Chapter Fifteen

     

 

          The Secret City: Arashia

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Late that afternoon, after a short nap, Mai went into the earth-tent to see Dakota.  She grinned when she saw him. He looked much better than he had the previous night. His eyes had gotten back their twinkle, and his face was warm and cheerful again. Mai was so relieved that he would be all right. From how bad he looked the day before, she wasn’t sure if he’d be better for quite some time. She didn’t want to lose her friend. She had lost many friends in the past, but not from death. They had all left her of their own free will, but it still hurt. She was glad that Dakota was all right.  He was sitting upright, with Tito in his lap and appeared to be reading a book.  Mai crawled through the hole and sat on her sleeping bag.

     “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” Mai said happily.

      “Yeah, me too.  Thanks for saving me. If it weren’t for you, I’d be injured badly and in Lascelles Prison… or dead.”  Mai smiled at him. Dakota smiled back, then cocked his head to one side. “What happened after I passed out?”

    Mai closed her eyes. Though it had only happened a few hours ago, it all seemed like a blur to her now. She explained it to him as best she could remember. There were a few parts that she couldn’t remember at all, like the walk back to the campsite and the fight between Wyatt, Celie and Karan. But in all, she was able to recall most of the events, and she tried to describe them with as much detail as possible.

     “Wow,” Dakota said when she had finished. “That’s amazing.  And you said Karan was arrested?” Mai laughed.

     “Yep, I don’t think we’ll be seeing him for a while.” It felt good knowing that Karan would be out of their hair for quite some time. Mai wondered how many years he would be sentenced to in jail. She hoped it would be at least long enough so he wouldn’t get in their way when Romokka attacked—whenever that was. Mai felt a pit of fear and despair settle in her stomach as she realized that they had no clue as to when Romokka would arrive. It could be day, weeks, months, or even years. But how were they supposed to know? Mai hopped they wouldn’t come before they’d managed to find all of the Chosen Ones. Dakota went back to his book and Mai lay down and watched him. 

     She was confused. Where did Dakota get a book?  “Hey, Dakota,” Dakota looked up, “where did you get that book?”

     Dakota gazed at her with his brown eyes. “Wyatt let me borrow it.  He had it in his suitcase.” Mai shook her head.

     “Is there anything Wyatt didn’t put in his suitcase?”

     Dakota shrugged.

    “What’s the book about?” Mai asked, scooting closer to him to look at it. There was a picture of two men, both of which were holding swords.

     “It’s about two men who fought in the Great Battle. Their names are FastBlade and StoneSword. They’re best friends and helped save many people. I haven’t read very far, and that’s all I know.”

     “Sounds interesting,” Mai said, as she tried to remember where she had heard those two names before.

     Just then, Wyatt’s head popped through the opening of the earth-tent.  He had already put his robes back on.  “Come on, we need to get moving. The Fire Tribe is sure to know where we are now.”

     Mai gave him a grim look. “I don’t think you should walk though, Dakota. You should ride on Amo.”

If Dakota were to walk, then he might tire himself. Even though Mai had healed him, it didn’t seem to heal him completely. She was still very new to this process, and probably needed to learn more about it.

     Dakota frowned. “I’ll be fine Mai, see look.” He stood up quickly, but winced, and slumped over.

     “See, you’re not fine. Just ride on Amo, so you can rest awhile.” Dakota sighed, but agreed.  Mai helped him out of the earth-tent and back into his Fire Tribe robes, covering up his blood-stained clothes.

     “Wait, you should rinse out you clothes, they’re full of blood,” Mai said, giving Dakota a sympathetic look. It made her stomach squirm having to look at it. He had bled so much that his whole left side was stained red.

    “Okay,  but so are yours.”

     Mai looked down at her clothes. Dakota was right. Her whole front side, as well as her legs, were splattered with blood. She shrugged and crossed her arms. “I’ll clean them off after I do yours.”

     Dakota stretched his arms and said, “Where’s my water bottle?”

     Mai ran over to the picnic basket and pulled out a new water bottle. “Let’s use this one.”

     Dakota limped over to her and Mai helped him back out of his robes.  Mai carefully splashed water on his gray shorts and red shirt and after about five minutes was able to get most of the stains out.  She helped him back into his Fire Tribe robes then washed away the stains from her blue shirt and navy blue pants.  By the time Mai had finished and put her own robes on, Wyatt and Celie—who had both put their robes back on—came over to her and asked her what had happened after they had lost her in the building.  Mai explained it with as much detail as she could remember. It was easier for her to remember what had happened the second time she told it, but she still couldn’t account for the whole event. 

