Element Academy: The Light of the Avatar

Losing Touch...Crystal

Tears, shouting, a flash of blue and suddenly she's slipping...slipping...slipping...

The world falls to nothing and instantly jumps to everything all at once. Crystal sits up with a gasp, wide eyes gazing around the strange yet oddly familiar forest around her.

The same trees, the same fog that leaves everything mere feet away from her cascaded in mystery. Her panic starts to rise, this is not good. This forest, this means she fell into the Avatar state!

No no no, if she fell into the Avatar state who knows what's going on back in the physical world. Is she unconscious? Is she acting without thinking? What if she hurts someone?

Crystal's heart starts pounding faster. She runs forward, the fog separating before her and wrapping around behind her as she passes. Her pace picks up and she races further into the forest.

"Hello?! Anyone! I need to go home!"

Everything is too quiet. There's nothing. There has to be something she can do to get back in control.

Crunch! Crystal pauses and searches frantically for the source of the sound. She looks down at her own feet only to find a broken branch beneath.

"Crys...Pl...calm..."

The distant voice rings of a familiar tone. It sounds scared and worried, but most of all it sounds like...

"Jake!"

"Crystal! You aren't worthless!" his voice insists.

Crystal runs towards her brother's voice like her life depends on it. Although, it's not her life she is worrying about.

"You have a family that loves you more than anything! We will never leave you! I promise!"

She stops short. Mahoney?

The woman. Her mother. Abandoned. Alone.

That's when she hears it: the wind. The world in front of her starts to blur, growing transparent to give her a view of the world on the other side. Objects are flying, the howling of the wind is so intense, and Jake and Mahoney are fighting their way to get closer to her.

The moment of realization hits her like a speeding train. She's doing this. She's wrecking havoc. She's the reason they have so much fear and worry in their eyes. She's the one who has lost control. She's going to hurt them if this continues!

"No, I have to stop this! I don't want to hurt anyone!" Crystal digs into the ground with her feet before taking off toward the window. "Stop!"

She leaps forward, falling through. Everything falls to black, but then suddenly she's aware of her arms spread wide and the blue tint filtering her vision.

Her mind races, straining against the Avatar state to get it to go away. Slowly the wind dies down and she can feel herself lowering to the ground. The moment her feet touch the ground everything stops: the wind cuts off, the blue tint leaves her vision, and all strength is torn from her.

Her knees give in under the crushing weight of her exhaustion. Wooden floors meet hands and knees. Sobs are torn from her throat. Her body is shaking, her lungs heaving, and heart burning like its physically breaking within her. She doesn't have it in her to hold it back, to hold back the crushing pain.

Thrown away! Thrown away like the garbage I-

Her thoughts are cut off when she's suddenly being held by two different sets of arms. Their warmth and the calm words her hectic mind can't seem to translate their words but recognizes the tone...everything...it's all to much.

Her body curls up within their arms, hands holding onto them tightly as she sobs.

Sobbing, that's all she seems capable of doing right now. It hurts too much to do anything else. It hurts to much to try and pull herself together. It hurts so much less to just let it go. It hurts less if she takes this one moment to lose touch with all else but the comfort of being in their arms and the relief of finally being able to let go off all the pain she's felt since knowing she was abandoned.

Bang!

The sound of doors bursting open cut through her frantic thoughts. She can feel the pair holding her jump from surprise. Whoever it is that's there makes them tighten their hold around her.

Crystal can't tell what's going on. Her mind is still on cry mode and her eyes are too blurry from all the tears to see anything properly. Even the words she can hear being exchanged don't translate in the chaos of her head. It all sounds so distant, so much quieter than the pain and crying blasting in her head.

One set of arms let go and she's barely conscious of being shifted and lifted within the other's arms. Then everything starts to darken and become more muffled than before. Finally, there's nothing but the comfort of the quiet darkness as it ensnares her mind and drags her to its quiet depths.