A pair of grey eyes were staring down at her. She immediately bolted upright. The owner of the grey eyes didn't even flinch from the sudden movement, but instead scooted up the bed so she was closer to her.
"I'm Amber," the grey eyed girl said without hesitation. She had dark brown, almost black, hair loosely plaited and thrown across her shoulder, fair skin and was dressed in a black, long-sleeved top, dark grey pants and bare feet. "So, what's your name?" the girl asked. She didn't respond straight away so the girl called Amber continued, starting to ramble: "you can chose a new one if you want. No one knows you here so you can start anew. But you don't have to if you don't want to of course. I just figured you would want a new name with your new start, considering...well, you know... you might not want something that ties you to past events...".
"Zoe," she responded. "It's my middle name, but you can call me Zoe."
Amber turned and looked at the girl who'd just called herself 'Zoe'. "Well then, Zoe, nice to meet you." She replied as she stuck out her hand for Zoe to shake. The two girls shook hands before Amber asked "so, how old are you?"
"16. You?"
"I turn 17 in a week."
"Where am I?" Zoe cut in before Amber could continue.
"We're currently in the first aid quarters. But that's probably not what you meant. We're in the City of the Airbenders. It's sort of separated from the rest of the world. Well the world Below. Sort of like how the world Below is separated from the World of Grey. The World of Grey is where you're from." She added when she noticed Zoe's confused look.
Amber sighed, "I guess I need to explain a lot to you, huh?" A small nod was all she got in response.
"Ok so, the World of Grey is where you're from. It's basically the world as you know it with all of those countries and stuff. We call it the World of Grey because -"
"There's so much destruction, pollution and there's concrete everywhere?" Zoe interrupted.
"Pretty much, yeah. The world Below is another world that's separated from the World of Grey by a magic portal thing. There's a gateway that looks like a waterfall that you have to fly through. That's how you would have gotten here. There's one to get to the City too from the world Below. Does that make sense?" She asked as Zoe nodded.
"But why am I here?" Zoe asked, determined for answers.
"To put it simply, you're an air bender. You have the ability to manipulate the air plus other powers we won't know about until you start training."
"You're joking right?"
"Nope"
"You're also the next fury rider judging by that white fury in the corner." At this the dragon lifted her head and looked at the two teenagers.
"I don't understand, I'm the next what? And why me?"
"Fury rider. One of two riders whose job it is to protect all dragons and work on bringing down the dragon hunters. The Bewilderbeast chooses the fury rider and creates either a night fury or a white fury to assist the rider, depending on the rider's soul. The other rider is a guy named Hayden who rides a night fury. I believe he's called Atlas. The rider that you're replacing was called Max and his night fury, Sydney. They died a few days ago." Silence was all that met this final statement. "Hayden will be looking for you to train you, but we need to train you first before we can send you to the world Below. No one knows that air benders still exist, they believe we went extinct in the last war because we refused to fight, but we made our own world and they haven't found us since, so he won't know you're an air bender and when we send you on your way, you need to keep it hidden as long as possible." After a short pause Amber stood up and held out her hand. "Come on. Let's get you some new clothes, food and then we'll get you settled."
Amber disappeared through the door to get a change of clothes. Meanwhile the white fury got up and padded over to Zoe.
"You ok?" Zoe heard in her head.
"I think...I just... I don't know. I'll get used to it, I'm just processing everything. My entire childhood just got burnt to the ground along with my family and friends," she said quietly. "Hey, what do I call you?" She asked as an afterthought.
"I understand. And call me Uri."
"Uri...I like it. So are we like...I don't know...partners in crime?" She joked.
"You could say that. But it's more complex than that. We're tied together. I can feel your emotions and you can feel mine. We will be able to read each other's minds, sort of like how I can talk to you now. And our lives will be dependent on each other. In other words, if you die, I die... and if I die, you die."
"...oh... I guess we better have each other's backs from now on then."
"Always. Here, put this on," Uri said, nudging a small metal cylinder towards Zoe.
"What is it?" She asked, picking it up. It was the size of her pinkie finger and was decorated with swirling vines that wrapped around the cylinder that went three quarters of the way up.
