Avatar Rylon
Book 1 Trust
Chapter 4 – Meetings and Break Outs
All of a sudden the sharp pain that Rylon was feeling suddenly dissipated and his eyes returned to their normal colour and he looked out to the crowd in front of him in full panic. He looked up to see a huge piece of the rocket falling right towards them.
Thrusting himself forward with his air bending he landed in the middle of the crowd before going into the avatar state to hold up the huge fuselage mere seconds before it would have hit the ground crushing everyone underneath it. Holding the huge burning fuselage a few metres above the ground he looked back towards the landing pad where no one was located and threw it over there knocking down the take-off equipment as it collapsed into a fiery broken heap on the ground. Rylon then created a huge gust of cyclonic wind that put out the fires instantly.
Taking a deep breath and coming out of the Avatar state he saw the people around him cheering and clapping. The sound of sirens turned every ones attention away from Rylon as the police force and emergency department arrived. The police immediately began shepherding people out of the airport whilst the emergency department ran over to the wreck to make sure that all the fires were out and that it posed no further threat.
"Our thanks Avatar." The Air Representative said with a slight bow walking up to Rylon.
"What was that and how did we not know about it?! Why didn't' someone tell us?" The Earth Representative said in complete shock as he pointed up towards the sky.
"If anyone had known about this we would not have conducted the test Earth Representative. No one could have predicted this." The Fire Representative said stepping forward calmly as the Water Representative frowned but said nothing.
"It looked spiritual to me and I felt something when the rocket hit the barrier and caused that shock wave." Rylon said shaking his head in confusion.
"Spirit stuff again?" The Earth Representative grumbled.
"That man earlier was from the Spirit Exhibition at the Museum, he said the spirits had warned him about something?" Rylon said looking to the President.
"The ranting of a mad man and nothing more!" He replied shrugging.
"A rant that came true." The Water Representative said with a sneer as both the President and Earth Representative glared at him.
"It has been a long and tiring day so I suggest we all go home have a break so we'll all be fresh to discuss this is the morning yes?" The President said with a grin looking a Rylon who looked a little unsure.
"What about the press? All these cameras just witnessed our rocket explode in the sky! All the time and money we wasted on this and not to mention it's an embarrassment to our Earth Empire engineers who designed it." The Earth Representative said putting his face in his hands.
"What happened was a malfunction nothing more." The President said coolly. "A malfunction that caused an explosion that sent shock waves through the sky, that is all people need to know for now."
"You're going to lie to everyone?" Rylon said with a slight frown. "People need to know the truth."
"I agree." The Water Representative said glaring at the President who paused a moment before walking up to Rylon.
"Avatar we don't want to cause a panic, no one was hurt, no spirits were affected so why do people need to know about this strange anomaly in the sky? You wouldn't want to cause undue panic would you?"
"No of course not but…" Rylon started but was interrupted.
"Good then I will explain my explanation for this event to the presses and we'll all gather tomorrow to discuss what happened and how to deal with the public and the spirits." The President smiled.
"Everything will be discussed tomorrow?" Rylon asked looking up at the President who nodded.
"Of course whatever the Avatar wants." The President beamed. "Now let me get you our finest car to take you back to your hotel for the evening whilst I deal with these vulture-pig bird press people outside."
Tearing out his PDP the President began to walk away followed by the Earth, Water and Fire Representatives. The Air Representative went to walk up to Rylon to say something but at the last minute seemed to change her mind as she turned and quickly walked after the others.
Watching them walk away Rylon turned to see Platinum fly over and land on his shoulder.
"It looks as though the emergency services have everything under control so I guess we should go back to our hotel and wait till tomorrow to discuss everything with the President." Platinum glared at him. "Don't give me that look! The President said we would discuss everything tomorrow and he was right, we're all just a little tired and I still have a huge headache so I'm not in the mood to sit and listen to a long meeting."
"Your car is waiting for you Avatar." A security man said walking up to Rylon who nodded and walked back towards the door he had come in from. "Not having all these reporters talk to you they'll speak to The President shortly instead." The man grumbled as he stepped out the door and used his earth bending to create two tall walls up from the ground that lead to the car door to keep out any reporters.
Rylon quickly walked down the small bordered walk way and jumped in the car as it wasted no time in driving off. The driver didn't say a word but Rylon wasn't in the mood for talking as the car pulled away into traffic much to the displeasure of the reporters.
