A/N : First attempt at a fanfic. Please criticize because I love suggestions, although if you tell me its shit, please tell me WHY its shit so i can adjust accordingly. If you do happen to like this please tell me so! Even if its just one person I'll continue with the storyline, there's a lot of avenues im ready to explore ;) Enjoy Reading *sidenote* its a long one
Edit: I reformatted all the chapters. This is now a background explanation that is not fully necessary to the story.
If you want to get straight to the action, just skip to the next chapter :P
The tear ebbed out of Noatak's eye, in which was pent up all the frustrations, anger, loneliness, and guilt he felt day to day for the past 20 years.
But most of all he was grieving. His body shackled him in place, rooted, so he could not see as Tarlokk slowly drew the equalist glove onto his unsteady and shaking hand.
All I ever wanted was my family back, to be equal among them again
Just as he opened his sea-scorched lips, his final words floated gently on the wind
"I'm sorry, brother"
At that moment, he felt a pressure of unimaginable magnitude. He imagined it being comparable to what it would be like if his father could blood-bend him, but on such a scale... it was as if every single molecule of viscera and liquid in his battered body were being compressed down, continually, until every part of him formed a singularity. At that point, there was nothing, his slowly fading consciousness eluded him as he felt and watched his body dissipate fiber by fiber, grueling micrometers at a time. He felt it. He felt it all
Perhaps this was his punishment for not being there for his family, for his loving mother, and his ever awe-inspired little brother who he abandoned to carve out his own equality.
As the last bits of what he could once call himself eroded away into nothingness, Noatak raised his head into a vast void of ethereal black.
So this is what the end feels like, finally I can be free
He had fully dematerialized, yet, a thread remained of his former self and Noatak was cast away. As his physical remains left him, Noatak felt himself transported to a place of pure darkness, where matter bled out everywhere around him, but had no shape. Only a semblance of a vigor and ideology remained, a thread of his former self seemed to float off and embrace the endless void that now enveloped him.
Death, the ultimate equalizer. Is this what his dream, his goals and tyranny had brought him? Thrown away into a mass-less soup where he had neither a form nor enough consciousness to try to find a way out.
Shouldn't I be in the spirit world? Where is my brother?
"BROTHER, where are you!" The only notion that this thread could continually echo.
A sudden resonance broke the dull and pathetic dribble of Noatak's singular fiber, feebly trying to search for his brother. It boomed through everything in this primordial soup, coming from everywhere causing the structure of the universal plane to change and reflect a sort of, presence.
"Hmph, clueless as always, do you have any idea why you are here?"
A multi-faceted entity seemed to be addressing him from every which direction that he could discern with a cacophony of voices that invaded his conscious.
Noatak was allowed to be given a form. Of course what was most convenient was his human shape, but it wasn't the same. It constantly took on the form but collided and repelled, stitches of muscle, bone, and arteries would build themselves only to fall back into the same shapeless soup an instant later.
"What...where am I. What is this place? Is this really what the spirit world is like?"
Noatak's mass of soup burbled out into the cold dark void. He could barely remember his name anymore...it all seemed so... adrift and easy to forget.
The eminence that surrounded him replied with a quick grunt and continued in its multi-verse voice
"The ethereal realm! This is a place where everything is the same, equal, fair. Do not compare us to the spirit world, for it is a place of even more corruption than what you just inhabited, fair Noatak. The spirit realm is a constant reminder that once mortals pass from their realm, even in death, they cannot be equal, and there will be entities who will oppress them"
Noatak remembered, it seemed it happened an instant ago, but it was so hard to gather.
I'm Dead.
The sudden crystal clear realization rang through his limited consciousness and in return, it reverberated throughout the realm he inhabited now. Anger started emanating from him, and in return his slowly forming body catastrophically collapsed into a mass-less soup. He was boiling, he could not retain any shape or form from the seething rage he remembered, at his own brother's betrayal!
HOW COULD YOU TARLOKK
The same thought kept repeating itself in his limited existence as he broke down
"Ah, so you remember. Do not worry yourself with the petty ties you had to the mortal realm"
The darkness now soothed him, every word it spoke he understood was meant for him, slowly he cooled, and once again could form himself into something.
Finally, he managed to become a fully formed body, but no ascertainable features remained, just a hollow empty shell, equal.
"Impressive, it usually takes time for beings to learn how to conjure themselves like that, even if we allow them too"
This presence...it seemed to be...cooing to him? What was he even talking too.
Noatak's miniscule figure demanded a response from the ethereal wispy dark mass.
"Answer me, what sort of...being are you? If this is not the spirit world, are you a god?"
It laughed at him. Vibrations were sent out in all directions of the realm, he could feel it all around him, which caused his form to shake apart into a soup again and be left to reform at the sheer monstrosity of the presence. But he was not scared, he had nothing else to lose
"Hahaha, oh how we've missed a foreigners antics. It has been quite some time since we've had company here. Less and less spirits now-a-days dare to come into our realm, and even less mortals have existed at a time or another here. No noble Noatak, we are not a god, we are a collection, even immortal beings such as spirits must eventually retire, or die as you say, from their realm. We represent the most ageless and timeless of being's, all of us are one, though in rare times of need we will loan out our individuality. You, are one such case we suspect."
