Avatar: Two Brothers

Battle of Earth and Ice

Dilraj was flung across the battlefield, smashing through the ice wall that he constructed and landing hard on the ground. He picked himself up before facing his opponent who stood across the other side. He knew his enemy was plenty strong but it seemed even he underestimated just how much raw power she had.

“I bet you are really regretting letting your friend run off now aren’t you?” Ruvnia taunted.

Dilraj replied and did his best to keep Ruvnia talking as long as possible. He knew there was no way he would win a battle on pure strength so he was hoping to stall for time, to allow his water bending to heal up his injuries. However, Ruvnia was not in a chatting mood. She blitzed towards Dilraj and overwhelmed him with a fury of punches. Dilraj used every water bending technique he knew to defend himself. But even with all his effort, he could barely slow down Ruvnia, who had him on one knee and his injuries piling up.

Ruvnia was ready to strike Dilraj with one power infused punch but a giant boulder appeared and slammed Ruvnia aside. Dilraj looked to where the boulder had come from and he saw that Chloe had arrived to lend him a hand.

“Dilraj, what on Earth do you think you are doing fighting her on your own! Stop being a showoff!” Chloe scolded.

“Showoff?! I was doing what was best for the team by letting Da-Wei save his energy!”

The two argued but as they were doing so, the boulder that was holding down Ruvnia, began to crack and she broke through it in a matter of seconds. She was annoyed by the inference but when she saw Chloe’s appearance her expression completely changed.

“Wait, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be fighting alongside your friend against Sonoor? But for some reason you are here. Wait, does that mean…?” She spoke to herself out loud. Her negative talk got the better of her and suddenly her aura began to grow even stronger and more unstable than before.

Dilraj could feel the immense pressure of his foe’s aura. He turned to Chloe to see if she knew what was happening. Chloe told him that Ruvnia had been holding back a large amount of energy for a long time. She recalled the times she saw Ruvnia in battle, like when she stopped the meteor from crushing her and her heels digging deep into the ground.

“Brace yourself Dilraj.” Was her advice to her ally.

“You defeated my sister?! No, if you are here, then you probably did the unthinkable to her! I won’t forgive you!” She let out a huge cry with energy bursting out from her body, she began to transform. When her transformation was complete and the smoke settled, she reappeared as a ten foot tall dragon letting out a terrifying roar.

Without any hesitation, she located Chloe and unleashed a breath of fire coming from her mouth. There was no way Chloe could block such an attack and there was no way to escape the widespread flame. Thankfully, Dilraj jumped into between them and used his water bending to create a shield to temporarily block the attack.

“Thanks for that.”

“Don’t celebrate too quickly. We still need to figure out how to beat this thing. I can’t hold off this shield for much longer.”

The water shield held for a moment but eventually Ruvnia would swiped through it with her giant claws. As she broke the shield, she also grabbed the two benders with her hands and had them in a tight grip. With both her enemies in her clutches, she was in complete control of the battle. She then raised her fist to her eye level and began to open her fist.

“Haha, you two were fools to think you could stop me, I’ll..” Suddenly her confidence disappeared because when she opened her fist, she found Dilraj and an icy statue in her palm. “What? Where is the earth bender?!” She looked around in panic as Chloe was nowhere to be found.

Then bursting from the underground, Chloe shot up and infused her whole body with Earth. She landed an uppercut right at Ruvnia’s chin and began walloping her with consecutive strikes. Under immense pressure, Ruvnia let go of Dilraj from her hand and he began to drop to the ground. Thankfully, Dilraj was able to break the fall but his body was still in much pain preventing him from helping Chloe.

Chloe continued to press her advantage using her size and tenacity to her advantage. Even though her opponent was much larger than her, Chloe knew Ruvnia would have a difficult time hitting her. However, after being on the defensive, Ruvnia found the opportune time to counter attack by slamming her tail against Chloe.

