Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or any of it's characters. Because I don't own the story, the character I created is property of the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the story.
Prologue
Long ago, there were four nations that lived together in harmony, or so they though. Conflict was beginning to build up between the four nations, and the spirits knew that the avatar needed to full-fill his duty early. He needed to finish up his training fast. Dark forces were preparing to engulf the world in horror. So the spirits sent a sign to the air monks at the southern air temple in the form of weather, telling them that they must prepare the avatar.
Meanwhile, the spirits were taking care of another task, a task that they had performed for each avatar, ever since the first one was on the earth. The spirits needed to keep records on the avatar, and the most important things that occurred in his life. While their reasons for doing this were unknown, it was very important that this task was taken care of. To do this, the spirits created special spirit books. These spirit books each represented a nation, and represented the avatar's journey, personality, and everything that affected his or her life. The spirits had used a special charm; a charm that would make it so that whatever the avatar did and whoever was important in the avatar's life would automatically be written down into the spirit books. But there was a problem… In order for this charm to work, the books had to be in the physical world at all times for it to work. So the spirits choose a man or woman to take the task of "The Writer." This person would take the books, and follow the avatar throughout his/her journey, in order to make sure the charm would work. But there was a rule that the spirits gave every writer, avoid being in the avatar's life. Once the books were complete, the author would leave the books, and go back to their normal life. They would never meet the avatar. They would never be given credit for the difficult task they did. Only the spirits would know what the person did.
Usually, the writer would be randomly chosen from one of the four nations. But for this avatar, things would be different. The writer for Avatar Aang was not chosen from the four nations, but rather for another land… one very far away from the four nations… one that had never heard of bending, or spirits, or avatars. This writer was… unique.
"The avatar will be sent away to the eastern air temple to complete his training."
The writer looked towards the three monks. He saw sadness in one of the older ones, the one who had been the guardian of Avatar Aang. The writer felt sorry for him. He had recently felt the pain of being separated by those closest to him. The pain of separation is one thing no human being should ever feel. The leader of the monks dismissed the two elder monks, and the room was clear. The leader then called the writer out of the shadows from which he was hidden.
"Shen, you may come out now."
He did what he was told, coming out with a blank face on. The leader sighed.
"Do you think I made the right choice?"
Shen sighed and said. "I'm not in a position to comment."
The old monk sighed and replied, "Oh yes, that's right. The separation…"
"Look, you and I know that the avatar's journey is about to begin soon enough. I need to prepare now for the task the spirits gave me. I don't have time to waste." Said Shen.
The old monk sighed and got up. He walked over to a small table located on one side of the room.
"We have brought everything you'll need to make sure you can keep up with the avatar, and still remain hidden."
Shen walked over and looked at the items. The first one was a strong cloth, which resembled the underbelly of a sky bison.
"This will allow you to blend in with the avatar's bison, Appa. It uses spirit magic, so that you can stick to Appa's underbelly when he is flying, and while you stick to him, no one will see an outline of you on his underbelly. You'll completely blend in with him." Said the elder monk.
Shen nodded and took the cloth. It was lightweight, and could easily fit into his pocket. They then looked onto the next item, which was a bow, along with a magical arrow storage case.
"I assumed you mastered the bow and arrow with our monks, correct?"
Shen nodded. The old man continued talking.
"The spirits have given us special arrows to give to you. One that isn't used as a weapon, but can be used to stick to multiple objects. If you ever are running to get on Appa as he is flying away, you can use this arrow. Best of all, it can be re-used all the time. We've also given you special arrows that have been designed by air spirits. These arrows can be used to travel long distances, and in some cases, allow you to glide across the air for short periods of time. Both arrows have been blessed by the spirits, and in the event you run out of arrows, they will magically re-load in the small storage case, which you can keep on your back."
Shen nodded and strapped the arrow case onto his back. He then looked at the small book bag, which held the spirit books he would need to carry on his journey. He reached into the bag and felt through it.
"There's only three, where is the fourth?" Shen said.
"The spirits never gave it to us for some reason." Replied the elder monk.
Shen sighed and took the small book bag and strapped it to his back as well. He was now all set to travel.
"I assume you've already met the avatar's bision?" asked the elder monk.
"Yes, Appa is aware of me. He's now licking me every time I see him."
The elder monk chuckled, but quickly stopped when he saw Shen was not joining him.
Shen began to exit the room, to go stand by Appa until Aang was going to leave.
"Good luck, Writer. May you have much luck on your journey."
Shen stopped and looked over his shoulder. "If I had luck on my side, I wouldn't be here right now. What I need is skill and smarts. Nothing more, nothing less." And with that, Shen left the room.
That night, as Shen was petting Appa, he began to here footsteps coming down the stairs. He quickly looked at Appa, who stood up, allowing Shen to roll under Appa and stick to the bison's underbelly. He quickly attached the cloth, and blended in with the bison's underbelly. He then heard Aang talk sadly.
"Come on Appa. We're leaving. If being the avatar means being separated from everyone I care about, then… then I don't want to be the avatar. Yip Yip."
Shin then felt Appa move, and began to feel the sudden change in altitude. He sighed and said to himself, "I know how you feel kid, but you can't run away from destiny. No matter how hard you try…" And so the trio began to fly away from the temple.
After flying for a while, Shin heard thunder booming outside. He bent the cloth slightly so he could see where they were flying over. He saw the ocean waters move violently underneath him. He quickly pulled the cloth back up and said, "Where is the world is he taking us?" He then heard lightning hit the water in front of them, followed by Appa taking a nosedive and Aang screaming.
"What the heck? What's going…"
Appa crashed into the water and went under. The rush of impact caused him to detach from Appa, and sink into the water. The cloth continued to attach to Appa's underbelly, making it look like Shin never was there. He began to slowly sink underwater, and his life flashed throughout his eyes. He saw the girl he loved, being dragged away from him, as she screamed his name. The floor below him vanished and he fell, with cave walls surrounding him as he continued his Freefall.
Shin then snapped back and looked at an unconscious Appa, sinking next to him about 10 feet away. He then saw Aang in the avatar state, putting his fists together. Then a blue light began to approach Shin quickly, causing him to shut his eyes. And then… everything went black….
I hope you enjoyed the Prologue to Avatar: The Missing Link. I apologize if the first part of it was boring, but I needed to explain a few things for future parts of the story. The first chapter will take place during "The Boy in the Iceburg", which will be partially seeing the events of the episode in Shin's eyes, as well as show a few other things... Thanks for reading!