Chapter One: In the Beginning

The world lies in disrepair. Chaos reigns supreme and death runs amuck around every corner of this hollowed world. Creatures unlike anyone has ever seen own this land now. My name is Ria, a Waterbender from the once great Northern Water Tribe. Now it lies in ruins like the rest of the world, a shadow of its former self.

My story began on a sunny day just east of the ruins of the old Northern Water Tribe. There was a group of survivors who had set up camp away from those things so that life could still move on like normal. I was a part of a fishing group that morning so I was out on the lake with Tora and Yuki. Tora was a master Waterbender, she was in her mid-thirties and looked beautiful with her flowing blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Yuki was her husband, a graceful yet powerful man. He taught Waterbending to the kids like me. I had been his student for six years so that's what brought me to the boat with them.

"Ria look sharp, you don't want any of those waves over taking our boat." Yuki said.

"I know Sensei." I droned, I was bending the water around the boat to catch the fish that swam by. The waves were rocking us slightly as I pushed the water around.

"You have to be careful Ria. There is a slight chance you could dig up more than just fish." Tora advised.

I had heard stories of those creatures attacking from the depths of the water but I haven't even seen one on land in my lifetime. I was born a year after the first outbreak and my mother always kept me away from the ruins of the old city.

"It's dangerous and you could die if you go in there!" she would always tell me. Of course I believed her so I stayed as far away from ruins as possible so as not to get in harm's way. Things were changing now because my thirteenth birthday finally passed and that meant I was a full-fledged member of the tribe. I could go out on fishing trips and scouting missions now and I was determined to do so.

I was minding my own, not really paying attention to my bending when I pulled on something heavy. I gave the water a weird look and yanked upwards with my bending. It was possibly the worst idea of my life. A human body came soaring upwards with a loud screech. It was decaying badly, parts of its head was gone and you could see the brain, an arm was missing along with bits and pieces of the chest, showing off its ribcage.

I screamed in terror, it was more horrible than I could ever imagine. Tora flipped around and yelled as the thing landed on the deck of the boat. I thought it was dead until it stood up, screeching and ran at us.

"Get down Ria!" Yuki yelled. I ducked as a rush of water flew past me and loped off the things head. I was breathing heavily as it fell to the floor.

"Is it dead? What is that thing?" I asked. I couldn't control my breathing any longer.

Tora walked over and hugged me. "It's okay, we just have to get back to the camp site." She wouldn't let go of me and I felt the boat start to move.

It wasn't long before there was pounding on the bottom of the boat. Yuki and Tora exchanged glances as the boat began to go faster. Then all of the sudden we were yanked to a stop. "What's going on? Why did we stop Master Yuki?"

"I can't get it to move anymore. Tora help me." He was pushing with all his might. Tora started to bend the water trying to get the boat to move as well but it wasn't working, the boat just wouldn't start moving.

"I'm scared, please get me home!" I said, covering my eyes.

"Ria you just have to calm down okay, everything will be alright, I promise."

I never liked promises a person couldn't keep. I just sat there, waiting for the boat to move but it never did. Just as Tora and Yuki gave the boat a combined push more of those things climbed aboard. There had to be fifty on the boat with us and more in the water.

Tora yelled out a prayer to the Moon Spirit and started to wash some of them back into the water. They weren't going for kills, they simply wanted these things off the boat. Tora backed up to me and Yuki took the other side. "Keep Ria safe!" he yelled to his wife as they fought these monsters.

It was hopeless, more and more of them just came on board and I could see them getting tired as the fight drug on. Soon it came to where more of those things were coming on board than they were washing them off. I started to cry, I knew I was going to die on board this ship.

Tora however grabbed my arm and pulled me up. She quickly whispered instructions to me, "When I give the word you jump off this boat and bend yourself as far away from here as possible, do you understand me?"

I nodded my head and looked in her beautiful blue eyes, I knew it would be the last I saw of Tora so I hugged her tightly. She pushed me away and I cried more, I couldn't lose my teachers, I just couldn't.

Tora turned and yelled, "Now Ria, escape from here!"

I disregarded her and tried to help. I shot water at those things but it didn't do anything but push them away from me. They started running at us again and I knew I should have jumped when I was told too. One of those monsters grabbed a hold of Tora and bit her neck. Tora screamed and Yuki threw as much water as he could at her attacker but it did no good. It pulled off a huge chunk of her neck and blood went everywhere. I screamed again, completely afraid of what was going to happen to me. I felt my pants get warm as I peed myself and looked around to try to find some way out.

More of those thing converged on Tora as Yuki tried to fight his way to his wife. "Ria you have to go, get off this boat and live, you are the only hope for this forsaken world!" Yuki yelled.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused. My words were slurred because of how much I was crying.

"Talk with your mother, she will tell you everything." And he started to hit and kick at the monsters trying to get a hold of Tora. The things converged on him and blocked him from my view. Then I heard his yelling and I knew they were eating him too.

