I love the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' series and I couldn't help but notice how some of the attack move sets in dynasty warriors resemble bending. So I decided to write a story with bending.

For those of you that don't know, benders are people born with the ability to control or 'bend' the elements. The Avatar is the only bender who can control all four elements; earth, fire, air and water. When an Avatar dies, they are reborn to a different group of benders and must relearn how to bend the elements. This whole process is called the 'Avatar Cycle'. The purpose of the Avatar is to connect the mortal realm with spirit realm and bring peace and balance between them and to them both.

Personality types affect the style and strength of the bender's ability, but benders aren't automatically born with these super awesome abilities. They're born benders, but they have to learn how to use their bending from bending masters.

Firebenders are ambitious and determined with fierce personalities. Waterbenders are humble and cunning who utilize strategy to overcome. Earthbenders are patient people waiting for just the right moment to strike and when the time comes, to strike with unyielding force. Airbenders are a defensive and spiritual people, but when they do attack, they attack with lethal force.

Not all people are benders. They're called 'non-benders'.

Historical and cultural accuracy won't be a major factor in this story. If you've seen 'avatar', then please don't be upset when I change the aspects of bending to suit my story as well.

Enjoy!

War of the Benders

Book 1: Water

1. The Fury of Heaven

The Heavens is a realm within that of the mortals'. It is a temple, much like a castle, in the mountains. The castle temple is hidden from mortal eyes and too far to climb to if any human could see it at all. The temple is an intricate combination of towers, walkways and courtyards built of white marble. The halls are lined with torches that hold a golden flame that never dies. Along with the torches are tapestries of yin and yang varying from white and gold to black and gold. The curtains covering the windows are a kind of blue-green silk. The rugs vary as much as the people that live below the heavens itself.

This is the home of Nu Wa.

Nu Wa, immortal, the goddess of creation and the sculptor of all mankind. She was the first empress and master of the mystics and yet, she was dishonored by a common man, a mortal! He may be the standing emperor, but that only made his violation worse. Oh how he had prayed to see her. He wanted to know that his goddess supported him. He wanted to see her. He had begged to gaze upon her for years.

His family dynasty had been true enough, so she decided to permit him to see her, in her true form, but she didn't allow him to see her directly. She let him look upon her from the other side of a white curtain. It hadn't been the first time she had let mortal men see her and this is how she let them.

Then he disgraced her. His disgusting poem of lust and sex sickened her. She had permitted him gaze upon her, not a very common thing and that was how he repaid her. She was degraded by a mere man, a mortal. She would never let him, or any of his descendants, gaze upon her again.

She openly cursed him and vowed to bring his family dynasty to its end.

Emperor Ling of Han, your days are numbered. Your entire family will fall to ruins and you will watch as your goddess, your creator, destroys it. Killing an emperor would be simple enough, but she didn't simply wish to kill Ling, she wanted to destroy his family's role as the leaders of the land and she wanted him to watch it all happen, from the underworld.

She would issue a new Mandate of Heaven. All she had to do was find the right man to have it. He had to have the strength to carry out her orders, for they would be brutal. He couldn't be a weakling and he would have to be ready to serve her. Mortals were vile. They couldn't govern themselves. This man would have to be willing to obey her orders and being willing to give them to hundreds of thousands of men.

She would find this man, this champion, at the next battle to come, the yellow turban rebellion. Priest were rebelling against Emperor Ling. For her plan, she should be siding with Zhang Jiao, but he was a sage. He was no more than a magician who thought he could be considered one of the spirits. 'General of Heaven' indeed. For that, she would fight against him and she would find her champion in the ranks of He Jin, Emperor Ling's trusted servant. After all, who better to bring a dynasty to its knees than someone from the inside?

First, she had to prepare. She called for a meeting of the spirits.

