Keeper's Oath

Chapter 3: The Beginning of Darkness

The forest was dark. There were stars above that couldn't even light up the shadowed trees. Tendrils swirled around the trees and their branches. It snapped the trees in half as if they were mere sticks.

Hope was laying in the middle of a clearing. The noises woke her up. Her blue eyes were wide open, she shot up to a sitting position.

What was this place? This had to be a nightmare, she got to her feet. The tendrils of shadow noticed her. Like snakes, they slithered over to her grabbing at the ankles. When she reached down trying to get free, Hope's arms were surrounded by the tendrils. Her wrists were pulled up from trying to free herself.

Help! She screamed inside of her head. Turning her head left to right, she tried to see something else. There was nothing but the dark forest.

"Help!" She finally screamed loud as she could which hurt her throat.

A growl echoed deep within the forest. The tendrils of shadows froze as if to wait to see what was going to happen next. It didn't take them long to continue terrorizing Hope. They wrapped around her to claim her as their meal.

The growl came closer now. This time the tendrils of shadow began to loosen their grip on Hope. They were wrapped around her face, she could only see from one eye. A pale shape appeared from the darkness of the forest. Hope could make out a bear that faded in and out of existence.

It was then the tendrils unwrapped themselves from Hope as the bear rushed out of the forest into the clearing. Hope fell on her back, the bear hovered above her as if it was protecting her from the shadows.

The bear growled fiercely at the shadows. Moments later, the being stepped away from Hope to let her have room to breath. It started to walk away when Hope sat up.

"Wait, what was that?" Hope felt suddenly silly talking to a bear. If this was a nightmare or something... talking to a bear would seem normal. Right? She asked herself, starting to question herself.

To her surprise, the bear stopped to its tracks. It turned its head towards Hope. The dark eyes stared at Hope with intelligence that spoke to her it knew more than a regular bear. Again, Hope reminded herself, this was a dream... just a nightmare.

She recalled being with Peter earlier that evening and seeing all the people disappear. This was the cause of it. It was sure to be it. That was the reason behind it. After the three had gotten home, Hope had gone to bed and read a few chapters of the current book she was reading.

The brown bear turned around fully to face Hope. She was taken aback with them suddenly taking a few steps towards her again.

The brown haired teenager held her hands in front of her. She hoped that the dream bear would understand to leave her alone. Instead, they sat down clawing at the ground looking up at Hope.

"You are safe now." A deep voice came from the bear when it opened its mouth slightly. "They won't get you while I'm around."

"Who were 'they'?" She asked them tilting her head while being shocked it actually talked. The bear's voice was kind sounding but still full of power and authority. "How come you are able to talk?

The bear gave a hearty chuckle. It stood up on its four paws again and walked towards Hope. The two had few feet between them, Hope wasn't as scared of the bear anymore. Though her heart was pounding. The forest smelled different, it wasn't the usually forest smell she was used to. It was then when Hope noticed that it was summer time. The temperature wasn't hot or cold.

"The shadow that the corruption caused. It was released into the world. There will be a lot more it will do before it is satisfied. It craves sacrifices." The bear rumbled shaking his head side to side. He glanced at Hope with a gleam in his eye. "This is a dream, is it not? You could even have a talking flower here or dancing monkeys."

A talking flower...? Hope repeated in her mind confused. This didn't feel like a dream... it felt too real. The tendrils that surrounded her made sure of it. Maybe this was one of the dreams that people at school tried to do every now and then. Lucid dreaming? She wasn't sure if that was the name of it.

The ground rumbled beneath their feet and paws. The bear got up quickly. It slashed one of its paws across the space between them. A starry sky appeared in front of them. Hope looked at it while curiously starting to place her finger through it. It looked like a watery sky that was sparked with stars.

"Quick! Jump through it, Hope!" The bear growled but moments later, Hope felt a push from behind. She realized that the bear had moved behind her to give her a push.

Hope felt like she was falling in the darkness. Her arms were flailing around trying to grab onto something but there was nothing.

Just darkness that swallowed her whole.

Quickly sitting up on her bed, Hope noticed that she was breathing heavy. She had sweat against her face. The odd smell of the forest in her nightmare clung onto her senses. The bear's voice was still in her head telling her to jump.

He had known her name... she suddenly realized which made her more alert. At her night table beside her, the time read it was just past three in the morning. Not feeling tired anymore, Hope stood up from her bed to stretch.

She looked outside to see that it was snowing. The snowflakes were coming down hard with the wind howling through her window. The snow covered most of her window slamming the tiny snowflakes against it. The only light that was coming in her window was from the pale street lamp near the road next to the house. She noticed that it flickered a tiny bit.

The teenager wanted to go and wake Eve up but thought against it. It was just a silly dream... it was nothing. Though even with her telling that over and over again... Hope felt like she was being protected. Not being able to reason with the feeling, she tried not to think about it. Instead, she went straight back onto her bed. The covers were pulled right over her face so she didn't see the flickering street lamp which would have freaked her out more.

While Hope was falling asleep in her warm bed. There was a shape underneath the tree in the house's yard. It was of a bear that could only faintly be seen. The bear gazed up at the window where Hope slept. The snowflakes went right through him.

A smile or what looked like a smile appeared on the bear's muzzle.

"You are safe, little one. I will make sure of that."