Prologue
Seventy years have passed since Korra defeated Kuvira and she is now about to leave this realm and plunge into the spirit world. All of her friends, family, and loves have passed away. Now she lye in the sand, with the White Lotus tendering to her after being stabbed by rogue spirits.
"To think I outlived everyone" she chuckled. "Kaav please come here."
"Yes miss avatar." Kaav walked over there and kneeled to look her eye to eye.
"Promise me, promise me that you'll help me. Become better, I can't wait to see…." Her words trailed off as her death became imminent.
"I'll see you in the next life. Miss avatar, Korra." He kissed her forehead then radioed in.
"Fire breath to Rocky, come in Rocky"
"This is Rocky, what is your report?"
"She's gone." There was a moment of silence, not out of respect but just to let the pain sink in a little.
"Dude, I'm sorry. Are you gonna be okay." Rocky asked.
"That's not the concern right now. Send out the research squad, I'll be with them in a moment. And tell them, the search for the avatar is now."
Meanwhile
"Why must we keep such a low profile? The avatar is dead, let's wreak havoc."
"Patience we will arise from the shadows at one point but for now you must remain in the darkness." His superior responded.
"What is the plan if we even have one?" Two others asked.
"Ooh we have a plan and the first part is to wait for the avatar to reach his full potential." And with the last sentence said they were gone.
Book 1
"Day 1,856 – Research Squad is still searching for the avatar and yet we haven't located him. We've searched over half of the Earth Kingdom and nothing. I started this log to keep my sanity intact, but I don't think it's working anymore." Kaav wrote in his notebook.
"What would the avatar be like?" He thought. The Humvee came to an abrupt stop.
"We're here." That was Xin, code-named Shinobu; he is the stealth and endurance instructor. He's pretty straightforward and extremely serious but who wasn't in the White Lotus.
"Aaaaahhh," Kaav yawned. "So what house is this?"
"Lost count, but does it really matter?" Xin asked.
"No, lets get this over with." They approached the door, but before they could knock it opened.
"Hello, it's an honor and a pleasure to have a member of the White Lotus in our home. Please, please come sit down we would like you to meet Tarō. While you wait I'll set out some drinks." The man turned around, walked to the kitchen and poured drinks, then politely yelled up the stairs. "Tarō please come down and meet the nice White Lotus members." The man came back and handed us each a drink. A small child walked slowly down the stairs. As if this meeting was interrupting an important part of his day.
"Yes father?" He spoke so properly and elegantly that it made Kaav and Xin think he was an adult himself. Although he had a rather serious vibe to him as well, Kaav could already tell he was special.
"Tarō, this is-" Tarō's father paused.
"I'm Kaav and this is Xin." Kaav gestured for the man to continue.
"Please show Mr. Kaav what you can do." Tarō's father took a step back and kind of gestured for him to go. Tarō let out a sigh and then inhaled deeply.
"What is this kid doing?" Kaav leaned over and asked Xin. But right when Kaav moved so did the glass. Their glasses slowly slid off the edge the chairs where they had set them. The drinks proceeded to floor but strangely only the glasses. The liquid inside floated in front of us. This caused a reaction in Xin, Kaav hadn't seen in a while, he tensed up and sat straight in his chair as if this suddenly peaked his interest.
"So your child is a very, extremely talented, that doesn't mean he is the avatar." Xin said as he crossed his hands.
"No, no, no, see his mother and I are only earth benders. But, I understand the doubt, Tarō show them what you have been working on." The man had developed an extremely large grin across his face. The child concentrated and proceeded to look down causing a sort of chain reaction in all of us. Right then Tarō began explaining what he was doing.
"Just like the great Toph had developed a way to manipulate the changed state of an element, that is my goal and right now I have found it successful to some sort of degree." Right after he finished the broken glass began to vibrate and then poof it turned to sand.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa how in the- what the hell." Kaav said.
"That is- that was amazing." Xin stated as dumbfounded as Kaav was.
"Complete reversion, but the bad thing is I can't bend the glass itself." Tarō said disappointed. Right when that happened Kaav and Xin were already radioing in.
"This is Shinobu here with Fire Breath-" Kaav cut in before Xin could finish.
"Hey I actually changed it to Xibil."
"My mistake, it's Shinobu with Xibil and the secret squirrel has been completed. I repeat the secret squirrel has been completed, requesting permission for transport." A second later Kaav heard radio feedback.