"It's a whistle, every fury rider has one. Blow it when you need me, we can work out different messages depending on length and number of whistles later. Only a fury can hear it, so it won't attract other dragons. Never take it off, not even to wash, understand?" Zoe just nodded in response, examining the whistle. It was cold to the touch and a truly beautiful piece of craftsmanship. She wondered who had made it and where Uri got it.
Zoe had just put it on and slipped it underneath her shirt when Amber burst through the door, bickering with a boy who looked to be around the same age and who possessed the same features as her; the same dark hair, same physique and facial structure, although with a slightly broader jaw and instead of grey, he had pale brown eyes.
"Would you just back off!" Amber snapped. "Sorry Zoe. This is my idiot brother, Jacob. We're twins but technically he's my little brother."
"Two minutes doesn't count! Amber's just jealous because I'm the better fighter." He whispered that last part to Zoe, hoping Amber wouldn't hear, but hear she did.
"You are not! You just think you are-"
"I thought you guys didn't fight?" Zoe asked remembering that Amber had told her the air benders had refused to fight.
"We learn to disarm and incapacitate, but not kill." Jacob responded calmly as Zoe nodded in understanding.
"Anyway here's a change of clothes that should fit. We'll leave you to shower and get changed and when you're ready we'll take you to get some breakfast. The bathroom is over there, through that door. Come on Jacob. Take your time Zoe, we'll see you out there."
"Hey Amber, thank you, for everything," Zoe said quietly.
"No problem. And welcome home," Amber said as she dragged her brother out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Zoe got off the bed and walked over to the window and stared outside. She was a couple of stories up and she could see a large town spread out around her. They appeared to be on a large island with rocky cliffs and only one beach on the east side where the docks were. The town was in the centre of the island, stretching from the docks to about two thirds across the island. In the north, there was nothing but fields of crops and orchards. To the south of the town was a thick pine forest, the flora becoming more diverse the further from the town. The buildings were all made from stone, with a few wooden structures dotted around that looked like market stalls selling who knows what, she couldn't tell from this distance. She tore her eyes from the window and walked across the cold stone floor back to the stack of clothes. She picked them up and carried them into the bathroom before setting them down on the floor next to the shower. Everything was made from wood or stone. The pipes that she suspected carried the water, were made from bamboo that had been sliced in half so you could see where the water would flow. She turned the water on, watching the water appear and flow along the bamboo. She undressed and stepped under the flowing water, just standing there until she could calm her racing heart and mind. Before she knew it, she had broken down again, tears mingling with the water. She washed her hair and scrubbed the patches of soot off her skin that the healers hadn't been able to clean, letting the tears run freely. Once she'd cleaned herself up, she calmed herself again before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower.
She dried off and put on the clothes that Amber had given her; a top just like Amber's but dark red, and long black pants, but no shoes. She shrugged, she'd just have to go without shoes since she wasn't wearing any when Uri came and took her.
She ran her fingers through her hair, detangling it as much as she could. She looked in the mirror, making sure her eyes were no longer puffy from her earlier cry in the shower. She saw a pair of brown eyes with a few flecks of green staring back at her, not a hint of puffiness. Her hair was several shades darker than its usual light brown due to the water. It was quickly recovering from the water weighing it down, returning to its former curly mess that Zoe usually despised. Curly hair was a nightmare to take care of and tame on the best of days, but water always helped restrain it until she could tie it up.
She picked up the towel and pile of dirty clothes and went back to the room she woke up in. Amber was sitting on the bed waiting for her. Good thing she decided to get changed in the bathroom and not out here. "You ready to go?" Amber asked. "Oh and leave those on the floor next to the door, the healers will clean them up for you," she said gesturing to the clothes in Zoe's arms.
"Are you sure? I don't want them to have to clean up after me."
"Don't worry, it's fine. Now come on. Let's go eat and then we'll take you to the market to get some clothes of your own. And mum needs us to get a few things for dinner too."
