Fire, Air, Water, Earth.

The four Elements that make up our world. Only the Avatar, a being that is neither Mortal nor Spirit, can bend all four to their will. The last Avatar, Korra of the Southern Water Tribe, Unified the two worlds at harmonic convergence, battled Equalists and the Red Lotus, Defeated the Earth Empire and kept peace between the four nations for many years. Now the Cycle is passed on to the New Avatar, an Earthbender by the name of Shen. He is Young and Unsure of himself, reluctant to be the very thing he was born to become.

But it is his destiny to keep balance in this ever shifting world.

I hope Shen will Be strong enough to bear that burden.


The sun was setting over Ba Sing Se, the world famous walls rising high above the Capital of the Earth Nation. In the Middle Ring, a boy sat on a roof top, a pebble hovering in the palm of one gloved hand. He growled in frustration and tossed the rock out across the deserted streets. He resumed his staring contest with the setting sun.

"You know…" an old creaking voice chuckled, "If you're going to insist on sit on a roof like a wandering crazy, you might want to wrap up warmer. I know that it's only autumn at the moment but there's a real chill in the wind lately."

"Hmmm, nope… I think it's just your old bones, Grandma."

The old woman chuckled. "Come on, Shen, you'll need all your strength if you are going to start your Avatar training tomorrow."

"I told you… I can't be the Avatar. I'm not even remotely Avatarish… Is that a word, Avatarish? Avatarly? Avataresque? Someone needs to make a word for the quality of being like the Avatar… Because then we'd have a word for every thing I'm not."

She sighed and beckoned for Shen to come down from the roof. "Shen… You are the Avatar. You answered questions that no one else could know the answer to. You were drawn to artifacts of the past avatars. You passed every test."

"I guessed." He shrugged, jumping the short distance to the street below.

"No you didn't. I've seen people guessing and they don't answer with nearly as much conviction. You can't possibly mean to say you guessed your way through all that, can you? That sounds a little farfetched."

"I can and I do. I can Earthbend, that's all. I can't Firebend, I can't Waterbend and I sure as damn can't Airbend. You've got the wrong guy."

"Well, like it or not, the White Lotus has found the next Avatar in you, Shen, and so help me, you are going to be the Avatar. Training starts at sunrise, so you might want to get some sleep."


[Shen…]

He woke with a start. That Voice… he knew that voice. It washed around him like arctic waters, chilling him to the core. He felt a presence, a ghostly form at the edge of his perception. He saw it moving through the Shadows toward him, eyes glowing.

[Wake Up Shen…]

A dark arm reached from the shadows. A blue arm bracer on brown skin, marked by a spider web of pale scar tissue.

[Wake Up…]


"Wake Up, Avatar." A different voice. Younger, but with a sterner edge to it.

He woke with a start. A White Lotus guard was prodding him in the side, a look of frustration on her face. "Whuh?" he mumbled, squinting in the dull red glow of morning.

"You begin Training today, Avatar. I trust you are ready to be pushed to the Limits of your bending?"

"I told you, I'm not the Avatar."

"The Grand Lotuses seem to disagree." She gave a small, forced smile. "If it's any consolation, today they'll probably just start by seeing where you're up to with your Earthbending."

"Oh, is that all?" Shen's voice dripped sarcasm, which the guard seemed oblivious to.

"Yes. Don't worry though, you'll move onto Fire soon enough. Wouldn't want to only have a Half-Baked Avatar when the time comes, would we?"

"No you wouldn't, which is why you should really stop wasting time on a boring mudslinger like me and find the REAL avatar."

She smirked, a moment of wry humour emerging from the forced pleasantries. She suddenly looked so much younger. "Whatever you say, Mud Boy. Hurry up and get dressed, the Grand Lotuses dislike being kept waiting."

"…Sure"


"Avatar Shen, of Bah Sing Se, are you ready to begin?" Shen wasn't sure which of the Grand Lotuses had spoken. He swallowed hard, clearing his dry throat before nodding. He just had to do their little test and then they'd see he's not the Avatar and he can get on with his life, go back to a quiet life of serving tea and clearing tables. He can almost smell the tea leaves. White Dragon, Silver Chai, Black Heartleaf... He could swear he heard the whistle of the kettle right in that moment. It was boiling, bubbling, mounting to a crescendo that filled all his senses. He sways on his feet, His balance fading as the whistle becomes a roar. And then the ground falls away as that empty blackness takes him.

He drifted down into that abyss for what seemed like an eternity. He wasn't sure how long he had been falling when he found himself stood on warped earth.

"Hello, Shen."

He whirled to find himself staring at a woman of the Southern Water Tribe. He had never met her, but he knew that face. "Avatar Korra?"

"Yup," the figure grinned and held out her hand, "That's me... Hi."

"I don't understand... I can't be the Avatar. Please, just find Someone else. Anyone. Get someone competent, someone who wants this"

"You know that's not how it works, right? You were born the Avatar, Just like I was. You don't get a say. If Ravva picked the Avatar based on who wanted the power, the world would have been lost to darkness a long time ago." She raised one eyebrow. "Why don't you want it anyway?"

"If I admit I'm the avatar... Things will change. I just want to go back to helping Grandma with the shop. I can't even Earthbend right, how can I be the one to master all four elements? It'd be better for everyone if someone else was the Avatar."

"Woah woah woah... Ok, kid, rule one: Don't be this hard on yourself until you've actually screwed up. If you beat yourself up because you might fail, you're going in to the fight already beaten." She sighed. "Believe me, worrying about the bad things that could happen is a sure fire way to stop anything good from coming to be. There were times I wanted to be someone else... Anyone else. But that was selfish, and that is one thing the Avatar cannot afford to be."

"I'm not selfish!"

"Then get out there and prove it! Be the Avatar, not for yourself, but because the world needs one! You have to do this. It's your fate, and you may as well follow it of your own choice, right?"