This only raised more questions, as Noatak slowly drew strength from the space around him, he could feel himself starting to remember more and more of his recent life, all the bleak and joyless days up until the end. That bitch Korra, it was all her fault, he could have been together with his brother, and they could have ruled equally...
The next logical step seemed apparent to him then, why!
Why...why...why am I here
Again there seemed to be a favorable shift in the realm. He could sense everything around him was delighted at his thought.
Gleefully, the multi-faceted presence shifted in tone and voice to delight.
"Correct, exactly, why are you here?"
Noatak's form slowly gathered even more strength, he started molding his shape and distinguishing his features as he remembered himself when suddenly his form twisted, congealed and shattered.
At that moment, he could feel a death grip on whatever it was that he was now. He started feeling the compression again, surrounded and crushed by it.
"THAT IS NOT ALLOWED, while you may be allowed a form here, we are all equal in this world. You will not try to bring in your poison of individuality here!" The matter surrounding Noatak attached to him with this sentiment, everything shook in the realm as if in agreement and poised to extricate the foreign thread of consciousness if it violated its principles again.
Noatak felt the pressure suddenly lessen and he was given free reign over his conscious again, but still he felt monitored.
The dark matter that embodied the realm then seemed to give a sort of a sigh and huffed. Noatak reformed his broken soup of a body only to be met with a conglomeration of the material inhabiting the realm, which slowly built itself in the form of a human body.
The thing's mouth opened, and rather than the whole realm shaking and addressing him from every direction, this time, only the body spoke. This time only one voice addressed him. Something that was so old, every word dripped with timeless dark wisdom. The seriousness of his current situation eluded Noatak as he decided he would not try to listen anymore. He did not notice that 'its' entire body constantly was shifting as if the soup it was made of was crafted from the pure darkness that surrounded him.
The realm that surrounded Noatak stopped drifting and froze.
The gravity of his current predicament finally set in and he realized just how hopeless his situation was. He broke down into hysterical sobs, resoundingly pitiful and sad.
"I just want to go back, we never got too see my mother like I promised we would, we never got to be one as a family again, if I could just go back I wouldn't even be angry at him, or even that...girl" He slowly dribbled out these words from his form, and something resembling tears flowed from his eyes, as he realized that there is nothing left for him.
"There is a reason you were...returned here rather than into the spirit realm Noatak. You came back for a reason. Every so often, a part of us returns back into the other worlds. You came from this plane, just as most ideas and things have done since time immemorial. You took on the guise of a human form and that is why you have come back to us. While we retain no personal identities while in this realm, everything eventually is recycled into here."
Noatak looked straight ahead now at the human form that swirled constantly in its own darkness. His confusion was apparent, even in a human shape with no distinguishing factors. He now gave his full attention to this...spirit?...No it was more like a mass of pure dark terror
He blurted out in his frustration with a voice that betrayed his fear of the unknown
"What am I then?"
Something of a smirk appeared on the face of the dark denizen as it continued.
" Believe this, you did initiate at one point in existence as something quantifiable. Something independent. Something else. Something that of its own free will decided to join this realm after its time had come. While you did not know it, you are the embodiment of equality Noatak, your mission in your existence was to give to others and care for everyone equally. Even your name's literal meaning embodies that message."
Noatak became too comfortable with his current position, in his current state of despair, it was all he could do to just laugh at the dark form's little story. As if he hadn't heard this hippy shit before about his name, he didn't believe he had much of a meaning in life... until he became Amon.
This was a mistake.
The dark mass did not find his...'reaction'... suitable to what it had just said
Noatak was then stricken with a feeling of terror as he was enveloped by the frozen matter around him, squeezing tightly like a blanket, cutting off all his thoughts. Suddenly, the dark voice left its pile of matter and joined in the enveloping black sphere that was engulfing him, it bade in a terrifying voice to listen very carefully.
"REMEMBER NOATAK, while we respect you, you are not an individual here, it is...prudent to listen and try to understand what we have told you, but...perhaps its just easier to show you..."
As Noatak was slowly pulverized into melding with the sphere, it showed him a past. Visions flashed vividly in his conscious, times and periods far past his most recent life, a time back before even humans and spirits inhabited the mortal realm. His spirit strained hard as he was flooded with old images of an ageless past. His form crumpled and he wondered, is that a river? It was the most pure thing he'd ever seen
It came flooding back with a tidal wave of clarity, he realized he was that river! He had originated as the first ever river spirit incarnated in the spirit world. He provided for the beings of the spirit world equally and when the mortal world grew enough, he willingly moved and strived to bring everyone equal access to his waters and rich care. By mere chance and coincidence, he was the river that brought most of the people of the Northern Water Tribe together from the boundaries of the ocean. He always wondered why he had such a strong bond with the waters there, he always felt more powerful in the north pole...
