Into the Spirit World

As he stands at the base of the swirling yellow portal, Griffin can't help but feel a sense of awe.

After all, it's only been two years since Avatar Korra accidentally created the Republic City spirit portal during her dramatic final battle with the tyrant Kuvira, and most people still marvel at its beauty even today. Tourism in the city has reached a high point since then, with people from all over the world coming to see it up close, and even go through to the other side. Before its existence, if you wanted to see a portal or visit the Spirit World, you had to go to either the north or south poles, neither of which were an easy trip to make unless you were one determined bastard.

Now? All you have to do is make it to Republic City, which is a hell of a lot easier to accomplish.

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Griffin takes a step forward, becoming bathed in the pale yellow light. He can still see Republic City around him, and a group of tourists nearby looking at him curiously. Apparently, people actually going into the Spirit World is just as interesting as the portal itself.

Suddenly, though, the entire scene outside the portal begins to vibrate and blur. Colors bleed together, and soon everything he was just looking at moments before is an intangible mess. The sounds of city life vanish, all except for the portal shifting around him. It's like a towel rubbing against his eardrums.

This is soon replaced by different colors. More vibrant colors. The dark, mute tones of Republic City become blooming magentas, haunting blues, and deep greens. These colors morph and change as well, but these ones become more clear and solid, taking form instead of losing it.

Griffin moves forward, the portal now behind him. He finds himself standing in an open field. The ground is made of dense, purple flowers, and the field is surrounded by seafoam green glaciers. It's stunning, and he's left speechless by it all. It's unlike anything he's ever seen before.

Already the Spirit World is so much different than his own, and he's only stepped one foot inside it so far.

Taking another deep breath, Griffin begins to walk. He doesn't know where he's going, but he keeps the portal behind him, trying to maneuver in a straight line so he doesn't get lost. He only plans to stay a couple hours, maybe a few at most. He's heard stories about how dangerous and strange this place can be, but he figures if he stays close enough to the portal, he should be fine.

Besides, Avatar Korra wouldn't leave the portals open and for public use if she didn't think it was safe enough for people to visit. Right?

It's as he's trying to climb over one of the green-tinted glaciers that he thinks about his parents, and how they wouldn't approve of this little journey of his. His mother, born and raised in the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, is a professor at the university. She'd understand his reasoning for coming into the Spirit World, but she still would have protested had she known. His father, on the other hand, might have even offered to come along with him. He was born in Omashu, and spent most of his younger years travelling the Earth Kingdom. That's how he met Griffin's mother. And although his adventurer spirit is still there, under the surface, his mother has a tendency to persuade him into her view of things. So in the end, he would have sided with her firm no.

Not that he really needs their permission or anything. He's an adult, studying at the same university his mother works at. If he wants to fly to Republic City on a passenger airship, explore the Sprit World, and write a paper on it for his class's final assignment, then that's his business alone.

He's been walking for about ten minutes now. He glances behind him quickly, just to make sure he can still see the portal in the distance, but he doesn't see it. Freezing, he realizes that he can't even see the green glaciers he climbed over either. That doesn't make any sense, he thinks to himself, glancing around. He's been walking in a straight line over flat ground.

It's the Spirit World. Things don't always make sense.

Taking a deep breath, he starts to walk back the way he came. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. Still no sign of anything he recognizes, which means he's lost in the Spirit World, where apparently landmarks shift and you can end up in a completely new area without meaning to.

He just has to remain calm. He'll find a way out of this. Maybe he'll come across a spirit soon and instead of wanting to eat him, it'll offer to help lead him back.

It seems like a longshot, but what else can he do at this point?

Griffin keeps walking. He walks until his bag begins to feel heavy and his shoulder protests from the strain. He's been moving nonstop for an hour, and the idea of resting is getting more and more inviting. It's only as the ground under him becomes lumpy and uneven that he actually considers it. A look down confirms that, somehow, he's ended up in a sandy area. The sand itself is a brown color that somehow shimmers blue in the light. Don't ask him how.

