Child of Time (7 page)

‘This is ridiculous.” Kiyan mutter to himself. “I
must be losing my mind. I'm just a kid. I'm not an ascended. I'm
not even important.”

Finally arriving at the lake Kiyan slipped in and
began swimming into deeper water. Closing his eyes he felt the
ripples around him and Ray. Counteracting them hadn't felt this
easy yesterday. Letting one ripple escape he watched it and fed
energy into it as it slid across the placid lake, letting it grow
and shift until it looked like a wave now more than a ripple. He
could feel the contours of the lake as the wave moved in the water.
Feeling a disturbance and then a counteracting force he knew he had
found Jeremy. He stopped bending and let Ray get to the business at
hand.

After the bath he climbed out of the water and bent
the water away from him effectively drying off himself. The
principle of causing the water to levitate proved slow so he bent
just a little energy into the water. There was a feeling of warmth
before he was dry. Feeling much better after his bath Kiyan
returned home. Feeling even better after smelling breakfast, he
shook off the mornings events and prepared himself for the day.

After breakfast the trip to the center only took a
few minutes. Kiyan was aware of the presence of several villagers
at the building. Upon entering he saw Kendra, Carlisle, Joshua and
a few other people sitting in the room. Surprise set in as he saw
Draxos and a water elf, or that is what he thought the other person
was that was, sitting beside Draxos.

Joshua started the ceremony by saying that the
village was fortunate to have so many young gifted people living
among them. That it was the duty of the village to help these young
boys grow into men that would use their gifts wisely. And above
all, that Kiyan, Fred and Jeremy be welcomed into the village for
who they are.

His words rang in Kiyan's ears even as he sensed the
people in the room look at him with awe and unconscious fear. The
fear was like a sour note in a song. It was an underlying current
in the emotions of most in the room. He had the distinct sensation
that if anything were to happen the undercurrent would flash to the
surface.

Kiyan felt a pit form in his stomach, a bigger one
than was there already. He didn't want to be feared, or looked at
as something other than what he felt like, he was a twelve year old
boy. Not some special person, in fact he wished that last three
days hadn't happened at all.

Lost in his thoughts, Kiyan felt the presence of
Prometheus and the Keeper. He watched Prometheus form near him.
They were worried about something. Kiyan watched as his father
reached out a hand at his shoulder with ever slowing movement.
Space around Kiyan began to warp and bend as he felt a rush of
energy flow throughout his body. The words Joshua was speaking
became drawn out and twisted sounding like a garble. Kiyan's head
felt like it would explode and was dizzyingly light at the same
time. Movement stopped and the light shifted into a red color
before it faded and was blackness.

The energy was burning now, so hot, it was coursing
through his body. Kiyan knew he would burn up if it didn't stop, he
had to get rid of it. Deprived of vision Kiyan’s metal senses
exploded with detail. He felt the joined worlds and the suns frozen
in time, looking farther he saw a tapestry of stars and nebulas
carpeting space. Drawing on the energy he focused it on the stars.
He felt the burning abate but a wave of energy threatened to drown
him before he could channel it away. Kiyan’s only sensation was of
intense fire before he saw the flashes of light. The knowing of
every detail of a thousand stars began to fade.

Waking with a start, memory failing him for a moment,
Kiyan sat up and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. It was barely
morning yet his room was illuminated. It took a moment to realize
he was the light source. His skin had a golden glow. Then memory of
it all returned, the feeling of burning and being at the ceremony.
He must have been out all day and the next night. The villagers
must fear him now, catching fire in front of them, he hoped no one
got hurt. Kiyan felt Kendra near shielding him somehow, and sending
calm emotions. Having her near was comforting, at least she wasn't
scared of him. Laying back down he let the day dawn before getting
up.

On Kiyan's way through the kitchen Marisa startled
him. “Nice to see you up early, Kiyan, hurry up and take your bath,
I'll have pancakes with berries when you get back. You have a big
day ahead of you.” Kiyan wondered at that. Nothing was mentioned of
whatever had happened at the ceremony yesterday. Kiyan paused and
was about to ask Marisa about the events when he thought better of
it.

