The Legend of Korra: The World that Was.
"Some things should just stay buried…"
Kolau Mountains
"Are you sure we're in the right place Bumi?" 12 Year old Tazon asked as she tried to swing her right foot on to the rocky ledge to lift herself over. She soon felt four hands grab a hold of her shoulders and hoist her up onto the surface of the rocky terrain. She soon felt herself dropped on her butt to the dusty ground.
"C'mon Tazon!," Bumi said with his trademark smirk" We are almost there!"
"I still don't see why I needed to come…"Tazon pouted as she stood up to dust off her dark red tunic.
"If I know Bumi …And I know Bumi, It's because we will need a Fire Bender when we reach the tunnels." Said the Earth Bender of the group, 13 year old Gabo .
"Gabo knows the plan!" 13 year old Bumi said as he took in the breathtaking view of the Kolau mountain peaks. From all around there was nothing but Stone Mountain tops that could be seen for miles on end. But one in one of these mountain ranges hid what the young explorers were looking for.
"I thought the Cave of Two Lovers was sealed years ago, by MY people no doubt!" Tazon a fire nation girl with Jet black hair tied in a small ponytail with a gold ribbon said as Bumi led the party deep into the mountains. "
"It was Tazon!," Bumi leered "And we're going to unseal it!"
"Wow ! Wish MY dad was the Avatar!" Gabo joked "I'd take over Ba Sing Se!"
Bumi looked back at Gabo and glared at him, and in that instant Gabo knew that one hit below the belt. It wasn't easy growing up as the son of the Avatar, Imagine being the NON-Bender son of the Avatar. You didn't have to tell Bumi how bad it looked that the son of the Avatar wasn't a bender, even worse you couldn't convince the boy that it wasn't a bad thing. No matter how bad his mother, Katara tried to reach him Bumi still remained a headstrong and rambunctious child. He always charged headlong into things, never thinking it through and he always felt like he had something to prove. No matter how much his father, Avatar Aang tried to be patient with him, it was still a source of tension between the two.
It was the same drive to be brave that fueled today's expedition to find the the legendary Cave of Two Lovers. Avatar Aang had some important Avatar bisnuess to conduct in Omashu. On a whim Aang thought it would be nice to take the family for a visit to one of the places where he, Katara, and Sokka traveled when they were kids and trying to end the hundred year war. Bumi had hooked up with his friends who lived in Omashu Gabo and Tazon and pressed them to make this journey.
Bumi read the scribbled map he "acquired" from Omashu's hall of records and saw they were on the right path to head to the North side of the entrance. The path they took led the kids deeper and deeper into the forest of rock formations. With each twist and turn the path seemed to turn into a maze of sorts. Tazon looked up and felt as if they were being watched but all she could see were the tall rock formations.
"B-Bumi" She gulped" Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"
"For the hundredth time!, Yes Tazon!" Bumi said rolling his eyes" Relax Hotman!"
Gabo looked back at the young girl fidgeting with her fingers and made a mental note to keep a close eye on her once they got to the caves. Tazon could cut and joke with the best of them but at her core she was very level headed and worried very easily. He could tell from her body language that this place was starting to spook her.
They turned yet another corner in the stone labyrinth and Bumi finally laid eyes on what he was looking for. He grinned as before him he saw a square monolith of a large doorway and within it were rocks of a collapsed sealing it in. Above it were the worn remains of a sign that was too ineligible to read.
"What did I tell you!?" He howled as he ran up and patted the rocks "This is it!, The entrance!"
"Ok Gabo! Do your thing!" Bumi ordered
Gabo walked up to the entrance and examined the blockage, unlike other Earthbenders who sought to meet challenges head on, Gabon like to examine a situation like a puzzle. Gabon was a firm believer in cause and effect, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. He continued to gaze at the entrance until at last a strategy presented itself. Gabo took a stance and focused his breathing. With two mighty stomps and a forceful wave downward of his hands the forced the ground underneath the formation to fall under several feet causing the rock blockage fall through feeing up the entrance, A rush of stale air flew out and hit the kids in the face.
