(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Ten

Avaro had no idea what happened. It all happened so fast, as if he just jumped into a portal.
In fact, thats exactly what happened, except he fell in instead of jumped.
The fall was short, but startling as Avaro fell to his knees with an "oof."
Quickly someone warm jumped on his back, his wings instinctively opening up to prevent contact.
"Hey-!" He tried to protest as the creature slipped a blindfold over his eyes. Once finished, they jumped away, taking the heat away with it.
Avaro scrambled to sit up, grabbling at his face to try and get the blindfold off. But he couldn't find it, it was as if skin had just grown over his eyes, he couldn't grab onto anything.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Avaro abruptly roared, giving up on trying to free his eyes.
"Calm down!" An unknown voice replied, her voice young. Maybe in her early twenties.
"CALM DOWN?! YOU KIDNAPPED ME!" he snarled back, staggering to his feet and flailing his arms around. Hoping to find something he can throw or attack.
"Shut up and listen! Then we'll take the blindfold off, deal?" A more older and more snappy voice answered, kind of like a grouchy grandma to Avaro.
"Why should I listen? WHERE AM I?!"
"If you listen, WE CAN ANSWER THAT!" the old lady snapped.
Something hit the back if Avaro's knees, making him drop to the floor with a yelp. "I'm helpless, I can't see anything, I don't even know where I'm at," he thought, falling silent.
"You ready to listen now?" the snappy voice asked.
"Not until I know where Lucerne is, did you hurt him??"
"The blue dragon? We left him alone, why would we try and grab something five times our size anyways?"
"He's going to be worried! I vanished!"
"Well LISTEN AND YOU CAN BE FREE SOONER!"
Once again, Avaro fell silent.
"Can I speak now..?" The more calmer voice finally spoke up. Whoever the other person was must've physically responded. The young voice continued without a verbal answer.
"Thank you... Name's Renny. I've been doing my own thing until recently..."
Avaro stayed quiet.
"You noticed the wall correct?"
He nodded.
"Well it's always been there, that world is nothing more than a habitat in a box," Renny said, some noise indicating her messing with something glass.
"Habitat in a box?" Avaro questioned, confusion bubbling up in his mind.
"Mmhm, it was made years ago, but was stolen. It shouldn't be in use like this, it's going to collapse!"
"How do you know all this?" Avaro interrupted. "Because my mother told me," the old voice answered instead of Renny. "And I should've done something sooner. I was just so angry at all that happened when I went back, I was about to let them all die," she explained. "But Renny wanted me to go back again, so I did and explained what I knew. Shortly after she convinced me to try and save the place,"
Avaro suddenly had a sneaking suspicion, his chest tightening.
"Who... Are you?" He directed his voice to the old lady.
"Sunset, fire elemental,"
His suspicions were correct.
"Sunset! She's the one who blinded me! That explains the heat!" he growled, remembering what Zeru had told him.
"Oh shut it, I know you've been fed all kinds of lies," the criminal hissed, Avaro only hissing back.
"You killed a kit!"
"I did no such thing!" Sunset yowled, offended. "It was all lies Zeru told to try and get me killed! Even if you asked every cat in that village, no one lost a kit to me!"
Avaro wasn't buying it.
"If no kit was killed, then why do people belive you did it? If there was no evidence?" He questioned, wondering if going half dragon would make the blindfold fall off.
"Those cats don't need evidence, they just believe anything Zeru said even if it sounds far fetched," Sunset responded, her voice circling around him.
"That just sounds like an excuse," Avaro huffed, desperately wanting to free his eyes and teach Sunset a lesson.
The old cat hissed in irritation. "We should've gone for the blue one, this one is just as braindead," she meowed, her voice moving away.
"Just let me talk to him at least," Renny pleaded, finally saying something.
"You're wasting your breath," the cat responded, the sound of a door opening and closing followed shortly after.
Avaro waited, silent and interested in what nonsense this Renny is going to say.
"If I take the blindfold off, would you at least consider listening and understanding." She said, catching Avaro off guard.
"Maybe," he answered, turning his face to the voice.
"Good enough for me," Renny sighed, footsteps heading over to Avaro before hands started messing with his face. Light making its return as the blindfold dropped away.
He was in the middle of a decently sized room, dully lit by a lamp near what looked to be a cauldron. Shelves full of jars with variating materials like ashes, worms, and maybe beans. There was another section full of vials, grouped and labeled with what ability the potion inside gave. A bookshelf full of old books, more shelves with materials like empty vials and stirring utensils. A fairly odd place, but not anything he should be really afraid of. Unless the potions were used to torture.
He hoped they weren't.
Renny was there in front of him, pocketing the blindfold in her robe. She was human, large round glasses and thick dark blue hair. Freckles all over her cheeks.
She was definitely in her early twenties, around Avaro's age.
"Sorry about all that, Sunset still has distaste after what happened back then to her mothers and herself," Renny apologized, moving over to take a seat by a desk next to the cauldron.
"How long has it been?" Avaro asked, curious.
"Over a hundred years since she left, around twenty or thirty years when she  went back," the young women answered with a small shrug.
