Aelius
As a cold breeze brushes across my bare chest, I'm reminded that I am not alone on this beach. I open my eyes and see a pale figure standing across from me. In the dim starlight, I can barely make out their tan skin and their long dark hair. The figure has a bare lower torso and I can see some places where muscle might be trying to show. A dark sports bra covers their upper body. For legwear, they were only a very short pair of dark booty shorts, as my generation calls them.
I take a deep breath, and bring my left hand up to chest level. I take another deep breath, this time releasing it slowly. I mentally search my brain, trying to find the little lump that is my doorway to my power. It takes me a few moments longer than usual, but I find it.
I feel a comforting tingle surge through my body. Others that might have experienced it might have worried that something was wrong with them; to me, it felt like the hug of an old friend. I return my attention to my hand, and concentrate on pushing the tingle out of my body through my palm.
A spark of energy, as white and pure as snow, begins to float a few inches above my hand. Little tendrils whip out of the spark, almost lovingly striking at my hand. I smile, comforted by the light that my spark is giving off into the dark night. Now that I have the spark, I push more of the tingling sensation out of my body and feed it to the energy above my palm.
A few moments later, I have a large ball of light about the size of my fist floating above my hand. It crackles softly, almost as if the ocean nearby is bothering it. I grin, and return my attention to the girl who is now illuminated by my energy orb. I see her light crimson eyes hungrily devouring the light that I have just created. Not many people get to see Energybenders bend our element, let alone ever meet one in person.
I feel my attention slowly changing to the girl's body. I can see now that her training clothes closely match her eyes; they are a light red. Some deep and ancient part of me is bothered by the fact that this girl has red eyes, but the more modern side of me pushes it away.
I bring my right hand over and dip my fingers into the energy sphere. My fingers tingle with the power running through them, and I visualize cutting the sphere in half. Visualizations help me bend, as with all benders. It helps keep our thoughts from going astray, and cuts down on the possibility of accidents. Soon, my right hand is holding a ball of energy the same size as the one in my left hand. My two energy spheres float calmly above my palms, giving off enough light to illuminate a few hundred feet around me.
The girl in red seems to jerk herself back to reality, and looks me in the eye. "I've never seen anything so… pure in my entire life." She takes a few steps back, even though she is already a few yards away from me. She brings her hands to her mouth and takes a deep breath. I see little tongues of flame sneak out from past her fingers. She removes her hands, which have little flames running across them.
The ancient part of me whispers urgently inside my head, telling me to throw water on the girl's hands because they shouldn't be on fire. That if the fire is there long enough, she'll get serious burns. The modernized part of me just laughs, and reminds the ancient side that fire is humanity's friend now, as is the earth, as is the water, as is the air, and as is pure energy.
In a few moments, the girl's hands are completely engulfed by orange flame. She brings them together in front of her chest, as if in prayer. She bows to me, and I return the gesture. My energy spheres obediently float in the air while I steeple my hands in front of my chest.
We both return to a standing position, and for a few moments listen to the waves gently fall upon the shore. I feel the cold water rush over my bare feet, and shudder gently. I take a step back with my left foot, adopting a fighting stance. I bend my knees, locating my center of balance. I bring my hands up to my chest, and make beckoning motions to the energy spheres. They swiftly return to envelop my hands in a warm and tingling light. I can't see my fingers anymore because of the white light that engulfs them, but that doesn't bother me anymore like it did when I was younger. I know my hands are still inside the light because I can feel them.
The girl adopts her own fighting stance, with her right leg forward and her flaming hands held out to her sides. She looks as if she's waiting for a referee to blow his whistle to announce the start of a race. Her eyes meet lock with mine, and we share a moment of silence broken only by the sound of the ocean.
I take a deep breath, and exhale. "Begin." I say softly.
