Chapter 1

Slowly taking in a breath, Marcus raised his arms and gently began to move them in a circular motion. He could hear the concrete underneath him scrap against his shoes as he took careful steps in a circle.

In an instant, his movements changed. Marcus took his foot and slammed it to the earth. The once gentle movements are now hard linear strikes. He took another hard step, skipped to his other foot, and launched a powerful side kick into the air.

'Focus,' he thought, 'maintain focus."

In mid-form, he took a slight running start and executed a flying sidekick. Once he landed, Marcus executed a flurry of various kicks and strikes. He knew that they looked beautiful, but can be very deadly if they actually were used.

Deciding to cool down, he reverted to Tai Chi. Shifting his weight through various stances, he made sure all of his movements were fluid and smooth.

'Be like water. Be like water. Be like…I wonder what's for din-.' His thoughts were interrupted with a strike to the head.

"OW!!!" he yelped. "Who the hell—"Marcus stopped in mid-sentence as he was face to face with an elderly man. "Oh…Hi grandpa!" His greeting was responded with another strike to the head.

"I told you to maintain focus Marcus," his grandfather said gently.

"But I was, grandpa! That hit was totally uncalled for."

"A single grain of rice can tip a scale Marcus." There was a brief moment of silence. Against his better judgment, Marcus decided to respond.

"And that means…what?" he asked.

"A single moment of losing focus can be quite fatal."

"But all I did was think about dinner for a sec."

"See, you did lose focus." All Marcus could do was growl at his grandfather's craftiness. "Marcus. You know I mean well when I teach you. Ever since you lost your parents, I just wanted to grow up strong."

Marcus looked at his grandfather's eyes and gave him a sincere look. "I know grandpa, but why so many different styles? The whole thing is giving me a headache."

"It is all about balance."

"Balance?"

"Yes. Each style has its own advantages, disadvantages, and uniqueness. So rely on power while others rely more on technique. Sometimes the attacks take place in the air while others are more rooted in the ground."

"So you're saying I'm becoming a better-rounded fighter?" Marcus asked.

"In a way, but that is not the point. You learn this to never use this." If there was one thing Marcus hated the most, it was when his grandfather tried to teach him through cryptic riddles. Although he would usually understand the meaning pretty instantly, his previous exercise left him too exhausted to think.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he whined.

"You can think about it while you practice your form twenty more times."

"Are you kidding me!?!" Marcus yelled. However, his remark fell upon deaf ears as his grandfather simply walked away from him. Despite all the calls he made out to his grandfather, he refused to turn back to respond to him.

All Marcus could do was kick the ground in defeat. He wasn't really angry at his grandfather, but this was one of those moments where it made him extremely infuriated. At some attempt to calm down, Marcus began to take deep breaths and clear his thoughts.

As he began to do this, a faint glimmer of light caught his eye. What the source of the light could be began to pop up into his mind. He and his grandfather lived very isolated in the mountains. The nearest town was a few miles away and Marcus definitely knew that there was nothing there that could be bright enough to shine like the light he saw.

Whipping his head in all directions to try and catch a glimpse of it, Marcus saw the light shine from the forest. Letting his curiosity take the best of him, he decided to check it out.

'What the hell was I thinking?" he thought to himself. It had been three hours since he had left his house and now he was covered in sweat, dirty, tired, and absolutely lost. Marcus couldn't help but feel strange about his predicament.

It may have been the exhaustion, but he could have sworn the forest was shifting upon itself. The path did not seem to stay in the same direction and the streams occasionally appeared to flow the opposite direction.

The only thing on his mind was to somehow find his way back. Each step he took was heavier than the last and he was losing light fast. The world all of a sudden began to spin all around him and suddenly the darkness consumed him.

The last thing he could recall before falling unconscious was falling to ground.

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Pain.

That was all he could feel the moment he woke up. Marcus' joints were on fire and his muscles felt as though they were stretch to their breaking point. He got up as slowly as he could and noticed that the sun was now shining brightly.

"Oh crap," he said out loud. "I must've passed out. Man grandpa is totally gonna give me extra training for this." As he finally got to his feet, something interesting happened in his body. It was as though he could feel everything around him. Every breath of air, every grain of dirt, every drop of water. He could actually feel it. It was as though the life of the whole earth was coursing through him.

A scream from the distance broke his train of thought. He quickly ran to the source and saw a child in the river hanging on to a branch for dear life. He also saw a young woman trying desperately to reach him.

Just as the child's hand seemed within reach, the branch broke off and the child was swept away by the rapids.

"Lee!" she scream. Without a second thought, Marcus jumped into the river and swam after the child. Despite complaints from his already sore body, he swam harder and harder.

"Grab my hand!" he screamed. Despite the danger of drowning, the child looked too scared to trust him. "Look, kid!" he said as he occasionally spit out a mouthful of water, "Grab my hand, or you drown!!!" His answer came in the form of a small hand grabbing his own.

With kid in tow, Marcus tried to grab on to something to pull himself out. However, the speed of the water combined with his own exhaustion made it very difficult for him to hold on to anything. The smooth grass also did not help his grip.

His vision began to blur, so if he had any chance of saving himself and this kid, there had to be something soon.

As he flailed his arms for something to grab on to, his hand caught onto a root that was sticking out of the ground. Unfortunately, the root was very rugged and the momentum of the river made his hand scrape against the root. Despite the pain, he grabbed on tight and with all the strength he had left, he lifted himself and the kid to surface.

Too exhausted to even think, Marcus just lay down and lost consciousness.

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If there was anything that could wake Marcus quickly, it was food. The smell of a beef stew tickled his nose and woke him wide awake.

He took a quick glance around him and found a few things off. Instead of ordinary doors, there were paper screen doors. Also, he could not spot a single electronic around. Not even a simple clock was around.

'And where are my clothes?!?' Luckily, he was not butt-naked, but going around in his boxers was not a good plan for him. He quickly got out of the bed he was in and looked around for his clothes. It only took him a few minutes to find his clothes in a dresser in the room.

"Ah! I see you are awake." He turned around and was face to face with the young woman who was at the river. Her appearance was also something off. She wore clothes that were more similar what people of ancient China would wear.

"Oh, hi. Uh, how's that kid?"

"Lee? He's fine. I am really grateful for what you did. My name is Ming by the way."

"Marcus."

"Marcus? That's a strange name. You're not from around here are you?"

He shot her a confused look. "What do you mean? I live in the mountains with my grandfather." His answer also gave Ming a confused look.

"I think you are more exhausted than I thought. There are no mountains around for hundreds of miles," she said.

"Hundreds of miles? Where am I?"

"In the town of Wu Yi," she replied. Marcus couldn't scratch his head around this predicament. "Okay," he said, "and what country am I in?"

"Well…The fire nation of course."