Author note- as the description probably told you, this story continues from Lord of Light. This partially evolved from a writing exercise and the fact that I wanted to get to the "feature" of the story. The multiverse. So here we are at the world of ATLA, Korra era. I hope you enjoy. Lord of light is the story you want if you want some backstory. I hope you all enjoy one of my first attempts at a Fan Fic.
When one imagines the nature of the universe, what do they see? A clockwork machine that will go on for an eternity? An explosion that has been going on for billions of years? Maybe even the figment of code made by higher beings that we will never know. Maybe, if one were to listen, a melody. A song that began with the booming vibration of a drum boisterously continued on by the blaring of trumpets, joined by an endless orchestra neighboring countless others in a grand harmony creation. But, just as a song can be rejuvenated by an added note or an orchestra ruined by an extra instrument, a universe can reach an early crescendo. You just need an extra note. Worlds will live, worlds will die, and the multiverse will never be the same.
Universe:?
Timeline:? Two weeks since the events of Lord light.
Place:?
With a loud thunderous burst, the clouds opened up to reveal two teenagers promptly falling from the sky. both about ready to become jelly when they hit the water. One is still conscious but really regretted it. The other wasn't conscious at all. Her limbs flopping in the air as a trident on her back nearly flew out of its sheath as the boy desperately tried to hold onto his bag of supplies.
Below the two of them was a large metropolis with many skyscrapers, roads, and lights despite the sun already being set in the horizon.
Great, just great! Elio thought to himself. All that trouble and the vision still came to pass. Falling from the sky to my watery grave.
At least his falling buddy was Rio Victoria, daughter of Oceanus. Good thought Elio. The advantage to that is that they are falling into a bay, disadvantage she is not aware of it. Elio used his momentum to get closer to Rio. The light from the metropolis around them glaring into their eyes. He grabbed on to her arm and twisted it.
"Ow!" Rio screamed in pain and then punched him. "Wait! E!" She shouted in relief and then proceeded to pummel his face. " What did you do!?"
"Rio! We have a bigger problem!" She paused, fist pulled back.
" Explain what the hell happened!"
"Dammit, can you be pissed after we escape death by falling into an ocean?"
"Explain. This. Bullshit."
"It won't matter if we're dead!"
Her eyes grew large for a second and the sound of their fall was being drowned by the raging water growing nearer. She let out a shallow breath and the water bent and shaped itself into a small tower. They both landed in the spire of water with a painful crash. Elio painfully lay upon the water, not really touching it and feeling as though he landed onto concrete. They both raggedly swam back to the surface where the city was in clearer view. At first glance, they thought it was New York in front of them. Tall skyscrapers, metallic pipes coming out of concrete walls above the sandy beach. Then the details started to crop up. The writing on the buildings wasn't English, it was some sort of calligraphy, it looked similar to Asian calligraphy. There was a railway for a trolly and in the distance a shipyard with dozen of ships that looked like they were taken out of a 1930s museum. Old oil tankers and a couple of steamboats with large chimneys. Flags that neither of them recognized with symbols of water, fire and a kind of coin with a square hole.
"There! That wasn't so hard was it." Elio gasped, trying to move his body but the initial pain of the fall and landing made trying to get up on his legs a Herculean task. A watery fist took him by the back of his foot and threw him onto the shoreline of the city.
"Be quiet, it's your fault that we're here." The water grabbed and push him forcefully to shore. After cleaning herself off she grabbed her trident and pointed it at Elio. "Now I get to be pissed! Now explain yourself before I use this thing!"
Elio moved the trident with the tip of his finger.
"While you would be doing me a favor I know you're not a killer or is that damned camp that successful at making child soldiers." he said sullenly. His eyes were tired and red from either exhaustion or the sea salt. His frame shaking from his soaked clothes, he was merely pitiful in his current state. Elio saw the apprehension in Rio's eyes, it was just two weeks ago that she learned she was a demigod. He knew she could not actually kill him but that the anger behind the threat was real. He did wish she could though. It was his fault they were there, his fault that they're not at camp half-blood right now and given that a certain voice isn't whispering in his ear now it's his fault that something worse might happen to them or someone else.
Before anyone could say anything else Rio's ankle buckled under her weight.
"Dammit!" She nearly fell but Elio caught her. "Get off me you piece of-"
Elio ignored her and put her on his shoulder leading her towards the water.
"You're a daughter of a sea god, maybe you share some of-"
She punched him in the face again, he recoiled and she landed in the surf.
