Chapter 56: Shell's Story

The next day, Liberty found herself filled with tension for the first time in her life. The thought of Bracken and Ash not really being Bracken and Ash had completely taken over her mind, blocking anything else out of it. Suddenly she had felt as though she had a lot of weight on her shoulders, knowing something the rest of The Bending Tower was apparently clueless to. She walked out to breakfast and joined Starlight in eating a rabbit, both silent with both confusion and somewhat of a sadness. Liberty wondered what this meant for The Bending Tower - what were these Bracken-and-Ash impersonators going to do? What were their plans? Liberty also knew that she couldn't tell anyone in The Bending Tower about this - who would ever believe her? Especially since she was merely an apprentice? The only animals who knew about what was going on was Liberty, Starlight, Audrey, Sirius and Ryker.
"Wonder who Adamu is, anyway," commented Starlight out of the blue. "That...gazelle."
Liberty followed her gaze to look at him. "Yeah," she agreed.
"How did he know about Bending not working?" asked Starlight.
"He said. He tried to and passed out," said Liberty.
Starlight sighed. "He's just...off."
Liberty kept studying the gazelle, but then Sirius walked in front of her line of vision with Ryker, the two bickering over something. "...Just shut up, Ryker! Mirage beat you, fair and square."
"No he didn't. I beat him in that race by a few pawsteps!" Ryker exclaimed.
"Face it, Ryker. You lost. Deal with it," Sirius snapped.
"Will you two stop arguing for two seconds?" demanded Starlight.
"We would, if Ryker could just accept the fact that Mirage is faster than him." Sirius shot Ryker a glare.
"I am the fastest apprentice here, Sirius," Ryker retorted.
 "Quit being a sore loser!" yelled Sirius.
"Both of you, shut up!" snarled Liberty.
The two fell silent.
"Thank you," Liberty glared at both of them.
Sirius and Ryker settled down for breakfast, and they all ate in silence, which surprised Liberty, who had figured Sirius and Ryker would've gone back to arguing right away.
After the rather quiet breakfast, Liberty got up and began walking back to The Bending Tower - to do what, she wasn't sure. She figured she'd walk around.
"Hey." Starlight ran up to Liberty's side, followed closely by Sirius. "Where you going?"
"I dunno," shrugged Liberty.
"You don't know?" Sirius echoed with a frown.
They approached The Bending Tower, but ran smack into black fur.
Liberty looked to see not-Ash standing there. He narrowed his eyes. "Watch where you're going," he spat.
"Will do, Ash," growled Liberty in response, lashing her tail angrily before going around the impostor, Starlight quickly following. Liberty could feel his eyes following her, but elected to ignore him. If he finds out what I know, let him try and stop me, declared Liberty to herself.
"Liberty, if he finds out you - or we - know the truth, I don't think he'll be letting us live very long," whimpered Starlight.
"How can he? He'll blow his cover if The Bending Tower sees 'Ash' murdering an apprentice," Liberty retorted.
Then, Charlotte rounded the corner. "You three." She approached Starlight, Sirius and Liberty. "Look, go talk to Shell."
"Why?" asked Sirius.
"She's probably very lonely right now and would love some visitors," Charlotte insisted. "Most likely she'll be by the stream right now."
"Don't I have training to do?" Liberty demanded.
"Twister is taking a day off. Didn't say why though," said Charlotte. "Now go." Liberty's mother then walked off.
"Well, guess we're going to the stream," said Starlight.


Liberty, Sirius and Starlight had been cautious with each pawstep since the big hole in the territory was still there. No one had decided yet what to do about it, however.
They made it to the stream and spotted the old lioness laying right next to it. She lazily swatted her front right paw at the stream, as if trying to catch something but not fully being into it.
"Hi Shell," Starlight greeted the lioness.
Immediately the elder perked up, and a happy look came onto her face. "Ah, such lovely young pups!" she exclaimed. "What are your names?"
Liberty hesitated. "Uh..." She knows me. Shouldn't she know me? "I'm Liberty, these guys are Starlight and Sirius?"
"Oh, such great names!" Shell said. "What are you three doing out here?"
"We wanted to see you," said Sirius, looking confused.
"That's lovely," smiled Shell. "Seeing you young pups reminds me of my childhood."
"Really?" said Starlight.
"Yes!" exclaimed Shell. "It was a long time ago, and I didn't live at The Bending Tower."
"You didn't?" Sirius looked interested.
"No, no! I came here later, near adulthood," Shell smiled. "It was many, many moons ago..."
Shell then launched into a story.