Surprised that it all seemed familiar and so normal
after what must have happened, Kiyan gave Marisa a hug and ran out
the door nearly letting it slam. Deciding he wanted some solitude
to think he took the scenic way to the lake. Running towards the
lake he was soon at the water with Ray getting scrubbed down.
Strange, he thought, surely Prometheus would pop up and inform him
of some new aspect of his life. Deciding to practice a little
waterbending while he was at the water he took up the bending form
Kendra had taught him. Remembering the other morning he opened his
mind and he connected with the water and soon could feel the entire
lake in his head. He was able to use the water as a medium that
extended his senses. Creating a ripple around him he could feel it
took considerably less effort than yesterday, almost effortless. He
held his ripple in one spot and let it grow into a wall of water,
wrapping it around himself he let it lift him above the ground.
Atop his pillar of water he opened his eyes and saw Jeremy with his
mouth hanging open standing on the shore with Ray. Letting down his
mental shields, he was assaulted with waves of surprise from both
of them.

Losing control of the water Kiyan fell with it in a
tumble. Ray acting nearly instantly reached out and dragged him out
of the roiled water. Kiyan was confused,
why were they so
surprised?
They both knew he was a bender, so seeing him bend
should have only seemed natural. Seeing the shocked expression on
Jeremy's face where he sat when the water drained off Kiyan's eyes
was even more confusing.

“What's wrong, Jeremy?”

“You...... You, you're a waterbender!” Jeremy finally
stammered. “How, you haven't even started the testing
ceremony.”

Something was different. A brief contact with Ray
conveyed the same information. Jeremy acted like the knowledge that
Kiyan could waterbend, let alone bend the other elements, was
totally new. Kendra would know, Prometheus or the Keeper would know
best though. Closing his eyes he called for them but got no answer.
Looking into his mind he found the memory of the construct where he
had spoken with Prometheus. In a flash he found himself there.
Calling for Prometheus there was another flash and his father
appeared.

“Something is wrong, Prometheus, Jeremy can't
remember that I can bend. Something happened but no one seems to
remember it.”

Prometheus appeared to concentrate for a second
before responding. “There has been a slight shift in the timeline
but you caused it when you water bent. You shouldn't be able to
bend until later today at the ceremony. You also shouldn't be able
come her, or even know about this place. Young avatar may we have
your memories so we can understand this incursion.” Kiyan opened
his mind and let the council see the events of the last few days.
Prometheus stepped back when he got to the memory of the
ceremony.

“What did you do? No, no that's not possible, none of
us have ever moved in our own time stream.” Prometheus seemed
shocked at what he saw.

“You are three days in your own past. To move in your
own timeline isn't possible since the amount of energy created
would burn you up.” Prometheus was confused.

Kiyan remembered the burning and how he connected
with the stars and channeled the fire into them. Prometheus must
have seen it because he laughed. Images of stars exploding in
simultaneous flashes of light surrounded them.

“That explains some. More than a dozen stars went
supernova at the same time this morning. I will help repair the
damage but what you do or how you change the timeline in the next
three days is ultimately up to you. Be careful, the changes can
have wide reaching consequences.”

Opening his eyes again Kiyan saw Prometheus holding
his hands over Jeremy's head. Jeremy wasn't struggling but when he
opened his eyes they were glowing blue. Kiyan felt Jeremy’s
memories being altered. A moment later Jeremy relaxed. Prometheus
faded from view and Jeremy's eyes stopped glowing.

“Are you ready for the testing today? Do you think
you have any gifts?” Kiyan wasn't prepared for Jeremy to act so
totally normal. “Do you want to go to the academy?” The barrage of
questions was almost identical to what Jeremy had asked earlier
before everything had happened. Kiyan decided to play along with it
and answered much the same as he had before.

The rest of the morning happened just like it had the
last time until he got to the Center. Kiyan decided that this time
he would not make the same mistakes that he had last time. For one
Kiyan now knew that not everyone was able to sense emotions or
speak with their mind.