-oO0Oo-
After they had eaten, Jacob, Amber and Zoe headed out to the market, Uri trailing behind loyally, earning lots of curious looks. Zoe stared around her in amazement; there were stalls selling fruits and vegetables, barrels of grains and brightly coloured spices. There was what looked like an armoury filled with weapons and leather armour right next to a stall selling clothes and bags. Amber and Zoe headed towards the clothing while Jacob went to get the things for their mother, Uri finding a patch of sun to have a nap in not too far from the clothing stall. "Amber, I don't have any money to pay for all this." Zoe murmured as Amber was holding clothes up to see if they'd fit Zoe. "Don't worry about that, we'll pay for it."
"I can't let you do that, this will cost a fortune," she protested.
"If you're that uncomfortable with it you can work back the money by getting a job or helping mum and dad around the house."
"Ok, I'll do that. And thank you."
"Hey, it's all good. C'mon, try these on," Amber said as she pushed a pile of clothes into Zoe's arms. Once Zoe had enough changes of clothes, they brought the pile to the lady behind the counter. She saw the pile and glanced outside to where Uri was sleeping. "You're the new fury rider?" The lady asked.
"Um, yes. So I've been told," Zoe responded nervously.
"It's an honour to meet you. Did you want a bag for all this? Here you can have this one for free," she offered, pulling out a brown leather satchel with two dragons embroidered into the front.
"It's beautiful. Thank you."
"It's my pleasure, dear. You look after yourself and come back if you need repairs, I'd be happy to do them for you."
"I will and thank you." The lady handed the bag full of clothes to Zoe before the two teens headed back out onto the street and were met with the sight of a sleeping Uri, Jacob lying next to her.
"Your dragon really knows how to find a good sleeping spot," he told them when he saw them heading towards him.
"Idiot," Amber mumbled. "Let's drop this stuff off and head to the arena, Gus will be getting impatient if we take much longer," she stated more firmly.
They left the market and walked towards the outskirts of the town where the housing wasn't as dense. They walked up to a brick house with a chimney poking out of the roof. "Welcome home. You'll be staying with us until you're ready to leave, I hope you don't mind?" Amber said.
"I'm staying with you?"
"Yep, so get used to my annoying brother, or should I say, our annoying brother since you're now part of our family. Come on, I'll show you your room." They walked through the door and came into a hallway that opened up into the kitchen and living room on the right, and continued in an L shape to the left, where Zoe assumed the bedrooms and bathroom were. The floors were made of polished stone that were soothing on her bare feet, and all the furniture was made from wood. The walls were decorated with various paintings of landscapes, a large family portrait hanging on the wall above the fire place in the living room that must have been painted when Amber and Jacob were much younger. Amber led Zoe down the hall and opened a door on the right. "This is your room, you can leave your stuff on the bed for now. My room's right next to yours and Jacob's room and the bathroom are just across the hall. And mum and dads room is at the end there," she added as she pointed out all the rooms. "Let's get going to the arena, Gus will want to start your training."
"Training, already?" Zoe asked as they left the house, again Uri following behind and Jacob running to catch up.
"Yep." They talked all the way to the arena, explaining how things worked and what Zoe was likely to be taught.
As they reached the arena, Zoe saw a man who she guessed was in his 40's waiting outside the gate. He had blue eyes, a shaved head and a black goatee, holding a wooden staff in his hand and two swords strapped across his back. He wore all black underneath his brown leather armour that looked like it had been worn everyday from the day he stopped growing. "Took you long enough," he teased as they approached. "So, you must be the new fury rider. And a white fury too," he added when he saw Uri. "What a beautiful dragon, what's its name?"
"Her name's Uri."
"Uri, a beautiful name. And what's your name?" He asked Zoe.
"Zoe."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zoe. My name's Gus, and I'll be responsible for your training. I'll teach you air bending, fighting, both hand to hand combat and with weapons, and I'll assist you in learning how to control and use your other gifts."
"My other what? I don't have any gifts," Zoe asked tentatively.
"Of course you do, you're a fury rider. All fury riders have a gift. Night fury riders have the ability to summon storms so they can hide in the dark clouds. You, being a white fury rider, have the gift of winter. You will be able to create blizzards so that you and Uri can hide in it, you'll be impossible to see with Uri's white hide," he explained. "But first we will focus on air bending. Do you have any questions?"