     “I can’t believe that could have happened,” Celie said when she was done. Celie and Wyatt had listened to the whole story without any interruptions.

     “At least Monkey-Face got what was coming to him,” Wyatt remarked.

     “What that worries me, is that we haven’t seen or heard of Sam since we fought her at Chung’s house,” Dakota said, leaning against the earth-tent for support.

     “I almost forgot about her!” Wyatt exclaimed.

     A surge of anger coursed through Mai at the mention of her old friend. Though Sam never really counted as a friend. Mai had only known her a few days, and hadn’t seen her since. It had hurt her so much that Sam had used her like she did. She thought that, at last, she had found a friend. But Sam had taken that dream and crushed it into tiny little pieces. Even though Mai had already made two new friends since then, it still angered her to think about what Sam had been planning to do with Mai. She was using her for her own advantage. Not only that, but she had lied to her about something very serious.  Mai wished she’d have never met Sam.

     “Knowing Sam as well as I do,” Dakota continued, “I bet she’s cooking up a plan.  If it’s taking her this long, it'll be a good one.  So keep your eyes peeled and don’t fall for anything.”   

     “We’ll be on the look out, but for now, you need more rest. Here, I’ll help you onto Amo,” Mai offered, trying to take the conversation somewhere else. She didn’t want to talk anymore about Sam.

     “Amo!” Dakota shouted.   

    Amo came trotting out from behind the earth-tent, Tito on his back. “Come here, boy,” Dakota said, patting his leg.   Amo walked over to him and hung his head. “I’m fine, really. Don’t worry,” Dakota said to him, placing one hand on Amo’s forehead. Tito ran up Amo’s neck and sat on top of his head. Mai felt a warming in her heart at the sight of them together. The fact that these animals really cared about Dakota, touched her deeply inside.

     “Hey, Tito. It’s good to see you too.” Tito jumped off Amo’s head and landed on Dakota’s outstretched arm. “Hold on, Tito!” Dakota jumped up onto Amo’s back, Tito still on his arm.

     “Careful, don’t over do it,” Mai warned.

     “I know, I’m starting to feel better now,” Dakota protested.

     “Let’s get out of here already!” Celie said impatiently.

     “Okay, okay,” Mai laughed. “Everyone get your things and let’s get moving!” Amo grabbed Wyatt’s suitcase while Mai and Celie both picked up theirs. But the picnic basket was left with no one to carry it except Wyatt, who agreed since he wasn’t carrying anything.  Celie leveled the earth-tent and they started off again. 

     They weren’t sure where they were going, but they knew they had to keep moving. Dakota soon fell asleep on Amo’s back, snoring softly. When he woke up, he yawned and looked out at the skyline. Wyatt was dragging the picnic basket and looking very tired, while Celie looked restless and uneasy. As they walked, the dark clouds above them grew even darker, turning the whole area gray. This worried Mai.  She didn’t want them to get stuck out in the storm. When she told her companions this, they said they shared her concerns and thought they should find a place to stay before it started raining. Dakota said he thought he knew of a good place for them to keep dry.

     “Where?” Wyatt asked.

     “There’s a cave over by the seaside. We can stay there until the storm passes,” Dakota explained.

     “How do you know there’s a cave over there? You’ve never been out this way,” Celie objected.

     “I had a vision while I was unconscious. There was a yellow dragon that lead me to a large cave and told me we could rest there.”

    Wyatt’s eyes grew wide. “You know what?” he asked as though he had just remembered something important.

     “What?” Mai asked.

     “I had a dream while I was napping today.”

     Celie smirked. “Wow, Wyatt had a dream,” she said, crossing her arms. She seemed to like teasing Wyatt very much.

     “No, it wasn’t like that! It was different, almost like a vision! Mai was running around, laughing, with Fudo! They talking and laughing like old friends. Also, I was wearing a cape, and a crown. I think I was the king of Romokka or something like that. And I was trying to kill you guys.”

     Everyone stared at him.

     “Okay,” Celie said slowly, not knowing what else to say.

     “Wyatt, you have a strange mind,” Mai said, shaking her head. It seemed strange that her brother had dreamt he was the king of Romokka. That was the craziest thing Mai had ever heard. And just the fact that she had been getting along with Fudo and laughing in Wyatt’s dream was enough to totally creep her out.

