Chapter 3

I heard my footsteps echo as I descended the long winding staircase. As I went lower, it became darker and colder. Before too long I couldn't see a thing, I could only see the cold, and hear the eerie echoing of my footsteps below and Shifu Clare's above. I began to shiver, the cold bitting at my skin, stealing the heat from my body. I soon forgot why I was walking. Then when I was starting to feel as if I could never get warm again. I heard water flowing. My foot hit solid rock, and and before me was a metal door.

"This area was made to train you." Shifu Clare said, seeming to appear behind me. "This floor is actually an underground river that feeds from the nearby lakes. Part of the it is frozen. Part of it is at boiling point." He stepped in front of me and pulled out a key. Unlocking the door he looked back at me, then he stepped aside. "You should be the one to go in first. This is all for you."

I took a hesitant step forward, the room was getting colder with each passing second I felt the room grow colder. When I finally felt that I would not be able to enter, I jumped through the door. There was water in front of me. Only a few feet separated me and fast the flowing river. The river was crystal clear, so clear I could see the gray stone at the bottom. The whole room was alight with bluish-green light that came from lanterns on the walls. A motion caught my eye to the right of the room I was in. There was a steady supply of steam coming from a circular hole in the all.

"What is that room?" I asked, turning around to see Shifu Clare silently close the door to the staircase. It wasn't locked, but having the door closed was quite nerve racking.

"It's a for room. The temperature of that room is perfect to keep a stead supply of fog. When you start practicing with water as a gas, you will spend time in there. Can you guess where this water comes from?" He walked to the edge of the river and kneeled down. His tan hand sank beneath the surface of the water and he closed his eyes.

"No, I don't know where it comes from."

"Antarctica. This water comes from the very center, where it is only day for an hour at a time, and that only happens a few times a year. This water was melted from a small glacier made a some of the purest water on Earth. This water has special properties, which is why we have to hide the entrance. It's also why I closed the door behind us." He stood slowly and turned to face me. Walking passed me he said, "Go ahead and strip down to your shorts. You will not want the clothes weighing you down anyways. Then get in to water, but be warned." I could hear the smile in his voice as spoke. "It's very cold." His footsteps stopped near the door. I looked at the water and took off my sockets and shoes.

My feet were pale, contrasting with the rest of my body which was tanner then most people from Virginia. Throwing my shoes aside I pulled my shirt off, then my undershirt. The cold air bit at my skin as I looked out at the river in front of me. I took a step forward, then leaned down to test the water with my hand. It was colder then I ever imagined. It felt like needles stabbing every inch of skin that came into contact with it.

"How am I supposed to move in water like this." I turned to face him, "It's colder than… What are you doing?" Shifu Clare was standing in front of the entrance, the key to the door was now tied around his neck. "Did you lock the door?"

"Yes, and it will stay locked until you Shifu Water Bending." He walked over to me, his blue eyes shining with excitement. "There isn't time to train you in combat and spirit separately. So we are going to have to learn them at the same time. So this is how this works. We have four months worth of food, that's including the extra calories you will need to maintain your body heat, you have until then to defeat me in a fight. If in that time you die, or are unable to beat me then you will be locked down here until you manage to Bend your way to the surface. This is possible, but it is so difficult that even I wouldn't attempt it." His eyes narrowed and he looked at me as though he was not seeing me, but instead was seeing someone else, someone who he feared and admired. "If you do die down here, which is not unlikely, I will have to face the Ki Bender myself. If it comes to that I will die, no one will replace me and all hope will be lost."

"I understand." My body was covered in sweat despite the cold. My hands had become clammy and the hairs on my arms had begun to stand on end. I now understood the gravity of this situation. I could now see just how important my role in all of this was. Clare was prepared to die, knowing that I would be skilled enough to surpass him in a matter of time. My Grandfather was also prepared for death when he went off to fight the Ki Bender. "My Grandfather made this for me before he went of to fight Crenate, didn't he?" Clare nodded "Then he didn't die in a car accident. Crenate killed him." He nodded again "Why didn't my mother train me to Bend? I thought you said she was a Water Bender too?"