"Let's go!" Bumi said as he led his cadre inside.
The caverns were dark and hollow, the air inside was chilled as the air they breathed was stale and musty. The further they ventured through every twist and every turn they pushed deeper and deeper into the mountain. When the outside light no longer sustained them Bumi nudged Tazon her cue. The fire bender nodded as she took a deep breath and opened both her palms as a bright open flame danced from each of her hands illuminated the explorers' path.
"So why were you parents here?" Tazon asked Bumi.
Bumi ran his hand along the edge of the cavern wall as he relayed the story "When my dad was 12 he needed an earthbending teacher, So he and my mom and my Uncle Sokka went to Omashu to have King Bumi teach him Earthbending, The Fire Nation had chased them into the Cave of Two Lovers but fearing the curse they didn't follow but sealed them in. Thanks to the Badger moles they found a way out."
"That's who I want to see" Gabo said with a glint in his eye" Badgermoles!"
"But you have a map right?" Tazon asked with a slight huff to her voice
Bumi looked behind to see the beads of sweat forming on Tazon's forehead, "Yeah, Relax Tazon!,I have map to whole underground!"
The trio walked for what seemed like hours, during their third break Bumi took out the map and motioned for Tazon to give him some reading light. She lit her palm with a sarcastic growl as he attempted to gain his bearings.
"We're lost, right…" Tazon said flatly.
Bumi paused before answering. "…No, I am pretty sure I know where we need to be. "
"BUMI!" Tazon Chided "My dad is gonna blow a gasket if I'm not there to close the store!"
"Tazon relax," Gabo said as he placed a soothing hand on her back "Let's keep a cool head, If we can't find an exit I'll make an exit!"
Tazon smiled a little at that statement, Gabo always knew the right things to say to cool her temper.
"Ok we need to head north and look for this hook shaped corner and then head east."Bumi said "The Tomb room should be just ahead…"
They gathered their supplies and followed Bumi as they turned the corner Gabo punched the cavern wall and popped a notch out. It was a marker as he had a nasty suspicion they might be going in circles.
An hour later, and more of the same twisting cavern did Gabo finally speak out.
"Bumi wait!" Gabo called out
Bumi stopped "Gabo, c'mon! We're almost there! We can make it!"
"No Bumi , you have to listen to me!, " He pointed to the notch in the wall" You see this notch ! I made this an hour ago! We are going in circles! Something is deliberately trying to get us lost!"
"You're crazy Gabo! ,What do you think the Badgermoles are moving the walls to confuse us!?"
"Both of you shut up!" Tazon yelled as fire erupted from her mouth
Silence soon filled the cavern as a scratching sound could be heard coming closer and closer, the three friends huddled together, as they could hear something crawling against the walls approaching them .
"What's that?" Tazon asked in a hushed whisper
Then from the darkness, six wolfbats from the darkness and swarmed all around the kids. They screamed as Bumi pulled his club from his back and began to swing wildly as Tazon began to shoot fire blasts in every direction. Gabo quickly used his earthbending to raise some defensive barriers around them to keep the wolfbats at bay.
"Stick together!" Bumi yelled, as the three kids stood back to back, as the wolfbats were clawing at them.
Gabo raised another earth barrier and then suddenly started to feel the earth beneath their feet give way. Before they knew it, the three friends found themselves falling down a deeps chasm. They screamed as they fell and tumbled against each other. Finally they fell against a flat thin surface, they all coughed as their throat and lungs were covered in dust and dirt.
Bumi coughed as he struggled to get his words out "I-is everyone ok?"
"I think so" Tazon whimpered
"I'll live.." Gabo said
Bumi was face down on the flat surface, he was pretty sure someone's knee was on his back, and his foot was on someone's face.
"Gabo, Tazon!" Bumi called out "I think this is a door or a panel I can wedge open, Can one of you reach into my pocket and get my pocket knife?"
"I think I can!" Tazon said as she reached with her free hand.
She stretched her hand out until she grabbed something soft and squishy.
Bumi yelped" AHH! That's not my pocket Tazon!"
"Sorry!"Tazon blushed.
