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Introduction[]
Three years have past since Avatar Aang defeated the Fire Lord and ended the Hundred Year War. But the world is not at peace. One hundred years of brutal fighting has left the world scarred and damaged. Because of the Earth Kingdom's focus on defending themselves, they had little attention for regional conflicts. In the Si Wong Desert, the sandbending tribes that have lived peacefully for centuries are at the brink of war. What will the future bring for these tribes, and with the world distracted, who will save the desert from war?
Previously on Sand Dunes:
The Hami tribe has struck the Gobi tribe! In an effort to "end" the war Chief Ta-Min of the Hami tribe has ordered his men to destroy all of the Gobi tribes weapons and transportation, and arrest their chief. Mein also discovered the truth behind his mothers demise and learned that his father is threatening to do the same to others in the tribe. As the battled commenced Mein met up with Mina once again. However it was short lived as his father killed Mina.
Chapter 5: The Plays of Fate[]
I sat there holding Mina's dead body, watching as people dropped from all around. There were heavy losses on both sides. Our men were just approaching the central buildings wall. They believed that Chief Sha-Mo was inside. I pulled Mina's body to the side of a building and set it down.
"Good bye" I said and a tear rolled down my face and dropped on to her body.
I then stood up, stared down for a few seconds, and ran towards the battle. All of our men were marching, in position towards the Gobi tribes central building. They tore down everything in their path. The central building that looked like a cross between a watch tower and a palace, was the only part of the tribe that hadn't been ransacked or destroyed by our men. Several of our men were held back fighting remaining people.
I ran towards the building but I noticed another familiar face. Tio was engaged in a battle with a Gobi tribe women. Tio was heavily on the defensive and struggling to just deflect the obviously advanced benders attacks. I ran up to him and assisted in his defense. He sent gusts of sand towards her and I tried to deflect and calm the attacks she attempted. I didn't take one shot at her the whole time. We obviously were bringing attention to ourselves because several sand benders approached us and started attacking us. Because of the pacifism I was exhibiting most of the attacks were aimed towards Tio. Tio was never that good of a bender in the first place, and he was struggling for his life. Several blasts of sand, and Tio was knocked back at unbelievable force. A moderate blast of sand was directed at me. Rather than deflecting it I let it carry me back so that the benders would leave. As soon as they left I ran over to Tio's mangled body. He was bleeding from the mouth and it was obvious his bones were broken.
"Tio? Are you okay?" I asked
"I've been better" He replied coughing after he said it
"Here, I'll help you up"
"No, go! Get them back for me" He said
"What?" He added
He saw the look on my face, and understood
"Your not going to fight are you?" he said
"This is not right." I motioned towards the utter destruction surrounding us
He coughed and looked at me, eyes watering.
"When we were kids, the first time we went to the Oasis, that older kid tried to scare us off. We all got mad but you never did. You talked him off. We went and fought with him but you refused. We always thought that you were weak because of that. But now I realize that you were the strongest of us all." He paused and looked down "I wish I could be as good of a person as you Mein" He said staring up at me
"You can be" I said and smiled
"Stay here and don't move!" I bent a cover over him to prevent further attacks and then I ran off
If I was going to end this I couldn't keep fighting. I couldn't use violence to end violence.
When the wave of warriors and benders reached the wall of the building our benders all at once smashed their hands into the wall, and cracks shot vertically up. They pulled their hands out and motioned their arms downward and a huge part of the wall sunk into the desert sand.
As soon as it fell a sand storm erupted from inside. Several Gobi tribe Benders were bending the sand outwards. It was like a wind of pure sand. Our men all either bent the sand out of the way or created a sandstone shield. Then the benders turned the sand into sharp razors and aimed for the men who just tore the wall down. The ones with the shields were fine but the others struggled and many fell. The war balloon circled from above and the people above bent several bombs towards the defensive benders of the building. They shot down and curved into the side of the building. With a deafening "Boom" all the bending stopped. Our men ran forward and approached the entrance to the building. With my father in the lead they blasted through the wall and began to battle the men inside.
Before I ran in, I looked up and saw several Gobi sand benders that launched themselves from the tower towards the balloon. One of the men was blasted at splitting force from the balloons explosives. The next landed and grasped the balloon fabric. He screamed of pain from the searing heat given off by the balloon. He slid down and kicked one of our men from the balloon, and caused him to spin down towards the ground. The other one of our benders fought back and launched the intruder out of the balloon. Distracted, our last man in the balloon had no time to react the attacks from the top of the tower. The people still in the top of the tower bent
several blades of sand that pierced the balloon. it went soaring down, it crashed into several houses and buildings as it went. The man in the balloon jumped off of it and landed face first in the sand.
