Chapter 5: Little Sister

The celebrations were well on their way. Magnus and his family sat in the Great hall along with all the officers and high ranking personnel. Cups were raised in cheer both in honor of his grandfather, and the warriors for their successful campaign.

Outside he could hear the raucous noises of the common soldiery who were in full swing with the party.

Night was quickly approaching and Magnus knew it was his bed time soon. His young body wasn't what it used to be as he could have put in many all nighter before. Still he put on his best face. He was the prince of the realm, and he couldn't be acting like a little child dozing off in his chair.

From time to time, his mother would stare in his direction to see how he was doing. He would smile or nod his head towards her, trying not to look as tired as he felt. Anyways, she should be more worried about herself. She was after all that one that was pregnant.

There were a couple people at the homecoming party for his grandfather that drew his attention. The first where the deadly cadre of water benders. The moment they entered the hall it was as if it dropped a couple degrees.

The aura that they oozed just screamed danger. They were nothing like the water benders that guarded him. Magnus knew why - they were war benders trained for only one thing… combat. The techniques they were taught was for killing, and killing only.

Magnus would have loved to have gotten to know them some more. But he could do that in the future, and learn some deadly water bending techniques from them.

The other group that attracted him were the tribal chieftains and chieftess. Powerful warriors who sat brooding in their seats and their weapons on full display.

The division of power in the Water Nation was clear; there was the Noble Families who produced most of the water benders. Then there was the many tribes that proved all the fiercest warriors. These two different blocks form the division of power within the Water Nation and basically the other nations as well to some extent.

His family would be the glue that holds everything together so the two camps weren’t at each other's throats. Though in all honesty, his family was just a glorified version of a noble family as well.

They produced powerful water benders just like any other noble family, and they didn’t number in the thousands upon thousands of clan members like the tribes.

Just then as he was busy taking everything in, Magnus heard a shout which drew his attention. He saw his mother grabbing her belly while a maid was right at her side.

“What’s wrong?” his father asked in a slightly worried tone.

“I think my water just broke…” his mother said through deep breaths.

***

Hurrying back into the palace, there was a flurry of activity that followed after them. The party was promptly put on hold as they had to deal with this unexpected surprise.

No one expected the child to come so early. The Wise Ones did say there was still a couple weeks left until the baby was due to arrive, but their divination proved to be wrong.

His mother was rushed into the birthing chamber with her maids right at her side, and a Wise One was quickly woken up in these late hours to carry on the delivery.

The men of the family on the other hand were left outside. Him, his father, and grandfather were kicked right out the doorsteps of the chamber, and left to their own devices along with the guards. All they could do was stand around while the unearthly screams of his mother came from inside.

“It's going to be alright,” his father patted him on the shoulder. Though Magnus had the feeling the man was trying to comfort himself. If he had any clue, the man must have been thinking about his difficult birth.

“There is no need to worry,” his father nervously chewed on his thumb. “You will soon have a little sister to play with. And nothing will go wrong!”

“Stop your nervous pacing,” his grandfather called out. “You are off spilling your worries on the poor boy. And what have I taught you?! Stand straight, act more dignified.”

“Sorry,” he said, acting a bit like the child he must have used to be. Looking a bit ashamed of himself, he straightened himself up and tried to act less nervous which was a very unfeasible task.

“Don’t worry,” his grandfather added, his tone softening. “Nothing will go wrong like you said. We have the best healers on hand to take care of any complications.”

“If you say so,” his father said, leaving the rest unsaid.

Now that they were here, Magnus thought back to his birth which was a very complicated affair to say the least. He understood the part of his soul the fish was talking about, but what he didn’t understand was that taint bit.

Until now, he wasn’t able to make heads or tails about it so he set it aside in the back of his mind. Now however all that was back in sharp focus. He had a bad feeling about this blood taint the Ocean Spirit mentioned.

And to add to his worries, if he recalled from the show the princess did speak about an unknown illness she had as an infant.

After what felt like an eternity, an old crone stepped out of the room with blood dripping down her finger. Immediately, Magnus imagined the worst, but the old woman just waved them over.  “You can come in.”

They entered the room wordlessly with trepidation and worry. The chamber was heavy with so many emotions. Laying on the bed was his mother who looked sickly pale, but her eyes held a strong light. Her maids were busying themselves cleaning up everything, while the Wise One was washing her hands in a bowl.

