Child of Time (10 page)

Kiyan decided silence was enough of an agreement.

Jeremy broke the silence. “Kiyan can you show me how
to do that?”

“I don't know, Corban did it.” Kiyan tried to shift
the blame a little.

“It’s true I did trick you into showing your full
strength but I meant no harm. Are you willing to try one other
thing?” Corban tried to change the subject.

“Like what?” Kiyan was a little suspicious now.

“Firebending, I think you are a firebender.” Corban
explained. Turning he took a bending form that was new to everyone.
Shifting his position suddenly a torrent of flame erupted from his
arm and flicked out over the lake.

“You’re a firebender too?” Jeremy was incredulous.
Kiyan wasn’t sure whether it was over the discovery that Corban was
a firebender or the insinuation that Kiyan was.

Remembering the last times he had fire bent, Kiyan
closed his eyes and focused on the heat at his core. Opening his
eyes he channeled it into his hands then jumped back as his hands
burst into flame. His jacket was singed and his fingers still
glowed.

Corban wasn't that surprised when Kiyan changed
colors to a ruby red then burst into flame. Throwing back his head,
Corban laughed more than he had in a couple of years. “I'm sorry
Kiyan,” he was finally able to make out, “I must have looked just
like that when I first fire bent. I would have warned you but I
hadn’t expected more than a few sparks.”

Kiyan didn't see anything funny in it even though
Corban seemed certain he would see the humor in it in a couple of
years. Remember in the other colors he saw in Kiyan he decided that
would be a topic for another day. “Kiyan you don't have to be
afraid of burning yourself. You are pretty much fireproof. Now your
clothes are another matter. I will get a friend of mine from Samtan
to send some fireproof material for your clothes from now on. To
make his point he burst into flame from head to foot. A moment
later he silenced the flames and didn't have a single mark on his
clothes.”

“Wow that's amazing!” Fred exclaimed.

“We should return to the village soon,” Corban
suggested, “when I get back to the village I will look for a place
where we can train in peace without anyone accidentally getting
hurt.”

The small group made their way back to the village.
The rest of the day was as Kiyan remembered it the first time.

--------

After Corban had spoken to his tailor and given him
the required measurements and instruction he set about finding a
place to live. He wanted something that wouldn't draw a lot of
attention but would be big enough to train in. Something with a few
personal design touches he had invented. Something surrounded with
all the elements. As an empath of some talent he also wanted
something where he wouldn't be exposed to the raw emotions of
people. Feeling the air around him he reached out with it and
mapped the immediate area. Not feeling anything other than some
caves deep below the village he got up and began walking toward the
edge of the village. Kiyan was a waterbender so something near the
lake would be preferable. When he reached the lake he scanned the
area again. Not seeing anything suitable he reached out farther.
Then he felt it. The waterfall. It was a curtain of water over a
half mile of the cliff face. He felt behind it and felt the empty
space hidden by the falling water. A natural cave created by the
overhang. It was perfect.

Lifting into the air Corban flew out across the lake.
Using a blast of air he parted the falls and passed through. Behind
the falls was an empty area half the size of the village.
Immediately plans for a home, a training hall, hanging walkways and
a virtual paradise sprang into his head. He was a life mage but it
would take him months to grow what he was planning. He didn't have
that much time. Tonight all he would have time to grow was a simple
dwelling.

He prepared to start the task by reaching out and
connecting with the plant life around him. He began feeding energy
into the vegetation. They responded and began changing, growing
into the shapes he willed upon them. Soon a platform was hanging
from the wall. It would be a long night, landing on the platform he
began to meditate and prepared for the task.

Feeling something from the corner of his mind he
opened his eyes and nearly leaped backwards. There was a shadow
that was moving. Focusing on it he began to see its form. It was a
man, not one that Corban could recognize but still a man. Waiting
to see what his move would be Corban was quiet.