"This is Toshio, I read you loud and clear, permission for transport is granted."
"Sir, may we take Tarō to our base, it's kind of like a mansion for the avatar." Kaav said.
"Yes, yes, a thousand time yes. Oh and my name is Tashiro" Tashiro turned to Tarō and said "You're going to love it there and your mother and I will visit when they let us, so make us proud and train hard, and have fun. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye father, you will be missed." Tarō said. They climbed into the Humvee and drove off. It was the beginning of a new journey and it meant that there was destruction coming. As happy as this was Kaav new that there was gonna be cataclysm. Kaav looked over at Tarō.
"Hey, kid what are you thinking about?"
"Honestly?" Tarō responded.
"Yeah honestly."
"How is this training arrangement going to work.?"
"Well, you have about a few years rec-time. So do what you want."
"I think I'll familiarize myself with academic backgrounds."
"Wow I think that was the first time I ever heard a child want to learn. This child was strange, in a special way." Kaav thought.
"Hey Xibil, doesn't that kid remind you of yourself?" Xin asked.
"As a kid? Yeah, but he's you as an adult definitely." They laughed together for a while then silence.
"Hey, kid." Kaav called.
"Yes?" Tarō answered and Kaav could hear the sleep slide off his voice.
"Get some sleep kid, it's gonna be a while." And with that said Tarō glided into an uncomfortable comma and so did the guys, which left Kaav, Kaav alone with himself. He thought about the future and the avatar. The beauty in it was he didn't think for long before he himself drifted off onto a cloud he called sleep.
"Where am I?" Kaav thought as he floated in a space filled with blues and tiny gleaming white specks of light. In front of him was a mirror like substance but made of water.
"What is this?" But as soon as he reached forward everything went dark. Light filled the space and Kaav's eyes slowly opened to the moving sun, and the Humvee stopped.
"Mr. Kaav, we have arrived at the destination." The child was up before Kaav was, surprising.
"Well kid, grab your stuff and get situated. Your room is the master bedroom, after you open the front door walk straight then take a left. It's the big door, you can miss it." Kaav said. Tarō walked into the house and followed the instructions that were given to him. When he made it inside his room, he was astonished. The room was enormous, at least nineteen feet by nineteen feet. The bed was king sized with a black comforter, designed with green lotus flowers on it.
"Why green instead of white?" Tarō thought. He set his things on the bed and proceeded to the bathroom.
"This…is…" He was at a loss of words even in his mind. He was too distracted to notice Kaav enter his room.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Kaav asked as he gently pushed the bathroom door open.
"I'm just- it's so…wow."
"Yeah it's pretty cool but I thought the waterfall was overkill."
"There's a waterfall?" This through Tarō overboard with excitement, but he contained it.
"Yeah, it's in the bath just click this button right here and there." With the click of a button, a cool stream of water slid out of the wall and into the tub.
"That's amazing." Tarō said while Kaav shut it off.
"Oh and you know how you said that you wanted to familiarize yourself with academic backgrounds?"
"Yes, I recall."
"Well, follow me." Kaav gestured Tarō to walk behind him so he did. They walked out of Tarō's room across the hall, through an extremely large living room and to another large door which Tarō presumed was their destination.
"This is our library." Kaav pushed the door open and casually walked in.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. I know this place, like I've seen it before." Tarō noticed the incredibly large grin across Kaav's face, and he realized what this place is.
"No, this can't, it- it couldn't be. This is not Wan Shi Tong's library." Again Tarō was awe struck.
"You're right," Kaav said. "It's not the library, but it is an exact replica. See, about ten years ago we sent some airbender operatives into the spirit world to look around for the library and when they found it, they asked Wan Shi Tong if they could study it to remake in our world. Originally it was going to take years, but for some reason Wan Shi Tong understood that this new library was solely for the avatar's use and transferred the knowledge telepathically and after that we immediately went into construction." Kaav turned around and saw Tarō already reading. He thought Tarō wasn't paying any attention to the story and he was okay with that, but to his surprise Tarō responded.
"How long did construction take?"
"Actually we just finished construction a few months ago. Okay well, I'll let you dig into it, if you need me I'll be in my room which is straight out of here, across the living room, make a left, and straight down the hall. If I'm not there then I'm probably in the training area with Xin, which is to the right of the living room, pass the kitchen, then another right. Have fun." With that Tarō dove into knowledge and Kaav retreated to his had been anxious to finish that weird dream. When he made it back to his quarters, he jumped on his bed and fell asleep. About an hour later Kaav woke up.
