While you were asleep

The guardians guard while you sleep, defenders of night story. Co Author and Editing - PhoenixDown

Little Jimmy slept a sound sleep; lost in his peaceful dreams, he was oblivious of the obvious darkness that surrounded him, ready to grasp him by his little throat and snap it like a twig. It hovered above him in the form of undecipherable vapors of cloudy black smoke, marveling over the sweet tender flesh of the boy it was going to devour, like the countless times it had done before.

It attacked our children because they were the most vulnerable, the easiest of the targets -easily frightened and therefore easy prey for the creature of the dark. We had quickly become aware of its presence, and we knew that it was something we had to deal with before it extinguished our race.

We never knew what it was, we just knew what it wanted and what it wanted was us, for food. It feasted on us, on our dreams and on our fears. The more we came to learn about it, the more powerful and vicious it became, hence we had to find a way to quell the creature, but we were afraid. We were afraid of a monster which we came to call... the Boogeyman.

"Sleep child, sleep. Don't let the boogeyman get you,"  the mothers said to their children in fear that the boogeyman would attack, which it did. There was no stopping it; mothers wailed and fathers sobbed, for their precious children would be mangled at night no matter how much they protected them, or tried to at least... Once a mother stayed awake all night holding her child and in the morning her child was dead. She had seen no one coming and heard no one leaving, but her kid lay their breathless come morning.

So it went on. It went on and on for years, until the birth of a little baby girl, within the family of the Ursus clan. Martimus, the baby girl's father and head of the clan, named her Tedre. The previous kids had all been killed by the Boogeyman, but not Tedre. Little did they know, but Tedre was the supreme gift - her birth would lead to a solution. She had shiny black eyes, which looked like tiny black diamonds floating in a small pond of milk. 

Like the rest of the parents, Maritimus was worried that his baby would be killed by the monster. No child survived more than one night, so Tedre's mother, Ursula, asked Martimus to take her child to the temple of the Ursus clan immediately.

"Take her to the temple, pray to the gods and ask them to protect Tedre." Urusla told Maritimus.

Maritimus took the little girl and placed her in a little pouch he had made from the fur of the Gmork wolf, which he had hunted in the forests of Knamurak. He started for Bear mountain, on top of which was the temple of Ursus clan. It was a dreadful day with snow covering the path, making the journey even harder for Maritimus.

"The gods are testing us, Tedre," he said her as he looked at her, the way a father looks at his newborn baby. Her small angelic face gave him strength to rise and keep walking, to keep climbing the difficult terrain, until the two finally reached the top of the mountain, ironically as the sun began to set. The temple of Ursus was a cave. Maritimus entered the cave and lit fire to his torch, walking deeper into the cave where the god Ursus rested.

Upon reaching the idol of Ursus, which was a big black stone bear, he placed Tedre on the stone ledge and prayed for his daughter's protection.

"I leave her to you. Please protect her. Oh mighty god Ursus, the king of bears, our protector and king of this mountain."

From the darkness, behind the stone idol, a small furry bear emerged. Its eyes were made of black opal, and it had little fat legs and a funny looking demeanor. It walked towards Maritimus on its two thick and fluffy legs like a human would walk, upright, and it growled and snarled, but to be honest, it sounded more cute than anything. It looked and sounded underwhelming to say the least, but it emanated overwhelming strength.

It then hopped onto the stone ledge and looked at little Tedre with amusement. Then it shifted its gaze to Maritimus.

"Why should I protect her?" it asked Maritimus.

"Because she is the last of our clan. The last child of the Ursus people, and if her life is taken our name will eventually vanish and with it so will yours. Protect her and she will lead our clan and take your name forward," Maritimus said with tears in his eyes.

The bear thought for sometime in silence, looking at Tedre. “I am your only hope and you are mine,” the bear thought to himself. Martimus knew he had convinced the bear that her protection was necessary, but he sat in silence as well, waiting for the tiny bear's response.