He decides to sit down underneath a nearby tree. The bark is deep brown with green flecks embedded in it, almost like jewels. It towers above him, at least fifteen feet high, and the leaves are glittery and clear. Ice, he realizes. The leaves are made of ice.

His situation might be shit, but at least he's got a nice tree to relax under.

The second Griffin bites into his sandwich, everything feels a lot better. His stomach groans as he chews. He didn't realize how hungry he actually was until right in this moment, and now he's glad he stopped to chill. He brought along two sandwiches, a couple homemade pastries, and a canteen of water. It seemed a bit much while he was packing, since he only planned to be here a little while, but now he's glad he did it.

He's reaching for his canteen when his fingertips turn to ice.

Griffin yelps and jumps to his feet, shaking his hand. The ice remains there, coated around his fingers, freezing the skin. He hears a tiny giggle above him, but when he looks up, he doesn't see anything.

"Who's there?" He calls, squinting. The ice is reflecting the light right into his eyes, so he can't see anything or anyone up there, but he knows he's not alone.

Another giggle is all he gets in response at first, but a few seconds later, the ice encasing his fingers melts away like it never even existed.

"Enough of that," a voice chides.

"Don't tell me how to live my life." A different one responds. Both voices sound female.

The first one sounds more pressed now. "You can't just freeze the boy for no reason!"

"I do have a reason!"

"And what is it?"

"He's defiling our tree."

"He's eating under it, it's not a crime."

Griffin just stands there awkwardly, listening to the two voices bicker above him, unable to see who they belong to. He's really, really confused, and not sure if he should grab his bag and make a run for it. It might just make things worse if he draws their attention back to himself.

"I don't want him here!" The second voice sounds way more agitated now.

The first, however, is a lot calmer. "We never get visitors. You're just grumpy because it's the last day of winter for you. You always get more irritable during the final week. You know that."

Neither of them speaks for a long moment. Finally, the second voice sighs, and grumbles: "Fine. I won't kill him—yet."

Some leaves rustle. Griffin takes a step back. Suddenly, a small thing drops out of the sky and lands in the sand. Plop! It takes him a second, but he realizes it's a person. A tiny person. A fairy, from the looks of it. A fairy spirit? He's only ever read about them in books, but he's sure that's what she is. Regardless, she has green wings, a pale yellow dress on, and bright red hair. Her eyes are big and green and her smile is wide and welcoming.

"Hello!" She says. It's the first voice.

"H-Hi." Griffin stammers out, looking confused.

"Dang, you're cute." The fairy trills, flapping her wigs and floating up into the air. She moves closer to Griffin, her eyes roaming up and down his body. He realizes a second too late that she's checking him out. "I'm so glad I convinced her to spare you. Sis, come down here! He's got this whole smolder thing going on."

Griffin hears the second voice groan. The leaves rustle once more and a second later, another fairy is descending from above. This one is already flapping her wings though, so her entrance is far more graceful than her sister's was.

The first thing he notices about the second fairy is that her eyes cut through him like ice. They're pale, an almost-silvery color. Her wings are clear, almost like they don't even exist, but they're covered in a faded blue pattern that makes them just barely appear. Her dress is periwinkle, and her hair… it's blue. Two different shades though. The top is light, and covered in frost, and the bottom is glowing a deep cyan that makes his eyes throb if he stares at it for too long.

"He looks ugly." Her voice is somehow colder in person.

"Don't be that way!" The first fairy scolds her sister before turning back to Griffin. "Don't mind her, she's just in a mood. She always gets like this on the last day of winter. She's not usually this… frosty."

The sisters give each other a look of annoyance.

"Anyway," the red-haired one continues. "Are you single? I'm really digging your brown hair, and your eyes. It's been a long time since I've seen a human, but I don't remember them being as pretty as you. I know I'm just a fairy, but—"

"That's enough."

