#hellchan

“Hurry up, loser.” Jaemin panted, “If we don’t get to the ship on time, we’ll miss the sunrise.”

“What do you mean? The ships not about to go anywhere” Mark reasoned, looking at his cousin confusedly. Before he could even take his next step, Jaemin pelted his face with a small snowball.

“No, but the sun is. It only rises once a day and I am not waking up early twice in a row just because you made us late the first time.” Sometimes, Mark wondered why he chose to hang out with this loser outside of family gatherings. Oh right, it was because no one else lived in their village.They continued walking as the old, abandoned ship came into view.

About 80 years ago, a bunch of fire nation merchants got lost on their way to Kyoshi Island, bypassing the southern air temple and ended up in a small bay in the southern water tribe, where their ship froze into the icy water.  The elders don’t let children come here because the ice on the lake is thin, but also because they believe that the crew still haunts the ship. If the elders knew they were out here, they’d be sentenced to spend the rest of their lives shearing buffalo yaks. Jaemin stopped short just in front of the ship, and Mark thought it was the perfect opportunity to return the favour, using his foot to hurl a snowball into Jaemin’s butt.

“Hey! I swear next time your clumsy arse slides across the ice, I won’t even heal you” Jaemin threatened. Mark felt small pulse of regret, because usually when he got hurt, Jaemin would heal him and their parents would never find out what they got up to. He couldn’t just go and ask his dad to get rid of the bruises and not explain to him how they got there.

The pair walked up the gangplank and around the cabin to the other side, being careful not to lean over the crumbling handrails. Mark breathed a sigh of awe as the morning sun gently rose over the ocean, giving off a pale golden glow which reflected majestically off the ice. Nowhere else in the southern lands could a sunrise be observed with such a breathtaking view, and mark believed that the fire benders that lost their lives on this very ship were the reason why the sun was attracted to it. He recalls when he and Jaemin would be sat around the table for family dinners, listening to his uncles stories of the time he spent as a hunter in the isolated villages of the true pole, where it was dark for half of the year, and light for the other. Lucky we live here, he thought. Their village was on the coast of the southern water tribe, far enough north for sunrises and some seasonal difference in temperature, about 3 degrees warmer in summer.

“You know, I’d never thought of it as lucky that we live here, but this view is one good thing to come out of this place” Mark said to Jaemin, still lost in thought. Its not like the south pole was a bad place to live, there just wasn’t much going on. It was snow upon snow upon ice, and if you’ve seen a bit, you’ve seen it all. Only because the village was so boring were they up here now, on a dangerous ship- the one place they were forbidden to go- longing to go somewhere with lush forests, sandy beaches, rugged mountains; they craved adventure.

Mark absentmindedly shifted where he stood, leaning to grab hold of the guard rails around the stern of the ship. That was a bigmistake. The rail he was gripping suddenly gave way, the rusted bolts freeing it from where it was once firmly planted, falling with a crack onto the thin sheet of ice below. Without Mark even knowing what he was doing, he extended his arms as if to cushion the fall that was sure to kill him anyway, but instead his back slammed against the cabin of the ship behind him. It was as if a strong gust of wind had propelled him backwards and prevented him from falling.

“I’m not sure if this cold is making me hallucinate that I saw what I just saw,” Said Jaemin, looking concernedly at Mark, “but we should get back to the village before the elders notice we’re here. This ship isn’t safe for your clumsy arse”. Jaemin gripped Marks wrist firmly and started back towards the gangplank, pulling Mark who was still too in shock to make a move on his own along with him.

After having regained his equilibrium, Mark started to feel a sort of negative energy seeping out from the ice. This had always been a talent of Mark’s, when they were ten years old he had told Jaemin that he felt like he had some kind of connection to the spirits; he always got strange feelings when in close proximity to spiritual activity. Of course, Jaemin had told Mark to stop being silly, the spirits never involved themselves with humans. Over the years however it became harder to deny, Mark always got butterflies when an unseasonal blizzard hit the area, and after having spent a summer in the northern tribe learning advanced healing techniques Jaemin learnt that some injuries just couldn’t be caused by natural means.

Over a mound of snow that barricaded the view of the village from the ship, they observed what looked like a regular penguin waddling toward them, only that it couldn’t be. The creature was twice the size of a regular penguin, and a soft blue glow emanated off its otherwise translucent body. Just as Mark and Jaemin were about to ask each other if they knew what it was, it spotted them. The negative feeling in Mark’s stomach amplified tenfold, and a streak of pale blue light shot rapidly in their direction. This was definitely not a regular penguin. It had 4 eyes and housed rows of sharp teeth between its small but sharp looking beak. It was flapping wildly and aiming right at Jaemin. He luckily reacted quickly enough, and a jet of water shot up out of the ice to form a kind of shield between himself and the ghost penguin. It was  not enough however to repel the full force of the creature, and Jaemin was flung sideways, skidding to lay limply on the ice ten metres away. It immediately turned its attention to Mark.

Now Mark’s immediate reaction would normally be to try and restrain it with water tendrils or something of the sort, but his instincts unconsciously told him that this thing probably didn’t like fire. The penguin was a mere few feet away when Mark was finally able to snap out of his thoughts and act. He raised his fists and pushed them outwards from his chest and, much to Mark’s surprise, bursts of white hot flames shot out. By the time the flames subsided, the creature was thoroughly disgruntled and had clearly decide to retreat, zipping away from the boys to slide away on its burnt belly.

