Chapter One
I could feel the rain hitting my skin. Each drop left me feeling stronger, faster, invulnerable. Almost as if it were sinking inside me, completing a puzzle I had no idea was missing pieces. Opening my eyes I looked around me, the trees were a blur as the rain poured down around me. The darkness hided the leaves above me. The water mad mud below me. The world was a overwhelming chorus of drumming raindrops, with a background of blackened forest.
My left arm slowly moved from my side, slicing through the rain. As each raindrop made contact with my skin it stuck to me like glue. Forming around my arm, encasing them it in a cocoon of cool water. I smiled, then- holding my right arm out- I bended the water between my hands, passing it as though levitating a small ball. The rain continued to fall, and as each drop broke the surface of my ball of water, it grew.
As my body began to move, my right arm stretching in front of me the ball of water became a whip, then I began to almost dance, swirling around my body the water only continued to grow in size. As I reached a out in front of me throw my hand out from its resting place on my there was a stream of water moving with such speed and force that it sliced the nearest tree in half.
Before too long I was climbing back to my feet. Sweat falling from my face and forehead mixed with the mud on the ground. Exhaustion had seeped into my muscles making it hard to move anymore. Fatigue had soaked into my bone, making them ache as I began the walk home. It took only a short ten minutes to reach home, and when I stepped onto my back porch I closed my eyes, feeling the water that had seeped into the fabric of my clothing. I focused until I felt every drop of moisture that clung to my skin, my clothes, my shoes. Throwing my hands into the air all of the water was pushed away from my body, leaving me warm and dry.
I smiled despite my exhaustion and walked in through our back door, then took an immediate right to stair case that read to the loft that served as my room. Though my Parents weren't rich we had inherited this house from my mother's mother. It was big, almost 3000 square feet, and two story. My room was actually half of the second floor, and it was only accessible from the staircase I was walking up now. As my hand trailed the hardwood walls I remembered growing up somewhere far from here, visiting this Virginia Country Home every summer with my Parents. These memories were happy, and every time I found myself thinking of them I couldn't help but smile. It had been sic years since my GrandParents had died in a car accident, leaving everything to their only child. We moved in on my twelfth birthday, and my mother and father gave me this area to myself. My Grandfather-my favorite person in the world- used this area to exercise and work on his hobbies.
Looking around his ghostly hand remained touched on most of my possessions. Everywhere were blue prints for things like boat or mini-submarines. My Grandfather was obsessed with anything that had to do with water. As I've slowly developed my ability to Waterbend I soon began to see why. I felt strongest when near large bodies of water, especially the Ocean. Waterbending was taught to me by my Grandfather from a young age. Before I could even spell my name I was doing Tai Chi with him. As I got older and began to go out and lay on the grass with him, staring up at the stars, hearing stories about the Moon and the Stars. Though he often told stories about other things almost all his stories included the Moon. Many also included people with the ability to control the elements, Bending them to their will.
As my footstep echoed off the floor of the loft that I now called home, I laughed to myself, understanding the truth hidden in those childish tales. They had so much weight to my Grandfather, and they were beginning to have weight to me as well. It has been almost three years since I discovered my powers. I was fifteen when I was almost drowned by incoming tide on the shore of Daytona Beach. When I was pulled under, about to pass out from lack of oxygen I saw the Moon in the distance. Though it was day I could see the moon as though it were full. I felt a tug in my chest and then the water seemed to part for me, providing much needed oxygen to my lungs.
From that day on I was able to control water. At first I wasn't sure how I was doing it, I didn't feel the flow of Ki in my body as it bent to my will. It wasn't until a year ago that a realized what I was actually capable of. Then on, I Bent every second I could. Even waking up at 1am to sneak out. It was just something I felt good doing. It was something that made me feel powerful. It was something that…
There was a noise in the kitchen that stole my attention. It sounded like… I had no idea. Whirling around I slowly walked down the stairs, as silently as I could. The noise started getting louder, the walls began to shake as if they would be toppled by the inhuman sound. With each step I felt as if the world were holding me back, dragging me back to my room. As I took the final step that led to the ground, there was silence in the house. The walls stopped vibrating. The weight holding me back vanished. My heartbeat returned to normal. Fear held me in place, awaiting a death that I knew must be around the corner.
