Well, this is my first fan-fic and I'm a bit nervous about how it will be accepted and how well it will turn out. The characters in this story are completely fictitious and are in no way related to anyone I know.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any work of Phillip Pullman or any rights to the His Dark Materials series. Nor do I actually own a copy of any of his works. Viva La Library.

Chapter 1

The Boy and the Bear

The sun is setting wild with color in the western horizon filled with almost every shade of warm color imaginable. The sounds of life more present in the daylight fade as the nightingale begins its hollow, joyous cry for the moon to appear and allow the festivities of the night to begin. The tops of the trees rustle lightly along the edge of the forest and the golden wheat of the fields sway along with it in perfect harmony.

The moon rises in its entire splendor setting the landscape ablaze with its lunar fire. Creatures aligned with this setting come about to search for food and carry on as such. Three deer come warily out of the forest to make due of the not-yet-harvested wheat. When out of the corner of the field, a bear, surging with power with its massive white form, erupts from the plants and makes for its kill.

The deer, frightened by their clearly foreign enemy, try to escape by splitting apart, but one falls to no avail. This bear is a swift and able hunter, taught through a lifetime of discipline and war.

With its mighty claws, the bear catches the neck of one of the deer and breaks it upon contact. Food enough for now, but that is all the bear needs.

This living mass of force and fury starts to feast upon its catch. All is well for today the bear will eat, not knowing when the next meal may come.

Life in the world is different from what it used to be. It is rumored that a man named Lord Asriel has done this to amass an army to destroy the Ancient of Days, the Holy Father, The Authority, God. Because of him, worlds have been torn asunder and the boundaries between them had been shattered. It is because of this man that the ice lands of Svalbard had thawed and forced the great bears out of their land. The bears had been moved to the mountains by their king, Iorek Byrnison and life was getting rougher by the minute. Food was scarce, and the world they passed into was different in many ways.

People here did not see a bear as a proud warrior, but rather as a beast to be feared and shot at. Even their ferocity has come into question as not but two days ago, a young man stood against their king with nothing but a knife and bravery unmatched by anything on the plane of existence.

This bear, done with its meal and ready for a night of uncomfortable sleep, makes its way toward the forest. Her name is Xatella. A female bear of mass proportions, almost rivaling the great king himself. She is a seasoned warrior and specializes in the art of throwing fire from long distances. Her accuracy is unmatched and her strength, almost as much.

Her armor, as it is with all bears, is unique and represents her soul as each bear makes its own. She is not and elder and she has no children, for the life of a warrior seemed much more alluring. Nothing about her nature suggests that she would ever find an alternate life suitable for her in the long run. But nonetheless, here she is, feasting on strange yet familiar creatures in an unknown world. The thought of becoming an adventurer makes her chuckle to herself; as such things to her are very over-rated.

Xatella settles down on a small pile of cold dead leaves and tries to fall into the great abyss known to all as sleep. Meanwhile, a boy no older than perhaps fourteen or fifteen makes his way into this strange new world.

He is very tall for his age, solidly built, and with short brown-red hair that sways to the right. Closely following him is a red fox with very distinct markings. Their names are Jack and Scarlett. These two companions have been traveling for a while though all the different worlds. Human and demon, side by side, taking in all the wonder of the different places they've been.

Jack comes from a world where the innermost part of themselves is very visible indeed. Everyone has an animal companion simply called demons. Scarlett is Jack's alter self. Scarlett herself is a spectacular creature by all means. The lustrous crimson of her fur glistens in the moonlight, she has very distinct color separation from the black of her feet to the wight of the tip of her tail, and every color stands out and is not blurred in a single possible way with another color. The most distinct feature, however, is the large black heart shape she holds upon her chest. Her eyes are the deepest shade of emerald this world could muster to come into being.

Jack however, is a very uninteresting fellow. He has always grown up in the back alleys of that familiar Oxford, always getting into trouble and never backing down from a challenge. Other than Scarlett, the only other moderately interesting thing Jack carries with him, is a sword of massive proportions, even by bear standards. While Jack always prefers to use his head rather than a weapon, he by no means can't lift and use his sword when the time is necessary. He had it made by a strange fellow in a separate world from both this one and the world he came from. Even though the sword was big, it was by no means cumbersome to him. Anyone else trying to lift the great sword would find it difficult to do so.

The world they were in now seemed friendly enough to settle down for a rest, so taking the opportunity, Jack makes for the tree line with his demon hot on his heels.

"Wait," Scarlett with her keen ears perked up, "I think I hear heavy breathing from a very big creature. Be careful."

Keeping his hand to his weapon, and his brain flexing to see how the situation would turn out, he makes his way fearlessly further toward the breathing. Scarlett's fur was standing on end with fear and anticipation, after all, if he couldn't be scared Scarlett could.

Rounding a big oak tree, Jack stops dead in his tracks as he finds the sleeping bear. He has had to deal with bears before, in other worlds. But this bear he knew would not be as easy to cope with. He knew this as a polar bear from his own world, a citizen and by the armor against the tree, a soldier of Svalbard. He would have to think fast if this creature awoke with him still standing there as if poised for combat.

Xatella knew of these two standing in front of her and simply played opossum waiting for them to either run or strike at her. Her anger has tempered with every human encounter she's had since she's been here. This newcomer would get a great surprise and a one-way ticket to the abyss if he even hinted on anything malicious.

So it began, the battle of wills and thoughts. Jack keeping his mind calm, Scarlett keeping watch for any sort of movement in the bear. Xatella waiting for the time she could strike out.

Suddenly Scarlett's ears twitched with the hint of something else coming their way. She was so focused on the bear, she couldn't hear the solid wing beats of the cliff-ghasts as they approached. Xatella must have heard this noise too, because within a minute, she was up and suiting her armor, completely ignoring the boy and his demon. Jack, left in the dark as he couldn't hear the wings draws his sword with one hand and places it at the ready to fight the great bear.

Xatella, now completely garbed in her thick armor takes note of this boys actions and now considers him the enemy, thinking he led the cliff-ghasts to her position. She stands on her feet and lets out a bellowing roar that shakes the very foundation of the earth beneath Jack's feet. But he does not budge and he shows no fear, for his mind is too busy calculating every possible outcome and every movement exactly.

So the three factions stand, the warrior, the fearless adventurer, and the hungry cliff-ghasts coming in close to their next meal. The air is electric with the friction of the oncoming battle and anticipation, excitement, fear, and fury ravage through the air like lightning.

End Chapter 1

Well, this first chapter is to introduce the two main characters in as much detail as I could muster. Chapter two will be here soon.