     “Okay, Dakota, show us the way to this cave,” Celie said.  Dakota gave directions on where to go.  His directions led them away from San Diego and—about an hour later—to a beach a few miles away.  They stood on the sand and looked up at a tall cliff that stretched along the shore. It was at least thirty feet high.  There was a small gap in the cliff that led back and into a small area filled with pine trees.  Dakota instructed them to walk though it.  They hesitated, but ran forward as lightning flashed in the sky. They walked though the trees until they reached the back.  All that was there was the side of the cliff, there was no cave.

     “There’s nothing here,” Wyatt said, disappointed. Suddenly, it started to rain.  It was pouring hard and blurred their vision.  And to top it all off, it was starting to get dark. In a matter of seconds, they were all cold, tired, wet, hungry, and lost in the middle of a rainstorm. 

     “Great, nice shelter,” said Celie, pushing her long, black bangs out of her face so she could see better.

     “It’s here somewhere, I know it is,” Dakota said firmly, squinting though the heavy rain.

     “Dakota, there’s nothing here,” Mai said softly.  A crack of thunder made them jump, and another bolt of lightning lit up the small valley.

    “There it is!” Dakota shouted, pointing over to their right. They all looked to where he had pointed, but saw nothing. But as another flash of lightning spread across the sky and lit it up, they could see a small cave. Amo shifted uneasily as thunder crackled.

     “Come on, let’s get out of the rain!” Wyatt said, rushing forward to the cave. The others followed him, Dakota still on Amo’s back. When they got inside, they dropped their things and Mai pulled all the water out of their clothes, while Celie made a small ball of light, which she stuck to the wall of the cave. The cave was enormous on the inside. The entrance was small, but the ceiling rose to at least fifteen feet.

     “Wow,” said Dakota, sliding off Amo’s back. “This is the place in my vision.”

     “You know,” said Wyatt, “you just keep getting weirder and weirder.” Mai sat down and crossed her legs.  She took another sandwich out of the picnic basket and split it equally between them. The sound of the rain and wind outside the cave was comforting. Mai had always liked to listen to the rain while she slept. It always soothed her and helped to ease her mind. 

    After they were done eating, Mai said, “I don’t think there are any Chosen Ones in San Diego.” She fingered her locket thoughtfully. “They would have come to us while we were fighting Karan.”

    Celie sat down next to her. “She’s got a point. I think we needed some help there, and if that didn’t bring any out of the city, then there must not be any there. What do you think, Dakota?”

     When there was no answer, Celie looked around to see where Dakota was. When she spotted him, he was running his hand along the cave wall, stopping every now and then to examine something.      

     “What are you doing, Dakota?” Wyatt asked.

     “Looking at the walls.”

     “I can see that. I mean why are you doing it?”

     Dakota stopped suddenly and hollered, “Come look at this!” Everyone but Amo and Tito ran over to him. “Look, the wall here has the mark of the Air Tribe carved into it. I knew it was around here somewhere, but I didn’t know it was here!”

    Everyone leaned in closer to look and saw Dakota was right. The mark on the wall was shaped like a cloud with three swirls coming out of it.      

     “That’s cool, but what does it mean?” Celie asked.

     “It marks something.  Stand back and I’ll show you.” Everyone backed up as Dakota placed his hand on the carving. At first nothing happened, but then the wall began to ripple. Then the rock fell away as if it had been melted, leaving a puddle of strange brown liquid on the floor. Now, there was a doorway in the cave wall, but all that was inside of it was darkness.

     “Wow,” Wyatt whispered.

     “Guys,” said Dakota, stepping to the side so they could see in, “welcome to Arashia!” As he spoke, the whole inside of this new passage lit up with street lamps, illuminating the entire cavern.  They could now see inside. It was enormous. The ceiling rose to at least thirty feet and the back wall was too far away to see. There was what seemed to be a palace inside of it and small buildings surrounded it, all of which were made of some sort of polished stone.  There was not a plant in sight. The whole cavern was big enough to fit a mini-mall inside. Dakota walked through the opening, stepping over the brown liquid and faced the place called Arashia.

     “This,” he said, spreading his arms wide, “is what I was looking for.” Mai, Wyatt, and Celie walked through the opening and looked around, speechless. There were many houses lined up and down the roads, which crisscrossed and zigzagged back and forth. Mai noticed that there were no garages. 

     Solarians must not use cars or anything like that, she thought. I don’t remember seeing any cars at Sam or Chung’s houses.   

     “What is this place?” Celie asked.

     “This is a secret city that the Wind Tribe built when they were first evacuated here. It was where most of them lived before they built a new city. I used to live here with my parents,” Dakota concluded.

     “It’s amazing!” said Wyatt, touching one of the stone buildings.