“You here,” she hoarsely said, her voice cracking after all that screaming.

“How are you doing?” his father asked in a soft tone as he rested a hand on her shoulders.

“I am fine!” His mother tried her best to smile which Magnus didn’t like immediately. “Come and meet her,” she said, holding out a small bundle.

His grandfather was the first to take the child from his mother’s hand, and Magnus was able to get a good look at her. He had to say, she was an ugly little thing with her face all scrunched up, her eyes closed shut, and her skin shining bright pink.

He wondered if that is how he looked when he was born? No… that couldn’t be. He was much more handsome.

But as quickly as he saw her, he knew deep down something was wrong. And it wasn’t only him who noticed, but the old man as he asked. “What’s wrong with her?”

The one who answered was the Wise One. “We are unsure. The healers and I are unable to make heads or tales. She is too quiet for a child which is worrying. And she isn’t waking from her slumber.”

His grandfather furrowed his eyebrows as he was thinking of something, and a sob broke through his mother’s mouth. “Again, we have been cursed!”

“Is there nothing you can do?” his father turned to face the Wise One head on.

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but even our water healing has been trumped.”

“Then we only have one choice!” the chief said.

***

Magnus had never come back here after his fateful meeting. He didn’t know why, but a part of him was jolted that some spirit knew his deepest, darkest secret that he kept close to his chest.

He read plenty of fanfics, and he knew that telling anyone that he was a reincarnated soul was like opening Pandora's box. That was when the bullshitiry started.

At any rate, there was no way somebody would take it the right way when you told them that they were the fictional creation of two white guys.

Furthermore, Magnus couldn’t shake off this feeling that whatever the Ocean Spirit did that day was more than give him some of his life force. Deep down, he felt a bond between the two of them which seemed to grow everyday.

Now though, here he was, back where everything all started - the Spirit Oasis!

It was just as magical as he remembered with all those fancy lights floating about, and the greenery here in the middle of an arctic frozen land. At the center of it was a giant pool with shining crystalline blue water, and swimming inside of it were two giant koi fish - one black and the other white.

They seemed to be dancing in a never ending circle that went on for eternity. And it drew him in, wanting him to never break eye contact.

Magnus wondered to himself how old these spirits were. From the records he found within the Royal Library, these things were here ever before the founding of his royal lineage. Some records even show they go even further back than that… all the way during the creation of what is the Water Nation.

Most likely he could assume that they were from during the first Harmonic Convergence. That was the most likely conclusion he could come up with since the two twin spirits are one of the few that are still present in the material world.

At that very moment, everyone got on their knees. Not wanting to be that arrogant prick who decided to hold his head high for some flimsy reasons, Magnus quickly joined them as well.

No matter what he thought of this little weird bundle, she was now his little sister and her life was on the line. He sure as hell would be showing her would be saviors all the respect that they deserved.

Anyways he didn’t want to anger some beings tens of thousands of years old.

“Oh, great spirits,” his father spoke up. “We once again intrude upon your sanctuary for a favor and a blessing!”

“Please…” his mother sobbed out. “Please save our daughter!”

“My this is more serious than I thought,” a beautiful angelic voice of a woman sounded out as this time the white koi fish broke the surface of the pool. Magnus could have sworn he saw no lips flapping, but somehow the fish spoke to them.

“What do you mean, great spirits?” Magnus’s grandfather spoke up, his eyes narrowed into slits.

“Well at first we assumed the blood taint your grandson carried was a one off thing. But now we stand corrected. Your granddaughter also carries this most foul curse. And we can see now who it originated from!”

“Who?” his father hurriedly, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

“Well you of course,” the giant white fish answered simply.

“What?!” Magnus said in surprise, looking back and forth quickly, almost dazing himself. Regardless of his outburst, he was ignored as the fish continued explaining.

“You, Chief Arnook, carry a curse that will resurface with your descendants leaving them frail and weak.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” his mother spoke up for his father who was too gobsmacked to even speak up.

“This is clearly the work of one sort of bending that I know of very well - Blood Bending!” The deep voice of the black koi fish spoke up as he too deigned to join the conversation.

Silence gripped everyone, most of all Magnus who was shocked out of his wits. ‘Blood Bending? That made no sense at all!’

