The sun was shining brightly in the brilliant purple sky, the complete opposite of the scene its light was cast upon. Lifeless corpses were strewn throughout the plains of the planet Caralie, bright orange blood glistening in the grass, rocks, and bodies. The inhabitants had been hit with a surprise attack by Cold Forces, resulting in the slaughter of one village, which was spreading throughout the planet. This scene was the result of the inhabitants' attempt to fight back, but they were horribly outnumbered, the survivors were currently retreating into the forest, but they were getting picked off by the Cold army's blasters.
"Come on! The forest gets denser up ahead! We can survive if we make it that far!" A young boy urged his friend as they climbed over a mossy boulder. He had his held out to her to help her up.
"But what if they find us again…?!" She shot back in a panic, her right shoulder was oozing orange blood from a blaster shot she had taken.
"They won't! It's too dense, and we can just fly or turn into something small enough to sneak away! Trust me, Korra, we'll make it out of this!"
"But Haku-" Her sentence was cut short as an energy blast shot through her chest. Her eyes went wide for a split second before she fell on the ground in a heap, lifeless.
Haku's eyes widened in horror as he watched his friend get killed right in front of him. "N-no…! Korra!" He cried out, but was unable to stop and grab her body as another blast shot right past him, grazing his cheek and hitting the tree trunk next to him. He flinched from the sudden blast, but it was enough to send him running again.
Korra was one of the countless others who had died to this army, and they didn't even know why they were being invaded. As much as he wanted to mourn for them, he had no time to at the moment. Seeing the path getting rougher and the forest denser ahead, he leaped into the air over a fallen log, his body engulfed in a white light, and took on the form of a creature resembling a stag. The creature he took the form of had two pairs of front legs, two pairs of eyes, a pair of small tusks around his mouth, hoofed feet, large, rabbit-like ears, and a pair of antlers. It wasn't covered in fur though, it was like a mixture of scales and skin, not to mention it was bulkier than a normal stag. He was more sure-footed in this form, not to mention faster, but it did make him a bit of a bigger target, which was evident as one of his antlers took a full-on blast. He grunted in pain as the majority of the antler was blown off, his head jerking to the side and blood started to seep out of the wound and down his face, but continued to gallop through the trees.
As he ran, he felt a burning pain in one of his front legs, causing him to trip over and fall forward into the ground with a yelp. He tumbled on the ground a couple times before ending up on his side. Wincing, he looked down at his injured leg, seeing a pretty bad burn, but his foot was still there luckily. When he looked up, he could see the forest he once thought was safe was now swarming with the Cold's forces, blasting his fellow inhabitants out of the air as they tried to fly away, or on the ground when they tried to scurry away. They didn't blend in with the surroundings, their markings and skin color made sure of that, but they never needed to hide before.
Haku heard footsteps approaching him and his head whirled around towards the sound, his large ears perked up. A soldier bearing the Cold's insignia approached the downed boy, a sadistic grin on his lips. He didn't even say anything to Haku, instead pointing his blaster at the injured Caralian. Haku shut his eyes tightly, bracing for the killing blast. The next thing he heard was a whistling sound, then a grunt and a thud, causing him to flinch at first. Realizing he wasn't dead though, he opened his eyes to see just what had happened. It was hard to tell just what happened at first, but he could see a group of 4 newcomers emerging from the forest, two of them jumping from tree to tree to get around faster, while the other two charged right through them, knocking the trees down but also decimating the forces before them. The two who were jumping from tree to tree used their speed and agility to surprise the Cold's soldiers and kill them quickly while the other two used their brute strength. Confused, Haku scrambled to his feet, looking around as the group seemed to make short work of the soldiers he and his comrades struggled so hard against.
A cry was then heard from where he had retreated from. "Phoenix is here! Everyone fall back!" A soldier shouted, causing the remainder of Cold's army to start retreating, or try to, most of them got killed before they could get out.
"Phoenix…?" Haku whispered to himself, still quite confused, until a voice spoke up near him.
"Follow them." A woman commanded, her voice firm and steady. Without a word, the group of four took off after the retreating soldiers.
Haku turned to see who had spoken in time to see a young woman standing a just a few feet away, her face hidden behind a mask.