CHAPTER ONE:
BEGINNING
*Focus on Jae*
It was unusual for earthbender men to be skilled with knives but Jae rebelled in his differences. Hidden under his golden and emerald pullover were knives, throwing stars, and arrows. They lay strapped to his skin, hugging tightly to his giant, muscular figure. Another thing that was uncommon to a man of Jae's size was unimaginable speed. His unwavering ability to stay focused on the task at hand made him deadly.
He was a killer.
The ruthless personality that resided in Jae's heart took refuge within a kind and loving soul some years ago. Fire Nation soldiers had come to his home, Senlin Village. Right in front of Jae, members of the gold and crimson army had killed his mother.
"We know there are earthbenders living in this village. Show yourselves or we will slowly and painfully murder every last person here, starting with your children." The soldier raised a finger and pointed at a young and innocent Jae who was clinging to his mother's tunic.
The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring.
Jae's mother took a deep breath, she turned, kissed her young son on the forehead and ruffled his hair like she always would. "Remember this, my son: The Fire Nation is the enemy."
Feeling like she had to be proud of her ability and dead set against being ashamed, Jae's mother took a step out of the crowd. Anger raged in her eyes. Lady or not, she would kill at least one soldier.
Suddenly, she dropped deep into her horseback stance as the earth began to shiver. She felt it speaking to her. Vibrations shuddered up her spine and filled her veins with adrenaline. Looking around, she noticed that her fellow earthbenders were getting the same sensation that she was. Together they formed a V- shape, all in horseback stances.
Jae watched from the side. An elderly lady had filtered out all the children from the mob of villagers as if she knew what was about to happen. Perhaps she had been through this before.
The mighty and strong village "army" all exhaled as their hands traced down the sides of their torsos, readying themselves to attack. Abruptly, a sea of hands shot up to the sky, bringing the earth underneath the feet of the opposing soldiers with them. Petrified, the soldiers blasted streams of fire into the sea of earthbenders. Orange and yellow flames scorched the hands of feet of the benders, causing the floating earth to sharply descend. Screams of war and rage rang out.
Concerned for his mother, Jae searched the mass for her. He noticed her lengthy, dark brown hair swaying as streams of fire were deflected off to her sides thanks to her rock shield. Jae cheered for his mother. Sneakily, another Fire Nation soldier made his way behind her but it wasn't like she wasn't aware of that fact. The mother shifted her stance from the left to the right. She quickly raised her open hand to her right ear. With her fingers tight and solid, she brought her arm across her body and flicked her wrist, sending shards of earth at the soldier. Because the attack was so swift, the poor Fire Nation soldier had no time to react. Rough and jagged pieces of earth crashed down on his collarbone, breaking it instantly. The projectiles also targeted the side of the neck and punctured the soldier's carotid artery, killing him instantly. His once steady and stiff form of body now lay dead on the ground.
With no time to spare, the tough mother returned her attention to the remaining enemies. Coming at her rapidly, Fire Nation soldiers screeched for the loss of their comrade. One carefully set up defense maneuver and one unconditionally powerful strike was all Jae's mother needed to end three more lives.
She waved her hands quickly in large circles and watched her enemies spiral into the softened ground. Three pairs of feet and hands were now encased in earth and unable to bend. Unable to defend. The more the soldiers struggled, the deeper in the earth they sank. Jae's mother relaxed from her deep stance. She wanted these men to suffer before death. She angrily stomped towards the helpless men, leaving footprints trailing behind her like she would in wet sand; only these footprints were left in sturdy earth.
Her senses were overtaken with the sight of fire, the sound of weeping villagers, the scent of burning cottages, and the feel of heat emanating around her. The taste of ash and soot made its way into her panting mouth and danced around on her tongue.
Enraged by the destruction these men had ensued on her beloved village, Jae's mother became merciless. She towered over the frightened men. They were not nuisances any longer, but only lab rats in the earthbender's torture experiment. Psychotic rage burned in her jade eyes. These men would die not only for the pride of Senlin Village, but for all the other blameless people they had already slain. One by one, they would die.
Jae's mother started with the one on the right in the line of three. She bent down and pulled off his helmet, revealing a pair of terrified amber eyes. Seeing the fear on the grown man's face satisfied the rage hungry mother but it was not nearly enough to stop her. She extended her arm and put her hand out, palm up. Her pointer and middle finger came together and flicked towards the sky. The Fire Nation soldier rose somewhat from the quicksand case Jae's mother had created. Now only below his waist was stuck.
