Book 1: AIR

CHAPTER 3:

THE FIRST DAY

The sun rose more brightly upon the new day following. Kizu was looking out at his fields. "This is such a mess." His brother said as he stood at the doorway with Kizu. The crops had been twisted and flattened by a weird force that swooped through the air last night. Rocks were split in two and many had been crushed to a fine powder. Soil was congealed in large clumps and rolling between the crops. Even their house now had larger doors and windows when some of the wood blasted off the framework.

"Don't even get me started on how many animals we need to find." Kizu added. The pen had long since been busted in the surge and animals were running rampant through the woods and fields.

"Then don't start just yet." His brother said as he reached for a hoe by the door post and set off towards the fields.

"Which one will you be taking then?" Kizu shouted.

"I'm getting the animals, you work with this useless wheat!" his brother shouted back as he headed off a small koalasheep. Kizu picked up another hoe and set off to the nearest crop of wheat.

The wheat was so mangled that it was almost impossible to make out that these had once even been food, nevertheless plants. Kizu uprooted one and tossed it to the side. But something had happened to the wheat. It now lay normal on the dirt, as if someone had reaped it at its very roots. "So, is this some kind of trick?" Kizu asked as het ruend to another wheat barley. He grabbed it and made to throw it but he felt it. It was as if something was flowing out of him and bending the wheat back into its proper position. As if the wheat could sense what Kizu wanted to do. He turned and waved a hand past another barley. It too straightened to peak condition. Kizu gave a look at his hand and then the other. He threw both out in a wide arc and, like a ripple, all the wheat followed suit.

He laughed a bit. "Some night." He walked forward and stepped on a ball of oil. He took his foot up and saw the ball unaffected. He clenched his fist over it and then quickly unfurled it. The soil did a small jump and, with a soft explosion effect, it broke apart and spread itself on the ground beneath the crops. "A very weird night."

Mizu woke under her blanket at around mid-day. She sat up and wiped her face of the sweat. She was completely fine from the night before when the Unagi attacked. She turned to the pool she was lying next to and saw the koi fish back in their normal circular rotation. "Everything's normal." Mizu sighed as she got up and checked her fleeces. They were still in a soaked pile in the middle of her igloo. She bent down on her mat and began to lay them out. "This is going to take forever to dry." She said.

She put her boots out into the wind and slipped into her moccasins and slipped her blanket around her shoulders. She walked out of the oasis gate and towards the shore line, where sea life was oddly teeming. Seals were harping their blubbery masses as large elephant koi jumped out of the water in large arcs and gracefully fell back to the water beneath them. She sat on the edge of the ice with her feet crossed underneath her. She had black hair with vivid blue eyes. She was tall for her age and had a strong chin. The under armor and blanket only helped her curves. As she gazed around at the wildlife suddenly springing to life around her, she felt something else enter the mix. More energy seemed to surround this normal day than any day before. She touched her toe to the water and it fell away. She looked down to see an impression in the water as if something was blowing a fast wind to it. She leaned further over the edge and gently lowered herself into the receding water. She stood on dry ground as every trace of water rose up to trap her in a well. She stuck a hand out to touch it and felt energy flow from her hand into it.

The water opened for her hand and ice began to freeze around it. Mizu, frightened for her hand, withdrew it, causing the bubble to spin into the water and from a small bubble of pure ice. "What the…?" Mizu said as she backed up to another side of the water. She felt it cave in on her and she thrust a hand out to stop it. A large blast of something (was it energy?) burst forth and sent a loud boom through the air. The water crested above her and lowered its levels. The currents all whipped towards the well and circled around it, dragging everything in the water to form a colorful circle around it.

She giggled at the array of fish and beast around her and started to walk towards them, parting the ocean as she did. She gave out another large laugh and began to run through the path, the beasts being driven behind and beside her. She ran into a print, the earth rising beneath her with each step as if it wanted to join in the demonstration. She stood above the water now, looking out at the pale sky and vivid water. She thrust her hands into the water, sending energy into it and causing it to churn. She thrust her hands out of the water and into the sky, causing it to erupt upwards, with rings of fire spinning in the center of the funnel.

"What is that?" a fisherman asked as he and his crew looked of the side of their boat. With the new life in the reef, they had thought to venture further to see what catch could be made. They gaped in awe at the sea funnel, with fire dancing in rings inside of it.

"I think it's a girl?" one shouted as the funnel dropped, showing Mizu laughing and dancing on her own little island. Earth pillars rose from the ground to the time of her beats and water droplets rose out of the water to from almost miniature stars around her.

"I think she's doing that." The captain said as he turned back towards the main land. "I think she's bending it!"

