Chapter 16: Awakening!!!
Kendra continued to lay the souls of the departed water nation members to rest.
She didn't stop for a minute to catch her breath, and neither did she pay attention to those around her, until she finally was done with all the dead souls.
She used the heavy elemental presence of water to sweep the streets, returning the condition of the houses to their former glory.
Her movements were elegant, the very act itself was enthralling, and both Dice and Cherry were stunned by her graceful use of the water element until it was barely noticeable that the town was attacked earlier.
She then rested on top of a tree stump that was cleaned by her water-cleansing skill.
She stared at the unconscious Lancelot by her side,
"When will you wake up? I need you to avenge me" She spoke to his unconscious body.
There was no response for a while, until, suddenly, from a distance, quiet sobs rang out and she could hear faint cries coming from an underground tunnel.
She knew exactly where that tunnel was and due to her seeing so many dead bodies, she never suspected that people might be kept safe in the tunnels but it seems the opposite was the case.
She got up and moved in the direction of the tunnel, she moved so fast, turning into mist, reaching the tunnel in no time
.
At the entrance of the tunnel was a sead water nation soldier, her body was hard-pressed to the door of the entrance, it seems she sacrificed herself to keep the occupants of the tunnel safe.
Her eyes were having a look of shock, Kendra felt she must have gone through a tremendous amount of pain to keep that look on her face.
Her dying moments must have been filled with severe agony.
Kendra did to her as she had done to others, swiftly sending her soul to rest beyond the seas
She then opened the tunnel and saw so many Children with tears on their faces.
They were frightened and all ran back in fear of being attacked, but on seeing Kendra's appearance, they immediately trusted her.
They could tell by her affinity for the water element that she was one of them.
They rushed towards her immediately and huddled around her, suddenly the tempo of the crying increased like it had been amplified by Kendra's presence.
She moved to soothe their unhappiness and kissed some of their foreheads. Kendra spoke to the older ones about 13 years of age.
"What happened here?",
A young girl with a pink dress held on to her younger sister of about 8,
The younger sister held on to her clothes, shy and scared, she hid behind her older sister.
The older sister spoke, a bit braver than the remaining children.
"There was a loud yelling about the presence of the air nation soldiers and next thing that happened was we being rounded up by the soldiers and put in the tunnel for safety, all we could hear from here were cries of agony and pain, we've been here quietly waiting, oblivious to what was going on outside"
Kendra nodded her head and led all the children out of the tunnel, all numbered 39.
Now she had the sole responsibility of catering for the next generation of the water nation heirs.
She felt a bit of happiness in her heart that at the very least there were survivors.
She had always felt that the current water nation was a weak one and with her overseeing the growth and development of 39 children, there was bound to be a glorious future for the water nation in the coming years.
Suddenly there was a slight quake, and small moving flames started to roam around Lancelot's body.
"He is awakening" Kendra spoke with a smile.
By this time, both Dice and Cherry were also attending to the Children, but they had a problem gaining their trust.
The children kept rushing behind Kendra for fear that Dice and Cherry might harm them.
It was a constant struggle to get the children to trust them, however, that wasn't as important as witnessing Lancelot awake from his unconscious state.
He had reached the level 4 stage of the fire elemental level before he fell unconscious, he had also obtained the power hook of the beast nation, which coincidentally was a totem of inheritance belonging to the fire nation originally.
It amplified his abilities 10 folds, no one knows how strong he would be once he awakens.
Slowly but steadily, Lancelot awoke from slumber, his face was glowing.
His eyes were bright red, and the space around him was dry.
The ground beneath and in proximity to him turned to soot black from the scorching heat emanating from his body.
He looked like a fire god in human form.
"Lancelot, conceal your aura, you will scare the children" Kendra spoke, with a concerned expression.
On noticing the Children, Lancelot managed to conceal his power display and stood up abruptly,
"I'm hungry" He said to Kendra as if speaking to his caretaker.
Kendra smiled and spoke to all around her,
"Let's go get some food'
and she walked speedily ahead.
They passed a few buildings and they noticed
that Kendra was suddenly entering into the sea.
They didn't know what was going on but soon they followed behind her, blindly with trust.
The sea suddenly felt like it turned into dry land as soon as they stepped on it, an illusion disappeared as they went in to a large room.
The children found it easier since they already had an idea of where they were but the skeptical ones had to force themselves to be brave.
The hall was gigantic, fishes filled the surrounding space, swimming in a carefree manner.
The odd thing about the hall was that, the space that afforded those fishes the ability to swim served as air for the non-water nation visitors.
Every underwater animal present were all converging to meet the incoming Kendra, they seem to reverence Kendra like e a queen, and every part of the building paid homage to her.
There were sea horsemen positioned at a side with weapons.
They seemed extremely strong.
Their leader, Xanthu, led the group and bowed to Kendra,
"Welcome your highness".
He said with a smile, to which Kendra chuckled,
'It's nice to see you Xanthu, please have food ready for my guests and the children".
With that everyone became a bit excited, and the atmosphere changed a bit.
Even Lancelot was catching up with Cherry and Dice while the children chatted freely amongst themselves. the atmosphere became lively once more.