"You have your hands," she said. "I'll give you a chance to live." A cocky grin showed on her face. The soldier swallowed the lump in his throat. Jae's mother took ten paces away from the soldiers. Figuring it was either fight for the miniscule chance he had to live or die without honor, the soldier rose his right arm as fire formed in the center of his pam. Extending his arm all the way behind his body, he flung it up and forward in a circular motion, creating a fire arch. The half circle blazed towards Jae's mother but she only laughed at the pitiful and weak attack. She brought her hands to the front of her waist with her palms up and pulled them up to create a small rock wall that she used as a shield. Flipping her hands over, she shoved them down towards the earth, getting rid of the wall. Stunned that his attack had done absolutely nothing, the soldier froze and his mouth dropped. Jae's mother, wanting to get on with her torture experiment, didn't waste any time with getting in close.
The lady encased her feet in earth, helping her slide across the terrain with ease. Firebenders could rely on both distance and closeness but by closing the distance, Jae's mother could count out any long range attacks. She was also aware that because the soldier was so petrified, he would not be focused enough to use close range techniques without burning himself. The earthbender faked an attack and watched in amusement as the firebender's hands shot up to protect. At that moment, Jae's mother grabbed the shaking hands. She snapped the man's pinky backwards and smiled as he screamed in agonizing pain.
"Are you feeling the pain yet.. Sir?" She sarcastically asked. Bending back another finger to hear the snap amused her. She smiled a sadistic smile. She enjoyed taking away the feeling of being safe from these soldiers. Jae's mother continued with her torturing.
With eventually having been the reason for four broken fingers, a bruised up face and a broken nose on a Fire Nation soldier, Jae's mother began to get bored. She managed to kill him quickly after she sent earth shards through both of his temples simultaneously.
At that point, the remaining two soldiers did all they could to get out of the quicksand case without sinking deeper, to no avail. Jae's mother stood menacingly over the soldiers.
"First I'll kill you," she explained with a happy drawl, pointing to the soldier in the middle. "And then, you," she said, pointing to the other man. She glanced back at the first soldier's lifeless body which now hung limply forward in her quicksand case. She smirked. "Let's make it harder for you two to breathe." She curled the fingers on both of her hands in with tension shooting up her arms. Cries punctured the air as the quicksand case started to tighten around the men's torsos. The sound of cracking ribs was nothing but pure bliss to Jae's mother.
But she had gotten so caught up in her torture experiment that she had lost her focus on the battle surrounding her. The commander of the invading forces had come up behind her on his komodo rhino. Jae tried to scream, he tried to warn his mother. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear him over the heated screams of combat.
The commander reached down and took a handful of the mother's hair. Gripping tightly, he lifted her high as she screamed. Heated fingers burned at her scalp.
"How about I just kill you now? No torture. No, nothing like that," he whispered in her ear. "Because I am a gentleman." With that, the commander pulled out a dagger.
Tears streamed down both Jae's face and his mother's. The young boy tried to run to her but was held back by the elderly woman who had pulled him aside. "Let me go!" Jae screeched. "I need to help my mommy!" His voice cracked, "Let me go! Please!"
All Jae could do was watch helplessly as the commander drove the dagger through his brave mother's head. Immediately, she stopped struggling. The commander dropped her body to the ground, only adding to the growing mass of lifeless bodies on the ground, firebenders and earthbenders.
That was the very beginning of Jae's life; a life that was meant to murder any Fire Nation threat. Here he was, fifteen years later, at age twenty, traveling the world to play his diminutive, but helpful, part in this dreadful war.
. . . . . . . .
*Focus on Song*
The Fire Nation royal was never one to give into pain. Actually, she found it satisfying. Pleasurable. She was never in to people taking care of her. Song always struggled for independence. Individuality was also an important aspect to her, as she looked almost like a genetic copy of her two older sisters, only younger. Her sisters were both in their thirties and had started families while she stayed to live in her parents' house in the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu.
Being only eighteen, her parents and servants were always doting on her. Forget about friends. Her fellow students from the academy were only interested in making her happy to get in good with the nobles.
Dark pleasure was what Song turned to. It was real and it was raw, it could not be imagined. It was not a made up fairy tale where everybody was happy in the end. And neither was life. She had learned to deal with it.
