The sound of footsteps echoed through the small hallway as a figure made its way into a large chamber. Before the figure stood a wall, upon it were the four symbols of the elements, along the circular room stood statues of people of great importance to the world.
"Earth...Fire...Air...Water." The figure spoke. Its cold and dark voice echoing through the chamber. "These four elements are what helped give life to your world." As the figure spoke, strange shadows crept out from the hall and moved along the walls coating them in darkness, and the statues began to crack as they too were consumed. "Your kind learned to harness these elements. And one among you learned to harness the power of all four. One you call...The Avatar." More statues crumbled as the shadows made their way towards the wall, until all that remained was a statue of a young girl. "But...even the most powerful of beings must end." As soon a that last word was uttered, the shadows weaved their way around the statue.
"Soon...all will come to remember...that no one can stop...Death..."
With that the final statue was consumed by the darkness and the figure turned as if to look as someone.
"Even you...Avatar." Darkness then shot out at where the figure stared and enveloped everything in the darkness.
"Gasp!" Korra shot up from her bed as she awoke, gasping for breath, and her body coated in sweat. After wiping the sweat from her brow, she ran her hands through her now even shorter hair and pulling her knees to close to her body. She felt a shift in weight as Naga put most her upper body onto the bed. Her paws on either side of her body as if giving her master a hug, the polar bear dog wormed her head under her arm and rested her head between Korra's knees and stomach and let out a concerned whine. Removing her hand from her head, Korra scratched her companion's ears and sighed.
"It's okay girl. I'm good now. Just a bad dream." Korra reassured her friend. 'At least I hope it was.' she thought. After a while, Korra got out of bed and went to her window. Upon opening it, the young Avatar was met with a cool breeze against her warm face. From her room on Air Temple Island, Korra could see the bright lights of Republic City in the distance, the light of the Spirit Portal coating the city in a golden glow. In the distance she could see the skyscraper belonging to Future Industries and no doubt her girlfriend sleeping on her office couch. A smile spread across her face at the thought of Asami's sleeping form, a sight she had come to love since their month long vacation to the Spirit World. That smile began to fade however as her thoughts drifted. It had been a month since they returned from their vacation and still the had yet to tell anyone about their relationship. It's not that they didn't want to tell anyone, what they were afraid of what everyone would think of two women in a romantic relationship, especially two very powerful and influential women like themselves. Korra was only somewhat worried about what her parents would think, she was sure they would be accepting of this. It was Mako that they were both worried about the most.
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Korra walked back to her bed and looked at her clock.
"2:30 in the morning. Just like with Zaheer." Sighing, Korra laid back down and closed her eyes, hoping that the nightmares were over for tonight.
"I don't care if President Raiko has a problem with it, if any of those reporters sets foot on this island again, I can't promise that no one will get hurt! This is a place of learning and if the Avatar doesn't want to be interviewed then they need to accept that! Now go!" Tenzin said to a White Lotus sentry.
"Yes, Master Tenzin."
Tenzin sighed. Since Korra and Asami had returned, both the press and the President have been trying to talk to them both and every time they refused. He could understand why, as soon as they came back through the portal they were practically assaulted by reporters and questions, it was only thanks to Lin and Mako did they manage to get to the ferry and back to the island. Since then his frustration only grew, having reached its breaking point when the White Lotus woke him up in the middle of the night telling him that they had found that some reporters had tried to sneak onto the island. The Airbender was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Korra walking his way.
"Good morning, Korra." He said.
"Hey, Tenzin. By the look of things, I take it that it hasn't been smooth sailing since I got back?" Korra joked, hoping to ease the tension. Tenzin sighed and smiled.
"That's putting it lightly, Korra. Unfortunately, you and Asami can't keep putting this off, Lin and I can't keep them at bay forever. I understand that you two don't like all the attention, but I fear that the only way to make them stop is to humor them and answer their questions."
Korra sighed knowing that he was right. "Yeah I know. It just sucks, you know? I just want to be left alone, I don't like having to attend all these press conferences and fancy galas. Sometimes I feel that people are just using me. Well my status as the Avatar at least to get what they want." Korra's mind thought of Raiko and how he always invited her to his parties, despite her knowing full well that it was just a political move on his part.
Tenzin looked at his student, knowing who she was thinking about. Put a hand on her shoulder he sighed in silent agreement.
"That's politics, Korra. And many see it that way as well, myself included over the past few years." He told her.