As he watched the sun set and the street lights slowly pop on as they drove to his hotel Rylon couldn't help but wonder why the President was so against him going to the spirit portal, in fact why in this city were there so little spirits? Rylon never had a problem with attracting spirits most of which seemed eager to talk with the Avatar but here it was like a ghost spirit town that they avoided. Could it be the technology? Rylon knew as well as any politician, leader or average joe on the street that ever since the time of Avatar Korra the spirits had openly spoke of their displeasure to technology whilst on the other side of the coin all Four Nations were embracing it to the point of now wanting to explore more than just their own tiny planet.
There was of course those humans who were also anti-technology or "pro-spirit" as the Politian's called them. These people usually spent their time on the outskirts of smaller towns and cities and often refused to use technology and instead preferred the old fashion methods of transport, food gathering through the use bending. Rylon personally had not spent much time with these people as he bounced from one nation to the next appeasing world leaders as well as appeasing the spirits.
The most spiritual people were still the Air Benders but even they embraced technology as long as it didn't impact negatively on their peaceful teachings and on the spirits. The water tribes were also advancing at a faster rather due to easy access to Fire Nation and Earth Empire resources being both shipped and sent by train to aide in them in the construction of buildings. The Fire Nation and Earth Empire were both arguably the leaders when it came to technology based discoveries and both Nations saw it as friendly competition to see who could out invent the other and who could do it first which lead to even faster discoveries and creations every year.
Sometimes as the Avatar Rylon felt completely useless, the world was in peace and was in a stage of accelerating growth both in technology and population but both were being maintained by everyone working together, this was the legacy Korra had left for him. He had spent nearly as much time training as he did going to political meetings to approve of this, to disprove that or to help both humans and spirits sort out where they can or cannot settle. Crime in all nations was at an all-time low with the city's police and emergency services keeping the peace. There was no arguing about power and position anymore with Republic City being run by an elected President. The Earth Empire was also run by an elected President whilst the royal family stood as more of a tourist attraction at their palace. The Air Nation was also run by their own elected spiritual leader. Both water tribes had elected Chiefs that worked in unison with each other and would often meet multiple times during the year. The Fire Nation was still headed by the Royal Family but the Royal Family itself was advised by an elected trust of leaders who really stood as the countries powerhouse behind the throne.
Equalists had all but died over the course of the past 50 years as being able to bend in modern society grew less and less important in regards to political power, jobs and the military so it didn't matter whether or not someone was a bender they always had equal opportunities. Just walking down the street of any capital city no one would be able to pick who was a bender and who wasn't.
Arriving at the hotel Rylon quietly got out of the car and walked inside where he saw a woman standing at the counter smiling at him.
"Greetings Avatar your Presidential Suite is waiting for you. We hope you find it to your tastes and if not please feel free to contact me at the front desk at any time." The lady beamed as Rylon took the key.
"Thank you." He nodded before walking to the lift where he waited patiently for it to arrive.
Once he arrived in his room he walked inside to see a very expensive huge suite that had the entire back wall covered by one huge glass window that over looked Republic City. Being night now the city now shone just as brightly as the spirit beacon in the far distance. Walking over to the window Rylon looked up into the sky where the bright lights blocked out any stars so that only the moon was visible.
Platinum who was very excited by the room began to fly around it landing on different cushions and lounges as though testing them for softness. At the end of the room on a small black stand stood a thin television screen which over the past 50 years had exploded in popularity whereas radios had steadily declined. Rylon never watched a lot of television and when he walked up to it he looked down at its side trying to find the on button. Platinum hissed as it flew over to a small remote control sitting on the lounge. Picking up the control Rylon started down at all the buttons but couldn't make heads or tails out of what they meant.
"I think I'll just go to bed I have a huge headache still." Rylon said annoyingly as he dropped the remote down on the lounge before disappearing into the bedroom as Platinum curled up on a soft lounge cushion.
-x-
Late in the night Rylon started to toss and turn in his bed.
"Avatar…." He heard a voice echo around him. "Wake up Avatar." The deep voice continued.
Waking up and instantly sitting up in bed Rylon felt sweat running down his face and as he turned to look in the mirror at the end of the room where he could see his eyes glowing purple back at him. Gasping he went to stand up out of bed but the floor seemed to have disappeared sending him crashing down below into a dark room that was completely empty and faintly lit. Quickly standing up he looked around himself thinking that this had to be a dream.
