Bear-Bear

A Chapter by J Cat

How did the mysterious Derecho escape death at just four years old?

Nobody really knows what happened. Some say it was the start of the apocalypse while others blame aliens or suggest this is the afterlife. A lot of humans said it was the government. Me, I would think I'd just gone crazy and I was imagining everything and Id only believed it to be real, but in actuality, everything was fine. However, I know the truth is what what I everyone else doesn't want to believe in because I grew up only hearing stories of how Earth used to be. I find it difficult to picture an Earth without demons, monsters, witches, and other such dark beings.
"Hey!" A boy sitting on the opposite side of the bonfire exclaimed, awakening me from my thoughts. "You're Derecho! I recognize you from the drawings by the Schmidt Clan!"
Everyone stared at me as I finished my last bite of baboarog. I was really hoping that the travelers would offer me a sleeping bag or tent until morning, but now that they knew who I was, there wasn't a chance that they'd let me stay."Thank you for the food." I got up to leave when a blonde girl began to give me a suspicious look.
"Wait just a minute, Derecho, there's a huge reward for the clan that catches you." I looked in her eyes and saw desperation and greed. "You're wanted dead or alive," she finished. All the people slowly reached for their weapons with their dirty, rough hands, hoping that if they were slow, they wouldn't scare me off. It was an insult to be compared to a dumb animal.
"Which reward do you seek?" I asked the humans. "Because if you deliver me to one enemy, another will be seeking revenge on the people who caught me but did not turn me over to them. Do you understand?" I paused a moment to watch their confused gazes as they glanced at one another, as if they were unsure that they wanted to mess with me. "My enemies are creatures with powers that could massacre your people in a fit of rage or jealousy. Don't give the demons that opportunity, believe me, they would enjoy spilling your blood far too much."
The humans shuffled around and whispered their thoughts to one another. Their clothing was old and worn, the men's faces were unshaved, as were most of the women's legs. Teeth were rotten or missing, and the elderly looked sick. The gravity of this clan's healthy was deeper than any that I had seen before and felt pity for them. I wouldn't do a damn thing to help them or else they would become dependent on me. Besides, I had no time to stop and help these peasants.
"She's right," yelled another boy from a different circle, "I heard stories about her and the demons."
"I know the tale of how she refused a Demon Lord's love and escaped his wrath."
People from all over the camp barked stories about me.
"The Demoness of Beauty is jealous of Derecho's looks and wants revenge!"
"Some say the Lady Derecho can be seen with eyes the color of moonlight." Lady Derecho? That was a new title.
"Not to mention," I cut in, "I stole magic from a powerful wind witch." Everyone became silent and still. They all looked up at me in awe. "I can fly," I added with a playful tone. "Would you like to see?"
"Da." The deep Russian voice had sent shivers down my spine. Could it really be-?
I turned to see Adrik, a royal warrior from the Russian Empire. The last time I saw him, I was four and watching him kill my only friends. He was six years older than us, so we stood no chance of survival. Did he remember me?
"What's a lonely Russian doing way out here?" I said with a cool smile as the people now behind me started to quiver with fear and plan their escape routes.
" Special Ops. You going to show me flying or no?" He had the same menacing voice as the last time we met, but extraordinarily deeper.
"Of course," I said, knowing exactly how the already suffering clan felt. "But first, a story, hm?" I kept careful eye contact as I walked over to him.
"You're all talk." He spat in the grass in front of me And began toward the log that I was just previously sitting on. "Give me food!" He demanded while I took a seat next to him. Immediately served food, Adrik began to eat like a pig.
"Derecho?" Came a small child's voice. "Is it true you were cursed when you were a child that makes you blind sometimes?"
"Aye," I said. "At random times in life, I go blind for a few hours." When I saw the child who asked, I saw that she was blind. "But I'm just as good of a fighter without my sight as I am with it." The little girl smiled to herself and hugged a teddy bear that looked like it was about to crumble into pieces.
"How did you steal the powers of a wind witch?" Adrik stopped chomping away to listen for a reply.
"That, love, is a secret." I chuckled. "I'd like to tell you all a story from my past.
