2 PROLOGUE part two

In a valley surrounded by snow topped mountains layer a circular compound and in the middle of this compound stood the mansion of the greatest contributor to modern Qi science, Temno shui.

A thick blanket of snow covered the roof of the mansion and what would have been a beautifull garden. In this world of white and grey a bright and warm orange glow came from the only occupied room, Temno's study and library.

Everything in the room was in stark contrast to the outside, the shelving made of dark oak and the brown leather chair added to the warmth created by the built-in fire place.

A man of average height stood up from the cumfy looking chair and moved to put on his silvery-grey longline coat. His square glasses couldn't hide the bags beneath his aged eyes. Using his hand he swept his hair backwards and admired his image in a mirror that stood in the corner of the room. A white chin-strap beard lined his face and he had a slight hunch and stooped posture.

The corners of his lips raised slightly, "finally" he said and no sooner did he complete his words...

BANG

The door blasted off of its hinges flying across the room and crashing into the wall on the otherside, a streamline of force could be seen as splinters flew through the room as well.

A man clothed completely in white entered the room with confident, slow steps. He was taller than Temno by a couple of inches, everything he wore was white: battle boots, gloves, jacket and tactical mask.

Temno calmly turned to face this white intruder with his back facing the bay windows of his study, his smile never left his face despite the sudden violence. No words were spoken, the only sound coming from the crackling fire. The breeze that drifted through the room as an aftermath added a slight chill to the air.

As soon as he caught sight of Temno the intruder slid his left foot forward as he entered into an attacking stance and with clean, crisp and sharp sequential movements drew his right hand back to his hips, raised his left hand horizontally in front of him in the direction of Temno and released a quick right punch.

CLAP

The sound that eminated was one of something being smacked, funny how he only hit the air infront of him. A column of air blasted from where his fist stopped and barraled into Temno who crossed his arms in front of his chest blocking the column of wind. The force, however, pushed him backwards shattering the windows and forcing him outside into the snow covered garden.

Temno backflipped before landing steadily on his feet. He pushed his crossed arms forward off of his chest and whipped them to his side scattering the remaining force as his feet dragged across the ground before he stopped. He straightened his posture and glanced around the compound.

Along the walls that surrounding his mansion stood warriors dressed similarly to his attacker. The obvious difference being that whereas his attacker had a sword strapped to his waist the others held rifles pointing at him.

The attacker jumped out of the mansion from the second floor study window landing deftly on the ground. He slowly walked towards Temno and stopped when they were 10 metres apart. He removed his headgear.

he shook his head to remove whatever hair fell down over his face. Igor nesti with his angular face, cold expression and sombre eyes appeared. He looked to be in his forties.

" So you've become rat huh, quite the degeneration" Temno sneered . "Humans are supposed to be evolving or so they say, whatever happened to you Igor of the wind canon fist, from dog to rat serving a bunch of insects that should have died during the war."

Igor's expression hardened " spare me you quack! It's human nature to want more, power, wealth, beauty and " he paused slightly, a gleam passed through his eyes "... control..."

" Ha ha ha ha " Temno's chuckle developed into a bold laugh " HA HA HA HA". Bubbles began to be seen on his skin as if his blood was violently boiling, as the bubbles settled down a visage of a man in his thirties appeard. His hair visibly turned black, his posture straightened and his blue eyes were full of profound light. " So Igor come to kill me and take my research? Good luck, you do recall that I've spent the war at the side of one of - if not - the best air benders in known history".

Igor's eyebrows rose, surprise evident on his face at Temno's weird change " so you also have access to Qi immortality technology". Many thoughts flashed through Igor's mind, he shouldn't have any of the Qi tablets 'those men' took them all or whatever was left after the assassination at the sumit, " and no i'm not here to kill you Temno. I have come to destroy your work and take your living body back for OUR research".

" Ha!" Temni scoffed. " I am not so weak as to rely on technology, there are no shortcuts, this is a product of hard work, knowledge and ..... control".

"What!, impossible! Igor exclaimed. "No Qi control method exists to self regulate longevity except a few select esper abilities. Just how..."

Temno inhaled deeply to calm himself and looking directly at Igor " surprised?" he asked. "How you ask, through blood and sweat, sacrifice and determination and" he paused " brotherhood".

"What nonsense" shouted Igor.

