Way of the Moon Bear

Chapter 4: The World Unfolding-1

Chapter 4: The World UnfoldingBoth Greenwick and the bear remained exhausted from the swampy trails they had endured several hours before. The rain was still lingering and Wick's boots squelched with every step. The open world was no place for a boy – a boy with no idea of where he was, what to do or where he belonged. The traumatic shock that came with the unfolding events prevented him from breaking down and crying. Instead, he wandered on almost emotionless with the bear guiding him, as they made their way into a sticky, humid forest, with a pathetic wave of misty rain floating down onto them. The overgrown tree maze profusely refused to let any light in from above, as though the sun's rays were poison to the soil they both stood on. The roots arching over from the ground were more like walls rather than simple tripping hazards, and the uneven ground meant that they were often clambering up and down. The elevations were like mountains for him, but molehills for his four-legged guardian. It was unclear as to how big the forest was and where they would end up, but Wick kept his head down and gazed at his own feet as well as the paws beside him that plodded along. The mundane slumping unfortunately grounded to a halt as Wick noticed the paws had stopped moving. The concerned beast's head swooped upright and its eyes were focused on the distance. “What is it? What's wrong?” he asked whilst clinging closer. The bear grunted and pushed Wick into a deeper area of the forest. At this point he was stumbling backwards still questioning, but of course the bear couldn't elaborate. A stumble too many led to Wick dropping to the floor as dramatically as a falling tree. The bear left him in the bushes whilst he scurried off, as though he had to go and find something. Twig snaps and rustles could be heard which explained the bear's sudden concern. It roared and growled whilst cautiously looking left to right, though nothing could be seen but the infinite trees and bushes. The rustling then suddenly stopped, but he was still on high alert, scanning the area. Just at that moment, a rugged man jumped out into the open with a spear, forcing the bear into a spontaneous fight. “Rargh!” the man shouted whilst dodging and weaving the claws of his rival. He tried to scare the creature but it refused to back down. They circled each other slowly and intensely, with the occasional twitch and attempt of attack. The man thought that if the bear felt obligated not to let him pass, then he'd have no other choice but to kill it. He whacked the angry beast on its shoulder with the blunt end of the spear, causing it to stumble. Over and over, he hit the bear, weakening it until it couldn't stand back up. It was at that point, the man stopped. The spear was turned to its more deadly end, inches away from ending the animal's life. “Don't hurt him!” screamed Wick as he forced himself through the fierce bushes, causing the man to jump. He continued to hold the spear with one hand whilst aiming a tomahawk in the boy's line of sight. Relieved to see a mere child, but confused at the same time, he lowered one of his weapons. “It's a bear, child. Besides, it wouldn't back away!” he tried to explain as a means to justify killing, unknowing of the two's companionship. The man sported a scraggly beard and messy, dreaded hair. His clothes were just as rough-looking as his face, as both were cut and wrinkled slightly. His uneven fingerless gloves were weaved into the ends of his long jacket sleeves and his trousers were ripped at the bottom, only reaching three quarters down, showing off his bruised shins. His boots had seen better days as well. They looked like they were made of ancient hide from an animal that went extinct long, long ago – so old that they could crumble and decompose at any moment. His tired and weary features was a deceitful excuse for his opponents to use, for they would end up underestimating his actual strength and agility. His fighting skills made it clear that he was a master of survival, but whether he was good or evil at that point for the boy was unknown. “He's my only friend,” cried Wick. The bear grunted and barged past the man whilst he let his guard down. He didn't retaliate but instead watched on in astonishment when the unlikely pair comforted one another. He'd seen many animal-human relationships such as cats and dogs, but for a bear to befriend a boy, it was beyond any conventional understanding, or any form of sorcery he had knowledge of. Greenwick wiped his tears away as his sniffling came to an end. His protective accomplice grunted angrily at the bewildered man then escorted the boy back on their walk. The man stood and watched them walk away, confused for a while, but then decided to walk swiftly behind them in seek of answers.

“Ahem, e-excuse me, child?” the curious man nagged from ten feet behind them. Whenever he got too close, the bear would swing its head around and growl. He should have considered himself lucky that the beast was too busy transporting the boy, or else there would be another fight. “She doesn't want to listen to you,” Wick huffed in defence, also not in the mood to talk to someone who tried to stab things before asking questions. “She? I can tell from here that he shares the same traits as us, young man,” he responded.

“You're a he? Sorry,” Wick gasped, looking across to the large, grumbling animal. Their pace quickened in hopes that the man would go a separate way, but travelling with a large, scary creature was bound to gain the surprising eyes of passers-by. “My name's Yewki. I'm just intrigued is all,” he blabbered.

“I don't talk to strangers anymore. It's already gotten us into enough trouble already,” Wick sighed.

“That's a rightful policy, boy… but you seem perfectly fine talking to a wild bear? That's stranger than me trying to ask you questions, don't you think? We're the same species at least. I can't be that much of a stranger, surely”.

“You can ask us from a distance”.

“Pardon?”

