The SiXing Pendant

By Kali Gargoyle

An Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic

This wasn't meant to be some epic piece to be taken seriously. It was simply a plot bunny that needed to be put out of its misery. Again, apologies.

Chapter One: Entrance

Another oh-so boring day. Just like every other day. So Jessie did what she always did whenever she lost the motivation to do anything actually productive. She hit the Internet. Checking messages would kill at least an hour, more if she took the time to reply to any of them.

Adding to her annoyance was the fact that there was nothing she was remotely interested in on TV at the moment. But that little button labeled "On Demand" saved her from boring background noise. They hadn't switched out the Avatar episodes yet, but at least these ones were good.

After several minutes of surfing, something struck Jessie as odd. Pulling her focus from the computer screen she quickly realized that the episode had stopped playing, and right in the middle, too. It looked like another data error, so she grabbed the remote to switch out to basic channels.

But the remote didn't work either. The buttons lit up, but there was no reaction from the television. "Great, is the entire cable system out?"

As she walked over to take a closer look, Jessie noticed that the television screen looked a little strange. Like it was... moving? Was it a new holding pattern?

Jessie brought her finger up to tap the screen, only to have the glass ripple in response. "What the hell?"

She started to back away as the blackness pulled away from the TV and enveloped her...

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Jessie found herself standing in the middle of a darkened forest. Fireflies zoomed around her, but it wasn't enough light to see by. "Where am I?"

"You are in my home, girl."

Jessie turned around. "Who's there? What am I doing here?"

"I have brought you here to perform a task for me."

Jessie continued to look around for the speaker, but could see no one. "Show yourself!"

The shadows of the forest ebbed and flowed around her feet. She tried to jump away but it was all around her.

"Now you see me. The task I have for you is very important." The shadows swirled and formed a window. Jessie looked closely at the image coming into focus, the scene looked familiar, but she couldn't place it... until an arrow-headed bison flew into the image then back out again. She gasped.

"I need you to go to this world and collect some things for me."

Jessie gathered herself. "What do you need me for? Why don't you get someone from that world? Or go get it yourself!"

The shadows flowed around her again, brushing against her skin, leaving behind an icy feeling. "I am forbidden from entering that world. And from influencing its people."

"Wow, that's not suspicious at all."

The shadow crossed over her face, causing her to cough. "Do this simple task and I will send you home."

Jessie coughed into her hand. She really didn't have that much choice, did she? This could all be a dream, in which case it didn't matter what she chose, but if it was somehow real... "Fine, what do I do?"

From out of the shadows appeared a silver necklace. "This will guide you. It reacts to the presence of the artifacts I need you to find."

The necklace was placed around her neck, and Jessie examined it. It looked like a key, except instead of teeth there was a small white sphere.

The shadows flowed again and she felt like she'd been dropped into ice water.

Just as suddenly as it had come, the feeling left her. When she looked up to snap at her mysterious captor again she realized she was once again somewhere else. Another forest, yes, but it was brighter, and there were sounds of life coming from beyond the trees.

Jessie grabbed the pendant around her neck and looked down to see that her clothes had changed. Her jeans and tank top had changed into simple clothes in brown and green, styled in the fashion of this world.

A strand of blonde hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it back under the hood. You'd think that if her clothes could be changed to fit this world, her hair could, too. But there was no sense worrying about that. The pendant began to hum, growing warm in her hand, and glowing, too.

"Might as well get this over with." Jessie turned and the glow dimmed. When she turned back it brightened, then dimmed again. "Okay, I'll assume that the brighter glow means that's the right direction. This won't be so hard."

No sooner had she uttered those words than thunder crashed over head and she found herself standing under a sheet of rain.

"Of course."