Book 1
Fire
Chapter 1
A New Legend
I sat in the front of the bus, all by myself and staring out the window. Today, we were going to the Avatar Museum for our excursion, and although learning about the Avatar cycle is interesting, I couldn't help feeling bored.
I continued staring out the window, but soon reached into my bag and brought out rocks. Now, you might think that rocks are boring, but when you're someone like me, rocks are everything. I fiddled around with the rocks for a while until I felt a familiar sensation rush through me, and the rocks magically rose from my hands, and spun around in circles. Yep, I'm an earthbender.
"Listen up, everyone!" A voice boomed from the front, and we all turned to face the man who rose from his seat. "We have arrived at the Avatar Museum, and I want each and every one of you to be on your best behaviour."
The man, who was our teacher, led us out of the bus, but I remained seated, and waited until everyone else was off the bus. Slowly rising from my seat, I picked up my bag and walked off the bus, and waited at the back of the group. Almost immediately, a woman walked up the class and flashed a dazzling smile to everyone.
"Welcome, everyone!" She said cheerfully. "My name is Mingzhu, and I'm going to be your tour guide for today. And without further ado, let's begin the Avatar Museum Tour!"
We all followed Mingzhu towards the door, but nearing the door, I felt a strange presence. Suddenly, as clear as day, I could hear a voice.
"Be prepared. Everything is about to change, Jade. Everything is about to change."
With fear washing through me, I turned around, and saw a young woman with short brown hair standing on the opposite side of the road. But I couldn't help feeling as if I felt as if I knew the girl, but when a few cars drove by, the woman was gone.
"I'm probably just seeing things," I reassured myself, and joined the rest of the class.
Mingzhu had led us to a painting which featured a glowing female giant fighting against a dark creature. "This is a painting of the battle between Avatar Korra and UnaVaatu. This was during the Harmonic Convergence of 171 AG, when…"
I soon found herself not paying attention to Mingzhu's talk, and I began to wonder about the mysterious young woman. The more I thought about the woman, the more strange I felt. A weird feeling began to creep over me, and I found herself wandering away from the group.
When I could remember next, I found herself standing in front of a statue. I recognised it immediately, much to my shock.
"This statue!" I gasped. "That's… that's the same woman from earlier!"
Indeed it was. It was an exact marble replica of the woman, and had captured her face perfectly. As I began to study the statue, I found that the woman - whoever she was - came from the Southern Water Tribe.
"And this is a statue of Avatar Korra," Mingzhu suddenly said behind me, causing me to jump. "Who was born in 153 AG and died in 243 AG. Although she couldn't achieve total world balance, she still did many things that helped contribute to this fact, such as bringing an end to the Earth Empire."
I listened eagerly to Mingzhu's talk about the previous Avatar, although I didn't know why. I also found myself whipping out a notebook from my bag and taking down notes.
This is really strange… I thought, continuing to take down notes.
"Mum! Dad! Emma! I'm home!" I called out to my family members, and the girl lying across the couch sat up and smiled at me. The girl was my older sister, and I felt safe in her presence, even though we're complete opposites, me being intelligent and shy and her being sarcastic and brash.
Emma was tall and was seventeen years old, and she had fair skin and emerald green eyes like Jade. She also had long red hair with some of it in a neat bun, but the majority of it trailed down her neck in a beautiful, flowing motion, resembling a ponytail. She wore a lime green top tied up at the hem, and long dark green pants with a gold belt and pieces of lime green cloth on the front and back on the pants. She also wore dark green ballet flats and gold wristbands.
"Hey, sis," Emma smiled. "How was the excursion?"
I shrugged. "It was alright, I guess," I replied. I shouldn't tell her about my feelings, I thought as I walked to my room. I know I probably should have told her due to our promise of not keeping secrets from each other, but I didn't want to worry her.
I passed the door to my parents' room, but to my surprise, I could hear an argument coming from inside. Although I knew it was wrong, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Please, Hiro! She's too young to know!" My mother cried out in despair, much to my shock.
