How long had it been since he had started falling?

A minute? A few hours? A human´s entire lifetime?

The little bear kept sinking in the empty void for so long he eventually lost all track of time and thought.

He had only walked a few steps under the Princess´ bed before his cotton feet were swallowed by a bottomless pit.

This isn´t the first time.

Sir Teddy had fallen before. From the sofa. From the kitchen´s table. From the window. From the top of a tree. In hard places. In soft places. In clean places and dirty places.

This is nothing special.

The horror of falling could not break his will, because Sir Teddy was made of cotton. The fear of spending lifetimes unable to do anything did not scare him, because he was used to the hardships of staying still and pretending he could not move.

So he waited.

For an eternity, he waited.

Eventually, the darkness gave up from trying to crush his spirit, and allowed the stuffed toy to get to his destination. It was like waking up from a bad dream: he was lying on the ground, looking at the bloody red sky, full of eerie thunder clouds.

Had he fell from that vast sky, like a shooting star?

Sir Teddy got up and looked around. So Layla was here? The little bear was surrounded by an ugly forest that reeked of pure malice. Owls with crooked heads and unequal eyes chirped mockingly at him, and squirrels with cunning faces and multiple tails rubbed their hands together from the top of large rocks shaped like human heads.

Disgusting.

I have to take her back home.

This is not where she belongs.

The Princess liked cute and colourful and soft things. Plushies and beds and cupcakes and kittens and dresses. This mockery of the Human Realm, with its perverted animals and bizarre landscape, belonged into a person´s nightmare. Such a place should never become reality.

He barely walked a hundred steps before things got even worse. Most of the large trees that surrounded him were ugly and hungry. Their evil faces and crooked mouths danced with ill intentions as he walked by them. Some trees outright stuck their big green tongues out of their mouths and tried to lick him, others would order him to leap into their mouths, as if it was the natural and generous thing to do.

“Hey, little bear, come here.”

“No, no, here!”

“You look so delicious. I want to taaaaste you!”

“I won´t chew. You won´t feel pain! Come, why would I lie?”

How annoying. The trees Layla liked to climb in the Human Realm had no faces or mouths or tongues. They were peaceful and serene beings, very different from these rabid ruffians.

Fortunately, they were still trees after all, and could not move freely to attack him. Their only choice was to taunt Sir Teddy as he walked by them.

However, the only tree that made the little bear stop in his tracks and turn around to look and was completely silent. This tree had a large face, old and wrinkled and full of sorrow, and its mouth was open, but it did not utter any sounds. Worse yet, it seemed like it was crying. Fat, large tears of some red liquid kept pouring out of its huge bulging eyes. So disturbing! Yet, there was a reason why Sir Teddy´s lone eye could not wander away from that tree.

What is this…!

From every single one of the tree´s many branches, a small stuffed toy was hanging like a dried out corpse with a rope around its neck. Each and every one of them was tortured and butchered beyond recognition.

So many of them… how could this be?

Were they just like him? Loyal toys that came to this place to rescue their owners? Most likely. They had arrived in this evil Realm with noble goals. And yet, here they were, destroyed and humiliated, unable to save their loved ones, hanging like carcasses to serve as a warning to future intruders.

Sir Teddy was shaking.

“Just like me”?

Did I really think that for a second?

No way.

Don´t be ridiculous.

There´s no way I´m going to end up like this!

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“One more, one more? You never learn, do you?”

The voice came from above, and forced the agitated bear look up. It came from a big fat crow that used another bird´s skull as a helmet to hide its own face.

“You Cotton Ones are really stupid! You keep coming to get the Meat Ones back, like it´s going to change anything. But that´s how you always end up. Torn apart! They dismember you, then piss on you, then hang you where everyone can see.”

“… why?”, Sir Teddy asked.

“Because they caaa~n. You´re not in Kansas anymo~re! This is not the silly world of humans where you Cotton Ones can stuff your chests with pride and tell the monsters to go a~way. This is our territory! You´re not welcome!”

“I see. I guess it´s only fair.”, the little bear sighed, and started to walk among the stuffed toys that hang above him like bizarre ornaments.

“Ooooo~h? Aren´t you mad?”

“Yes.”, Sir Teddy answered, looking for the toys that had pockets or zippers on their bodies. “But I don´t have time to dwell on it too much. My owner´s waiting.”

The crow laughed. The sound was like nails meeting a chalkboard.

“It´s always the same with you Cotton Ones! Gotta protect my kid, you say! Such a pathetic existence! That little shit doesn´t even care about you! And you´re going to sacrifice yourself for some snot-nosed human? You´re just a slaaaa~ve!”

The little bear stopped moving for a second, and looked up.

“You shouldn´t have said that.”

“Oh? Did I hit a nerve? Are you offended, Cotton Slave?”

Sir Teddy shook his head.

“I pay no attention to your boring rambling. But you said bad things about the Princess. So I will kill you.”

A moment of nervous silence went by before the bird started to laugh again:

“And how do you mean to do that, fool? I can fly! Even if you try to climb this tree, once you get close, I can just run away! What an empty threat! Are you an idi~oooot?”

Sir Teddy ignored him, going back to his search. He checked the pockets and zippers of the defeated toys. Only two of the hanged victims were still carrying something in their bodies: a pink elephant whose face had been burned beyond recognition, and a bear, just like him, that had both eyes gouged out and both legs ripped off.

“What are you doing? Do you really think there´s anything useful down there? You think these shits would have been left here carrying any good weapons? Sooo stuuu~pid!”