"There is no need to be afraid, Daniel. I wouldn't hurt James Owens Grandson." the man who spoke stepped out in front of me, his black hair was specked with grey. His blue eyes had a look that I hadn't seen in a long time, one that told me this man was a master at whatever he did. Being over six feet he towered over me by almost a foot. He was smiling, but I could see that the smile was intended more for himself then for me. There was a sinister look to it that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "Tell me Daniel," his eyes narrowed, getting dark as the tone of his voice turned cold "Do you know where your Parents are?" My heart stopped, the sound began again, much louder this time. I could feel the house vibrate around me, threatening to collapse. Just when I thought I couldn't take it any longer, the water main behind him burst and water exploded toward me, hitting me square in the chest and throwing me through the back door.
I landed hard on my back, the air getting knocked from my lungs. I wheezed, struggling to fill my lungs.
"I thought that you would be able to stop that! It looks like I broke my promise." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that means I can hurt you now. I won't have to hold back" The rain around me stopped as he held up his hand, then thrusting his hand over his shoulder the water that once made me feel strong hit me like bullets. I was thrown into the mud, once again I gasped for air. My lungs were now beginning to burn and there were black dots all across my vision. I never knew that I was so powerless against someone with my abilities. I never thought that would be in something like this.
"Well I guess your Grandfather was wrong about you being a natural. You are nothing like him." He laughed at me, then I heard the rain stop again. My body was rocketed by more bullets. I saw my vision turn red as my mind -starved of oxygen- registered what he had said. I felt strength surge through me, the weight that moments ago weighed down my body vanished. I pushed off of the ground, the mud became solid and helped to push me to my feet.
I met the mans eyes, my jaw set as I took a stance that my Grandfather used often. With my right hand almost fully outstretched, and my left close to my body I was ready for almost anything. As I looked him in the eye he snickered. Then, with a swirl of hands he vanished in a cloud of steam. I spun around and saw that the entire backyard was filled with a thick cloud. This fog, steam, mist whatever it was was thick enough that I couldn't see more then a few inches in front of my face.
"This was a technique that James enjoyed. He called it Zero Visibility. It was my least favorite, at least until I learned…" I compressed the moisture in the air directly to the left of me, then spinning arms around while turning my body I sent a stream of water toward him, hitting where I knew he would be. I felt the impact and immediately returned the water to my side. Returning to my previous stance I pulled more moisture from the air around me, allowing me to see a few feet ahead of me. In a flash I plunged my hand into the water and forming a wall froze it solid.
The wall saved my life, as three large shards of ice shattered my makeshift shelter into a thousand tiny cubes, which I swiftly turned into water and threw back toward the direction that the shards came from. I felt no impact this time and was instead rewarded with a whip across my left ear. I dropped, my sudden burst of energy completely gone. I was once again powerless against the man who claimed to know my Grandfather. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes were black books, untouched by the mud that I laid in.
My eyes flew open as something cold touched my skin. I was alert for only a moment when I felt something soothing touch my ear. I could see anything, a cloth of some kind was covering my eyes. But I could feel restrains over my chest, waist and legs. I couldn't move anything except my head.
"If you don't want to die, then you need to stay still." The man who had attacked me said. He was the source of cold. "I'm sorry about all that, but I needed test your ability to fight for your life. Your Parents are perfectly fine. There are things you need to understand. Things that your Grandfather hadn't told you before he had died. Things that you wouldn't understand until now." The cloth that was covering my eyes was removed and I could see that I was strapped to a metal table. I looked around and saw that we were in the basement of my house. The damp moldy smile made me feel like I was going to sneeze, it always had. "I'm going to keep you strapped in, so you won't freak out and attack me. You need to listen to this, I swear on my Bending that this is completely true."
"I listen to your story" I said, looking him in the eye. I was no longer scared because I knew that if this man wanted me killed I would already be dead. He was certainly strong enough and I had been unconscious for at least an hour. "Though I will not promise that I will believe it, or that I will not attack you the moment that I get out of these restraints. I'm not one for trusting, especially suspicious strangers who almost tear down my house with noise, or who turn me into a human punching bag either."
