Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. It's a little shorter, but it's got action in it. So with that, let's get this show on the road:
In all my years, there are very few things that I have come to truly hate. Sure there are plenty of things I dislike, but if given enough time I can usually find something positive in it. It takes a very special and very rare kind of twisted to earn my true hated. Such as kidnapping children, or threatening Creation itself, those kinds of things earn my ilk.
By the time we touched down on the eastern edge of the Frost Pass, Yusei had earned himself a spot in this category. Taking the Tome was one thing, but taking Jinora was something else. Ageless or not, neither one of us was going to leave this pass until my sword had been planted firmly in his chest.
The Frost Pass was a narrow passage through the mountains, no more then a few miles wide. In the center of the valley flowed the Pale River, a fast moving stone bottom thing fed by melting snow and ice from the mountains. In the heart of the pass was the small village of Tzu, little more then a trading post along the border between the United Republic and the Earth Kingdom.
Tzu, being about halfway through the pass, was set to be the meeting point for the exchange. A quick scouting mission by Bumi told us that the village seemed to be totally deserted of inhabitants. At first, we were concerned that Yusei and his underlings had rounded up the locals. However Bumi assured us that the state of the buildings indicated that the town had been abandoned for some time.
It was decided that Korra and I would go alone into the village for the trade, while the three siblings would make their way up to the Monastery and locate the source of power the Priestess had spoken of. I wasn't about to sacrifice Jinora's life and put the whole world at risk by handing over the only piece of the Hong that we had.
A light snow was falling from the sky as Korra and I set foot in the village. She was wearing her dark blue parka, while I had my charcoal gray jacket. Bumi was right, this place looked like it had been abandoned years ago. All of the buildings had rotting walls and roofs, broken out windows, and a few were even missing their doors. Not a single track could be seen in the fine layer of power like snow on the ground. It was as if we were the first humans to set foot in this place in ages.
Regardless, my hand still rested on my sword hilt, as Korra's did on hers. Neither one of us was willing to take the risk of being caught off guard, not with an enemy as dangerous as this. As we walked, the only thing that could be heard was the crunch of our boots on the snow, and the creak of a door just barely hanging onto it's hinges.
My eyes scanned the buildings around us, watching for a possible hidden archer or bender that would strike us in the back. There were no such signs, but then again that was the point of a sniper.
"Twelve o'clock," Korra muttered out of the corner of her mouth. I looked ahead and spotted what she had seen. Yusei was standing in the middle of the street ahead of us, flanked on either side by two of the fighters who had attacked the Temple with him. On her knees at his feet was Jinora, who was gagged and had her arms bound behind her back.
We walked toward them with our hands ready to draw our weapons. But we refrained from actually doing so, as this would more then likely result in Jinora getting hurt, or worse. When we were about twenty yards away, Yusei raised his hand, signaling for us to stop.
"That's close enough," he said. We came to a halt, but remained tense, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
"Let Jinora go, she has no further part in this," I said.
"You know how this works, Ryou. Hand over the Orb," the white haired man replied. Without saying a word, Korra slipped the satual she had been wearing off and tossed it onto the frozen ground between us. Drawing his sword, Yusei cut Jinora's bindings before giving her a soft kick in the middle of her back. The airbending girl fell forward, but quickly crawled toward us before getting back to her feet.
I knelt in front of her, looking her over for any signs of harm. Other then some burns from the ropes and some marks on her cheeks from where she had bit down on her gag too hard, she seemed okay. As I looked her over, I kept my eye on the satual as it was picked up and taken to the white haired man.
"I'm sorry, Master Ryou. They separated me from the Tome," Jinora said in a defeated voice.
"Don't worry about that now. Did they hurt you?" I asked. She shook her head, but a frown started to form on her face as she noticed I didn't have my full attention on her.
"No, they didn't," she said.
"Good. Now get ready to run, Little One," I instructed. Across from us, Yusei opened the bag and pulled out it's contents. Instead of the jade green Orb he had been expecting, in his hand sat a large ball of ice. This was something I'd had Korra conjure up and then switch out before arriving here. A bellow of rage came from the white haired man as he smashed the ball of ice on the ground.
"KILL THEM!"
"Korra, take Jinora and run!" I ordered as I drew my sword hilt and extended the blade. My student and lover didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed Jinora by the hand and took off in a dead sprint back the way we'd come. I pursed my lips and let out a high pitched whistle. The sound echoed off of the mountains, which in turn was answered by a beast like roar.
From out of the clouds, Ashe's black form dove like a falling arrow. She pulled up at the last second, her maw wide as she unleashed a wave of fire upon the ground and buildings before her. Instantly, half of the village was on fire, including the two men that Yusei had with him. They were little more then shuffling pillars of flame now, living out their last moments in screaming agony before they collapsed.