A young lioness was among a group of animals in a lit-up cavern. Torches were on the walls, and a balcony sat near the ceiling with big teeth decorated on the sides of the balcony. There was an opening in the ceiling, revealing the left side of the sky to be bright and the right to be dark, as if the cave was in between two worlds. The cavern was loud with conversation, animals all murmuring to each other, except for the lioness, who sat there with a serious expression on her face, watching the balcony as if waiting for something.
"Hello, Shell," said a young tortoise, who had slowly pulled up to her.
The lioness - Shell - nodded. "Achak," she acknowledged.
It wasn't much later that a big wolf came up to the edge of the balcony, and a hush naturally fell over the crowd. The wolf lacked a left eyeball, and a huge, ugly scar was in his left eye's place. His right eye was a bright yellow. Half of his face was black, and the other half - along with the rest of his body - was brown. "You all know why you're here." The wolf's voice was incredibly deep. "You have all been selected for a new program that has been suggested to us - to watch the land."
The crowd remained silent as the wolf scanned them with his one good right eye, and then continued. "You also all know the consequences. Any revealing of who you are or your purpose, will result in your worst fear of death. For those of you who aren't aware of how this will happen...you will each receive markings on you. These markings will lock you with your own stone that is located in the Stone Chambers. Your stone will know when you break the promise, and it will self-destruct, causing your worst fear of death to happen immediately."
Shell stiffened slightly, but kept her eyes locked on the wolf. She wouldn't break her promise with the wolf; she knew she wouldn't. Revealing why she was where she'd be going, for her, would result in memory loss - dementia. She feared losing her loved ones. If she died with dementia, then she'd completely forget everyone around her, and die a hollow animal, forgetting everyone she'd ever known. Shell couldn't stand the thought.
"The last time Yin and Yang fought was horrible, and we can't have it happen again." The wolf looked down on the crowd, his eye narrowed. "Remember your duty: watch for opposites, Shadow Trackers, any signs of Yin and Yang fighting again, or anything related to them throughout the land.
"Now, listen for your name and your assigned place. A Light Spirit will take you to outside of where you're assigned. There, you can plan out how to live there."
A pure white fox with blue eyes stepped forward to the wolf's side. Standing next to it, the fox looked a lot smaller than it already was. "Rip; Earth Kingdom."
A badger stepped forward in the crowd, and black streaks quickly formed across his back, over his current, natural streaks. In the balcony behind the fox and the wolf, an intensely-white colored creature approached. Shell recognized it as a Light Spirit, as she had learned about them during training. The creature glowed a brilliant white from its already-white pelt, and had golden yellow eyes. Shell recalled what she had heard about Light Spirits: they lived in the Land of Yang, and the Land of Yang only. They only listened to Yang, and the leaders of the Protectors. They were also the opposite of the Shadow Trackers, which lived in the Land of Yin. Light Spirits were thought to not have a mind of their own, and their authorities pretty much told them what to think; they also were able to shift form. Usually, the Light Spirits would select a random animal to appear as. This one had apparently chosen the form of a horse.
The horse reared up and whinnied, then leaped off the balcony and landed next to Rip. In a flash of white, both the Light Spirit and Rip were gone.
Shell could hear murmurs in the crowd, but they didn't last for long; the Protectors were taught not to disrespect their authority figures, and speaking when not told to was a form of disrespect.
"Achak; Amorache Tribe," said the fox.
The tortoise pulled himself forward to where Rip had formerly been. A Light Spirit in the form of an eagle came forward, then darted down to Achak. In another light flash, Achak was gone.
"Shell; The Bending Tower."
Shell's stomach lurched. Nervously she walked forward to where Rip and Achak had stood. She looked up at the balcony. A big male lion appeared. With an incredible roar, it jumped down at Shell, and Shell gasped as it collided with her. Whiteness filled her vision and then it turned black as she became unconscious.


Liberty was left confused. "You lived at the Land of Yin and Yang? You were a 'Protector'...?"
"Yes!" exclaimed Shell cheerfully. "Actually, I lived in the middle of Yin and Yang, with my fellow Protectors. That's where we patrolled the borders and trained. However, the program we did of watching the places was shut down. I was never called back to the Land...I wonder if Achak or Rip or the others were."
"Uh, Shell..." Sirius said. "So what happens if Yin and Yang fight...?"
"If one of them dies, the world goes with it," Shell smiled. "Thankfully, though, I don't think they'll be fighting anytime soon."
"She said that...wolf had stated a side effect of them fighting was...opposites coming out. And those 'Shadow Trackers'," muttered Starlight to Liberty and Sirius. She then raised her voice for Shell to hear. "What else, uh, happens if the two fight?"
"Oh, earthquakes. Every time the two land a blow on each other - like if Yin were to bite Yang's shoulder - an earthquake occurs. Depending on how bad the blow is, is how big the earthquake will be," said Shell. "Shadow Trackers come out, too, but not Light Spirits - the Light Spirits are content with where they are, because they live in the Land of Yin, and are happy there. Shadow Trackers are unhappy with where they live and want to get out."
"And what was that about...opposites?" asked Sirius nervously.
"Every animal has an opposite," Shell explained. "Your opposite looks exactly like you, but is not like you at all. For example, if a good animal were to have an opposite, their opposite would be evil and live in the Land of Yin when they two aren't fighting. But if they do start fighting, then the opposite is free to go wherever they please; borders sometimes disappear if the two are fighting, because that means Yin and Yang aren't keeping the borders."
Liberty's mind was full of confusion - it was so much information to take in. "What will the opposite do?" Liberty asked.
"Opposites have minds of their own, and they're aware that they were only created because the original animal was born," Shell explained. "I don't know what an opposite would be like. Never met one before."
"Well, uh...thanks for the story," Liberty nodded. "We'll get going, then."
The three of them began to pad away. "That was insane," said Sirius as soon as Shell was out of earshot. "Was she telling the truth?"
"She's old. She probably thinks is true, and perhaps it isn't," murmured Liberty.
But in the back of Liberty's mind, something told her Shell was completely right - Liberty just refused to believe it.

Author's Note:
So sorry for not updating!! Hope this makes up for it. c: School has been in the way a lot, haha.
But yeah, check out my other blogs please! I just made a new one. Link in my Blogger profile. :)