third was--

"It was a giant snake, it had a sharp blade-like fin, or was it a flipper on its back--"

"Shit." Curtis cursed out loud. It was the most troublesome of the few predators that can stand toe to toe with the Bears. Its razor fins were so sharp that once it had ramped up enough momentum, it could cut through the Bear's thick hide with ease. That had to be the reason they were breeding, they were so threatened that they needed a number advantage to even keep the snake at bay.

"It's a Razorfinned Snake." Curtis named the beast. "It's a rather problematic monster." Curtis sighed.

The Bears could be easily dealt with. But not the snake, they would need to plan a strategy on how to tackle it. Even though it was classed on the same level as the Thornback bears, it was only because there were so few of them that it would be a one in a thousand chance to find one. Even Hjilmar himself had only seen a handful of those things in his old age. And nobody even knew how old the giant was.

"Let's go down the mountain first. Did you map out the area?" Curtis asked. He would need to start planning how to deal with the snake. The two proceeded to go down the mountain with heavy shoulders, they had found a place to stay, they would just need to clear it out first.

~~~

The masked group of riders finally arrived near their destination, they had just come up a hill and got a view of their goal. It was a small town surrounded by spiked logs pointing upright, making a defensive wall around the town. They had just made it here after a lot of difficulties, they had lost 3 members of their team and they didn't even know if it was worth it.

"Sis, was it really worth it to come back here?" the Blue masked person asked, they had left this place 2 years ago. That was the time they awoke their abilities, and instead of staying here, they were sent away to help save others. They didn't want to leave, but their opinions didn't matter. Their leaders were right in a way. They had too many people with powers here. They could go out and save others. Their people were too selfless. And it had rubbed onto them, they themselves would go out of their way to save a person even if it meant that it would inconvenience them. But, that was two years ago, their time away had changed them.

Cyan and Blue were a pair of sisters. They were born in this town, well within its group of people. The town had been moved many times over the course of the war. Until it finally settled in this piece of land, where it was isolated from all sort of fighting, one wouldn't even be able to come here unless they knew where it was.

"It better be, White wouldn't send us here without a reason." the Cyan masked person answered with an edge to her voice.