I ran forward and entered the building. The first thing I saw was several fallen men and pools of blood on the sandy floor. The whole building was supported by columns reaching from the ground to the roof. Stairs reached from one side of the room to the other, piercing the roof and continuing up into the tower. My father continued forward with a lot less men then he began with. They started to walk up the stairs, to the top of the tower but they flattened at the hands of a bender and our men slid down landing in a heap. Several large sandstones fell from above at very fast rates. I watched as one flew down and crushed one of our men. My father bend a funnel of sand under neath him and shot upwards, deflecting the attacks from above. He reached the top of the tower with ease. Several men and women fell screaming, eventually to be silenced by the solid floor.
I finally stopped just standing there and began to act. I bent walls in between people and attempted to placate the brutal fighting. I diluted several whips and razors of sand to prevent more death. One of our men formed a sharp blade and send it flying towards a fallen warrior. I ran, jumped, and shielded the man on the ground. As I fell back towards the ground I rolled into a defensive position. The man who's attack I just prevented shot a gust of sand at me, I flew and hit the wall. The sand hardened around me, adhering me to the wall.
I watched as the men and women inside tore the building apart trying to gain the advantage on their opponents. Whole columns collapsed or were launched at opponents. The whole building started to rumble and cracks crawled through the walls surrounding me. I channeled all of my strength and smashed the sand surrounding me. I instincually blasted a hole in the side and ran out of the crumbling building. Within a few seconds the whole building collapsed into a mound of sand and rubble.
As everyone dispersed outside I had a better view of everything going on. Several benders engaged each other fighting with all of their hearts will. Injured men on both sides cowered on the ground and out of further harms way. Screams from innocent civilians pierced the warm night. Smoke mixed with dust filled the dry desert air. I looked around trying to locate my father. I herd loud sounds of destruction on the other side of the rubble. I ran over to see my father battling Chief Sha-Mo.
The differing styles of bending was very evident between the two. My father threw constant attacks while Sha-Mo deflected and tried to destabilize my father. Several people began to gather around the dueling chiefs. My father collected huge amounts of sand and hardened it into sandstone to throw at Sha-Mo. Sha-Mo smashed the boulders and sent the remnants speeding towards my fathers legs. My father kicked the incoming stones, smashing them in to further small chunks. He moved in a different way then he usually did. His elegant and graceful forms were replaced with shaky and abrasive maneuvers. He waved his arms in circles, spinning on his shoulders sending blades of thin, sharp sand towards Sha-Mo. In response Sha-Mo ducked, and weaved threw the incoming attacks. He bent over and some of the cloth falling from his hands were sliced clean off, and the blades barely missed his arms and body. Sha-Mo attempted to shift the sand under my father, but my father hardened the sand. Sha-Mo then took advantage of the short period of defense my father had to enter. He formed several long streams of sand that all darted towards my father. My father bent the sand into a sphere surrounding himself and the sand could not pierce it. The sphere then exploded from the inside at the hands of my father. He then began shooting gusts of highly compacted sand towards Sha-Mo. Sha-Mo deflected the sand and gathered it in mid air. He then waved his hands and with a flick of the wrist sent all the sand storming towards my father. In the gust I lost sight of him. The sand settled and my father was gone.
Out of nowhere my father spun out of the desert sand a few feet away from Sha-Mo. He waved his arm and a spear of sand erupted from the ground and stabbed Sha-Mo in the shoulder. I splash of crimson could be seen from all around. Sha-Mo flew backwards, unable to move his arm. My father continued with his sand spears, launching them towards the weakened chief. With his one good arm, and his last ounce of energy, Sha-Mo raised a sand wall in front of him to defend against the attacks. The wall stood for a few seconds before being smashed threw by a spear.Sha-Mo stood there panting looking down. My father walked slowly towards Sha-Mo and rose his hand.
"In the name of the Hami tribe, and to regain peace in this desert, I sentence you to death." My father said smiling at his accomplishment
He then waived his arm and several blades darted towards Sha-Mo's chest. I couldn't hold back any longer. I jumped forward and swept the ground with my arm forming a sandstone disc. I waived my arm and shot the disc forward blocking my fathers attack. The darts hit the shield, and stuck into it. My father turned slowly, his smile fading. His eyes locked onto my own.
"It can't end this way!" I yelled
"What have you done!" My father yelled "You're a traitor boy! And you will pay!"
"No! You are the traitor. You have instigated a war over a simple robbery! You murdered teenagers that just stole some supplies for their tribe! You launched us into debt in a attempt to destroy others! I saw today, my father, my own father, kill innocent women and children." I yelled my heart racing "All you care about is spreading violence and hate. The only reason you have gotten away with this is because you lie and steal from your own people. You are not our chief and you are not my father ..."
Several people that were fighting stopped to look at what was happening.
My father didn't reply with words. He stomped his feet and stretched out his arms, in fighting position. I had no choice. I had to fight my father, and he was not going to show mercy.
To be concluded in chapter 6...
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