I’ve been sitting in the living room of the dark cave home for almost an hour now. Kris was left to watch me along with Luhan and chen who are in another room planning. Kai left over thirty minutes ago to gather the other members but it feels like he left nearly three hours ago. My nerves are on end. 

 

 Who has Appa, why, where, what for? Everything that could be asked I have chanted in my mind relentlessly. So much so that Luhan had to leave the room to prevent getting a headache. Kris still sits stiff on the edge of the chair across the room, staring at me and sighing like he’s mad. I know he and I aren’t exactly on positive terms but he should at least spit out what he has to say instead of sighing like a banshee. 

 

“Kris just say whatever it is you are thinking.” I snap after he sighs particularly loud. 

 

“Nothing.” He squints at me. “just that I was right. You should have broken all ties off from family and moved here.” 

 

 My nostrils flared at his insensitive solution. So this is my fault, all of it? To an extent maybe but it takes an evil person to make a good one take the blame. 

 

“You’ve never known a family have you?” I could only conclude he doesn’t know what its like to a part of something more than 12 boys getting together once in a while to do some book keeping. 

 

“No, but I’ve never needed one. The moment my family knew I was different they practically wanted to disown me themselves.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to have some ancestor or something ahead of the family line with the same power? It shouldn’t have been a shock.”

 

“Sure it shouldn’t have but regardless that was so many years before me that it was forgotten.” Kris stood up and walked to a bookshelf then tossed a book to me. The cover was probably a brilliant red when it first was made but now it looks faded and darkened in spot. A flaking gold dragon was wrapped on the front of it with hot flaming spitting from its mouth. “This gift is often a curse as you see. Its better to have the guts to break family ties and not hurt more people.” 

 

“Is that why you live alone up here? You think you being detached from the world is a heroic thing? Its not.” I shook my head unbelievably.

 

“Then what is it?”

 

“Cowardice.” Kris stood above looking offended but speechless. “It takes true guts and bravery to stay in a dangerous situation and still come out of it as a whole person. If you live your life here then you are not even half a man.” 

 

 Kris jaw was clenched tight as he balled his fists up, his eyes flicking gold again.

 

“Whoa what did I walk in to?” Chen waltzed through the doorway with a stack of sandwiches and a pitcher of water.

 

“Nothing.” Kris turned around walked back to his seat.

 

“Kai said ten more minutes but until then you have to drink something to calm your nerves.” Chen handed me a cup of water fresh from the pitcher and handed a glass to Kris with a ‘you really need this’ look. I sipped it slowly at first but as the water spread across my taste buds an overwhelming sense of familiarity made me drop the glass. The shattering noise startled Chen and Kris, soon followed by Luhan coming back in the room. 

 

“Misty, what is it?” Chen looked at me worried. 

 

“She remembers some of it.” Luhan stood there and swatted his hand so the glass cascaded to the nearest trashcan. 

 

“Some of what?” Kris looked to Luhan as I recalled the sweet water, the damp smell of the cave walls during spring, the earth smell that would linger in the green rooms on the peaks of this mountain and mostly I remember the beautiful smile of a man whose lips were shaped exactly like Kai’s before they turned to stone and disintegrated before me.

 

“A past life I think.” Luhan sat beside me and pat my back timidly. Though everything I remembered was in broken fragments, for some reason a strong emotion washed over me and I let a few tears slip out and on to my cheeks. 

 

“Can I just get a minute alone please?” I looked up at the three around me and each nodded silently before leaving the room. 

 

   I got up and walked around the dark living room and in stepped in to the dark library. I don’t even know where a light switch was so I held my hand up and let light flow from it enough so I could see where I was walking.  The library really was magnificent in itself and as much as I would have liked to read something I walked over to the hidden tree carving. 

 

 I found the pull string for the curtains and pulled them hard to reveal the simple cut out of the tree in to the stone wall. It seemed to get even more beautiful from when I last saw it. A simple touch to the tree roots and the lines started to glow gold then light up in to its beautiful violets, cyan and reds. I missed looking at this just in the short time since I saw it. It felt like a true home to just look at it, so peaceful and serene.

 

 Having stood there for nearly ten minutes I let go and the colors slowly faded away, leaving me in the dark again. I lit my hand up and walked back to the living room. A flicker of light just by the archway caught my attention though. It looked like a lit up thumbprint was laser cut in to the stone. I pushed my thumb to it and strings of gold light poured from my hand and over the wall, revealing a web of faint carvings on the wall. There were scenes that looked like children playing, women cleaning and men doing field work but then it shows the moon and it cracking. The next wall showed the shattered moon and children crying, women screaming and men lay dead in fields. The walls held the scenes of a horrible war it looked as it showed a large army up against 13 people. 

 

 These weren’t just 13 people though. It was a past me and the past 12 protectors against an army of thousands. I needed to see the next wall, the wall with the tree on it but a large bookshelf was in the way. I nodded my head and sent the shelf sliding across the floor to reveal the last image. What I saw made me gasp. 

 

 Past me was casting the thousands of soldiers down with the 12 men fighting beside her. She looked horribly outnumbered though until the last scene. She disappeared and in her spot was a tree and the thousands of soldiers around her lying dead. 

 

 The 12 protectors looked to mourn her but that was the end of the story. The next image was indeed the huge tree I love to look at. 

 

I now know there is something I must do tonight more than save my father. 

                                                                                                                                            •
 

AN:  I know this is a small update but its thanksgiving break and I felt really guilty for leaving you all hanging for so long. There will only be about 2-3 more updates after this.