"Oh Avatar don't be frightened." The deep voice came again as Rylon looked forward and saw two large purple eyes dancing in front of him.
"Are you a spirit?" Rylon asked wiping away sweat from his brow as the two eyes neared him and as they did the body of a long dragon like serpent appeared floating in the air behind them.
"A spirit yes, one as old as time itself, one who has always been even before you humans took your first baby steps." The serpent gracefully glided around Rylon like a coil never touching him as it spoke. The serpent like creatures skin was a pale white and it seemed to be dripping as though it was constantly wet. Rylon watched the creatures seemingly endless long body twist around him before looking back in front of him where the face of the serpent was right in his face.
"Are we in the spirit world?" Rylon said looking around him as the serpent laughed showing off its huge dragon like teeth.
"No were not." It hissed. "Though one day I do hope to return to my beloved home."
"I-I don't understand who are you? Where are we? And why are my eyes glowing this purple?" Rylon said not understanding whether or not what was happening was actually real.
The Serpent uncurled itself from around Rylon before it began to circle him in a large circle.
"I am Juan Dai, a spirit wronged by other spirits, a spirit wanting nothing more than to return to my beloved home…" Juan looked at Rylon who still looked completely confused. "The spirits and humans will try to fill your head with lies about me…they want me to remain in exile… so you and I this can be our little secret Avatar." Juan suddenly began to disappear as the black room around them began to illuminate. "We can help each other Avatar because I know what you desire most and I can give it to you…"
Gasping and sitting up in his bed Rylon took a few deep breaths before turning to look in the mirror on the wall in front of his bed where he could see his eyes weren't glowing before looking down at the floor which was there. Standing up and holding his head, he still had a huge headache, he walked back out into the main room to get a drink from the kitchen. Looking out the huge windows he could still see that it was night outside and that he had only been asleep for a few hours.
Sitting down quietly on the lounge as to not wake Platinum who was fast asleep Rylon thought about that dream he had had. It had to have been a dream, they hadn't been in the spirit world but nor did they appear to be in the human world either, where ever it was it still felt real and very cold.
Walking back into the bedroom he sat down and crossed his legs hoping to meditate back to where he had just been wanting to understand whether it was really only a dream or was really the spirit world. Closing his eyes to try and meditate he suddenly felt another sharp pain in his head as he opened his eyes and noticed that he had started to sweat again. Quickly standing up and telling himself he just had a headache that was all. To keep his mind off his head and the dream he decided that he was going to go and see whether or not he could speak to the Spirit Exhibition man down at Police Headquarters before he had a chance to speak to the President in the morning to see where he had gotten that warning. He knew the President had said he was going to discuss this all tomorrow but if Rylon could get as much information from this man as possible beforehand he may be able to understand more of what happened, what that anomaly was and perhaps even more about this dream of his.
Standing up he put his coat back on before quietly walking out of the suite leaving Platinum snoozing on the lounge cushions.
-x-
"What do you mean I can't talk to him?" Rylon asked the Policeman the the counter of the Police Headquarters.
"We have orders to holds Sy Ember here for the next few days unless otherwise stated by The President of Republic City."
"Can't I just have a quick word?" Rylon asked as the police man shook his head.
"I'm sorry Avatar but I have my orders and the answer is no."
Walking back outside in the street Rylon knew that he shouldn't be too surprised that the President had ordered that no one was to speak to Sy since he considering him to be nothing more than a mad man. Thinking for a moment Rylon quickly walked down the stairs and glanced behind him and when no one was looking took a deep breath and stamped his foot down and felt the vibrations of the police headquarters layout and who was inside and discovered what he thought were the overnight prison cells at the very back of the building where two people sat in two separate small rooms.
Opening his eyes he quickly walked to a nearby gate where the police officer car yard was located and using his air bending he easily jumped over the fence. Rylon quickly and quietly snuck his way past the cars until he reached the back of the police headquarters where the two people in the small cells were located.
Facing the wall Rylon used his earth bending to remove a door size piece from the wall where he looked in to see an older man staring at him.
"Oh Avatar busting me out eh?" The man said with a sly grin. "Always loved you Avatars."
"Sorry wrong person." Rylon said embarrassed as he quickly pushed the building piece back into the wall before quickly taking a few steps to the right before doing the same whereas this time inside the cell he saw Sy sitting down on a bench with his face in his hands.