“Greetings, my name is Prometheus but you can call me
Theo.”

The name rang a bell but Corban couldn't remember
where he had heard it. Prometheus was an ascended that much he
knew. Relaxing at this realization he stood.

“Forgive me but you left your mind unguarded and I
caught a glimpse of what you are planning.” Theo moved through the
air and landed on the platform with Corban. “I have nothing better
to do and was wondering if I might help you. Together we can have
it grown tonight.” Corban must have left his mind unguarded again
because Theo added. “Who I am is unimportant, I offer my services
on the condition that you don't speak of this to anyone, for
Kiyan's sake.”

Raising his guards, Corban thought it strange that
Theo would ask in the name of Kiyan but he agreed.

Corban sent the plans to Theo and they were soon
engrossed with the task at hand. Corban was amazed at the skill
with which Theo plied his craft. Soon the framework for the place
was hanging in the air, the walls were growing into place and the
living woodwork that ornamented the place had progressed beyond
Corban's skill. He set to work growing veins into the buildings
that carried water through the walls. He felt Theo tap into the
network and grow complex systems throughout the place for various
purposes besides his original intent of fire suppression. After all
he was a firebender planning on living in a wooden house. The
improvements onto Corban's original plans were various and some
were minor like a plant growth that warmed water for different
purposes or the plants that glowed brightly and lit the cave in the
night. Others were more elaborate like the hanging walk that clung
to the face of the cliff. It didn’t stand out in any way from the
cliff face but was a thing of beauty up close. Another was the
stairs between levels, stairs only in that they shared the same
function, different in that they were more tubes were flowing water
and some advanced physics negated gravity enough that one could
levitate between levels effortlessly.

Observing Theo, Corban was perplexed by what little
he could sense from him. Focusing closely he realized he had seen
exactly the same thing when he had observed Kiyan. The myriad of
faint colors but this time a deep green was forefront. Corban
recalled a legend about a powerful ascended. He had been one of the
first ascended if not the first. He had been lost at the conclusion
to the shadow war many years ago. Until now no one had known what
had become of this being. Now this once lost ascended was helping
Corban build a training ground for a boy in a small village on
Thane.

----------

Kiyan felt the absence of Theo after he went to bed.
Soon he felt something unlike anything he had felt in his life. He
felt life flowing through him channeled through Theo but some of it
was through Kiyan. He felt the life in his house and in the whole
town. Bathed in its power he slipped into sleep.

In the next few days training began in earnest. The
ceremonies that marked the coming of age over the youths fell into
a routine. Most days were spent learning how to bend the elements.
Draxos and Deep Current soon joined Corban as instructors. Together
the boys learned the basics of bending and progressed to more
advanced techniques. Kiyan was also being given training on how to
use his telepathic powers by Carlisle. Despite the fact that Kiyan
was learning all the schools he managed to maintain the same pace
of learning of his fellows.

Kiyan reveled in the manipulation of the world around
him. Not all the training was in the pure use of bending. Much of
the training they received was in the form of an understanding of
the universe that they lived in. If one understood how things
worked then it was with little difficulty that one could make these
same things work for them. The true limitations of a bender was his
understanding of these things. It was one thing to be able to make
water move but it was another to know how water reacted to changes
in its environment. Knowledge of that allowed the bender to alter
the properties of water to compensate.

One such thing was learning that the boiling point of
water changed with pressure. This property could be exploited
allowing the bender to reduce or increase the pressure of his
water. Effects like freezing the water became possible simply
through altering the pressure and allowing some of the water to
vaporize. The remaining water would freeze as the heat was
extracted by the vaporizing water.

The art of cooling water could be further exploited
by reducing the water to temperatures below its freezing point.
This super cooled water would freeze the instant it was disturbed.
This technique was most valuable if you managed to make your duel
opponent step in a puddle of this instant ice. They would become
frozen in place giving you an advantage.