"If she fails in taking my name forward, I will kill her," it warned before finally agreeing to protect it.

"But no human should know about me; no human can know that I am Ursus. So you will speak about this with no one." It then became stiff and the life rushed out of it, and just like that it had become inanimate and stuffed, lying alongside Tedre in the pouch.

Maritimus agreed to Ursus' conditions and returned back to his village. It was already dark so he went to his hut and handed the baby, along with the little bear, to Ursula.

"What is this?" Ursula asked Maritimus.

"It's" he hesitated to say that it was actually in fact Ursus the great god bear. "... Tedre's bear. It will protect her." he said.

Ursula understood that this was the gift of Ursus, so she asked nothing else. The only thing she could do was believe in it, so they slept and in the morning, miraculously, the child was alive and well. The next day passed and the child was still unhurt and then the next week, and the next month and then slowly years passed. Tedre grew fond of the little furry companion, unaware as to why she was so attached to it.

When some one asked her who this little thing was? She would reply in her sweet little childish voice. "I am Teddy and this is Teddy bear." 

Over time, she became famous as the kid that outlived the Boogeyman. People came over from far off countries to pray to her for protection for their child.

Maritimus asked Ursula to sew from it's fur small imitations of the bear and they would give it to the people who visited them naming them Teddy Bears and soon the killings stopped. People started making replicas of the bear in their own homes. As the years passed, its origins were forgotten, along with the Boogeyman. Thus, fulfilling the condition that no one shall know about the great god bear Ursus and still his name through Tedra's name would be propagated to the entire world and loved by all.

Little Jimmy's mom had also brought a new teddy bear for him for Christmas, which was packed nicely and kept under the Christmas tree, but Jimmy did not know this and neither did the Boogeyman. When it tried to reach from beyond its darkness with its ugly appendages, it was stopped by a little furry paw which made almost no sound when it landed on the edge of the bed. Holding the appendages and ripping it out of its cloudy body.

The cloudy body now hardened to form a huge monster with a single arm protruding from its stomach, which was attached to wings that looked like a bat's wing. This abomination flapped around the boy and each time it would leap towards the boy the little furry bear would stop it and they engaged in this dissension until the early morning when the Boogeyman gave up.

"I will come again tomorrow night and the night after until one day when you will not be here and then again I will get what I want. " it sneered as it pointed towards little Jimmy.

"Well then you will have to wait forever for that."  the furry toy said to the Boogeyman with a victorious smile in its face. The Boogeyman disappeared into the darkness behind the closet while the toy cramped to little Jimmy's side.

Jimmy woke up early that morning, he was sure he had heard some one speak at night in his room and when he saw the little toy he assumed that it must be his mom and dad who had put it there, with a joyous smile he grabbed the toy close to his heart.

"I love my Teddy Bear" he shouted with excitement.

Little Jimmy's mom in the other room heard the voice of Jimmy from the other room.

"Honey, I think Jimmy opened the presents early." she said to her husband.

He replied, "It's OK, dear. It's his teddy bear."

Reviews

[Brokensoul]

How could you write so well I cannot fathom. Who gives a thought about that fluffy little thing stacked somewhere in our cupboards or tossed on the bed. To young people they are just cute b'day or V-day gifts.The 'Mighty Ursus' God if there is one surely will be happy. Imaginative and inspiring. power to you.

[New Theory]

Thanks so much for the review Sonashree :) . I love fantasy genre and so you will see most of my work will be this way. I am glad you liked it. As a writer though I have a lot to learn and I am with your help.

[PhoenixDown]

Oh I do love this. Even the naming alone is very clever - the whole idea of bears and such - Ursus clan, Ursula (sounds like ursus, tedre (teddy bear) - so clever. I really enjoyed this. Strength from such a small creature against such evil is a magnificent concept. I have a few short stories I will post soon and this has inspired me to pursue them even greater.

[New Theory]

Thank you so much PhoenixDown :). I am glad I could inspire you. Please send me read requests when you do post your stories.