" Tell me Igor why do you rhink i shunned the worl for four decades and chose to live in this cold wasteland?" Temno continued. " A blizzard was scheduled for today" he mumbled to himself.

" It is because there's only ice here, or to make a dimwit like you understand, frozen water" he smiled at Igor. " Now let me show you why" he slightly bent his knees "Temno of the water bending shui family" he sread his palms at his side as if to grasp the blanket of snow "is known as THE DEEP OCEAN!"

"RISE!" he thrust his hands towards the sky as if lifting the snow overhead

"FIRE!!!"

Two shouts almost simultaneousley pierced the air.

All the snow at a speed unimaginable rose into the air melted into water and formed a dome 3 metres thick enclosing Temno, Igor and the mansion excluding the gunmen on the walls. A heart beat later cracks of gun fire were heared as a rain of bullets pierced into the water dome.

The bullets that made it through the water dome never hit their intended target. " The bullets change trajectory when passing through the water" Temno calmly explained as he lowered his arms. " you've become dull Igor, you had a small window of opportunity to attack, too bad you got scared and defended against the force created as the dome forms. Temno smiled as Igor gritted his teeth " now let's go wild".

.......

News helicopters flew in cicles as reporters tried to get the best view of the white mansion, now reduced to rubble.

At the same time many reporters on foot hopelessly attempted to cross the police barricade.

A military helicopter could be seen arriving in the distance. The surrounding croud became alert as the aircraft drew closer, hovering above the compound. The helicopter decended outside of the police perimeter.

Three men exited from the helicopter, two deessed in normal military attire carry rifles while the third was dresses in a semi-formal special suit; black military boots and coat with a face mask covering his nose and mouth. His deep, black eyes gazing throuh the crowd to the mansion grounds.

The police made way for the trio as the entered the compound. They approached a man inspecting the messy garden. Boarder detective and inspector Kazack turned and saluted the young man in black.

"salute! special investigator Mech. We detected annormsl Qi and heat levels in the area early this afternoon, when we arrived we found this."

Verdin Mech listened silently, he moved forward after a short while, sat down cross legged and closed his eyes. The detectives and inspectors watched in silence. He opened his eyes after a couple of minutes and said " there is more than one volatile Qi type in the area. There was a battle. Where is the corpse?"

Inspector Kazack mtioned to a enclosed medical tent "there was only one body, damaged pretty badly too, we could barely manage an ID, it's Doctor Temno".

Verdin remained silent and entered the tent. The body, corverd witha whote cloth, was placed on a table. He removed the cloth revealing a badly burnt torso and face. Verdin placed his palm ontop of the chest where the heart should be and closed his eyes. " His Qi meridians are all ruptured along with his dantian, the type of force that could cause this particular damage is ... internal" he calmly explained.

Kazack's eyes narrowed in thought, signs of a battle and self implosion, did he rupture his Qi system from overexertion and the released Qi blew the place up?. "What do you think happened?" he asked.

Verdin turned to look at Kazack, " there was a struggle which concluded in the Doctor blowing up his meridians, What can you gain from a benders corpse inspector?" he asked. " One can deduce the level and style of bending by observing the unique Qi system of the body. However, this can only happen if the meridians are intact."

"what are you saying?" Kazack struggled to follow. Verdin continued "This was an attempt to steal research and kidnap the Doctor for research. It is common knowledge that Temno Shui was an extraordinary bender. However his opponent was skilled too, so inorder to protect his body and research he destroyed the mansion and his Qi system in a suicide attack".

Ting

The lightbulb turned on in Kazack's brain "ahh, i see. So what do we tell those folks out there? This will have international complications".

Verdin thought for a while and said " there was an explosion during an experiment destroying the mansion and killing the unprepared doctor. He was 70 years old, making a mistake is possible especially when conducting the type of Qi research he was famous for".

"huh.... but why..." Kazackk stuttered

"It has hardley been a month since Doctor Temno received the Globel Peace prize after discorvering the Esper particle, he is still a household name. The scum that did this wanted to spread fear".

"But won't taking credit publicly do that?" Kazack asked.

Verdin looked across to his two bodyguards and said "they are not ready yet, the mission failed and they received no gains while we have Temno's research facility in the capital inder control and access to his latest discoveries and journals".

Kazack ganshed his teeth "so we sweep it under the carpet?"

Verdin looked at the body of Temno shui and said " no, we hunt the scum in secret and use the work of Doctor to progress as a nation"