Book 1: AIR

CHAPTER 9:

MIZU'S PLIGHT

Mizu had walked a decent distance in the week that she had alone, with no crazy military after her. She plopped her pack down in the dirt and bent some trees into a small hut and made the earth soft beneath her feet to create a soft surface under her feet. The time she had alone in the wilderness had given her a lot of time to practice her bending arts. "I wonder where I am exactly." Mizu mused to herself. She leaned against a rock she made rise from the ground. "It would be nice to have a good idea of what direction of where to go." Mizu turned back to her small hut, with the branches still hanging off the walls.

She walked over to it and pressed her hand to it. She was able to get a reading of the area from the energy in the tree. She was towards the east of the large continent and was further south. "Should probably start heading further south tomorrow." Mizu said as she withdrew her hand. She turned to the sky and noticed the sun setting in the sky. "For now, I should try to get some rest." She walked into her shelter and went to bed, completely opting to forget a prayer to the gods that night.

She had grown out of the habit after her epiphany at the north pole. She would have another one there in time but that was only through time. Now, all she would have to worry about is the fast retreating forest that was now being scoured by a certain general with a nasty scar on his chin.

Zhong had his men double up in large parties and comb through the edges of the large forest that covered the northern wilderness. "I want no one to come back until either I command your return or you have found the girl. Do you understand. "They didn't even bother stopping to answer. They quickly formed a line and began tearing into the thins woods, Mizu only a small ways off.

"And sir, what will we do if we meet her?" the Captain asked with shaking knees.

"We will engage her, and end her." Zhong said as he removed the hand from his chin and turned abruptly to the Captain. "I believe I had made that much clear." Zhong turned back towards the woods, his map table laid out behind him. The wind puffed out his cape and his slightly green armor sparkled in the waning light.

Mizu slept contently in her small hut. She tossed and turned on the soft ground and woke with a fright. She sat up quickly, causing an air bubble to fill the hut and some beams to bend outwards. She smoothed her hair, causing all the sweat to be bent off with her hand. She flicked the wad of water into a corner and got up. She walked outside with her parka in her arms. The moon felt good when she was scared. It seemed to give her more power when it was full. She snapped her fingers and a blaze lit up in the middle of her fire circle. She sat by the warmth and threw her parka on.

"The dream again." Mizu whispered to herself. She had been having this dream for a week now. It was always the same one. She was small, in some sort of box. Her parents were standing over the box, their faces filling the sky above. They smiled down at her. But whenever she tried to escape from her prison, her parents would frown and their faces melt. Then a large hole appeared over the box. It had creepy insect-like legs around it and a wheezing breath was coming from within the hole. The legs extended towards her and caught her. She was lifted up and before she could be devoured, she woke up. "It's nothing. Just something from the new diet." Mizu said to herself, trying to settle her emotions. "Just calm down and let it go."

She let out a long breath of relief and stared into the fire. She heard something behind her. "Hello?" Mizu turned towards where she had heard the sound. She bent the trees apart to see what was there.

She caught two centipede like legs duck into the shadows.

Mizu backed up and ran into her hut. She quickly packed up some of her belongings. She walked out of her hut and threw her arms out behind her. The trees righted themselves. She clenched her fist and moved the dirt that levitated upwards over the fire. She unclenched her hand and the dirt smothered the flame. She kept on walking further into the woods. She heard a twig snap and turned with fright to her right. She saw something moving through the trees. She ducked and made a cloud of dust to cover where she was. She inched closer to look through some low foliage.

A soldier was chopping away at some low branches with his sword, trying to clear a path for himself and the man behind him. "They're here?" Mizu whispered. She heard more noise and turned slightly to her left. Another soldier was walking through the brush. She saw another one beside him and another beside that one.

It was a line of soldiers, all of whom were searching hard for her. She gave a small squeak and airbended herself as far away as possible.

One soldier perked up when he felt a heavy breeze almost knock him off his feet. "Hey, you feel that?" he asked his neighbor.

"Yeah, I did." he replied. He whistled to his comrades. "I think we got something." The other men rushed over to him, and soon word began to spread like wildfire through the dry forest.

Zhong heard it from his outpost. "I think we've got her. You can stop your worrying."

Mizu took off with a blast of air and was soon in the thick of the forest. She stopped for a moment. The image of the claw like legs and the large mouth like hole was suddenly coming back to her. She knew that the farther she went into the woods, the higher the risk of running into whatever was stalking her, even in her dreams. "Maybe I should just…" Mizu put a hand to the strap of her pack and began to turn around. She heard some shouts and quickly made up her mind to retreat towards the south. There was a small clearing somewhere, she could make that much out from the earth's energy.

She kept running even though she felt her legs would give out. She saw torches waving around in the dense trees. She saw shadows flit past the empty sky.