"Um yes actually, what's that? She asked pointing to the staff.
"Ah, now this is a glider. We use it to assist with our air bending. We'll get you one later. Anything else?"
"And how many people will I be training with?"
"Just me. We need to get you trained as fast as possible so we can send you to the world Below. The other rider will be looking for you, and the longer it takes for him to find you, the more suspicious he'll become."
"Ok... so when do we start?"
"Now. Amber, Jacob, you two may watch if you like but I don't want you distracting us, understood?"
"Yes, sir," the siblings responded.
"Good. Now come on Zoe. We have a long road ahead of us."
As Amber and Jacob left for the spectator stands, Gus led Zoe into the arena. It was made from carved stone, almost like a crater in the earth. A weapons rack stood next to the gate and a few battered gliders were leaning against the wall. "Come, sit down opposite me with your legs crossed and your back straight," Gus instructed. As he turned, Zoe caught sight of a black mark behind his ear. "What's that? Behind your ear?" She asked as she sat down.
"It is a tattoo or sorts, a mark that everyone receives when they master air bending. It is the same symbol as what you see on all the weapons and on city buildings. It is the symbol of the air benders. Water, earth and fire benders also have a mark, but they are different. We have three swirls representing gusts of wind. Water benders have three wavy lines parallel to each other, fire benders have a flame, and earth benders have two triangles, side by side with a line through the peaks. Each symbol is enclosed in a circle. You will become quite familiar with them later on. Now, back to your training. I want you to close your eyes and breathe deeply until you have calmed yourself down. When you are ready, I want you to put out your dominant hand with your palm on a 45 degree angle to the ground. Good. Imagine you are standing on a cliff overlooking the sea and the wind is blowing across your face. Feel the energy build up in your arm and let it flow down into your hand and through your palm and fingertips. Don't try to contain it, let it leave your body. Excellent! Now, keep doing what you're doing and slowly open your eyes."
Zoe did as she was told, gradually opening her eyes. The sensation in her arm and hand was an odd one. It was like she had pins and needles but with the slight pain factor removed. Once she had opened her eyes, she looked down at her hand and managed not to jump when she saw what she was doing. She had created a small vortex of wind that was collecting the dust on the ground and swirling it around. "Whoa," she whispered.
"Try increasing the flow of energy," Gus told her. She did as he said and immediately the strength of the vortex increased. It was like she had her own mini tornado. "You're a fast learner. You should have no problem with keeping up with the schedule I have planned. Let's keep practicing."
-o0O0o-
Before she knew it, Zoe had been with the air benders for a month. She had met Amber and Jacob's parents the first night and they were kind and generous people, telling her they would be there for her but didn't want to replace the family she had just lost. Zoe only broke down once since, learning to keep her grief hidden, something that was not very healthy in the long term. She trained with Gus everyday from 8am to 4pm with a lunch break in the middle, returning to her new home each night utterly exhausted. They worked on air bending, dragon riding (which Zoe could never get enough of), armed combat and they had just started on hand to hand combat. Gus had become like and uncle figure for Zoe, teaching her but also joking around and checking up on her. Just as he promised, Gus had a glider made for Zoe. It was lighter than she thought possible and had carvings of Uri at the top, with lots of other dragons lower down. Dragons. That was another thing Zoe loved. There were dragons all over the city. There was only one species, air strikers. They were slightly larger than Uri and came in all colours, from black to red to blue and yellow. They had a narrow head with a crown of small spikes across the back of their heads. They had four legs, and large wings with sharp points, although they were bigger than Uri, their wings were slightly smaller. They also had longer necks than Uri, but they certainly weren't thin. All in all, they were a very pretty looking dragon, and they helped the city with farming, construction and defence.
Jacob and Amber had also introduced Zoe to their dragons. Jacob rode a red and black female dragon he named Kip, while Amber rode a black female with a few white and yellow patches who she called Mags. They both got along well with Uri, who refused to leave Zoe's side. Zoe and Uri quickly developed an unbreakable bond, learning to read each other's body language and thoughts, becoming daredevils in the sky, pulling stunts that made Jacob nervous and Amber cheer.
