Chapter 7: Changes in Lives

Brak headed down the familiar hallway he'd always seen since he started to work for Yang Shi Enterprises, and became a sort of unofficial assistant to Yang.

Knock, knock

He rapped on the door.

"Come on in m'boy." Yang replied with a little gusto.

Brak pushed open the heavy double doors, and entered the also familiar office, and his eyes fell directly on the chair he saw David in just yesterday.

"I know this was kind of sudden. I was going to call you later yesterday evening. I hope I didn't keep you from anything." Yang said with mock concern.

Yang motioned for Brak to sit down in the same chair David did. Brak felt a little uneasy about it, but obeyed all the same.

"I had another job to go to, but this takes priority, and I was actually asked to come in early. My boss understood."

Yang stopped organizing papers and looked at Brak with a little worry.

"He understood? What did you tell him?"

Brak ignored Yang's expression, and answered, "Oh, just that I had to talk with you."

"Not giving all the information? I hope you won't do that with me."

It was Brak's turn to wear the worried expression on his face, as he realized what he just admitted to.

"Oh, no sir, I just didn't want to tell him…"

"The truth." Yang interrupted.

Brak knew there was no way of getting out of this, he just admitted defeat with an affirmative answer, and prayed he didn't screw up.

"I'm just giving you a hard time Brak, don't sweat it."

Brak felt a little easier.

Yang broke eye contact with Brak, and continued to go through his papers. He pulled out one in particular, and read from it.

"I see here that you have not been tardy to work, do disciplinary actions, a hard worker, and no complaints. So, based on this, you do what you are told without question, and you put no special effort into making the company better."

Brak started to wonder if this was an interview or an interrogation, he felt so nervous.

"How much do you know about my company, Brak?"

Brak didn't have to really think about it. He had only been there 13 months, but he knew most of the functions through clerical work.

"We help make life better." Brak ended with that. His mind went totally blank.

"Well, that was certainly vague." Yang responded, stood up, and started to pace a little.

"Let's try again. This time, tell me why we make life better."

Brak started to fidget with his fingers under the table, and really rack his brain.

"We make life better by producing life saving medical equipment at half the normal cost overseas. We also give to many charities, fund pharmacies, and help individuals get the medical attention they need."

Brak heaved a heavy sigh of relief to himself.

"This life saving medical equipment, do you know how it works, and what kind of pharmacies do we help fund?"

"I'm not sure about the first one, but he pharmacies we help fund are little pharmacies that focus on alternate forms of healing."

"Yes, it is all about the image m'boy."

Yang stopped at the window behind his desk, and peered out onto the street.

"Tell me, Brak. Are you ready for a rewarding career in this field? You want to make 7,8,9, even 10 figures a year?"

"Wow, sir, yes."

"There you go again with that, sir, business."

"Sorry, yes, Yang." Brak should have known better. That's one of the first things he was told, and always reminded by Yang.

Yang was still peering out of the window.

"Our machines, focus on vibrations from every living organism in our body. Our bodies, skin, bones, muscles, even down to the very cells of each of these things vibrate at a certain frequency. Our machines lock on, and go to work healing the vibrations with non intrusive surgeries."

Brak was no longer worried, but astounded. He's never heard of any of this, but it does sound eerily familiar.

"Wow, I never heard of these procedures."

"Of course not, we don't readily talk about it with the public. Our customers know they work, know that the procedures are virtually pain free, and they buy into machines."

Brak couldn't help but wonder why he was telling him all of this. It was almost like he was in some sort of inner circle now. Why him though? He was a paper pusher, a go getter, not a salesman or a technical expert."

Yang had turned around, and taken his seat again across from Brak, and looked him in the eyes.

"What I want you to do, is to be the face of the company. Sell our products through ads. You won't be creating the ads, just be the face on them. All-Slaenian looks, dark hair, good tan, muscular? Oh yeah, you have what I want on our ads, and what we need as a company. You will participate in all meetings, going overseas, speak at conventions, the works. I know it sounds like a lot, but do you have better things to do?"

Flattery, big money, big job, travel, and pair it all with just a bit of presumptuous rudeness, is a formula that has always worked for Yang. It seems to be working on Brak as well. Keeping him away from Gena is a top priority, even if it does cost him a bundle. Simply getting rid of him like David and Gyree isn't an option. He will be missed, noticed, and it could come back harsh on Yang; so he had to find a way to make it good for himself and Brak.

Brak didn't need much time to think at all. This is the break he always wanted. Toiling for years at a factory, then coming here was a break in itself, and now something like a modeling gig? Who can say no?

"Sign me up, Yang!"

Yang slammed his open palm down on the table.

"That's what I like to hear m'boy."

Gena shook hands with her boss, now her old boss. The lady tried to look happy for her, but losing her to another job overseas was just too much. She and Gena parted ways, She went back inside the store, and Gena began to walk home.

Gena was home. Clothes had to be done, she thought, and remembered what Tai and Lee had told her about not needing anything but the bare essentials. She had a hiking book bag that had some essentials.

"Yeah, for hiking." She thought, but she grabbed it anyway.