I sat down, crying too hard to move. I could barely breathe, my chest kept going up and down but it was mostly hollowed breathes. The things turned to me and started to converge around me. I prayed to the Moon Spirit to guide me and I felt a warm breeze. It seemed odd that the air was warm seeming how we were so far north.

I closed my eyes for what I thought would be the last time. A light began to glow in my vision, I was confused by what it was so I opened my eyes. Everything was glowing around me, the creatures outlines were a bright blue as they ran towards me. I cupped my hands near my chest and fire began to erupt from my palms. I didn't know what was going on, I barely had control of my body, I was simply conscious enough to be aware that I was moving.

The fire got bigger, the creatures didn't seem afraid of it, they just came at me quicker. It got too big to hold so I thrust it downwards at the deck. It exploded into a huge fireball and launched me from the boat. Everything was still glowing as I soared through the air. I pushed outwards and felt a gust of wind carry me further. I didn't know what was happening but I was getting closer and closer to the surf. Land was coming quickly and I knew if I smashed into it I would die on impact but I seemed to know how to stop it. I turned and cupped my hands again, this time a ball of air seemed to be forming in them. I tossed it down and landed softly on it, falling to the ground as I closed my eyes and the glowing faded away.

I groaned because my body felt sore. I tried to stand up and was a bit wobbly getting to my feet. I had so many questions running through my head right now that I was getting a headache just from thinking. What were those things? Why were they attacking us and eating us? Most of all what was that ominous warning about and why would my mother be able to explain it all to me?

I decided it best to make my way back to camp, I was only a mile away now. It wouldn't take long to hike back up so I started up the path cut into the snow. It wasn't long before I noticed shadows of creatures all around me. I proceeded with caution, having taken a few classes on scouting so I knew what to do when confronted by the enemy.

I crouched and made my way the last few steps up the hill. After that I had a good view of the campsite and it would only be a couple more minutes until I reached it. I looked out over it and gasped. Smoke was billowing from each tent and fires raged along the outer tents.

I ran down the hill and didn't stop running until I made it to the edge of camp. There were bodies littered everywhere, people I knew lay dead on the snow. The camp elder was lying in the middle with a gash in her neck and blood flowed free into a pool beside her.

I gagged and kept moving, the stench in the air making me sick, death did not smell good. There were bodies of those creatures littered around as well. They were decayed, some to the point that you would think they couldn't move anymore but they did. Heads were cut off or exploded and other assorted body parts lined the campsite. It was enough to make anyone sick but I had my eyes set on the far back tent, my home.

The flap on the tent was blown open in the breeze but otherwise it was quiet, too quiet in my opinion. I walked quicker, afraid of what I would find when I got there but still in a rush to see my mother. The path to my home was littered with the bodies of school students, my best friend Myrtle lay dead outside my tent. I broke down and fell to the ground next to her body. Her eyes were glazed and pieces of her arms were missing.

I started to cry and went to give her one last hug, knowing I would never get to see her again but when I reached down her arm reached out and grabbed me. I jerked up and with my free hand made some snow into water and slashed off her head before she could move. I fell backwards and kicked away from the body. I began to cry harder as I looked upon what had become of my best friend. It raised even more questions that I had no way of getting answers too, no way accept the possible doom that lied through that gap in my tent.

I stood up slowly and looked at the flap softly blowing in the cold breeze. I wiped my eyes and walked in. The scene I saw was just as bad as the outside, blood was everywhere. I didn't see any bodies but I had one more room to check. I walked around the chairs and pulled open the flap to my parent's room. I gasped, my mother was sat on her mat with blood leaking from her neck. She had her hand over the wound and was barely breathing but still alive.

I rushed to her side. "Mother, oh mother! Let me help!" and I pulled out some water ready to heal her wound but she looked at me and waved it away.

"It won't help." She said. Her voice was raspy and rough because of her injury. "The infection has already spread, I am going to die Ria."

"No mother, no you can't die! Tora and Yuki are dead and Myrtle is dead. I just can't lose anyone else!" I cried. Fresh tears were flowing down my cheeks.

"You must persevere Ria. I knew from the moment you were born that you were special, that is why I kept you safe from harm all these years, you of all people need to live." Her breathing was becoming deeper and slower. "Your father took a small group of survivors south. He plans to head into the Earth Kingdom, you must catch up with him. He will explain everything Ria." She looked in my eyes as she began to lose consciousness. She had just enough breathe for a few more words though, "You are the….." and then she closed her eyes, never to open them again.

I stood up, holding in my tears. If she became like Myrtle, I didn't know if I wanted to stick around for that. I went to the front room where I kept my things in a small knapsack. I opened it up and took out the necklace my mother had made me when I was six. I kept it in there because it no longer fit around my neck but I enjoyed looking at it. I cried for a tiny before placing it back in and taking the whole knapsack and swinging it around my shoulder.

