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By Doubledom897 | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
| More from Doubledom897 | Adventure/Drama/Action | PG | None | Update page |
Sorry for the creepiness! :D
Plot[]
Noatak explains what happened after he got his bending taken away, and tells about his commonalities with Keman.
Characters[]
Characters in this chapter are:
Noatak[]
- Gender: Male
- Weapon: Waterbending & bloodbending
- Political Position: None
Keman[]
- Gender: Male
- Weapon: Waterbending & bloodbending
- Political Position: (Pending...)
Otibo[]
- Gender: Male
Nakem[]
- Gender: Male
Malone[]
- Gender: Male
Story (Chapter 2)[]
I awoke in a sweat. I was lying in bed. I bent some snow into an ice cup I fashioned myself, and began drinking. I set the cup down beside my mattress, and bloodbent the part of my brain that deals with consciousness, and was instantly forced to sleep.
"Noatak," said a voice that sounded like my father's. I was being gently shaken; it was obvious someone was attempting to wake me up from my slumber.
"Not now, Father," I mumbled. I heard a soft chuckle. "Give me five more minutes."
"No," said he. "You're training starts now." I groaned, and was suddenly filled with an energizing sensation.
"Wow, I feel really awake!" I said and opened my eyes. Standing before me was Keman, who was smiling.
"That's next for our bloodbending training. I will teach you how to trick your body into feeling more energized. Of course, the downside is that afterwards you will feel more tired than ever!" Keman said with a laugh. I had almost forgot. At first, everything-- my running away, Otibo taking me in, Nakem getting kidnapped, my bending being taken away-- it felt like a dream. But now, I remember what happened.
I recalled the moments after my bending was taken.
Three days earlier...
"Solution?" I had yelled at Keman. "Solution to what?"
"Think," the man had spoken to me with an intense feeling. And I thought. I am the solution, Keman had said. As I began to collect myself, I started to realize the true meaning of these words. This man... he can take away bending. That is a technique only the Avatar possesses. And then it hit me.
"Well?" the man asked. "Do you understand?"
"Yes," I replied. "I believe I do." Keman looked at me intently. Once I realized, I forgave him with all my heart. "I've always dreamed of being able to have this... this power that you possess. And because you possess this power, I think that your take on this world is similar to mine."
Keman grinned a bloodthirsty grin, like the grins my father used to have slapped on his face when I was exceeding his expectations in my bloodbending. But this grin that Keman had... it was for the right reason.
"Yes," Keman said. "I do share the same views as you do on this world, and that's why I've tracked you down. I believe that you, as my trainee, can help me rid this world of its source of evil."
I thought a million things in an instant. This was my closest chance to fulfilling my dream. There was just one thing. "What about my bending? It's gone, you took it, remember?"
"Don't worry, it's not gone forever. As long as I am by your side, I can restore it. You see, I think that you and I are the only advanced enough bloodbenders who can learn this technique."
"This technique is done through bloodbending?" I asked, deeply confused. How is that possible?
"Please, slow down. It will all make sense in due time. But first I need to take care of your... escorts. My head snapped over to Otibo and Nakem. Their faces held a mixture of fright, disgust (in probably me), and disappointment, but mostly fright.
Within a millisecond, Keman inhaled deeply, and I saw Otibo and Nakem being physically held against their own will. It was almost painful to watch, but knowing that it was all part of a huger masterpiece reassured me. Abolishing the little fear I had of bloodbending was number one, if I were to be trained under the most powerful man I've ever seen.
Otibo said through clenched teeth, "Noatak... stop him!"
Keman snapped his head in my direction. He shook his head. "You can try, but it won't do any good."
And he was right. Even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to stop him. I also didn't want to disrespect my future master. I think it's pretty much decided that I'm going to be training under him. Even if I refuse, I will be forced to. But... there is a great want that I have, a want to be trained in his ways.
"Otibo, I can't help you. I don't believe that this man will kill you, and... you have to understand that this little sacrifice-- the experience of being bloodbent, that is-- will contribute to the purification and remodeling of this accursed world." Otibo looked at me with wide eyes.
"Purification of the world?" Otibo asked in disgust. He continued, "I'm not a bender, but I'm pretty sure that those who are benders hold their abilities very dear to their hearts. Taking that away will destroy the world! Listen to reason Noatak, and run away!" His words held some compelling truth to it, but I couldn't afford to be swayed by a common man.
"I'm sorry, but you don't see the deeper reality. Maybe at first the world will be destroyed, but I believe with all my heart that us humans will evolve, and we will learn to get by without bending." Otibo and Nakem's bodies were off the ground by now. "I'm sorry, but It's not possible for benders and nonbenders to co-exist in peace and harmony. There will always be wars, whether it's bender versus bender, or bender versus nonbender."