She showered, washed clothes anyway, cleaned, and cleaned her refrigerator. Not knowing if she was ever going to come back, or how long she was going to be gone.

She heard her ringtone. It was Crytia.

"Hello."

"Are you ready? It's almost nightfall."

"Yes."

"You're not bringing much right?"

"No."

Gena was always direct on the phone, as she hated to carry on conversations.

Jonathan was there shortly to pick her up. Sare was with him. She squeezed through piles of books, and various items Sare thought he needed.

"So much for packing lightly. I'm the girl here, and I only have this."

"Yeah, but what's in it?" Sare retorted.

Gena stayed silent.

"He's not going to bring half that stuff. He knows only the bare essentials are needed. The rest of the stuff will stay with us at the society." Jonathan stated.

They arrived at the field from her vision, and where David had took Sare to earlier in the week.

Gena kept swearing she could see it on fire, but brushed it off, and Jonathan noticed her being a little uneasy.

"You can share with us Gena, you now?"

"It's nothing, just a stupid vision, back before I met Raava."

"Oh?" Sare perked up.

Jonathan stared at her intently too.

"There were a lot of people in this field, and it was on fire, and they were too."

Gena noticed the worried / shock expressions on their faces.

"I don't think it was any kind of premonition though."

This did not reassure Jonathan at all.

"We'll have to keep an extra close eye on things then." Jonathan said, sounding worried.

Jonathan lifted his hands high into the air of the night sky, and brought his hands straight down to the ground toward a hole that Gena just noticed.

A slight hum was heard, and the ground broke down into a stair case with a bright dancing light at the bottom that was apparently fire.

Jonathan lead the party of three down into the Earth, and Crytia was there to lift the staircase back up to level land. The ceiling gave no proof of any disturbance.

"Welcome to the society headquarters, Avatar Gena." Crytia said with a slight bow.

The whole place looked amazing. She knew it was carved out of the Earth, but it looked immaculate, like a machine did it. Fire-lit torches lined the room they were in, and the hallways ahead that branched off into different rooms.

"In the next few days, you and Sare will be leaving from the harbor to the south pole, where you will enter the spirit world." Crytia explained.

"Yeah, Raava already told me this, but the thing I do not understand is, how will I get there, and what about my house?"

Sare cleared his throat.

"I mean, how will we get there?"

"Well, we will provide you the boat that Tai, Lee, and I used to come back from my sabbatical. We will also keep an eye on your house, and take care of the bills and yard maintenance. Sare lives with his parents, so we only have to do yours."

"Great. Live at home, huh?"

"Yeah." Sare answered with a grimace.

"Ahem!" Crytia cleared her throat.

"The spirit world will be a little harder to get into. We all believe that the portal will appear to be a rift in the air just like it was for the oasis, but finding that rift, is something we do not know how to guide you on."

They started to walk through the hallway to the other end. Each room was filled with things that Gena had never seen or heard of before. One room off to her right was a huge pool of water seemingly just floating there, nothing holding it back.

"How?"

"Oh, that is my room for training." Sare began.

"The water is held in place by a device designed by Tai and Lee to emulate waterbending." Crytia further explained.

Gena's eyes widened as she never even heard of manmade machines nowadays that could do this.

Sare decided to show off a bit. All of the water that was held in place, rose to the air, and collapsed into a thick sheet of ice in front of him. Sare smirked a little, melted the ice, made it do a few tricks in the air, and go back into place. The device beeped for a second, flashing red, and then green. The rested his body and arms. Gena seemed somewhat impressed, Jonathan smiled a little, but Crytia rolled her eyes, and kept walking.

"When Tai and Lee came here to join the society. There was nothing we could say or do to satiate their thirst for knowledge. Especially after seeing this." She said as she walked up to the next room on the left, and pointed.

Animals beyond Gena's comprehension existed within.

"That's a Rabbiroo, Hogmonkey, all those are wolfbats, a herd of sky bison, a polar bear dog."

The room was huge. Carefully sectioned out to create habitats for the various animals. Sare was still explaining, and pointed to a single creature.

"That's a badgermole."

Another one joined the one badgermole as the wall of earth behind it opened up as a collapsing door, and closed.

"Did you do that Crytia?" Gena asked.

"No, some of these creatures can bend. As matter of fact, Ones like the badgermoles and sky bison are the ones that taught some of the greatest benders how to bend."

Gena stood in awe. Creatures that could bend. Bending is natural? A part of nature? How could all of this be so easily concealed from the public?

"And this one over there, his name is foo foo cuddly poops."

Gena shook her head as if she were doing a double take. "What?"

"Foo Foo Cuddly Poops." Sare said a bit slower.

Gena chuckled a little. "Why do you call him that?"

The large creature looked menacing. It looked like a large moose with the teeth of a saber-toothed lion. It was in a cage of earth, quite large though, and very deep, as most of the habitats were.

"That's his name." Jonathan said matter-of-factly.

Gena turned from Sare to Jonathan.

"How do you know?"

"Tai can hear the thoughts of animals, and this one was given its name around a thousand or more years ago."