The girl brings her right hand up across her chest, and a wave of fire blasts out towards me. I hear the crackling of the intense flame, hungrily eating the oxygen like a starving animal. The red and orange mass shoots towards me, and the ancient part of my mind tells me to duck and get out of the way as fast as I can or else I will get burned. The modern side just tells the ancient side to watch and learn.
I bring my left foot forward and turn my body to face the water, in the same motion shoving my left palm towards the fire. The energy in my hand seems to predict my desire for it, and projects a circle of white light in front of my body. The circle is transparent enough so that I can see out of it, but it's like looking through the ocean waves. Everything on the other side is wavy and exact details are hard to make out.
The fire hits my energy shield, and I can see it make ripples in the center of my defense. The fire passes around my shield, but none of it gets close enough to do anything besides lick at me with a gentle heat. I bring back my left hand and the shield dissolves into the air. I step forward with my right foot and make a punching motion with my right hand. A jolt of energy zooms out that resembles a shooting star across the night sky.
The girl, who must have been expecting something like this, twirls to her left. Mid-spin, she brings up one of her bare feet and makes a kicking motion towards me. A ball of fire zooms out of her foot, and I quickly repeat my shield-making motion. The shield is smaller this time, and dissipates into the air as soon as it makes contact with her fireball. She ends her spin and makes three swift punches towards me, each one shooting fist sized blasts of flame in my direction. I can see the red and orange flames reflecting in her crimson eyes, and I can see the amount of effort and energy she's putting into this fight. I grin.
I lean over backwards, allowing all the fireballs to pass over my torso. I can feel the heat from them pass over my bare chest, and one of them gets close enough to give me a light burn across my belly button. The muscles in my back fight to maintain my posture. Once the fire completely goes by me, I bring my back leg up over my body, and release some of the tingle that is running through my leg. My foot glows with pure power, and it releases a large slash of energy toward the girl. Once my foot slams against the sand, I bring my right leg around my body in a spinning kick that sends an orb of grey energy towards the girl.
The girl sidesteps the first part of my attack, letting the pillar of energy pass by her without it so much as touching her. She grins as the orb goes to the place where she was before, and watches out of the corner of her eye as it speeds away into the distance.
Knowing that she isn't paying attention, I make a gesturing motion with my hand. I see the orb in the distance slow down, and then reverse direction. The girl has already turned her back to it, thinking that it has already dissipated. She throws a series of fireballs at me, which I block using five fast shields. The girl takes a very deep breath, her body arcing backwards. I know what she is about to do; I've seen other Firebenders do it before.
True to tradition, the girl releases her breath in a violent torrent of fire. The splay of red and orange flames dance towards me, and I can see the sand under the attack turning red from the heat. I know better than to try to get out of the way of her attack. I bring my two hands in front of my body, and wait for the fire to get to me. It only takes a few split seconds.
I quickly put my hands in front of me, and then separate them. I mentally form the image of a wall of pure light in front of me, and my imagination becomes reality. A barrier of light forms in front of me, and I can only see the inferno of fire out beyond it. The fire is diverted to both sides of the shield, and even though it's so far from my body I can feel the flames as they pass by.
I drop the shield once the breath attack is finished.
But the girl is there, in midair, about to firmly plant her foot into my face. I see the burst of flame behind her back foot that she used to rocket herself up into the sky, and I can see that it is even now rocketing her towards my face. I have a few milliseconds before I enter a world of pain. My nose will probably be broken, I will most likely have some missing teeth, and I may even get a minor concussion.
Unless I do something about it. And I do.
Fast as a bullet, I reach up with my right hand and grab the girl's bare ankle. It's lukewarm, and I feel the heat intensify as I grab hold. I give her a slight push upward, and lean back as she rockets over my head. The flames from her back foot lick at my hair as they pass over me. I quickly lean down and shove the top of my head into the sand in order to put out any fires. When I come back up, I see the girl is about thirty feet away from me, picking herself up off the sand.