"Okay," Otibo struggled to say, "let's say that you end up getting rid of all the bending in the world. Do you really think that it will end wars? Nonbenders who were once benders will connive their way to methods of a more modern style of fighting. AAGH!" Otibo's arm was pulled back around his back. I couldn't see it very well, but I was guessing his shoulder was dislocated. Nakem made an effort to gasp, but while under a bloodbending grasp it almost sounded like a laugh.
"That's what you get for trying to sway Noatak into thinking in the naive way that you do," Keman growled. I shuddered at Keman who looked very eerie with his eyes peering through the dark of the night. Keman walked towards Otibo and Nakem and said, "Don't worry, you won't remember how painful this was after I'm done with you."
I saw Keman look hungrily up at the full moon. He placed his hands on the motionless Otibo, with the same orientation he had when he took away my bending. All of a sudden, Otibo screamed as loud as he could. It echoed across the flat landscape. I saw a few ravens fly off in the opposite direction. Otibo's head crashed on the snow. I ran closer to get a better look of what was happening.
As I came close enough to see in full detail, the first thing I noticed was Keman's smile. He had his eyes wide, and his face was full of pleasure. Then I looked at his hands, which contained dots of blood on them. Nakem, still held in Keman's bloodbending grasp, was crying as loud as he could without moving his mouth. It sounded more like a wale as he breathed in and out of his open mouth uncontrollably.
I looked down at Otibo, who had beeds of blood streaming down his face. Otibo was literally sweating blood. That must have been what the blood on Keman's hands were from. "What are you doing to them?" I inquired, focusing on not showing a hint of fear in my voice as I spoke.
"What they deserve," Keman said with an even bigger smile on his face. I gulped. "You next, little boy!" By this point, Nakem's face was covered in tears. "Actually, let's have some fun." If it was even possible, Keman's smile seemed to get bigger.
He released his bloodbending grip on Nakem, and after Nakem realized what had happened, he ran as fast as he could, back from where me and Otibo came from. My heart gave a leap of joy. He was letting Nakem go!
"Now," said Keman, cracking his knuckles. I became confused. Keman's eyebrows lowered.
"I'm going to bloodbend Nakem."
I stared. I wanted Nakem to get away. Then I looked down at Otibo, who was probably unconscious.
"Like this!" Keman yelled, and as he spoke, He took his hands out in front of him and brought them to his chest, while taking one step back. Nakem's face was thrown down and dragged across the snow, and I heard him scream in pain. Keman laughed as he spun Nakem in circles, and making unnecessary twists and turns, like Nakem was just a tool for his entertainment. "That's how it's done," Keman murmured into my ear, through a smile, of course. This was probably the most terrible thing I've ever seen in my life. Keman rolled his fingers up, and Nakem levitated up to a position where it was easier for Keman to do... well what he was doing I wasn't sure of, exactly.
"Like I said, you won't even remember how terrible I was to you," I heard Keman whisper into Nakem's ear. A tear rolled down Nakem's red face. I felt sorry for him.
And just like that, Keman placed his hands onto Nakem, the same as Otibo and me. I heard a similar scream to that of Otibo's. I saw Nakem collapse onto the cold snow. "Malone!" Keman barked. "Take these two things and bring them to town. They'll stay unconscious long enough for you to be in and out without them waking up."
"Yes sir," said Malone. He even seemed a bit unnerved as to what Keman just did. I know I felt unnerved.
I mustered up the courage to ask Keman one question. "So... what did you do to them, exactly?"
"Oh! Well, isn't it obvious?" Keman laughed. "I took their memory of this incident away!" He skipped off singing a song, while I stood frozen in terror. What kind of power was that?
Something I've noticed is that Keman either acts really serious and creepy, or really crazy. It reminded me of someone that I read about in a book, about a girl who was caught in a mysterious world-- under a rabbit hole, in fact.
Right now, I was feeling a bit awkward, because Malone was away, and Keman was inside the ice house he had just made. I didn't know whether I had to say anything about being his trainee... I just felt like I didn't know what I had to do. I didn't feel myself.
So instead of doing anything, I sat down and thought. I thought about Nakem's laughing face, and then Keman's laughing face... They were completely different. Nakem looked like he was joyful, while Keman looked... well he looked just plain creepy.
I didn't know how to feel about Keman at this point. He seemed like he really had an answer to my problems, but the way he went about it didn't feel right. It's nice that I might be able to learn to take away bending, however. "Bending!" I spoke aloud. "Keman took away my bending!"
"That's master Keman to you," said he, standing right behind me. I stood up with a jolt.
"I didn't see you there, sorry."
