Chapter 10
I had no clue where I was.
I was in the middle of a grand hall. It seemed to be the center of a castle ruled by a rich and powerful king. For the floor was made of smooth blue tile, and the walls seemed to be made of solid marble. There was a chandelier above my head; it was probably one hundred or so feet in the air.
In front of me was a staircase, which seemed to be made of the same type of marble as the walls. I figured I was here, so why not explore? I walked up the steps, and when I finally reached the next level, there was another set of stairs to my right, and also to my left. Though my right hand was dominant, I decided to go left. When I again reached the top of staircase, there was yet another set.
Hopefully there won't be too many of these…I thought. I had never been the most athletic person in the world, so I was going to tire pretty quickly. Lucky, though, the stairs did end quite soon after that. But the last set came to a halt right in front of a hallway so long and dark, I couldn't see the end of it. I was just about to decide to not follow it and turn back down the stair sets again when I heard that awful noise.
It was one of the nastiest sounds I'd ever heard: the squealing of a dog of some sort in pain. It had come from the end of this hall that I stood in front of. I couldn't resist my curiosity; I had to find out what the squealing was.
As I walked down the hall, there was silence. No more squealing noises came for a long while. What had that been? I thought. Then I heard another squeal, and it was followed by the sound of barking and growling. There must be a dogfight somewhere, but in a palace? In all the fiction books I'd ever read, this was one detail that had been omitted in each one. Usually dogs aren't in a palace, anyways.
Finally I came to a small, wooden door at the end of the hall. Barking and growling and squealing noises were still streaming from behind it. I heard talking amongst it.
"…know why it's forbidden," An unfamiliar voice rasped, angrily.
"Yes, of course, but rules are made to be broken. Especially when it comes to survival," I knew that voice. It was Avian, sounding really agitated.
"You're going to get us all killed if you persist in your actions!" Again, the squealing, barking, and growling noises. There was some silence afterwards, but soon Avian, heaving for breath, spoke.
"You don't understand; I'm doing the exact opposite. I'm saving us all!"
"How so?" The other voice asked. Avian hesitated. It was killing me just to listen to them and try to imagine what they were looking like, so I put my hand on the cold handle. Afraid it would make a loud noise, I opened the wooden door very slowly.
I saw Avian first, and had to suppress a gasp as I looked him over. He was bleeding heavily from numerous wounds, and was leaning on one side, as if trying to keep his weight off of a certain paw injury. What kind of animal could have caused that much damage? I wondered, wide-eyed. My question was answered as I opened the door a bit more and leaned my head around to take in the massive beast.
It was a giant bear; a grizzly, without a doubt. The very first thing I noticed about him were his eyes. They were gray, but so much that they stuck out immensely against his oak brown fur. He had vast brown paws with claws an inch or more long on the ends of powerful legs. His muscular body had many battle scars, but what surprised me the most was that most of the wounds were fresh. It must have been Avian who caused them, but how? Avian, an Arctic Fox, was so tiny compared to the bear.
"How so?" the bear growled, again, getting irritated.
"She is," Avian finally said, "a Visionary."
The bear was silent, his expression unreadable. Suddenly he stood on his hind legs, a forbidding sight in and of itself, and roared with laughter. The sound seemed to almost shake the walls and floor.
That word rung a bell in my head. But where had I heard it?
"A Visionary, huh?" the grizzly repeated, "That's what you think? Visionaries: Humans with unusually keen foresight?"
"They call it daydreaming," Avian corrected him.
"Whatever," the bear said, dismissing the thought, "You know they were wiped out centuries ago."
"Yes, I know. But I've found one still here. She can help us win the war! Don't you understand?"
"No, Avian, I don't understand you. She's only Human, she'd never be able to help us. The Human race is the weakest of them all," the other animal said scornfully. At this I let out a small sound in disagreement. I saw Avian's ears perk, he must've heard me. Being closest to the door, I know he could smell me too. The bear must not have picked up my scent yet because of all the smell of blood. But Avian knew it was me, and quickly covered up for my mistake.
"Fine. Believe what you will. I know it's right, I'm not blinded by power and greed," Avian shot back. This must've been the wrong thing to say, because what I saw next nearly stopped my heart in its tracks.
The massive bear stood up on its hind legs again, only standing up straight and tall this time, a sinister look in his gray eyes. He pulled back his right front paw and let out a growl that sent chills down my spine. With full force, he threw his paw at Avian, hitting the fox square in the side. Avian went flying towards the wall, hitting it with a great thud, and sliding to the ground. He lay there motionless, and I wanted so badly to go and help him. I almost did, but the fox opened his eyes suddenly and looked straight at me, distress in his vivid green eyes that said as clearly as if it were written in a book, No, get out!
I froze, unsure of what to do. The great grizzly still hadn't noticed me, even though I was standing away from the protection of the door. He was moving in towards Avian, and again I was leaning towards running out to help Avian. But the fox still had the pleading look in his eyes. Suddenly, his eyes relaxed and he winked at me, an unusual sight to be coming from an Arctic Fox.
I was confused, but then someone was calling my name. I turned around to see where it came from, but there was no one in sight. My name was repeated over and over, but no matter where I turned, I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
I opened my eyes. Shawn was standing over me, attempting to wake me up. But it was still dark.
"What do you want?" I asked. I was not fully awake, so the words came out sounding like whad-'ou-aunt?
"Could you keep it down?" Shawn responded, sounding tired and grouchy, "I can't sleep with you talking and yelling like that."
"Oh…" I must've been voicing my dream in my sleep again, "Sorry, Shawn. I'll try."
He rolled his eyes, turned and walked out of my room. I sat up and glanced over at my alarm clock: 2:23AM. I slunk back under the covers and tried to think over the dream.
The first thought that hit my mind was whether Avian was going to be ok. Though I had only just met him, I felt for him as two friends that had known each other for years might. My mind drifted to his sudden change in emotion. He had had that extremely worried look in his eyes, and then it had changed to completely relaxed just like that.
My mind changing direction, I thought over what the two animals had been arguing and fighting over. Avian had said something about a war. I suddenly thought of a movie I'd seen in the past War of the Worlds. I laughed silently to myself, knowing I wouldn't be able to think too much longer, I was too tired.
I figured I'd ask Avian about everything the next time I saw him. The last thing I thought before I fell back into a deep, undisturbed sleep was, If I ever see him again.