"Nothing..." Kaav thought. He got out of bed and checked the clock.
"6:23, I should start dinner." Kaav walked to the kitchen and took out supplies. He decided he would make elephant-koi with stir fried noodles. Kaav began cooking and hummed Winter Spring. Kaav always took a liking to General Iroh's music, especially the tsungi horn. While everything was cooking Kaav ran over to the library to see if Tarō was still there. He popped his head in and saw Tarō atop one of the latter's.
"Hey kid, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
"Why don't I just leave now, I'm done anyways." Tarō climbed down the latter and followed Kaav to the kitchen. Kaav set the table and they sat and ate for a while, in silence.
"Hey, Tarō how old are you?" Kaav asked only out of curiosity.
"Five. Why?"
"It's just the you're so intelligent."
"Well that tends to happen when you're the avatar in a house full of geniuses."
"Your parents are geniuses?" Kaav recalled that he never got his mother's name.
"Yeah, my father is an astronomer and my mother is an astrophysicist. They drilled maths and sciences into my head and even literature, but never history unless it was about the stars." Tarō explained.
"That's why you're so interested in it."
"Precisely. I actually started at the beginning with avatar Wan. Since Korra lost connection with our past lives I can no longer experience their advice from their mistakes, failures, and victories. So I must learn everything I can about each and everyone of them." It made sense to Kaav and it was completely practical so he had no problem with it. When Kaav looked up he noticed that Tarō was finished with his meal, so he took Tarō's plate and his own then washed and dried them.
"Was it good?" Kaav asked.
"It was delicious, but I am tired."
"Good, so go turn in and get some rest we have a big day tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" Tarō asked while walking to his room.
"Tomorrow you pick your animal guide." This excited Tarō so much that he cracked a smile which startled Kaav because for the whole day that was the first time Tarō had smiled. Tarō ran to his room and Kaav turned off the kitchen light, then proceeded to his own. He took off his shirt and got under the covers. Kaav lie stomach down on the bed with his hand underneath his pillow gripping his Damascus Bowie before he fell asleep.
Darkness is coming…
But light is here…
"Who are you? Where am I?" Kaav was back in the space of blues and lights.
You know where you are…
This was a place we shared and share now…
"We shared this place? I don't remember."
You will…
Now wake up…
Right after the voice said that Kaav woke up to the sun breaking through the curtains and piercing his vision.
"Knock knock." Xin said.
"Hey man what's up." Kaav hopped out of bed and opened his closet.
"You had that dream again didn't you?" Xin said while Kaav through on his black compression shirt with the fire nation insignia on it.
"How do you know?"
"Your eyes. They're drifting again."
"Yeah I had the dream." Kaav then put on some black military cargo pants with red lines down the middle and passing through the sides.
"It's just so familiar, and this time I heard a woman's voice."
"Well we'll have to worry about that later. Let's go get Tarō his animal guide, he's waiting in the Humvee." They walked outside and hopped into the Humvee, Kaav started the car then pulled out of the garage onto the road. The ride was really short though so there was no need for conversation. When they arrived there was a man outside of the house. They all climbed out of the Humvee.
"How are my friends? Xibil, Shinobu you're looking well. And how is the avatar?" The man asked.
"Tarō this is Panik code named Aito. He takes care of the animals." Kaav stated.
"It's nice to meet you Tarō, please call me Aito."
"Okay Aito, please direct me to the animals." Tarō was eager to choose his new friend, a friend for life, and death.
"Oh so sophisticated, right this way sir." The walked around the back of the ranch like house to the thousands of acres of land.
"This is where we keep the different animals." Aito gestured towards the different categories of animals.
"Lets get you to the Earth category." They walked into the Earth category and perused the options.
"Here are the Bagermoles, the Armadillo creatures, the Cat creatures, and etc. But here's an animal I think you'll really like." They strolled down a long hallway to a door, then stopped.
