The Worthy Warrior

Subject: The Worthy Warrior Sat May 23, 2015 7:08 am

Elegys	The morning was cold. The few remaining wisps of morning fog floated gently upwards, clearing a path for the dawn which had just begun to break upon the horizon. The deep red light washed over the ground, painting it a vivid bloody colour. Various chirps and squawks resonated upon the winds, signalling the early morning rising of various birds and mammals. The shadows were long, but none more-so than that belonging to the lone figure that walked through the ancient city of the Sun Warrior Tribe. A thick black cloak coated his body, accompanied with an equally dark hood, both of which doing little to hide his large physique, or his strangely light footsteps. Faces peered out of windows and doors as the strange man walked by. His power radiated from his very skin, pouring out of his pores in droves. The strange, tattooed natives made every effort to hide from him, but it was useless – the man could sense them. It was difficult for him to explain, but the feeling had taken him one day and he had come to recognise it. He, uniquely, could determine if somebody was a bender, and exactly how strong they were. A quick glance in the direction of the most curious faces sent them spiralling back to hide in the dark of their homes once more. The corner of the man’s mouth curled upwards into a smirk, but he didn’t slow his pace. His destination was in sight, and he moved it towards with an undying thirst. The faces in the windows became fewer as the houses seemed to melt away, revealing the large courtyard that housed his prize. The Eternal Flame was truly enticing. Given to the Sun Warriors by the first dragons, it was almost as old as time itself. Inside, the man felt a strange twinge as his internal passenger grumbled something. Ignoring him, he began to walk up the steps that led to the raised platform housing the flame. “Halt.” The man spun around. Amassed before him was a congregation of Sun Warriors, led by a man who appeared to be their chieftain. His headdress singled him out from the rest, and it was he who spoke in the commanding tone. “Who are you? What business do you have here?” The man smiled. His hands moved upwards slowly, pulling back his hood to reveal his face. His head, once bald, had started to gain a small amount of fluff over the past year. At first he had felt the urge to shave it, but now he felt otherwise. He unclipped his cloak from his neck and let it fall to the floor, revealing a set of long grey robes. They looked similar to Airbender robes, but the material was far finer than any that the Nomads wore. “My name is Elegys. I am here to visit the Masters.” The confusion and fear on the group’s face was evident. Several of the warriors behind the chief shot each other worried glances, which caused Elegys’ smile to widen. The Chieftain shifted his weight to the other leg, and Elegys observed a bead of sweat running down his face. “H-How do you know of the Masters?” he said before turning to look at the man to his right, who nodded once. He turned back to Elegys with a grave look upon his face. “I am afraid that only the worthy may see the Masters; you have not proven yourself.” The man’s smile vanished. He looked each of the Sun Warriors in the face, taking in their respective powers. Pitiful… He took a step down towards them, and saw them all recoil in fear. ”You cannot stop me. Try if you wish,” he said, motioning to a man who had moved into a fighting stance. ”But I know for a fact that you would hate for something to happen to the Eternal Flame.” With a flick of his wrist, a small portion of the flame flew to him and began to circle around his hand. He looked at it casually, before looking back at the group. ”How about a deal – you leave me to my business, and I won’t come back here and quench these flames. Deal? Deal.” He started to walk down the steps, not bothering to wait for the men to reply. They parted like the Red Sea before him, and he turned to face the twin mountains that loomed high above the village. There lived the last two known dragons in existence – the two greatest Firebending Masters in the world. The approach to the foot of the steps leading up towards the mountains was a short one. The flames still whipped around his hand as he took his first step, fully aware of the ritual that the dragons insisted upon – bring them a piece of the eternal flame to prove your worth. A truly easy task; any Firebender worth their salt could do it with ease. He snorted slightly as he began to walk up the steps. He truly didn’t understand why everybody didn’t come here – especially if it gave you as much power as he hoped. The last man he had met who had visited the dragons, Fire Lord Tarek, was immensely powerful, and it was said that he had made the pilgrimage to the twin mountains years before taking the throne. It was only half-way through his ascent, knocked out of his internal revelries by a loose stone underfoot, that he realised that the Chieftain and warriors were following him. He turned to look at them and they froze, but once he began to move again they followed. He cast them from his mind as he neared the top of the staircase – he had more important things to concentrate upon. When he reached the top, he paused. The flame in his hand seemed to writhe with a mind of its own, but Elegys pulled it back under his control with a practised ease. He had been controlling small fires like this for weeks in preparation for this moment, and he was getting good at it. Two roars erupted into the early morning light, one from each mountain. Elegys glanced between them slowly, and then two huge dragons burst forth from their respective caves. One red and one blue, they circled and intertwined with each other as they moved around Elegys, and he could feel their ancient eyes upon him. The man raised his hand, revealing the Eternal Flame to the pair. With one combined breath they quenched it, and Elegys felt a sense of foreboding growing within his stomach. Something inside him seemed to be struggling to get out, and he felt a familiar voice fill his mind. Fool. They know I am here. Elegys ignored it, raising both hands upwards and pushing his airbending upwards in order to amplify his voice. ”Great Masters Ran and Shaw – I am here to learn from you.” The dragons seemed to speed up, and Elegys risked a glance backwards at the Chieftain. He shook his head solemnly. “You must complete the Dancing Dragon to prove yourself worthy. Otherwise it is impossible to gain the favour of the Masters.” The Dark Avatar scowled, anger rising up within him. They would not teach him because he