"Don't mention his name. Bad enough everyone else compared me to the mighty Percy Jackson." She crossed her arms and pouted as the tide kept rolling in. "I don't need it from you too." She pointed to her ankle. "It doesn't even seem to be healing. All I can do is just make water do what I want." As she explained a small tentacle of water sprang up from the tide and slapped Elio across the face. "Ya burro." she covered her mouth. Elio rubbed his cheek, she left a nasty scar.
At least Rio is part way back to her own self again. Elio thought. That camp turns too many kids into killers for my taste.
"Fine, no comparison and I do have some explanations. sadly none of them about where we are and- ow" Elio touched the tip of the scar and closed his eyes. Elio brightly accented by a new source of light, accompanied by a searing sound of flesh burnt together.
"Ooohh, that has to be a rough way to heal buddy," called a voice from the sewage drainage pipe. The sound of shuffling footsteps came out from one of the large metal pipes. Elio immediately went into a fighting stance "Woah I was just saying you don't see many people using firebending to heal themselves." The man was now visible, a vagabond, very dirty one at that with the look of an old loon. Wild gray hair pointed upwards, a pointed nose with very animated hand motions. Elio relaxed his stance while Rio glared at the old man.
"We got jackshit old man, so panhandle somewhere else," Rio said sternly.
"What she means is that we are just trying to rest from a long journey," Elio added staring disapprovingly at Rio as she sat on the surf. He also did not want to deal with anyone else other than Rio right now but the old man might tell them where they are. The first things that should be answered when figuring out anything are who, when, where, where and why?
"Oh yeah, you fell from the sky right." The man said joyfully like he was just having the best time talking to the flying teens. Elio and Rio stared blankly at him. "Fell from one of those big freighters, right!"
"Sure?" The teens said in unison wondering how did he even see of all that. Though in truth neither understood the mist very well, the opaque layer of magic that prevents normal people from seeing the world for its chaotic true nature. Rio didn't understand just on a practical level and Elio didn't why it was a thing.
They did also know that only people who can see through it are demigods, like them for the most part unless the gods get involved, spirits like nymphs and satyrs, monsters and special humans.
The old man didn't look magical or at least not the type of magic without big asterisks on it. He might be a monster with shapeshifting but that would mean that he would know that they were the children of titans, their bosses a literal month ago. He might be lying about not knowing them but they were weak anyway so why do that?
The only conclusion that Elio had was the man was just a special human. A garden variety hobo.
"Sad to see you lost the pack." Elio immediately jumped at the hobo's words and notice that their food, clothes, and money were gone. He cursed vehemently in Spanish.
"So...um?" Rio looked displeased with the vagabond's close proximity to her, especially since he smelled like sewer and looked like he was a crusty old dumpster diver. "Where are we?" She guessed when they were falling that is was New York city but now she had a better look...everything was wrong. The buildings looked like the ones from the city but less weathered down by time. The buildings looked new with red, blue and green lights from certain areas in the city... The lights and streets looked like they came right out of a history book, mostly gravel roads with barely solid sidewalks if any at all. There was even a 1920's style car parked not far from them.
"You didn't bump your noggin now did you, missy." The bum asked cheerfully. "Welcome to the great and beautiful Republic City, the shiny jewel of the glimmering United Republic."
Rio blinked twice and tried to remember if she heard the name before. Maybe one of those tiny nations that everyone forgets about like Uruguay.
"The name's Gommu."
Near the end of Elio's cursing rant, he saw a large monument far off into the bay.
"Puñeta!" he screamed as he saw a large, copper-green statue on a tiny island. It was a young bald boy dressed in monk robes holding a staff. Elio started shaking, whether in rage or in fear, no one knows. "The statue of liberty is supposed to be a lady right? not an older version of Charlie Brown."
The bum looked at him strangely.
He let out a whistle. "Wow, you must be very new to these's parts. That example of magnificent-ness is the Avatar Aang Memorial. You guys must be travelers, what brings you to this part of the continent?" Elio was the first to snap out of it remembering oh wait, we need to eat and a place to sleep for tonight. Which then made him remember the supplies in the backpack, given the fact that the armor and weapons in the pack are made of metal, they are probably sinking down to the bottom of the ocean. And he couldn't swim. Elio was at a loss for how to get the supplies back.
"It wasn't by choice, side note, can you leave, I think my friend is going to go nuclear and you do not want to see that," Rio remarked as she edged away from the bum.
"All right." The bum said with the same cheerful grin and started to walk off. "If you want some advice on where to go, go to the park and find the most voluptuous bush under the main bridge." She stared at Elio as the water seemed to glow near Rio's feet. After a disturbing crack sounds her from her ankle, while not healed now, it was in the right spot.