Yusei himself had managed to escape the wave of fire unscathed, having dived out of the way the instant he saw the dragon emerge from the clouds. As he stood to his full height, he leveled his sword at me, challenging me without actually saying a word. I raised my own blade so that it was just in front of my face before lowering it off to the side, answering his challenge with a salute.
With that, I blinked, appearing off to his side and swinging my blade in a wide arc at him. Yusei anticipated this, turning and catching my blade with his before forcing me back with his brute strength. I slid backwards in the snow a few feet before I leapt forward again, slashing and hacking at him in an effort to find a weak point in his defense.
I didn't find a single one. The man's defense was one of if not the best I had ever faced in my long carrier. Every slash, every hack, every thrust, every parry, his blade was there to match mine. At this rate, I would tire myself out, and then he would be free to go on the offensive. Instead, I locked our blades together, making this a power struggle rather then a race to the end.
"What do you hope to accomplish by fighting me?" he asked before forcing me back. I stumbled, but regained my footing before slashing at him a few times and locking the blades together again.
"What do you?" I countered, "Chaos? Darkness? You'd undo everything mankind has accomplished in this past age."
"Accomplished? What has mankind accomplished? An endless cycle of war and terror? It never ends! What I seek will break the cycle, and bring man into a new era," he said.
"What you seek is insanity," I replied before head butting him. He reeled back from the strike, but recovered quickly as he parried my blade with his. My sword clashed into his again and again before I blinked, appearing to his side and driving my fist into his cheek. Yusei responded by backhanding me with his own fist, sending me flying and landing flat on my back in the snow.
Landing, I felt the air forced out of my lungs, leaving me gasping like a fish out of water. I struggled to sit up as pain coursed through my body. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him approaching, his sword held out to the side and a confident smile on his face. He was winning, and he knew it.
The earth suddenly shook as a massive black form touched down behind him. Yusei turned and faced Ashe with his blade raised, taking enough attention off of me to allow me to recover some. Ashe roared at him, but Yusei stood his ground defiantly. Growling, the black dragon lowered her head and unleased a torrent of fire from her jaws.
Without any time to escape, the white haired man raised his hand. The flames whipped around him, and for an instant it looked as if he had been consumed by the dragon fire. That is, until Ashe cut off the torrent of flames. Yusei hadn't escaped unscathed, his cloak was smoldering and a lot of his hair was covered with and singed. But he wasn't a pile of bone and ash at the moment, and that was worrisome to say the least.
Before he could bring any harm to the dragon, I was up and leaping forward, slicing him all the way across his back. I'd been going for a decapitation, but I overestimated the shot, and ended up causing this wound as he took a step forward. Yusei let out a billow of pain, his back arching from the sudden appearance of sharpened metal against flesh.
"I have had enough of you!" he roared. Ashe let out a shriek and was immediately in the sky again. As for me, I felt the same force I'd felt at the Temple come down on me. Instantly I was rendered immobile and dragged through the air so that I was floating just before him with his outstretched hand.
"You. You're like a small child playing with matches. You barely understand what can be accomplished with these abilities. And like the child with the matches, they must be taken away," he said. A searing, burning pain suddenly appeared in the back of my left hand, right where the Mark was. I watched as the mark slowly vanished from my hand.
"Now, you truly do have nothing." I couldn't speak as I just stared at my hand.
"That's…impossible," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
"I have been practicing the arcane arts since before your ancestors walked this land. Things you would call impossible, I have done again and again for thousands of years. A new age dawns, Ryou, and I am it's herald. You've only seen a tiny fraction of my power, why do you continue to struggle? To resist? No one can fight destiny, you more then most should know that," he said. With that, he lowered his hand, and I felt myself released from whatever was binding me.
Yusei stepped a few paces away from me before turning to face me again. He held his arms out wide, as if to offer me a hug.
"I offer you this one last chance. Join me, and together we can make the world a better place," he said. I took a cautious step toward him, and then a second, the whole time eyeing him up and down to make sure he wasn't about to lunge. Suddenly, I moved forward, swinging my sword at his. My blade slammed down into his, taking him by surprise as it was forced downward.
Pivoting and reversing my grip, I spun about and stabbed him directly in the abdomen. The white haired man's eyes bugged out of his head and all of his breath was forced from his body. Shock was evident on his face. But that quickly melted into rage as he brought his own sword up and stabbed me in the right shoulder.
Pain that felt like fire raced throughout my shoulder and down my arm, causing me to scream. I switched hands with my sword as my right arm suddenly went limp. Stepping backwards a few paces, I pulled myself free of the sword blade. I quickly inspected the wound before looking a the man who had put it there.