Tazon finally retrieved his knife and handed it to Bumi. Bumi unfolded it with his teeth and jabbed the edge of the crack with the blade, from the other side of the panel he could make out a dim light. Whatever it was, it was something worth checking out. He pried the opening a little more and pressed his hand against the panel and suddenly the panel gave way. All three soon fell on to a hard surface with a hard thud.
"Ow," Tazon coughed as she and Bumi and Gabo dusted themselves off.
"Where are we?"Bumi said as he loked around at their new surroundings.
They were in a hallway of sorts, on one end it was sealed off by solid rock embedded with glowing blue crystal fragments embedded in, this explained the faint light Bumi saw through the panel. But the hallway itself was a different story. It was comprised of a material he had never seen before; if he could name a material close to it he would pick Pearl. But it wasn't like Pearl, far from it. It was white, but a dingy white. He could make out cracks in it, and on the wall which were also white as well.
Tazon and Gabo stood up and looked around the strange white hallway. They touched the walls as Tazon lit a light wither hand and they could see the hallway stretched a bit further down the way.
"Ok," Tazon said "Now im creeped out"
"C'mon,"Bumi said as he held his boomerang club "We're here let's see what's down here"
Gabo stopped Bumi by placing a hand on his shoulder "First sign of trouble we get out of here, ok?"
Bumi nodded silently as the trio walked down the long slender hallway.
The hallway itself was darkened lit up only by the light of Tazon's fire. On either side there were blackened windows where nothing could be seeded no matter how hard Bumi pressed him face against the glass. Ash and dust covered the white floors, occasionally they would see scraps of blue or green cloths littered about. Gabo winced as his foot stepped on something hard and pointy. He picked it up to see it was a faded piece of metal. It was flat and the best way he could describe it was half a wing attached to what looked like an umbrella. It was dirty and rusted; he quickly discarded it without a second thought.
"What do you make of this place Gabo?" Bumi asked
"I'm not sure, "It could be an old Earth Kingdom bunker, but it's of no Earth Kingdom design I have ever seen. Tazon do you think this could be Fire Nation?" Gabo asked.
"No way, it's far too underground. Firebenders need to be close to the surface, to the sun to be fully effective. Even the architecture is nowhere near Fire Nation design."
"Look!" Bumi pointed as they saw the hallway had finally come to an end.
Before them was a set of double doors that were wedged slightly open. Bumi ran to it and grabbed on to the edge of the door, he saw it had some give to it.
"Gabo!" He grunted "Help me out here!"
Gabo trotted up and gritted his teeth he put his back against the door frame and his foot on the edge of the door. He used his leg strength to help Bumi pry the door wide enough for them to get through. With a loud crack, the door gave way and slid open. Bumi and Gabo caught their breath as Tazon peered inside the dark room. Instantly a feeling of dread filled her.
"Guys, I'm scared, "She said with a tremor in her voice, "I think evil spirits live here"
"Then I'll be careful not to wake them!" Bumi said as he wrapped a rag around the handle of his club and lit it with Tazon's fire. He walked into the room that was filled with a layer of low lying dust and cobwebs. This room was very different from the hallway as it was very huge. They looked up and could not see a celling through the darkness. Bumi knelt on one knee and felt the texture of the floor; it wasn't a hard like the hallway floor. No this was a different texture, course yet soft.
"The floor in here is different " He reported "Whatever it is it's all over the place, Guys, I think we are in a tomb of some sorts."
"A tomb?" Gabo said looking around "This is one weird looking tomb."
Gabo's suspicions were on the right path when he went a bit further into the large room and came across several structures in the large floor of the main area, they were square and placed neatly beside each other in rows of three. All of them had a thick dust gathered on them and various discarded papers on them and the floors around them. Gabo picked up on and saw a language on it he had never seen before or even recognized.
Tazon quickly latched on to Bumi's arm she didn't like this place at all and didn't want to be by herself for one second ,She saw Gabo explore the floor ahead of them while Bumi was checking out the elevated area that overlooked the larger floors area
"Bumi, can we please go?" Tazom pleaded"
"C'mon Tazon, It's just a little while longer! " Bumi said" At least till we figure out who's buried here!"
