| By King Bumis Heir | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
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Overview[]
Sakana's gone while Rong Yan returns with an outrageous claim that makes sense when they find Sakana.
Chapter 11: The Blood Moon Part 1: Gone[]
Book 2: Water
Chapter 11: The Blood Moon Part 1: Gone
Yantai River, West Jurong, Omashu Kingdom
Kuma searched everywhere for Sakana and Aloi peered over yonder to eye Rong Yan returning she threw herself around him hugging him tightly. Kuma shouted to the group, "I can't find Sakana anywhere!"
Aloi worried she whispered, "Please don't leave unannounced, where'd you go?" she questioned Rong Yan.
He responded, "I was on a spiritual journey with my past life Anana, she warned me about my near future."
"One of us is lying about our true nature, a wielder of the Forbidden Art is amongst us," Rong Yan announced, all the Tribesmen looked at Rong Yan fixating their eyes on him gasping.
"I knew it Tanaraq is a bender of the Forbidden Art! It was only a matter of time!" Tako shouted.
"I'm not a bloodbender!" she declined.
He squealed and flinched, "She said the b-word!"
Kuma paced forward imagining the worse he questioned Rong Yan, "What's wrong with Sakana? Are you saying he's a practitioner of the Forbidden Art?"
Rong Yan nodded, "I'm sorry that you have found out this way but yes my past life told me about it all."
Kuma expressed sadness that Sakana would have kept something like this hidden from him but he understood why.
"Didn't he mention something about visiting an island near the tributary where the Auk Moon could be seen?" Gyomo mentioned.
Meanwhile, Sakana hopped off the disc of ice he was surfing on this island was covered in reeds and tall grasses. When he went behind the reeds the landmass was empty except for a large stone shrine. The age of the shrine was visible through a few cracks here and there. He drops the satchel he has slung on his back and began to rummage through it. He pulled out three white wax candles, a tome, a dagger, and a small clay bowl.
He placed the candles on top of the shrine one on each corner and the third in the middle. He placed the dagger and bowl down and opened the book he carried with him. In the satchel sat two spark rocks which he clutched and then scraped against each other over the candles to release sparks that ignited the wicks of the candles.
The leatherbound tome had several pages some new, some aged and wrinkled with different abilities and wording written on them. The tome in his possession was like many copies around the world, a grimoire of bloodbending. He found the page he searched for, the page detailed an annual ritual that must be done on the day of Atshen's Moon.
The stone slab where the throne candles sat had a small statue of an arctic wolf-bat a creature thought to be extinct by many. This was how the bloodbenders depicted Atshen the god of bloodbending. Most of the bloodbenders of old would drink of the blood of slain arctic wolf-bats because the blood was rumored to give extraordinary powers. These creatures roamed the arctic wilderness of the North Pole, vicious creatures that could fly were hunted to extinction.
Some voices grew louder as they continued to consume his sanity, this annual holiday was created to cleanse the sanity of the bloodbender and mute the voices. One must give an offering to Atshen in return for him to bless the bloodbender. Sakana stared at the moon for a second a flashback filled his mind.
The full moon as Sakana had seen it before Atshen's ritual.
The moon was large, yellow and full as he remembered it the South Pole was cold regardless of the time of year. The cold winds blew hard against a grown man and his son who carried supplies toward the wilderness the man knew a blizzard might hit soon but he didn't care. He needed to take his son out hunting or at least that's what he told the elder and his wife. It was freezing their ears surely would fall off any second as the blood pooled into their ears to redden them up and try to keep them warm.
"Dad where are we going again?" inquired the boy, he felt the chill on his bones stinging underneath his parka. If he was a non-bender like his mother he'd succumb to hypothermia right about now. The man stared at the boy and then responded, "Today's the day son, today's the day that I pass down the blessing your great-grandfather passed down to me. Today you learn bloodbending, my son."
The man himself had a flashback he remembered himself to be a ten-winters-old an old man whispering into his ear, "Come on Aipaloovik you can do this."
"Yes great-grandpapa," smiled the boy.
Sakana stepped up while Aipaloovik reminisced on his memory he smiled when he had seen his great-grandfather one more time. He opened his eyes and witnessed his son about to do the same for his first time. There was a polar dog pup in the distance sniffing for food while winds blew against it.
