7 Elements of Horror

Knight of the Night

It was quiet in the little girl's bedroom, save for the occasional rustle or shuffle. She was sound asleep, certain that the noises were just the house settling. It was what her parents had told her, after all. And since she'd never once seen, or been hurt by, a monster, she believed them! But it wasn't necessarily that her parents were telling the truth. Instead, the girl had one incredible protector that kept the monsters at bay every night.

Her stuffed panda, Peter, spent every night by her side, but while she slept, he was awake, keeping silent watch over her.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you!" he promised, patting the sleeping child with a soft, small paw. He smiled at her before turning a grimmer gaze back towards the closet. There was a lot of rustling coming from there tonight.

The bear closed his paw around a plastic sword the little girl owned. It was a bit big for him, since he was only a stuffie, but in this world, size didn't matter. As soon as the monster emerged from the closet, magic would come to life and the bear would be able to use the sword as if it had been custom made for him!

And this was a routine the bear had down pat! It was his sole duty and purpose as the child's toy to be her protector as well. That's what all teddy bears (and similar creatures) were for! Peter spent every night keeping a faithful watch over his sleeping charge. Sometimes, the nights passed quietly. Other times, the monsters would attack. Regardless, Peter was always ready!

"So come on, big guy, come on!" Peter whispered, slowly rising on his hind paws and grasping a little tighter at the sword. There was still only the occasional shuffle or rattle, but Peter knew that this meant that something was coming. It was not just the house settling. Something was slowly making its way into their world, and it was up to Peter, the Knight of the Night, to fend it off.

But again, this was routine for him. This was his lifestyle! He wasn't just prepared, he'd been born for this! Perhaps to some, the thought of having to possibly fight monsters every single night was terrifying, but to him, it was exciting! It's what he did! He was a protector! A Knight of the Night! So while a human may have trembled in fear, Peter trembled in excitement. It was almost time, and he was ready!

At last, the closet swung open. What came out looked like a giant snake, except its face was skull with some rotting flesh still stuck on it, and a single eye. It was a hideous thing, something Earth had never seen before, but Peter only narrowed his beady eyes and raised his sword.

"Avast!" he growled softly. "Do you dare challenge me to battle? Run while you can! This is my territory, and my human! And you will not touch, take or harm anything that is mine. Or I will destroy you! Do you understand me!?"

The only reply he got was a growling moan as the skull suddenly shot towards him, the snake had struck. But Peter was swift to swing back, batting the creature's head away with his sword. He growled at it again before running to the edge of the bed and jumping with all his might.

He landed on the snake's scaly neck and managed to hang on because the scales were not smooth or even. Instead, they were jagged. They felt more like strange clumps and growths than scales! But rather than waste time trying to figure out what they were, Peter began to hack and slash at the creature's exposed flesh with his sword.

Once upon a time, it had only been a piece of shiny plastic, and even now, it didn't look any different, but it managed to do damage on the monster's thick hide. Peter left gnashes in it, chipping away at the "scales". The creature rumbled and growled in pain, thrashing around. It managed to throw Peter off of its back. He went flying, crashing into the wall on the opposite side of the bedroom. He hit with a soft thump and slid down.

"Oh, so that's how you like to play it, huh?" he mumbled, slowly dragging himself to his feet and stretching a little to fix his fur and fluff. He was not injured, but being slammed against a wall hadn't exactly felt nice.

But after he was done taking a quick inventor of himself, he ran back across the room and scooped up his fallen sword along the way. At the same time, the monster began snaking towards the sleeping child. It raised its skull high in the air above her, as if about to strike down.

"Oh no you don't!" Peter growled. "You stay away from my kid!" Then he managed to hack at a part of the snake that was sliding against the ground. Once again, the snake gargled in pain. It whipped away from the human to face the teddy bear.

"Yeah! That's right! It was me! I did it!" Peter taunted grimly before taking another strike at the snake's body. "This is between you and me! So pick on someone your own size! You leave that girl out of this, you hear me? She's not part of this!" His strikes became harder and faster, fueled by protective rage. The snake twitched in anger before taking a strike at him.

Peter managed to duck and roll out of the way in the nick of time, the snake slamming its skull into the floor.

"Ha ha!" Peter laughed in triumph and raised his sword. The moonlight glittered off the shining blade. He truly looked like a Knight of the Night! Then, he got a brilliant idea! As soon as the snake raised its head from the floor and turned to look at him again, he used the moon's powerful beams to blind his opponent. The snake hissed in surprise, and maybe pain, and Peter took the opportunity to charge at him again.

The battle carried on until just before sunrise when Peter finally managed to use the bed to jump high enough to come swinging back down and beheading the snake in one smooth strike. The creature's head had been low to the ground, Peter having tricked it into thinking he was under the bed. In reality, he'd been on top. It only took one powerful jump and one powerful swing to behead the monster. Its body then slithered backward back into the closet, its head rolling after it. The door shut and then reopened. The snake was gone.

"Ah, well, that was another job well done!" Peter sighed in satisfaction, setting the sword down and climbing back on the bed. He stretched and yawned contentedly, in very high spirits after his latest victory. He shot the child another smile.

"There we go, buddy, I promise you're safe now! I got rid of all the scary monsters for ya!" he said, patting her head with his paw again.

Then he nestled under the blankets and into her arms, sighing contentedly once more. There would be other nights with other monsters, for sure, and they came in from all over, sometimes even from the child's own nightmares! But for now, in the last couple hours before dawn, Peter just wanted to curl up and rest and relax, basking in his victory.

He wasn't tired, per se, since stuffed toys didn't really need sleep, but it sure felt nice to lie down beside the one he loved after a nice, long battle with a monster! The Knight of the Night had done his duty and protected his princess. Now, he was ready to join her in her final dream before it was time to wake up.

AN: Based off any image of a teddy bear protecting a sleeping child (you can even google that phrase to find what I'm talking about).

Peter is also a Webkinz panda I've had for 13ish years. He's even with me right now!