Book 1: AIR
CHAPTER 13:
THE CRESENT ISLAND
Alpha glided through the air, his large tail creating the air platform that carried them. Aer was holding onto his horn once again as he roared. He jerked and then began his descent. "Hang on." Aer called back to the passengers as the bison gave another heave and landed, all six legs touching the rocky shore at the same time. It was early morning so there was little light to illuminate their new home.
But it was not necessary. The flowing rivers of lava gave enough light for this cause. "So, this is why no one wants to live here?" Long-hin quipped as he stepped carefully over the trickle of lava. "Funny, I thought everyone wanted to live in a place where the threat of being burned by molten rock is ever present."
"Spare us the lame jokes." Kan said as he helped Jip down from the bison's back.
"And who thinks they're lame?" Long-hin asked.
"We do!" everyone else chimed in unison. Long-hin made a fart noise and grabbed his sleeping bag.
"I'm off to find a spot where there isn't any flaming liquid. If I succeed then you can have the next available spot." Long-hin tried to joke.
"And I'll be sure to throw you into the first lava river I see." Kan shouted back. Aer jabbed him in the side.
"Shut it!" Aer said as she helped Jip over a small lava flow. "I don't want anymore of this fighting. Is that understood?"
"Crystal." Kan said in response. He walked over to a clear spot and raised a hand. A rock platform rose, causing the lava flow to stop and redirect itself around the new obstacle. Kan then bent the remainder of the lava off his perch and set down a mat. He lay down and threw his dagger to the side of him.
Bakiko turned to Alpha, who had reserved a nice open area on the shore. "You sure know how to pick them." He said to the bison as he walked over to where Ran-Fo was struggling to find an empty area. He too bent the earth, but this time to form a wall to shield them instead of a pillar.
Aer and Jip found a spot not too far from Alpha and made camp. Aer set up a fire, which was difficult when so close to the water, and Jip rolled some rocks to form a bench around it. "Breakfast should be ready soon." Aer called to all of the group, who had dispersed along the island's coast. A loud bunch of murmurs were heard in response and Aer set about rummaging in her food sack.
Kizu opened his eyes slowly, taking in the light that spilled from a candle beside the couch and the fireplace next to him. A group of women, all wearing aprons and wearing small hats, were busy around a bowl of water, washing rags and bandages and then applying them to his shoulder. He saw on a tray the very arrow that had hit him. It's tip was not there but the shaft looked gruesome. Kizu turned away and felt a pain in his shoulder where the arrow had been planted.
"I think he's come to." One of the girls said as she leaned in close to Kizu's face. Kizu threw up an arm to block her face. Loud whispers began to fill the glowing room as the women rushed to Kan's side, some dropping the bandages they were going to apply to the already large cast around his shoulder, arm, and chest. Kizu stuck his hand over his chest and under his left shoulder. He felt a pad on top and bottom of the wound and bandages keeping them in place.
They ran from around his shoulder to his chest, where they wrapped around his several times. He looked around again, some women backing up to give him room.
The brooch was lying on bed across the room behind the couch. It looked like an apartment, with the area Kizu was in as a sort of living room. He tried to get up but the women pushed him down, some of them giggling.
"Oh how cute, the little thing wants to keep going." One of the women said.
"Bless the poor thing. It was fate's hand that brought him here."
"Yes, and fate too that mistress Oma was walking towards the gate at the same time the young boy ran into it."
"And from assassins of all things!" The women turned away from Kizu to talk amongst themselves. "The poor thing, he's been blessed by the spirits to even live."
"That's enough chatter from you." A soft voice said, the same one that had given orders the day before to the maids. "Now, I will tend to my guest myself."
The women curtsied and left in a cloud of rumors. The woman closed the doors behind them with a click and swept over to Kizu's side. She was wearing a large pink robe and had on a fine white dress.
"How are you, Kizu?" Oma asked as she brushed back her beautiful black hair.
"I'm not too sure." Kizu responded. "What happened exactly? I remember running from the assassins and being hit with something in the shoulder, but the rest is all really a big blur."
"Yu were hit with an arrow in the shoulder." Oma said solemnly. "I was walking down the walk towards the gate when I saw you stumble around the corner and fall into my gate. I ran to you and picked you up and shut the gate as those people came riding around on their eel-hounds. My guards came rushing to them within an instant and I dragged you inside. I ordered my maids to take you up to my suite and take care of you. You've been out for about a day."