didn’t know some silly dance? ”I ask once more – will you teach me?” In answer, the blue dragon spat a huge red fireball at him. He reacted quickly, his hands moving in a circular motion to create a shield of air to counteract the flames – although it managed to stop the attack, it had completely obliterated his shield. He gulped, knowing exactly what that had been – a warning shot. The pair circled higher, seeming to come together into the form of one dragon, both of their huge maws facing downwards at Elegys. This was it – it was all over. Now! The nomad’s eyes flashed a deep burnt orange, and power flooded his body. It continued to flow through his limbs until he reached his breaking point – and then he snapped. He threw his head back to let out an almighty roar, but instead of sound coming out, a spirit did. A deep black spirit, tinged with red lines and an orange eye in the centre of its apparent face. A cacophony of multi-coloured flames rushed toward Elegys, but the spirit was in the way. They collided harmlessly with it, and a deep booming voice emanated from it. ”You are weak – the dragons of old would have destroyed you in an instant. And they, of course, were weak compared to me. Even in this mortal form I could destroy both of you in an instant!” The flames seemed to grow in intensity as Ran and Shaw tried to quell the raging spirit. Elegys shifted slightly, trying to regain control of his body. His fingers began to twitch as he did so, but Vaatu was too preoccupied with fending off the dragons to realise. One of his tendrils flew upwards, striking the red dragon across the face. It roared loudly, but didn’t stop its attack. Blood began to drip from an opened wound beneath its eye, but it’s power was only increased with the rage flowing through it. ”For those who teach about Firebending’s true power not belonging to anger, you sure utilise it a lot,” Vaatu boomed, and a strange rattling sound gurgled through the air – the Spirit of Chaos was laughing. It was cut short, however, when he felt a strange tug close to the ground. With a wordless yell, he was pulled back towards the ground, disappearing within his host once more. Elegys dropped to one knee as he felt his powers return. He rolled his shoulders to get the feel of them and then rose to his feet, looking up at the dragons. Fortunately for him, they seemed to have paused their attack. A large globule of blood fell close to Elegys, but he paid it no heed. ”If you will not teach me, then you will be destroyed.” The dragon’s combined attack restarted, but Elegys had his own partner now. His eyes flared orange and he brought his hands forwards, grabbing at the flames as they arrived and causing them to spin around his body. He continued the flow for several seconds before thrusting his hands forwards with his palms pointed outwards, directly at Ran and Shaw. They scattered sideways, each in different directions. Elegys smirked. Alone, they were no match for him and Vaatu. Power blossomed beneath his feet, and he rose into the sky upon a spigot of air, positioning himself between the dragons. Grinning, he clenched his fists, causing flames to wreath around his entire arms. He let out a huge roar and pointed an arm at each of the dragons, releasing a huge, volatile stream of fire at each of them. They dipped to avoid it, but he was ready for that. With a jerk of his knee two lumps of earth flew upwards towards the dragons. Ran avoided the attack with ease, circling around the earth and returning to his original height. Shaw, however, was not so quick. The earth collided heavily with the dragon’s jaw, sending him careening towards the ground at frightening speeds. Elegys moved to follow his descent, but an attack from Ran drew his attention. He once again managed to quench the solo dragon’s flames with the help of Vaatu, his eyes blaring with a fiery intensity. And then, he found himself falling to the ground. Burns from Ran’s hastily defended attack coated his forearms, but that wasn’t the reason for his descent. As he approached the ground, he hastily threw up a platform of air, slowing his fall so that he didn’t break any bones. But still, he collided heavily with the ground and let out a small groan. His hand moved to his back, and came away wet. His vision blurry, he glanced at his hand and was shocked to see red covering his fingertips. Twisting slightly, ignoring the pain the racked through his spine, he saw an arrow sticking out of the small of his back, surrounded by a patch of deep red blood that had soaked through his tunic. He looked up at the Sun Warriors, and felt anger ripple through his body. The Chieftain held a bow and arrow in his hand. He had nocked a second arrow and had it trained at the Dark Avatar, as if expecting him to get up and start attacking the dragons once more. He glanced at the fallen Shaw quickly, and saw that Ran had sped over to his counterpart. They rose together slowly, retreating into the same cave in what seemed like an attempt to get away from Elegys. It won’t be that easy… “Leave here.” The chieftain’s words drew Elegys’ gaze. He had a stern look on his face now, and Elegys could feel the fire that flowed through his veins. He wasn’t an exceptionally powerful bender, but he would no doubt be more than a match for Elegys with an arrow in his back. The Dark Avatar groaned. Reaching around slowly, he pulled out the arrow with a small gasp. Blood began to gush from the open wound, but he placed a hand over it and let heat flow through his skin, cauterizing the wound and sealing it. He would have to find a healer soon – he hadn’t even started to learn that particular branch of Waterbending yet. He rose to his feet unsteadily, keeping his eyes on the Chieftain’s bow at all times. He took a few steps backwards to the edge of the platform, and risked a small glance downwards. Forest spread out for miles at the foot of the mountain – an easy place to hide and rest. He looked back at the Chieftain and smirked. ”Your Masters are not gods, Chieftain. At least you know that now.” Without another word, he dropped backwards from the cliff. The Sun Warriors rushed forwards to look down, and saw Elegys gliding over the top of the forest, the trees below him shaking as his airbending passed over them. As one the group looked at their chieftain, who in turn looked towards the cave that Ran and Shaw had retreated to together. “We need to increase security. The Masters need time to rest – I will visit them upon the morrow, and we will decide the best course of action from there.”
Mood: Ready Condition: Injured	Link: Character Sheet

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