[Original Fiction] The Lost Legend: Totem, Chapter 3 — Re-Emergence

fanfictioner (50)in #fiction • 6 years ago (edited)

—Re-Emergence—

Lost Legend.jpg

Steve felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. A part of him wanted to laugh hysterically in Chris’ face. The Incarnate? Holder of what? What a joke! But he couldn’t. He couldn’t dismiss it, couldn’t deny it. In his heart, he knew it was true. The voices. The visions. The dreams. Oh! But even knowing it was true didn’t explain how it was possible. The Incarnate… the Avatar.

“Bending.” He whispered. “It’s real?”

But at that moment, a door banged open above them, followed by the sound of multiple footsteps hurrying down the narrow stairwell, including some which, Steve was certain, meant the persons were leaping from staircase to staircase.
Chris grabbed Steve’s arm again. “Yes, and we’re going to be real dead if those guys catch up to us! Let’s go!”

Steve didn’t resist anymore. They clambered down the last couple of staircases and burst out of the back alley of the apartment building. It was raining, but lightly. Overhead, lightning still streaked across the black sky, followed by rumbling thunder.

“This isn’t good,” Chris muttered, leading Steve towards the main street.

“The rain? Why?”

Suddenly, there was a crackling sound behind them. Chris turned around just in time –there was block of something gleaming white and pointed streaking toward them. He made a fist and swiped his hand up. As he did, it became engulfed in bright yellow and red flames, hitting and smashing the white block into pieces. Steve realised with a shock that it was ice, and the crackling sound was that of water from the rain solidifying in a split second. Three more ice shards came speeding towards them out of the darkness. Chris acrobatically blocked all of them, but then the two boys suddenly found themselves encased in ice –the rain that had soaked through their clothes had been frozen solid. Chris broke free in a burst of bright light and a cloud of steam, and then quickly went to help Steve. From up high on the sides of the buildings, three figures were coming down on ice slides. At the same time, the door they had come through burst open and six black-clad ninjas dove out.

“We can’t fight them all!” Chris cried. “We’ve got to get to the car! Once we get on the road we’re home free.”

They ran, Chris stopping occasionally to block water and fire bending attacks. Steve just kept ducking. Some Avatar he was.

Then they were on the main street. It was already past 10pm, but this was Manhattan, the city that never slept. Lots of persons were still milling about the street.

“There!” Chris shouted, pointing.
Steve turned his gaze towards that direction, and his jaw dropped. “Is that… is that a Porsche?”

“Sure. Look who you’re talking to –I’m rich.”

They both got in the silver car and were speeding off in a moment. The ninjas didn’t follow them. Steve realised he was panting hard. He worked to catch his breath. “I just got chased from my apartment by water and fire benders, by the rich son of a billionaire tycoon who tells me I’m the Avatar.” He muttered. “This is insane.”

“The Incarnate,” Chris corrected, chortling. His confidence was back. “Yeah, it’s a rush!”

Steve shook his head and gazed at the boy beside him. His clothes were ruined, but his hair was still as slick as ever. The look on his face was that of pure excitement.

“A rush,” Steve repeated, incredulous. “How is all of this even possible? I mean, bending! It’s all fiction, isn’t it? Those guys actually shot lightning from their fingers!”

“Well, turns out it isn’t,” Chris replied. “Bending is real, man. So is the Incarnate – what you call the Avatar. So are you.”

“So... What? You’re telling me persons can control air and water, move rocks, create fire, and somehow the world doesn’t know about it?”

“It wasn’t always. I don’t know all the facts, but it seems at some point, bending and the Incarnate did exist. Every impossible myth is grounded in fact, right? Then for some reason, it vanished. Bending stopped. The Incarnate stoppedreincarnating. The Legend was lost. Now, it’s back.”

It was crazy. Steve tried to wrap his head around it. “You’re a firebender,” he said. “That’s how you broke my door chain and got us out of that alley.”

“That’s right,” Chris nodded, grinning.

“You can redirect lightning. What are you, some kind of Prince Zuko?”

Chris burst into laughter. “Zuko, really? Come on, man! We’re not playacting The Last Airbender here, or the Legend of Korra, or any of that Nickelodeon junk. That was fiction… this is life.”

“Seems pretty fictional to me. Bending disappeared and it has returned?”

“Pretty much. We call it the ‘Re-emergence’.”

“But why?”

“We don’t know. The prevailing theory is it has something to do with the harmonic convergence happening later this year, but we’re not sure. There’s a lot going on, much we don’t fully understand.”

"The harmonic convergence, really? I thought we weren't acting out Legend of Korra."

Chris just shrugged and grinned, and kept driving.

Steve shook his head. “You mentioned 'We'.” He asked. “Who’s we?”

Chris grinned at him. “The people I’m taking you to –a community of benders. They will have most of the answers you’re looking for. We’re called The Bending Alliance.”

The Bending Alliance.

Steve looked out the window. They were speeding up 103rd street. “So, where are they?”

“In the middle of North Woods,” Chris replied.

Steve raised an eyebrow at him.

Chris grinned. “Don’t worry,” he laughed. “You’re with me.”