"Hey dad I graduated a year early, isn't that cool." She said under her breath. "Can I get that car I want? Nope, sweetie your not ready for such a thing, but hey, how about a summer camp where you get to be in New York for a while?" She mimicked a much deeper, laid-back surfer type voice as Elio stared vacantly into the distance. "Really? New York! Sure, when? You'll even meet your cousin Elio there, he'll keep you safe." Rio looked toward as said cousin was paralyzed in defeat having a thousand yards staring contest with the memorial.
She let out a sigh and stared at the water, focusing on a simple command. Fetch. The water near her feet shifted forming into a whirlpool whose submerged tail reached toward the deeper depths of the bay. Rio felt the water touch the bottom surface of rock and sand for the pack, the various forms of life like kelp and schools of fish. Even something that kind felt alligatorish. Gotcha, you magical pieces of crap. Rio thought as the water collected itself around the pack, whipping the currents around it. It was not a small effort for her as she was pulling the heavy bag up to the surface.
Elio snapped himself out from the trance and saw the strain on Rio. Elio grabbed her from behind and locking his arms under hers in a full nelson. They both dug their feet into the sand and pulled.
"I-ugh-don't need -hrgh- your help." Rio strained as the pack became visible to both of them.
"Sure that's why the veins in your face are bulging," Elio said through gritted teeth. The weight of the supplies causing both of their faces to be as red as a tomato's, their veins popping. As soon as most of the supply bag was above the water they used the good old fashioned method of rolling it onto the sand.
"What did you stuff this bag with!?" Rio scolded as she fell to her knees with exhaustion. Elio looked the bag over and opened it up revealing the only supplies from camp half-blood they had.
Elio remembered packing up essentials such as weapons, armor, food, flashlights, arrows, books and small trinkets. Why books? One was a book on edible plants and the other was a Greek mythology book. Annotated and underlined at the more important bits. The bag was slightly magical so it could compress the mass but not the weight.
While Elio was prone to anger at times he was also knowledgeable enough to know what they would need, sadly given what little he learned about demigods it seemed more like a game of trying to prepare for everything at once.
"Okay, what are we going to toss?" Rio said scowling at the pile of supplies in front of her. Elio wanted to argue but remembered the pain of dragging it out of the water. Elio crossed his arms.
"The weapons and armor are a must so let's wear them." Rio nodded and grabbed her leather-based armor while Elio took his bronze set. He strapped on his spiked gauntlets. "Hope celestial bronze doesn't rust. You should keep your flashlight but get rid of mine." He showed his right hand and let it glow brightly. "It's redundant."
"Fine but what about the bow and food." She pointed to the pile of waterlogged foodstuff and the broken bow, its string snapped in two. Elio picked up some of the more solid bits of the food and warmed his palms while compressing it.
"You take the water out and I'll rewarm it so it's edible."
"I think it would be best to leave this with the fish."
Elio then pulled out a bag of yellow squares.
Rio facepalmed. "Of course those things survived." She held out her hands for it but Elio kept the bag away from her.
"You know the rule: eat too much and you burn." She crossed her arms in response to Elio's warning.
"My ankle is fucked up and I'm not eating that slop of rice, fritters and sea salt." Elio rolled his eyes at her complaints and split one of the squares in two for them both of them to eat. Rio grimaced at are her measly share, barely big enough for her palm.
"If you want it to last just keep chewing. The healing might even last longer" Elio said casually, tossing it into his mouth. Rio shrugged and started to bite into it. A warm nourishing feeling engulfed her senses, her wounds, and sprains started to heal at a heightened rate. The taste was what had her enraptured. It tasted like her grandmother's gumbo. The little square now replicating the texture and smelled flawless. For Elio, it tasted like a dear friend's empanadas, something he has not had for weeks and really needs at that moment.
They both stared out into the ocean with pensive eyes. What now? What can they do? They can't exactly wear ancient Greek armor around a very Chinatown-like city. Maybe putting it on was a mistake.
A thought occurred to Elio.
"Want to try to talk to the water?" Rio looked toward Elio strangely for a second but then remembered what he meant.
"Dad is the father of fresh water gods and what did I say about the Percy comparisons," Rio scolded.
"I thought he was the first god of the ocean?" Elio rebutted.
"Yes, he's the god of the ocean and my sisters are the goddess of sources of freshwater. This is a bay, not a river or a fountain. Besides, how are you sure that this place has any Oceanids." Rio said, running her hand in the tides.