     “This place is huge,” Mai said, looking up at the top of the palace.

     “I’ll show you where I used to live,” Dakota said brightly. “Follow me.” The others followed him as he walked through the lit streets.  He finally stopped in front of a house about the same size as Mai’s.

     “This is the house where I grew up. I lived here until I was seven years old. That’s when I moved out and was sent to an orphanage. That’s also the same year everyone here moved to the new Wind Tribe capital, Kazo. I’ve always wondered what the Wind Tribe capital would be like.”

     He stared longingly at the stone house, then walked forward and pushed open the door, the others on his heels.  The place was completely empty, not even a chair was left in the empty house. Mai watched as Dakota’s face and body language changed completely. His eyes glistened as though he were fighting back tears, and he looked sadder than Mai had ever seen him. He gazed around the dimly lit house, not looking at any of his companions.  

    “I’d like it here,” said Celie, admiring the design of the house. Dakota suddenly snapped out of his depressed state, and faked a smile. Mai wanted to know what was making him so upset, but she didn’t want to ask. Dakota took them on a tour, explaining each room and what it used to be. Occasionally they would hear thunder from up above, making an eerie rumbling sound, echoing through the cavern. 

    When Dakota was done showing them around, he said, “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to go see the shrine. I always wanted to go see it, but I wasn’t allowed to. But now that there’s no one here it would be all right.”

     Wyatt gave him a curious look. “Shrine?”

     “The shrine of the Wind Tribe's previous Chosen One.  His name was Fujin,” Dakota explained.

     “Fujin…Why does that name sound so familiar?” Mai wondered aloud. She had heard that name somewhere before. It was like she had known this person a long, long time ago, but had forgotten about them until now. As if he’d been a part of her family, or one of her good friends. But she just couldn’t put her finger on it. It could just be her imagination.

     “No one was allowed to go in there except for the Wind Tribe’s next Chosen One, no clue why though. And of course no one knew I was a Chosen one, not even me!”

     Mai smiled. “Yeah, let’s go, it could be fun.” Celie and Wyatt agreed to go with them to the shrine. Dakota led them out of his empty house and through the lit streets, showing them old buildings he used to know. He then led them to the entrance of the shrine. The doors were tall and made of shiny wood with gold handles. There was also a small hole in the door that was shaped like a cloud. Wyatt grabbed the handles and pulled as hard as he could, but the door wouldn’t budge.      

     “It’s locked,” he said dully.

     “How are we supposed to get in?” Celie asked.

     “I heard a rumor that the Chosen One had to activate their Defensive Power to get in and that the doors would only open if your Defensive Power glowed yellow,” Dakota said, examining the doors.

     “Can you activate your Defensive Power?” Mai asked.  

     Dakota shook his head sadly. “I’ve only done it once.  I can’t control it.”

     “I’ve got it!” Celie snapped her fingers. “If you can only open the door with a yellow light, then I could make a yellow light of my own. That should let us in!” She held up her hand and made an orb of yellow light, which she held up to the hole. Nothing happened. “It didn’t work,” she said flatly, putting out her light. 

     Dakota hung his head. “I guess there’s no way to get into Fujin’s shrine.”

     Wyatt scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s a secret password or something?”

    Something suddenly clicked into Mai’s head. She placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes. The door was warm and smooth. She took a deep breath the muttered, “In time, we learn to accept the fate of change.  And in time, we learn to love the new.” The doors gave a small click, then swung open to reveal more darkness. The others stared at her in amazement.

     “How did you know the password?!” Wyatt asked.

     “I-I’m not sure,” Mai said, a bit shaken. “I just knew that quote from a long time ago. I don’t even remember where I heard it. But for some reason, I just knew that’s what we needed.” It was true. She had heard this quote so many times that it often rung through her head. But she could never remember, no matter how hard she tried, where she had heard it. She had already learned to accept the fate of change, but she had not learned to love the new. She didn’t like change, and she never had, but she accepted it because she knew there was no stopping it.

     Celie shrugged. “You’re starting to get as weird as Dakota, with all his visions and stuff.”

     Dakota looked troubled. “I know that quote from somewhere too. It’s weird, but I heard it a long time ago as well.”

    Mai bit her lip as she tried to remember where she had heard it before, and followed Wyatt, Celie and Dakota as they walked through the door and were swallowed by the darkness. Celie lit her hand again and held it in front of her. The walls were painted bright yellow and there was a big fountain in the middle of the large room. There were ten dark hallways leading in different directions and a staircase that led to the upper levels. Dakota stood before the fountain, his gray eyes sparkling as the light reflected off them. 

