Chapter 10: Into the Abyss
Sky ventured away from the edge of the Abyss, sauntering through local Fire nation villages, asking around for a water-bender, but had no luck, which didn't surprise the Mercenary one bit.
Sky strolled through another village, a Teahouse and Tavern on opposite sides of the village with small houses dotted around. Farmland surrounded the outer rim of the village, and the sun's rays illuminated the village. The Mercenary observed both the Teahouse and Tavern, deciding to venture inside the Tavern, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Sky pushed the doors open, the scent of wine pervading his senses as he saw patrons playing Pai Sho whilst casually sipping their drinks, Water-benders distributed the Wine to their patrons making Sky brimmed with glee.
"Perfect! Some Water-benders!" Sky said aloud as he sauntered in, but a realisation quickly hit him.
"...Asking random barmaids and servers to take me to the bottom of the ocean will seem... weird," Sky told himself as he scanned the room, recognising a group of mercenaries.
"No way..." Sky muttered as he approached them, tapping their beefy leader on the shoulder. The leader turned his head to Sky, seemingly disinterested.
"Can I help you, kid?" The leader asked as Sky took a deep breath.
"Are you guys The Chargers?" Sky cautiously asked as the leader nodded.
"We are..." The leader replied whilst curiously looking at Sky.
"Hold on a second, you're that kid from Ba Sing Se!" The leader happily added, recognising Sky, much to the Mercenary's surprise.
"You recognise me?" Sky shakily asked.
"Well, of course! I remember that bright look in your eyes" The leader replied, quickly pulling out another bar stool for Sky, patting it for him to sit down.
"These are my boys," The leader gestured to the men and woman sat before them.
"That's Short-Fuse, a fire-bender with a self-explanatory name," The leader told him as he pointed to a short man in fire nation attire.
"Hey, how's it going? Need something blowing up?" Short-Fuse greeted Sky as the mercenary chuckled.
"This is Rocky, an Earth-bender who's a little hard-headed," The leader told him as he pointed to a slender and muscular man in earth kingdom attire. Rocky proved the leader's point by smacking a rock over his head.
"And he means that literally!" Rocky replied with a chuckle.
"That's Sinker, a Water-bender who's infamous for sinking battleships of all nations," The leader told him as he gesture to a slender man in water tribe attire.
Sinker raised his hand pointing with his index and middle finger, followed by placing the tips of his fingers against the side of his thumb, raising his other hand and forming two 'L' shapes with his fingers, followed by forming a circle between his thumb and fingers, showing his palm to him then clasping his hand into a fist, quickly raising his index and middle finger in a forked position, placing the tip of his thumb at their base, finishing by sticking out his thumb and pinky finger whilst rolling his other fingers into his palm. Sky raised a quizzical eyebrow as he looked to the leader.
"Sinker can't speak. So he uses this funky hand language to communicate," The leader explained.
"What did he say?" Sky curiously asked.
"'Hello, Sky!'," The leader translated as he took a chug of his wine.
"We also have my second-hand woman, Drafter," The leader told him as he gestured to a woman in yellow hooded robes.
"Is she a non-bender?" Sky curiously asked.
"No, but she can be quite breathtaking!" the leader replied as Drafter kicked the leader's leg, making him grimace and groan.
"Feisty too," The leader added as he pulled out a Giant mace, resting it on his shoulder with a wide grin.
"And they call me, Butcher... and it's not because I run a meat shop," Butcher added, patting Sky on the back.
"It's nice to meet you all," Sky greeted them with a smile.
"Now, was there something you needed, Sky? Or were you just stopping by?" Butcher asked.
"Well... long story short, I found some odd keys scattered throughout the world, and I need a water-bender to take me to the place where I can use them," Sky explained as Butcher looked to his boys, then back to Sky.
"Hmm... are you paying?" Butcher curiously asked.
"Cash up front!" Sky replied, placing a heavy sack of gold on the table as Butcher's face brimmed with glee.
"You aren't on any other jobs at the moment, are you?" Sky asked, hoping they'd be available.
"Nah, we finished a job just recently though. Some mayor trying to track down a lass he got frisky with over a decade ago... Not sure what he hoped we could do, but we searched all over the Fire Nation. Got a lead at one point, but it went cold near the northern shores," Butcher explained.
"We got paid, so it wasn't a total waste of time," Short-Fuse added with a shrug as he drank a whole pint of wine.
"So, if you need us for a job, Sky. You got us!" Butcher replied as they all finished their drinks. Butcher gestured to a barmaid, calling them over and passing a large sack of his own gold to them.
"Thank you for the drinks, dear," Butcher told her in a sultry voice as the barmaid chuckled lightly before leaving.