"Oh." Kizu said softly. "So that's how it went. But, I saw the mountain. I saw the man…"
"He's nothing at the moment." Oma said as she pushed Kizu further into the softness of the couch. "Now, rest for a while. I will make sure you are better." Kizu sunk into sleep and moved onto his good side. Oma stroked his head and kissed him on the forehead.
She heard a rock being thrown at her window. She got up and walked through the curtain onto the balcony.
Shu was standing in the courtyard bellow her, next to the pool of water. Oma smiled. "What is such a man doing in my house?"
"Such a man cannot be kept from such a beauty that invades the eyes." Shu responded with a smile. Oma laughed. "You did not come yesterday. I saw the boy and those men. What happened?"
"The boy is an acquaintance of mine." Oma responded. "I met him a couple of weeks ago. I was walking to meet you when I saw him attacked. I had to nurture him back to health. But he is fine now. He has regained consciousness."
"That's good to hear." Shu said. "Will you not meet me now?"
"He is resting now. If he needs me I must be there for him." Oma said. Shu's face fell. "But being close enough to hear your sweet voice will help to lessen the pain of not feeling your touch." Shu looked up at her and smiled.
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"Till then, my love." Shu gave a bow and turned into the shadows. He left through the gate and made his way towards the mountain, where the bird could be seen circling the peak. Oma blushed and turned back into the suite, where she walked over to a cozy chair by the fire and sat down, gently touching the cherry blossom in her hair.
The night wasn't dark with the large lava flow. The red glow kept the night glowing and Jip's thoughts adrift. She was on her side, staring at a trickle of glowing water as it entered the warm waters and turned black. "Strange how something so hot is changed so quickly." Jip said out loud. Aer turned to her in her in her blanket.
"What?"
"I was just saying how something so powerful and hot and full of energy can be brought to something so insignificant so suddenly." Jip turned her head to Aer. "Kind of like us."
"It's okay, Jip. It isn't that bad. We're seeing the world just as we wanted to." Aer said as she sat up and looked to Jip. "I mean, yeah it is sad how we have this power and are forced to change our lives so suddenly, but it isn't like it's gone for good or anything. Things will be all right." Aer got up and hugged Jip. "You'll see."
She walked back to her mat and laid down. "Try to get some rest." She went to bed as Jip once again turned to the flowing lava trickle. How could any of them know that their past lives were gone forever?
Mizu finally made it to the sea. "At last, a familiar sight!" Mizu dropped her pack and ran into the surf as the sun set. She dunked underneath it and began to do laps around it. She laughed a little. She was close to the equator so the water was warm and inviting. She swam out to some rocks and bent a small diving board from them. She jumped in with a cannon ball, causing a giant hole to be formed and them filled back in as Mizu landed.
She got out and whipped her arm around her and then tossed the water out to sea. She took out some rocks she had dug up a couple of days ago and began walking along the beach with her pack to find some good pieces of wood to use as firewood. "There must be some good driftwood somewhere." Mizu mused to herself. She spotted a large vessel through the night air a little further down the shore and nestled in some rocks. "That could work." Mizu threw her arms to he right side and then took off in a blast of airbending, leaving a large trail through the sand as it followed her. Some palm trees snapped and fell from the release of energy, but Mizu paid it no mind.
Kan tossed and turned on his large stone platform. He had visions of a mysterious island. He was on it and so were Aer and Jip and two strangers that he had never seen before. He tried to reach out to Aer but she flew away from him. Jip huddled in a ball and melted into the island. The mysterious girl summoned a large water whip and hurled it at Kan as the mysterious boy rose up on a column of earth and lunged at him. Kan woke with a start and sat up.
Was it a vision? It couldn't have been. He bent a small whip of lava onto the platform to use as light as he stayed up. Something was coming. He could tell. This island is weird. It was as if it was somehow spiritual. Maybe this is why not many people lived here.
He felt the earth shake and a loud rumble begin. He turned behind him and saw a thick plume of black soot began to rise from the top of the volcano. "Guys, the volcano!" Kan shouted as he dropped his earth platform, upsetting the lava flow around it. He recoiled in pain as he was burned on the bottom of his left foot. He fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding another stream of lava.
Aer was up in an instant. "Kan!" she shouted as she jumped over a trickle of lava and ran to his side. "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" Kan snapped. "I got burned on my foot."