"Goodbye mother, I will always love you." I cried as I walked out the door. I knew where my father would have went, south meant the old docks. They were only a couple miles south but the issue would be if they already left.

I started to jog in the direction of the old docks, I knew there would be those creatures all around but I now knew how to fight them so if confronted by them I could make it out alive. The cold air was crisp against my exposed skin, I was wearing a tank top and didn't really notice the cold until now. My pants were also freezing because of the pee.

I didn't have time to stop to change so I just lived with the wetness. I ran along the road and saw a few dismembered bodies here and there but otherwise it was quiet. I wondered what I would find when I got to the old docks but didn't pay much attention to the thoughts because I was just trying to make my way there safely.

I rounded the bend and got to the water's edge without any issue. The issue came when the docks came into view. A small group of water benders were fighting a small horde of those monsters. I ran to help. There were around ten of them and I had the advantage of sneaking up on them. I dropped my knapsack and pulled up a few ice shards and shot them at a couple of them. They sliced open the things heads and the others didn't seem to notice. I shot a few more and in no time we had them killed.

I walked up to them and noticed my dad wasn't with them. "Was Ike with you? My father?"

They looked at me. One of them gasped, "You're Ria, the daughter of Ike and Mia. Yes he was with us, he went off into the blizzard looking for you. He told us to leave him behind but those things attacked us as we were getting the boats ready."

"Can someone explain what's going on here? Tora and Yuki were killed out on the fishing boat and my mother is dead. I want some answers!" I was mad now.

"Come, let's get on a boat and we'll tell you everything you want to know, but you must know some of it will be your fathers to tell you." One of them said, I didn't know any of these men or women but that's because I wasn't open with most of the villagers.

I wanted to go find my father but I knew it was smarter to leave as soon as we could and also I knew my dad was strong enough to make it to the rally point alive. "Dad is going to make it to the rally point right?"

"He said to give him three days of looking time and then he'd make it to our rally point just inside Earth Kingdom territory. Now come on, there is someone at that safe zone that wants to meet you." The oldest looking man said.

I got on the boat with them and they started to sail away. The eldest guy looked at me, "I'm Kabo. The others are Suki, Spot, and Nanico." He said pointing to each in turn.

Suki was the beautiful looking girl wearing Earth Kingdom garb. She waved and said, "I'm a Kyoshi Warrior in case you were wondering, I came up north on a mission and I think I completed it." She smiled and laughed.

Spot was a young man, couldn't have been more than eighteen. He had a few scars on his face but a kind smile. "I got the scars hunting some wild animals when I was about your age. Not much of a bender, I like to swing a sword though."

Nanico was a woman about my mother's age. She looked fondly at me and smiled sweetly. "I was in school with your mother, she was a kind person and will be missed dearly. If you need any help don't hesitate to ask. I am the village's best healer, I can heal almost any wound, physical or emotional."

"So what can I answer for you?" Kabo asked.

I looked at him. "What were those things and why were they eating people?"

"That's right, your mother did well to keep you in the dark. Well now's a good a time as any to tell you. Those things are what we call zombies. They are reanimated dead bodies. I presume you caught that part already?"

I nodded my head. "When I was going through the campsite I found my best friends body and it reanimated on me. I had to…" I broke down crying and Nanico came over and put her arm around me.

Kabo pressed on. "The first outbreak was thirteen years ago. Avatar Aang was getting ready to settle down in the village that he had started to make, he called it Republic City. His dreams of a town there never came into light because a nasty virus started to spread. After a couple months of infection the populace of this area started to die, but they didn't stay dead for very long. Avatar Aang never saw it coming. He was doing his rounds, looking after the ill when a zombie blindsided him. He was killed before anyone could stop it. Katara was the first to kill a zombie. Then the plague spread to the greater populace and in three years the world was in ruins. Even know, with all we know about them it's hard to combat the zombie threat. I've lost more than I can count to those bastards and we will continue to lose to them until the next Avatar gets trained. Aang's issue was he didn't even know what was going on until it was too late. This Avatar will have the knowledge they need to beat the damn things into the ground." He finished. He looked to me as if I was the one that was going to rise up against them.

I looked away. "You don't mean me do you?"

Kabo laughed. "It's possible, you are now the last remaining thirteen year old in the Northern Water Tribe, I have no clue what it's like down south in the Southern Water Tribe. Ever since the start of the infection we lost all connections with our sister tribe. Look kid, I don't know anything for certain but if you are the Avatar, we need you just as much, if not more than you need us. So keep a sane head won't you?"

I looked away, I couldn't bare the stares of those four. Now I knew the last word of what my mother was saying before she died. I am the Avatar, the last hope for this dying world. I sat there staring blankly into space as the boat moved slowly onward towards Earth Kingdom territory.