"Lead the way, Sky!" Butcher instructed him as he grasped the large sack of gold whilst Sky led them to the shoreline, at the edge of the abyss. The Chargers looked around as Sky gazed at the ocean water.
"This is the place?" Butcher curiously asked as Sky affirmatively nodded.
"Yeah. Sinker, do you think you can get us to the Ocean floor?" Sky asked as Sinker raised his thumb to him before approaching the shore, freezing a chunk of the ocean and stepping aboard, gesturing to the others to come aboard. Butcher, Short-Fuse, Drafter, Rocky and Sky stepped aboard the ice.
Sinker began swerving his arms around as the ice sank, the water forming a bubble around them as they descended into the darkness of the ocean.
"Short-Fuse! Light!" Butcher commanded, to which Short-Fuse formed a large flame in his palms.
The Chargers and Sky hit the ocean floor, the ice melting as Sinker kept the water swerving around them, Sky looked around, seeing the cavern from earlier.
"Over there!" Sky said aloud as he pointed to the cavern. The Chargers and Sky marched forward, walking into the Cavern and descending further down into the earth.
"Sky, just how deep is this place?" Butcher worryingly asked as they descended, but Sky shrugged.
"I'm not sure, I only got about halfway down to the cavern on my own," Sky nervously replied whilst Butcher remained silent as they descended. Eventually, The Chargers and Sky were spat out of the water, but Drafter broke their fall with a light draft, much to Sky's surprise.
Before The Chargers and Sky stood a mighty golden door, with four keyholes shaped like the four nation's emblems at its centre. Sky pulled the keys from his pockets, cautiously approaching the door as The Chargers stayed back, quizzically looking to one another whilst Sky stood before the door, inserting the Ruby Key and twisting it.
"Fire scorches without remorse," An unfamiliar voice whispered, making Sky's eyes widened as several roaring flames erupted from the sides of the chamber.
"Short-Fuse!" Butcher shouted as Short-Fuse leapt in and bent the fire away from Sky, saving him from being burnt.
"Thanks!" Sky replied as his body quaked. The Mercenary turned back to the door, inserting the Quartz Key and twisting it.
"Air is fleeting," The unfamiliar voice whispered again as the air within the chamber began dissipating, but Drafter sensed the air leaving the room, swerving her arms out as she slowly pulled them back in, dragging the air back into the room, and after a moment the air stopped resisting her pull.
Everyone looked around, not noticing that Drafter had stopped their air from escaping the chamber whilst Sky turned his attention back to the door, inserting the sapphire key and twisting it.
"Water drowns the weak," the unfamiliar voice whispered again as Water began flooding into the chamber, but Sinker quickly stopped it, pushing the water back into the holes it flooded from and freezing them at the entrance.
"Sheesh, it's like you'd need to be an Avatar to get in here," Butcher commented.
"Your ally is correct, Avatar Wan built this place so that only an Avatar could survive..." A distinct voice whispered to Sky as his eyes widened.
"Rocky, get ready!" Sky called over to him as Rocky nodded, preparing for the final booby-trap. Sky turned back to the door, inserting the Emerald Key, twisting it as he looked around at the chamber.
"Earth buries those unable to withstand its might," the unfamiliar voice whispered as large boulders descended on Sky, Rocky shoved them out of the way, but the boulders kept coming, forcing Butcher and Drafter to leap in, Butcher smashed oncoming boulders as Drafter pushed them away with gusts of wind until the boulders stopped.
The golden door began sliding open into four pieces, taking the keys with it as the whole chamber quaked as Rocky, Butcher and Drafter readied themselves to attack more boulders, but to their surprise, none came and the golden door opened all the way, revealing an ancient carved out room, flames illuminated the interior, a stream of water encircled a tall alter with a stairway leading up to it with two runic adorned blades, a two diagonal ruby lines converging to a point, two sets of emerald lines converging on one another, two parallel Quartz lines with one line in its centre, and a Sapphire line with a diagonal line at one of its ends.
Sky slowly approached the altar, wondrously gazing upon the swords before reaching out and clasping them, his hairs standing on end as he lifted them from their altar, swinging them around in his hands gleefully.
"But I knew that whenever you work with another Mercenary company, no matter how renowned they are... always expect a knife in the back," Present Day Sky told Jing as he continued his story.
Young Sky turned around to The Chargers, seeing them menacingly stood before him.
"Thank you for the help! Now let's get out of here before any traps get us," Sky told them as he held onto the Dual Swords.
"Change of plans Sky, we'll take the Swords on top of your earlier payment," Butcher replied with a smirk, but Sinker tugged on his arm, grasping his attention and shaking his head.