"There was a happy family of three," I began, "A man, a woman, and their daughter. They lived in peace for a period of time and soon the woman was pregnant again. All their friends- which included gnomes, fairies, trees, and other creatures- were extremely happy for the human family and wanted to throw a celebration party.
But the Russian Empire needed to expand and when the Russian warriors came across the prospering home in the hillside, they burned it from the inside out, with the pregnant woman and her large belly locked inside. That same sunshine filled morning, the man took his daughter with him to go fishing. When he saw the smoke, he knew what had happened. So, he took his daughter and tried to flee."
I paused to catch my breath. Adrik looked at me with the same hatred that had always been in his eyes. I continued my story.
"The man was caught, however, as was the daughter. They were taken to a prison in the Russian Empire and were separated. The man was forced into hard labor and the daughter was put into a cell with others her own age. From there, she would have a trial to determine if she could grow up and act as a natural Russian.
"There was one problem. The prisons were filled up and cells were needed to hold captured monsters.the children too young to be working were ordered to be slain. During the weeks on death row, Russian guards became less cautious and would speak in their native tongue. One little girl recognized the word 'boris' which means 'bear' in the English language. She began to say bear every time she saw a Russian. That's why they gave her the name Bear-Bear. They would talk to her and play with her through the bars of the cell which made the other children back away in fear. They loved Bear-Bear."
I looked at Adrik again. His back was straightened up now so that he was a full head taller than me. Now he looked down at me with more hatred than I thought was possible to be within one human being. At least he then remembered who I was.
"So when the day came for the execution of Bear-Bear's cell, the Russian guards couldn't stomach it. They made a young Russian warrior in training do it. As Bear-Bear watched her only friends die, she felt the wind pick up, and a hand on her shoulder. The boy, Adrik, turned to slaughter the beloved Bear-Bear. The wind had a different idea. It picked the girl up and carried her out of the cell through a small window ten feet above the cell floor. Adrik the murderer screamed in frustration and Bear-Bear mourned her lost friends and family."
I softly held Adrik's face in my hands. "This is twice now, Adrik, that I've escaped from you." My large and elegant wings were out in the same moment that Adrik drew his sword. By the time he attempted at attack, I was already out of reach in the sky. He swore all the things he possibly could in Russian and I just laughed. "They say you went mad!" I teased as I circled above him. "Because your first successful runaway was a four-year-old!"
"Come back and fight, coward!" He yelled back.
"I would love to, old friend, but I have an agenda I must keep up with. A fight that I absolutely cannot miss tomorrow." I circled him once more. "But I promise you that we will duel one day. Until then, love, don't bother tracking me!"
I looked back once after I flew away, and saw not a look of hatred, but one of a curious fashion. He naturally looked evil with dark hair and cat-like eyes the color of baby grass. He was a handsome German who grew up in the care of the Czar's sister. He had pale skin and his edgy looks only made most women more intrigued than frightened. Too bad they don't know what a monstrous murderer he is.
"Hey, Derecho!" Nana, a good fairy friend of mine, said scaring the hell out of me. "Was that story true?"
"Yes, Nana," I said trying to slow my heart beat, "The story I just told is true."
"Poor you." She said with sincerity. "But I like the name Bear-Bear so-"
"Nana?" I interrupted with a warm voice.
"Uh, yeah?" She said with her big pink eyes looking at me with her head tilted.
"I need you to follow that Russian warrior, okay? His name is Adrik Romanov. He is 22 years of age. Technically, he's German, but he grew up Russian." I tried to think of what little else I knew about him to tell Nana. "He loves ice-cream."
"Anything for you, Derecho!" She said cheerfully before taking off to be my spy.
A few hours later, I came near to my destination. The land of Lord Epemetheus, a Demon Lord of fire. I landed in a small clearing of the dense Lupis Forest. In the morning, I'd have to travel the short mile from here to the gates that allow humans to cross into the land. Demons and other dark entities could travel freely into the land as they wanted, but couldn't always escape.
I made my wings invisible and tried to appear as a helpless girl lost in a large wood far from home. Humans could travel in if they desired, but they, more often than the demons, were imprisoned within Lord Epemetheus' gates for the remainder of their lives.