"That's a pretty long time to hold that distaste," he said, staying seated in the floor.
"I can't blame her, but that doesn't matter right now. Don't you want to know why thay wall exists?"
"Yes, that would be nice,"
"Alright, listen," Renny requested, Avaro getting a bit annoyed on how often he's being told to listen.
"Just spit it out already, before I change my mind," he thought silently as Renny began her explanation.
"Over a hundred years ago, maybe more, the elementals were nothing more than balls of magic. Pollution dooming their species and slowly killing them off," she started, watching Avaro for any reactions.
"A man who's name was lost in history managed to save them, temporary putting them in a manufactured world as he searched for a suitable home. You've been there already,"
"The suitable home?"
"No dummy, the manufactured world",
Avaro frowned, not liking being called a dummy.
"The man managed to find a home, but the pollution still had lasting affects. So with DNA and many experiments. He managed to give them a body, in this case, cats," Renny continued, then waited for the dragon to say something.
"...If he found the home, why arent they there?" He asked, knowing thats what she was waiting for.
"Because Zeru's ancestors took them back, stole the world. The new bodies were more durable, so they weren't dying anymore. But they were convinced to go back, leaving the other stable world abandoned," Renny finished, looking as if she hoped the story was correctly told.
"But why is it in danger of collapsing?" Avaro questioned, already knowing the answer, but decided to make sure.
"Because nothing lasts forever. The world is manufactured. A fake. It's not supposed to last this long," she shook her head and sighed.
"We've been watching for a few days, you may not feel it, but the place has been experiencing many tremors. It's getting close," Renny said, her voice cracking a bit, maybe out of fear or sadness. Avaro wasn't too sure.
All of this new information was startling, yet almost made sense. It explained why most of the elements didn't have a habitat for their own. No fire place for the fire elements. No mountains for the wind and electric. No tundra for the ice. As well as explained why there was a giant invisible wall and Cinder's odd vision.
"But what about the prophets and wild cats?" Avaro remembered. The two species that were clearly not elements.
"Sunset had no idea where they came from. She assumes of of Zeru's ancestors gathered them to try and expand his ranks. They weren't there from the start," Renny answered with a shake of her head. "Neither of us know their original home,"
Avaro frowned and gave himself a moment to think. It was a lot to unfold, yet understandable. He still had many more questions to ask, but he'd already asked so many, having no idea when Sunset might come back. Would she be angry that he wasn't blindfolded? Is she secretly getting something dangerous while her friend spewed a bunch of hoopla? "It doesn't feel like a bunch of hoopla though... What would Zeru think if I told him all this?" Avaro thought, reminding himself that he has yet told Zeru about the wall.
"Anymore questions?" Renny said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Uh, what happened to the home? The one they were taken from?" He decided to ask, curious on what became of the old world.
"It still stands, we checked up on it not too long ago," she replied. "Sunset lived there with her mom before she was able to leave,"
"Wow," Avaro said breathlessly. The world was still there, open for the elementals return. If all this was true and the current home was doomed to collapse.
But can he truly trust it? The story sounded pretty solid and true to him.
"What would Lucerne think?"
Lucerne.
"I need my friend, let me get my friend," Avaro suddenly demanded, getting back up.
"Woah woah there, easy now. Why do you want to leave so quickly? Do you believe anything I said?" Renny protested, getting up as well.
"I'm not too sure right now, I just need my friend. He should know all this as well,"
"Are you going to run off?"
"Not unless you tempt me too,"
"Okay okay," Renny huffed, looking for something in her pocket. "I trust you won't run off, there's still more we need to discuss," she added, taking out a vial and opening it. Pouring its contents onto the floor which quickly turned into a portal. Avaro didn't hesitate to jump through, Renny saying something he couldn't quite catch.
The sky was still bright when he arrived back to where he was last at, he was only gone a short amount of time.
"Lucerne?!" He immediately called out, looking around for thr familiar blue of his friend.
"Avaro?" Lucerne's voice answered.
"He's nearby," Avaro thought with relief, glad that the celestial beast didn't head back to the village so soon.
He watched as a shadow engulfed him before quickly shrinking down. Lucerne turning smaller and smaller as he landed. "Where did you go!?" He demanded as his feet returned to the ground. "I can explain," Renny answered before Avaro could.
The dragon quickly turned around, not realizing that she had followed him.
Lucerne's eyebrows raised, but remained silent, interested on what the stranger had to offer.
Avaro huffed and backed away to his friend, deciding to let the woman explain everything herself a second time.
"Just follow me, it's not the best to remain here," Renny requested before opening another portal.
Lucerne nodded without hesitation and hurried through the portal, leaving Avaro surprised.
"You coming?" She asked the dragon, motioning to the portal.
Avaro grumbled and nodded before replicating his friend's footsteps. Jumping through the portal and back into the dimly lit room. This time with his friend waiting for him.
"I hope she has some answers..." Lucerne said, seemingly to himself.
"Oh she does, I guess, you just have to listen," Avaro replied as Renny returned. Taking her seat and preparing to explain once more.