The air was cold and carried a deathly groan. The knight stood his ground and faced the beast. His wooden sword was held out in front of him. The stitching in his side was starting to come apart; he was old. Protectors don’t usually last as long as he has. Wounds were a distraction though, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

“I won’t let you hurt her!” The protector spoke his words firmly and stepped forward.

The evil beast, with red eyes and razor teeth, snarled. It stepped closer to the bed, but the protector held his ground. He swung his sword and jumped off the bed. The beast lashed out and caught the protector with his long claws. The protector flew and slammed into the wall. He had given the beast a clear shot at his child. The protector was falling apart; the hole in his side was ripping open slowly. He had to do something to save his little girl. The protector threw his sword at the beast. The sword landed in the beast’s side. It roared in pain and thrashed around the room bleeding black shadows and broken dreams.

“Let your friends know that I protect this room, and I intend to live until I know she is safe from harm.” The protector gave his final word and slunk into bed next to his child. He held the hole on his side and drifted off to sleep.

The morning came and Casey woke to the sound of birds singing outside her window. She smiled and hugged her bear Cuddles tightly. She poked his nose and kissed his forehead as she did every morning, but something was different this time.
Casey had known for quite some time that Cuddles was an old bear. She got him when she was three and it would soon be her eighth birthday. His button eyes were coming off and he had some stitching unraveling in his side. Her parents wanted her to get rid of Cuddles, but she couldn’t bare to part with such a dear friend. They had offered to buy a new bear, but she would only agree if she got to keep Cuddles. Reluctantly her parents gave in to their child and were going to buy her a brand new bear. Secretly they had hoped Cuddles would have fallen apart long ago, but he was a tough bear.
Casey’s parents brought home a brand new bear that day. The bear had shiny plastic eyes and a felt covered nose. Its fur was soft and smelled of clean laundry. It was the perfect bear that every child in the neighborhood was jealous of. Casey loved the new bear but still favored Cuddles. The new bear became known as Roger. That day when Roger entered the room of Casey was the day everything changed.
Casey had played with Cuddles and Roger all day until she yawned and her eyes became heavy. Her parents came in to tuck her in as they had every night before. They told her a story about the brave knight who saved a princess from a nasty dragon. Soon she was asleep, and that is when the battleground was set.
“So new guy, are you prepared for this night?” Cuddles was pulling together the hole in his side to prepare for battle.
“I heard that there is a portal to the Dark Realm in this room.” There was a sadistic bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.
“You heard right. I’ve been fighting off the demons that have made their way into the room. But there have been stronger demons every night. I’m getting older and am not as strong as I use to be. So your arrival was great timing.” He pulled a safety pin from the dresser and pushed it through his wound.
“Do you know how we can close it? Last I heard of a portal being opened it didn’t end well. The bear protecting over a little boy was ripped open, and they stole the kid. These aren’t normal nightmares we are messing with here.” Roger helped Cuddles close his hole with a second safety pin.
Roger had been right, these demons were pure evil. Nightmares are normal figures that appear when a child is having a bad dream. It is fairly easy for the protector to fight them off. But demons of the Dark Realm are different. Demons aim to kill protectors and capture the souls of children. They are a protector’s worst fear, their only fear.
The bears sat watch for the night. They had plans to attack the portal at its source, but that night wasn’t the right time. The portals are weakest on full moons due to the amount of light produced. Then and only then would the bears be able to attack.

Morning came yet again and the bears sat quietly in the corner as Casey went to school.
That night was the night of the full moon, and the night that decided Casey’s fate. Thy waited patiently watching like furry sentinels. And then night came.
The moon hung high in the sky and brought light to the dim room. The sentinels watched carefully as time slowly climbed to its peak. The shadows rippled and the room tore apart in its corner. A demon crawled out of the hole with two heads sniffing out Casey. The demon pulled itself out of the cold dark tear and hissed at the sight of the bears. It rose up and towered over the two protectors, and with a sharp claw the demon pointed at them.
Roger jumped first and lashed out with his dagger. The demon grabbed a hold of Roger’s ear and bit it off with its second head. Cuddles pulled back an arrow and shot it at the demon’s torso. The arrow embedded itself in the thick flesh of the demon. Roger grabbed on to the arrow and ripped it out at an angle. The wound began to drip with shadows; the demon dropped back and fell.
“Roger you have to get the heart!” Cuddles had called out seeing the portal begin to ripple with the coming of more demons.
Roger grabbed his blade from the ground and drove it into the chest of the demon. Meanwhile Cuddles was sending arrows into the necks and brains of winged demons. The two headed demon roared with pain as Roger pried open its chest exposing a black pumping heart.
“What now?” Roger felt frantic in the face of death.
Cuddles did not answer. Roger looked over to where he had been before to see a winged demon ripping off Cuddles arm. Roger stood elbow deep in a demons chest paralyzed with fear. He had to save his partner but he couldn’t let Casey be taken. Roger did what was right and severed the heart ripping it out of the demon.
“Go to hell!” Roger stabbed the heart and threw it at the portal.
The heart flew through the portal and for a moment all was silent. Then there was a flash of light along with the sounds of screeching and crying. All too easy was the destruction of the portal. Roger knew that the portal would only be closed for a few nights, but that bought time to come up with a better plan to attack.
Roger turned away from the fading portal and looked to Cuddles. What he found struck his heart. Cuddles was a pile of stuffing and string. He was missing and arm and his stomach had been torn open. Cuddles head was hanging on to his body by a lone thread, and he was cuddled up close to Casey. Roger bowed his head to Cuddles; the brave warrior that had fought for Casey all his life. All would be remembered of the knight who fought in the night.