Avatar: The Red Dragon

Chapter 21: The Trial of Flame

Hi everyone!
It's been a very, very long time, but I'm finally back with a new chapter!

I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it — this one's pretty intense, so... buckle up and enjoy the ride 🔥

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"You will meet your end here, firebender!" The threatening growl reverberated, deep and resonant. "No firebender deserves to live."

The ground crumbled more and more under Nanami's feet, revealing raging waves of bright, yellow lava. Nanami tried to talk to the voice, but it wouldn't listen to her, and unleashed its furry on the poor, terrorized little girl. The ring of fire that encircled her tightened bit by bit, leaving her with less and less space to move and dodge the cracks on the ground. Soon enough, Nanami started to feel the warmth of the fire around her arms, brushing slightly her bare skin. The pain she felt when she touched the first little flame earlier still remained in her mind, and made her hesitant to touch the circle of fire surrounding her. Nanami tried to come up with a plan, but thinking about tactics had never been her thing. With a sigh, she gave up and reached out toward the burning loop. The flames touched her skin – yet somehow, she didn't feel a thing. Instead, just like that one time in the school's infirmary, golden lines began to appear along her blood vessels, rapidly covering both of her arms.

"What is that?" All the noisy rumble stopped at once. "What is happening? How could that be? No, it's impossible," the voice continued to have a monologue, asking itself questions, then answering, completely baffled by the situation. "Who are you?" it shouted at Nanami. "Is it because you're a descendant of the villagers? But why a firebender? I cannot accept that!"

When the rumble stopped, the ground remodeled itself back to a flat, stoned floor. All the flames extinguished at once, releasing Nanami from her prison. The little girl sighed from relief, and dropped heavily on the floor, her knees weak. She felt so exhausted she couldn't comprehend the mysterious' voice's shouts. She could only hear buzzy noise, but none of the questions got through her. The yelling got louder and louder, making her head ache. She started to feel dizzy, her heartbeat slowing down, and she could sense her energy leaving her. Nanami started to have trouble keeping her eyes open. In a last deep breath, the firebender closed her eyes, focusing on the warmth coming from inside of her body. She could feel something boiling in the pit of her stomach like a ball of fire dancing in her belly. She tried to concentrate, using all of her senses to put that inner burst of energy under control, remembering everything her teachers taught her since she discovered her capabilities.

After long minutes, during which the voice continued to rumble on its own, Nanami finally channeled the energy from her center core to the rest of her body, regaining strength back in her members. Shining, golden lines running through her small body, she opened her eyes at once, which looked like a pair of glowing, amber stones, and stoop up. She spoke in an assured voice, "I don't want you any harm. I've come to meet Tai Long, please let me meet him."

"Arrogant brat, are you threatening me?" the voice growled once again.

A stream of fire popped out from nowhere, targeting the little firebender, but Nanami could sense it before it reached her and parried the attack by creating a blazing shield. The two fires clashed, and finally extinguished after a few seconds. Nanami moved her hands swiftly in a motion and built a burning cocoon, wrapping around her body, to protect herself from other potential attacks.

"Please listen to me," she implored. "I don't want to hurt you; I just want to meet Tai Long to ask him questions." Maintaining the protective shell quickly drained her energy. Nanami could feel her strength slipping away with every passing second. What a stubborn voice. Why wouldn't it let me meet Tai Long? I can't hold that barrier much longer.