~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Awa'atlu gathering.

However, Neteyam had to disagree on his talent--Lo'ak possessed amazing skills in certain situations. 

"Lo'ak," Neteyam began, "Trust me when I say this, they do not hate you. Besides, even if they did, are you going to let other people control what you do? Who you like? I don't think so." He gave Lo'ak a gentle punch on the shoulder. But Lo'ak didn't receive it with a happy attitude. 

Neteyam's heart sank further into his chest. He sighed, "Look, why don't we go play a game? Tsireya could join us. Aonung, too."

At the mention of a game, Lo'ak's eyes brightened. "Yeah, sure. Let's go." 

                                                                                            ~~~

The darkness of the night loomed over Awa'atlu, but the glowing creatures and plantation sparkled, casting bioluminescent light all over the village. Starry, freckled faces were grinning and laughing joyfully as they danced and twirled, flicking up sand and water over their toes and swiping the shore with their finned tails, causing an uproar of sand to fly. 

Neteyam even saw his mom among the dancing crowd through the mangrove trees, mirroring the movements of the Metkiyana and moving with such a grace even they could not reflect with their thicker bones and features. Neteyam's father was watching her, a dumb smile on his face.

Meanwhile, the teenagers were kicking a poorly woven ball around behind the dozens upon dozens of pods in the small mangroves and sandy canopy of palm trees. It was much darker back where they were, but the trees provided some glowing light for them to see hazy outlines of one another. Na'vi night vision was a good help, too. While waiting for the ball to come his way, Neteyam heard an "Oof!" and then, a thud. Aonung had gotten hit on the face with the ball. 

Lo'ak bent on his knees and belly laughed, pointing at the reef boy. "Ha, sucker!" he shouted, "Get some!"

Aonung clutched his head and rose to his feet, "You're going to pay for that, forest boy." 

But he wasn't the only one who had fallen. Feya was gripping her neck, and then Neteyam watched her collapse to the ground. 

Silence. Then he heard whizzing sound. He watched in horror as Kiri fell to the ground as well, slumping beside Feya.

Once it became real and he realized, his blood turning to ice, Neteyam screamed. "Tsireya, Lo'ak, go, go, run! Aonung, go!"   

He ran and halted beside the two unconscious girls, sheltering them beneath his body, his tail waving wildly behind him. 

"Whoever's out here, show yourself!" He snarled. Neteyam saw out of the corner of his eye Tsireya and Aonung kids racing away, but to his utter terror, Lo'ak was lying flat in the sand. His stomach dropped. "No, no, no, no." 

Neteyam didn't know what was happening. He supposed he didn't need to; he realized as he felt something sting his neck, and before he could place his hand there his eyelids fell shut and he sagged to the sandy floor, unable to feel anything other than unconsciousness taking over his mind, dragging him into the depths of pitch black. 

Galatians 6:9-And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.