Gena was still astonished, somewhat more so. Tai can speak to animals? Wow, Crytia wasn't kidding when she said that their thirst for knowledge was insatiable.

"And now, if you look up you'll see…" Sare continued.

"A Dragon?" Gena sounded even more astonished.

This was so much to take in. The world is so different now. Almost like a world within a world. Gena began to stutter a little out of wonder and a little frustration.

"Do not worry Gena. This is a lot to take in now, but you and Sare will have a lot more education in the spirit world, and you have the rest of your life to figure out more things. Just try not to take everything so fast." Jonathan took her being frustrated on a hunch.

The Avatar world was indeed a lot for Gena to take into account. If this labyrinth of rooms is just a taste of what there is to learn, how would she ever fulfill her role?

"Oh, and don't worry about learning all of this, most of this stuff is history, not the future. These creatures do not exist in the spirit world, and these are the last of their kind, destined to be extinct. Tai and Lee are currently working on a way to bring them back, though. Progress is slow, but moving forward." Jonathan took on another hunch.

"I wish we could let them out. They have to be miserable in here."

"I bet they are. We are hoping that when you become a fully realized Avatar, you can reintroduce these to the public, so they don't have to live here, underground." Lee said as he passed through to feed an armadillocat.

"Let's not overwhelm the Avatar. Now that we're through gawking at the livestock, let's continue on." Crytia seized an opportunity to continue on.

"I am sure Raava has plans for you In the spirit world, but we have not, so we do not know the dangers you will face. So could you document some areas for us?" Crytia tried to hint carefully.

"I've been to the spirit world, and yes, I brought my camera."

Jonathan and Crytia stopped dead in their tracks, and turned to Gena.

"Yeah, once in the oasis. Raava was able to communicate with me, and drag my spirit into the spirit world."

Jonathan and Crytia stared heavily at Gena, almost pleading her to continue.

"It was beautiful. All the plant life was more green than you could imagine. Spirits floating to and fro, and a huge castle looking building hung upside down. I think Raava called it, Wonky Kong's Library?"

"Wong Shi Tong's Library." Lee butted in as he passed by the group again.

They all followed Lee with their eyes.

"Yes, the library. You will learn a lot there, but from what I have read on the history of avatars; Wong Shi Tong is not the friendly type." Jonathan explained.

Gena looked more worried now than ever.

"Do not worry, I am sure Raava will be with us." Sare sensed her concern.

They continued to walk, passing more rooms. One with a huge and ancient door that Crytia described as an airbender door. She further explained that it was only the door, and not in the best of shape either. Another room held a great many statues of men and women. Crytia explained that the statues were the past lives of the Avatar, and that it was said that whenever certain conditions were met, the eyes of each statue glowed.

Gena tried to imagine that. She bet it was a sight to behold. She still could not believe that her life was heading in this direction. It all seemed so unreal. She was trying her best to conceal her frustration and keep it under control, to not think about it. Take it as it comes. Which was always hard for her to do.

Another room was filled with books, and the last room, was empty.

They got to the room at the end of the hall. The room was mostly empty save for torches, and staircases leading upwards on either end of the wide room.

"Sare, Jonathan, Tai, and Lee have the left staircase, and you and I have the right." Crytia explained.

"For what?"

"Those are the sleeping quarters, you put your belongings in there, and sleep. You won't be leaving for a few days. It will give you a little bit of time to become acquainted with the society headquarters."

"Yes, this place is amazing, huge, confusing. So much to learn. I will want a few days or more."

"Be careful not to take too much time. I do not want to rush you, but Raava chose this time in your life, it has to be for a reason."

With that said, they dispersed to their quarters, but Gena stayed behind to go to the room with the statues.

She found the one of a manly figure, but dressed as a woman. Complete with a fancy headdress and a set of…

"Fans?"

"Avatar Kyoshi." Tai startled Gena and explained.

"She was an earthbender like you are."

"Like me? I thought I would bend all the elements being the Avatar."

"Oh, you will, but your eyes tell of your nation."

Gena took a closer look at Tai.

"Your eyes are blue, so water?"

"Yes, I would be a waterbender if I were a bender, and Lee would be a firebender, his eyes are a golden color."

Gena looked back at the statue, and mimicked Kyoshi's pose.

"Thanks, Tai." Gena started, before she turned back around, and he was gone.

Brak just got off the phone with his manger at the club, practically giving no notice of quitting, only a few days, as his new job at Yang Shi Enterprises started then.

"Me, a model?" He said aloud as he flexed In the mirror in his room, trying out different poses to see which one he would use as a signature pose.

He wasn't the type of guy that would just fawn in the mirror, but the job offer did get him a little self conscious, so off to exercising and running again, he thought.

Author's Note: Okay, I know that the conversation between Gena and Tai, and then that last sliver with Brak didn't make much sense, but I was toying around with an idea, and they just didn't seem right at the time, so I just kept them short, and only added a little more information.

Well, this chapter certainly was longer than the rest; on average, I'd say 500 words longer. Sorry if it got too tedious to read. There was a LOT of dialogue and no real action, but like every series out there, there are some filler episodes, well, I guess this was my filler chapter lol. Don't hate me too much for it.