The swirling sphere of dark matter dissipated, and again two bodies formed from the whirlpool of floating soup.
Noatak slowly stood up in his unstable form and remembered, how recently, he was the leader of a equalist movement fighting for the right of the common man. All the oppression and pain he witnessed, he couldn't bare it any longer.
There seemed to be a subtle shift in the plane of existence around him.
There was a sudden vibe of sadness that poured forth from the dark body in front of Noatak, everything seemed to tense within the realm which it then mirrored accordingly with its vibrations and constrictions. Disdain now permeated the thick soup of matter that came from everywhere and the darkness bade him listen still
"You were pure in your intentions for the cause of everyone around you until you became infected with the disease of personality. You were at your strongest when you cast away any sort of identity and took on the mantle of Amon. You became more than a man, more than a spirit or mortal. You became an idea, the final embodiment of equality, no ties to be tainted with other then fairness. Regardless of whether you were a bender or not, you understood what it took to change the imperfections of the world."
The void around him started trembling again, but this time something different was happening.
This time, all the matter around him started condensing around Noatak, but now there was a slow throbbing and flowing into his molded human form, filling it as if it were a vessel.
Every emotion that was ever registrable in existence seemed to fill and empty within his form that he had created out of the nether. He screamed out in his mind with a shock wave of raw power.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME, MAKE IT STOP
For a moment the congealing dark matter seemed to slow, but then continually started entering and draining away from him faster and faster
The dark body that had previously spoken seemed to be drifting slowly towards Noatak's form. It watched to see if his spirit and his consciousness could handle the immense eons of knowledge; power, hardships, love, and anger that passed through him. It came in the form of pure raw spikes of dark energy, each time depositing a reserve of exponentially rising power.
The dark mass that had adopted a human form seemed to be shifting faster and faster in its makeup of matter, becoming a representative and mirror of Noatak's transformation.
"Just as the spirit world has a bridge to the mortal world in the form of the avatar, so too must the ethereal world have a link."
Noatak couldn't understand nor hear anything anymore, he was at the mercy of the ravaging nether that now engulfed his very soul, filling it with power but also pain and anguish of everything that had ever relinquished itself to the void of the ethereal.
"While you have always heard regaled stories of the Avatar and his and her triumphs, it is time for a new legend to arise...another... equalizing force."
Noatak was slowly transforming, he was taking on a translucent quality as his spirit and resolve started to harden with the ardor of countless experiences.
"IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG, respect shall finally be given again to US. What better entity to champion the cause of equality then the spirit and embodiment of equality itself!"
Noatak slowly pulsed now, he could feel himself becoming something more, the sum of all his parts. Not only his own past lives and experiences but of other things. Things that were better left forgotten, dead and decrepit in the realm of this ethereal mass that have no place being anywhere else.
"The time has come, dear Noatak, the Avatar's original use for bending was to bring equality, only to be relied on for self-protection, not spreading violence and taking sides, not as a tool for subjugating the throngs of innocents. It is too late however, countless people have been harmed who can and cannot bend the elements. She in its current incarnation has caused enough damage the world over, and it is time for you to show TRUE EQUALITY to the mortal world."
The dark entity was now planted firmly in front of Noatak's form, its ever constant shifting mass swirling with dark energies. He slowly drained now, having been completely imbued, filled and emptied now millions of times over with the dark soup that now placidly flowed away and back into the vastness of the realm again.
Fallen to his knees, he was exhausted, his spirit barely able to contain the plethora of knowledge and sheer power he gained. He seemed to glow with a vibrant radiance now in a strange black tone that shimmered around his body and coursed through his spirit, he felt as if a crack was forming in his entire form as he adopted a new ethereal form, complete with arterioles, venules, and circulating life-blood. It was filled however now with a dark Ichor rather than crimson blood, and he could feel it's raw power banging against his insides.
"You may not be the avatar, but you will become our herald, noble Noatak, you will become something far more powerful in the mortal realm. Although you will be associated with far darker and more nefarious infamous acts then before, understand, that THIS is the true path to equality, there have been none like you before...you will become..."
As the Mass of dark entity placed its hand on his placated shoulders, and gazed into Noatak's eyes, he gazed back into the void that was the entity, filled with absolute dread. He felt himself slowly escaping and had the feeling of being slowly compressed again. Losing all his new found sense's he was withering away as if being materialized somewhere else. Right before he passed out, the entity's final words ringed with terrible resolve in his ears, but he couldn't hear.
"...Something far more powerful...you will become..."
"DEATH, the first and only spirit bender."
"What do you mean death!" All will be explained in the following chapters :D Inspired mainly by HissingSnake's "The Healing" and Pour Fayor's "To End Well" also with some recent batman influence, brownie points if you can tell me where. Again, thanks for reading, harsh criticism's welcome as long as they are constructive. If you stayed to read the whole thing, hopefully you found something you liked. The whole river bit came from googling Noatak, at which point i tried to weave it in.
