Author's Note: I haven't died, and I've delivered the first chapter of the retool by my self-appointed deadline! This chapter is mostly unchanged from last time, but has a couple of improvements, so I'll release the second one too. The second chapter is a third of the old one, with the rest of it being new. The third chapter is completely new, and that's as far as I got, cause I had a load of ideas that I had to write the first few chapters for. For those of you who liked the later chapters, don't worry, I will reconnect to them, and improve them. With that out of the way, I will keep the first few chapters and the notice up until the end of October, just so people know that the fic is in a transition. After that, they will be taken down. Thanks for those who stuck with me and hello to those who are new to the fic! I hope you all enjoy this!

Polished version update: So, I'm going back through the ENTIRE fic and improving it. After a vote on the Discord server, I WILL be incorporating the swear words in here, as well as just ironing out the bigger plotholes and mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.

Chapter 1- Endings are Beginnings

Okay, what happened wasn't my fault. Yes, it was me who persuaded my five other friends to camping alone without adult supervision. No, it wasn't me who decided to go wandering off and find the bear. Right, right, I'm getting ahead of myself. My name's Cade Mason. I'm sixteen years old, about 5 foot 10 and have wild black hair that always does its own thing. I'm into fantasy with touches of sci-fi, strategy games and videogames.

That should be enough about me, time to set the scene. It was late summer, and I had escaped the vile clutches of school, essays and exams! Well, until September. I lived in a small, isolated town the north-east of Montana in North America. If you're a transformers fan, think of Jasper, Nevada, except larger and with more foliage, mountains and rivers. If you aren't, go become a transformers fan then come back.

Sadly, the town I lived in had a power cut, so no videogames. I know what you're thinking. Living without videogames, the horror! Quite true. Even chess and poker became tiring after the third day. No, it wasn't because I kept annihilating anyone who faced my knights and gambled away my entire stash of jelly beans (which we used instead of chips). Okay, it might have been, but I would have had my revenge! What's that? I'm getting off topic again? Oh, sorry.

Anyway, the it was end of day three without power and the boredom levels were reaching fatal. I was at my house with my five friends, who I hung out with so much that they were practically family: Jack, our fearless leader, Sarah, the only one who could sometimes beat me at chess, Mark, our resident poker master and amateur magician, Bob, the strong, sensible one, and Jane, the only one more excited than me about Halo: Infinite. Confession time: I was the second youngest. Sarah, Bob and Jack were 18, Mark was 17 and Jane and I were both sixteen, though I was a few months older than her.

Our not-so-merry band was cleaning out my garage, as we had actually decided to be productive with our time! We all thought was a great achievement. Turns out my family had hidden away some interesting stuff. We managed to find a battered PlayStation One, fifteen dollars "DIBS!", an old bicycle with a bent wheel and a six-man tent. It was the tent that captivated me.

"Guys, we have to use this." I said, holding up my prize. It was in surprisingly good condition too, no rips or tears in its surface.

Jack looked it over, identified it as a tent, then asked "You want us to go camping?"

"Yeah!" I replied with a big grin.

"Why?" Jane asked. "The power could be back on tomorrow, then we can go back to Call of Duty."

"Let's face it" I said. "We're bored out of our minds. Why else are we cleaning out my garage?"

"Meh, I'm for it, as long as we get permission." Bob said. Sarah and Mark looked at each other and shrugged. The two had been a couple ever since they had fought their first battle of Monopoly. Seriously. They bonded over freaking Monopoly. The others and I were still in shock, even eight months later.

"Let's vote on it." Jack decided. "Though if we vote to go, anyone who wants to stay can. Those against, raise your hands."

Jack and Jane raised their hands.

"Those for, raise your hands."

The rest of us raised our hands.

"Four to two." Bob said.

"Are you two going to come?" Sarah asked the losers.

"Yeah, I guess. There's nothing else to do." Jane said.

We all looked at Jack. "Okay, but only because you'd be lost without me!" he joked and we all laughed. We began to talk, then the issue about getting permission first came up, so we dispersed to our respective homes with a rendezvous of the local convenience store.

About an hour later, we reunited in the car park. Surprisingly, we had all been given permission to go. I guess that our parents were tired of us moping around. Mine had even given me fifty dollars to buy snacks, though I insisted that they were either 'supplies' or 'provisions'. Yes, jelly beans were on the list. Would I share? Meh, probably.

After Bob had given us a list of what we needed for a camping trip (gas burner, bottled water, that sort of stuff), we all trekked into the store and pooled our collected money. In the end, we got what we required, with some extra bonuses like a solar powered phone charger and Swiss army knife. I was put in charge of those two items and the tent, seeing as it was technically mine. Seeing as it was afternoon, we decided to wait until the next day before going out. However, we still hadn't picked where we were going to camp. In the end, we decided upon Glacier National Park after we saw its breathtaking scenery and 4.8-star rating on Google. Trusty Google, never letting us down, even if we had to use our phones to use it. Then we had to figure out how to get to the Park.

Eventually, we found Sarah's dad and asked to borrow his pickup truck for the trip. Again, we were surprised that he said yes, though he did make it clear that he only did it provided that Sarah was diving. I think there was also a sparkle of admiration in his eyes as he looked us over. We all knew that our parents all went camping when they were our age, so perhaps we triggered some nostalgia? Whatever it was, it got us a ride, so nobody complained. The sun setting, the six of us left for our homes, anticipating the next day. If only we knew what was coming, we wouldn't have been so cocky.