"She was a Water Bender. You see Crenate took her Bending away." The shock most have been obvious on my face, because he continued with only a shoot pause, his eyes growing dark and disturbed. Before he continued he ran a hand through his thick blond hair. "When Crenate fought with James… your mother followed him. Crenate only defeated James because she distracted him. He killed your Grandfather and stole her Bending. Though I'm not much better." He looked at me, and something else hit me. "I followed him too, I saved your mother before Crenate killed him, but it cost your Grandfather his life. It's my fault he is dead. Which is why I will show you no mercy when we fight. I will fight until you admit defeat and I will strike to kill. You were are the last hope for defeating him, you still are if I fail."

"Then I guess we need to get started."

"Yes we do. So get in the water. Get used to the cold, or you won't learn a thing."

"Yes sir." I turned and leapt into the water the cold knocking wind out of me. I panicked taking in a lungful of icy water, immediately being to cough my lungs screaming for air. My feet searched for solid ground and unable to find any, my hands searched for the surface. Spinning around I finally felt my right hand break the surface. Pulling up with all my strength I managed to get a gasp of air before colliding hard with the side of the wall. I was once again thrown under, the current catching me and making me fight again. My mind was clouded, my vision was starting to become black around the edges.

Something inside me clicked and my fists touched, the knuckles on my left hand fitting into the space between the knuckles on my right hand. I felt my Ki explode out from my core, throwing the water away from me, giving me a few moments to gather my bearings before the water came back, this time I managed to keep my head above water. This time I was alert enough to shoot myself into the air, landing on the gray rock with my feet still in the water. I gasped for air, then with a burning in my lungs I started to cough up water. I coughed for a long time before my whole body was heaving and I threw up the little bit I had in my stomach. "You couldn't…" I managed to say before I began coughing again, "You couldn't have stopped the current and stopped me from drowning?" I looked where Clare was a moment before and saw nothing but the closed door. "Where are AWK!" something hit me in the ribs and threw me across the rocks, forcing me into the wall ten feet behind me. I saw black dots dancing across my vision, and my vision got dark. I found have passed out if I wasn't hit again, thrown the ten feet back into the icy water. When I resurfaced I saw Clare about ten yards ahead of me. He looked cool and collected, though his eyes had a stone-like look that I had never seen before.

"This training is about survival. Surviving the water, surviving my attacks, surviving the cold. This training is to make you strong enough to survive against someone who wants to kill you. So, try to not be killed." I was pulled under, by the current, by his Bending. I don't know which. Thus began my fight for survival.

I fought for a month, every second I was awake I fought against Clare. Everyday he drove me to admit defeat. Everyday He broke me down, and every day I will try to build myself back up. After a week I no longer felt the cold. After two weeks I could hold my own for a couple hours before I was being thrown around by him. After three weeks I would get him on the defensive for short bursts of time, the entire river between us being turned into a tool that would break our bodies. It didn't take much longer for me to stand my ground from the time I woke up, to the time I fell asleep. At the end of each day I noticed less and less pain, after some time I didn't have any cuts, only bruises and the first month was over I woke to Clare standing over me.

"We start phase two today. Follow me." He turned and walked toward the hole in the wall that lead to the room of fog. He stepped in without looking to see if I was following. I rose to my feet, sore from the day before. I walked in a minute or so behind him and felt the floor grow cold and slick. I almost spilt, having to use the wall to catch myself. "It's ice."

"How can the floor be ice it there is fog in the air?"

"The air is pumped in from outside, so it is warmer then the ice. The ceiling is like the floor of a skating rink. It cools all the water that touches it." He gestured to the floor, "Ice on the condenses the water in the air making fog." He pointed toward the ceiling, "The ceiling keeps the room cool enough that the ice doesn't melt. That's how the fog is created without causing the ice to melt. This is the perfect conditions to Shifu Bending fog and ice."

"I can already Bend ice and fog. You know that"

"Yes you can, but can you use it in combat? No, or you would have by now. I'll be the first to tell you that Bending isn't just about fighting, though it is a pretty big part of it. You've learned to heal people, I can tell by the way you heal yourself every afternoon when you got hurt fighting me. When did you learn to heal?"

"I didn't know I was healing, not until I saw the cuts disappear. I thought you were healing me in my sleep to honest."

"I was, at first." He laughed, then I saw the first smile since we had begun survival training cross his face. "After a few weeks your wounds started to repair themselves. Maybe you have Shifued Water Bending to the point that you can heal yourself unconsciously. It's not unheard of."

"I don't know… You'll have to teach me how to do it on purpose."