Kiyan was able to alter the heat energy stored in
matter directly with his fire bending. This gave him an advantage
in thawing any ice that trapped him. Jeremy and Deep Current had
found that this required an alteration in any fighting style
whenever they faced him. The same was true for any water bender
dueling a fire bender. A fire bender was stronger for this skill
yet if they faced a waterbender of sufficient skill they were at a
different disadvantage. If the water bender was able to bend water
vapor they could shield themselves. Fire was efficiently snuffed
out by the inflammable gas.

An air bender could achieve a similar effect by
simply redirecting the air that carried the flames. Against a vapor
bending water bender an air bender was at a disadvantage because
they could not control the water vapor as well as the conventional
gases.

Earth benders were fairly capable of defense against
both fire and water but found themselves as a loss against
airbenders. Fire was deflectable like a straight on fire or air
attack but a skilled airbender could compress air to such a degree
that it could deflect earth projectiles. This compression when
released in a directional manner could shatter stone with ease. Die
to this ability to alter the density of air the battle field was no
longer constrained by gravity.

Corban taught Kiyan several techniques for using
fields of compressed air around him as shields against strikes from
other elements. Only ice benders and earth benders had better
armor. Fire benders made up for this lack by exploiting a
firebending attribute. They were usually capable of faster movement
than benders of the other elements. They could dodge attacks that
most others had to absorb. Fire benders were also able to nullify
the effect of air benders compressing air by taking advantage of
the heat generated by the compression.

These training filled days stretched on until a
couple months had passed.

Chapter Six: Anomaly

Carlisle sensed the new day dawning along with the
minds of the village awakening from sleep. He reviewed the last
couple months. He smiled to himself as he remembered how fast Kiyan
was learning to control his powers. Kiyan was learning almost like
he was remembering some latent memory and already had the muscle
memory, just needed to activate it. Kiyan was manipulating earth
and air with some skill but he excelled with fire and water. Fred’s
training with Draxos was coming along nicely. He was already able
to manipulate the earth like it was an extension of himself. Jeremy
and Deep Current was having the time of their lives. Jeremy was
just getting the hang of changing the states of water. He had
already become quite skilled with the physical manipulation of
water.

-----------

Corban was up already preparing for the day’s
lessons. Having Deep Current and Draxos to help made teaching earth
and water much easier. Few of the villagers even knew about the
complex behind the waterfall and as far as Corban was concerned the
fewer the better. Fewer still were the people that had come to
visit the hanging village as it was called.

“Forgive me for the interruption,” DC as Deep Current
was called asked. “Do you plan to continue instructing Jeremy in
ice bending today?”

“That is what I planned unless you would rather
instruct on something else instead,” Corban replied.

“I observed him yesterday and I think he is soon to
have learned sufficiently the ice forming arts. Perhaps he can move
on to vapor bending in a couple days.” DC was extremely observant
and if he said so then Corban was sure Jeremy was ready. Officially
Corban was in charge of the training but in truth they all shared
the decisions equally.

Draxos joined them by bending a tunnel from the cliff
side near them. “What of Fred?” Addy has linked with her sister
Dryad and has been transferring knowledge and skills as fast as
Fred can learn them. I merely offer guidance and direction for him
to practice.” Corban reflected on the fact that the thoran was far
too modest.

Corban thought for a moment. “Perhaps today we can
practice life bending for a change. Both Kiyan and Fred have shown
talent in that field and a bit more practice would be good for them
now.”

-----------

Kiyan opened his eyes to greet the day, it was going
to be a good day and he could already feel the warmth of the sun on
the earth. He jumped out of bed and slipped into his new fireproof
clothes. They were of some sort of durable leather like material,
soft and supple yet waterproof and fireproof. Corban’s tailor had
outdone himself this time. It fit to perfection and was
comfortable. Kiyan could sense James and Marisa waking up as well.
Breakfast would be ready in a bit. Time for the morning swim.