"She's over there!"

"That's a bush."

"She went that way!"

"It was a bird."

"She's standing right there."

"That's me!"

Mizu ducked low and used some water from the plants to create a smooth path for her to slide down. As she glided along the ground silently, she saw the forest begin to glow green. "This is strange. I thought trees changed color a little later in this season." She jumped up and tripped into a large crevice in the ground. She got up and saw a large glowing green object next to her. "By the spirits, where am I?" Mizu slipped back to her old, spirit faithful ways for a moment as she stared around at the place she had fallen into.

It was a large crater full of glowing green crystals. A stream emptied into a pool at one end of the crater and three stone pillars were raised randomly around the bottom. "This is different." Mizu stepped forward into the forest of crystals and looked around her. She heard a small click and Mizu turned to her left.

She saw nothing but she heard something else. There was another click, like spindly legs crawling across a hard, slick surface. There were multiple legs. Mizu turned around herself and saw a large, centipede like body light up behind a large wall of crystals. It contorted itself and, where the head would have been, turned to her. Mizu backed up and steadied herself against one of the larger crystals. Her breath left her and screaming was not an option. The creature from her dreams began to scale the crystals, the only thing dividing the two products of destiny.

An arrow chipped the crystal near her head. Mizu turned to where the arrow had come from and saw a large man standing there with what looked like a large pole and a string attatched to it. He was wearing golden armor tinted green and had a large, dark green cape. A nasty scar was across his chin, which the man was scratching.

"You're mine now." Zhong said as he leapt down into the crater, sliding down a large crystal spike. The creature was no longer behind the crystal, probably patrolling the arena. Zhong shot off a volley of three arrows, all of which Mizu avoided by ducking behind a crystal. "No where to run now." Zhong shot out three more arrows in rapid succession. Mizu threw a large earth shield in front of her. She focused on one of the crystals and threw it at Zhong. Zhong dodged the crystal and shot an arrow at her.

It just missed her foot by an inch. She sent a wheel of fire at him, causing Zhong to dodge it again, but not before the bow was snapped in half.

"So, this is how it goes." Zhong whipped out his sword from its sheath and ran towards Mizu. She threw two large crystals at him and ducked behind a small outcrop. Zhong sliced through the first crystal but had to duck quickly to avoid the razor sharp projectile aimed at his head. He got up and began searching for Mizu, who had vanished from his sight. His foot was inches from her face without knowing.

"Come out, little girl." Zhong enticed. "I know you're scared. I know you want this whole plight to end. Come out. I'll end it for you right now."

Some dust got in Mizu's nose. She tried to repress the sneeze, but it came. Zhong shot his gaze downwards and cut clean through the crystal over her, barely missing the top of her head. She frantically backed up, dodging every swing of Zhong's sword. She finally ran out of earth and fell into the pool of water in the area. She thrust her arm forward, causing the water to shoot out in a jet at Zhong, sending him back some steps. The ice began to freeze in little globs on him. He shook them off and began chucking crystals into the water, hoping to knock out Mizu, who was holding her breath underneath.

"You leave me no other alternative." Zhong said with a small giggle. He took from within his cloak a small, round balls with a piece of flint at the end. Mizu's eyes widened and she began looking around the bottom of the small pool. She saw one way. She swirled the water around her and propelled herself forward.

Zhong released the bomb into the water and the blast shot the water hundreds of feet into the air, drizzling Zhong. He looked down with triumph into the pool. But there was no body. In fact, there was no sign of her at all. Zhong scratched his chin and ground a crystal beneath his foot. She had got away again.

The blast propelled Mizu forward and out of the small waterfall at the end of the underground tunnel. It emptied into a lake some miles from the crater. She landed in the water and drifted to the bank. She coughed out the water that had found a home in her mouth and lay down on the shore, exhausted from the fight. "I'll just stay here then." Mizu exhaled as she shut her eyes.

The dream came back again. She was in the box again, but this time it was glowing green. A crystal hung above her. She called out fro her parents but they did not appear. Instead, the creature in its entirety appeared above her, staring down at her. There was no rasping breath or creepy legs descending. It merely watched her. Then the crystal shattered and the image faded. She was floating in darkness, desperately calling to her parents. Then a large circle appeared; one half was white with a black dot, the other black with a white dot. It began to spin and spin, faster each time. Then, it became two fish, the same fish swimming in the oasis. The image vanished again and the creature returned. It was standing still, raspy breath and all.

"Who are you?" Mizu asked. It said nothing, and then it attacked.

Mizu woke up and screamed into the night. She made sure no one was around and then tucked her knees up to her. "What's going on?" she asked Fate. "Who am I?" She buried her head as she cried, her life a mystery even to herself.