For ever since humans lived on earth, two Tribes were known in the continent of Taiba. The Water Tribe, populating their welcoming bay; and the Fire Tribe, sprouting at the base of the volcano. The two Tribes had lived together in harmony, sharing their culture and ideals. But just when everything had seemed to go best, the Fire Nation attacked.
Not much is known about what caused the attack and what happened in the meantime, but the two Tribes have been in war ever since. From its start, so much has changed - and the Tribes don't have much resources left. From what is said, a victory may be imminent - it all depends on the cleverness and strategy of one or the other Nation. Which one will stand victorious and rule over Taiba ... only time will tell.
T A I B A
CHAPTER I - DELICATE CHOICES
Character list:
Kaelen Talas - 
Gerold Chigun - 
Rail - 
Halden - 
Otima - 
Tybalt - / 
Kaelen Talas, the village of Viensi
The young man carried a quiver to a shoulder and a skinny deer covered in blood on the other. For quite some time, hunting had been uneasy - merchants had been hunting inconsequently and unbalancing the very sensitive northern fauna. Fishing had not been any better, and that young man wondered how long his village would survive in that situation. His name was Kaelen, a skilled archer who had carried an apparently peaceful living on the coldest areas of the continent. The war had not only made him orphan, but also scattered the remains of what he called family throughout the world. Only his mother and two sisters were left, one of them a still a child.
He slowly walked his way through the snowy field to his village. He had known these surroundings as his home: the poor houses nearing the river, made of old, limy wood and pieces of leather. Leather was the only thing that was yet abundant to his village; for some reason, merchants preferred silk.
He knocked on the door twice, but awaited no reply before coming in. The inside was dim, such a relief to sight after the ever-white snow. Some utility items and kitchen accessories made of copper decorated the place. His house consisted of one room – where imagination drew a line between kitchen and bedroom. He rested the yet warm deer to the wooden table and, predicting his mother’s question, said “It was all I could catch”.
Not much happened as the night came, setting a blanket of humid blackness to the sky. The mother, the younger daughter Kayla, who he protected so much, and Kaelen himself now went to sleep – Kaelen in an improvised bed. His older sister had been off hunting and would only be back in some days. Tired from hunting, sleep came in to the blink of the eyes.
Kaelen woke up as the sound of his screaming sister echoed in the gelid fields – she asked for help. Kaelen wasted no time to grab his belongings and bow and haste outside. Running, he could see to the far, a group of people, ornamented red clothes, and his sister being carried into the woods. How could it be? Why would the Fire Nation want his sister? And how had they made their way through the Freedom Valley? Then a shiny light popped from the group of invaders, smoke surrounded them, and suddenly they disappeared. Kayla Talas had disappeared with them. His sister was gone.
Gerold Chigun, the centre of Magmer
The man woke up from a dream, panting. Confused and frightened, he looked at his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t in real danger, before thinking what he had just dreamed over. All was well – his room, slightly orange and neat, and the bright sunlight coming in. He was alone – as he had been for years since he left the nomad life.
Now Gerold Chigun breathed deeply and envisioned his dream once again in his head. In it, the Righteous God of the Fire Nation, Lord Fogo, was hand-in-hand with the goddess of the water Tribe – an heresy, he thought – but who attended to the name of Agua. The idea of the two enemy gods not fighting each other frightened him, making him tell himself it was only a dream. He could recall yet a last thing from the dream. The one thing that scared him so much as to make him wake up. The gods spoke, in a crystalloid and extremely musical unison: “End of thy war draws nearer, and the one wish that started it shall arise once again – bringing pain, destruction, death. Thy war end should, otherwise the consequential could be ludicrous”. The voices of the gods were followed by brutal scenes: tidal waves raging against land and making what was once island, sea; thunderstorms raging even the most pacific plains; the gruesome volcano in a catastrophic eruption. No, it could not be! The Salamando volcano, being the guardian of the Fire tribe for so long! An eruption would mean such a great disaster that the Fire Tribe would not survive! He cared too much about his nation to let it die. He had made a decision: he’d fight at the war.
