Looking down at my wrist, my heart stuttered as I saw the time. No! I wouldn't let myself be late! Hurrying now, I rushed forwards, pulling on my boyfriends jacket. As he looked round at me, I stepped closer, motioning towards the door. I had to go now! He gave a short nod and followed after me to the exit, pausing to shout a few goodbyes to my family members. I was already getting in the car, impatient to get moving, my heart fluttering like a caged bird. As Stephan slipped into the driving seat, I looked back, unexpected tears pricking behind my eyes as I saw my mother watching me, her shoulder shaking with silent grief. Gritting my teeth, I waved at her as we drove away. I could understand why she was frightened. The place I was headed to was dangerous, and there was a good chance I wouldn't get out alive.
The Keep. Those two words are enough to send shivers down the toughest man's spine. But some people are different. Like me, they aren't scared, they just feel a pull, an connection to the words. We are the Tamers. The ones who venture inside the portal to work alongside the other humans to look after the Creatures, hoping we will stay alive long enough to get to see our families. Most don't. The Creatures are wild, strong, and untamed. Our job is to make them trust us, so that they can be assigned a Friend. That Friend will ride the creature in battle, or whatever it is they do in the Worlds. The humans in the Keep had been the ones to contact me, not the other way round. They had told me that they had seen a large force on the radar, and had tracked it to... Me. It was my chance to shine, and I planned on becoming good at my job, the best they'd ever seen. I needed to make Scott proud.
Scott. My brother's name brought fresh tears to my eyes, and I turned my head to look out the window, pretending to be concentrating on the scenery flashing past. As the tears slipped down my face, I remembered my brother. I had seen him the day he'd been dragged away to war, a war that he would never see the end of, one he would never return from alive.
We sat at the dining table, laughter sounding from either sides as we compared our nights dreams. Scott told me had dreamt of a Beast taking him away, a big, strong Griffin-beast. That made us all hesitate. And then, the sound of the door being broken down, Granny's shrieks reverberating around the room as they tossed her aside, searching for their prey. They saw Scott, and he stood up to meet them, his fists ready for combat. Then, the Dog-beast appeared in the doorway, a huge Creature, it's jaws able to crush a full grown man in a instant. We screamed at them then, but they still took him away. That was the time we saw him alive. They returned the parts of him they found in a box, which we buried under the apple tree in the back yard.
"We'll all miss you, you know." Stephan's voice made me jump, and I returned to looking out the car window, hastily rubbing my eyes dry on my sleeve. I heard him sigh, and then he was holding my hand. "Its not too late to turn back. I'm sure Scott wouldn't want you to do something you don't want to, I'm sure he'd understand if you didn't," I felt my lips curve up into a smile. Stephan always seemed to know what I was thinking, but then again, I didn't exactly keep my thoughts to myself. "This isn't just for Scott, its for me too. I want to go, hell, I'd even go as far as to say I need to go. Please, just understand me and trust me. Just this once."
Stephan had his eyes back on the road, and his hand dropped mine as he reached for the gear-stick. We were slowing down. I raised my eyes, we were here. In front of us was a factory type building, but everyone knew it was the home of a portal, a black hole that transported people back and from _, another, more brutal world. We had been asked to help by the natives of the planet, and they had sent us magical Creatures to tame and use against the invaders. The number of deaths on our side had reached it's thousands, but still we trudged on, never gaining on the enemy more than a few feet.