The Spirit as Dark as the Night
Author's Note: Those waiting for Fury of the Maidens, the second chapter/prologue is almost done, just got a couple more characters to write about. I just needed to get this out of the way. This is my theory on how the Dark Spirit became well, the Dark Spirit. That is, assuming that the Dark Spirit is that fire-breathing spirit we were shown and yes, I am aware that it may not be, or that this theory may be debunked by the series, but I just wanted to write this down.
Also, I don't own Legend of Korra, Bryke does.
The United Republic of Nations and its capitol, Republic City was in their heyday. Water Tribe people both from the North and the South immigrated there. It became a melting pot nation.
One woman, in particular, traveled there from the Southern Water Tribe. Her name was Atka, and she traveled to Republic City to find a life that she couldn't in the Water Tribes. She was a young promising waterbender, but she wanted more out of life than just waterbending lessons and a family. She worked to get herself by, attended every game of the newly developed Pro Bending. There, she met a man. He was a firebender who played for a team called the Koala-sheeps. His name was Kuro, and he fell for Atka the day he laid eyes on her.
Their relationship blossomed after one night of a game and later on, they married. Right after that, a medium told Atka she was pregnant. However, she also warned her that the child will ascend to a darker plane of existence as a result of some mistake. Atka brushed that ominous warning off as mere superstition.
Months later, Atka was giving birth with Kuro in the room with her. A loud cry pierced the room.
"It's a girl!" They all cheered. The baby was given the name Shila. She had her mother's tan skin and dark brown hair and her father's amber eyes. She is so beautiful, they said. Little did they know of the horridness fate had for this little one.
Since she was a little girl, Shila always liked the culture of her mother's birthplace, she even often dressed like her mother. However, one thing was out of place for her: She did not have the proper type of bending. She could bend well alright, but she was a firebender, not a waterbender like she had hoped. It bothered her a little, but Atka assured her daughter she would always love her no matter what.
At the age of four, she and her mother recieved tragic news: Kuro, Shila's father, had accidently stumbled into Triad territory and was brutally murdered. That, and the fact that Atka couldn't find work forced her to go back to her home nation and take Shila with her.
When they got there, at first, Shila was excited to communcate with real Water Tribe people. However, that excitement turned to anguish when it became known that she was a firebender, she was outcasted as a freak by both children and adults alike. Even Atka recieved the harassment, but that didn't break her love for her daughter.
One unfortunate night, when she was seventeen, Shila came home with some food that she had to steal and she found her mother. Dead. On the floor. Blood spilling out of her head. The perpetrator who did this had his face covered up. In a rage, Shila lit him on fire, burning him alive. This gave the people more fuel for bloodthirsty retribution. Shila could trust no one, and she fled to the tundra. She lived there until she was twenty-two, not daring to come out. By then, most of the village had forgotten her.
Shila snuck out for the winter festival in disguise. Wandering off without anyone noticing, a hand enclosed her mouth, she was knocked out and taken somewhere. When she woke up, there were men in red and blue robes. She was tied down to the floor, robeless. Her mouth was covered up too.
"Fellas, Our waterbending sacrifice just woke up. It's time we do our ritual." One man said. Wait, did he just say sacrifice? She wasn't a waterbender, they picked the wrong girl! Shila panicked and tried to scream, but it was no use, no one would get her out anyways. There was some loud chanting, the leader raising a machete, and all of a sudden...
SLICE!
Blood.
Sleep.
Darkness.
"What did we just do?" One of the robed men asked.
"You fool! We sacrificed the wrong bender!" Another shouted.
They could only watch in horror as the once human body twitches and turns and shifts into that of a monster. The arms were withered and slender, the legs were that of a beast, a tail appeared, and the head and torso enlargened. This dark spirit roared loudly and brutally killed the robed men before continuing its rampage at the winter festival. There, some people were killed. Either by the spirit itself, or being trampled to death trying to escape. The fear was there, and a shaman banished it to the tundra where it resided until now.
And that, my friends, is the sad, tragic story of Shila, the Dark Spirit.
Hope you liked it!
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