The Avatar - Fate of Hikari ( Legend of Hikari part 1 ATLA / LOK )

The escape

Book 1: The Fate of Hikari
- Air - 
Chapter 3: The escape

Goosebumps appeared on my skin when we entered the temple. Not only because of being scared of the unknown, but also the temperature difference hit me right in the moment we got into the building. It became really cold. Of course, we were in a cave literally speaking. All these western air nomad monuments were carved in the ground, looking upside down, connecting each other like a whole complex system. Although it was hard for me to imagine it all, but I suddenly remembered this detail. I had no time to wonder about this. I could hear my own heart beat playing drums in my ears while I tried to look around and find someone here. Kyouya's fast breathing joined the "band", he was anxious too. At first I could not see far, my flame was too small, so I increased the intensity while we were getting further away from the door. My brother grabbed my left arm, and continued like that next to me. On both of our sides sometimes I could see one or two statues of monks and nuns. Unfamiliar faces. I saw that the temple had more than one level, but my light was not enough to the upper areas. Somehow I had a very strong feeling that we were being watched. It made sense anyway, but feeling the gazes on my body felt uncomfortable. At the end of the walking path, soon we could see a gigantic sculpture. We arrived at the praying and offering area. It must have been one of the past avatars' figures. It was an air bender male in a sitting, meditating position. We were still not close enough to see more of it, and before we could observe the statue better, we noticed a tall person standing by it, waiting for us. He then moved around a bit to light on a few torches, and finally the visibility got much better around us. I felt like we were being tested from the beginning, otherwise they could have waited for us with the lights on already. I just closed my fingers, vanishing the fire I have maintained until now.The monk who stood there had the high rank master's clothing on him, he wore that typical long ocker yellow cape, and had a pearl lace around his neck. Only his long beard and mustache was missing oddly. He did not look like all those typically old monks. However had a serious look on his face, even when we made eye contact.
"A-a-are you Monk Yonten?" My brother gathered the courage to ask the question when we arrived close enough. The air nomad priest had a small nod and opened his mouth to talk.
"Master Yonten...-" He tried to correct Kyou, but before he could say more, Kyouya ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Grandpa!" The other had to strongly stand on the ground with his feet to avoid falling down on the floor thanks to my brother's impact. The priest looked surprised for a second, but then got back his not too friendly look.He did not hug back Kyouya, and waited until the boy made a step back away from him.
"As I said, I am Master Yonten..." Cleared his throat, the old man. How rude he was to Kyou, but I should not be surprised. Oh, and my little brother wanted to be friends with "Master Yonten". I looked away and had a small sarcastic chuckle. This I guess called the attention to me, but I did not care much. I heard this monk clear his throat again. "So you are Kyouya and Hikari...your father sent an interesting message to me."
"Yes! Hikari is the Avatar, and our parents decided that this is the best place for her and ... aaaand... for me too..." Replied Kyou excitedly. He was not really bothered with Monk Yonten's unaffectionate and preserved behaviour.
"Hikari!" tried to talk the air bender master to me. I just looked in his eyes rapidly then began to stare at the ground. "Can you tell me, what exactly happened to you? How have you learnt that you can bend more than one element?" I was questioned politely. "Don't be scared..." stepped closer to me. "Your parents are right, you are indeed safe here, but we need to make sure that this news about you is correct." tried to encourage the monk, thinking that I was afraid to speak up. However I kept silent. Every part of me was against to chat with him. Also everything was just too fresh, I still needed time to process the events. Another thought made me also offended. Was my father's words not enough to prove the truth? We would not be here if all this is just a childish prank.
"She hates you, that's why she doesn't talk to you, but don't worry, she will come around eventually. I can tell you everything, you can ask me." My little brother just carried along the conversation like it was the most natural thing. Suddenly I tilt my head staring at him really angry, but even now I was far from saying anything. I just clenched my fists and tried to ignore what just happened. Monk Yonten raised up one of his eyebrows after what he heard, then let a very small smile run through on his lips.