"When avatar Korra left the spirit portals open it left spirits free to rome and mate with animals. An earth spirit mated with an Armadillo Wolf completely changing the creature. The animal could summon and repress it's protective shell but it can no longer roll into a ball. Although, it manipulated its size to that bigger than a polar bear dog when fully grown and can control earth like the Badgermoles. We call them the Earth Wolves." Aito opened the door and Tarō stepped in. Right when he walked in a big wolf stared him straight in the eyes then allowed him to pass.
"She just had children and if you want you may choose one." Tarō looked at the different pups sleeping except for one. This particular one was trying play with everyone and when he saw Tarō he stopped and their souls connected.
"This one, right there." Tarō said. Aito picked him up and handed him to Tarō.
"I'll name him Rittou. It means early winter"
"Early winter, why that?"
"Because in winter you have fun and he is fun so, he is an early winter." Tarō was so ecstatic but hid it really well. Kaav and Xin were talking by the Humvee, when Kaav noticed Tarō come from around the back of the compound skipping with an Earth Wolf.
"And who is this little guy?" Kaav asked when Tarō approached them.
"This is Rittou." The wolf barked as if he knew his new name and accepted it.
"Well, let's get Rittou back to base." They jumped into the truck and drove back to base and the whole drive there Tarō was playing with Rittou, which was cute. Immediately after they got home Tarō sprung out and booked it to the library. When Tarō got there he retrieved the book on the forth avatar. His name was Tonrith, and he was an abnormal avatar compared to the last three. Not only was he peaceful, he made the world peaceful. He methods were not peaceful though.
"Here's his journal." Tarō thought.
My name is Tonrith and I am a peaceful man. I will not fight if I am not challenged, I will not speak unless spoken to, and I protect the animals and nature. I am what you call an avatar apparently. The fact that I'm an "Earthbender" means I must protect the animals and nature, for I am more connected than anyone else. I speak to these people, they call themselves my past lives. I never really thought about life after death but I believe them. They say I must keep the peace so I will, but I will not tolerate ignorance. The other day I was or was attempted to be mugged, it irritated me so much. Thievery, despicable so I grabbed him by his throat and ripped it out. Blood splattered on my face, but I did not flinch nor waver. I left his body on the dirt road and went home and cleaned up...
"This avatar was staunch to an extreme attitude." Tarō said aloud not realizing he did. He looked at Rittou.
"I want to be like him." The fourth avatar did not hesitate nor show signs of any weakness. This is want Tarō wanted, to be powerful and be able to control it. Tarō continued to read about the avatars, especially the Earthbender ones. This was the main thing for weeks and Kaav would watch him from time to time, not entirely there. Most of that time Kaav would be thinking of the blue space place and why he couldn't get back there. It puzzled him, to the point that he did some research on it. In the library, Kaav searched for something, anything relating to a blue starry space like area. He climbed latter after latter for hours until he found something interesting. Kaav reached out and grabbed the book, but knocked another one off the shelf.
"What's this?" Tarō asked picking the book off the floor.
"I don't know, what does it say?" Kaav said while climbing down the latter.
"It says The Spirits and Their Horses, I think it's a childrens story."
"Open it up and read it." Tarō opened it and saw the picture of four spirits, one red like thick blood, one pale green as if it was sickly, one white and deadly like snow, and the other as black as the eyes of a grim reaper killing a demon for sustenance. Tarō froze out of fear from the familiar feeling they left in his mind.
"Tarō, Tarō buddy what's up, what's going on?" Kaav shook Tarō a little and it snapped him out of the trance.
"Oh sorry here I'll read it." Tarō flipped the page and began to read.
Once there was a group of Spirits made for peace. Each had a specific area to help with, the translucent green spirit would heal the sick humans, the white spirit would help humans come to a compromise with territories, the black one would escort the dead to a peaceful resting place, and the red spirit would prevent wars and peacefully stop wars in progress. They were known to the humans as the Peaceful Horsemen. But one day a selfish ruler wanted their power so he captured them. He imprisoned them each one of the spirits. The ruler took the red spirit and made him kill an enemy ruler's subjects and bathe in their blood, therefore starting a great war. The ruler broke the red spirit and made him evil, then named him War. Later the ruler took the white spirit and made him imprison humans and steal their land. This broke the white spirit so the ruler named him Conquest. The ruler took the green spirit and forced him to create and spread a sickness so lethal it would kill anyone who would come into contact with it. This broke the green spirit so the ruler named him Pestilence. Finally he came for the black spirit, who begged him not to, but still the ruler forced the back spirit to kill any of the survivors of the enemies. This broke the black spirit so the ruler named him Death. The ruler became the most powerful ruler in all the land until the avatar came and challenged his army. The ruler's army was no match for the avatar. In a panic, the ruler released the spirits who he calls the Four Horsemen, but they betrayed him and escaped. The avatar ran into the Four Horsemen and offered to cure them with her pure spiritual energy but they declined, saying they could now see the truth behind humans and disappeared.
