Forward
6 Months

The iron sword skidded across the wet cobblestone. Kaikoura quickly tried to grab it but missed, her arms catching her fall and splashing in a puddle. Her body ached from the fighting and burns spotted her clothes and skin. She stayed for a moment on hands and knees, rain pounding on her back. Fear crept through her.

She only held there for a couple seconds, but time seemed to slow. To her, the seconds felt turned into an eternity. The poor, sleeping town surrounding her felt ghostly and dead; the only provided light was the slender crescent moon that peaked behind storm clouds and the lightning that shattered the black sky.

In the past, the darkness had never bothered her in the least. She took it all in, she embraced it, she lived in it. As her mother once told her, “Being from the Water Tribe, we are ruled by the moon; bright, shining Yue. What many people often over look is that there is a dark side of the moon. We constantly have that darkness shadowing us. What matters is how we use our concealed side. Light and darkness; Tui and La; Yin and Yang.”

And she had used that darkness all her life; usually for pain and suffering and helping the Fire Nation maintain control of the Empire. But this darkness was like none she’d seen before. It was not the absence of light that scared her, but the events that had unfolded before her. This darkness enveloped the air around her and seemed to suck her in. She felt suffocated, surrounded. Then instantly, the crowding she felt dispersed and everything felt empty. Suddenly, life didn’t have meaning anymore. One soft tear rolled down her cheek and she her body shook.

“He’s dead,” Kai whispered.

A flicker of light igniting in Tonrar’s hands caught her eye and broke her from the trance but her fear increased. Her swords were out of reach and she could feel the heat of Tonrar quickly approaching, he wanting nothing more than to incinerate her on the spot.

But she suppressed the fear and emotion as she was taught to do in the Agency. To feel had the tantamount, to fail. The Fire Lady herself came once and showed via demonstration that fear, most of all feelings, was never an option. One could not fear and still succeed in battle. Taking control of her emotions, she took one last breath and quickly rolled onto her back and kicked, nailing Tonrar, who had just come into her range, in the chest. What seemed like a vast period of time, was only seconds.

The fierce kick knocked him backward and onto the ground. But the blow had come with a price for Kaikoura; Tonrar had been preparing an attack of intense heat and the close proximity of the strike set fire to her pants. She let out a shout of agony as she felt the fire burn her flesh. The shower of rain wasn’t enough to put it out. She rolled and stuck her legs in the puddle, then patted them hysterically, adding burns to her hands but ceasing the flames. Before she had a chance to react, Tonrar was back on his feet and lighting up his palms.

Suddenly, a thick pole of rock shot up from the ground at an angle into Tonrar, launching him away from the scorched Kaikoura. He looked up to see Selah with her powerful fist against the ground and her determined eyes fixed on him.

Without losing her gaze, he shot a strong fireball at Kai, hitting her square in the shoulder just as she began to rise. The force hit so hard that she was twisted around and landed face down back on the ground. Tonrar took advantage of the short moment Selah tore her eyes from him to hit her with a firewhip in the arm. She winced but quickly regained herself and raised several large rocks from the ground before he could strike again. She used a few to block his next whip and sent the remaining flying at toward him. He was able to whip two of the rocks, causing them to explode on contact. The last one still hurtled toward him. He quickly did a back heel kick, shattering the stone.  

Out of the corner of his eye, Tonrar noticed that Kaikoura’s first duo sword, that had been plunged into the the wooden post just moments before, was now gone. He looked to where Kaikoura was last lying on the ground; she was gone too. Thinking fast, he shot a large blast of fire at the large boulder Selah had just lifted from the ground, smashing it. He then charged her.

Smoke formed from the fire hitting the boulder and Selah couldn’t see Tonrar as he came at her. At the last second, she saw him burst through the smoke but she didn’t have enough time to move. He slammed into her, the two skidding onto the cobblestone. Selah pulled little rocks around her fist and swung at Tonrar. Her back ached from the hard landing but she had to keep him distracted for Kai.

But Tonrar knew Kaikoura was up now and had recovered one, if not both, of her swords. He jumped off of Selah before she was able to hit him and he let his fists ignite. He looked around but could not find Kaikoura. Anger pursed through him.

Where is she? The enraging question kept nagging at his mind.

Suddenly, Tonrar caught sight of a large stone flying toward him. He easily dodged it, as it was moving rather slow. Selah didn’t have the strength or the energy to make it more powerful. Tonrar then shot a fairly good size fireball at her feet. She had been struggling to get up and collapsed down on the impact of the element. Tonrar didn’t want to kill Selah, just get her out of the way. She wasn’t his target.

Just then he heard something behind him and quickly ducked as two sliver flashes sliced the air above his head. He kicked out the scorched legs that stood behind him, sending Kaikoura to the ground. He jumped up, stood over her, and shot a small flame at each of her hands. She dropped her swords instantly and hugged her already burnt hands close to her body for protection. Kaikoura abruptly rolled to the side, just avoiding a powerful wave of fire. But the roll had taken it’s toll. The uneven texture of the cobblestone hit her burns hard, making them feel as if they were on fire again. She winced in pain as tears streamed from her eyes.

