A/N - First shot at a fanfic written novel style. PLEASE don't eat me. That's just cannibalism and that's kind of nasty.
It was dark. The leaves had fallen from the trees long before winter had even begun to place is frozen grip upon the land. It was a desolate, horrible place. The ground was cracked and bare. Water had ceased to flow. The sky was a black blanket that would never be broken by the light of stars. The wind that carried through the dark skeletons of trees smelled always of smoke.
It was the firebenders. They had destroyed it all. They had destroyed everything vital to the small earth village. They had dried the rivers, killing the herbs; killing the trees; slowly killing the people. It wasn't as though the town had ever been a thriving port city, or a great town. The town was in itself a very simple existence, at least that's the way it had been a hundred years ago. And slowly, so slowly, the village had given over to the Fire Nation.
Now, Fire Nation soldiers camped everywhere. They took whatever it was they wanted from the small Earth Kingdom village - food, water, men, women, supplies, weapons. It was all fair game. After all, the Fire Nation had conquered and the Earth Kingdom had been conquered. There wasn't enough left in the village for the local inhabitants to survive on, not to mention the Army that made so many frequent pit-stops for food and shelter.
Those inhabiting the village, now referred to it as the shadowland, were not quite sure who it was that owned the land anymore. They thought it was the Earth Kingdom. But it could just as easily been the Fire Nation. The huts were made from the earth, their roofs made of the dying wood, the doors swung on delicate hinges. Earth surrounded the inhabitants, but flying in place of the green flags were bright red and gold banners. To every sense, it was the earth kingdom, but it was those flags that brought to realization whose village it truly was.
And that's how it went, for a hundred years after the disappearance of the Avatar. The world's only hope had disappeared. And the village had lost hope. Without hope, there is no life, and unless hope is rekindled life does not end, it merely ceases to be more than a futile struggle for existence. Most of the villagers had forgotten their hope, and merely existed with the tyranny of the Fire Nation.
Yet, some of the Earthbenders in this small village had not given up their hope, they had taken to leaving for un announced periods of time, and training. They trained hard, and then came back with as much food as they could. They never wanted to raise suspicions of the Firebenders. Their suspicions had been raised once, and the poor boy who'd caused the suspicion was never seen again. At least, he was never seen again alive. The next time he was seen, it looked as though he'd been set on a funeral pyre, and then removed before he'd finished burning.
The fire nation could make good on their threats. And one threat was enough to conceal them all to secrecy. The hand once bitten is twice shy, and the village had been bitten more than once.
That's how it all began.
That was how Kaia, a bony girl from the Earth Kingdom came to be running for her life through the burning so called forests surrounding her shadowland. Her bare feet pounded the cracked ground, never protesting as the exposed roots reached up and tore at her flesh. It was the great struggle of her young life: stay alive. She had no advantage against the monsters behind her. She knew the land as well as they did, she was tired, she was bony, and she had no idea where the Fire Nation's Army was camped.
She only knew one thing - she could not go to the Refuge. That was the one thought recirculating in her brown haired head. Do not go to the Refuge. It was the one place she could be safe, but the Fire Nation soldiers were too close behind her. To go there would mean that the soldiers would know where the others would go to practice. Some of the others might even be hiding there now.
How far had she gone? Her chest was beginning to tighten. She could hardly breathe. "Keep breathing.." she reminded herself in a soft rhasp. Her dark hair slowly came loose from the tight knot on the back of her head. She reached up and pulled out the small leather string that held her hair up, letting it fall to the ground behind her. She focused only on running, on keeping her legs moving, on keeping her chest rising with breath.
Then she heard it, singing not very far behind her, the soft stinging cry of arrows. She heard them hit the ground far behind her. She heard the wood splinter against the hard ground. She could hear the sharp thud as the arrows pierced the dead hollow trees. She ran faster, her bleeding feet slipping more and more on the cracked ground as she scrambled up the hill.
The arrows shot overhead, singing their deadly song, "Kaia.." Soon, the arrows lit the sky. The flames of the fire arrows stood out in sharp contrast against the black sky. They stopped aiming for her. They were aiming ahead of her.
The dead woods crackled as the arrows struck the trees, flames lifted from the trees, reaching towards the heavens like demons in a hellish dance. A wall of flame rose before her. She turned, the woods burned, ravaged by the fires. She felt her face illuminate, her cold body welcomed the heat, but her eyes burned. Her eyes watered, squinting against the light and the intense heat.
The smell of burning wood filled her nostrils. She stopped running and looked up at the wall of flames surrounding her, it was a cage. The soldiers who had chased her had been benders. She turned to face them, if she was to die now she would die like a warrior.
She spread her legs, sinking into the attacking stance. There was earth all around her, in this one way were they evenly matched. She closed her eyes, her brow creasing in intense concentration. Time, she needed time. How much time did she have? The singing arrows interrupted her thoughts. Not enough time. She clenched her fists sharply and felt the earth mold to her will. Her eyes opened and she let out a yell, she brought up a wall of dirt in front of her, enough to block their arrows.
Kaia was no master, but she was no novice. She pushed, and the wall of dirt fell forward. All she could do was hold them off. Keep them away from her for just long enough. Long enough for what? It didn't matter. Just long enough.
She pounded the ground with her feet, and kicked a piece of the torn earth through the air towards the assaulting soldiers. But the soldiers fought back. The earth would only take so much heat. She brought up another wall in front of her as the soldiers started bending again. The earth was breaking, and so was Kaia. The fires grew around her. Her skin began to leak water, sweat trickled down her face.
They fought with intensity. Her practice had only been against other Earthbenders, never against firebenders. There was no time to learn like the present. She threw up walls, shoved the earth to meet their fire, and sent sharp earthen missiles. She may have injured one or two of them, but they were practiced soldiers and she was a weak learner. As they continued, her blocks became weaker, her attacks were less focused, and the soldiers had not weakened.
She had to make one more try. One last effort. One last trick. She had one hope. She crossed her wrists and brought up a last wall of earth. The earth would take the heat of their attacks, and then she waited. When the moment was right, she threw the burning wall of earth, casting it out at the men. She quickly followed in the opening her attack had created for her. She would run back from whence she'd come.
But her trick bought her a few seconds at the most. One of the brighter, slightly more intelligent of the firebenders tackled her as she ran by. Kaia fell to the ground, the soldier's arms bound her own to her body, his large body crushed her own against the ground. Her head hit the ground with a dull thud, she fought briefly for consciousness, but it was a futile struggle. She pushed against the man atop her, but she was too weak. Her body was tired. She breathed in, the smell of dead earth filled her senses, and closed her eyes. Kaia had given up. She couldn't fight anymore now.
She was only vaguely aware of the man's weight lifting off of her as darkness crept in around the edges of her vision. Without hope, there is no life, and unless hope is rekindled life does not end, it merely ceases to be more than a futile struggle for existence.