"If I am to die, then we both go into the afterlife as brothers," he said. I was on the clock now, and we both knew it. Taking a breath, I moved to raise my good hand and take another swing at him. However Yusei raised his own hand, and before I could reach him I was launched backwards through a thin wooden wall, and that was all I remember before the building came down on top of me and I blacked out.
"Ryou…Ryou…" I opened my eyes and looked around for the soft voice calling out to me. All around me were clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see. Where was I? How did I get here? What happened to Yusei?
"You still have a flare for the dramatic, my love." The clouds before me swirled before revealing a woman wearing a dark green kimono under a set of armor. However she lacked her ever present makeup and brass headband. She had a small smile on her face, and a set of fans folded up and clenched in her hands.
"Kyoshi," I breathed, not quite believing my eyes. My heart clenched in my chest. It had been so long since I had seen her that her image in my mind had begun to fade. To see her again was, refreshing to say the least.
"Am I dead?" I asked.
"Not yet. Although not for a lack of trying on your part," she answered.
"Then where am I?"
"A place between life and death. Although I suspect our time here will be short."
"So is this it then? I finally get to die? To enter a proper afterlife?" I asked. Kyoshi gave me an annoyed glare.
"Not if I have anything to say about it. You still have a lot of work to do, Ryou," she said. I couldn't help but give her a forlorn look. I'd spent so long dreaming about this moment. Without the Observer's Mark, I was free to pass on in peace. I could be reunited with friends, family, all those who had gone on without me.
"Have I not done enough? Kyoshi, please, I've lived for so long, and I am so tired. I miss you, I miss Koko, I miss everyone else. How much longer must I walk?" I asked with weariness in my voice. In a rare moment of emotion, I saw emotional pain on Kyoshi's face. She didn't want this, that much was clear.
"Only a little further, my love, and then you can seek out the rest you deserve ." I reached out my hand to her, as she did to me. Our fingertips just barely brushed against each other, but it was enough to reassure me that she was actually there.
"Besides, I've seen how you act around my current incarnation. Don't think I'm going to let you off easy with that one," she said. I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment, waiting for the verbal lashing that was sure to come.
"She's a good enough girl. Teach her a few of our old tricks, like the corkscrew, she'll love that." My face flushed with heat and I glared at my former wife.
"Seriously?"
"Hey, you can't treat her like a delicate virgin forever," she said with a shrug, "now, do me a favor and wake up."
"He's coming around, keep up the pressure there," came Kya's voice. She sounded faint and distant, and even had a slight echo. I slowly forced my eyes open, only to have them scream in protest at the glare of the light overhead. Korra's worried face appeared before me, blocking the light and giving my eyes some relief.
"Ryou, can you hear me?" she asked. Like Kya, her voice was faint and distant.
"What…?"
"Just relax and stay still," she instructed. I let out a groan as I rocked my head from side to side, trying to find out where we were. It was a bare room of some kind, having probably been a shop front or something at one point. I was sprawled out on a table top that was being used as a makeshift bed. I could feel the coolness of water on my body, as well as a couple of pairs of hands gently passing over it.
"I take it this isn't the spa," I muttered. Korra smiled, but it seemed more forced then anything else.
"You got hurt pretty bad. Kya and I are trying to patch you up," she said. Everything was starting to come into focus now. I blinked a few times and swallowed in an effort to return some moisture to my throat.
"What happened?" I asked.
"We got Jinora back, but we lost the Orb," Korra reported. I gave her a look that could have been either taken as annoyance or, well, annoyance really. There wasn't a happy middle ground in this case.
"The Monastery?"
"Deserted now. But from what we saw, Unalaq has the rest of the Hong," Korra said. My eyes snapped wide open at that and I vaulted upward. Water splashed to the floor, but a pair of hands appeared on my shoulders and held me down.
"You undo my work and I'll castrate you, you hear me?" Kya snapped.
"We gotta go after them," I said.
"And we will, but we have to get you patched up first."
"No, no, you don't understand, they have the Hong and the Tome…"
"And they can't read the damn book without Tenzin or Jinora, so quit struggling!" Kya snapped. I finally relented and did as she said, laying fully on my back.
"Ryou…this is bad," Korra said.
"Do we know where they went?" I asked as Kya reapplied a blob of water to my shoulder.
"North, back to the Northern Water Tribe," Korra answered. I closed my eyes and allowed the cooling sensation of the healing to relax me.
"Then that's where we're headed too."
And cut. Now the vote has come back, and in a very close victory the choice to split Ageless into two parts won. With that news, I am happy to report to you that we are down to the last chapter or two. Remember to drop a review, leave a PM, or ask a question or two. Let me know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter, and I'll see you all next time.