I feel a slight tingle in my left hand, and I turn around and grab the grey orb of energy that I had shot earlier before it has a chance to hit me. When I turn back around, the girl is already back up, and running towards me. I don't have time to put up any defenses or block her. I feel the wind get knocked out of me as she punches me in my stomach.
I stumble back a few steps, and use the motion as the prelude to a roundhouse kick to the girl's head. She puts up her left arm to block it, but I put enough force behind my spin to knock her arm out of the way. She grunts as my foot makes contact with her left shoulder. I bring my leg back, and throw a series of energy-imbued punches at the girl's stomach. The first two hit her, and I see little tendrils of energy course through the skin around where my fists made contact. She lets out little puffs of breath as each punch hits her, but is obviously recovered enough to send a flaming uppercut towards my jaw. I lean my head back before she has a chance to hit my jaw, and use my right hand to push her fiery fist to the side.
The girl, however, must have expected me to push her hand out of the way, because her knee is already coming up towards my midsection. I jump backwards and throw a punch with both of my hands towards the girl. Balls of energy speed out from my glowing hands, and the girl responds with two fireballs of her own. The four projectiles hit each other with a loud crack and a crinkle, almost like the aftereffects of fireworks.
I feel my feet make contact with the sand. The sand is hot though, and then I recall the earlier fire breath attack. My primal senses kick in, and I immediately jump to my right in order to save my feet. I land in a pile of cooler sand.
And there is the girl again, throwing a rocket punch towards my face. I duck under the attack, and shove my left palm into the girl's chest. A small shield forms there, and she is knocked back a few feet by the energy. I form an energy orb with my right hand, this one a brilliant silver, and launch it at the girl.
It hits her right in the center of her chest. I see it enter her body, and for a few split seconds, the girl's veins glow with the brilliant color. And then it's gone. She falls to the fine beach sand, taking shallow breaths. Her hair falls around her face, and it looks as though her arms are barely supporting her weight. I remember the first time I was hit by a silver sphere. It's not a fun experience.
I'm not quite sure what to do now, so I awkwardly stand there for a few moments while the girl gasps for breath. I give her credit for not throwing up; that is what I did the first time a silver hit me.
I take a few unsteady steps towards the girl. She doesn't notice as I kneel down besides her. I can't see her face very well through all of her dark hair, but I can see the little tongues of fire that escape her mouth each time she breaths. I almost put a comforting hand on her back, but I stop myself when I realize that my hands are still glowing. Touching her would send more energy coursing through her body, which I don't think would be a good idea. I clench both of my fists and visualize the energy disappearing, and it fades away.
Now I put my hand on the girl's back. "It'll be fine." I say softly. A low breeze comes from the direction of the ocean, and the girl's hair brushes against my leg. "Just take a few slow breaths. It takes awhile for the body to recover from a few hundred volts of pure energy. I'm surprised you aren't throwing up." My mouth just takes over from my brain. What else could I possibly say? I've never really been a comforting kind of person.
"It… feels like I will." The girl's voice is light but precise, as if every syllable has a specific purpose. The girl retches but nothing comes out of her mouth. She takes a few deep breaths, and leans up. She puts her hands on her knees, and turns her head to look at me. I see the subtle curves of her face glow in the starlight. Her crimson eyes have the entire star field reflecting out of them, it seems.
"That was some breath you sent at me there. Thought you had a dragon hidden in your mouth that you forgot to tell me about." I tell her, not know at all what I'm saying. Just making conversation, I guess. I guess.
The girl laughs, and it's a merry and gleeful sound. "Too bad it didn't do anything besides burn your feet."
I shrug. "Hey, at least it did something."
The girl looks up at the stars. "It's like you came from space. You move like something out of a storybook, and you shoot light from your body. It's amazing." She looks at me again, and smiles a little. "Your hands, when you moved, left trails in the air. It was like you were dancing with ribbons or something."
I grin. "Its why some people sometimes call us Energyweaver. People used to say that we weaved entire tapestries of light with our hands. Now all we're good for is light shows."
