• Chapter 1: Friendliest Friends, Bitter Rivals
    A storm was quickly brewing on the horizon of the little village that held home to a certain two young warriors, they were great friends but at the same time the greatest of rivals. They practiced against each other numerous times a day, using swords, bows, bending anything. One of them being the son of the king gave the full right to use the entire town as a battlefield; however, they had to pay for any damages or deaths. It was always a good fight, seeing earth and water bending always led to instant counter attacks from the same substance.
    The king’s son had found his friend out and about that day, probably shopping for new weapons he thought. “Hey Karrd!” he called out, launching several torso sized hunks of land at his friend. Karrd knew that whenever his name was said in that tone of voice that a challenge was being issued, so he gave the shop keeper a look that said ‘watch my stuff.’ and almost simultaneously bended the same amount of shards as there was stones, and sent them flying to penetrate the speeding earth. Within moments they were in close quarter combat sending ice and rock at each other, the horrible sound of clanking steel, most villagers fled; however, some were brave enough to stay in danger’s way just to make bets on who would win this little bout.
    Suddenly a loud, pompous voice rang out, “Karrd, Dyce, your presence has been requested in the council chamber, now.”
    At that voice, the villagers quickly withdrew their bets so that the man would not see the illegal gambling that was taking place. The two young men lowered their weapons, not their defenses, they both knew better, and stated in a depressed, monotone sound of recognition to that useless advisor of the king. The man turned, full of dignity, nose stuck up in the air like he was somebody important.
    On their way to the chamber to two men began to converse about their flaws in their battle, of course in most places they would be the best fighters had ever seen; however, they always sought for improvement. “I hate when Nowyse does that.” Karrd said mimicking Nowyse’s voice.
    “Does what? Interrupts the fights that your about to lose!” Dyce said lightly snickering.
    Karrd shot Dyce another one of his famous looks, his face read “a-ha, ha, ha. You know what I mean.
    They entered the massive, steel reinforced, double doors that led to the tiny castle of the village. The guards inside instantly saluted them, Dyce because he was the prince, and Karrd out of respect, or fear- he seemed to have that effect on people. They had no idea what this meeting was for. Dyce, being the prince had some knowledge of how to act during a session, but as for Karrd, he was clueless to the proper etiquette. They finally reached the council chamber after walking the labyrinth of the castle- indeed, it was a small castle, but it had many under-ground tunnels that lead to dead ends, just incase invaders ever made it that far. They entered, they were shocked, they did not let it show, the only person in the massive room was the king, and of course the advisor, but none considered him as a person.
    “You wanted to see us dad?” The prince said, seeing no reason to be formal, just to get on Nowyse’s nerves. Karrd; however, stood silently, trying to show some form of respect.
    Nowyse thought he might show the silent man how to actually respect the king, “You! You will bow before the ki-“He was cut off by a surprisingly soft toned voice, the voice of a battle-strained, elder. “That’s enough Nowyse, you are dismissed.” The king was countered by a familiar whining voice “But sire, surely you cannot expect me to leave you unprotected.” The king resented it when that line came about, for he was a wise king and a skilled warrior to boot.
    “I do, and I have ordered you to, understood.” The ruler said with a rising tone of anger in his voice. The advisor did not respond, he felt it would be unwise to do so; he just made his way to the door and closed it behind him. The king could finally speak in peace. “I apologize for the short notice meeting, boys. I’m afraid that there is some quite disturbing news. It seems that the fire nation has plans for our city, they believe it will be useful for their war effort.” The boys were quite surprised by this, Karrd could stand this silence of his no longer, and it wasn’t his style. “But why, this place is secluded, infact I’m surprised they even know it’s here.”
    A man even older than the king stepped out from behind the throne. “That is precisely why they want it.” This man was so feeble that you could tap him with a twig and half of his bones would shatter. “They will make a factory and start to mass their force’s power.” There was a seemingly long lasting silence as they all thought this over. This time it was Dyce who broke the stilled air. “Excuse me sir, but… who are you?”
    The old man seemed to jump as remembered that he forgot to introduce himself. “Oh! Pardon me lad, I am Stiir, I keep watch over the archives.” Karrd leaned slightly so that he could whisper to Dyce, “We have archives?”
    “Yeah, it’s just a little room; it’s not even the size of a wing of a library.”
    The king sensed that he needed to explain to the Karrd why Stiir was attending this meeting. “You are dismissed son. Karrd,”… “Yes sir.” He said as he coughed.
    The king made sure that his son was out of the room. “Tell me, how old are you now?” The king asked. The boy was unsure of why the question came up; however he did not hesitate to answer. “Twenty sir.” The king started more questions then. “Do you know why you were put into the local orphanage?”
    “No sir, as far as I know, that’s where I was born, was it not?” Karrd asked in a confused tone. The king let out a sigh of grief, “No lad, I’m afraid not. Stiir, perhaps it would be best to tell him about his father now?”
    “Indeed sire.” The older man said while motioning for the boy to follow him. As they made their way out of the chamber, a rat scurried across Karrd’s feet, and as soon as it did, he kicked it, sending it flying. “Crazy rat’s… gettin’ to be more and more of them every day.” The rat was still somehow alive; it started to follow behind the two males, as if it were listening or watching them.