"Really? That's her burden to carry, not mine." replied the priest in a very calm manner. "Well...there is no need to hear any story actually. We have someone who can reassure us and verify if Hikari is the avatar." said the air nomad master, and looked up behind him. With the help of the torches, I could see a bit higher in the building. Above the praying area there was a gallery-like wing, where I noticed a few silhouettes of men and women. We were at the Daivika, so I guess nine other people were sitting there and wathcing what was going on. One of them stood up and jumped from there just to literally fly down next to us. The auditorium above was like four or five meters high. This person not only used air bending to land safely. She descended to the ground, like the lightest feather. Neither Kyou or I could hide our faces in shock. She was a priestess, maybe the oldest one of the Daivika. Her face was already full of wrinkles and the toll on her age made her almost the same height as us. She had the usual half bald white hair with the arrow, and all the accessories of the air bender masters. Her grey eyes were still conscious and clear. In fact I felt she could see inside of me and read my thoughts. I guess she could not do that really, but I started to have a weird sensation as I tried to stand her profound gazing. I could not explain the exact sensation when we engaged our looks, but it was something I never experienced. This woman had a special connection with the spiritual world. Something that seemed very far from me. It even scared me a little bit.
"Her name is Priestess Dorje-Nalijorma." Introduced her Monk Yonten to us.
"Nali is enough..." replied the old lady, but she was still deeply observing me.
" She is the Spiritual leader of the Daivika."
"Wow..." I heard Kyou being amazed by her, but before he could continue with some questions, I put my hand on his mouth. I am sure he wanted to ask her age. I was interested as well to know, but that seemed just very rude to ask. "Mmm...mmm" tried my brother to be free from my hand, but I pressed my hand stronger to his lips.
"Indeed...this girl has the energy of all the four elements ...the great Spirit is in her." turned to the priest Nalijorma, then she looked at me again and bowed.
" It is an honour to be at the service of the Avatar..." followed Monk Yonten the example of Nali as well. I had the sensation that the rest of the Daivika did the same thing up there. Although it should have been a significant event, I was shy and did not know how I should I react. Also the past days happening made me feel empty. I just copied the bow, what seemed to be the right thing, but stayed without any word. Even my brother imitated the others. I felt it unnecessary from my own sibling. It looks like he tried to do everything to fit in here. When this moment was over, Kyou turned to Dorje-Nalijorma and Monk Yonten.
"So it means Hikari will learn air bending here, right?" asked them.
"Yes, and more. We are going to make sure that she is going to learn everything here, and only leave the Western Air Temple, when she is ready as the Avatar. Finding the right masters, she can learn the other elements, and can be educated about the world's politics. Right now the air nations are safe and were able to manage to stay neutral. There is no other safer place than here for your sister. In the first period it is going to be crucial for her to become an air bending master. She must to go under strictly for the training, like all of our people do." explained Nali.
"You mean like wearing the same clothing, and shaving her head, and getting the tattoo once she is a master?"
"Sort of..." replied Monk Yonten, he looked a little bit uncomfortable, as she saw my detesting look. I loved my appearance and at the moment I decided that there is no under any circumstances that I am going to change that. Why I can not just learn everything as I am? It made me feel again that I do not want to be here. "But for now, you just need to rest, you two have a tiring journey behind." Tried to lead the topic somewhere else, the monk. However Dorje-Nalijorma seemed to be like she was not about to finish. She still had to say something, but this time to my brother. The old priestess had the same kind of gaze at him, like she was trying to figure out something.
"Master Yonten...I think you can take the brother of the Avatar under your care..."
"What does that mean?" asked the old man.
"The energy it is in him too..." we all heard Nali's reply. Before I could even process this information Kyou stepped closer to them questioning it out loud.
"Are you saying that I am also a fire bender?!" Nalijorrma kept silent, and showed a mysterious smile to my brother as an answer. I felt she did not tell us everything she thought.