"At least it wasn't your…" Long-hin started as he walked back over to the group. The island shook again and the smoke from the volcano increased. A piece of rock burst open, releasing noxious gas and a large burst of lava with it. Aer threw her arms in a circle and extended. A blast of air knocked away the gas and super cooled the lava.
"Jip, get Alpha ready to go."
"Okay." Jip called back to Aer as she ran to the bison, who was already stirring.
"Bakiko, Long-hin, help Kan get on." Aer said as Bakiko ran to join the small party. Aer looked down at the lava and then up at the volcano. Another loud blast filled the night and the earth felt like it had split open. A large blast of firry hot molten lava spewed out of the volcano, sending rock and soot every where. Aer threw an arm in front of her, causing an air shield to cover her and her friends. Alpha whipped around and smashed his tail, causing a large amount of rock and ash to be sent spiraling backwards.
Aer dropped her shield and gave another blast of air to form a path to Alpha. Bakiko and Long-hin grabbed Kan under each arm and helped him hobble over to the large beast. "Jip, I need your help." Aer shouted over the roar of the magna racing down on them. "We need to buy is some time to get out of here."
"What can we do? We don't lava bend." Jip pointed out as she ran over to Aer, who was beckoning. "We're airbenders, remember?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we're useless." Aer put a hand on Jips shoulder and nodded. Them clasped hands and began to walk sideways towards the flood of lava. They picked up speed, their feet causing a small slice of air to super cool the lava beneath their feet. They then began to sprint full force at the impending doom.
"What are you loonatics doing?" Long-hin shouted to them as Kan was hoisted onto Alpha's back.
They kept running, even faster now. Jip gave a small whimper as the wall of lava bore down on them.
"Ready?" Aer asked as they were almost set upon.
"Yes." Jip replied slightly afraid of what would happen if it didn't work. They began to circle their hands around each other. They released, leapt into the air and spun to face forward. A rope of cool air wove between them. They thrust out and the weave of cold air was blasted into the wall of lava. It curled as it hit the cool wind and began to turn black and then it stopped. New lava poured onto it, causing large cracks to form. Aer grabbed Jip's hand.
A new lava flow began to form around the now solid wall of frozen lava. "I think we've done enough." Aer said as she dragged Jip back towards Alpha. They saw the cracks widen and begin to glow red. It gave way and a large wave of magma raced towards them, almost at their heels. Aer whistled and Alpha descended from above, catching the girls as they jumped into the air and sky rocketed onto the bison's back.
"Well, this is a record." Bakiko said as he helped Jip clamor over Kan's bandaged foot. "The island itself actually forced us off this time."
"Ha ha." Kan said dryly as Alpha groaned at the poor attempt at a joke and kept flying off into the west.
Mizu walked onto the sad wreck of a ship. It did look familiar though. She noticed some of the flags inside. Golden green with a design of a canyon crawler on them. "These were the ships that attacked the north pole." Mizu pointed out. "These must be from where that general guy is from. I wonder if he's around."
Mizu began to search some of the corridors, breaking off large planks of wood as she went. An eerie fog descended over the ship as she lowered herself into the hull. It was almost submerged in water. "Must have been a nasty wreck. But where are the crew members?" Mizu searched bellow for some rations. She cracked open a large box and found what must have been the jackpot. "Ooh, enough food for a week!" She dropped her pack and began to dump the food into it, filling it to the brim. She took up her planks of wood and began to walk out of the ship. She climbed a small set of stairs onto the second level and was heading for the deck of the ship when she heard something behind her. She stopped, dropped the wood and turned around, summoning a fire whip behind her.
'Who's there?" Mizu asked the darkness. She heard the ship creak as something hit the wall in the room beside the corridor. She threw a sweeping arm across her chest and the wood moved to the side to make an opening for her to see through.
A guard fell face first into the corridor, partially wet from the sea. Mizu gave a small scream and bent down to him. He wasn't moving as far as she could see.
The odd, blue fog seeped into the corridor as the sea wind began to blow. "Hey, buddy, you awake or not?" Mizu asked as she punched the guy. She grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse. "Must be a drunk." Mizu exclaimed as she felt his heartbeat just fine. "You must be the scourge of…" Mizu flipped the guy over onto his back and stopped…and let out a spin chilling scream. She got up and backed against the wall, hand covering her mouth. A cold sweat began to form on her brow as she tried to calm herself, her eyes staring wildly at the soldier's head.
The soldier had no face.