Kan lay in the garden on his back, prone to the destiny of the world. He gave a small gurgle and got to his feet. He looked around at the once pristine garden and the now almost disfigured remains after the first outburst. "What did I do?" Kan asked as he sat on his knees at the foot of the cabbage patch. He heard something coming and turned quickly. The garden righted itself in this one motion. Aer appeared with Jip beside her.

"Good, you're okay." Aer said as she walked over to Kan and hugged him. "You never came back, you had us worried."

"I don't even remember last night." Kan said as he pushed Aer off her and turned his attention to Jip. "What did happen, everything seems different now."

"Everything is different after that comet came last night." Jip stated. "We've all felt something when it came. It felt as if everything in the world wanted to be heard by us. To be manipulated. Like energy was everywhere, waiting to be used. It felt almost natural."

"And then there was that giant blast that hit." Aer said as she flattened her hair.

"What blast?" Kan asked as he stood up and looked down at her.

"There was this loud boom and the earth shook again, but, everything changed." Aer replied as she looked up at Kan and then drifted over to her garden. "At least it didn't affect this." She lazily flopped her hand towards her garden, which looked oddly off compared to the almost disastrous setting.

"I'm sorry, Aer. I…" Kan tried to apologize as he suddenly caught sight of the now fixed garden. "But I thought…" Kan pointed a finger into the garden and three carrots sprouted in reply. He was shocked, as were the two girls behind him. He snapped his fingers and the earth rose up around the garden, protecting it.

"What's going on?" Jip asked as she stared from Kan to Aer and then at the wall that had rose up.

"Kan, what happened last night?" Aer asked as she stepped closer to him.

"I'm not really sure myself." Kan said as he turned his hands over, examining to see if there was some trick going on.

"That!" Aer said as she too thrust her hands at the wall. A jet of fire came out and blasted the earth out of the way. She stopped and gawked at the phenomenon as well.

"Hold on a second." Kan said as he stepped forward and focused on a rock. He lifted his hand and the rock followed suit. He pushed his hand back and the rock split into equal parts. There was a line of rocks slices in a neat line, leading directly to Kan's hand. His breath began to quicken as he saw what was going on. He clenched his fist and the rocks shuddered and exploded. The dirt particles hovered in the air in an even more solid line. Kan began to move his hand to the left and make circular motion with it. Aer and Jip moved back as the dirt began to spin around Kan in a funnel. He drew both arms in and released them outwards. The dirt congealed and formed a beam out of Kan's hands, the resulting line looked more like a series of explosions.

Kan let his hands fall and the dirt fell back to the ground, forming back into the same solid rock as it went. He turned to his friends, both of whom, along with him, were in too much shock to speak.

Kizu had fixed the every plot in ten minutes with the help of this new power he had found. He sat at the table with his food, waiting for his brother to come home from his previously thought easy task. He walked in a couple minutes later, a vivid expression of both amazement and fear on his face. "What did you do?" his brother asked as he let the hoe drop to the ground. He looked around to make sure all the attendants had left and he pulled a stalk of wheat out of his back pocket. He crushed it in his hands and slammed it on the table and slid up in a chair.

"Show me." His brother pleaded as he pounded it down again.

"It was nothing really. I just…" Kizu gave a small glance at his brother's twisted face and waved a hand over the wheat. Each tiny grain levitated into the air and pun around the wheat, realigning with the stalk and a small sliver of water flowed back to the dry stalk, causing it to return to its previous state with an unusually different aura. "There." Kizu said as he picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand. The wheat lifted into the air, twirling and rotating in the air. His brother's face was now one of utmost fear.

"They were right!" he breathed as he backed up. "I'll leave you alone or whatever you want, just don't hurt me!" He threw his arms over his head and tripped over a chair.

"What are you talking about? I won't hurt you. It might only work on crops and soil anyway." He threw the wheat onto the table where it stood on end. "Now, what was that you said about someone being right?"

"The people in town. I went there to get feed for the animals and I heard them." His brother breathed as his face grew lucid but his eyes were shaking. "Some attendants said they saw you do…that." He pointed a long finger at the stalk lying on point on the table. "They said they saw you waving your hands and making fists and…that everything bent when you motioned. Kizu…they're terrifying people."

"Well, at least people know now. I knew it wouldn't stay secret for long." Kizu sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Besides I doubt they'll try anything now that they are scared of me."

"I saw him! He was dancing in the fields!"

"He was possessed by some spirit. They want to wipe us out."

"He's trying to poison our food."

"He'll kill us."

"Yeah, it was miles into the sky."

"The water wouldn't touch her!"

"She must have an army up there."

"She's possessing the sea life. She must be stopped."

"The blast came from the mountain."

"Those kids went up there some years ago. They want to cause strife among us and kill us!"
"I knew they were no good." What will we do about them? They will surely kill us."

"Someone needs to do something."

All of these concerns fell upon one man and his army. One man with a quest for peace through whatever means necessary.

"We must stop these…benders!"