"Stop it, Kristianna. Can't you see how adorable he is?"

Kristianna sighs. "Callise, he's a human. Spirits and humans can't mate."

Callise winks at her sister. "Doesn't mean we can't try."

The words cause a shiver to run down Griffin's spine, but he's honestly not sure if it's from embarrassment or disgust. Not that the fairy's bad looking, it's just… he's just—

He takes a deep breath to steady himself. "I'm a bit lost… I was walking through a field and I got turned around. I need to get back to the new spirit portal so I can return to Republic City. I was only meant to be here for a couple hours… do you think you'd be able to help me get there?"

Callise's smile doesn't falter as she speaks. "Of course we can help you."

Kristianna rolls her eyes. "But that doesn't mean we will."

"Yes it does."

"Callise."

"Kristianna."

The two sisters stare at each other for a few long heartbeats before Griffin clears his throat to cut the tension. He doesn't really know them, but he gets the feeling that if these two actually wanted to, they could tear each other apart, and as selfish as it sounds, he needs them to help get him back to his own world. After that they can pretty much do whatever they want.

To his surprise, it's Kristianna that breaks the silence this time, and what she says goes against Griffin's entire impression of her. "The new spirit portal is a stone's throw away. The Spirit World has a tendency to fold in on itself and shift things about. We can take you there… later."

"We just have to do a little something first," Callise chimes in, as if that'll make things better somehow.

"What do you have to do?" Griffin asks.

Kristianna doesn't respond, she just flutters her wings and floats back up into the icy leaves. Callise glides over and sits on the ground at the base of the tree, next to where Griffin was eating his sandwich. She pats the ground, and he sits back down too, careful not to squish her with his firm little ass.

"My sister and I are nature spirits." Callise begins, breaking off a piece of Griffin's sandwich with her tiny hands. Just that is like an entire full-sized one to her. "She embodies winter, and I embody summer. That's why she's been so icy with you—our personalities tend to reflect whatever season we're holding at the time." She takes a bite of her mini-sandwich.

Griffin's intrigued by the story, but there's something bothering him about this whole situation. "Why are you telling me this? I mean, your sister doesn't seem too impressed by me being here… you don't owe me your entire back story."

The fairy spirit shrugs. "Like I said earlier, we don't get many visitors. Spirits tend to avoid us because of what we are. We're like them, but we're also different, we're more… mysterious, I guess. Most spirits fade over time, our version of death, but not us. We're connected to the seasons, so as long as they go on and we don't get hurt beyond repair, we can go on forever. Most other spirits don't like or understand it, so we live in our tree, on our own." She glances at said tree, and for the first time, Griffin sees it for what it is: It's the perfect blend of both their seasons. The trunk, so alive with its deep colors, and the leaves, icy and clear. It's somehow more beautiful now. Callise continues: "That's why I'm so thrilled you're here! You're new, and exciting… and to be honest, even though she'll never admit it, Kristianna's happy about that too. You think we annoy each other any less when you're not around? Ha! She's glad to have someone else around too."

There's a bit of sadness in her little green eyes. Griffin thinks up a joke to tell, to try and lighten the mood—something about a waterbender and a Fire Nation princess—but before he can get it out, she cuts him off. Her voice suddenly feels different, older. As old as she probably is, burdened by the memories of thousands upon thousands of years. "There were more of us once. Shaylida and Babelle, our other two sisters, autumn and spring respectively. When Vaatu tried to rise to power the first time, they became corrupted, and were destroyed in one of the battles against early humans. It's been the two of us ever since."

He doesn't know what to say, so he just sits there in awkward silence, processing.

