The Last of the Shadowbenders: Chapter 1
I am the last of my kind. I am the only one left. 10 years ago, my people, secluded in a faraway corner of the four nations, died out during a Fire Nation attack. I was the only one left. I am alone. Truly alone.
Gliding on my shadow monster, across the rough and burnt terrain, charred houses dotting the landscape, I vow to avenge my tribe's death. I swear... Oh how I will slaughter the fire nation troops which massacred my tribe– and my beloved parents.
"Sir! The earthbenders are breaking through," I hear a Fire Nation soldier yell amidst flying flame and hurtling rock.
"Assemble the Flame Cannon! We need to push them back into the corner of the city!" Admiral Zhao returned while shooting flames from his speeding fists and lightning fast kicks.
"But sir- the prototype Flame Cannon will wipe out the entirety of Ba Sing-" The mere Fire Nation soldier was interrupted.
"No 'buts' soldier! You ALWAYS follow orders!" Zhao boomed. Four soldiers got into the ready position and pushed full force shooting metal-melting flame into the cannon. Whoosh! The iron tube glowed a dull red and shot out a volley of large balls of embers, which exploded on impact, destroying one man's cabbage stand and killing a handful of others.
Houses aflame, the earthbenders prepared a counterattack. BOOM! The earth rumbled around the outskirts of the city in the Fire Nation encampments. Boulders and dirt shot across the wall, burying a few Fire Nation tents along with a few soldiers. "Fire again! More power this time, soldiers!" Zhao shouted. Again, the cast-iron cylinder glowed a dull red-orange and fire shot across the sky, painting lines of smoke across the canvas of clouds.
Analay heard a rumbling in the distance. She deduced that she was somewhere near the walls of Ba Sing Se in the Earth Kingdom. She scanned the distance with her purple eyes, a mutation only found in Shadowbenders. Her eyes squinted and stared at bright red and orange flashes in the distance, roughly a kilometer away. Fire Nation.
Analay hopped on her shadow monster and rushed as fast as she could to the flashes of light, which showed up periodically with yells of pain and thuds of earth. Smack! A shard of rock hit her in the shoulder. Only five hundred meters away. Four hundred. She could feel the heat of flame upon her unprotected face. She put on her mask, a black and dark red, the shade of her dye on the ends and wisps of her jet-black hair. The mask looked a lot like the face of a wolf bat, and scared any attackers, which, during their bewilderment, she got the upper hand in battle.
"Zhao! A bender with a red and black wolfbat mask is riding toward us on a monster made up of seemingly shadows- how is this possible?" one Fire Nation captain asked.
With a loud stomp, Analay hopped off of the heap of shadows and brushed dust off her shoulders.
"Who are you?!" Zhao asked angrily.
"I am the end of you." Analay returned calmly through her mask. Crack! A whip lashed out, made of shadow, aimed for Zhao's face. Just in time, Zhao caught the end of the whip with his iron gauntlets, but not without it hitting him full force. A gash on his forehead, over his eyelid and down his left cheek, was now forming. A new threat befell them. Earthbenders. A volley of rock shot over their heads, over the Fire Nation encampment around the crumbling walls of Ba Sing Se.
Analay, the masked bandit, walked calmly towards the earthbenders. "I DEMAND to know who you are!" a young earthbender girl hollered at Analay. From her eyes, she looked blind, but Analay knew that didn't necessarily make her weak.
"I am here to help you take down the Fire Nation scum." The masked Analay replied. The blind earthbender crossed her arms, and then stuck out her hand in greeting.
"I'm Toph, the greatest, toughest earthbender around. We're under siege by Zhao and his men. By the looks of it, you cut him up pretty badly." Toph turned to the earthbenders around them. "Let's scare them off!" Toph shouted to them. A deafening cheer sounded among the crowd of civilians and soldiers alike.
Two guards opened the gate with earthbending, and the brave but small group of warriors stood in a formation, with Toph and Analay at the front. "You think you'll defeat us with that few? Hah!" Zhao blurted. From the looks of it, his wound was deeply etched. A bandage, stained red was wound around it.
"ATTACK! Shoot the Flame Cannon!" Zhao cried to the men behind him.
The ball of flame was coming fast. Toph stomped her right foot and a wall of earth sprung up in front of the line of earthbenders. With a deafening crash, the wall shattered, sending dirt clods everywhere. When the dust cleared, they were in a fighting stance. "Bring it on, Zhao." Toph taunted with a smirk.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
WRITTEN BY ICEWOLFCAT