“I said, you can ask us from a distance!” the boy shouted, keeping his ears perked, listening to the squishy footsteps behind him which soon sped up and got louder, indicating that Yewki had tried getting closer again. After a roll of his eyes, Wick nudged his companion. The two of them turned around and directed their flames of hatred at the man's face. “I'm sorry, I couldn't hear from a distance,” he lied.

“Oh, right,” Wick said, pretending he didn't realise it was all a ruse to get near. The bear prodded the boy with his nose and they continued their walk. Yewki was allowed a couple of feet closer at that point, simply because they had given up telling him to get away. “So, are you two performers from afar? Because we don't get many acts like yours around here,” he asked.

“It's not a performance. Go away,” Wick moaned.

“So you just chose to befriend a giant grizzly?”

“I don't know, now go away!”

“What do you mean, you don't know?”

“It means I can't remember anything,” Wick muttered.

“You hit your head?” Yewki asked, instantly wondering if his own head had been hit, looking over at the unorthodox situation walking in front of him. “I don't know. I just woke up on the floor and this bear seems to be my friend, like I'm supposed to know him,” Wick sighed.

“Does he understand you and I?”

“I'm pretty sure”.

“Does he talk back?”

“Not that I'm aware”.

“Good. So it's only half-odd”. The three of them walked on a little further into the thicker areas of forest. The daylight was vacating quickly, and the looming branches blocking the sun weren't helping. The only positive for them was that the moody drizzle of rain had stopped. For some strange reason, Yewki didn't mind being side-tracked by the duo. They had moved a hefty way from where they had met, and he was no longer moving towards the destination he was aiming for. He seemed to have no time to waste explaining his own motives and continued to interrogate the tired child. “So, where is it you're going exactly?” he pondered out loud. After a large, weary exhale, Wick answered, “I don't know. The bear's leading the way”.

“Remarkable. And how do you know he's leading you somewhere safe? How do you know he's leading you somewhere particular at all? What if-”. Before he could ask a hundred more questions, the beast turned around and ran towards him, knocking him over into the sloppy mud. “I think you should leave us alone now,” Wick spoke for the bear. The startled man stayed down and raised his arms in surrender, lacking the breath in his lungs to respond with actual words. He sat in the dirt and watched them turn to specks between the trees, preparing himself for an alternate approach. His curiosity wasn't done with them yet. Thankfully, he was an incredible tracker, and following the large footsteps was all too easy.

After hours of walking, hiding and sneaking, Yewki stopped and crouched behind an old stone wall. The boy had stopped, but the bear was trying to pull him by his sleeve. Ahead of them was a small, charred building that had fell victim to a fire. Black wooden beams pointed where the roof once was and soot buried the surrounding grass and soil. The walls were noticeably once a grey clay, but had cracked and burnt into an ugly mess of materials. Wick felt no significance to the demolished structure, but the bear clearly did. “I'm not going in there!” the boy complained whilst being pushed and pulled. Yewki hurdled over the mound of stones and attempted to intervene. “I knew he was dangerous!” he announced, then pulled his spear from his back straps. “Don't hurt him!” Wick cried again.

“He's trying to move you to that scorched house… that's not normal. Run to me, boy… I'll protect you”.

“No! You, Yewki-man; I don't need your help. Adults have done nothing but try and stop us and you're no exception! And you, stupid bear; I'm not going into that burnt down place. Don't you see? It's destroyed, broken, no more. I don't know if it was your home or what, but it's gone! All gone, Moon!” Wick's hurtful words struck a particular nerve in the bear's body, causing him to stop tugging and sit down to face the building. He regretted losing his temper almost instantly, but he didn't dare touch his fur for comfort. Yewki crept up and dragged the boy away slightly. “So, he's called Moon?” he asked.

“What? I don't know,” Wick whispered.

“You just called him Moon when you shouted at him”.

“I did? I didn't even notice”.

“The fact that you didn't pick up on it shows that it must be second nature for you to call him that. His name must be Moon”.

“Wow. I wonder why he's called that,” Wick gawked. The name seemed ominous yet elegant, odd yet fitting, and a possible title was better than none. Finally knowing what to call him suddenly gave the bear more of a sense of identity in Wick's eyes, and the more he said the name in his head, the more it felt normal. His lack of memory was relieved slightly, but it only created more branches of questions on the tree of mystery. Whilst the two humans thought about it, Moon stayed sat down, looking over to the crispy house as though it had value in his heart and soul. “Do you not feel the same way as the bear- oh, Moon?” Yewki questioned.

“No… and I don't know if I should or not. All I know is that whatever I said to him has made him realise something,” Wick murmured.

“Try your hardest. Think back. Was this house your own? Did you live here with Moon? Surley that necklace has something to do with this”.

“There's too many questions to count. Wait, why am I still talking to you?” Wick gagged, tucking his necklace on the inside of his shirt in annoyance. “Just give me a chance, please. It's gotten pretty dark and I'm assuming neither of you know how to get a fire going. Unless that bear can breathe flames like a dragon”.