"Bloodbend the polar dog pup, son!" he commanded the young boy.
The puppy heard the shouting and turned to face its agitators. It growled at the young boy to stay away from it showed its teeth hoping it would intimidate its agitator. The boy took a deep breath it was time, Sakana made stiff arm movements the pup squealed as it lost control of its own body. The pup stood on its hind legs while it struggled to break free from Sakana's grip. He swished the dog left and right a few times before he released the grip and let it go.
The pup scrambled to its feet frightened it cried into the wilderness as it fled, Sakana's father sighed at his son. He wanted Sakana to kill the pup but ultimately Sakana failed to do that too. "You disappoint me, Sakana," said Aipaloovik.
Aipaloovik quick in anger swiftly rose his arms up and came to a full halt over his head Sakana lost control of his body and levitated off the ground. The feeling of being bloodbended was like the feeling of being unable to move while your blood thickening. Sakana was screaming loud hoping the echoes of his wails would be heard by someone or something. He suddenly blacked out.
"If you don't obey my orders you will be bloodbent as a punishment, do you understand?" he exclaimed, Sakana didn't respond he was out cold.
"You're garbage," he insulted his son while he dragged his body onto the sled and continued to pull it hoping to find shelter soon. Instead, Aipaloovik bent snow around them and created an igloo around them to wait out the blizzard.
Years had gone by, Sakana was deeply afraid of upsetting his father for each time he disobeyed his father's orders he was met with Aipaloovik's grip instead. His father was very impatient with him. Sakana refused to tell his mother about what his father and he did during the weekends for fear that Aipaloovik would kill Sakana's mother.
Over the years, Sakana got relatively better at bloodbending eventually Aipaloovik took Sakana to the Earth Kingdom. During this time tensions between the Fifth Nation and the Oma Kingdom began to fade, soon after King Gao Zu kicked the pirates out by force from the coast. Aipaloovik and Sakana traveled deep in some unknown grasslands of the southern Earth King, they saw a camp over yonder. On a small tree stump sat a homeless man who attempted to survive the wilds of the southern Oma Kingdom. They crouched and prowled around the grasses out of the line of sight of the man.
The vagrant who camped on Atshen's island.
"See that man over there? I want you to bloodbend him, you're ready," he ordered Sakana.
Sakana stared at his father horrified for a second, "Dad I don't know if I can," he replied.
"Do as your told, Sakana!" he whispered, Sakana sighed.
The man heard chatter in the bushes behind him he wasn't sure if it was people talking or small critters running around. Regardless it startled him and he stood from his spot with his fists up slowly pussyfooting toward the bushes he questioned his surroundings, "Wh-who's there?!"
Sakana took a deep breath and nipped out of the bushes his head dropped and he sighed again he apologized to the man, "Sorry but I have to do this."
"Do wha-" the man asked before being cut off Sakana made stiffening movements with his arms and the man screamed as his body floated in the air after losing control. He began to attempt and crush the man's organs before he came to a full halt. The man fell to the ground and panted, Sakana shouted, "I can't, I can't do it. I can't kill him!"
The man rose to his feet after he gathered enough strength to run for his life just when was about to escape a stronger grip grabbed a hold of him. Sakana had lost the control of his body as well, Aipaloovik came out of the bushes he bloodbent his son with his mind while using his arms to pull the homeless man closer to him.
"Poor...you think this piece of vermin is poor?!" he questioned his son.
"We went to war with this dirt garbage! Thirty years of war, your grandfather was killed by a soldier of the bloodied Oma Kingdom, how dare you disrespect your family line!" screamed Aipaloovik.
Sakana tried to shut his eyes but Aipaloovik forced them open so his son could watch the homeless man die. The man felt himself being crushed by a boulder as his life as being squeezed out of him. Suddenly his heart exploded and he fell silent, Aipaloovik threw the corpse at a nearby rock. The sound of meat smashing into the rock sounded as soon as the man's lifeless body hit the rock with such force. Aipaloovik cut the blood to Sakana's brain knocking him out unconscious.
Soon after Sakana slowly began to wake from his unconscious slumber he felt light-headed and his vision dimmed. He was startled when he came face to face with a shrine with a horrific creature of nightmares on it. He saw his father prepare some kind of ritual there was another person there wearing purple colors this woman was of the Northern Water Tribe. They prepared themselves for what they called the Blood Moon.