Among them was Zuo Ci, her servant and a fire spirit, a very tall man with long facial hair and a strange blue painted swirl over his right eye. He wasn't one of the spirits, but she took a liking to that mortal man and gave him magic for his use. It was limited however. All she gave him was the power to move from place to place in his little cloud of black and purple smoke and some magic tarot cards he could use as his weapons along with predicting possible future events. She didn't quite understand why he used those cards when she offered him a weapon, but when she asked him what else he wanted, beyond transportation and the knowledge of how to come to the Realm of Heaven, he replied that he wanted a way to see possible futures. So she gave him the cards. They were completely under his control. So he used them for their magic and for their sharp edges.

Fu Xi, her brother and her husband was there also. Fu Xi was also tall, taller than she was. He often wore silver armor that glistened and gleamed in the light of the gold torches and used a large silver blade as his weapon. He was modest, quiet most of the time, but he never let his strong opinion go unheard. He didn't visit the world of the mortals often, if at all. When he did, he never let his immortality be known and appeared to be a common man. She didn't understand that. He was also very enthusiastic and brave. When there was a fight, he wouldn't hold back the value of his aid. However, he hadn't been in a fight for hundreds of years.

Taigong Wang was the third member of the spirits and a spirit. He wasn't as tall as Fu Xi, but he was still taller than she was. They had similar silver colored hair, but his skin was tan, hers wasn't. He wore black and white robes most times. He was a very egocentric person who understood mortals better than she and Fu Xi. He was cocky and yet good-hearted in addition to being level headed. He had been a strategist during his mortal life, but his talents had caught her attention and she brought him to the heavens and restored his youth when he had died. Unlike Zuo Ci, he hadn't asked for any magic. She couldn't figure out why.

The four of them sat around a circular white table in one of the many sitting rooms of the castle temple.

"Thank you for coming. Let's get this started." She announced. "A new mandate of heaven is to be issued to my people. Emperor Ling has degraded me and his dynasty will fall for it."

Taigong Wang nodded. Zuo Ci seemed troubled. Fu Xi didn't react.

"Yes, humans can't rule themselves." Taigong Wang agreed.

She raised an eyebrow. Taigong Wang hadn't even been in the heavens for half a millennia and he had already separated himself from the rest of mankind.

"Nu Wa, you underestimate the humans. They are capable. We just need to find the right one among them to rule. They can bring peace back to their word. I have seen that there is a great hero among them and…"

"Enough, Zuo Ci," She interrupted. "As a new spirit, I have appointed you to keep me updated on the affairs of the humans. Not to tell me what I should do about my creations. I will return to the world of the mortals and I will find the one that I find capable of ruling. He will obey the heavens and he will be strong enough to rule."

Zuo Ci was a good servant to her, but he often spoke beyond his turn, which made him frustrating for her. He was still mortal. She was his goddess, but rank really didn't seem to matter to him. She would still remind him of his place regardless.

"The Han has become fated to fail when they angered the heavens… Alright, let's go!" Fu Xi agreed.

She held up her hand to stop him from standing up.

"No. Fu Xi, these are my creations. Therefore, they are my responsibility. I'll show you my skill and I'll bring peace back to the mortals. Zuo Ci, who is this hero you spoke of?"

"His name is Liu Bei."

"And you believe that he has the might necessary to rule the world of the mortals?"

"No, he has the justice to."

She didn't need justice, she needed strength. Justice would never unite the people, strength would. It always did. Besides, a man of justice was always a man of ideals. That meant he had a free mind. He would have to be content with taking her orders, or suffer the same fate that was rapidly approaching Emperor Ling.

"I need a strong man, one of cunning."

"Then there is Cao Cao. He is the stronger of the two, but he doesn't fight for justice, or the people."

Cao Cao. Liu Bei. She already had two names and she hadn't even left the heavens yet. She had a good start. Hopefully, fate would continue to provide her with such good fortune. Neither Cao Cao nor Liu Bei sounded more impressive than the other. However, she knew that she couldn't recognize one of her creations by the name the other mortals had given them. A name was only a way to tell things apart. They didn't mean much to her. She would have to meet them, at least see them.

"Liu Bei and Cao Cao, they are the ones I shall start my search with." She decided.

"Please be cautious." Fu Xi pleaded.

She nodded.