She was sent hard against the ground but Chloe bounced back hoping to regain her momentum. Unfortunately, Ruvnia swatted her back to the ground with her claws and as Chloe tried to get back up once more, Ruvnia stepped over Chloe’s body with her foot. As she struggled to break free, the dragon lowered its head to speak.

“Foolish Earth Bender! Did you really think you were strong enough to defeat me?” She roared with her under belly exposed.

“Of course not, there was no way I could beat a dragon even with my brute strength.” Chloe acknowledged with a smile.

The smile on Chloe’s face made Ruvnia uneasy. “Then what were you trying to accomplish?” As she finished, Chloe used her earth bending to sink the dragon’s feet into the ground.

“What?! What is the meaning of this?!” She tried to fly out of the trap but her feet were cemented to the ground to prevent her escape. Ruvnia looked at Chloe but didn’t see what her plan was until she realized that she hadn’t been paying attention to the water bender.

She looked to where she dropped the water bender and saw that he had healed enough to conjure a giant ice spear. Once Dilraj saw the opening, he launched the giant ice spear right at the dragon’s vulnerable spot, her underbelly and made a direct hit. Upon impact, the dragon’s eyes began to close as it fell onto the ground.

Dilraj cautiously approached the dragon, in case she would suddenly wake up and attack. After enough time had passed, Dilraj let his guard down and made his way closer towards Chloe who was caught in the dragon’s grasp.

“Well I gotta hand it to you, that was an insane plan. If anything went a little off we would be toasted right now.”

“Hey it all worked out didn’t it? Nothing except a few scratches.” Chloe replied.

Dilraj couldn’t help but laugh as they were covered with heavy injuries and yet she still had such a positive spirit.

“Okay, enough standing around and help me out now!” Chloe yelled.

So Dilraj went to help Chloe out of her situation. Dilraj was moving the last claw that had Chloe in a bind but as it moved, he had a feeling it moved far too easily. The two benders began to feel movement around them and they immediately turned to face the dragon to find that she was about to wake up.

The dragon was about to swing its claws against both benders but Dilraj had just enough time to salvage the situation. He had enough water on him to create an icy path that led to a safe distance away from the dragon. He then dragged Chloe onto the ice, “Hey what are you doing?” Before she knew it, Dilraj pushed her down the ice trail to a safe distance while Dilraj fell into the grasp of the dragon.

“Noooo!” Chloe cried as she could only watch as her ally was caught in the grip of the enemy. With each second that passes, her grip on Dilraj tightening increases the chance that some of his bones would break.

“Surrender to me and I will spare your friend’s life.” Ruvnia demanded. Dilraj attempted to tell Chloe to not listen to the enemy but Ruvnia would stop him by breaking one of his ribs. “The choice is yours earthbender.”

Having seen enough, Chloe agreed to surrender as she let down her guard. Ruvnia slammed Dilraj to the ground once more just to make sure he wouldn’t be a threat and then made her way to take Chloe. “For what you did to my sister, I will make you pay ten fold!”

But before she could strike Chloe, someone in the distance yelled, “She’s not the one who harmed your sister!” Ruvnia turned around in search of the voice, “I am the one you are looking for!”

When the dragon turned around and located where the voice came from, she found the firebender assisting her weakened sister towards her. “Sonoor? What have you done to her!?” Immediately she rampaged towards Isabelle but before she could make contact, Sonoor held out one of her arms, causing the mighty beast to stop within her tracks.

Once Sonoor managed to get her footing, Isabelle let go to allow her to have a moment with her sister. She reached out with one of her wings as Ruvnia lowered her head. “Ruvnia, I’m sorry, it's my fault you turned into this.” Ruvnia wanted to speak but Sonoor’s time was running low, so she allowed her older sister to continue.

“All this time we have been together, I have told you that our village was destroyed by bandits and because of that we were forced into the Spirit Wilds, which is how we got our powers. However, that story isn’t entirely true. You probably don’t remember because of the accident, but I will tell you everything now.”

