A Warning from the Gods
Warning: Adult themes and dark motives some parts of this might not be appropriate to younger readers, Author is not responsible to "Eww gross" and "OMG DARK" comments from people who ignore my disclaimer. FTR I warned you…
The gods were finicky creatures, I recalled from my texts. Akash the sky spirit often changed his mind, Vayu, All Mother, is one minute a loving parent then the next minute a raging storm. The Four Winds are just as flawed as humans. Still, when one of them warns you about a dire change you pay heed to him.
I got this warning one night after the second day of the Chrysanthemum Festival, while slightly drunk on peach wine and honey mead. I was ready to call it a night; I'm a little too old for the orgies in the underground grottos. I headed to my cell to find a crumpled form sleeping.
"Mingma, you should you be in your own room." The small airbender looked up at me. He looked so tired.
"Sifu, I can't sleep, everyone is either in the grottos or too drunk…I figured I should stay with you." I was drunk myself, but I could hold my liquor better, I stroked Mingma's head as I pointed to the extra cot by the fire place.
"There is bed there you can sleep in. I understand Mingma, drunks are noisy folk." Mingma took off his outer robes and remained in his underwear and undershirt. Sliding under a soft vermillion blanket the boy sighed a "good night Gyatso," before falling asleep.
I lay awake for a while. Senge's lover was pregnant with his child and was due in a week, I haven't heard from Roku in almost a month….and I have drunk far too much wine. Sighing I rolled over and closed my eyes, thinking about the debauchery of the night.
And Akash granted me a vision. Whether it was prophesy or a liquor induced delusion, I remember it well
I was standing alone. I was younger, only in my twenties, and it felt strange to be back in my younger body. The temple was in ruins, the sacred sky-caressing spires in shambles. The ancient mandalas were scratched and eroded. I walked on, passing the massive skeleton of a sky bison. The bleached bones looked like massive pillars of limestone. I couldn't help but mourn for it. But as I chanted a sutra of peace, a fire snake crawled out and hissed. I backed away from the creature that made a nest in the bison's bones.
I walked on once more to find a more disturbing sight. Mounds and mounds of dead bodies, bodies of children. I felt ill, seeing children young as three years, stacked upon one another. I turned at the sound of earth bending. Roku was earth bending graves, and he was young too. I watched with sick horror as he worked with a sort of eerie cheerfulness, tossing bodies one after another into a large grave.
"In ya go little one." I heard him say, humming a tune as he continued. I felt sick, my stomach twisting in pain. I looked up at Roku. He looked nonplussed, even happy, as he worked on burying body after body. He closed up one grave and opened another; he looked up with a smile.
"Oh Gyatso, so good of you to come over, I need a little help. Sozin made a mess of things again. I suppose I should do my job and clean up, though I feel this only the beginning. Oh well, better finish anyway." He spoke with the air of someone cleaning up bison dung, like it was another chore. I felt sick. I could feel the bile rise up, but I couldn't vomit.
"Why…why, my brother, what happened?" My voice was hoarse and cracked. Roku looked up and shrugged.
"It was my mistake…I should bury it, but I have a feeling it's just going to get worse. I guess it can't be helped. These crimes will last for centuries." He sighed as he walked up to me and embraced me, holding me tight. I shuddered in his embrace. It felt cold and empty. "I am sorry my friend but you will have to join them too." I felt a sharp pain in my back. It hurt so much, burning in my spine; I reached around to feel the hilt of a dagger. I looked at him again with sad and betrayed expression on my face. It wasn't Roku I saw but a young air-child, male with the master's tattoo on him. Sullen-faced, his arms and hands where soaked in blood.
"Sorry Gyatso, but these are my crimes and you're just another casuality." I blinked and saw Roku again; he leaned over me driving the dagger deeper as I felt cold lips touch mine. "Goodbye, my dear friend." With that he pushed me into a dark grave, and I screamed.
Waking from my nightmare covered in cold sweat and screaming, I ran to the balcony, empting my stomach.
"My gods, what on earth was that?!" I asked in horror. Mingma woke up and I felt his arms wrapped around me.
"I had a nightmare Sifu! It was horrid. Are you ok Sifu?" Feeling better I wiped my lips.
"We both had nightmares, my child. We were warned."
AN: Ok this is the first actual Gyaku fic I've written. This is all metaphore and simile here. Not really pure slash. Anyway R&R this is just a one shot.