"About the almost tearing the house down thing. I wash't actually making the house shake, I was bending the water in your blood. That is a technique call 'BloodBending'. It is very difficult to master and most people can only use it on a full moon, like last night was." He cleared his throat before continuing "What I was doing was bending the water in your entire body. Making your muscles shake and causing the eardrum to vibrate, its a very effective way of confusing your opponent and making them think you are far stronger then you actually are."
"Can I learn that? That sounds like it will come in handy one day"
He laughed, and he looked like he was thinking back to a time that was filled joy. Then he frowned before saying, "No I can't teach you to Blood Bend. Your Grandfather forbid me from ever doing that. If you ever learn how to do it you'll have to learn it yourself, which is almost impossible." He smiled warmly, and it made me think that the side of him I saw before was only reserved for battle. He was very similar to my Grandfather, serious only when the moment called for it. It made me ache to think that this man was so similar to him. I thought about him for a moment before he continued. "My name is Kevin Clare, you will call me Master or Master Clare. I'm going to teach you how to Water Bend like a master."
I started to object but he raised his hand to stop me. "It's not negotiable, it was James' final wish, and I will fulfill it." He looked me deep in the eye, that fierce serious expression hardened his face again. He paused, looking at me as though I were some project that he had to complete. "You Daniel Hawthorne, are a natural born Bender. You have mastered novice level bending without proper training in record time. It usually takes grown men years to learn with training what you learned in months without it. James' blood definitely runs through your veins alright." He cleared his throat again
"Story time!" He face went from serious, to playful. Then as he began talking he was serious once again.
"When your mother was your age, about seventeen I think, I showed up on your Grandfathers doorstep. There was a story about a man in Bristle Virginia with the ability to heal the sick with miracles, and my mother was ill will cancer, so I traveled here to find out if those stories were true. While hunting this miracle-man I was in the woods, following a lead that told me he was known to live in a cabin somewhere deep in the woods. While walking I got lost and was unable to find my way out until after dark. This was back in the day, so most of the woods were still filled with wolves and other things like bears. And everyone knows that said creatures become more active at night. So you can probably see where this is going." Master Clare rubbed his right shoulder, as if remembering something painful.
"I was attacked by wolves, and when I couldn't outrun them anymore one caught up to me and ripped my shoulder open. Your Grandfather showed up out of nowhere and cut them down. H-he…. He grabbed me and carried me to his cabin and healed me with water. Like what I did with you, while you slept. I was passed out for days, so long that when I finally woke, I had to drink a gallon of water before I could beg him to help my mother." His eyes were starting to get red and puffy. He stood up and walked halfway across the room and with his back me he continued. "He said that he was unable to heal something like that. So… so my mother died a few days later. I didn't find out for a few days. Your Grandfather was there with me when I found out. So he asked me a question
'Do you wan the power to protect the people that can't protect themselves?' I told him I didn't know what he meant. So he showed me what Water Bending was. I was under his wing for five years. At that time he told me it was time for me to go elsewhere and learn to use my abilities to help people, like I had promised him I would." He turned around, his eyes had returned to normal and he was very serious when he started talking again. "When you were ten years old your Granddad found me, and he told me he was in trouble. He told me about a person who had discovered the ability to bend Ki. He also said that this person was somehow able to steal another persons ability to Bend, and add it onto his own abilities."
"Wait! How is that possible!" I struggled to keep myself from yelling, I didn't want to upset someone who knew my Grandfather so well. "How can you steal someone's abilities like that?"
"It's not impossible, if you have the ability to Bend Ki. If a person can Bend the Ki in another persons body, then absorb it into their own, then it would give them that ability. He had only one weakness, he could only Bend one element at a time. That's why your Granddad was so eager to find wanted to make sure that I would train you to Bend so you could fight if he and I were to fail…" He walked next to me and kneeled down till we were face to face. "Your Grandfather failed and now it's my turn to try. First though I have to train you. So tell me Daniel" He reached into a bowl of water and as he raised his voice he sliced through my restraints with the water. "Are you going to avenge him?!"
I sat up, my body aching from being locked in place for hours. I stood then looked back at him. "When do I start?"