"If we're lucky the bay has a nereid, if we're not then there is no nymph. At least I will be able to control all of this water which will help with transportation. What about shelter?"
Elio grabbed a fistful of sand and compressed it. His hand glowed brightly for a second and in his palm was a piece of glass. The same curvature and spacing as the inside of his hand. Elio is the type of person who usually works out stress by working on something else. Textbook workaholic honestly and he doesn't try to hide. Though he does go limp when near a breaking point, a fact Rio knew.
A harbor? No too wet and too many sharp rocks. A bubble of air at the bottom of the bay, no not enough air and need to be awake to maintain.
"Perhaps the island to the west."Rio jumped up from fright. A ghostly voice filling her mind for a brief second. "They take in those seeking help."
Elio turned his head from the glass he was making and saw a mound of water rising in front of Rio. The mound slowly took shape and in its place was a weird stout turtle creature. It stood on its hind legs and had a bamboo hat leaking water. Elio instinctually grabbed/tightened his gauntlets as Rio grabbed her trident. "I thought you wanted help?" The creature still spoke in Rio's mind but Elio just watched the creature movements. At first, they got behind each other but Rio remembering it was Elio and then backed away, slowly circling the weird turtle creature.
"What are you?" Rio asked. She kept her gaze focused on the turtle as it just...stood there. It didn't move, breathe or blink.
"Answer the question before we dine on turtle soup," Elio ordered. "If you're a monster then know that you're threatening the son and daughter of the Titans." The turtle did nothing but simply squat on to the surf.
"You called me over here." The creature spoke within their mind again in a calm and kindly manner. "I only wish to know what are you? Spirit? And what is a titan?"
Rio and Elio just stood there dumbfounded. Camp half-blood taught them that monster stop at nothing to kill and eat demigods. Thought the fact that Elio's closest thing to a family was a group of monsters contested this in his mind. Elio decided to take a shot in the dark and unlatched his gauntlets.
"E What are you doing!"
Elio raised a hand to Rio objections and inched closer to the water and started kneeling. The creature looked confused at the demigod's action. Elio let his arms spread open and lay his head down.
"I am sorry, Lord of this bay. I am sorry for insulting you as such, we did beseech you and I did insult you. I beg your forgiveness." The creature looked apprehensive toward Elio. It got closer to Elio and put one hand into too the water and grabbed a fish. Elio looked up from his submissive stance and the creature had a bundle of fish in a kelp bouquet near his face.
Elio was used to acting in a certain way to get what he wanted. He would not have half the jobs he had in Puerto Rico if he didn't know how to play certain people. He hadn't encountered that many spirits yet and the few gods he did meet were Oceanus and Mister D for a short time. When he did this with Mister D he treated him well so maybe the turtle will treat him well.
"Thanks? Please cook this, I saw what you did with your hands."
Elio immediately took the fish and went to start a firepit in the sand. For a second, Rio thought that the creature was putting on an act but Elio got close enough to it that the turtle could have snapped his neck.
"Do you want help?" She heard its voice again, its mental voice sounds comforting and nurturing. Like a kindly elder, Rio sighed in relief.
"Yes, Lord…." She realized she didn't know the creatures name much less what it was.
"Yue, call me Yue." It sounded glad to speak...think its name. "You don't have to treat me in this manner. I am simply the spirit of this bay"
"Alright... Yue, we desire your help. We are sadly trapped on your world and we don't have shelter. Please oh god of this bay. If you can either grant us shelter or point us in the way of it we will give great tribute." Rio pleaded as the creature looked in confusion.
"Tribute? God? You definitely don't feel like other humans."The confusion in the psychic voice was deafening and disconcerting. " Again, I am only a spirit of this bay and I don't need a tribute."
"With all respect Yue, what's the difference?" The creature looked confused at Rio's question.
"There are no gods."
The voice sounded like the tone one had when someone was explaining something obvious. Something in Rio's mind broke. She spent the last weeks learning that a cabal of old pagans gods exist, are related, to her and have been partially involved in the major events of humanity. Then a random turtle monster in a Hong Kong/ New York fusion city tells you those gods don't exist. Whiplash was an understatement.
"Hey! Elio, There are no gods here."
"What about that?" Elio yelled as he cooked some fish on glass plates in a glass fire pit. He pointed toward the turtle creature who waved in response.
"Spirit." She said plainly.
"What's the difference?" He said turning the fish over with a glass spatula. The demigod has nearly a whole cabinet worth of glass utensil, a bit crooked and crude from being handmade but all of them did have a genuine shine to them.
"All that aside will you help us?"
The creature put its hand under its chin.