When she finishes her sandwich, she's back to the flighty and flirty Callise that he's come to be somewhat afraid of. "So, Kristianna and I have this small thing to do, and then we'll help you get back to the mortal plane! Who knows, maybe we'll even come with you! It's been ten thousand years since I've seen what humans have been up to. Are the lion turtles still around? I had a fling once with the one who gave your kind the air element…"

Griffin's not sure what she's talking about, but luckily for him, that's when Kristianna makes her return.

She drifts down and grabs Callise's hand. "It's time. We only have minutes left."

Griffin raises an eyebrow. Once again, he's completely lost.

Callise turns to him. "Don't worry, we'll only be a few minutes! After that, we'll take you right to the portal like we promised."

"Or you can go without us, if that's easier for you." Kristianna's words seem nice, but her tone completely ruins it. It's clear that she'd rather he not be here when they get back.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Callise chimes in, looking excited. Again. "He can watch us! Oh, it's been so long since anyone's seen. Can he, Kristianna? Can he?"

Kristianna looks like she wants to murder them both, but she knows that protesting will only lead to a debate that will take too long to finish. They'll miss the deadline if they stop to bicker now. They're window is always so small. "You are so lucky we don't have time for this," she hisses at Griffin. "Come on."

The two fairies fly around to the other side of the tree, hand-in-hand. Griffin follows slowly, not entirely sure that he wants to see what's going to happen. But on the other hand, despite his situation, he came here to observe the Spirit World. He came to get information so he can write his final paper. Whatever's about to happen, he believes it might just be the special something he was hoping for.

On the other side of the tree is a small mushroom. It's red with white spots, and the top has been flattened. Drawn on that surface is a circle with four pictures in it, one on each end: A music note, a piece of cake, a book, and a pair of socks.

Callise lands on the piece of cake. Kristianna stands on the music note.

Almost immediately upon doing so, the circle begins to glow. The outline burns white, the cake yellow, and the music note blue. The book and socks don't light up at all. The two fairies close their eyes. Griffin wants to ask what's going on, but he gets the impression they wouldn't hear him even if he did speak. They're in their own little world right now, doing this… magic spirit stuff, whatever it is.

Kristianna's body erupts in blue light. Callise's does the same, but yellow. The color drains from each of them, moving downward, and into their symbols below. The color then drains into the outline of the circle, each color moving along the opposite side to the opposite sister. The blue light heads toward Callise, and the yellow to Kristianna. It pools at their feet, inside their respective symbols, then floods upward, until Callise is shimmering blue and Kristianna is blazing yellow.

Which is a fancy way of describing that they switched colors.

When the light fades, the sister spirits are entirely different.

Kristianna exhales. Her now-dark brown hair falls over her shoulders. Her eyes, a dazzling copper, blink as if they haven't seen the light of day in centuries. Her skin is flushed, no longer pale, and her once periwinkle dress is now red with a sunflower pattern. She looks like a different being altogether. She radiates warmth.

Callise has also changed. Her hair, once a striking auburn, is now a piercing blonde. It's so light and fair that it's almost white. Her eyes, green before, are now purple pools of darkness, almost black. A chill runs down Griffin's spine as he looks at her. Her dress is redone as well. It looks like shards of ice frozen together. Clear, but not giving anything away.

At the sight of them, Griffin can't help but feel slightly underwhelming in his worn pants and faded Earth Kingdom sweatshirt.

"W-What happened?"

Callise lets out a chilling breath. "We switched seasons."

Kristianna gives him an inviting smile. It feels so genuine that it throws Griffin for a loop. "Don't worry, we do this all the time. Every six months, to be exact. It keeps things… interesting."

The two sisters send a sad look down at the circle beneath them. Griffin suddenly understands what it means. Each picture represents one of the original four sisters from the story. Two of them didn't light up during this ritual today, because, well… because of what Callise said happened to them in the past.

Before he can comment though, the two sisters are right in front of him. Callise perches herself on his left shoulder, causing it to become cool, and Kristianna sits on his right, sending warmth through his body. The contrast feels so strange.