---------

Carlisle watched Kiyan enter and began observing him.
Unlike last week when he tried to define Kiyan in his mind, today
defining Kiyan was nearly effortless. Easier than normal, almost
like he wanted to be seen. A subterfuge of that level was something
that took years to perfect yet Kiyan was only twelve years old.
Carlisle discarded that idea as ridiculous and attributed Kiyan’s
open mind to his nervousness. More questions were brought up than
were answered. Perhaps a trip to the academy was in order.
Hopefully the trials would likely answer some of his questions.

----------

Fred waited for his turn at the bending test, he
didn't care if he had any gift but it would be nice if he did.
Watching Jeremy take the test, he wasn't surprised when Jeremy was
able to move the water.

Carlisle felt strange as he watched Jeremy approach
the water. Something almost like a memory stirred in his mind, sort
of a deja vu feeling.

Kiyan watched as Jeremy bent the water in the cup,
with the bender's help he was even able to lift a drop into the
air. Something was different this time, last time he hadn't been
able to make more than a ripple. Kiyan wondered what had caused the
aberration from the original timeline. Prometheus thought that it
might have had something to do with the memory manipulation from
earlier. Jeremy had been exposed to a significant amount of energy
that might have inadvertently activated his bending abilities
prematurely. Already the future was changing.

It was already different so why not change it a
little more. Reaching out to Kendra, Kiyan let her know that Fred
was an earth bender but that she was the only person in the area
that could help him. The wave of surprise that returned from her
must have been comical to Prometheus because of the laughter that
sounded in Kiyan's head for a moment. Kendra glanced up and looked
into Kiyan's face before nodding slightly, standing up and
approaching Fred.

Everyone was somewhat surprised when the ascended
prepared to assist Fred with the earth bending test. They were even
more surprised when the rock shattered at his touch. Kiyan was sure
no one was more surprised than Fred at that point. Kendra tuned to
Kiyan with a question on her face. He knew that he would have to
explain later.

Kiyan could feel Carlisle probing harder than before
at his mind. It took all his strength and even Prometheus lending a
hand to maintain his facade of normalcy in the front of the attack.
Carlisle stopped as quickly as he had started and when Kiyan looked
in his direction, Carlisle was no longer an area of calm but was
emanating discordant emotions of confusion and surprise. Kiyan then
realized that his defense had in fact been what told Carlisle the
truth.

It was Kiyan’s turn now to try bending. Determined
not to lose control like last time he let Kendra guide him but
resisted the urge to bend the flames. The rock was tantalizing with
its quiet energy. Kiyan refrained from disturbing the calm earth
energy. The air trial, he wasn't sure how to affect so he didn't
even make an attempt, however the water was something that he knew
about. Feeling his energy connect with the cup of water in a way he
could only guess was with Kendra's help. He had to work to keep it
from spontaneously leaping from the cup and bending to his
thoughts. Letting the surface ripple and shift he lifted a few
drops into the air then tried to disconnect. Letting go was harder
than he expected. Finally able to sever the connection, the water
froze and Kiyan stepped back.

There, they didn't know about everything else and
no one would be scared of him
. Kiyan thought as he hugged his
parents. Feeling Ray's question about why he was suppressing his
bending he opened his mind and let Ray understand what he had felt
and had seen in the alternate future.

-------

Kendra retook her seat at the wall and thought about
the events of the day. First of all Kiyan knew who she was even
without ever having seen her in person. Almost like he could feel
her but she had been shielding her mind so he couldn't have. But
when he opened his mind to her, he had formed a coherent message
and sent it to her with a feeling of familiarity. Like Kiyan had
known her for some time. This probable future didn't have him
learning to do that for another day at least. Even then not with
such skill for some time.

Another thing, how had he known that Fred would have
a mistrial and that without her intervention no one should have
known he was an earthbender. Perhaps the most confusing was when
she had been guiding Kiyan with the bending test. He should have
shown some sort of aptitude in all the schools of bending, she had
felt him resist fire, earth and air bending. Even more confusing
was when he had misrepresented his waterbending. He shouldn't be
able to control water so well in his first attempt. No something
wasn't right at all. Time would tell, but come to think of it time
felt different, it felt like this had all happened before only
differently.