Who could have foreseen, that lively blond child born between the many nomads that lived harmoniously on the Copper Plains, would become a soldier? But it was what was right: he had to defend his nation and family from the evils of the Water Tribe.
He decided to skip his morning exercises that morning, which had built him a muscular body; grabbed his sickle and belongings, and went straight to the army headquarters somewhere in the amplitude of that enormous city. A huge, fearsome building made of orange bricks rose from the ground, as if watching for the rest of the city. He went through the agitation of people coming in and out of the big gates, and walked straight to a delicate lady, supposedly the receptionist.
“The military training costs 1,000 coins a month. And I do warn you: it’s very strict. Enlisting as a soldier is free, though. What shall you choose?”
Finding himself unable to pay the quantity even if he sold himself as a slave, he chose to enlist as a soldier only. He was given a scrap of paper, where he signed his name. The lady then spoke again:
“We’ve got two missions you could choose from. You could go on an expedition to the desert, which is quite safe, but monotonous. Still, who knows what you will find there. Or, you could go to the divide to fight the water troops at the war front – notice though, how this is an extremely dangerous choice and we are not responsible for your lack of care; but you will be given a military weapon if you decide so. Which one do you choose?”
Chigun found himself in a dilemma.
Rail, the outskirts of Magmer
That house had been an easy target. Its owners had been imprudent enough to not be there for a week, and yet leave their gold and jewels inside. That enormous luxurious house so misplaced in between the poorest houses surrounding Magmer. Rail’s sack was now all too heavy, all too shiny. A pity though, how not even half of it would remain – he owed money to an influential group of outlaws. Not willing to risk his head, the thing he valued above all else, he went straight to the city’s most ludicrous alleys, ways of which he knew as brilliantly as nobody. Stepping through the disorganised whereabouts of the zone, finding all sorts of freaks on his way, he carried the bag of goodies, making sure nobody guessed what was inside, or it’d mean trouble. As he passed down one narrow street, some eyes recognised him, instantly joining in a circle around him. Slowly, almost calmly, he knew what to do: got hold of the sack of looted treasure and threw it to their reach. “That’s all I owe you, I hope to be left alone now”, he said firmly, and coughed a couple times after – a practice that had not been the first. One in the group of outlaws, apparently the leader and the meaner of them, replied after examining the content of the bag carefully “So that will be it. Now, leave my part of the town and don’t bother me again”.
All had succeeded fine, thankfully. If only Rail could write, he’d write a book of all the amazing stories he had had, living in poverty and being exploited by people in the same condition as him. Struggling to make his life daily was not an easy task. He slowly walked off into the dizzy crossways… until he heard something. Noise, people screaming, guards. He was then surprised by a group of teenagers – thieves – carrying a golden necklace and running from the guards who made their way through the dirty roads. Rail could observe the necklace only enough to notice its remarkable configuration: it had the emblem of Fire, the same one used by the Fire Emperor and by the Fire Church on their rituals. It must have belonged to a member of nobility, Rail concluded. Then he saw one of the guards take an arrow from his quiver: an arrow surrounded by fire, which for some reason refused to burn the quiver or the shooter. The arrow was then stretched onto the bow, and shot straight to the leading thief’s arm – a pecfect short – and his arm burnt in an encompassing flame for about two seconds. The thief screamed in pain, letting the necklace fall to the ground.
In the meanwhile, Rail was making a decision: should he run from the soldiers and avoid getting into trouble, or should he risk his dark skin and try to make the necklace his? He had to think fast.
Halden, the seaport of Blaiden
Halden stepped on the sandy beach, and felt dizzied by the firmness of steady ground. For such a long time he had been out at the sea with the rest of the crew, the idea of a floor that didn’t move to the waves had almost been forgotten. His companions apparently felt the same: one by one, they stepped out of the ship and onto the water down below, refreshing themselves before swimming their way to the shore. Blaiden’s seaport had been as busy as he remembered it: people, products, buildings and ships crowded the shoreline to a point where the horizon was left out of sight. It was claustrophobic, Halden thought to himself. Yet it was necessary – deer meat was sold for the highest prices here.
