Origins

Jackpot.

The bear began walking slowly towards Dom. He scurried backwards in fear before falling flat on his ass. Fumbling for a weapon of any kind, he finally found a pocketknife hidden in his jacket. A wash of relief came across his face. Now it was only the matter of opening the damn thing. Oh dear. By now, the bear was right in front of him. It lifted it's arms and the claws came out. Dom struggled to stand up to the bear as he looked for the knife part of the pocketknife. In a sudden, swift movement, the bear swiped at Dom and he went down with a thud. The pocketknife skittered across the floor, set to the nail clippers. Guy didn't even have a chance.

Oh well.

The bear walked back to me and approached my chains.

'Hello, Earth Elemental.'

I blinked a couple times before realizing the bear was talking to me.

"Wait, what?"

'Brace yourself.'

The bear took a step towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head to the side. I heard the breaking of chains and I fell to the cold ground. My legs, unable to support me, buckled and I was caught by him.

'Are you alright, Earth Elemental?' He looked at me inquisitively.

I looked down out of pain.
"I, I need earth." I said weakly.

He nodded and dropped down to all fours.

'Climb on. Men are approaching. We need to get out of here quickly.'

I did as he asked and climbed onto his back. I held on to his sides and rested my head on his brown fur. At that moment, the doors down the hall burst open and six guys swarmed in.

"A bear?" One said.

"Holy shit." The other said.

The bear let out yet another massive roar and I felt his entire body vibrate. Two of the men ran screaming, "IT'S A BEAR! IT'S A FUCKING BEAR!" The other four stayed. The bear charged down the hall, swiping at each man who stood in his way. They all fell with a thud each time.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.
Thud.

He then slowed down as we passed through the doors. I lifted my head up to see where we were. It seemed to be the main room. From that spot, there was a hallway to our left and to the north. I closed my eyes for a minute, trying to sense the closest location of earth. My mind rushed down the left hallway and made a right turn at the first intersection. I was then interrupted by the shouts of men and ringing of alarms.

"Left." I whispered, and the bear instantly obeyed. He ran down the hallway as the ringing of shots being fired echoed through the halls.

"Turn right here."

As we ran down the hall, I looked down each way to find an exit. Is that a...?

"Wait! Go back!"

He turned around and we saw the men charging at us firing round after round. You'd think as the top gang in town, they'd have better aim. I'm just glad they didn't. I looked quickly to my right and saw a large glass window leading to a forest.

Jackpot.

I looked back at the men and then looked down at the bear. He nodded his head and turned to the right. I laid my head down on his fur, bracing for impact. Two seconds later, the bear jumps and we crash through the window, shards of glass and bullets everywhere.

I held on for dear life as he weaved through the forest, outrunning the men and eventually slowing down as the sounds of our escape died down. It seemed like they had given up. The bear was walking at a calm pace now. I sat up to take in our surroundings. Lush green everywhere. I took a deep breath, smelling the crisp air and moist soil around me.

'There's a river up ahead. We should stop up there and rest, Earth Elemental.'

"Okay."

We stopped at the river and I slid off of the bear's back. He went in the water to cool off, while I walked away to find a good spot to reenergize. I came across an oak tree and sat cross legged with my back against it. I began to meditate. My eyes glowed a fierce green. Flowers began to sprout around me as vines rose up from the ground and wrapped around another to form a cage around me. Earth has always been protective of me. I am it's protector against evil, after all. That isn't the only reason of course, it always made me feel at home after my parents died. I felt the energy of the earth rise up into me, and my health was restored. I took a deep breath and let it all go. The vines returned to the ground but I left the flowers, hoping someone will walk by and appreciate them. I walked back to the river to see the bear catching us dinner. I haven't had fish in a while. Sin only ever fed me once a day.

It didn't feel right to me, setting a fire. The wood was dead of course, but it was still a part of the earth. The bear walked back with the fish still flopping around between its jaws. Oh man, Amy would have a heart attack if she saw this now.

After dinner, night fell and the bear and I had a conversation about why he was sent to me and all of that.

'Yes, Earth Elemental.'

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

'I have nothing else to call you.'

"My name is Levi."

'I will call you Levi.'

"Great. What's your name?"

'I do not have one.'

"What? Why not?"

'I do not know. Will you please give me a name?'

"Uh sure. Ummm... How about.. Aspen? Like the tree?"

'Aspen. I like it'

"Hey, wait! Now I want a cool name. Call me Dimitri."

'Yes, Dimitri.'

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I do not like how no one commented on the last chapter. Not one bit. Oh, well.

Ugh I have school starting Friday. So I'm going to try to upload another chapter tomorrow, but if not then this weekend.

KAY THANKS BYEEE

<silverpenguin>