I woke late the next morning. Hearing honking outside, I hurriedly got dressed, grabbed my phone, the tent and the rucksack that I had packed the night before and hurried to my front door, pilfering a banana on my way out. Peeling it, I found everyone else in the Sarah's Dad's pickup. Taking a bite, I threw my bags into the back and climbed in the front. I wasn't sure what model it was, but damn it was cool. Unfortunately, I got stuck in the back row.

Jack was up front with Sarah and Mark and said "Onwards, to adventure!"

We all cheered as Sarah drove off and Mark turned on the radio. It took most of the day to reach Glacier National Park, with several toilet stops. Fortunately, none of us got carsick, as I might have stolen the truck and gone on alone if one of them had hurled. Four in the afternoon revealed an absolutely stunning campsite. We were on a ridge that overlooked a massive blue lake ringed by snow-capped mountains clad in green conifers, reminding me of the Lord Of The Rings films. If Rivendell existed, it would definitely fit right in here. Someone whistled in appreciation.

We started unpacking and setting up the tent. Turns out, Jane had brought a radio/CD player and she put on one of my favorite songs, Ed Sheeran's Castle on the Hill, which we all began to sing along too. Good move, Jane. Eventually we got everything set up correctly and sat on the edge of the ridge, eating sandwiches and watching the sun seemingly sink into the lake. Orange beams of light streamed over the water and the clouds, dousing us in a warm glow. It was absolutely beautiful and to this day, I haven't seen many better landscapes. Yes, even after what happened to me, which we'll talk about next chapter.

The next few days followed without incident. We went hiking through the forests, took a drive down to the lake and swam and told stories and jokes. Every day, our parents called us to ask if we were having a good time, say they missed us and informed us that the power still hadn't been fixed. For once, we didn't mind. This was good enough for us. Jack remarked about building a cabin here when we were older, and I couldn't help but agree. This scenery just took your breath away.

It wasn't until the fifth day when we had a problem. Mark, Sarah and Jack had decided to go off together, leaving me with Jane and Bob. We were playing a game of chess, the two of them taking me on together. I was winning, obviously. I don't say that because I'm arrogant, it's just because I had much more practice at the game than they did. It was when the others returned that I knew that there was a problem. They were panting and out of breath, Jake missing his backpack which held a lot of our food. Not good.

Mark managed to choke out "Bear… big one… We dumped the food… to distract it. We need to go… now."

We all nodded. This was serious. A fully grown bear could make short work of us, no problem. After moving the Swiss army knife to my pocket (yeah, a Swiss army knife versus a bear, no contest), I shouldered my backpack and began to disassemble the tent with Bob and Jane. Absently, part of my mind wondered how a bear had found them. We had taken special care to clean up after ourselves and none of us smoked, but it could have been the scent of our sweat or something. Perhaps it was just chance. This was a national park, after all. Wildlife was free to come and go as it pleased.

By now we had taken out all of the tent poles and were folding up the canvas. Then we heard the bear roar and froze. That was one hungry animal out there.

"Come on guys, let's not get ourselves on the menu." I said, half confidently.

We would be fine. Except we weren't The tent was folded in its bag with the poles as we began to fill the truck with our stuff. Jack was on lookout duty as the rest of us hurriedly packed.

We were almost ready to go. Almost. Sarah was on the edge of the camp, reaching for the gas burner as the bear showed, uncontrollable hunger showing in its eyes. Jack yelled and Sarah screamed as the bear charged her, but the others were too far away to do anything. The nearest person to Sarah was… me. Then the stupidest of stupid ideas came to me. I ran toward Sarah, who was frozen in shock and tackled her to the side moments before the bear reached her. We scrambled up as the bear slowed, turned back to us and roared.

"GET TO THE TRUCK!" I yelled, realizing the bear had now switched targets to me.

The other four were at the truck as Sarah jumped in and turned the key in the ignition. The pickup started and the others yelled at me to get in. Hmm… nice, safe truck or angry bear? Hard choice. I did the sensible thing and ran for the truck, the bear charging at me.

I was almost there as I felt teeth wrench through my left ankle. 'Did it hurt?' you ask. Yeah, a lot. It felt like my whole leg was on fire as the bear dragged me away. I managed to yell out "GO!" to my friends and spin around onto my backpack. Frantically reaching into my pocket, I found the Swiss army knife and pulled it out, unsheathing the knife part in some desperate hope to defend myself. I heard the truck start moving as the bear leaned over me. I knew I was dead, whatever I did. Even if I managed to kill the thing, the wound in my ankle would not be patched up before I bled out.

Still, I wanted to live. And with that desire came a fierce burst of energy, courtesy of adrenaline. If I was going down, I was going down swinging.

Jabbing the knife into the bear's neck with an angry yell, I kicked at it with my good leg. It roared from the pain in its neck, blood trickling from the wound, but my kick didn't even budge it. After all, it must have been tons heavier than I was. But that didn't stop me from trying to defend myself, trying to grab the (now pissed) bear's jaws and hold them away from my throat.

I screamed in pain as I felt claws rake across my stomach, warm, red goop spreading from the wound. Blood. My blood.

My battered body began to shut down from pain and intensive blood loss. At least I managed to save the others. My last thought before the bear ripped my guts out was that the Percy Jackson books made fighting large creatures much easier than it actually was. Oh yeah, and that Mom and Dad would ground me for life. Then I lost consciousness, passed on, and became an easy dinner. Lucky me!

Edit, as of 19/03/2020:

I had a few problems with this chapter, the most prominently that Cade just let what happened to him happen, without even trying to fight back. That needed to change, so the last few paragraphs will have had some new stuff added to them. As for the other issues... they aren't bugging me, so I'm gonna leave them be for now.