“I think it’s time we discussed something I’ve suspected for a long time now” stated Taeyong, the village elder and Mark’s father, as he held his skilled hands over Jaemin’s body on the table. Following the fight with the penguin creature, Jaemin was left rather bruised and weak and Mark had to support him over his shoulder to walk back to visit their parents. When they’d entered the council building, Taeyong was immediately up with a worried expression on his face, coming to attend to his nephew. Thankfully, Taeyong was the best healer in the south pole, except for maybe Jaemin who showed a lot of promise, and managed to have him back in commission within minutes. Mark on the other hand could barely mend a paper cut within an hour. As Taeyong was working on Jaemin, Mark explained all about their early morning adventure to the ship, the terrifying ghost penguin, and Mark’s strange abilities, ready to face the consequences of breaking the rules, but the guilt of disappointing his father still weighed heavily on Mark’s mind.

“Thanks, uncle Taeyong” Jaemin thanked, standing up to stretch his long limbs. Even now, at only 17 and 18 years old they were both significantly taller than Taeyong. “but more important than me, I think Mark might be the next avatar”.

“Don’t be silly! The avatar is supposed to protect the world, I can’t even protect you from a silly penguin…it can’t be me!” Mark cried, riddled with doubt despite all of the evidence.

“Come on think about it Mark! Avatar Taeil the air nomad died 18 years ago and no one’s heard from the new one since. Going by the avatar cycle, the new one should be an 18 year old boy from the water tribes, and there aren’t too many of those”. Jaemin was right, the world had been without an avatar for 18 years too long.

“You may not remember this Mark, but when you were 4 years old, when you were told to blow the candles off your cake, you blew so hard you took out the fire burning in the hearth on the other side of the room.” Taeyong informed him. “The other elders and I had suspected you would be the next avatar ever since then. I also have reason to believe there is an imbalance in the spirit world. Something is causing them to stir, and if the issue isn’t rectified they could wreak some serious havoc”. So he knew. Both Mark and Jaemin’s parents, Taeyong and Jaemin’s mother being brother and sister, and a quiet, bookish man named Jungwoo who was the youngest of the elders had known all this time.

“But if I’m the avatar, why would my other powers only surface now? Don’t most avatars start training when they’re still children?” Mark questioned his father, as if he could possibly know the answer.

“I expect it is because the world needs you now. You must go to it.” Taeyong breathed a sigh as though this statement physically hurt him. “You two should go collect any personal belongings you will need for your journey. I will inform the other elders and have some of the villagers prepare a ship and supplies. You will set off for the earth kingdom this afternoon. When you arrive you should head to the great city of Ba Sing Sei to find an earth bending master. Only once you have mastered all the elements can you put the spirits at ease, as is your duty as the avatar.”

“Wait. The two of us? Why does Jaemin have to be involved in this?”

“Well, you’re not about to travel the world alone. Jaemin is a skilled bender and healer, you still have much to learn about your native element from him. Besides, he’d go insane here alone. So long as you are together, you will both survive.” Taeyong said with a sense of finality, and ushered them out of the council building and towards their houses.

They stepped into Mark’s house first, gathering a few extra clothes and some animal skins for sleeping. Mark didn’t normally carry any personal effects, but as he turned to leave his room something caught his eye. Glistening from a shelf above his bed was a small silver ring, engraved with the emblem of the water tribe. It had been his grandfathers, who had then passed it on to Taeyong, who had gifted it to Mark after he’d learnt the water whip. Mark slipped it onto his finger and left, collecting Jaemin from the kitchen where’d he’d been talking to his aunt and heading next door.

At Jaemin’s they also didn’t grab much, only some clothes and Jaemin’s spear. That was Jaemin’s prized possession. At first glance it looks like an unsuspecting staff, but a latch near the top allows Jaemin to flick it forward, and about 5 extra inches and a sharp spearhead emerges. A year ago it was taller than Jaemin, but now it only reaches up to his chin, seeing as the tip is hardly ever extended. It was carved with delicate images of flowing waves and fish swimming beneath them, in the middle was a depiction of two koi fish, swimming at each others tails in a circle around a round, full moon. It was also a gift, from Jaemin’s extended family (his father hails from the northern tribe) whom he stayed with when he went North for a while. That had been the most boring few months of Mark’s life, but at least Jaemin had fun and extended his skills far beyond what he could here in the village. Jaemin never usually went anywhere without it, and perhaps if he had had it this morning’s events may not have happened. After collecting the essentials, the pair said emotional goodbyes to their mothers, who couldn’t bear to see them off on a ship and would rather pretend they were just going outside to throw snow at each other as they had when they were children. It was midday by the time they finally headed off towards the bay to board their ship.

As they approached the jetty where their ship had been docked, they seen both their fathers come in to view, along with Jungwoo and some other villagers that they recognised. They were met with several hand shakes and claps on the shoulder, as the men took their stuff and put it on the ship with the other supplies, a series of “good luck”s and “congratulations” being hurled their way. They walked to the edge where their fathers stood. Jungwoo stepped forward first, holding a large book out to Mark.

“This book has complete maps of every region and details the types of flora and fauna native to each area, including which ones are edible or have other uses. I think you would find it quite useful” Jungwoo explained shyly, stepping back and looking down as soon as the book was securely in Mark’s hands.

“Thank you”, he responded “I will use it well”.

At last he turned to look at his father, who was trying and failing to conceal the tears threatening to burst out of his eyes. All at once he was swept up in a tight hug, with Jaemin being pulled in beside him, and Jaemin’s dad coming to surround them all in his vast arms. For a moment, Mark stayed, wishing it could last longer, before they finally broke away and jumped onto the deck of their boat.

“Please… just be safe, and do what is right” was Taeyong’s final statement as they pushed away from the jetty with a bit of a water bending boost and started northeast, towards the earth kingdom.