Sinker flexed out three of his fingers, bringing all four tips into the side of his thumb, followed by pointing his index and middle finger out then rolling his fingers into a fist with his thumb at the side, flexing out his index and middle finger in a fork then bringing the tips of his fingers back to the side of his thumb, following by rolling his hand into a fist then placing a gap between his middle and ring finger before forming a circle between his thumb and fingers, followed by crossing his index finger under his middle finger, rolling his hand into a fist as he pointed out his pinky, bringing it back in then pointing with his index finger, then joining his middle finger with it, rolling his fingers into a fist once more, as his thumb pressed against his middle finger and his index finger overlapped his thumb. But Butcher scoffed at him.
"Hey, we got him down here, we have all the right to talk about what payment we want," Butcher replied as he gestured to his other boys.
"Drafter, Rocky, Short-Fuse... Sinker. Take him out and get the swords," Butcher commanded them. Sinker reluctantly strode forward along with the others, all blasting out their respective element towards Sky.
"Defend yourself!" A voice whispered as Sky instinctively raised the swords before him, blocking the elemental barrage as the runic symbols lit up, a dim light radiating along the swords as two spirits began forming around Sky.
"Just as the Spirits of Order and Chaos have their chosen. We have ours," A spirit whispered as it infused with Sky.
"We will be with you always," The other spirit whispered as it infused with Sky, The blades radiated with power as the Chargers gawked. Seeing Sky's eyes became pure white as a confident smirk overcame the Ascended Mercenary.
Sky leapt in with his blades, unleashing powerful slashes of fire and air towards The Chargers, followed up by pulling water from the stream and unleashing a dual slash of water before piercing the swords into the ground, slashing up the earth beneath The Chargers.
Drafter, Short-Fuse, Sinker and Rocky fell to the side whilst Sky and Butcher stood across from each other, Butcher confidently withdrawing his mace as he smirked.
"Alright, you knock off Avatar, come get it!" Butcher taunted him as he slammed his mace on the ground.
Sky readied his blades, swinging them viciously at Butcher, the leader tried to block with his mace but the fire broke his guard, knocking him down as Sky raised his swords to Butcher, swirling the surrounding air and dragging him in before pulling Butcher up and kicking him in the jaw.
Sinker looked over to Drafter, flexing out three of his fingers, bringing all four tips into the side of his thumb, followed by rolling his hand into a fist then pointing with his index and middle finger, forming a circle with his thumb and fingers, raising his index and middle finger together, quickly forming an 'L' shape then rolling his thumb in and pointing out with his index finger, followed by crossing his index under his middle finger, pointing his index and middle finger out together once more finishing by rolling his hand into a fist then placing a gap between his middle and ring finger.
"I agree!" Drafter replied as she nodded. The two stood up, beginning to flee the chamber with Short-Fuse and Rocky quickly following whilst Butcher stood up, seeing his boys make a run for it.
"This ain't over, Sky!" Butcher angrily told him as he limped away, following his boys.
The rushing energy faded from Sky as the runes dimmed, sheathing the swords behind him as he looked to his surroundings.
"What was that!?" Sky asked, hoping the voices would tell him.
"My brother Fu and myself Jian forged these swords," Jian told Sky within his mind as the Mercenary took a deep breath.
"So, you two are a part of me now?" Sky curiously asked.
"Yes, but we'll fade away into your sub-conscious sooner or later," Fu explained whilst Sky thought to himself, but before he could speak, a light engulfed him, transporting him back to the surface.
"Yes, we can still teleport you," Jian told Sky, the mercenary chuckling to himself as he proudly walked off into the Fire Nation with his Rune Swords.
Present Day Sky patted his rune swords with a smirk whilst Jing sat there, fascinated by Sky's story.
"Are they still there?" Jing asked.
"No, they faded away a couple years ago," Sky replied with a saddened voice.
"Did you ever find out why they made the swords? And why the Avatar reacted the way he did?" Jing asked, hoping to learn more.
"The brother's Fu and Jian envied their friend's ability to bend all four elements. He was an enigma to them, and so they forged these swords with some outside help, hoping they too could wield the four elements," Sky explained.
"But this angered Avatar Wan when he found out. The forging of the swords and the brothers now being able to 'bend' the four elements as well damaged his ego, and the brothers duelled the Avatar, eventually falling to his power, and using some odd ability to seal the two within their respective swords, locking them away in the hopes no one would ever find them," Sky finished his explanation.
"And it only took several thousand years for them to resurface..." Jing replied as he curiously looked at the swords.
"Yep, and now I use them in the name of helping the Avatar... and keeping them out of the wrong hands," Sky told him as he twirled one in his hands whilst Jing softly scoffed.