     Celie stood in front of one of the doorways. “Look at this,” she called to them. “There’s writing above this door.”

     Dakota was bouncing excitedly. “What does it say?”

     Celie moved her hand close to the writing. “Ahead lay two challenges. Only those worthy may pass,” she read aloud.

    “What is that supposed to mean?” Wyatt retorted.

     “I think it means… there are three challenges that we have to pass if we want to see what’s through this door,” Mai said slowly, rolling her eyes at Wyatt’s lack of common sense.

    “This is the door we have to go through, the others just lead to bedrooms, and family rooms and stuff like that,” Dakota told them.

    “Let me guess, you’re getting another sense,” Celie said slyly, putting one hand on her hip.   

     “Sort of.  Just trust me.” They hesitated, but followed Dakota as he pushed the door open. Behind it was a long, dark hallway with bare wall and no doors. They couldn’t see to the end of the hallway, it was too far away and too dark. 

     “This place is starting to give me the creeps,” Wyatt said, moving closer to Mai as they walked. Celie was leading the way, with her light held out in front of her, which reminded Mai of the night she had met Sam, and how Sam had done the same thing, but with fire. It seemed so long ago now, like a distant dream, lost in time. Five minutes later, they reached the end of the hall, and stopped in front of a large, metal door.

     “This is weird,” Celie remarked.

     “Come on,” Dakota urged.  He slowly pushed the door open. Inside, was a large, pond of thick, blue liquid, which was producing an eerie blue light in the small room, so Celie no longer needed her light. There was a door on the other side of the room, but it was glowing red hot, with flames licking at it from the floor. The flames were coming from a large crack in the ground. Other than that, the room was empty.

    “What is that?” Mai asked, looking into the blue substance.

    “This must be one of the challenges,” Dakota said quietly. 

    “But what’s the challenge?” Wyatt muttered. They began to discussing what they thought the challenge might be, but Mai didn’t hear them. She was too busy looking at her reflection in the pond. There was something strange about it. It was very fuzzy and she could hardly make out the shape of her head. Then the substance began to ripple and her face became clear, but something was wrong. In her reflection, she had short, blond hair that came just below her chest, and was wearing blue armor. She rubbed her eyes and looked harder. Her reflection showed there was someone dressed in red, standing right behind her. 

     She looked over her shoulder, but Dakota was nowhere near her, in fact he was on the other side of the room. She looked back at the reflection and stared at this person behind her. The person became clearer after a few seconds, and Mai could make out that it was a tall boy with messy, dark brown hair. The boy put a hand on her shoulder, though the real Mai felt nothing. And finally, as the boy’s face became clear, she could make out a blue tattoo across the left side of his face that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

     “Fudo!” Mai shouted as she stood up quickly. Everyone looked at her suddenly as though Fudo were really in the room.      

     “Where!” Dakota asked, frightened.

     “No, I saw his reflection in the pond,” Mai explained, hoping that they would believe her.

     “You saw Fudo in there? Isn’t that the boy that knocked you out, and was fighting with Wyatt when I first met you guys?” Celie asked. Mai nodded and everyone gathered around the pool.

     “I don’t see anything Mai,” Wyatt said. “You must have imagined it.”

     Mai shook her head vigorously. “I saw him,” she said firmly. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, but it was something she knew she shouldn’t forget. It was strange, very strange. He had touched her, and her image had not so much as flinched, as the real Mai had done. It was frightening her.  She reached her hand out to touch the surface of the blue liquid, but Dakota grabbed her arm to stop her.

     “I don’t think we should touch it, Mai.”

     Mai gave the pool one last look before following the others as they went to examine the hot door. 

     “I can cool it off with my Wind Powers,” Dakota said. He shot a blast of air at the door and it cooled off in an instant. The flames went out and the door turned a deep blue color as the heat reduced. Dakota tentatively reached for the door handle and grabbed it. “It’s safe,” he said with a sigh of relief.

     “That was easier than I thought,” Wyatt said.

     “Open the door,” Celie urged. Dakota held his breath as he slowly opened the door. Inside the new room—if you could even call it a room—covering the entire surface of where the floor should be, was a ditch that seemed to have no bottom, and was at least twenty feet across. And on the other side of this ditch, was yet another door.

     “How are we supposed to get across that,” Wyatt blurted out.

     “That’s a big hole,” Celie said under her breath.

     “Yeah,” Mai agreed, “a very big hole.

