Chapter 6
Another like myself
After a three day hike from Loaka I arrived in the large port city of Oganowa, which was busy with people running through the streets and going about their daily activities. I arrived at the gate of Oganowa and the guards stopped me. "Halt. State your name, where you hail from, and your business in the city of Oganowa."
"I am Zack. I am the last of Eqotoa. My business is my own." The guards looked me over a second time and saw I was wearing Earth Nation armor and had a sword at my side. "Hmmm Last of Eqotoa eh? Eqotoa was destroyed 5 days ago by Fire Nation Soldiers and it was said that not a soul survived. So what proof do you have that you hail from Eqotoa?" I thought for a moment and came up with nothing. I had no proof. Nothing. "Well…I uhh…ummm I have no proof to be honest, but I wish to enter your city nonetheless." The guards nodded and probaly assumed I was harmless so they opened the gates and let me through. As I walked through the gates I saw the busy streets of Oganowa, children playing, merchants selling, theives stealing, and various guards were patrolling. "Hmmm I might be of use to this city if the Mayor will accept my offer." I thought to myself. "Hey! THEIF! THEIF!" I turned and saw a man of my age running from a shouting merchant. The man had light brownish hair and an odd mark¹ on his right cheek.
I decided I should intervene so I put on the necklace and felt the same burning on my cheek as I did before and the knowledge exploded into my mind and I felt like I was on fire. "Stop!" I yelled to the thief. I saw many of the guards surrounding him with spears and I noticed he stood completley still as if about to pay for what he did. "I am Joshua. I was born of the sea and have been on my own here since I was 8. I now have amazing powers of Water Bending and shall use them to defend myself if I need to." The guards looked perplexed as did I and I noticed a necklace around his neck similar to mine except the stone was blue and the mark was different.
He closed his eyes and focused until the ground started to crack open and water began to spray all the guards away from him. "So he is like me with powers that aren't natural.." I said quietly under my breath. I jumped high into the air and came down next to him with flames surrounding me. "Hello there Joshua was it?" He looked at me and saw the necklace around my neck and his eyes widened. "Your like me… you got Fire Bending powers from that necklace?" I nodded. "Yes I did and I am on a quest to rid this nation of the invading Fire Nation would you care to join me?" I noticed the guards all starting to get back up. "It might be wise to take this meeting somehwere else." He said to me. I nodded in agreement and jumped into the air landing on a nearby rooftop and Joshua wasn't far behind.
"So you want me to come with you and help you against the Fire Nation?" "Yeah that's the basic idea. It's alright if you refuse, but since you are like myself it would be best for both of us to use our amazing powers to help instead of hurt." He sat down on the rooftop and looked out at the sun setting over the sea. "I've lived in this city since I washed up here when I was 8 and I found this necklace just a few weeks ago and since then I've been able to defend myself on these harsh streets." "I was born in the large city of Eqotoa and lived there until the Fire Nation attacked just 5 days ago. Everyone I knew and loved is dead…my way of life has become one of vengance. It's ironic really this necklace called out to me in the mounds of Tados Moria." He sighed and looked to me. "I will join you and help you stop the Fire Nation provided you help me find my origins." I smirked. "I thought you were of the sea?" "I am not sure where I am of all I know is that I was on a ship when a hurricane hit it and I washed up here." "Alright I'll help you Joshua and together we'll-" I felt the mark on my cheek begin to burn extremely bad and I fell to my knees and I saw Joshua's scar glow brightly and he looked as if he was shivering.
odd mark¹ The odd mark Zack spoke of was the symbol of Water in the ancient languages.