"It will have to wait. It's time you Shifued Ice Bending. Tell me the difference between ice and water."

What is the difference between ice and water? Ice is just solid water, right? It's like a rock made of water. Also ice is colder than water. It takes on a shape…. That's it.

"Ice is solid, shaped and cold. It is unforgiving. It is nothing like water, because it is more like earth."

"Correct, water is conformitive, ice is not. It is individualistic. Also ice is cold and infinitely patient. Water is life, but ice is prison. With practice ice can be more powerful than even water. Because unlike water ice can take shape, and that shape can be your opponents undoing." Clare stuck his hand out then raised it in a blur, freezing bars all around me, sealing me in a jail of ice. He waved his hand again the ice melted. "So now that you can see the difference of ice and water, now you need to learn to use it. Start by breaking all the ice in this room with a single punch. I'll be waiting in the other room. I'll come get you when it's time to eat."

"I'll be done in before it is time for dinner." He laughed then stepped out of the room "Do that, and I'll teach you how to Blood Bend."

"Can I get that in writing?" I laughed.

"Sure!" Clare turned around and pointed at the wall next to me. He moved his finger as though he were writing in the air, but when I turned around I saw that he had actually written something in the ice.

"If Daniel Hawthorne can crack all the ice in this room before dinner tonight, I will teach him to Blood Bend. Signed, Kevin Clare." I looked over at him. "I thought Grandpa said you couldn't teach me Blood Bending?"

"I'm not supposed to, but learning to crack that ice with one punch took me two months. If you do it in a day, you already are a Shifu." He walked away, "It's impossible, so I don't have to worry." He left me in the room by myself, laughing until I could no longer hear his voice.

"One punch… I'm going to break it in one punch… " Time stopped, my hand touching the cold ice at my feet. I slowly allowed my Ki to flow from my body, being pushed into the ice. I began to feel the adrenaline pump into my blood. I felt my lungs fill with air as I pulled my fist back. Ki pooled into the knuckles on my right hand. "One… punch." I drove my fist home, the impact causing white hot pain to shock my eyes open.

The cracks in the ice extended all around me. They were shallow and there was still at least ten feet all around me that was untouched. Blood dripped from my hand, creating a pool of thick crimson. Anger weld up inside me, my Ki exploded. I felt strength surge inside me and slammed fist into ice. I pulled it away did it again, and again and again. I did it until I was no longer angry. My forehead touched the ice, now red with my blood. I screamed suddenly, sick with myself.

"I'm not strong enough…" my eyes weld up with tears. "I can't protect anyone… I can't save anyone…." The tears rolled down my cheeks, hitting the blood below. I collapsed, weeping. The more I cried the angrier at myself I got. The angrier I got the more I cried. I didn't stop for a few hours and when I finally was finished I was weak and my mouth was dry.

I put my hand against the wall and turned a chunk of ice into water and moved it close to my mouth. I drank until I felt my stomach fill with water. Bloated, tired and defeated I stood up. Looking around me I saw that even with slamming my fist against the ice over and over, I still hadn't broken more than half of the ice in the room. I looked down at my hand, the blood still dripping to the ice below. This was Shifu Clare's fault. He was the reason I was in pain. He was the reason I was weak.

"Clare! You're the reason I am weak! If you had started training me sooner, I would be strong enough!" There was a sudden shift inside me, I felt all my drowsiness vanish. "Fight me!" The room started to shake, then the walls were cracking. I stood up and faced the nearest wall, and punched it with my left hand. It shattered, and the cracks spread to the ceiling and the floor.

Looking around me, I suddenly felt calm. I looked at all the cracks and knew that if I was going to break all the ice I would have to use not just rage but also serenity. I would have to control my anger and release it all at once. I started to put the walls and floor back together and then stood in the center of the room. I placed my hand on the ice and started to let my Ki flow into the ice.

I raised my bloody right hand, thinking about my weakness. Thinking about my Grandfather's death, my mother's lies, Shifu Clare's belief that I was not able to do it. I focused all of my anger in to Ki, pooling it into my hand. Then with every bit of power than I had I slammed my fist into the ground.

As I walked away I smiled, holding my bloody hand. The room was falling apart, the ice no longer able to hold its self together. I walked over to Shifu Clare. He raised an eyebrow at the site of my bleeding hand. He didn't say anything for a long time. When he finally said something he looked away from me.

"I failed you."