 

                                      *         *          *

 

     “How do you know where he is?” Fudo asked his grandfather as they walked through the rain, towards the ocean. Aldrich had told him that he knew where the boy was. But Fudo didn’t completely trust his opinion. His grandfather was normally right about things, and as much as Fudo hated to admit it, he depended on his advice. Behind them walked five of Aldrich’s friends, whom Aldrich said should come along. Fudo didn’t want them to come. They would only get in the way.

    “I know where he is, because I was there a long time ago and I know he will return,” Aldrich answered.  

     Fudo rolled his eyes. “Could you have at least picked a better route? Walking through an open field in the rain wasn’t really the best idea!” The rain wasn’t helping to improve his bad mood. 

     Aldrich just smiled. “We’re almost there. Have patience, Fudo.” He pointed to the sandy beach in front of them.”

     Fudo scowled and shook his wet hair out of his eyes. “Good.” He would get the boy this time. There was no more escape for him. He had been living right under Fudo’s nose for so long, and he hadn’t realized it. But now, the boy would be his, once and for all. He had to save his father. He had to redeem himself, and he had to fix the wrong that he had done to the world. This was the only way for him to do so. It was the only way.

 

                                      *         *          *

 

    “This challenge might be a bit harder,” Dakota said, looking through the darkness at the door on the other side of the ditch. It seemed like it would just swallow them up if they took another step closer. The chasm was so ominous that it made the hair on the back of Mai’s neck stand on end.  

     “There’s no way to get across it. It’s impossible!” Wyatt said, frustrated. Mai was tired of Wyatt’s pessimistic comments. He had always made a habit of giving up way to easily. 

     “No, it’s not,” Celie said suddenly.

      “What do you mean, Celie?” Mai asked.

    “I know how to get across. I can make a bridge out of Black Light, though I won’t be able to hold it very long.” The others agreed and decided they would have to make it quick. Celie’s eyes began to glow as she lifted both arms. Black Light formed a thin path across the large ditch. It seemed to have a slight purple glow in the intense darkness.

    “Hurry,” Celie said in the hoarse voice she got whenever she used Black Light. 

    The others ran forward and carefully walked along the thin path, Celie walking along behind them, keeping the bridge in place. It felt like walking on a sponge. When they reached the door, Mai grabbed the handle and pulled. She was dismayed to find it locked.

    “I can’t hold it much longer!” Celie said, a bead of sweat rolled down her face. The urgency in her voice made Mai’s heart pound so fast, she was surprised it was echoing through the cavern.

    “Dakota, how can we open it?” Wyatt said, looking over the edge of the Black Light bridge and into the black nothingness of the ditch.

     “I don’t know,” Dakota said, frantically looking around for something to open the door.

     “I can’t hold it!” Celie shouted. Mai was still pulling as hard as she could on the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. She wanted to run back to the other side before Celie dropped the bridge, but her legs wouldn’t move.

      “Just a minute, there has to be a way to open it,” Dakota said.

     “I’m gonna drop it!” Celie shouted, panic rising in her voice. Even with her eyes glowing, Mai could still see fear in them.

     “Just a second!” Dakota yelled back at her. Mai was going to suggest they go back to the other side so Celie could rest, then they could try again, but realized that it was too far for them to go. Celie would have dropped the bridge long before they got back. 

   “Please, hurry!” Celie said, a strain in her voice. Too late. The Black Light slowly went out as well as the glow in Celie’s eye and they started plummeting down through nothingness, screaming. Mai’s eyes met Dakota’s as they fell, and he suddenly began to glow yellow, illuminating the sides of the ditch, yet the bottom was still out of sight. The air around him began to swirl, making a small tornado. Mai, Wyatt and Celie were sucked into it as well, spinning in circles around Dakota. They stopped falling and instead, started moving up. Mai looked at Dakota, but his face was completely hidden by the light and all she could see was yellow light, and his silver, mirror-like eyes. The tornado, with Dakota in the middle and his friends swirling helplessly around him, floated all the way back up to the door. The door suddenly swung open, the tornado moved to it, and one by one, threw Mai, Wyatt and Celie through the door. The tornado moved through the door too and disappeared, leaving the still glowing Dakota floating three feet above the ground. Mai exchanged scared looks with Wyatt and Celie, who looked as though they had been hit on the head with a hammer. Mai guessed she looked the same. Dakota slowly floated down to the ground and as soon as his feet touched, his glow went away as though someone had flipped a light switch. 

     Mai ran forward and stood in front of him. “Dakota, are you alright?”