"But Master Nali, he should be trained by a fire elemental master!" tried to reason, Monk Yonten.
"No need, and I believe that he could take advantage and benefits of learning the way of the air nomads. In fact, what will he do here in the next few years? Just be our guests? " giggled the elderly lady. "Oh and by the way don't you think he is looking a lot like you when you were his age?" She did not wait for the answer, but took a deep breath putting her palms together like she was praying. The next moment as she separated her hands and blew the air out, Dorje-Nalijorma lift her body from the floor and flew back to join the others above again. Until today I thought flying humans were only legends. "Sumati..." We heard her calling someone. Soon, this person landed in front of us from this higher floor again. She was much younger than Nali, I would say looked like the same age as Master Yonten. Maybe she was in her fifties, but our old man could deny at least fifteen years of his original age too. She looked beautiful and very elegant. Same as Nali, she was a priestess, but she used her air bending skills to arrive down safely without the flight. While her elderly teacher appeared slowly falling like a leaf or feather, her movement appeared like a hurricane. I even enjoyed watching her long dress swirling around her when she was in the air.
"She is Priestess Sumati, she is the teacher and spiritual master of the future nuns and priestesses. For now, just follow her, she will take you to your accommodation. Have proper rest, then after you sleep and have food, we are going to start your training." Detailed to me Master Yonten, what is the next step. Sumati then started to walk out the temple and Kyou and I were ready to follow her.
"Not so fast, young man! You are coming with me!" warned my brother, his grandfather. I looked back at them with a shocked expression on my face, as I did not feel ready to separate from Kyouya. There is no way that I would go anywhere without him! "I am sorry, but here boys and girls live apart, so you are not allowed to share a room. You can still meet during the free occupational times at the common area. Sumati is going to show you around so you are not going to get lost..." added Yonten and tried to soften the situation.
"Everything is going to be alright, just come and follow me..." placed Sumati her hand on my shoulder. Then as I had no choice, I compulsively followed her. I had to figure out something, as too many things were out of my control. For now I gave in, as I felt the real need of sleeping. I just wanted to be able to rest and I hoped after that I could think more logically. I only made a few steps towards the door where we entered not long ago, but suddenly I felt my brother's hands in mine, so I stopped and looked at him.
" See you soon sister..." he sent an encouraging smile to me. "Don't worry we won't be far from each other." made the effort to cheer me up a bit. I tightened my fingers to hold his hand a bit longer, then nodded as a consent for his words. Once again he warmed up my soul and after this it was much easier to go after Master Sumati. While we walked to the quarter of the nuns, Sumati briefly explained where we were passing by and described the entire place. Like this I had a vague idea how the Western Air nomad's place was divided. Our trip to my room involved going through some corridors inside the cliff's cave. We crossed interesting gardens as well by going from one cave to the others. The entire place felt like a maze. The sunrise was upon us and I could stop to admire it, but I was too exhausted to notice this detail. By the time I realised, we were at the right building. The room where we stopped was full of beddings that were placed on the floor. All of them have been tidied up and organised in a nice order. Apart from that the entire place was empty. At the moment we were the only ones there. I thought I was going to have my own room, how could I have been so wrong? I was a girl from a wealthy family, not used to sharing anything except with Kyou, but that was nothing. As siblings from two different genders it did not affect me much. Never mind, I was really too out of my energy to care about it for now.
"You can use the bedding by the window. The girls are already up, but don't worry I am going to tell them to leave you in peace. When you feel you slept enough, just ask someone to show you the dining room." Instructed me Priestess Sumati, then she performed a bow before she left. I stayed completely alone for the first time of my life. Slowly I walked to the window where my futon and blanket was. I dropped my bag by the wall, and just let my body fall on my bedding. I thought that I was going to cover myself in a second, but before that could happen, I fell asleep in an instant.