"If you feel that way, then why do you put up with it?"
"Because it's my duty, just like your father. Believe me, if I could give all of this political nonsense up, I would. But deep down, I know that that would be a selfish thing to do. To forsake the rest of the Airbenders just because I don't like the way the city is being run, that's something I could never live with. So I push forward and I keep praying and hoping that things will change." Tenzin looked at Korra, who was taking in everything he just said.
"Well if you want my opinion. When you put it like that, it just makes it sound like your job sucks even more." Korra said with a smile. Tenzin just chuckled.
"Well again, that's putting it lightly."
After sharing a good laugh, Korra remembered why she wanted to talk to Tenzin before.
"Hey...uh...Tenzin, can we talk?" She asked.
"Of course, what's wrong?" He asked as the pair sat on the grass. Korra remained silent, unsure of how to tell him.
"Well...last night, I had another nightmare."
"Was it about Zaheer again?" Tenzin asked concerned.
"That's the thing. It wasn't about him or anyone from the past. This was...different." She told him.
Tenzin's eyebrow raised. "Different? Different how?"
"I don't know. For some reason it felt more like someone...or...something was sending me a message."
"So you believe that this wasn't a dream, but something else. Like a vision?"
Korra nodded. "Yeah, and it felt so real. I woke up sweating, I felt hot and cold at the same time, I was gasping for breath. It felt as if the dream was having an effect on my body."
"Hmmm...I see. Tell me what exactly happened in your dream?"
Korra ran her hand through her hair. "I was in this chamber, on the was a carving of the elements and there were statues of every past Avatar. That's when I heard these footsteps coming from a hall." Korra took a few breaths to try to calm her now racing heart.
"Sorry, it's hard to explain something like this."
"It's alright, Korra. Take your time, just relax. Remember our meditations. Just breath." Tenzin instructed. After a minute, she continued.
"I looked down the hall, thinking I'd see who was there but...it was so dark. I wasn't even able to see the figure the appeared. It was like the darkness was a part of it. Then I heard a cold and dark voice, even more disturbing than Vaatu's. It spoke as if it wasn't a part of our world and I watched as shadows covered the statues until all that was left was a single statue. It...it was...me." Tears started to form in Korra's eyes as she remembered. Tenzin placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Korra, this is clearly upsetting you. You can stop if you want to, we can talk more later."
"No!" She almost yelled, causing Tenzin to jump back in surprise. Korra covered her mouth and looked to see some looks from the other benders and sentries. "Sorry...I want to tell you...it's just difficult."
"It's okay, Korra." Tenzin said.
"After that I heard the voice again. It said "Soon all will come to remember, that no one can stop death." Then the shadows wrapped themselves around my statue and covered it in darkness too. That's when the figure turned and looked at where I was. It said that not even the Avatar can stop death, before more shadows came out of it and came towards me. The last thing I remember is my vision going dark, only to see my room."
Korra looked at Tenzin, who was deep in thought. "You said that the shadows came out of the figure, tell me did it seem like it was controlling them?" He asked. Korra thought about it and realized what Tenzin was thinking.
"It did seem like it was controlling them. Now that I think about it, it was all most as if it was bending them."
There was a long pause between them before Korra spoke again.
"Is there even such a thing as...Shadow...bending?" She asked after quickly thinking of a name for the strange power.
"Well, there are legends of people who many said could bend shadows and the darkness, but none of those have ever been proven. And there has never been any proof that something like that is possible. But then again, there has been an increase in these types of bending styles since you first arrived here." Tenzin said as he recalled the stories of Bloodbending and people like Amon.
"Tell me about it. But it's the message I heard that has me worried. "No one can stop death, not even the Avatar." I'm not sure what to make of that."
"I'm unsure of it as well. Let me do some checking in the records, maybe dad or one of your other past lives encountered something like this." Tenzin said as they stood up.
"Thank you, that means a lot." Korra said before giving Tenzin a hug.
"It's no problem, Korra. Anyways, I want you to forget about your dream today. You don't want something like that ruining today." He said with a smile. Korra looked at him confused.
"Why? What's so important about today?"
"Korra, you cant really be forgetting what today is can you?"
Korra shrugged. Tenzin sighed.
"Korra, what's today?"
"Tuesday."
"Besides that, Korra." That's when she finally realized what Tenzin was talking about.
"Wait is it really...?!" He nodded.
"Happy Birthday, Korra."