Avatar
The Last Benders
Book 1: Return
Chapter 1
The fall of The Benders
"The day the benders died is a day no one shall forget." Declared Asami. She spoke before a crowd of non-benders in what was left of Republic City. A five year long war had just ended between the benders and the dark spirits. In the end no bender or spirit was left. Asami had fought alongside the benders and watched them fall, one by one. Now she felt it was up to her to help heal this war torn world. "The benders and spirits may be gone, but that doesn't mean we should just give up!" Asami said into the microphone. "We will rebuild this world and make sure nothing like this happens again." She continued. "It will be hard but we've faced harder challenges before, now who's with me!" She yelled. The crowd roared with applause. Over the years the non-benders rebuilt their world. They built statues to honor the fallen benders, especially the last avatar, Korra. But eventually everyone forgot what happened all those years ago and moved on. It seemed as though the benders were lost to history… until now.
20 years later:
Shay ran down the bustling streets of Cape Town. The 17 year old boy shoved his way past random people in an attempt to escape the pursuing officers. The medium sized Fire Nation town had been Shay's home since he was a baby, and he knew every inch of it. Shay ducked into an alley way and hid behind a dumpster. He peeked out from around it and watched the two officers run right by him. The boy smiled and ran off towards his home. A few moments later he arrived at a small house on the edge of town. It was nothing special, but to Shay it was the most magnificent house in the world. He entered the house and found his mother knitting a scarf in her favorite chair. The radio was playing some soothing music which immediately calmed Shay as he listened to it. "Shay where have you been all day? I was getting worried." His mother asked. "I was just getting us some food mother." Shay said as he walked to the kitchen. "Did you steal it from the Gowchens again?" His mother asked sternly. "Of course not." Shay said as he placed the vegetables he had taken on the counter. "I took them from the governor's garden." Shay said. His mother sighed with annoyance. "Shay how many times do I have to tell you, you cannot steal from others." She said. "We need this food more than the governor." Shay argued. "It doesn't matter. Now I want you to return the food you stole to the governor immediately." His mother commanded. "Uhhh but mom!" Shay whined. "Go." His mother said, as she pointed towards the door. Shay reluctantly put the food back into the bag he stole them in and walked out the door. By the time he had reached the governor's mansion and returned the food it was almost dark out. Shay began his walk home as the moon over took the sun. As Shay walked he thought about other ways he could get food for his mother. Suddenly his train of thought was broken by a scream for help. Shay turned and saw an older man struggling to keep a basket away from two thieves. One of the thieves pushed the man to the ground while the other grabbed his basket. Both thieves began to runoff down the street. Shay ran up to the old man and asked "Are you okay?" "I'm fine, but that basket had medicine for my wife. She's very ill and needs that medicine." The old man explained. "Don't worry I'll get it back." Shay said. He then took off after the thieves. Shay followed them until he reached an old warehouse. Shay saw the thieves enter the building. "I've got you now." Shay said to himself. He crept up to the building and walked through and open doorway. Shay slowly walked down a hallway and peeked around a corner. In the main room of the warehouse stood the two thieves. They were standing by a small table looking through the basket. "This medicine isn't worth anything." One of them said. "Can't believe we wasted our time with that old geezer." The other said. One of the thieves then began to poor out the medicine. "What are you doing?" The other thief asked. "What? It's no use to us anyways." The thief said. Shay felt a surge of rage build up inside him. He picked up a metal bar that was laying on the ground beside him. He then quietly walked into the room. He crept closer and closer until he was right behind one of the thieves. Shay brought the metal bar up above his head and then slammed it down on thieves head has hard as he could! "AHHHHH!" The thief yelled as the bar struck his head. The other thief stopped pouring out the medicine and turned around. "Who the hell are you?!" The thief asked. Shay then threw the bar at the other thief. He dodged the projectile and charged at the boy. Shay thought he could take the thief in hand to hand combat, but he was wrong. The thief obviously had training and quickly took Shay down. The other thief got up, rubbing his head, and said "You shouldn't have done that kid, now you're in a lot of trouble." "You're the ones who are going to be in trouble when I report you to the police!" Shay yelled. Both thieves laughed at the foolish boy. "How are you going to report us when your six feet under ground?" One of the thieves said. Without warning they both grabbed Shay and drug him outside the warehouse. Shay struggled but it was no use, the thieves were too strong for him. Soon they were standing in front of a small crevice behind the building. "What is this?" Shay asked, nervously. "It's where you're going to die." One of the thieves said. They then threw Shay into the crevice! Shay screamed as he fell into the endless darkness. It felt like hours before he finally hit the bottom. Pain shot through Shay's body as he hit the hard ground. Shay tried to get up but found he could not move, he was paralyzed. Shay began to panic as he realized that if he couldn't get help, this would be where he died.