"Amber, she's an earthbending master now! You remember our deal, right?" My father argued back.
"Master or not, I want her to be at least Emma's age to know."
"It doesn't matter about her age! Aang knew when he was twelve. Korra knew when she was four!"
They're talking about the last two Avatars, I realised as she continued to listen.
"I just still can't believe it's time already!"
"We knew this day would come. We can't hide her destiny from her anymore."
Destiny. Those words rang in my ears as I stumbled back to my room, and quickly shutting the door. I felt my heart race, beads of sweat were appearing on my forehead, and I knew immediately I was panicking.
"What's wrong with me?" I panicked. "What are my parents talking about?"
I finally settled on the decision to see my sister, so I quickly ran to Emma and stood in front of her, hands on my hips. Seeing Emma lounging on the couch, I felt angry as she seemed so oblivious to all of this.
"What's up, Jade?" Emma cheerfully asked. "I thought you were doing your homework."
"Who am I?" I hissed, and Emma seemed to flinch a little, surprised by my sudden anger. "You once promised me that you wouldn't keep any secrets from me, so tell me: what is my destiny?"
Emma flinched again, and took a deep breath. "Look, Jade," she replied bravely. "I know things are probably confusing for you, but I'm not sure that I should be the one to tell you."
"So you do know!" I growled, my anger growing in me. God, I felt so angry that I could lavabend at someone right now. "Tell me now."
"I can't, Jade!" Emma said quickly. "I promised Mum and Dad that I wouldn't tell you until you became an earthbending master."
"But I am an earthbending master!" I hissed. "I'm even better than Dad, and he's one of the best earthbenders around."
"Please, Jade," Emma begged. "I'm not allowed to tell you. Mum and Dad can tell you when they're ready."
"You mean, when she's ready," a male's voice boomed throughout the house. Emma and I looked up from our argument and saw our parents, now standing behind the couch. Our father, Hiro, had a muscular figure and had messy red hair with green eyes, and was fair skinned as well. He wore a dark green jacket lined with lime green, and black pants as well as dark green boots.
Our mother, Amber, was standing next to him, a worried expression on her face. She was a beautiful woman with green eyes and long brown hair pulled into a low bun with braids on either side of her head, and was dark-skinned. She wore a lime green top over a dark green long-sleeved shirt, a dark green skirt with a lime green peplum, and lime green heels.
Dad looked at Emma. "You haven't told her anything, have you?" He asked, and Mum seemed to relax when Emma shook her head.
"What's going on?" I said, my voice rising. "I don't understand. First I have a vision of Avatar Korra, then I get weird feelings all day, and now you're talking about my destiny! Can someone please tell me the truth?"
"You see, Jade," Dad began. "Do you remember that time when you were three years old, and you almost set me on fire?"
"W-what?" I said, baffled. I never thought of setting my father on fire, that's just wrong. "But I've never touched a lighter before -"
"You didn't use a lighter, Jade," Emma interrupted, and then took a deep breath. "You firebent."
I was confused. But I'm not a firebender, I thought. I'm an earthbender!
I took note that Mum was growing shaky, and I knew that I was close to the truth. I mentally calculated all the possibilities of my destiny, and even took note of my day. Suddenly, I realised. I - Jade, the girl nobody gives a damn about - was the…
"Avatar," I murmured. "I'm the Avatar, right? That's how I could firebend that day while being an earthbender at the same time."
I was hoping that Dad would happily say that I wasn't the Avatar, and that my firebending was just a trick of the light, but to my shock, he nodded gravely.
"Yes, Jade," he replied. "You are the Avatar, the only one who can master all four elements. Your destiny is to restore balance throughout the world."
Dad's words kept ringing in my ears, and my head was pounding. I can't be the Avatar, I thought as my vision became blurry. My knees buckled, and I felt myself fall to the ground, my family calling out my name in shock. Then the world became dark.