She knew Tonrar would strike again so she grabbed the sword that lay next to her and swung at him blindly. It cut across his leg and he stumbled, his fire going out. He groaned and clutched the wound, blood seeping past his fingers onto his rain-soaked pants. Kai dropped the sword; pain and exhaustion took over her. She tried to get up but was unable to move. Tonrar was limping toward her.

I need to finish this, he thought. She betrayed us; our people are dead because of her.

When he was only a few feet from her, he suppressed the pain the best her could and slowly brought fire to his fingers. He aimed and released a blaze from each fingertip. Kai braced herself as she felt the heat, but it didn’t hit her. The blast charred the spot a few yards from her.

The shot had been adverted when Tonrar was smacked in the back by something just as he released the flames. He turned and saw Selah standing across the terrace, staring him down as he lay on the stones. He returned the glare and jumped up from the ground, pain shooting through his leg, but he showed no expression of it. He started to run toward her.

She’ll think she has me if I show my pain. I can’t let her stop me, his Agency mind set sinking in. He looked at the bottom of her pants, burnt to the point that most of it wasn’t even intact. If she’s that willing to risk her life to save that traitor, I’ll have to treat her like one as well.

He pulled his fist to his hip and forced it forward with a shuffle jump, producing a great fireball hurtling at Selah. She quickly ducked and raised a rock wall to protect her but the fire was too strong. The rock shattered and knocked her backward. Before the smoke cleared, she lifted the jagged shards of the rock and shot them in Tonrar’s direction. She took her fighting stance and waited for a return attack. When none came, Selah dropped the stance and took a step back, not sure what to expect. When the smoke cleared, her eyes grew wide.

“Kai,” she whispered.

Across the clearing, Tonrar stood holding Kaikoura in front of him like a shield. All the shards seemed to have missed except for one. One large, incisive piece had pierced her side. Droplets of blood trickled in a stream to the cracks of the cobblestone and were diluted by the falling rain. Kaikoura was subtly shaking and her eyes looked as if she was trying to regain focus.

“Kai,” Selah said again, a little louder. Kaikoura’s head started to droop forward and her eyes fluttered shut.

“No, no way,” Selah tried to tell herself out loud. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

Tonrar released Kaikoura from his grasp and let her fall to the ground. His business with her was finished as far as he was concerned. He glanced at the body lying in a pool of blood and water at his feet. All movement had ceased. Selah fell to her knees.

“Tonrar!” she shouted fiercely across the space between them, pointing at him. He casually looked up at her. “You’re dead.”

She pounded on the ground repeatedly, causing random places on the stone to lift in a wave from where she knelt to where Tonrar stood. He took a few steps back in anticipation and watched as the wave went right around the lifeless Kaikoura and toward him.

When the wave reached his feet, Selah thrust her middle and index finger from each hand into the ground again and again. The stones under Tonrar’s feet shot up in every direction, knocking him to the ground. The stones continued to smash into his back, tossing him harshly into the air, only to smack back down to repeat the action.

After a few repetitive blows, Tonrar flung his arms in Selah’s direction. A stream wave of fire emitted from his hands and came toward her. She easily moved to avoid it but had to stop the attack in order to do so.

During the calm, Tonrar rolled to his feet and shot fireball after fireball at her with every ounce of his energy. She was able to dodge and block for some time, but they kept coming. Exhaustion overwhelmed her and slowly more and more of the flames began brushing her. She told herself she could last longer; they only barely hit her and the burns weren’t that bad. Then one hit her already scorched leg and she collapsed to the floor.

Tonrar let a few more flames hit her before he walked over to her. Her clothes had caught fire and flames were all around her but she pushed up shakily and slowly on to her knees. He stopped only feet from her. He first prepared a powerful fire in his raised fist, holding it above his head, and then made a weakened version of it in his other hand, the first still lit up as additional light, seeing that he wouldn’t need much to finish her.

He pointed his fingertips at Selah, inches from her chest, and released the weaker, compact burst of fire. She wobbled a moment and her breath became short, but her eyes remained fixed on something. He then noticed that she seemed to be looking past him.

The intense fire that he still held in his raised hand suddenly went out. His eyes grew wide and he looked down. An iron sword penetrated from his chest. He clenched his hands into fists and his eyes shut. There was no pain, but various visions from his past flew through his head.

He saw his baby brother crying in agony while he was being burned to death.
He saw a Water Tribe boy about his age get shot in the stomach with an arrow, collapse into the arms of his love, and die.
He saw town after town engulfed in flames and heard screams of suffering villagers.
He saw his men being stabbed, crushed by rocks, engulfed in fire, drowning in water and more.
He saw his own mother being burned alive in front of a crowd to show as an example what happens to spys.
He saw Kaikoura’s body dotted with fire, her leg burning, then her shoulder, then her hands. He saw the rock shard plunge into her side. Her eyes seemed lifeless, but unlike in the other visions, they still held a light.
And he didn’t see her die like the others. Rather, he began to feel the pain, sharp and overwhelming, spread throughout his body.

He opened his eyes and saw Selah looking at him. A smirk crossed Selah’s face as she stared him in the eye, flames still enveloping her body. He watched as the light in her eyes had started to quickly fade like the others’ had in his flashbacks. Then Tonrar’s world went an icy black.