"Hurry up and pack your food, boy." Callise says, probably sounding more rude than she means to. It was already revealed before that their personalities reflect their seasons, so she's bound to be a very different Callise than the one he first met. "We've got to get you to that Spirit Portal," she finishes.

The packing takes about a minute, and then the two fairies lead him away from the tree and back into the thick of the Spirit World. They guide him through two forests, a field, and across a lake before finally stopping to argue with each other about which one of them is wrong. It's so strange to listen to them, because Callise is calm and orderly while Kristianna rants and raves. The change in them is drastic. Eventually, though, after an unfortunate run in with an angry tree spirit and a near fall into the Fog of Lost Souls, Griffin spots green glaciers and the top of the Republic City portal vanishing into the sky.

"I guess this is where we say goodbye." Callise says, pushing off his shoulder.

"I gotta say," Kristianna adds. "Having you around wasn't entirely terrible."

Griffin smiles slightly. He's still not used to her being nice to him.

"Well, it's back to the tree for us."

"And good luck with your assignment!" Kristianna tacks on.

Griffin watches as the two sisters link arms and begin to float away.

The portal swirls behind him. He can't help but think about what they're going back to: A tree that, while so beautiful, is also so very isolated. Other spirits don't visit them, and they're constantly reminded about what they've lost because of that dumb mushroom: Their sisters, spring and autumn, destroyed. The constant back-and-forth between winter and summer, with only each other for company, must be horrible, really. Cool, but horrible. They might not see it because they've been living that way for so long, but it's no way to live. Not for humans, and not for spirits.

"You know…" Griffin calls after them. "… Callise might have had the right idea. You can always come with me to the human world. Many other spirits already have."

They both pause in mid-air, slowly turning around.

Griffin flushes a little bit. "You don't have to, but to me it seems a lot better than going back to your tree—which is lovely, don't get me wrong, I just think… I don't know, that you might like the adventure. We don't have to stay together or anything once we go through, but… look at me, I left everything I know to come here, even if only for a few hours. My dad told me once that it's better to try something new and go strange places than to die in the same place you started."

Kristianna and Callise stare at each other, as if having an entire conversation through their facial expressions alone. In the end, they both smile at each other.

"I'm in if she is." Callise says.

"Of course I'm in. I want to see what became of the fire elementals."

"She always had a soft spot for them," Callise whispers to Griffin.

Kristianna blushes furiously. "I did not—shut up!"

Callise laughs, landing on Griffin's shoulder. "I suppose your foods have changed over time. I always enjoyed the fruits in the eastern isles. I wonder if they still grow there…"

"East… that's probably the Earth Kingdom." Griffin explains.

Callise stares at him blankly. "Those words have no meaning to me."

He laughs. "Don't worry, I'll explain. The world is divided into nations, one for each element…"

Kristianna shrugs. "Doesn't sound much different than it did ten thousand years ago."

The inner scholar in Griffin is excited. Not only is he going to be able to show them the modern world, but they also know so much about the past. They can offer insights to the past that otherwise only the Avatar can do, and she's much too busy to sit around explaining the past so it can be recorded. She has so many problems to deal with. The last Griffin heard through the rumor mill, Avatar Korra was on her way to deal with some Fire Nation dilemma. He's not exactly sure what, but after the Hundred Year War…

It was before his time, sure, but even he's wary whenever the Fire Nation kicks off, no matter how small.

Griffin is pulled out of his thoughts by Callise snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Come on, boy. We ain't got all day here. Let's go!" Again, she probably doesn't mean to be, but she sounds annoyed with him. He's not used to the frosty attitude from her yet.

Griffin takes a deep breath, his signature move at this point, and steps back into the portal. He's only been here a few hours, but he's leaving the Spirit World with so much more than he bargained for. The yellow light spins around them, mixing the colors of the Spirit World into intangible blobs, before vanishing entirely and being replaced with the familiar shapes of Republic City.