BAM! BAM! BAM! Knocking on her quarter's door had dragged Song out of her deep sleep. She awoke underneath her crimson colored covers and golden bed sheets.
BAM! BAM! BAM! The knocking continued getting louder.
"Calm down!" An irritable Song screamed. "I am coming!" She did not have to answer to anyone. Just to spite whomever was at her door, Song took her time getting out of bed. She slid her dainty feet out from underneath the covers. Standing in front of her tall, full- body mirror, Song examined herself. Her eyeliner and mascara from last night had smeared under her eyes.
"That was a crazy party," she thought to herself with a small chuckle.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"Just a second!" The royal exclaimed in a sing song voice, just to antagonize her visitor.
Looking back to the mirror, Song noticed she was only wearing an oversized, blood red, long sleeved t- shirt. Her jet black, laced panties contrasted against the pale skin of her long legs. Pieces of her fringe dangle in front of her face. The bottom half of her crow colored hair lay against her back in loose waves while the top half was pulled into a top knot. Song's hair looked considerably attractive considering she had just slept on it all last night; almost seductive.
Song winked at herself in the mirror arrogantly. She strutted towards her quarter's door as the knocking was starting to become incessant.
"Song! Open the damn door already!" Han's voice burst through the heavy door. She obliged. As soon as Han heard the click of the doorknob, he pushed through into Song's quarters faster than a military messenger hawk.
"How could you just go traipsing around with that colony trash?" He shouted into her smiling face. "And don't lie to me and say you didn't! Adi told me that she saw you two at the party last night. You're supposed to be with me!"
"Oh sweetheart," Song muttered as she finger at the soft fabric of his shirt. "Why are you listening to Adi anyway? She's just trying to break us up. She wants you to herself." Song bit her bottom lip as she stepped closer to Han. Now they were chest to chest.
"Don't to this to me again, Song. This is the last time!" The royal didn't pay attention to Han's empty threats. It was true that she had hooked up with a guy from the colonies last night and it was true that this hadn't been the first time. This situation popped up many times. Song would go to a party, hook up with someone she didn't know and then hear about it from Han in the morning. He seemed to remember more about it than she did anyway, even though he wasn't there.
They fought and exchanged some grotesque words but this was only normal. Next would come their heated "make- up".
Song pulled her arms away from Han's tight and hot firebender grasp, daring him to come get her. He took a long step closer to her and was now right in her face.
"You listen to me," he said. His hot breath wafted over Song's lips. "You are mine. A royal Fire Nation woman does not act the way you are." Han shoved Song back into the wall, pinning her hands against it. Her body was stuck between the dark wall of her room and Han's muscular body.
She glanced at Han's lips and then back up to his eyes. Song licked her lips as she moved her hips in a circular motion under Han's weight. It was enough to drive him crazy. Han smashed his lips against hers as he released her hands to relocate his to above her hips. He pulled her into him tighter and tighter as she let out a small puff of air.
Han lifted Song by her waist and she wrapped her legs around his torso. One hand was placed at the small of Song's back while the other made its way into the mass of her hair. Han pulled her hair down, her head following backwards, exposing her neck. He began to kiss her throat as Song ran her hands up and down his back. The sensation of a woman as beautiful as Song caressing his body only made him more aggressive. Sucking on the skin beneath her ear and before the start of her jaw, his hand progressed further down to grab her ass. He crashed his lips back to Song's as she let him have his way with her.
Han turned and walked towards the messy bed with Song still clinging to his body. He laid her on the mattress and let his body come crashing down on top of hers. His mouth made its way from her lips down to her chest. Han stared into Song's golden eyes as she bit down hard on her lip, a moan starting her throat.
The firebender used his mild breath of fire technique to warm his lips. His fingers arrived at the bottom hem of Song's baggy t- shirt and they traveled underneath the fabric to warm the contrasting temperature of Song's wintry skin. Again, he kissed her lips as his hand traced the feel of her ribs. The curve of her back arched drastically as his lips slowly trailed back down her body, kissing every crevice possible.
His fingers lifted her shirt up and over her head. She slipped her arms out of the sleeves and grabbed the blankets. She pulled at the sheets as he kissed her stomach fiercely. She felt his tongue poke out of his mouth and onto her skin. He swirled it around, all over her stomach, and clawed at her legs as they bent up. They went on and on the same way for hours. . .
But this was only the beginning of a life that Song was not meant to live.