Running through
the brush and the undergrowth, the boys chest heaved with exhaustion;
but he didn't care about that. He knew he needed to get back to the
elders and tell them what he saw. He finally spotted his village just
a hundred feet away. He picked up the pace even more and raced into
his tiny village under the trees.
"Father! Father!" He
yelled with the little air he had left. An older man only wearing a
loincloth made of leaves walked out of the largest tent.
"Yes
Sean?" He asked. His son collapsed on the ground, breathing
heavily. His father and rest of his village ran over to him. His
father knelt down next to him.
"Breathe son. Water! Get him
water!" A girl ran back a few seconds later with a jug of water.
Sean choked over the water that his father forced down his throat.
After a couple minutes, he was finally able to speak.
"I saw
the most horrific thing Father. Just past the swamp, there are
people, who can do... who can do horrible things."
"What
is it son?" His father put his hand on his sons shoulder. Sean
shuddered under his fathers touch.
"Son?" He heard his
father's voice fade away as he slipped into the
darkness.
*FLASHBACK*
Sean wandered the swamp with his
sword hanging around his waist. He whistled while he walked, not
really wanting to hunt anything today. He knelt down by an almost
blossomed lily and touched the stem. His blue eyes sparkled as he
helped the lily fully blossom. Sean, like his whole village, was a
different kind of Waterbender. They had lived in a large swamp for
centuries and his ancestors had discovered a way to move plants by
bending the water inside them. He stood up and stretched. Suddenly,
he heard a scream ahead of him. He was close to the edge of the
swamp, so he figured it must be from the village right outside. He
began running towards the sound of the scream. All of his people were
agile and quick, so they had no problem running over the many weeds
and roots that scattered the swamp floor. He reached the edge of the
swamp and his jaw dropped; the village was on fire. He resumed
running towards the village. Just as he got to the entrance, a little
boy ran outside. One side of his face was a startling red and he
walked with a limp. Tears ran down his face and he limped to
Sean.
"My mommy is still in there! They won't let us out!"
He cried out.
"Who? Who won't let you out?" Sean asked.
"The
bad men!" The boy flung his arms around Sean's leg and sobbed.
Sean squinted to see through the black smoke.
"Stay here, ok?"
He told the little boy.
"Don't leave me!" Sean sighed and
quickly glanced all around.
"Go and hide behind that bush, ok?
I'll be back very soon. I promise." The boy whimpered, but
nodded. He slowly walked over as Sean walked into the village. The
black smoke clouded his vision, so he was unable to see anything. He
put his arms out in front of him, and continued walking. The farther
he walked, the clearer the air became. Soon, he could see the burning
houses. It was strangely silent, and there wasn't a person in
sight. He followed the path and it led him to the center of the
village. He had to stop the urge to vomit; bodies were piled up on
each other throughout the square. Blood was splattered everywhere,
and some limbs were even strewn around. He glanced around for any
living and saw none.
WHOOSH! Flames missed his face by inches. He
stumbled back and saw a small group of people hiding between two
houses. He sent a jet stream towards them, but they backed up before
it hit them. He waited for another strike, but nothing came. Then,
two people walked out slowly. One was a very tall man with spiked
sapphire blue hair and the other was a only slightly shorter female
with vibrant orange hair.
"Who are you?" the male asked in a
deep, monotone voice.
"Maybe I should ask who the hell you are,
and why you killed so many innocent people?" Sean growled back. The
girl smiled, making Sean very uneasy.
"You'll find out soon
enough." She said sweetly. They both put their hands up in front of
themselves and they turned red with fire. Sean conjured up a wall of
water around himself, for protection. Strangely enough they did not
fire; they only held their pose. Suddenly, Sean felt a strong pain in
his gut. He doubled over and the wall of water around him dropped.
The girl took that moment of weakness and struck his left leg. He
cried out in pain and turned to run, but a jet of water wrapped
around his leg and pulled it out from under him. He fell to the
ground, but was able to whip around to see the man create a ring of
water around them. Sean jumped up, ignoring the throbbing pain in his
injured leg. He grabbed the hilt on his waist. To any passersby, it
would seem like a normal sword when not unsheathed; but when Sean
pulled the hilt away from the scabbard, the blade was actually clear,
cold ice. He swung the sword around so it was pointing straight at
the male and shot a frozen stream of ice at him from the tip of his
sword. The man realized too late he was being attacked, so the ice
scrapped off a chunk of skin from his shoulder. He hissed in pain and
yelled, "Kill him!" Five other people stepped out from between
the two houses, and immediately began shooting fire and water streams
at Sean. Despite his injured leg, Sean was able to dodge the attacks.
He knew he couldn't handle all of them by himself, especially
injured, so he slowly began backing up while firing at the others,
until he could feel the water wall behind him. He quickly threw up a
strong wall of water to protect himself. He heaved in a large breath
of air and steadied himself for what he was about to do. His hands
tingled from excitement. He waited for the right moment, when no fire
or water was being thrown at him. Then, he projected seven large ice
balls he created from the wall around him and threw them. The
attackers attempted to destroy them, but were unable to. All seven of
the ice balls crashed into their intended opponent. By the time they
had thrown the balls off them, Sean had mysteriously disappeared, and
was running back towards his village.
*END FLASHBACK*