      He had a dazed look in his eye and was shaking. “I’m fine. Are you guys okay?” Mai nodded and hugged him. 

     “Now I understand what that writing said at the main room,” Celie said excitedly. “Remember it said, ‘Only those worthy may pass’? It meant only the Chosen One from the Air Tribe cloud get through. The first test made sure you had Wind Powers, and the second made sure you were a Chosen One. You had to activate your Defensive Power to unlock that door.”

    Mai gasped as she looked around the room. It was painted bright yellow and there were lit torches along the walls. There was a painting of two people on the wall. One was a tall man with short, brown hair and gray eyes. He was wearing yellow Air Tribe robes and looked to be around forty years old. The other was a woman who had brown hair that came down to her chest and orb-like blue eyes. She was wearing blue Water Tribe robes and looked the same age as the man. They were holding hands. There was something about them that seemed so familiar to Mai. She had seen those faces somewhere before. To the left of the picture was a tall, red door with the Air Tribe insignia painted on it.  And to the right of the picture was a short wood door. The room was completely empty.

     “Mai, Wyatt, you wait out here. Celie and I have to go in this room by ourselves,” Dakota said, pointing to the door next to the picture.

     “Why can’t we come?” Wyatt asked.

     “Because it’s Chosen Ones only, see the sign?” He pointed to a small sign that hung above the door, reading: Chosen Ones, welcome. 

     “Sorry, but you have to stay here,” said Dakota.  Mai and Wyatt agreed to wait in this room until Dakota and Celie returned. As Celie pushed open the big, red doors, Mai thought hard about where she had seen the people in that painting.

    Dakota closed the big doors behind them and turned around. The small room was empty except for a tiny, golden chest across the room.

     “What is that?” Celie asked.

     “Let’s find out.” They walked forward until they were standing right in front of the chest. Dakota squatted down and carefully lifted the lid. Inside was a piece of paper. Dakota picked it up and read:

 

 Congratulations Chosen One, you have successfully completed my challenges and may now speak with me.

 

     He read it out loud to Celie who frowned. “What does it mean, ‘you may now speak with me’? Speak to whom?” Suddenly, a thick cloud of mist filled the room, making it hard to see.  There was a flash of light and a man appeared in front of them. It was the man from the painting outside the door.

     “Greetings,” said the man. Celie and Dakota exchanged glances. “I am Fujin, previous Chosen One of the Wind Tribe.”

      Dakota’s eyes grew wide. “You’re Fujin?” He was so filled with excitement that he forgot to bow to him. But Fujin didn’t seem to notice or care.

     He smiled. “Yes, I am.  And what might your names be?”

     Celie took a step closer to him. “I am Celie, Chosen One from the Light Tribe.” She bowed

     Fujin bowed back. “It is very nice to meet you.”

     Dakota cleared his throat. “And I am Dakota, Chosen One from the Wind Tribe.” This time he remembered to bow.

     Fujin bowed again. “I sensed you were coming.”

     Celie looked at Dakota who shrugged. “Are you a ghost?” Celie asked. Dakota didn’t think that this was a very polite question to ask him. But he decided not to say anything to her.

     “Yes, I am a ghost who protects this forsaken city.”

      Celie raised one eyebrow. “You look so young.  You couldn’t have died of old age. Did you get killed in battle or something?”

       Dakota elbowed her in the ribs. That wasn’t a very nice thing to say, he said to her with his mind.

      “It’s alright, Dakota. I don’t mind answering her question.” Dakota had forgotten that Fujin could speak with his mind too; he was a Chosen One.

     “I don’t know if you know this or not, but I had a wife, her name was Kania, and she was the Chosen One from the Water Tribe. One night, she died in her sleep. No one knows how or why it happened, but it caught us all by surprise. For two years I suffered the pain of losing the one I loved, until one day, my daughter died as well. My Defensive Power acted up and it was too strong. It consumed and killed me.” The name Kania sounded so familiar to Dakota, but he decided to push that thought away for the time being.

     “What do you mean, ‘it consumed you’?” Celie asked.

     “Don’t you know?” Celie shook her head. Fujin became solemn. “If you are not able to control your emotions, your Defensive Power can use up all your power and energy, and kill you. I was not good at controlling my emotions. I got mad very easily and when I was upset, my Defensive Power always acted up. Very few have this problem. Anyway, what have you come to me for?”

    Dakota looked at Celie who looked back at him. It felt as though his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth. He couldn’t talk. The thought of standing in the same room as the previous Chosen One from the Air Tribe was overwhelming. But finally, he managed to stutter, “We didn’t know we could speak to you. We thought this was just a shrine,” Dakota said finally.