"No need to be sorry... sorrow is for fools!" And then he went into a fit of laughter. I just stared at him, making sure that the horror I felt wouldn't come to my face.
"Well... about my bending--"
"Yes, I know just the thing that will help you; me! Now kneel down, your back facing me." I did as he told. "Good, now pull up your chin. Usually, I would just bloodbend there chin up." He smiled that same creepy smile. I felt his cold hands on my forehead. I heard him inhale. Warmth started to flow into my head. I inhaled deeply. It was like the complete opposite of having my bending being taken away.
"It's coming back! I can feel it."
"Now, bend!" He ordered me. I whipped my hands up above my head, and the snow around me went where I told it. I smiled. I never imagined it would feel this good to get my bending back. "Now, go rest!" Keman ordered me.
I walked inside the ice house. It was truly amazing. The designs of the ice were so intricate in detail that it almost didn't seem like ice. There were also lamps inside for light, and thin, ice windows so that the sun could get through for natural light during the day. It beat being immersed in darkness any day.
"Choose a room," Keman said, "or make your own." I nodded. I don't think that I could bend in so much detail, so I decided to just choose a room. The room I chose had a mattress and an ice bedside table with one oil lamp sitting atop it. There were patterns on the wall that were absolutely breathtaking. It was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen.
I sat on my comfy mattress. I looked around. I stood up. I sat back down. I lay down. I looked up at the ceiling. I looked out the window. I was bored.
I thought of Nakem and Otibo again. They didn't deserve what happened to them. I could understand Keman's reasoning for taking their memory away, though. If he didn't, everyone would be searching for me. To kill me. And Keman. And Malone. But I still wish there was another way...
I turned my head to see my ice door slide open, and there stood Keman. "Tomorrow we will start your training. Demolish any fears of bloodbending you have right now. If you show so much as a hint of fear... I will permanently damage you. Not enough to kill you, for I need you to learn the art of bloodbending to its full extent. But I'll make it hurt, I promise. Don't disappoint me." And with that, the ice door slide shut. I feel like for awhile, the only response that Keman is going to get from me is my open mouth.
I lay down on my mattress, shut the oil lamp out, and closed my eyes. It was hard for me to get to sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about Otibo and Nakem. At last, I shut my eyes for the last time, and fell asleep.
That night, my slumber wasn't pleasant. Halfway through I awoke to a rumbling sound. I stood up, and felt the cold, hard ground beneath me starting to quake. I peered out through the window, into the night. I could barely see anything. After a little while, my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw Keman on the ice house's stairs. His arms were up, and I saw the landscape drift past us, faster than I could sprint. It seemed that Keman was moving the whole structure. How was I supposed to get any sleep if there was this rumbling noise the whole time?
Just then, I heard footsteps outside my room. I scrambled back to bed just as I heard my door slide open. I saw through half closed eyes that it was Malone who had come to my room. "I know you're awake," said he.
I rose. "Mmm..." was my response.
"It's impossible to sleep through this." Malone complained. I shrugged. "First you get the shaking which is already almost unbearable, and then you get the noise to top it off!"
It was curious how Malone seemed to talk about Keman in a disrespectful way. "So... how did you come to be Keman's... whatever you are to him?" I asked uneasily.
"Me?" he laughed a hearty laugh. "I'm his brother!" I stared at him. "Can I have a chair?" he asked me.
"Oh, of course!" I said as I waterbent a stool from the ice. He came closer and let out a sigh as he sat down. As he came closer, I could tell that he looked older than Keman. "Are you his older brother?" I inquired. He nodded in acknowledgement. "Well then, how is he able to boss you around and stuff?" He chuckled at that obvious question.
"I think you know the answer to that." He gave me a smile. Of course I knew! Keman was a bender, Malone was not. It was as simple as that. Just then, the house gave a lurch. Malone fell out of his chair, and might've fallen out the window if I hadn't strengthened the thin ice that separated the outside from the inside. "Ugh," Malone said after he recovered.
"You know what I hate?" he asked me.
"What?"
"Keman knows exactly what's happening, everywhere, anytime. He knows where I am, who I'm with, and what I'm doing." I gave him a quizzical look. "He can sense me to the point where he can feel my finger twitch," he answered. I looked at him with wide eyes.
"Really? That's amazing! That level of bloodbending must be higher than... and I thought I was good!" He laughed at me.
"Yeah, you're nowhere close to where Keman is at. But don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You'll get there in time." I nodded. All of a sudden, I heard something break. I looked over towards the sound, and saw now that the window was open. I felt a rush of wind. Keman's head peered in through the window. He was standing on a block of ice.
"Shoo Malone! Get away from out guest!" I saw Malone glare at his brother, and then turn around slowly. He walked out of my room without another word.
(Update Pending...)
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