Connected directly to the tunnels between worlds, there are four lands. In the cold snowy land of Elcon, there happen to be many hidden and not so hidden crevices and sinkholes. These often perilous passages lead to the underground of Elcon, which teems with life, mainly because it isn’t ludicrously cold.

Not that there aren’t plenty of surface dwellers. Lunatics.

Now, it is very common for there to be towns, cities, fortresses, villages and other assorted abodes around these holes, as they are the most reliable way of going from the surface to the underground… as much as anything is reliable in Elcon. You could find a hole one day only to find a mountain the next day you look for it.

The land seems to have a capricious mind of its own.

Now, in one of these slightly more reliable holes, there was the Sunfollow Tower! Not perhaps the most important of places, but it was the home of the Hairburn Bear Clan!

The tower was actually just carved out from the sides of the hole. As for the Hairburn Bear Clan, well once they were mostly bears with a few other beings, but due to unfortunate circumstances they all became jams. You know, fruit preserves. As opposed to jellies. Well, there were probably a few jellies too.

The hole that the Sunfollow tower was built into actually went far below the tower itself, descending into fathomless abyss. Naturally, the clan had watchmen to keep an eye on this abyss. Things have a tendency of coming out of such things, whatever dimension you reside in. Often they aren’t terribly pleasant.

Two of these watchmen were lazing about, not taking their job terribly seriously. Which they should have done, considering that they were now adorable tasty jam bears rather than moderately acceptable tasting dangerous meat bears.

Their names were Doal and Rohn. Doal was a big green jam bear with what was actually a whole slice of fruit, he had a few lumps too. He couldn’t really keep much of his form apart from his head. He didn’t say it to anyone but he was strangely proud of his slice of fruit. He thought it made him look handsome.

Rohn was red and yellow and suspiciously seemed to have no issues in holding his form, which was that of a bear’s. He didn’t have any pulpy lumps or even a bit of rind.

They both leaned over the edge of a battlement, staring into the abyss. Rohn firmly grasping his lantern-spear (a spear with a lantern at the end, the top of which had the spearhead), Doal had lazily shoved his spear into his own body.

Rohn leaned dangerously far over the lip of the battlement.

“Say, Doal, what do you reckon, you think that hole really goes to another world?”

Doal idly glanced down, an then spat out a bit of rind, watching it fall spinning into the darkness.

“Some of the elders think so don’t they? I wouldn’t like to find out. You wanna jump in and check?” he asked.

Rohn gulped uneasily.

“No thanks, I like life here just fine, even if we are all jams now”

Doal sloshed a bit and gave Rohn an odd look.

“You’re a jelly though” He said.

“What? No, I’m no jelly. I’m a jam! How could I be a jelly? Aren’t you just uh… jelly that I don’t have any fruit-lumps? I’m just more refined!”

Doal frowned.

“Pretty sure jellies don’t have lumps, a-yup. Actually, what are you saying more refined? Having bits and pieces makes you look better. All the ladies love a guy with lot of pulp!”

Rohn spluttered. “What nonsense, there’s nothing a woman likes better than a smooth bear who can keep his form!”

“Ah, that’s another reason why yer a jelly bear Rohn”

“What?”

“Jellies is all firm and stuff. Not like a jam”

Rohn silently considered the possibility that he was actually a jelly and not a jam.

“C-could it be… I’m really a jelly?”

“That’s how it is” Doal nodded sagely.

“What am I going to do? I’m a jelly Doal! I’m a jelly!”

Backing away from his panicking companion, Doal did the best shrug he could manage, since he didn’t have shoulders.

“I don’t see what the deal is Rohn. Plenty of jellies in the clan”

“No, no, no, you don’t understand, I can’t be a jelly!”

“Why not? Not like you can help it Rohn”

“I don’t want to be a jelly bear”

“It really isn’t that a big deal”

“This changes everything”

The watch of the two bears continued on, dominated by silence and Rohn occasionally muttering in disbelief. It was all very awkward. Daol tried his best to never end up on the same shift as Rohn after that.