Book 1: AIR

Book 1: AIR

Chapter 2

THE COMET

Kan sat around the campfire with his friends, quietly guzzling down the mash-up of berries and fruits Aer had forced upon her friends. Kan was the only one who opposed this. Long-hin plopped down beside Kan with his bowl, speaking through a mouth of food, "You know, I think Aer is getting better a cooking."

"What makes you think that?" Kan asked as he looked disgustingly at the slosh in his bowl.

"Well, she is capable of every meal tasting like breakfeast, lunch, and dinner." Long-hin gave a small chuckle. "Mainly because she can only make the same thing. There's nothing else to eat up here."

"You can say that again." Jip said as she looked over at the two with a small smile stratched across her face. Jip was a small girl, the youngest of the group. She was 14, had black hair and grey eyes and wearing a shawl over he yellow gown.

"There's nothing else to eat up here." Long-hin retorted. He was the second oldest at 16. Kan was the oldest at 18. Long-hin was thin but well built with a small tuft of hair on his head. He wore over swatches of fabric over his clothes and had a small chain with a large crystal around one shoulder. Long-hin gave another laugh and held out his bowl to Kan. Kan gladly dumped the contents into the bowl and took up chewing on a piece of straw near-by.

"At least give it a try." Jip said as she finished gulping down some of the soupy stuff.

"Yea! What not give it a try?" Aer said as she came up behind the three with a small wooden bowl tucked under one arm.

"Cause it's the same as every day." Kan remarked as he handed over his empty bowl to her. She gave a small sigh and looked down at the small squashy remains of what had been previously in the bowl.

"You could at least give me some encouragement." Aer said softly as she got up to see to the rest of her friends.

"We'll make sure to remember that next time." Long-hin shouted after her. He finished what Kan had dumped in his bowl and gave a loud belch. "That hit the spot."

"Of course it did." Jip said as she put her empty bowl aside. She gazed towards the sky and gave a small aww.

"What is it?" Kan asked as he felt the pangs of energy returning.

"It's beautiful." Jip said as she pointed towards the sky. Illuminated against the moon and stars were two large things gliding through the air in graceful arcs and low swoops.

"They are beautiful." Aer said as she too stared up at the beasts in their air borne ballet. "And you want to kill that?" Aer remarked towards Kan, who had since turned his eyes away from the display.

"Meat is more filling than veggies, I'll say that." Kan stated as he got up.

"Where are you going?" Aer asked as she made to go after him.

"I'm going for a small walk." Kan said over his shoulder at her. She let out a small sigh and a small shake of her head.

"What's going on with him?" Long-hin asked. "Something up?"

"I don't know." Aer said as she turned to Jip and Long-hin. "He's probably just going through a withdrawal after leaving home."

"We all left home, and our troubles with it." Long-hin replied. "Probably just trying to walk off the empty stomach.

"Maybe it is just the food." Aer said as she gave a quick glance over to the pot with some small remnants at the bottom of it. She turned back to Long-hin and Jip, who was still fixated on the beasts which were now moving faster in the air, shifting back in froth, creating a light breeze to those at the top of the mountain.

"Wonder what it would be like to do that." Jip said as she lay back on the ground to relax her neck from the strain of craning. Aer gave one last look at them and noticed their retreat into the oddly warm night. Something was different about tonight.

"That's odd." Aer said as she felt the small breeze from the creatures die away. "Does the sky look brighter or is it just me?" Jip turned her head to Aer and then back at the sky. The night was growing brighter, almost to a pleasant pink as if the early light of morning was arriving prematurely. Then, they noticed something growing brighter out of the corner of her eye.

"What's that?" Jip said as she finally sat bolt upright and the air began to shake at the small light grew, and the pinkish sky with it.

"Anyone else feel that?" Long-hin said as he clutched his arm.

"Feel what?" Aer said as the earth began to shake as well, as if destiny was driving this one phenomenon to shake the earth to its core.

"Like…everything is suddenly alive or something." Long-hin finished as he looked up at the light, which was now so far down in the atmosphere that it was clear to make out.

Kizu had been lying in the reeds for a while now. He could hear the attempts made by his family to find him, all of which were in vain since his mouth had long since fallen to the monster's tongue. He sat there contemplating what to do with some feeling beginning to seep back into his limbs. "If I could just be able to stand up, I may be able to be noticed." He thought to himself. He struggled with whatever feeling he had in his bones, but got so far as nowhere. "At least it's a beautiful night." Kizu mused in his head.

As far as he knew, there was no kind of wild animal like that monster around to bother him and the pests were not plaguing the fields today. The stars were dull but visible. He regained some more feeling in his left leg. He did nothing about it, since he could still not support the other parts which wished to remain in blissful numbness. "That star is especially bright tonight." Kizu said in his head as one star began to shimmer more brightly in the night, dimming all other competition in the night. The sky was beginning to change as well.

He regained control of both legs.

The sky was now almost a bright pink in the sky and a warm breeze was beginning to fill the night. Everywhere around him had heard the frightful (or was it understanding?) padding of animals. He heard squawks and braying from his farm animals and even more wild calls from the woods a ways away.

He regained a feeling in his chest and left arms.