Rylon quietly put the piece of wall down on the ground as he stepped inside the cell where Sy didn't seem to have even noticed him or large chunk of wall missing.
"Sy Ember?" Rylon said quietly as Sy jumped in shocked.
"Police…pol-" Sy started to yell as Rylon quickly used his metal fore arm armour to bend the piece around Sy's mouth to keep him quiet.
"Shhh." Rylon said quickly and quietly as he listened out for any police coming to see what the commotion was. "I'm going to remove the cover and you're going to stay nice and quiet alright?" Sy quickly nodded before Rylon removed the band.
"What are you doing here Avatar? Decided to listen to me now?" Sy frowned.
"Well when I met you in the museum you didn't seem to want to talk then what changed your mind?"
"Well…" Sy started but stopped when the two of them heard voices.
"Quick let's go!' Rylon said stepping back outside.
"This, this is illegal! We're both going to be in huge trouble for this!" Sy said crossing his arms.
"Ok look I'm sorry for not listening to you earlier but I really need you you come with me now, I'll explain when we're away from here." Rylon said in a forced whisper as Sy rolled his eyes before stepping outside.
"Fine I didn't want to stay in there for the next few days anyway." Sy said coldly as Rylon quickly put the piece of the wall back but just as they were about to leave the way Rylon and come in they saw the gate open as a police car rolled inside.
"Quick back this way." Rylon said as he and Sy quickly ran to the very back of the police headquarters.
"How do you expect me to jump that 6 foot wall? I'm not an air bender." Sy huffed as the two reached a tall 6 foot in front of them.
"I'd say that you're not." Rylon heard a voice and spun around to see a woman standing watching them as she jumped out of a police car.
"It was all his idea I swear!" Sy said quickly pointing to Rylon.
"Officer I really need to speak with this man but for some reason the President has refused to allow me to, it's of vital important I hear what he has to say even if no one else does." Rylon said looking back at the woman who was wearing a police uniform and had her black hair tied up in a messy short ponytail.
"I know what the President said." The woman said with a sigh. "We were told that if the Avatar came by we were to refuse access."
"But why?" Rylon asked.
"We don't ask questions but that does mean I don't have my own doubts as to why the President doesn't want anyone to talk to Sy after what happened today." She paused. "We were also ordered to not allow the Avatar near the spirit portal nor access if possible to access Air Temple Island. I was taught growing up in the Fire Nation to respect authority and the Avatar but this President is doing neither and I fear for the safety of the people living here if he's hiding something for you, from us."
"Why is he continuing to lie to me and everyone else in the world about all of this? It must have something to do with the spirits as I have not sensed their presence or seen them round Republic city at all since I arrived."
"The spirits do not concern me is all the lives he may be putting at risk, if you were not there today hundreds could have died because of him not listening to reason."
There was a long pause before Sy stepped forward.
"I'm not sure what's going on here but I really think that we need to leave, unless you want me back in a cell, the Avatar banished from the city and you being fired."
Rylon turned back to look at the woman as she walked forward towards them.
"I will help you uncover what the President is doing behind our backs Avatar because the safety of my city and people come first and the President is not protecting them with his lies. Now if we want to leave without being detected I advise we go now and by the way my name is Zuri." She said before taking a step back and using her fire bending to propel herself over the 6 foot fence in front of them.
"So?" Sy said turning to Rylon who used his air bending and lifted Sy over the fence before dropping him down before jumping up and over with a quick air blast.
"Where are we going Avatar?" Zuri said turning to Rylon but before had a chance to reply he heard his PDP in his pocket beeping madly. Putting his hand in his pocket he pulled it out and looked at it waiting for it to do something. Zuri quickly grabbed the PDP and clicked one of the buttons that answered it before handing it back.
"Oh thank you." Rylon said embarrassed. "Hello?"
"Avatar this is Air Representative Nena, although it has been forbidden for you to go to Air Temple Island I have advised Master Akar there about you and today's events and he has sent a bison for your use at the docks if you could make your way there, and hurry." When she finished she quickly hung up.
"That is not far from here we should get going." Zuri as she began to walk down the street quickly pursued by both Rylon and Sy.
As they walked Rylon looked at Zuri thinking that he had seen her before somewhere but couldn't put his finger on it.
"Is there something you'd like to say Avatar?" Zuri said turning to him as they walked.
