Prologue

The Avatar was never reborn.

The world in which I grew up and lived was one so very full of technology and politics. They could fly rockets to nearby planets and they could power entire cities yet it was woefully lacking on care. It isn't until you look at something through stranger's eyes that you can examine it. My world at times is probably one of the cruellest in existence, for all its science and intelligence it cannot save itself. It knows nothing of Avatars or bending for which I sometimes count it thankful. Do not mistake me for I will always be fond of my world and sometimes human spirit shines through...but it's huge...and sometimes I think it's too big.

Anyway I lived ignorant of another world. A world which has close bonds to Spirits. A world with four nations where people can harness the power of their element and use it. A world where nations are divided by culture and elemental abilities yet united by spirit and the Avatar. The avatar is a special being that is mortal yet has the capacity to bend all four elements to their will and is the bridge between the mortal and spirit world. An Avatar is born in every generation moving from one nation to the other sworn to keep balance at peace. When an Avatar dies they are reborn into the next element in the cycle so that it is always continuous.

I shall start with the past because it helps to look into the future. I'll start with my predecessor Avatar Aang.

Avatar Aang was an airbender raised by Monks at a temple. He was told of his destiny at the tender age of twelve and thus feeling normal human emotions of fear and confusion he at first denied his fate and ran away which inevitably lead to him being frozen inside an ice berg. Meanwhile the leader of the Fire Nation, Firelord Sozin harnessed the power of a passing comet to launch a deadly attack on the other nations. The air nomads were wiped out and everyone believe the Avatar to be dead and the cycle broken. Then a hundred years passed at the war waged on...then Avatar Aang was released from the iceberg and with the help of his masters and friends learned the bending arts of Water, Earth and Fire and defeated Firelord Sozins Great- Grandson Firelord Ozai who like his ancestor wanted the comets power and sought to commit mass genocide on the other nations. With his defeat peace was restored and world continued on harmoniously under the Avatars care.

But eventually all things come to an end. Avatar Aang died peacefully and contently at the age of 200 and the world waited for the next avatar to be born into the Water Tribes. After five years of waiting the search was expanded to all the nations. Although anxiety began to spread people kept hope learning from the past. The Nation leaders where the decedents of the Avatars friends and even the Avatar Aangs own descendants acted in his place to keep peace.

Then The Order came.

Robed in black taking advantage of the era of peace, they spread chaos and discord. They assassinated the Nation leaders and wiped out Avatar Aangs descendants. They grew like a disease infecting the world with an unknown source of power from their almighty leader. They divided the benders from non-benders and forbid contact between each Nation. Only benders where seen as worthy and from birth they were taken to be trained at the Academy. This caused heartbreak as Mothers and daughters, Fathers and Sons, Brothers and Sister were divided. Any rebellion was eliminated mercilessly and with a growing generation of Order Bending Masters the situation grew dire. One hundred and twenty years later with no spiritual intervention people lost hope. The Avatar was extinct.

Yet worlds away I grew up ignorant of all this. From an early age I retained a love of fantasy. I read and I imagined with a thirst for books and a passion for my dreams. The computer was my perch where I'd type my stories and read others. This at times seemed both a blessing and a curse for I hungered for the extraordinary and was cursed with normalcy at every turn. I had a loving family and a few close friends. My life was much the same as anyone's and so I continued living in ignorance never knowing of bending.

But that all changed on that night. On that fateful walk home my world was turned upside down and everything I trusted and believed to be real I had to watch crash and burn at my feet. I was scared and confused. At the age of fifteen I was entrusted with the fate of a world I'd never even heard of.

My name is Avatar Emiko. I am the incarnation of Avatar Aang and the Waterbending Avatar yet I grew up on a planet named Earth. This is my story - my journey of growing up and being given the chance many could only dream and a responsibility many would run from.

The rip between worlds is growing thin.

I must stop The Order or there's more than one world at stake.