Balance | Old Version

Chapter 52 (The Swamp)

Elua's POV.

We were flying over a green swamp, there were so many tall trees and vines that we couldn't even see the ground. For some reason, it felt as if the swamp was calling me.
"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" I hear Sokka ask, but it's as if I can't take my eyes off the swamp. "Hey! Why are we going down?" He asks again, this time getting my attention and making me turn around to see Sokka looking at Aang and I in confusion.
"What? I didn't notice," Aang says as he shakes his head.
"Well, are you noticing now?" Sokka asks as we continue to fly down towards the swamp.
"Is something wrong?" Katara asks with a frown.

"I know this is gonna sound weird, but...I think the swamp is...calling to me," Aang states.
"Me too," I agree with a frown of confusion.
"Is it telling ya where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asks, the one thing he is always thinking about: food.
"No, I...I think it wants us to land," I tell them as I begin to stare again.
"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land to land on," Sokka states as he too looks down at the swamp.
"I don't know...Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth," Aang tells him as he turns to the swamp, but quickly looks back.

 "Do you want me to ignore it?" He asks.
"Yes!" Sokka says, having no desire to go down there.
"I don't know...There's something ominous about that place," Katara says looking down at the swamp. Appa groans and Momo starts to chatter, they clearly don't like it here.
"See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here," Sokka says, obviously feeling uneasy.
"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this...bye swamp. Yip yip!" Aang says as we start to fly up and begin to make our way through the sky. I frown in confusion as I hear something behind us, I turn around and my eyes go wide as I see a tornado heading straight towards us.

"You better through in an extra 'yip'! We gotta move!" Sokka shouts as we try to avoid the tornado, but it gets closer and closer. Aang and I create a shield of air around us as the tornado sucks us in. We try to keep the shield up, but the tornado is too strong and we can't.
"Ahhh!" We all shout as the tornado throws us towards the swamp, we hit many trees, and then land into a pond of swamp water.
"Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asks as he looks around, but they're nowhere to be seen. Aang airbends himself onto a tall tree to get a better look at the swamp, while we stay down here.
"Sokka you've got an elbow leech," Katara says as she points to his elbow, where a giant black leech is attached to his elbow.

"Where!? Where!?" Sokka asks frantically.
"Where do you think?" I ask him in a duh tone. He looks down at his elbow where the leech is.
"Why do things keep attaching to me!?" He shouts as he pulls the leech off and throws it into the water at his feet.
"You couldn't find them?" Katara asks as Aang climbs back down the tree.
"No...and the tornado...it just disappeared," Aang states, we look into the swamp, knowing we have to venture into it. Sokka walks in front of us and begins to cut down vines.
"We better speed things up!" Sokka says.

"Maybe...we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang says in weary.
"Aang, these are just plants!" Sokka exclaims. "Do you want me to say 'please' and "thank you" as I swing my machete back and forth?" He asks sarcastically.
"Maybe you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels...alive," Katara states as she looks around at the trees and plants.
"I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here," Sokka tells her. "And, if we don't wanna wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can," He tells us as he continues to cut the vines.

That Night.

"Appa! Momo!" Katara calls out, but we hear nothing back.
"There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them," Sokka tells her. "We'll have to make camp for the night," He states as bugs start to around his face, he flails his arms and machete at them. They go away just as a huge bubble of swamp gas pops from the muddy water below us.
"What was that!?" Katara asks in fear.
"Nothing. Just swamp gas," Sokka states. "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here," He tells her.

We suddenly hear a loud scream that makes us jump, we look up into the trees and see it's just a fluffy white bird.
"I think we should build a fire," Sokka says as he walks over to trees and roots and starts hacking at them with his machete.
"Sokka, the longer we're here the more I think you shouldn't be doing that," Aang tells him.
"No, I asked the swamp. It said this was fine," Sokka tells him. "Right, swamp? 'No problem, Sokka!'" He says in a funny voice as he makes the tree talk.

I sigh and look around, I had a feeling Aang was right. After a while, Sokka starts a fire and we all sit around it.
"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" I ask the others as I hug my knees.
"Please, we're all alone out here," Sokka says as bugs start to fly around him again, he swings his machete again. One of the bugs glows brightly and then flies off into the trees, reveling glowing eyes of animals staring at us.
"...Except for them," Aang says as we look at the eyes.
"Right, except for them," Sokka says as we all hug each other in fear. But we all, eventually, fall asleep.