Aayla's Bear Rodeo

*** Trigger Warning: Physical Violence and Blood/Gore ***

Aayla and the monster stared at each other for several minutes. She backed away slowly while the beast lumbered out of the stall. Now that she finally had a good look at it, the mound of pure, furry anger caked with dried blood was some kind of large, mutated bear. A heavy silver collar embedded with faintly glowing orbs peaked out from underneath all of the wild fur around its neck. It towered over Aayla when it stood at full height.

"Miss Glowery, did you find any… horses…"

Chris and Daren were stunned. The moment that they walked into the stables the duo saw a bloody behemoth of a bear looming over a slender, mana-less girl. The girl's eyes never left the bear as she slowly backed away. The sudden cry of a horse broke the stalemate between them. With a roar, the bear swatted its paw at Aayla to shred her into ribbons.

She jumped out of the way just in time. Before Aayla could run very far, the bear attacked again fiercely. A fireball slammed into the bear, knocking it back. The bear screamed in rage then glared at the puny wizard who annoyed it. Chris gritted his teeth.

"Young Master, we need to leave as soon as possible. That thing can easily outrun us. Let's trap it in one of the magically enhanced stalls for now."

Daren quietly began muttering an incantation. Ice quickly encased the bear's hind legs and covered the floor. It bellowed in rage as it struggled to stand. The bear kept slipping and falling like a toddler learning to ice skate. With a short wave of Chris's hand, a violent blast of wind propelled the bear across the ice and into a stall. The door slammed shut. The bear stood up in a daze then immediately began pounding on the stall door even angrier than before. A barrier of light appeared to prevent the bear from escaping.

"Miss Aayla, please help the young master with the horses. I'll distract this big guy."

Aayla ran from stall to stall. The only two remaining horses that were still standing refused to move a muscle. They stood like stone statues in the farthest ends of their stalls. Daren slowly calmed the horses with magic. They unsteadily walked towards the passenger platforms under his guidance. Aayla nervously kept watching the bear while Daren focused on the horses.

Unfortunately, their hard-won peace ended right at that moment. The violent beating suddenly stopped. Then, the bear began to glow a blood red color. Its claws lengthened and its body grew. The barrier shuddered and started to crack with the bear's strikes.

Gravely concerned, Chris placed his hand on the barrier and started chanting a spell. Before the spell was complete, the bear raised its mighty paw and smashed the broken barrier in a single blow. The force blew Chris back and he slammed into a wall. He fell to the floor and didn't move. The furious bear turned its attention towards the stable entrance where its prey was escaping. It pounced towards the horses and a distracted Daren.

Moving on instinct and pure adrenaline, Aayla rushed towards the bear and jumped on its back. She desperately grabbed its collar and scrambled to unlock the latch. Angered, the bear roared and tried to throw Aayla off. She could only grasp onto the collar harder. The bear tried to reach its claws around its back to cut Aayla off. A few failed attempts later, the bear discovered that its arms were not flexible enough. The beast was further enraged and renewed its efforts to throw her off.

While Aayla was experiencing her first ever bear rodeo, Daren successfully moved the horses out of the stable. Chris finally woke up after several minutes. He managed to stand and began to harass the bear with fire magic. Every so often, it would swat at Chris and destroy the floor he was standing on. The bear became more and more enraged by the nuisance on its back and the nuisance trying to roast it.

Aayla's hands were slick with sweat, and she could feel her grip loosening on the collar. The collar grew hot to the touch, and the light from it almost blinded her. Aayla started to feel sick to her stomach. She could feel an energy flowing into her body and subconsciously pushed back against it. As Aayla's fear and desperation rose, so did her focus. Her every thought was focused on removing the collar. A numbness spread through her arms and legs. She wasn't even registering how the bear was thrashing around trying to get her off anymore. At this point, Aayla wasn't letting go until that collar came off or she collapsed.

Finally, the bear had enough and ran towards the wall intending to smash Aayla into paste. Aayla pushed back against the numbness in her arms when something suddenly snapped. Time seemed to slow to a standstill. She could feel her remaining energy flow out of her body into the black bracelet and a gem sparkled to life. The collar fell off as the latch clicked open. The bear collapsed to the ground and Aayla was thrown headfirst towards the wall.

Just before she hit the wall, Aayla stopped midair as if held by an invisible hand. She felt a breeze then the bear flew by her into a stall. Aayla plopped to the ground with wide eyes. Chris rushed over and closed the stall door. The lock shut with a resounding snap.

"You are absolutely the craziest person I have ever met. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Let's go. I don't know what the sounds of our battle will attract, and I don't want to find out."

Chris pulled Aayla up and supported her as they left the stables. Her trembling legs had refused to hold, so Chris half carried Aayla to the front of the passenger platform. There, Daren waited with an awkward look on his face and a single tiny horse carriage. This carriage just had two front seats and a bit of extra space behind them. It was only really good for carrying messages and packages around town, not for long travel through rough terrain. Chris and Aayla squeezed onto the carriage, and Chris took the reins. They quickly set off through the broken carriage entrance.

"What happened to the other horse, Young Master?"

"Oh, that. It just… ran away while I was looking for bridles."

"Scared away another one huh? Did you remember to tie them to posts before looking for the bridles this time?"

Daren turned away with a slight blush on his cheeks. Chris shook his head and sighed in an extremely exaggerated manner. Really, his Young Master was so book smart and yet lacked many daily practical skills. Fortunately, Chris was here otherwise his poor Young Master would have no friends and starve while doing his research.

The streets were strangely quiet after they fled the station. Wary eyes peaked out from some of the windows as they left. Daren fiddled with the silver collar from the bear while Aayla struggled to stay alert. Between yesterday's interdimensional travel and her bear rodeo today, Aayla was exhausted. She watched as Daren injected his mana into the collar, causing several symbols to appear on the inside.

"What are those?"

Daren glanced at her with a strange look on his face, as if he couldn't believe the question that he was just asked.

"Runes… Sometimes called magical symbols. You don't know them?"

"Oh, um, I'm just not that familiar with modern symbology. Can't study modern and ancient stuff at the same time or I'll get overwhelmed."

He slightly nodded but still kept a bit of the strange look on his face. Daren turned his attention back to the runes. Whenever a shadow flickered across her face, Aayla would instantly look towards the sky. Eventually, she just never took her eyes away and constantly looked for the attacking storm eagles.

With Chris excellent driving and Aayla keeping a lookout above, they managed to finally reach the Nafriton gate. An uncontrolled mess greeted the trio as they approached. A mob of people were fleeing into the wilderness while soldiers cleaned up dead magic beasts and cloaked figures. As they drove by, Aayla noticed the cloaked figures had footed crosses displayed on their clothes. Chris sneered in disgust.

"True Order minions. Figures that they would be the ones to cause all of this trouble."

They drove out through the gates in silence. The gentle rocking of the carriage slowly lulled Aayla to sleep. Daren would occasionally glance at Aayla, who leaned her head on his shoulder in her exhaustion. Chris responded to Daren's pleading eyes screaming 'Help! I don't know how to handle this!' with a playful grin and an encouraging thumbs up. Daren's body stiffened and he wrapped his cloak around her after a couple of hints from Chris. They remained silent but alert for the rest of the journey while Aayla was off in dreamland.