Prologue

It was a warm night on Kyoshi Island. But this wasn't what stopped Avatar Bumi from sleeping. He couldn't help but feel on edge, as if something was going to happen that he had to be ready for. Not just paranoia, he felt as if the Avatars before him, Korra, Aang, Roku, where trying to warn him of something. It was nearing the summer solstice, so a connection like this wouldn't be unusual for him.

Born to a mother, not ready for a son, Bumi's entire memory of childhood was the Ba Sing Se orphanage. He was left at the door, with a note. His name, Bumi, after the great king of Omashu. At a young age he discovered he had the gift of earthbending. But for him it was a curse. Potential parents didn't want an earthbender child destroying their homes. If not for the kindness of Bolin, an elderly volunteer at the orphanage, Bumi would have run away from the orphanage, and tried to fend for himself. Bolin understood Bumi, having lost his parents at a young age, and was the only one who showed the outcast earthbender child any kindness.

All through his childhood, Bumi had nightmares. Constant terrors of bloodbenders, the 100 year war, and storms at sea. It wasn't until later in life that Bumi knew what these nightmares were. Memories of his past lives. It all made so much sense after Bumi discovered he was the Avatar. The blood benders, the 100 year war that Avatar Aang ended, and the storm at sea.

Bumi grew up in the orphanage as a normal earthbender child. He was never adopted, and learnt the basics of earthbending from Bolin. Once he had mastered them, he taught himself what he could. But it wasn't until one fateful night that he realised his true identity as the Avatar.

The cult known as the burning sun had been a pest to all the nations of the world since the end of the 100 year war. Their one goal was to try and start the war again, but they never had the strength to do any more than burn the occasional farm. When they would get too out of hand, the Avatar at the time would be sent to dispose of them, but like weeds in a garden, they were never truly gone. They would always pop up again a few years later, and the Avatar would dispose of them again.

5 months after Bumi's 17th birthday, the burning suns made their most daring attack in history. They made their way through the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, and made their way to the Lower Ring, where they burnt everything they could. It was the screams of burning citizens that awoke Bumi. It wasn't until after he got up, he smelt smoke, and realised the orphanage had been set alight. He ran out onto the street, and was shocked to see his nightmares become reality.

The smell of burning flesh was in the air, and Bumi knew he couldn't stand by and watch his friends and neighbours are killed. He struck the ground with his fists, causing it to split, and throwing the Burning Sun Fire Benders off balance. While the firebenders where vulnerable, he levitated the small rocks left by the fissure, and sent them towards the firebenders. Some of the pack went down, and stayed down, but others didn't and turned their attention to Bumi. Realising how overpowered he was, Bumi raised a wall of solid stone to protect himself, but that was soon destroyed by the oncoming inferno. He thought it was over when a tongue of flames knocked him to the ground.

Suddenly, he felt the ground beneath him drop, and a slab of stone cover him trapping him in a cold tomb. It wasn't until he heard the voice of Bolin that he realised what had happened. Bolin, must have seen what was happening, and trapped Bumi out of harm's way. Bumi forced the slab that blocked his escape out of the way, and joined the battle once again, but by then it was too late. Bolin was outnumbered, and though a great earthbender, age kept him from fighting his best. The sight of Bolin's body sent a sensation through Bumi he had never encountered before. He felt a sudden surge of energy, and then there was black.

Bumi awoke a few hours later. He was alive, but the orphanage was in ruins, and the firebenders of the burning suns, dead. The street was empty. It was silent. Looking for some sign of life, Bumi started running to the palace. He found this though when he got to the middle ring of Ba Sing Se. Four men, in indigo coloured armour approached Bumi, hands at the ready in case there would be a fight. They started to talk to him, but a sharp pain hit Bumi on the head, and everything went black.

He awoke, and found himself tied up, in an empty, burnt house. Empty, except for the one man. He wore armour similar to the men on the street, but had more expensive looking armour. Bumi could tell he was the boss of the gang, whoever they were. The man apologized for having Bumi knocked out, his reason being they didn't know if he would come quietly. After confirming that Bumi was the one witness' saw fighting for the orphanage, he said something that changed Bumi's life forever. "Hail, Avatar Bumi".

Bumi later learned that the men, who knocked him out, were the order of the white lotus, and when he fell unconscious during the fight for the orphanage, he went into what they described as the avatar state. He struggled to cope with the guilt of killing the burning suns, at first, but eventually his Avatar training took priority, and the guilt faded.

Eventually Bumi finished his Avatar training, mastering all four elements. He settled down on Kyoshi Island, where he met the woman who would become his wife, the Kyoshi warrior Mara.

Unlike Korra and Aang, the Avatars before him, the world never had a crisis that he was required to end. All the real issues in the world, the militia of the nations were able to fix before he was required. Bumi was a figurehead. All he was really required for was official ceremonies. Other than that, he spent most of his time at home. But Bumi had one thing different about him to the rest of the Avatars. He had received the most assassination attempts.

Bumi didn't know whether it was things that his past lives had done against people, which they wanted to take out on him, or whether people just didn't want an Avatar any more, Bumi would be fighting off assassins, and almost getting killed in the process. In his life, 7 attempts had been made on his life, and he had survived each one of them.

The feeling returned, and that was when he knew what was happening. Jumping out of his bed, he generated a flame to light up the room. It was seemingly empty. He then stopped, took a breath, and listened, something that Bolin taught him at the orphanage. Bolin himself didn't learn this until later in life, but was a far better earthbender after learning this, and drilled it into Bumi. Then he heard it. The tiniest crack. A twig being broken. That was enough. Creating a gust of wind from his palms, Bumi broke off the wall panel closest to where he heard the noise. Suddenly the flames were extinguished. Bumi heard a scream, in the dark. Before it hit him who it was, he was knocked off his feet. The unknown assailant drew a dagger from his belt, and then with some type of firebending, heated it until it was red hot. It was too dark to see anything but the red glow of the dagger, its owner walking towards him. Becoming desperate, Bumi kicked towards the assailant, sending a fireball towards them. They avoided it with ease, but gave Bumi just enough time. Short flames extended from his fists, and before the assailant realised what was about to happen, Bumi was on him, with one his makeshift daggers at his throat.

"Who sent you?" asked Bumi, pushing the flame closer when there was no reply.

Finally the trembling man said something. "They threatened my family. They said that I would never see them again, if I didn't succeed in killing you."

After hearing this, Bumi loosened his grip on the man, still remaining cautious.

"And what did they say would happen if you succeeded?"

"I was told that my family would be released, and our debt paid"

Bumi considered the situation for a minute. Mara was dead; he had no family, and was in a world that didn't need him, a world that wanted him gone. And had this assassin done his job, the next Avatar would face the same fate, as would the one after that. Bumi removed the amulet he had around his neck, and gave it to the man. The amulet was a gift from Fire Lord Iroh, and was unique.

"Tell whoever sent you that I went into the avatar state, and you killed me then. Give them this as proof." He said to the man, who had a shocked look on his face,

"Thank you. My family are forever in your debt".

After that night, Bumi ran away, and lived in the Eastern air temple. News got around, even to Bumi, that the avatar cycle had been broken. What disappointed Bumi, was that nobody seemed to care that the Avatar was no more. He lived in a time that was against him.

Bumi died at age 73 in his sleep. He died in peace, knowing that whoever took his place, will not be hunted as he was.

300 years passed, and the Avatar was eventually forgotten. Many Avatars were born, but never discovered. They lived and died as ordinary people, and the world coped without them. But though the world thought they didn't need an Avatar, there came a time when they were proven horribly wrong…