The woman took a glance at the boy that held on to his head from his nap or so she thought and then asked Aipaloovik, "Is this his first time?"
Aumanil the woman Sakana and Aipaloovik met on Atshen's island.
"Yes the boy needs to learn that Atshen is the only one who prevents us from going insane," he answered.
"Which tribe do you hail from, brother?" she inquired curiously.
"We came from the Southern," Aipaloovik replied.
"I'm a northie, mind if I go first?" she asked smiling at Aipaloovik.
"No please go ahead," he responded, she knelt before the shrine while she held onto the dagger. Sakana watched in horror what was this strange woman going to do with the dagger? She slid the dagger across her palm and held her hand closed squeezing out droplets of blood into the clay bowl which sat on the altar. She pulled water with her other hand out of the air and healed her fresh wound.
He pulled Sakana by his hair while Sakana tried to break free from his father's grasp. Pulling him closer to the shrine he bloodbent his son in front of another bloodbender. Forcing Sakana onto his knees, he pointed at the dagger at this point Sakana had no other choice but to cut his hand.
Sakana took too long to cut his hand for the offering that Aipaloovik snatched the dagger from his son's hands and cut Sakana's left hand draining a little bit of blood in the bowl. Sakana winced in pain, the woman came over and used water from her waterskin to heal his hand. The bleeding had stopped and the pain was gone. He examined his hand like he's never been healed before, it was sorta magic to him in some way.
Aipaloovik stepped up and cut himself draining some of his blood into the same bowl. All of a sudden the moon was consumed by a crimson red color. Sakana gasped taking a step back when he saw this happening.
He muttered to himself, "...the...Blood...Moon..." suddenly the voices that wanted him to kill his father were silenced his veins thickened and he could see this from his hands. Aipaloovik and the woman knelt on the island with their arms spread out they were ready to receive their gift.
Sakana felt like he lost control again while he gained more strength he felt even deadlier but now the voices were silenced and he felt his sanity fresh. The woman then removed her hood, her dark brown hair flowing in the light breeze.
Suddenly he gained control of himself he used this opportunity to bloodbend his father he began with the stiffened arm movements. His father feeling the grip now it was strong but Aipaloovik was able to stand and use his mind to bend his son.
"How...dare...YOU BLOODBEND ME!" he exclaimed to his son the woman gasped as the boy fought his father.
"Now you know what's it like being bloodbent, how could you bloodbend your SON?" the grip tightened on Sakana as he dropped his grip on his father. The woman was confused about how Aipaloovik was able to bloodbend without using his arms.
"You will learn to obey my ORDERS, BOY!" he shouted at his son he had enough with Sakana's bad manners. It was time to dispose of his good for nothing son. Sakana's body began to twist and turn unnaturally the stranger wasn't going to stay back and watch the man kill his son.
He tried to shut down Sakana's vital organs the woman finally realized this, "STOP! Let him go!" she screamed.
She didn't want to involve herself in another's affairs but it was clear the boy was weak. Aipaloovik felt a strong grip knock him off balance he dropped Sakana from five feet in the air. Sakana collapsed and panted on the ground the rain trickled from the skies.
"You tortured me through..." he shouted as he panted he grabbed a hold on his father again Aipaloovik felt his strength waned.
As if Atshen wanted Aipaloovik as a sacrifice himself, Aipaloovik was now terrified the woman stopped her grip on the man but his son's grew stronger suddenly the young man didn't need to use his arms anymore for he used his mind now.
"...you tortured me throughout ALL THESE YEARS!" yelled Sakana, Sakana's father's screams of agony echoed through the tributary only heard by the three of them who were alone.
"You don't deserve mercy!" Sakana shouted again, Aipaloovik clutched his chest and screamed one final time. Sakana fell to his knees and cried his father's body slumped next to him, the waters from the skies poured down on him and his father's corpse. It was over and he was now free.
The woman ran over to Sakana she held her cloak over the boy preventing him from getting even wetter she held him close. Maybe the demon god Atshen allowed the rain to fall saddened that one of his followers fell, Sakana was frightened and scarred for life. Although he wasn't sad, his father abused him for many years that Sakana finally endured that much abuse and ended his father's own life. He cried not for his father but for the torture that finally ended.