The bear had a picture in his pocket: it was dusty, but Sir Teddy could see a little girl embracing the stuffed animal, while being embraced herself by a couple of adults. They all seemed happy.

She seems like a good owner. You did a good job.

Sir Teddy wrapped the picture in his own little pocket and turned to the pink elephant, opening the zipper he had on his back. A spoon fell to the ground.

A spoon, eh?

Was he also declared a knight?

The thought was sarcastic and bitter, but even so, when Sir Teddy turned around, ready to leave that old useless spoon lying there on the ground, his body froze.

Tch.

Why did you fail, then?

Sir Teddy picked up the spoon and put it into his own pocket. His face became sour and tired.

Your Princess was waiting for you.

“A picture! A spoon! Such foolishness! So useless! Oh, great hero, tell me how you´re going to save anyone with this garbage as your equipment!”, the crow was laughing at the top of its lungs. He was having fun mocking that strange, grumpy bear. When that new intruder just turned around and started to walk away from the tree, the bird felt disappointed.

“Going away so soon? Weren´t you going to kill me? I thought you´d at least entertain me a little, but you´re all talk, aren´t you?”

It happened so fast the crow could not react.

He felt a deep stab right into his chest and coughed. Every feather in his body became pointy and rustled at the same time. Horrible gasping sounds left his beak, and he fell from the tree, lifeless, with a sewing needle buried deep into his small heart. A sewing needle that had been thrown like a spear, hitting its target with scary precision.

“You killed him!”, shouted one tree, laughing.

“From so far away!”, another one replied in an excited way.

“He had it coming, that fat bird!”, a third one singed.

“Where can I find the children that are brought here?”, Sir Teddy asked, walking towards the giggling trees that spoke to him.

The evil plants laughed louder.

“You think we´re going to help you? Maybe if you let me eat an arm or a leg!”

“Me too! I will definitely tell you what you want to know if you give me one bite!”

“Even if you´re an ugly and ragged bear, full of stitches and holes, all worn out and stinky and trashy, I´ll do you a favour and accept a piece of you!”

They laughed and mocked him, dancing around with their trunks and branches, but unable to leave their roots behind.

Suddenly, one of the trees started screaming in pain.

“STOP IT! STOP IT! I can´t close my eye!”

“I thought so. That´s why I´m doing this.”, the teddy bear answered, matter-of-factly, touching the tree´s bizarre eye with a flashlight. The very bright white light of that utensil created by humans was being completely directed at the large pupil of the talking tree.

“YOU´RE BLINDING ME, YOU PIECE OF TRASH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!”

Sir Teddy did not stop.

“Answer my question.”

“So cruel! What are you doing to her?”, another tree screamed, sounding really worried.

“You´re terrible! We hate you! We won´t tell you anything!”

“I´m going to eat you, you little shit!”

They all kept complaining, but Sir Teddy didn´t even turn around to look at the other trees. He continued to methodically fry that huge eye with the intense white light, until it became red and tired and sick.

“STOOOOP! PLEASE, COTTON ONE, I BEG YOU!”

“I told you to answer my question.”

“Right, I´ll tell you! I´ll tell you!”, the tree had started to cry and moan. “Just stop, please!!!”

“Don´t tell him shit! Be strong!”, the neighbour tree was clearly furious. It was trying to no avail to grab Sir Teddy with its branches. But it was useless, since the teddy bear was right outside their reach.

“Fool, you think we´re scared from your stupid magic light?”

“What are you gonna do, blind us all, one by one?”

Sir Teddy turned his head to stare at the tree that had spoken last. The tree gulped after noticing the stuffed bear´s lone eye focusing on her.

“If I have to.”

The trees roared in response:

“Your magic can´t last forever! You´re bluffing!”

Sir Teddy kept his composure.

“Are you willing to find out if I´m bluffing or not?”

Now some of the trees were audibly gasping. Their rage was quickly turning into fear.

“Calm down, everyone. Let´s just tell him already!”, one of the trees declared, with a big grin appearing on its freaky face. “There´s no harm in just giving him the right directions, right?”

That sly grin was quickly copied by the other trees.

Oh, that´s right!

It was so obvious.

They could just lie! Send him far away! Send him to some dangerous place, a trap from where he could not return!

“Yes, let´s tell him!”

“I agree!”

“He´s such a nice fellow after all!”

Sir Teddy looked around after listening to those words.

“That´s good. You have my thanks.”

The bear then turned to look at the tree he had just targeted with his flashlight.

“I´m sorry about your eye. I hope it heals.”

“No problem, little one.”, the tree showed him a big smile.

You little fucker, you´re gonna pay for doing this to me!

We tricked you! And now will decide where you´re going to die!

The first tree to exhibit a big sly smile was also the one that took the initiative:

“So, little bear, pay attention to my directions! First, you should go to…”

“Wait.”, Sir Teddy interrupted its words.

“Huh? What is it?”

“I just want to tell you that, while I´m thankful for your help, I´m also in a hurry, so I hope you don´t make any mistakes.”

“M… mistakes?”, the tree kept grinning, but the smile did not reach its eyes. It felt nervous.

“I need to save the Princess. So I need your directions to be clear and correct. If you give me wrong directions by mistake, you better hope I´m completely destroyed. Because if I survive…”

Trees do not shiver.

They are also unable to produce cold sweat.

But this poor tree would be doing both right now if it could!

“If… you survive?”

The one-eyed bear answered with a low voice:

“I´ll come back here and burn this forest to the ground.”

The trees were not smiling anymore.

They gave Sir Teddy the correct directions.