Chapter: Five- Colt in the Spirit World
Author: Fritters-4-Psi
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only major things that will affect the fanfic that are mine are: Rachel, Colt, Agni (Fire Spirit), Engru (Earth Spirit), Fera (Death Spirit), Arith (Air Spirit), Brittany, Tyler, and maybe things to come in later chapters.
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When he woke, Colt expected to see his ceiling, a sight very familiar to him. Above him, however, was something that looked nothing like his white ceiling. There were branches covered in lichen. In the air, there was a swampy smell. Not only was that not his ceiling, but this was not his room, where he had fallen asleep. Slowly, he stood up and ran a hand through his brown hair. This had to be a dream. Never in his life, had Colt ever seen any place like this. Just like the smell indicated, this was a swamp area. Suddenly, a white, heron-like bird swooped down from the trees. It landed in a nearby pool. Cautiously, the heron approached. Two feet away from Colt, it stopped, staring up into his steel blue eyes with beady, black ones.
This odd occurrence ended when a low howl sounded somewhere southward. The heron quickly took to the air and flew, leaving Colt dumbfounded. If this was a dream, it was a very vivid one. Another low howl was heard in the south, this time closer. If there was one thing Colt knew, it was not to stay in one place in unfamiliar territory. Fortunately for him, he knew other things as well. Unfortunately, though, in this odd place, he knew neither north from south, nor east from west. Unknowingly, Colt began heading south.
An hour passed and he had seen no forms of life, aside from multiple glowing insects. There was relative silence, except from normal swamp sounds and the occasional howl. Colt wondered at what could possibly be making that noise. Soon after that thought he found out. A massive shadow passed over him. He stopped in fear of what could cast such a shade. Reluctantly, he turned to face whatever it was. When he turned, he had to look up. It was a distinctively wolf-like creature breathing down his back. It looked like a timber wolf, but was massive and brown colored. For many years, Colt had been a Boy Scout, but had never been prepared for such an encounter.
Carefully, he backed away, hoping not to become this animal's meal. Colt had half expected for it to pounce on him and swallow him in one bite. Surprisingly, the "wolf" sat on its haunches, allowing its tongue to loll out of its mouth. Its expression seemed to be asking if Colt would pet it. He was unsure, however. This wolf may be acting tame, but how could he really know? Warily, he approached the beast and the wolf did nothing, but sit there. Closer he went and still the wolf sat there. Finally, Colt was in reach of the wolf. Cautiously, he extended his arm to pet the creature. The wolf greeted this attention with joy.
Several minutes passed before Colt started to walk away from the wolf. He soon discovered that it began to follow him. Turning around, he saw the beast turn its head to its back. It continued doing so until Colt walked over near its girth. "I don't know how to ride. Even if I did, I couldn't get on your back. You're too tall," he stated.
Almost as if the wolf understood, it lay on its stomach. Still too high for Colt to easily mount the creature, he pulled himself up. Once on the creature's back, he realized that there was not a good grip and he was horribly off balance. Carefully, his slide onto the wolf's neck, right behind the head. There, he discovered he had better balance and could hold onto the beast's ears. Once Colt was situated, the wolf stood and Colt saw that the ground was more than twenty feet away. Unlike his father, though, he wasn't afraid of heights.
The wolf took off at a run. It went in a westerly direction to some destination unknown to Colt. For some time, he watched the images flowing past him. Soon enough, though, by the gentle, rocking gait of the wolf, Colt fell asleep. When he woke again, he didn't know what time it was. A few minutes passed before he realized he was no longer sitting on the giant wolf. Instead, he was laying on a blanket of moss covering the ground. He looked around at his new surroundings. It was still a swamp, but here, the swamp didn't seem so dense. It was almost forest-like, with clear water. Suddenly, the moss beneath him disappeared. "So you've finally woken, have you?" a female voice questioned.
Startled, Colt turned. Coming out from behind a tree was a young woman. She looked to be roughly sixteen. Her hair was white and her eyes were pale blue. She was wearing a flowing lilac and white dress. About her was a silver aura. "Who are you?" Colt asked, "And how did I get here? Where is the wolf?"
The young woman laughed. Somehow, hearing her laughter seemed to easy Colt's mind a little. "The wolf, as you called him, is fine. He went off to do his daily tasks. In fact, he brought you here by my request. Or, if by here, you mean in the Spirit World, then I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to tell you such matters. I have many names, but you may call me Yue."
This had to still be a dream. There was no possible way that he was in some place called the Spirit World. If this was real . . . "Why did you request that I was brought here?" Colt asked, "I don't understand. There has to be other people here. Why me?"
Yue looked at the eighteen-year-old sympathetically. It would be difficult for him to hear what she had to say next. It was always hard to comprehend that you were told you have to die. She had dealt with that first hand. "There is a planet that you have never heard of. For one hundred years there has been a terrible war. Thousands of innocent people have needlessly died. On this planet, there is a person, the Avatar, whose job is to maintain peace, but right now he is nothing, but a little boy. Your help is needed to end the war," Yue explained, "Tui! It is time."
Further confusion crossed Colt's face. "Who is Tui? What is it time for?" he asked.
His question was answered. From behind a nearby lichen-covered tree stepped a man looking to be in his twenties. He wore a robe such a dark color blue that it looked to be black. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were blue. In his hand, was a curious looking knife with a long handle and a short blade, glowing a mix of blue and silver. Yue walked in front of the man. "This is Tui. My real name isn't Yue, it's La," she said, "I'm sorry to say, but in order for you to help the world of the Avatar, you must die."
Shock crept onto Colt's face. She couldn't possibly be serious. Yue, or La, rested a hand on Colt's shoulder. She looked into his eyes. "This must be very difficult for you," she sympathized, "There is no other way, though. You were chosen for a reason. Your death will only hurt for a short while, but then you will be reborn. This knife has been charged with Elemental power. You shall come back better than you are now. All will turn out fine."
Colt didn't believe her. He tried to pull away, but, surprisingly, her grip was extremely firm. Struggling proved useless, yet he still tried to get away. While Colt fought to be free, Tui stood before Colt, grabbing his shoulder. The steel of the blade glinted in the clouded light. The eighteen-year-old braced for the impact. Tui quickly lodged the knife between Colt's ribs, landing it in his heart. Both Spirits let go off him. Colt opened his mouth, but all that came out was blood. Suddenly, his vision began to blur, then all turned black.
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Okay, my original author's note for this chapter was much worse. I was ranting, and cursing, and trash talking people. It wasn't very nice, but I was in a bad mood. I got over it, though, thankfully. You see, this fanfic was posted on the Live-Journal community avatarsues. What does that mean? It means that, supposedly, this is a Mary-Sue fanfic and, hell! maybe it is. The people who commented on it were just so degrading, putting me in a very sour mood. I wanted revenge, so I wrote a long, nasty author's note hoping that they would read it. Then I realized I was wasting my time. I was being bothered by something so petty. There were more important things I could be worrying about. Yeah, it hurt me to see my fanfic on that site, but I'm going to try and prove those people wrong. Besides, isn't it a little too early to be judging this?