"Tell a story."
"A story?" The creature asked in a shifted tone. "Why a story?" She crossed her arms as the smell of cooked fish permeated the air.
"Your chi is off. It feels like a normal human's chi but something more is in it, like a strange mixture of scents that make a completely new one. A more powerful one. You sound human but you feel like spirits. What are you?"
Both Rio and Elio looked at each other for a second as he passed around glass plates with cooked fish. Elio passed some fish to Yue.
"I can tell you what we are if you can take us to this island you spoke of," Elio said with a gracious smile on his face. His tone and posture resembling that of a restaurant waiter. Rio nearly forgot how conniving Elio could be when he wants to be. Maybe he was acting all nice and gracious now so he can curry the spirits favor for some divine help. He only acts like this when he wants something. "But still why a story?"
"I like a good story but I would like for you to do something for me. A simple task."Yue pointed to some bile dripping into the bay from the various sewer pipes. Black sludge and multi-colored lumps lurching into the water. "Clean my bay if you please."
Rio nearly lost the fish she was eating when she looked upon the ooze stewing in the water. She covered her mouth and raised two fingers. Tendrils of water grabbed various debris from the area such as wood and earth to block the pipes by stuffing them.
"It should give enough time to divide the polluted water from the clean water." Yue saw the tendrils and lifted two fingers as well. It did make tendrils but far fewer and much smaller. For a second Yue looked disappointed at its display.
"Why did you help me before I gave you anything?"
"I don't like people ruining other peoples homes. This place is your home so using it to dump sludge is disrespecting it." The spirit stared at her and then at Elio.
"I don't sense intentional evil, but there is malice in both your hearts. One has a hatred towards the other while the other hates themselves." Rio looked at the spirit confused while Elio nodded. "In service of helping the water I will get you to the island but in exchange, you must tell me a story when you ask for another favor."
"If you're expecting a grand and epic story you won't find it here. Just bad decisions and lots of pain over the regrets." He said as he gazed into his shoes. Rio rolled her eyes.
"So how you screwed the pooch," She said, chewing on some fish.
"If you don't slow down you'll swallow a bone."
She rolled her eyes again. "You lost all rights to talk to me like you cared." She said throwing a bone in his direction.
"And we were doing so well earlier." He caught the bone before it could hit his left eye. "Anyway Yue. I agree to your terms but my ...companion." Rio narrowed her eyes. "My cousin, who is only barely tolerating my presence?" She nodded while flipping some her dreads over her shoulders, draining some water from them. "Needs to agree too." He motioned to her for a response. She ignored him and looked towards Yue.
"I agree to your words Yue, disregard his words on most things though. If you want." She remarked giving the turtle creature a large smile.
"Can you begin then?" Yue asked.
Elio sighed and made himself comfortable in the sand. "My full name is Eliodoro Marizcruz Genaviva Vivas."
Yue clapped its hands. "I like that name, very sing-songy."
"Gotta admit, I'm Spanish too and I didn't think your name would be that long pretentious," Rio said.
"Really tells you the thought process of my mother now does it. Anyway, it all started on an island called borikén." The boy retold his beginnings to the spirit as Rio watched, ready to fact check on the parts involving her.
Time: same as the demigods
Place: abandoned storehouse
In the dilapidated corpse of an industrial zone was a building that would serve as the staging ground of a revolution of downtrodden non-benders. A small group of masked men and women walked into what would be their stage for their grand "Revelation" their preparing. Unknown to the group on the stage under the was a boy with a black diamond and a bowl of black water.
"Why did you show me this?"
"Because I needed to show you what I can do and…" The voice spoke through the mind of the meek boy. Rattling and cold, like the clacking of corpse bones in a blizzard. "Those two would be of prime interest."
"Why?" The boy asked, his body sweating profusely.
"For the same reason, I asked you to join these fools above us. Opportunity strikes for those who seek it. Now like we practiced. The boss man is making his appearance."A masked man walked out of some back rooms with a mustache man with an electric generator on his back. "Big simile and revolutionary spirit, like we practiced."The boy breathed in and out but calmly. Steadying it from the floorboards. He opened a hatch behind the man as it seems he was having a conversation with the human generator. Before he had forgotten he slipped on his own mask. "Let the show begin."Cackled the spirit.
Author's note- I hope you enjoy the story and for those of you who come to from Lord of Light, I hope the change isn't too sporadic. The schedule is tenuous but so far it's either once a week or every two weeks depends on when school comes back into session. If you have an opinion on the story I hope you share changes will come whenever I get an idea to make it better. Toodle-loo