The girl laughs. "Weavers are the most skilled warriors in the entire world, feared and honored across all of the Four Nations, and you call what you just did a light show? Do you know how much money you could make with your light show?"
I laugh too, because I have to admit that I have thought about that before. "As much as I wanted, before the people chased me out of town. You hit the nail on the head. We're feared." I stand up, and offer my hand to the girl. She takes it, and I pull her up. She begins walking towards the grassy plains that mark the end of the beach. I grab the small leather bag that I had brought with me, and sling it over my shoulder.
"I can breathe fire." The girl waits for me to catch up. "That used to be something that you would only hear about in stories. But at least a quarter of the world can do it too, now. Another quarter of the world can control the winds and the very air that we all breathe. A quarter can move boulders with their minds, more or less, and the last quarter can control the oceans. That kind of stuff has been normal for the past two thousand years. Nothing should really be amazing anymore. And yet here you are controlling light and electricity, and you don't find that amazing?"
I step onto the dark green plains, and look at the dark grass beneath my feet. My eyes haven't adjusted yet to the lack of light. "Like you said, that stuff is normal to me now. If you did the kind of stuff I did every day, you wouldn't be as impressed. It's not impressive. I could have seriously hurt you. If that grey sphere earlier had hit you, you would still be unconscious."
We walk for a few minutes in silence, approaching the dark woods that border the woods around our summer camp. We crept out in the middle of the night to spar, because she had told me she had never seen an Energybender before. I had declined at first, but she managed to convince me in the end. Well, my friends managed to convince me when they heard I declined.
The girl breaks the silence once we reach the trees. "Are you going to join the fighting one day, Aelius?"
I form an energy sphere above my right hand in order to give us some light to see through the trees. The sphere casts ominous shadows behind the trees, but I'm not scared. I've never been afraid of the dark. "I don't know." I say. "I know people on every side of the war. My father expects me to hire myself out when I get older, because that's what most Energybenders do."
"Who is your father fighting for?" The girl asks. She's behind me now, letting me lead the way because I have the light. Her voice is faint.
"The Water and Air Confederacy. He's at the Eastern Temple right now." I think about my father: graceful as a Waterbender and as cunning as an Airbender. It only made sense when he told me he accepted a contract from the Confederacy. A few thousand gold ingots was a very good deal, he said. He told me, before he left, that he would bring me back a nice Earthbender girl. I don't know if he was joking or not.
"Who do you live with now? Your mom?" The girl asks from behind me. I cannot tell whether she is bothered by the fact that my father is out fighting against her nation. I know that if I were in her place, I certainly would be.
"Mom died in the war. Killed by raiders." I feel my chest trembling at the memory. I was young, but old enough to remember because some things you can never just forget…
"What Nation were they?"
"Does it matter?" I ask. I fight the urge to turn around and start screaming. Instead, I stand still amidst the dark forest. The light above my hand grows brighter at my inner conflict. "What does it matter who kills anybody? Dead is dead. Whether it's by an icicle through the throat, a fireball to the heart, a boulder to the spine, being deprived of oxygen for weeks, or a dagger to the ribcage. Does it matter who kills who?"
I can't fight it anymore. I turn around and look at the girl, realizing for the first time just how dark it is around the edges of my light. My energy sphere illuminates her entire body, and I can see a single tear running down her face. Her crimson eyes now look blood red, full of life and youth. She wipes at the tear before it reaches her chin.
"Because maybe if you find out who did it, you can find them, and…" She stops and looks at me. I've thought about that. Finding the people who killed my mother and turned my father crazy. Finding them and killing them like they killed my mother. But if I did that, what good would it do? Yes, I could send thousands and thousands of volts of electricity running through their body. But what would be the point? Would that change anything?
I turn back around. "It doesn't work like that. Let's get back to camp."
I try not to show my tears, and I try not to let my sobs leave my chest, but the ancient part of me tells me that the girl already knows.