It was like a giant wave of heat hit him all at once. He felt the tips of the reeds start to bend and the grass beneath him felt more alive to Kizu now than anything. What was oddest about this feeling was as if they were trying to communicate with him, wishing that he would but use them.

He regained his right arm.

The earth was shaking more now than it had ever done before. Kizu leapt up at his first chance, finding it almost painful to withdraw himself from the earth which was almost like a bottle to him now. It was filling him in a way that felt good to his soul. It was almost giving its energy to erase the paralysis from Kizu's body. He felt the ground shake and he stumbled a bit at finally being able to walk. In the red light from the sky, he saw his family standing still in the fields, gazing with opened mouths at the weird light descending from heaven. Kizu turned and looked up at the bright sky and opened his mouth.

"It's a fireball." Kizu mumbled, regaining his voice. "It's a…comet!"

Mizu had been in the water for sometime now. The tips of her fingers and toes were almost frozen. She was trying to paddle what remnants remained of her canoe back to the main land, and hopefully make it to the oasis before finally succumbing. "How much longer can it take?" Mizu said as she rested her arm and tried to warm it by sticking it under her fleeces. It was of no use. She was shivering all over, and with no food to even give her energy. She gazed in pity as she saw the bank of the land begin to run from her as a small wind pushed her further to the side. She noticed something different about the water. Something was lurking beneath her. She glared deeper into the depths and saw a large shape twisting underneath the water, looking like an eel with a fin and two tendrils on its chin. The blood of the seal had caused this monster to appear.

"Oh, no!" Mizu said as she quickly began paddling again. A wave pushed her further to her destination, at the price of it being caused by the Unagi's head breaking the surface. It let out a shriek as it dove at Mizu and missed, splashing her in foam and water and blasting her into the water. She abandoned her broken canoe and made a desperate swim for the shore. It followed. I made to take her from beneath, but the water had changed and the Unagi sunk deeper into the depths to avoid destiny. Mizu swam fiercely through the warm pink water and reached land. She stopped and partially ran to the oasis, hoping the uncommon ground might help her recover from her chilling death. She grabbed her blanket and threw off layers of wet parkas and fleeces, leaving her in her under armor, which was so wet it would not come off. She laid down by the fish and wrapped the blanket close to her.

As she sat shivering, the earth began to quake. "Oh spirits!" she cried through shivering teeth. "Why is today such a cursed day upon me? Spirits, help me to get better." She gave a large shake and fell to the grass beside the fish. Their water was pink and as smooth a glass, but that was not the most noticeable difference.

The fish had altered their normal course of continuous circling and were no rapidly swimming in a figure eight. The ying and yang had been broken as the earth began trembling harder and ice began to chip and crack off the glaciers around the oasis. Mizu shivered more and her hand dipped into the cold water of the pool. The freezing instantly went away. She felt a warmth slip into her and warm her from with in as the chill flowed out of her. She took a few breaths and opened her eyes.

The sky was consumed in red and the comet was speeding overhead in a blaze of utmost glory.

Kan began his walk down the small foot path at the end of their camp atop the mountain. He turned towards the sky to see the creatures still in their dance. He saw their retreat towards another mountain top where similar beasts were swarming towards. "Odd how they just stop." Kan said as he looked down at his feet. He placed his right hand over his heart as he began his short walk to a small garden Jip and Aer had planted.

He could feel it pulsing with untapped energy. "Why am I so sensitive?" Kan asked as he withdrew his hands and knelt down by a cabbage. He poked at the leaves out of shear boredom and sat back with one arm resting on his knee. He noticed a change in the air as the breeze disappeared and the sky began to grow more pinkish. "What's this?" He turned to the sky and saw a small winged lemur sitting on a rock. Food. He bent into a crouch and began to crawl forward. He was almost there when the earth began to tremble. The lemur perked up and gliding on the air downwards. Kan stopped for a second before looking again to the sky. He saw a bright light descending from the heavens towards the earth. What he also felt was every pang of emotion he had ever felt enhance and the air around him began to buzz. He clutched his heart as a sudden attack was made on it.

It had picked up speed and felt as if every bit of energy in the world was being sucked into his body and now free flowing through him.

"What's…happening to…me?" Kan said as he felt the energy build.

Plants began to bend towards him and leaves stood upright. Cabbages unfurled and displayed their leaves for Kan to bend. As the air grew red and the earth shook tremendously, the energy built, driving Kan to his knees.

The comet pulsed through the air, growing closer and more intense to the rippling world beneath it.

Kan clutched at his chest, hoping to somehow grasp some of the intensity and release it. He gave one last shout and stood up, throwing his arms out and widening his stance.

All of the energy rushed out and a giant wall of energy expelled itself through the air, picking up rocks and dirt. It froze water in the air and it fell and tumbled through the air a small icicles. Miniature tornados formed in the air as the energy ripped at its fabric. Fire seemed to manifest itself in the air and on the ground, sending ropes of dancing flames gracefully into the air.

This one ripple spread across the whole world, causing air, water, earth, and fire as well as every living and non-living thing to bend and contort themselves.

Destiny and the ripple of fate was made when Kan became the first bender.