“Who could have done this?” his grandfather growled.

“I think I know,” Magnus raised his hand, making everyone turn to face him.

There were a lot of thoughts racing through his mind; like what the hell was this? The extended universe of the Avatar world or maybe an alternate universe! Just thinking about it was headache inducing and if that was the case he should be expecting a lot of surprised curveballs in the future.

The worst case scenario could be if all his future lore related knowledge was thrown out the window. If so, then go fuck yourself, R.O.B or whatever trashy fanfic author decided to ruin his life!

Regardless, many dots started connecting inside Magnus’s head. If Blood Benders were already a thing that existed in this world besides the crazy witch in the woods then it could have been only one group of people that did it - the Blood Clan.

The blood part was already in their name, and you just had to be advertising yourself as blood benders with the whole Blood Clan thing going. Besides they already sent their fucking regards and were out for his life. So he wouldn’t put it past them to somehow blood curse them or whatever.

Already he was getting a lot of bad mumbo jumbo from these Blood Clan dudes. They were already trying to snuff out babies in the crib and devastating whole generations to come. Like what the hell did we even do to them, destroy their clan or something…

Oh, Magnus thought with a shake of his head, that was most likely it. Fuck me!

“Sweetie, what do you mean?” his mother asked, clearly thinking he was joking with them or something.

“This is a very serious matter, son. Let us handle it,” his father was more brisk.

“No. I am not playing around with you.” Magnus shook his head. “I’m very serious!”

“Let him speak,” his grandfather said, holding out a hand to stop his parents. “Go ahead, boy. Tell me, who did this?” Magnus could sense the murder in his tone, and why wouldn’t there be his very own son and his line had been cursed for who knew how many generations long.

“Ever since I was a child,” Magnus began. “I could remember everything that was going on. I can remember the day that a whisker touched me and I was aware. I can remember that big celebration thrown in my honor. I can also remember the day… an assassin snuck into my room and tried to kill me.”

No one said a word as they were too absorbed by his tale. Magnus knew he was taking a huge risk here as he was revealing himself, and opening himself up for attack and doubt. But he couldn’t let these killers get away. Who knew when they would make another attempt on his life or that of his sister.

Action needed to be taken right now, and screw it if they thought of him as some freak or whatever. His safety was more important than the option of sheeps.

“That day when the assassin tried to kill me he said something I can remember until now… the Blood Clan sends their regards! I don’t know who these Blood Clan are, but they must be the ones behind everything.”

“The Blood Clan you say,” his father uttered. “Oh how I know them very well! It all makes sense now,” he grounded out his teeth.

“That could make some sense,” the Ocean Spirit in contemplation, already hoodwinked by the unassuming little child.

“And then what happened?” his grandfather suddenly broke in, catching everyone unaware.

“What do you mean, father?” the chief asked.

“I heard what happened that night. But till this day, I don’t understand how only a single child was the only one left alive when everyone else in the room was found dead. How did you come out unscathed?”

‘Was this it? Was this his chance?’ Magnus mused to himself taking in the old man with critical eyes. Nothing seemed to get past this old man so only the truth would work for him. However, that just fit perfectly into his plans.

Hadn’t he had been complaining that nobody would teach him water bending. Well then, this was his chance!

“I water bended that night!” Magnus answered.

“What do you mean?” his father asked in surprise.

“Show me,” his grandfather cut in.

And Magnus did! There was a pool of water right before him so he drew some water from it, and he showed off all the secret training he had been doing these past few months.

He seemingly conjured one water blade after the other in his hand, all of them pitch balck in color and looking sharp like a blade even though they were just compressed water.

And Magnus didn’t stop there as he brought both of his hands together combining his water blades into an unusual shape. Then it started spinning and rotating in his hands at a deadly pace while whirring loudly.

With a mighty effort he let loose the Water Shuriken into the air, it flew at great speed and struck a tree with little to no effort at all it cut through the truck making the tree fall down sideways.

Silence reigned as no one said a word at all until Magnus decided to clear his throat.

“Now about healing my little sister,” Magnus said to the mostly gobsmacked crowd.

***

Water Blade: https://tensura.fandom.com/wiki/Water_Blade?file=Water_Blade.png

Water Shuriken: https://www.deviantart.com/seiryuuden/art/Water-Shuriken-449139093