The recent death of Aipaloovik gave Sakana a sigh of relief. The woman and Sakana knelt there in the rain, he woke up the next morning cuddling with her. They were both dry as the sun beamed down on them.
Sakana's eyes blinked he looked down from the moon he held the dagger in his hand and held his other hand over the clay bowl. He sliced his wrist with the blade, blood poured out and immediately lowered it into the bowl. More blood poured into the bowl from his wrist, he bent water out of the cold air and healed himself after he placed the dagger on the ground.
Sakana stood up and shouted at the Blood Moon, "Atshen I have returned, give me strength and cleanse my mind from near insanity!"
All of a sudden, Sakana's veins were visible as they popped out, his nails seemed as if they grew longer and sharper. He continued to stand there arms wide open as he felt the surge of power course through his veins he felt stronger, faster, and more clever than the year before. The moon itself took a red hue, Atshen was pleased over the offering.
Auk's Moon as Sakana describes it is a red full moon that occurs annually during the wintertime.
"Yes nothing can st-" he was cut off, he took a glimpse behind him his hearing sharper than ever allowed him to have heard Kuma who came through the tall grasses. Then Rong Yan who shouted, "I knew it! Sakana you're a bloodbender!"
His eyes scanned around as he looked at the people who invaded his privacy in the distance. He saw his friends Unaraq, Tako, Sake, Gyomo, Kuma, Tanaraq, Aloi and Rong Yan appear from behind the tall grasses and reeds. He whispered to himself boring his eyes into Rong Yan, "You."
A voice filled his head it was eerie and soft it spoke to him, "Sakana...kill them all. I will grant you the power to be a force to be reckoned with. Tiandi's Avatar won't be able to stop you!" the voice coaxed him, Sakana believed this to be the voice of Atshen himself he sank into further insanity. He was chosen by the demon god to further the blessing of bloodbending.
"You're going down Sakana, bloodbending is forbidden!" shouted Rong Yan.
"No, it is you that is going down, Avatar! Bloodbending is a forgotten art and should remain that way," retorted Sakana.
"STOP!" yelled Kuma he had seen enough he ran toward Sakana to convince him to stop this madness and just come home like if nothing happened. He ran at Sakana shouting, "Sakana stop! This isn't you, you're not like this. Please st-" Kuma was cut off by Sakana who rose his left arm Kuma levitated in the air while Tanaraq and Unaraq among the others watched in horror. Rong Yan released a breath of fire from his mouth Sakana rose a shield of water from the tall grasses which he dried out after he removed the water from inside them.
The breath of fire was prevented from harming Sakana, Kuma screaming he was being crushed something was lodged in his throat which caused him to gurgle. Kuma ceased to squirm further blood protruded from his mouth. Sakana tossed the corpse of his best friend to the side Unaraq removed his machete and the others in anger went to battle alongside him. He used his mind to hold a tight grip on the entire group suddenly Rong Yan's friends fell silent.
"What did you do to them?" shouted Rong Yan.
"They'll wake up later, I prefer a fair fight Avatar. There will be ballads of how a bloodbender killed the Avatar," cackled Sakana.
Sakana removed water from the nearby tall grasses and weeds killing them all and shot a jet of water at Rong Yan that knocked him into the tributary behind them. The currents clashed amongst each other and smashed into Rong Yan's body. He used his waterbending to swim to the top, while his abilities in waterbending were still limited he knew this was a test.
Sakana striking first after he killed Kuma and knocked out Rong Yan's allies.
Tanaraq would be proud he didn't trust Sakana he would probably kill them, Rong Yan has never tried a water spout he used airbending while underwater and spun upward. He maintained the air spout that he used to hover above the water. Sakana used his bloodbending to pile the bodies of the unconscious atop each other. The winds picked up and there he saw an angry Rong Yan.
Sakana tossed Unaraq's unconscious body at Rong Yan, he instead used an air suction to control the weight of Unaraq and then an air cushion to break Unaraq's fall. Rong Yan conjured a suction of air that picked up Sakana and tossed him into the river. He dropped down and dragged Unaraq's unconscious body next to the others. He used airbending to drag their bodies somewhere safe until he killed Sakana.
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