Halden took his land-days to remind himself of how life was outside of a trading ship. His companions substituted the family he’d left in Viensi. He missed the scent of pine and the childhood memories he had of the snowy village. He still remembered the day he enlisted to become a sailor, leaving his parents’ care for a life of adventure.
Taking some time to wander through the multiple and varied stores and markets of Blaiden, his payment bought him some needed personal items, and also a few unneeded ones. But yet his income was too little to guarantee him a room at an inn – he slept in the ship. Not that he complained about it – he knew his family would be in worse situation far to the north. On the last day on land, as a tradition, the captain called the entire crew for a meeting at the deck, which was usually followed by a night of celebration and rum. When dusk rang the sky into an orange frame, all seamen made their way back to the beach.. they’d miss dear land. Yet the ambient wasn’t all of melancholy; they knew they had missed the sea as well.
Halden took his sit at the deck table and patiently waited for the others to come. Some laughed, some drank, and some played cards. The interior of the room was lit by candle lights, and they gave the oil-brown wooden walls a warm and welcoming look. Eventually the last sailor came in, and the Captain spoke:
“Hello, brothers and friends, tonight is a special night. Tomorrow we depart once again, only to touch land on our destiny.”
The Captain, experienced as him only, started telling a story about a marine that once got too sick to sail. “He stayed on land for weeks, and one night he woke up and spoke nothing: he went to the shore, coughing and in pain; paid for a boat, and rowed his way far onto the midnight horizon. The man had the whole night to watch the moon, but he didn’t see another sun rise. That man’s spirit, sailors, still lives in the ocean.”
It took minutes before the sailors could recompose from their tears. The usual sad story had evidently surpassed the last one told. When the moods had started to calm down, the Captain took a deep breath and spoke:
“Brothers, it is now that we decide our destiny. I was offered two jobs, and both are particularly challenging; but I know we can do it. Unfortunately, the war knocks to our door, and if we don’t respond they break in.” He took a gulp to his mug before continuing “So we must choose: either we go after a product at the Fire City of Pirona, where with luck we won’t be identified; or we go to the north, and work a way to catch one or two Ice Golems and take them to Mareum. Those creatures may freeze an unguarded man with a blink, as I’ve been told. Both jobs are risky, but on the other hand, quite rewarding. I promise, friends, that after this job I’ll offer you a vacation time for you to do whatever you want. So what do you say?” The sailors started whispering.
Otima, a pub in Mareum
Otima pushed the wooden door open and a wooden bell ringed. A dim establishment, as he preferred. Some bad-looking subjects sat to the back and seemed to ignore his coming in. The bartender quickly offered him a drink, to which he refused. He had to keep a sober mind to what was going to follow. The others shall arrive anytime. As it was said: five other men and a woman walked in altogether. The men smiled, and the woman seemed joyful for what was about to come. They chose a table where little would disturb them, and the meeting began.
“As I’ve previously warned you, I’m leading an expedition to the Emerald Forest, in the name of the Water Tribe.” Otima said, and continued: “Considering you’re all here, I’m inclined to think you’re accepting my invitation.” All the warriors nodded positively. “Great, now we have to set the plan right.” An extensive conversation followed, interrupted only by the bartender bringing in a drink or asking if they wanted anything. Otima explained in details the aim of the expedition, to explore, and ultimately claim the Emerald Forest to the Water nation. What beats or riches lied inside, he had little information of: all that was mentioned in the library was the density of the vegetation, which made access so hard. Apparently, every expedition to the Emerald Forest had not returned home.