“Sonoor, this is your sister Ruvnia. It is going to be your responsibility to protect her and make sure no harm ever comes to her. Do you understand?” Sonoor nodded in excitement and through their years growing up, Sonoor kept her word, making sure no one in their neighbourhood or school ever hurt her younger sister.

Rumours had been spread about mythical creatures in the Spirit Wilds. Most kids were scared but Sonoor was curious and wanted to see the creatures herself. Ruvnia being little, was reluctant but her older sister promised to stay by her side. So together and along with some of the kids in town, they snuck out into the Spirit Wilds without their parents knowing.

Regrettably, they ventured too far into the forest and were separated from one another. Thankfully, Sonoor managed to keep Ruvnia by her side but they ran into the mythical creatures they heard rumours about: one that resembled a harpy and another a dragon.

Sonoor tried to escape but noticed that her younger sister was so terrified she couldn’t move. Despite being filled with fear, Sonoor couldn’t abandon her sister. As she saw the harpy reach for Ruvnia with her talons, Sonoor jumped in between them and took the slash on her arm and began to feel her body changing.

As her body was in pain while the transformation was occurring, she also saw her little sister alone with the dragon creature. It swung its tail against the little girl, sending her slamming against the ground and hitting her head on the floor.

The dragon would have continued his merciless assault but out of desperation, Sonoor jumped in front of her sister to block the incoming strike. The dragon had no plans to halt its attack but the harpy held back his temper. Seeing the older sister protect the little one drew compassion from the harpy’s heart. The dragon, not wanting to argue, stomped away and both creatures disappeared into the wilds never to be seen by the girls again.

After the creatures had left, Sonoor turned her attention to Ruvnia who was lying unconscious on the floor. She noticed that her sister’s body had changed colour and become scaly. She was initially frightened until she realized how her own body had changed as well.

Without any answers, Sonoor immediately carried Ruvnia and rushed back home, hoping to find a solution to their situation. Unfortunately the instant she set foot back into town, the villagers including their parents were applauded by their appearance. Rocks were thrown at them and pitchforks were used to frighten them away whenever they came close. As it became clear no one was willing to accept them, Sonoor fled with Ruvnia on her back.

As she escaped back into the Spirit Wilds, Ruvnia finally woke up. She had no recollection of what happened before the events in the Spirit Wilds. Afraid that her sister would blame her for everything, Sonoor forged a story about how bandits destroyed their town and now they were forced to live in the Spirit Wilds.

What drove Sonoor to survive in the wilds was her hatred and desire for vengeance on the humans who treated her and Ruvnia like animals. From there, Laghima eventually found them in the forest and took them in as his own children.

“I’m sorry Ruvnia, I never told you the truth because not a day goes by I regretted that decision to go into the Spirit Wilds. If I never dragged you along, you never would have turned into this.”

Ruvnia remained silent as did everyone else. Suddenly, Sonoor felt a massive amount of her strength had left her and she began to faint. But Ruvnia reverted back to her original form and caught her sister before her head made contact against the ground. She embraced her sister in her arms, filled with tears.

Sonoor felt a huge sense of relief after revealing the truth to her sister and finding out that Ruvnia chose not harbor any hate against her. Despite what her sister kept hidden, Ruvnia knew one very important thing: that her older sister did everything in her power to keep her safe. And in Sonoor’s final moments, they were able to see each other one last time.

After Sonoor’s spirit had left, Ruvnia stood up and held her sister’s body in her arms. She made her way towards Isabelle but without knowing her intention, Chloe immediately sprang up ready to intervene but Dilraj who was nearby signaled her to stand down.

“Thank you for bringing my sister to me, firebender.” Then she continued on her way.

“You don’t have any further business with me?” Isabelle questioned. Meanwhile in the background, Dilraj and Chloe were smacking themselves trying to tell Isabelle to keep quiet and let the enemy keep walking away.

“At the moment I don’t possess the will to fight and have more important matters to attend to. However, shall we ever meet again, I cannot promise your safety.” She continued with her sister in her arms and disappeared from the temple grounds.