     “But we would like it if you could tell us where we can find the other Chosen Ones,” Celie added.

     “Ahh, yes. Well, you can find the others in the Solarian Islands. It is a small group of island located south of Hawaii,” Fujin confirmed.

     “So, is that where most of the people from Solaria live?” Dakota asked. He was hopeful he might get to meet more of them so he could see what they were really like. He hadn’t seen anyone from the Wind Tribe since before he’d gone to the orphanage. He was excited.

     “Bingo. And there are whole towns and cities just like this one here, only above ground.”

     “Are all the remaining Chosen Ones there?” Celie asked.

     “All but four: you two and two others. But I’d suggest you go to the Solarian Islands as soon as possible and come back here when there are only two Chosen Ones left to find.” Dakota and Celie nodded. “You must hurry with your search.  Time is running out.”

     Dakota shook his head. “What do you mean?”

     Fujin’s face darkened. “You must find all the Chosen Ones, and train them before October twenty-fourth, 2006, for this is when Romokka will attack.” Celie and Dakota frowned at each other.  How were they supposed to get all the Chosen ones together in just under eight months?

     “I will let you go now, your friends are waiting for you. Oh, one more thing, Dakota. I have a little something for you.” He raised one hand and Dakota robes started to sparkle.  Then with a flash of light, they turned yellow. 

     “Now I finally have Wind Tribe robes,” Dakota said. “Thanks!” As Fujin started to turn away from them, Dakota quickly asked, “What was the pool of blue liquid a few rooms back? What does it do?”

     Fujin turned back to face them. “It tells the future… It was Kania’s.” Fujin smiled. And with that he said, “Goodbye, and good luck.” He walked into the mist and disappeared. 

     As the mist faded Celie said, “That was weird.”

     Dakota smiled. “Weird, but cool.” He wondered what Mai’s vision in the pool had meant. Did Fujin mean that it showed the future, or just gave you some ideas as to what might happen. He decided not to tell Mai about it. It might only make her uneasy, and he didn’t want that.

 

 

      Mai was looking at the painting, staring at the faces that looked so familiar. It was as if she had already had both of them memorized in her mind, from some far-off time. There was something about this whole place that made her think. It made her think about things that might have happened a long time ago, that she couldn’t remember. There was something big that she was forgetting. Something that would clarify many things—if she could only remember. Suddenly, the big, red doors opened and Celie and Dakota walked out. As soon as they told them what had just happened Wyatt said, “There’s a ghost in there, and you talked to it?”

     Dakota grinned and nodded. “He gave me new Wind Tribe robes, see.” He gestured to the new yellow robes he was wearing.

     “We only have about eight months to find, and train all the Chosen Ones?” Mai asked, horrified. This was impossible.  October twenty-fourth…That had been the day that changed her life. It seemed so long ago, but it really wasn’t that far off. It seemed ironic that the two worst days of her life would happen on the same day of the year, a few years apart.

    Celie sighed. “Yeah, but at least we know where most of the Chosen Ones are.” There was relief in her voice.

    “Well then, there’s no time to lose.  How do we get out of here?” Wyatt asked.

     “I think that door is the way out,” Dakota told them.  He pointed to the short, wooden door to the right of the painting. They walked over to it and Dakota pulled it open. They were standing in the courtyard of the palace. They found a gate off to the side and walked through, closing it behind them.  Dakota led them back through Arashia, only stopping for one last glance at his old house. 

     His eyes glistened once more, but he shook his head and kept walking. Once they reached the small opening that had let them in, Dakota bid goodbye to his old home and sealed the door by once again placing his hand over the mark on the wall. The brown liquid bubbled on the ground, then rose back up and once again, took the form of rocks. Amo and Tito were waiting eagerly for them.   The storm had passed over and they could see the stars shining through the entrance to the cave. Mai laid back, about to fall asleep, when she smelled charcoal. She sat up and looked around. The smell grew stronger, until Dakota, Celie and Wyatt all said they smelled it too. They all—including Amo and Tito—walked out of the cave and looked around. There was smoke rising from the pine trees. They walked a little farther and saw a camp fire, though no one was there.

      Mai said she would go put it out and they could go back to the cave to sleep. The other’s shrugged and walked back to the cave.  She took her water bottle out of her robes and walked over to the fire. She pulled out a stream of water and doused the flames. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and screamed.  Fudo put a hand over her mouth.

     “Well, I haven’t seen you for a while, Water Peasant.”