"That was a children's story?" Kaav asked in a surprised tone.
"Apparently." The fact that this child's story was gruesome isn't what scared Tarō, what scared Tarō was the fact that he had seen them as a past life and remembers seeing them. Tarō was supposed to be disconnected from his past lives except Korra, who he had no contact with.
"Weird, but whatever times were different I guess."
"Um, yeah." Tarō shook off this feeling of danger. "What are you up to?" Kaav paused unsure if he wanted to tell Tarō. Though it would be beneficial if he knew, so Kaav told him.
"I've been having the weird dreams lately."
"Describe them." Kaav began to go into deeper detail.
"So I'm floating in this empty space filled with blues and lights like these little stars. It's so beautiful and peaceful, then I look in front of me and there is like this transparent water like surface that I can't see, but I know it's there." Kaav paused because he noticed Tarō's face. It was as if he was becoming nauseous but Kaav ignored it, though Tarō was nauseous.
"Then I hear this voice, a woman's voice and she's telling me that I've been there before and how we share this place." Kaav stopped. "Weird, right?"
"What's weird is that I've been there before." This made the color from Kaav's face dematerialize.
"What? No, no, no, that's not possible." Kaav lost his cool for a second but he regained it when Tarō stood up.
"What side are you on?" Tarō asked.
"What do you mean?" Kaav was thoroughly confused.
"If the water mirror and yourself were to be observed as if you were inside of a glass box from the side, which side would you be on?" The way Tarō explained it made arrant sense.
"I guess I would be on the right side." After Kaav said that Tarō fell back into his seat.
"What, what's wrong?" This made the panic inside of Kaav recur.
"I- in my dream I'm always on the left." Tarō's voice was shaky but his face still firm. What did this mean for them. They were connected but why? Whatever it was they had no clue.
"So what you're saying is we share a dream state?" Kaav said. "That's crazy."
"Not really, also it might not be a dream state. It could be a separate realm or some sort of spiritual dimension that we can only achieve by sleeping."
"Well, let's find out because it's lights out time." They nodded at each other, sweat on their brow, and went to bed. Once Tarō entered the bed he coulded help to think that he and Kaav were destined for something. He knew he was but now that Kaav was connected to him, there had to be something more. Tarō stored that thought in the memory banks of his mind and closed his eyes waiting for the gentle caress of slumber.
Hello Tarō…
"Oh it's you. Who are you?" Tarō asked.
I am you…
"No, you're not a-" Tarō paused then he immediately knew what to do. Tarō stuck his arm up and extended his index finger, he touched the transparent water like surface. It rippled for a minute or two before it set off this beautiful chain reaction. It was as if there hundreds of different and individual fingers were benevolently touching the placid surface. Then she appeared. Korra.
I am you…
"You are me, I misinterpreted the meaning."
We are connected but so is someone else…
Right then the water rippled again and Kaav appeared.
"It is you." Kaav said.
"How is this possible?"
"I don't know." With that final word Tarō awoke in a cold sweat. In an effort to calm down he ran into his bathroom and jumped into the tub. Tarō turn the waterfall on and let it run over his head and face . It was cool when it hit his head but warm as it hit the water in the tub. Tarō found himself meditating, for while. In fact Tarō mediated through the night. It wasn't until morning that he realized he did so. He climbed to his feet and dried himself off. When Tarō was getting dressed he noticed a mark on his arm that obviously fresh.
"Hey." Kaav knocked on Tarō's open door indicating he was there. "We need to talk."
"About?" Tarō asked.
"Hehe about his asks." Kaav chuckled to himself demonstrably being sarcastic. "How about the fact that when I went to sleep I saw you in a dream. No, not a dream but a tripped out dimension where we both reside." Kaav wasn't irritated but more disturbed than anything else. Then Xin ran in the room.
"Kaav, hey Kaav." Xin was frantic.
"What is it man?" Kaav was fine at first until he noticed Xin's panic.
"She's back."