-o0O0o-
"You've done really well today. I'm really impressed with how fast you've progressed, particularly with the dual swords. That was no easy feat, what you did today. Now get home and rest up. I want to bring Uri into the mix tomorrow. You need to learn to fight together on the ground as well as in the air." Zoe nodded in thanks and she collected her things, motioning for Uri to follow her out of the arena. Before she got to the gate, Zoe stopped and turned back to Gus.
"Hey Gus, can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why didn't I burn?" This had been bothering her all month. She figured that she didn't choke on the smoke because she had somehow, subconsciously, been able to control the air so she could still breathe oxygen, but she couldn't think of why she didn't burn.
"What do you mean?"
"Back- back home, in the fire, I was surrounded by smoke and flames. I guess I didn't die from the smoke because of air bending or something, but why didn't the fire kill me?"
Gus thought for a bit before asking: "did the fire touch you, or just swirl around you?"
"It touched my skin, like it felt warm but it didn't burn me."
Gus looked at her a bit longer before gesturing for her to follow him. "Put your hands out and think of fire. Just like with the air bending."
Zoe did as she was told and closed her eyes. After a few seconds she felt a warmth on her hand. She opened her eyes and gasped. There was a small flame flickering in her palm. She clenched her fist and immediately the flames went out.
"That explains it," Gus stated blandly. He walked over to a bucket of water and brought it back to Zoe. "Again," he said "just like the air bending but focus on the water."
Again, she did as she was told, making the water in the bucket swirl around. "I don't understand," she said. "What's going on?"
Gus sighed before answering. "You're an elemental. You have the ability to bend all four elements. Well three at the moment. Earth bending takes quite a bit of will, the earth is stubborn so you need to be even more so. I'll help you as much as I can, but just like with your ice, I can only help so much. I recommend you keep this to yourself when you leave for the world Below. People down there fear someone with too many gifts. Particularly the Academy. The place where newly bonded riders go to be trained," he added when he saw her confused look.
"Wait so why didn't Uri take me there?" She asked.
"Because you're an air bender. She knew that you needed to come here first to be trained, otherwise the Academy would destroy you, one way or another." He left it at that, leaving Zoe even more confused.
"So can I tell people here?" She asked after a short pause.
"Don't scream it from the roof tops, but yes, you may tell your friends. Meet me at the entrance to the forest in the morning, we'll train there. But go now, you need to rest. I'll see you tomorrow." With that Zoe and Uri headed out of the arena. They decided to go for a flight before heading home so Zoe could mull things over.
-o0O0o-
That night, Zoe decided to sleep with Uri on the floor, instead of her own bed. Her mind was racing with speculation about what the world Below was like. It sounded dangerous and cruel, every story she heard making her more apprehensive about her approaching departure. She understood what her role was now as the fury rider. She would rescue dragons from the hunters and trappers, but she should never kill, and always provide a way for her victim to survive. Like if she knocked a hunter overboard a ship, she should make sure that they could climb back up, like throwing a rope over the side. She must never be responsible for another beings death.
She had also been given a book of dragons that detailed every known species and their characteristics. She learnt about the legendary dragons like the Bewilderbeast that had chosen her, the immortal king of dragons, and the Foreverwing that watched over all of nature and healed it after it was destroyed. Unfortunately, the Foreverwing was not able to heal the world of Grey, it was beyond repair.
And she learnt about the hunters. There were three main groups, each led by a different man. The boldest and most obvious group in its actions was led by a man named Drago. He showed no mercy and relished in other being's pain, dragon and human. Apparently he had enslaved people from tribes he had destroyed, forcing them to work for him. No one escaped him and lived.
Then there was Viggo, the one that liked to play games with his enemies, lulling them into a false sense of security before striking.
But the leader of the final group, the most successful group, was a man named Grimmel. No one had ever come close to taking him down. He was as barbaric and cruel as Drago and as cunning and intelligent as Viggo, something that did not fill Zoe with confidence.
Zoe finally fell asleep thanks to Uri's steady breathing and calming presence, but her mind was still racing.