"No! Bumi! I hate this place it's creepy! I'm scared ok?" Tazon said
Little did any of them know that they were being watch, something high on the wall woke up when it sensed the movement of humans, something it hadn't noticed in a very long time. Even if it was a long time, it still had a job to do whenever it noticed the movement of human action.
Gabo listened to Bumi and Tazon argue when without warning all three kids were blinded by a bright light. First one light came on, then two, then three, then four. They cried out as they shielded their eyes from the bright lights, lights so bright it shone through their eyelids and burned to their brain.
As the blur faded from their eyes and they adjusted to the new lights, the nature of their environment became clear to them. They knew they weren't in a tomb, but they had no explanation for where they were now.
"What is this place?" Tazon asked as she and Bumi looked at their surroundings.
They saw that the neatly aligned structures were actually desks with various boxes and papers strewn about on them , at the far wall were 6 or 7 window all centered around one massive window that were all the color grey. The lights were attached from the ceiling were as bright as the sun, yet there was no way any light could be here this far under the earth.
"Bumi, Look!" Tazon said tugging Bumi's sleeve
Bumi and Gabo looked to see what had caught Tazon's attention.
On the wall behind them was a large picture of sorts, Like the symbols of the various nations this one was different. On It was a shape like a blue shield and on the blue shield was the round shape of the Earth, yet on the earth was a country none of them had recognized. From the globe two white wing stretched out and folded over the globe as if it were protecting it, and the last piece on it was a sword with a red handle over the earth. Below it was a yellow ribbon and on it was a language none of them could read. Still Bumi was determined to copy down the last part of the symbols as best he could. He took one of the stray sheets of paper and grabbed a stick of charcoal from his pocket and wrote down the words that were underneath the seal.
N…O…..R…..A….D
Suddenly they felt a slight tremble underneath their feet, both Bumi and Tazon looked to Gabo. The Earthbender looked around to see what he felt and where he felt it from.
"I don't know if that was a bad tremble or a good tremble." he chuckled nervously
Then all of them head a voice boom from overhead, it was loud but gentle. A Female voice who spoke in a language neither had ever heard of.
"Emergency power restored…."
"Alternate command operations center online."
At that point the room began to come alive, the windows that were affixed to the walls came alive with various lights and words and pictures. The three held on to each other as neither had any idea what was happening. Fear began to rise into each of them as they could hear voices from all around . Then Tazon saw something move down from the ceiling it was a round sphere attached to a metal rod. In the middle of the sphere was a red eye. It began to shine a red light over Bumi , and then Gabo and finally Tazon. For Tazon sadly, this was the final straw as she went into full panic mode.
She screamed as she leapt over the railing, firing a fireball at the sphere with her foot and landing on the floor. She began to fire wildly and anything and everything around her setting fire to the desks and the papers.
"Bumi!" Gabo yelled as he saw Bumi rush to Tazon.
"Tazon! Wait you have to calm down!" Bumi cried trying to avoid the flames.
Tazon couldn't be reached and she cried while send flames into every direction. The boys tried to reach her desperately, they were so focused they didn't realized the voice spoke again.
"Fire detected in Command Operations Center, Activating Halon system now"
From the ceiling a white gassy fog fell and soon filled the entire room. Bumi and Gabo began to cough as the white fog got in their eyes and mouth. The Fog quickly enveloped Tazon and the young firebender soon found herself robbed of her firebending. She began to cough as her head began to swim and her vision blurred.
"C-can't b-breath…"She swooned
The last thing Tazon saw before she blacked out was Bumi reaching for her.
NEXT TIME: The secrets of the tomb are slowly deciphered as a young Hiroshi Sato makes a connection that will have lasting effects on Republic City.
A/N: Hello all, This is my first Korra story. I normally write Transformer fan fiction but my creative energies have "shifted" these past few weeks. I have had this idea for a while and I feel I am ready to fan it out. I hope you find it an enjoyable read. If you have any questions about it feel free to shoot me a PM. ^_^