"Please just call my Rylon and no I just thought I recognized you from somewhere." He said as he thought to himself before it hit him. "I remember now! You're the lady who helped me before with this PDP thing earlier today."
"Sure was." She laughed a little. "You know it must be an Avatar thing because word had it Avatar Korra was never good with technology either. Before either of them could say anything else Sy squeezed between them so he was walking in the middle.
"Alright friendly chit chat aside because I for one have no inclination to want to go to Air Temple Island tonight, so whatever it is you want to ask me Avatar ask me now."
"I thought you'd want to come with me to Air Temple Island and possibly the Spirit Portal Exclusion Zone, you are an expert in spirits right? I thought you'd want to come with me." Rylon asked looking down at Sy as he frowned.
"Since when is this about me?" Sy huffed before stopping in his tracks. "I found out about the trouble with the launch when one of the spirits came to me in a panic telling me to stop it and to tell the Avatar to stop it."
"Why didn't the spirit come to me directly though?" Rylon thought to himself as Zuri clicked her fingers.
"All this afternoon at the test site you were with the President who we all know has a certain dislike for spirits. They didn't warn you because there aren't any around Republic City except near the portal and for some reason weren't game enough to come to you directly when the President was around."
"That doesn't explain why they came to you?" Rylon asked looking back at Sy who shrugged.
"It must have known I had a ticket to this event which I wasn't going to go to in the first place but it convinced it was of dire importance." He thought for a moment. "Did you say going to the spirit portal?" Rylon nodded. "Why don't you just meditate there instead? Isn't that what you Avatars do?"
"I haven't told anyone yet but…" He paused. "Ever since this test I've felt different as though I'm not so attuned to the spirits as I was before, but really it's nothing." He said quickly.
"Nothing? Every person in the world saw that spirit barrier ripple in the sky from that failed test it can't be nothing, the average person may have believed the Presidents lie about it being a shock wave but I sure didn't." Zuri said quickly.
"There is nothing to discuss, no one was harmed today there is no need to cause a panic over nothing and besides the President is going to discuss our next step tomorrow." Rylon said quickly as Zuri glared up at him.
"The President? You're the Avatar." She said pointing at him.
"That doesn't give me the right to cause undue panic, we–we will discuss it tomorrow." Rylon said quickly walking in front of the others.
The three walked down to the docks without another word.
Once they reached the docks Rylon metal bent the wire fence and the three quickly walked inside.
"She said that there would be an air bison around here somewhere." Rylon said looking around him.
"It is definitely over there I can smell it." Sy said pulling a face as he pointed over to some nearby containers.
The three quickly walked over and saw an air bison resting beside the container.
"Siren!" Rylon said with a smile as he walked forward recognizing the bison from when he had studied briefly at Air Temple Island. Siren gave him a big lick covering him in slobber. "It's good to see you and my have your grown, you're huge now!" He continued stepping back and looking at the fully grown air bison.
"This is where I say goodbye then Avatar." Sy said straightening his museum uniform.
"You sure you don't want to come I'm sure you'll be able to find out so much more information about the spirits if you came." Rylon said turning to him as Sy shook his head.
"What are you expecting to do now then? Go turn yourself in? because you can't just walk around, when they've found out you're missing you'll be a fugitive." Zuri asked crossing her arms. "However if you come with us I'm sure and official pardon by the Avatar would clear you name." She said looking at Rylon who quickly nodded knowing that he still hadn't a chance to ask him about Juan Dai yet.
"Yes when we get back I'll take the fallout from this and besides I think it'd be a pleasure having what I assume the world greatest living expert on Spirit classification along with us to the exclusion zone." He said with a smile as Sy thought for a moment.
"As long as you say you dragged me kicking and screaming against my will…"
"That's not going to be hard to believe." Zuri sneered with a chuckle. "Now let's get going you two, if we want to make it to Air Temple Island and then onto the Spirit Portal Exclusion Zone we can't stand here chatting about how easily Sy was dragged along with us." She grinned as she thrust herself up onto the bison with her fire bending.
"You don't have to make me sound that pathetic…" Sy said as Rylon pushed him onto the bison with his air bending before jumping up himself.
"Come on Siren yip yip."
The Bison instantly flew off towards Air Temple Island to hopefully get some answers to Rylon's questions from the spirits themselves on not only his dream he had had but also that strange anomaly the world had witnessed.