Korra stood in front of the newly formed spirit portal in Republic City. Gathered around her was a crowd of reporters, all eager to hear why she had called for a press conference. It had only been a week since Kuivira unleashed her spirit weapon on the city, and created the new portal. As always, Chief Beifong was standing behind her, and President Raiko had decided to show up as well.
Korra decided to begin. "I'm sure you're all wondering why we're here." She said into the microphone. She has done this many times before, but she always got a little stage fright every time. There was just something about public speaking that made her uneasy.
"Just over three years ago, I made the decision to leave the spirit portals open, and allow humans and spirits to live together freely. I believed that we were ready, that Avatar Juan had made a mistake when he separated the spirits from the humans, and that the Avatar shouldn't be the bridge between the two worlds, that there should not be a bridge." Korra continued, "I was wrong. The portals haven't been open for even five years, and already the world has come close to total destruction four different times because of it. So many people have tried to use the power of the spirits to throw the world off balance, to force their ideals on to the world or conquer it."
Korra explained further, "The first was Unalaq, who tried to merge with the spirit of darkness to become a dark Avatar, and now because of it, the spirit is free again, instead of trapped in a prison. No long after, I faced the spirit of a man named Hundun, who had been defeated by the Avatar over a hundred lifetimes ago. He had fled into the spirit world, where he remained trapped until the portals were opened, then he was free to walk out and throw the world out of balance."
"The portals created an energy shift during Harmonic Convergence that brought back the Air Nation, and also gave airbending to the criminal Zaheer, who's visions of Anarchy caused him to use his new abilities to assassinate the Earth Queen, and plunge the entire Earth Kingdom into chaos, which resulted in Kuivira conquering the Earth Kingdom, and transforming it into her Earth Empire, and creating a super weapon that could have destroyed the world," She said, "And so, I have decided to close the spirit portals, so no one else may misuse their powers. The Avatar will once again act as a bridge between the two worlds. I was wrong to leave them open, and so many people have suffered because of it. It ends now."
Korra walked away from the podium and towards the spirit portal, ignoring all the questions that began to be shouted from the reporters in the crowd. She held out her hand, and watched as the portal closed, turning from a beacon of light shining in the sky, to a small orb on the ground. All the spirit vines began to whither away, leaving a small crater, and a completely vine-less, spirit-less Republic City.