The Four

Jacobi

Somewhere on another continent:

Jacobi looked about with disgust at the men surrounding him. They all thought that he was weak, easy prey. He had carefully cultivated this image of himself in the years since The Rupture.

That is what he called the division of the Four. His heart ached to be with them again, and not these puny humans who didn’t even have the sense to know what they were seeing when they looked at him.

139 years he had hidden himself among them, 139 years was a long time to live with people that you considered your enemy.

Jacobi felt that anyone outside of the Four, was an enemy, and he always had. Men, he spat, were nothing compared to the power and glory of the Four.

Sometimes, he felt that he might be being a bit harsh on them, but those times were few. More times like now were the common, when a group of men, see idiots, surrounded him in his own lair and threatened him.

Jacobi, as a grizzled old bear, rose to his full height above the men. He smiled to himself as some of them backed away with fear in their eyes. Yes, he thought, yes! Fear me you sniveling mortal beings! He let out a great roar of satisfaction.

Falling back to all fours he slowly meandered towards the group, wondering idly what stupidity had caused this sudden invasion of his home.

Jacobi had spent years allowing the people of the nearby village to see him and find him harmless. A harmless old bear, living in the woods, keeping other predators at bay but never harming the people of the village.

He was careful not to cause a ruckus, not to eat too many fish or steal too much food from them. He sat on his rump and yawned widely, they had interrupted his hibernation.

Looking around at the men he wondered how he should play this, but before he was able to act a child entered his den. Starting he wondered how the men could have been so stupid, but then he saw her face and the expression on it and he knew.

Trotting forward he put himself between the men and girl, looking at her carefully. Her eyes were sliding back up into her head, her face blank of expression. Jacobi knew what was happening and, in his anticipation, had completely forgotten the men behind him.

That is until one of them got up the courage to attack him. There was a jolt, and some pain, Jacobi’s head turned slowly to see the shaft of a spear sticking out of his flank. Stupid human, doesn’t even know where to spear a bear?

Jacobi grabbed the end of the spear in his muzzle and yanked it from his body. He felt the hot flow of his own blood almost instantly but ignored it, spitting the spear back at the man instead and turning back to the girl.

By this time the girl had collapsed to the floor, Jacobi waited eagerly. He was not disappointed when the girl jerked upright and looked directly at him.

“Beastmaster, it is time…” The girl collapsed back to the floor and Jacobi did a little jig, then darted towards the entrance of the dank den that had been his home for more than a century.

Nothing remained for him there, his future was elsewhere. Life was to begin again! As he raced through the woods his shape changed from a large lumbering bear to sleek grey wolf. He grew faster as the shape firmed and his lithe body seemed to flow through the trees as he ran towards his freedom.