Chapter 11: Escape

A Chapter by Anonymous

“Ewa,” whispered Weïnyu, holding her right arm in the sling, “follow me.”
“Aye aye,” replied Ewa with a grin. The two Benders crouched down and had worked their way to a large cavern. The lead-skinned girl suddenly held her good arm out, stopping Ewa in her tracks.
“Wait,” Weïnyu said. Ewa glanced around in the dark cavern and Weïnyu swiftly lashed out her arm and shifted it into the metal shooter. She whipped it back and cracked the latch, an explosion of light shooting from the barrel and flying into the darkness.
Ewa heard a blood-curdling screech as a crippled bird (if you could call the beast a bird) emerged from the cavern, smoke rising from a gaping wound in its chest, black, gluey blood caking its scaly skin. It collapsed onto the ground and let out another cry, writhing in pain. The beast soon went still and dissolved into black ashes quickly.
Weïnyu wiped the dust off of her metal shooter and transformed it back into her silver flesh.
“Don’t push yerself, girlie,” Ewa said in concern.
“It doesn’t take energy to do that, Ewa,” Weïnyu assured her, “don’t worry.”
“Yer amazin’, then.”
Weïnyu’s dark cheeks burned pink as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, a faint smile on her face.
“I was born with it; it was really nothing...” she stuttered, her voice cracking.
Ewa punched Weïnyu’s good arm gently.
“Let’s get goin’,” Ewa said, pulling Weïnyu along. “I can hear Realms comin’. He’ll wanna get out right away; I know I do.”
The two Benders sprinted down the un-see-able path through the echoing cavern and soon came to a long, rickety bridge with broken panels of wood and burned-up rope railing. Spurts of ash and gas bubbled up from below, where there was none other than a huge sweltering lake of lava and fire ebbing and roaring against the ashy rock cliffs.
“Ye’ve gotta be kidding!” Ewa exclaimed, slapping her forehead with her palm.
“Don’t panic,” Weïnyu said shakily. “We’d better wait for Realms if we hope to all get over.”
Just then, Realms ran out of the darkness and right up to them, sweating fiercely and panting like an animal.
“You’ve forgotten that I can’t run as fast as you two,” he said slowly, wiping his forehead. He saw the bridge with disappointed eyes and let out a whimper.
“Wonderful,” he moaned.
“Ain’t it?” Ewa snickered.
Weïnyu inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, straightening her spine and doing some kind of hand-gesture. She breathed out a sound that resembled a whisper of a breeze.
“I’m ready,” she said, glancing at both Ewa and Realms. They nodded. Ewa mimicked the silver-skinned girl’s motions and felt a gust of cool energy surge through her veins.
“I’m ready, too,” Ewa said.
“Let’s go...”
The three stepped onto the swaying bridge, Weïnyu first, and slowly started to edge forward. Ewa watched her feet carefully, placing her shoes on the panels of wood as lightly and slowly as possible. She looked back and saw Realms behind her, holding his hands clasped together with his eyes shut and muttering a prayer to the Spirits. A locket encrusted with a blue gem hanging from his belt was flashing the light from a plume of fire into Ewa’s eyes. She shook her head and had to squint, then noticed the panel under her left foot beginning to loosen. Suddenly, the panel gave way and Ewa collapsed to the bridge, a huge crack running from the hole in the bridge to the end where they came from. Ewa flickered her eyes back, terrified. The bridge began to crumble quicker than they would’ve hoped.
“Run!” Ewa screamed, clambering back up and pushing Weïnyu forward in a panic. The three began to sprint across, stumbling across jagged panels and struggling to keep their balance while still remaining in a run. Ewa heard a cry and looked back to see Realms trip and fall behind, just a few feet from the crumbling wave.
“Realms!” wailed Weïnyu, still running.
“No!” Ewa cried. She skidded to a halt and grabbed Realms’ hand as he nearly was carried into the lake of magma with the ruined bridge remains. She pulled him up into her arms and whipped around just as the bridge folded underneath her. The spark of Bend flashed through her like lightning. Her feet lifted off of the bridge as she grabbed Weïnyu by the waist and sped off. The second that her feet touched solid ground, she immediately halted. The force of the still-going velocity blasted past her, sending her long hair into a frenzy. She held strong against the pressure as the bridge collapsed into the swirling pit of fire. Realms pulled away from Ewa’s arms and took Weïnyu’s hand; she was still quivering, her hand against her heart as she whispered a tiny prayer.
“Ewa,” Realms said, glancing back at the blonde girl, “thank you.”
“I thank the Spirits that you were sent here,” Weïnyu cried. Silver tears flooded her dull red eyes as she trembled.
Ewa grinned and leaned back, her fists against her hips. “Now, where’s that gate?” she said. Weïnyu turned and pointed at a giant door behind them, made up of two huge slabs of black stone with ancient golden inscriptions carved into the doors. Two large, twisted pipes decorated each side of the gate and pointed outward.
“These two pipes are used to open the gate,” explained Weïnyu. “It requires the power of two Benders to open it. Now that you’re here, we can open it.”
Weïnyu closed her eyes and held her hands in a gesture against her chest. Ewa blushed. They both outstretched their palms to the gate and inhaled. In unison, they whispered the same word.
“Bend.”
Huge bullets of blue energy shot out of their palms and was whisked into the pipes. The pipes led to four giant stone bells which clanged and chimed loudly in a familiar melody. They became louder and louder and soon the gate began to creak. It opened swiftly with a huge gust of strong wind and blinding light.
Everything went silent yet was still in motion. The bells were dancing, the door swinging open, and the earth quaking, but no sound anywhere. The pale light poured in; Weïnyu covered her face with her arms and collapsed to the ground. Ewa opened her mouth to scream, but no words came along. A flooding sensation of warmth filled Ewa and she could no longer feel anything. Her eyesight went dull and blurred as Realms cried out with no sound. Ewa’s vision finally faded into the white light.
We have to find the Benders, Ewa thought as she fell unconscious. We have to...

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