Gresu the Bear

Artist painting of Gresu the Bear after his appearance

Gresu the Bear(pronounced Gray-Zoo), was a mythological cosmic being. He was popularized by the Norse vikings who spread his legacy around. The vikings claimed they had seen Gresu come to them once before, but nobody else had seen it. He was regarded as a myth until the 1100's, where the first official, undisputed sighting of Gresu occurred. This was also the last confirmed sighting of Gresu, as there have been none made known since then.

### Legend

According to the vikings, Gresu was a cosmic being(not a god, but an extraterrestrial being of unimaginable power). He(or she, or neither, or both, as Gresu is a cosmic being not of Earth, he is not confined to gender) has powers that are unimaginable. Gresu is supposedly omnipotent and omniscient. He is everywhere, yet nowhere, at once. He can do anything imaginable, as well as anything that is unimaginable. He knows everything ever. Every ounce of knowledge that one can obtain about the universe, is contained within him, even if it has not happened yet. He knows the past, present, future, and timeline of every decision imaginable. This is almost identical to the description of a god, which of course begs the question, how is Gresu different from a god? The answer to this, according to the vikings, is that Gresu is indifferent to the sufferings of mankind. Gods may throw down plagues in time of disobedience, or promise prosperity as long as they are worshiped properly and their beliefs followed. Gresu however, cannot be prayed to, or rebelled against. Although he has the power to do so, he will not harm mankind in times of anger, or aid them in times of prosperity. Gresu is a neutral observer, he takes interest in the lives of mortal beings all over the universe, despite already knowing everything about them. In this way, Gresu is a cosmic being, and not a god. Gresu is typically depicted as a grizzly bear with armor on, holding a shield and some sort of weapon, earning him the name among the vikings: "Gresu bjørnen" or in English, "Gresu the Bear". They vikings told that one day, Gresu would visit the Earth. He would visit the Earth, not to impose any will of his own, but to merely observe firsthand(although he already knew what would happen) what would happen if a cosmic deity came upon mortal beings of Earth.

### Sighting

The first, and only, undisputed sighting of Gresu was in Norway. The story of the sighting goes as such: Jarl Wiglaf The Warrior of Norway awoke one night to find a bear in armor standing over him. An overwhelming calm passed over him. He instantly knew this was Gresu. Gresu spoke to him and said: "Indeed, it is I who you have speculated much about. Gather those who of great importance. For I will prove who I am." Hearing this, Jarl Wiglaf immediately jumped out of bed, and his couriers sent all around the globe, to contact all of the great world leaders to come see Gresu immediately. Not all the leaders were able to make it to see Gresu, as it took a while for the message to reach them, and by then he was gone. The leaders who did see him however, included Emperor Henry IV, Emperor Chen(this was before the Great Shame), King Someone, Doge Bernard of Venice, and King Louis II, and a few others. Within two weeks they had all gathered in Norway to see Gresu. Gresu was given the Jarl's room to sleep in for as long as he would be there. The leaders were all skeptical, and Gresu spoke to them saying: "I can sense your hesitation. It is wise of you to feel such a way. However it is I. I am known to the great cosmics as "x±Æøß"(nobody was able to understand what he said here, but when asked about it by King Louis II, this is what he wrote), known to you, as Gresu. If my linguistic skills are not enough to convince you, I will allow you each one question, and tell each of you a very small portion of your futures. It will not be enough to change the future, just enough so that you will be believe me." Emperor Henry IV asked why he was a bear. Gresu explained that as a cosmic being, he is formless, but is aware that humans have believed he was a bear for one reason or another. As such he chose to appear as a bear to be familiar to the humans. He then told Emperor Henry IV his future, telling him, "One of your kin will be a bane, a plague, upon mankind and the universe as a whole." King Someone asked how old he was, and Gresu told him that he was older than time itself, so old that the number is inconceivable to human minds. Gresu then told King Someone: "When you perish your kingdom will split in two. You will not be able to verify this truth, but the others will." Emperor Chen asked why he came to visit mankind. Gresu told him that he was visiting all of the mortal races of the universe, not just mankind (this was also the first confirmation mankind had of aliens on other planets, but still have not found where any reside), and that he was doing it to see the emotional implications it would have on the races firsthand, because seeing the possibility in his omniscient mind was not as enriching. He then told Chen that: "A young boy would deliver a plague upon your house. It will not be physical however, rather it shall be moral and social." King Louis II, Doge Bernard of Venice, and some other leaders asked questions as well, but they were of little interest. However, the future he told to Doge Bernard, was that: "Your seed shall be worse than the heat death of a million stars upon your province." He had already spoken to Jarl Wiglaf in private, so once the last question was asked, Gresu vanished into an almost blinding stream of multicolored light and as quickly as he came, he was gone.

### Influence

Gresu's appearance influenced the future from then on out. People now were aware that there was life on other planets, even if they couldn't find them. The world leaders of the time spent years pondering what his cryptic messages of their future could mean. When the prophecies eventually came true, the realness of Gresu's appearance was reinforced, making it even more apparent to historical scholars that Gresu is a real being. Although scientists struggle with this fact, the historical evidence is mostly undeniable and a large part of governmental scientific research is spent trying to discover how Gresu can exist and be omnipotent, as well as what other cosmic beings may exist. It has also made the goal of finding alien life much more real, but so far no inhabited plants have been found. Gresu's also popularized the Norse faith, making it one of the most popular belief systems throughout all of history. However, other than Gresu no other Norse mythological figures have ever been found. This has lead to the theory that Gresu exists outside of Norse mythology, and they just happened to come up with a cosmic being very similar to him, so he appeared. The believers of this theory created a sect of the Norse faith known as Gresuism, believing Gresu to be the one true deity and creator of the universe. Modern historical scholars still debate over whether this event actually happened, but since it is so well documented in the historical writings of multiple nations across the entire globe, most scholars have accepted it as fact. Most religions deny this event however, and since Gresu has never returned, many common people regard it as a myth despite the historical accounts.