March 23rd, 2010
Stormfast and Terra were lying on opposite sides in the bear-sized cave. Although it was morning, and they were awake, they both wanted to sleep. After last night, they just wanted to stay away from each other.
A while later, Terra began to feel hungry. The caribou from yesterday did not satisfy her for long. She then stood up and went outside. After she exited, she took a look inside. She could tell Stormfast was fake-sleeping.
"I'll be right back." Stormfast heard it but pretended he didn't. Terra went on.
Did she forgive me? he thought.
Meanwhile. . .
His name was Bob. He was a bear.
He had just finished hibernation, the time when certain animals take long sleeps through the winter. But winter was over. Today was the fourth day of spring. He had just left his winter den and was now heading to his spring den. It was next to a river, so he had the option to go fishing, for that was what bears ate at this season. They could catch trout or salmon for their cubs to get fat for the next winter. However, Bob had no cubs or a mate because of something that happened a long time ago. A wolf attacked them, and he lost everything except his dignity. Since then, he hated wolves.
Stormfast got up and looked out the cave. Terra was nowhere in sight. His mind was buzzing. Did she run away? "No! She wouldn't do that," he told himself.
"AHHHHHH!" screamed a female voice. Stormfast became all alert. He ran out of the cave and looked in all directions in just a couple of seconds. "Stormfast!"
"Terra!" he yelled back. He immediately ran towards the sound as fast as he could.
He found her near the river but upstream from the cave. There she was, scared out of her mind. In front of her was a roaring bear! "Terra! Get behind me!" he ordered. Without hesitation, she got behind him. The bear growled at them. "Terra! Go and get Sparky!"
"But what about you?"
"GO NOW!" he demanded. "I'm an Alpha, remember?" That convinced her. She quickly ran around the bear and went to the plain to see Sparky claw-marking the bones she had found for him.
"Hey, Terra. How's it going?"
"Sparky, we need you right away!" He turned his smile upside down.
"What?! Okay." They both ran back to Stormfast.
"C'mon! Give me your best shot!" Stormfast shouted. The bear then stood on his hind legs, making him look three times his size. Stormfast trembled in his shadow. The bear swatted him at high speed. (*SMACK!*) The impact slashed his face and sent him flying. He landed on a pile of leftover snow when Terra and Sparks arrived.
"Stormfast!" Terra came to his side. "I'm so sorry!" The blood from his face stained the snow red. "Sparky? What are you doing?" Sparks was staring at the bear, frozen.
From deep in his memories something came back. It was the same bear that killed his mother! Jonah said he was dead but he wasn't. He probably said it to calm his son down. Sparks was now filled with anger and revenge. He charged toward the bear and headbutted him in the stomach. The bear swung his claws at him but only hit him with the backside of his paws. But one of them hit Sparks under his muzzle. He was pushed into a tree, but he was okay. He was not bleeding. He then got on the bear's back. The bear roared in terror as Sparks tried to bite him in the life-giving artery located in the neck. While the bear was distracted, Stormfast charged at him. The blow knocked him off his balance, and he started to fall backward. Sparks got off of his back to get out of the way. The river was right behind the bear. He was standing on the edge of the water. Sparks went in front of him.
"This is for Mum!" he shouted. He exhaled forcefully. The bear fell into the river and was swept away in the current. Sparks closed his eyes. "I hope you die in that river."
Stormfast dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Sparks came to his side. "Don't worry, mate. You're going to live through this." Terra started crying.
"I'm so sorry, Stormfast." Sparks went to the river and dipped his paws in the water. He went back to Stormfast and attempted to wipe the blood off his face which revealed three large slashes on his left cheek. Both Terra and Sparks gasped at how deep the lightning-like lines were. His face was so swollen he could barely talk.
"You know, Terra, I loved you too," he croaked.
"Really?" He had loved me too? she thought.
"Yep."
"Well, I love you back." They both got closer to each other, and when their minds decided things were safe and sound, they rubbed their noses together. Sparks just watched.
I knew they were linked to each other, he thought. Although it had only been two days since they met, they felt that their destinies were interwoven and stuck like the threads in a spider's web. Sparks had only witnessed love once before. When he was a pup, he saw the way his father looked into his mother's eyes, but he had never seen love this powerful. He couldn't quite understand it. His parents had never taught him about the mystical force, but he knew it as a force that brings animals together and a force that was called love.