I slept maybe eight to ten hours, it was already early afternoon when I suddenly opened my eyes. I could hear distant noises of chatting and laughter. Surprisingly while I was asleep, someone put a blanket on me as a light warm fabric rested on my body. I moved in a sitting position and looked around. I was still knackered, but my body did not let me relax longer. I guess the tension was still too much for me. Anyway I felt it was going to take some time to catch up with my energy. My stomach gave some sign that it is time to eat. I was ready to get up and as Master Sumati mentioned, find the dining room. What I was not expecting at all, is a group of air nuns appearing in the room, before I could leave. They were four and paid their respect to me first, then one of them started to talk to me. In the meantime the other three layed a wide linen on the floor, put a bucket of water next to it, and gently placed some blades with other items there.
"Good afternoon Avatar Hikari. Hope you were able to sleep well. I assume you are very hungry. Now if you don't mind, before going to eat, we will shave your hair and dress you in air nomad clothing..." told me. In a split of a second I jumped up, and stepped as far away from them as I could. This was the first time I said something in the past few days, but finally my mouth moved. Even if my voice first sounded faint, the second time I made myself clear very loud.
"No, I don't want to!"
"This is the order of the Daivika, you have to follow our traditions..." tried to approach another nun. I just shook my head and went further from them, until I was by the entrance of the room. Then I just started to run, like I was running for my life. I had no plan, I just wanted to get away from this nightmare. Why did they just not give me some time to compose myself? I wanted just one day in peace. When I got out of the building I passed by some girls of my age. They had the same hairstyle and it freaked me out even more. They were also statered of my behaviour.
"Hikari, wait!" I heard a familiar voice, it was Master Sumati. I knew if she wanted to she could easily catch me, hence I increased my speed. I did not want to look back. I arrived at a field, which looked like a wide plane. From about a hundred meters away I spotted a herd of flying bison. Well it was at least five of them and I could see one with a saddle, but no people around. I aimed my way there, but Priestess Sumati also rapidly got closer to me. I turned back and sent some fire balls towards her direction. I did not have many chances to attack her, and I did not want to hurt anyone, just wanted to win some more time. Were I trying to escape? No, I had no such idea of running away. Why would I? I had nowhere to go and be safe. Right now at this moment, I just followed my instinct and I felt I needed to breathe. I needed to be away otherwise I could not think properly. I thought if I reach this flying bison I can ride it, and hide for the time being from everyone and everything. I took this as seriously now as my life. I felt an unexplained pain in my chest. A kind of pain that had mixed up with my own feelings and someone else's too. I felt this whole air nomad place has already had some effect on me. I sent a few more fire-breaths behind me, then finally I reached the bison I wanted to get. - You need to grab the fur, and start to pull yourself up until the saddle. - remembered the words of Mida. It's easy, I can do it. I held onto the fur and started to cling on the animal. Unfortunately I could not even reach a quarter of the way up, when the air-nomad pet growled out very loud, and tried to shake me off. I got very scared and wanted to jump off, but the bison did not leave me time. It lifted himself up from the ground and forced me to hang on some bunch of fur by his leg. It went higher and higher while making more attempts to get rid of me. I had no choice, but to hang on while the bison was already at least fifty meters high if not higher. My fingers started to slip, no matter how strong I was sticking there. The bison did all the movements in order to set free himself and eventually he succeeded. I was the avatar, even though I had no super power to evade the impact to the ground. I lost the grab and the gravitation mercilessly was pulling me down. At this height there was no way that I could survive. I wanted to escape from here, from the capture of the air nomads, but even if I die I am going to end up being one of them...such great perspectives, and such brilliant thoughts just before the last moments of my life...

To be continue

Next chapter: The Western Air Nomad Avatar (...just joking xDDD)

Chapter 4: Recurring Pathways

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Hello! The author is here! How did you like the third chapter? I would really appreciate your opinion/feedback. Please share it with me in the comment section. Any kind of thoughts about the concept.  Thank you <3 

Ps: Also I am more than happy to answer any kind of question about the novel. :)