The group made sure to set right every detail of the quest about to start: from minimal details as camping and provisions to the route to be taken – and that’s when opinions diverged:
“We have to choose between the northern route and the southern one. The northern one should be safer, but it will take longer to reach our destiny. The southern one is the shortest way, but it may pose a threat – the Fire Tribe is said to have established a base there.”
“If the group is going through the southern route, I’m not going.” Abruptly said the woman, the only mage in the group. “It is simply a risk I’m not willing to take.”
One of the men contested “But you’re the only mage in the group! You could come in extremely handy!”, to which the lady responded “Either the southern route or me, you choose.” Confused, everyone looked upon the leader of the group, waiting for an answer.
Tybalt, residential zone of Mareum
Tybalt woke up lazily. The sun shone in through the round window, making the inside of his room light blue. He took his time before going to the kitchen, where the rest of his family was having something to eat.
It didn’t take long before his father started, his mouth full: “So, Balty, when will you join the military. You know your grandfather and I wish you to enlist – our family has a long lineage of valiant knights and archers.. I just don’t yet understand why you keep playing with that thing you call magic”.
Tybalt was already used to the conservationist militarian father he had, but he could barely cope with that blabbering any longer. It seemed all his family conspired for him to enlist and forget about his magical abilities – a thing he’d refused until the very end. It constantly popped to him he was old enough to leave home and carry a living.
“Your brother is now probably at the divide standing the very ground of the Nation you live, while you avoid the topic like nothing’s happening.” His father continued. It seemed now that joining the military wouldn’t even be that bad – he’d at least get rid of his restrictive father. Streams of ideas flowed through his mind, as he finished breakfast and went outside. The sky shone in absolute blue from above – it seemed like it’d not rain that day. He held his necklace with a hand, searching for advice and protection. The amulet that had been given him by his mother – his real mother – and that he refused to take off his neck as it were part of himself. Tybalt felt, for some reason, that he could feel the amulet empathise with him – consoling the anger he was feeling for his father. He knew the amulet would never replace his mother, but would work in the absence of her. He spent hours sitting at some rocky formation near the shoreline – from which he enjoyed watching the movement of ships down there. It was here that he practised magic, on his own.
He grabbed a small rock, and concentrated on it. He thought of ice, of very cold ice… and the rock started turning blue. At some moment, the rock seemed to glow in gelid magic. He tried throwing it to his water pouch... and as soon as the rock touched the water, the liquid froze deep and instantaneously. It was magic that froze the water – magic cast onto the stone, which now had solidified into the water. It was magic, magic he possessed, magic he’d not let go of – no matter how much his father disapproved of it.
Decided, he stood up, walked straight to his house, stepped in, and said to his father: “I’ve made my decision.”
Chapter 1 – Summary
- Kaelen came back from hunting. As he was asleep, his sister Kayla was kidnapped, and he didn’t wake up in time to save her. What will he do next?
- Gerold had a very frightening dream involving a catastrophic end to the war. He therefore decided to enlist and to fight for the Fire Tribe. Now, he has to choose from a pacific journey to the desert or the potentially dangerous but rewarding choice of fighting at the war front.
- Rail looted a house to pay an amount he owed to a group of outlaws. On his way back, he found a group of thieves running away with a valuable necklace – and he should choose between risking his head and getting the necklace, or running away and avoiding danger.
- Halden finished another job as crew of a trading ship. He had time to rest, and before sailing again, the sailors had a meeting to decide the next job: going north and capturing the highest amount of Ice Golems possible, or going southwest and passing as Fire Tribe to look for a requested product.
- Otima is going to lead an expedition to the Emerald forest, where he intends to explore the region in search for riches. When discussing the plan, his group got to a forkway: either they go through a shorter but dangerous way, and leave the only mage behind, or they opt for the northern, longer route which is less threatening.
- Tybalt is tired of his father trying to convince him to join the military and fight at the war. After a small demonstration of his magical abilities, he makes up his mind about his future and goes straight home to tell his father. Which will be his decision?
All questions will be answered on Chapter 2!
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