Chapter Two: Avatar Society
Gena was home and alone this time. Nothing followed her home. She was in bed, and almost asleep. WHAM the door to her room swung open, and hit the foot of her bed. A figure, black as a silhouette, hurried into her immaculate room, and seemed to turn to look at her.
"Hurry!" it said something afterwards that was inaudible.
"It might already be too late young…" Again, the voice was very fuzzy, and some words it said couldn't be made out.
"Come on!" It pleaded again.
She nervously got up out of her bed, and headed to the door the figure was dancing hurriedly at. When she got to the exact place it was at, it just disappeared, but the activity behind her door was catastrophic. A field on fire, people on fire panicking and running around, and then the red diamond showed up again, and everything went pitch black.
Gena sat straight up in her bed quickly. Her heart beating so fast as if she were one of the people in her dream. Sweat running down the side of her face, her breathing labored. She was too scared to lay back down. Afraid of having a similar dream, or continuing that one.
She hurriedly turned on every light in the house. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, the kitchen, the living room, the den, and even the outside lights were all on.
It took her a minute to calm her breathing, and set her mind at ease, and yet constantly thinking, wondering, why she was having these dreams.
She had already made a Google search online about dreams and diamond shapes. And found nothing. Every search turned out to be something materialistic. She even searched for people who have had similar dreams. That search took hours. When she couldn't find any kind of results on Google, she would head to Bing, then to alta vista. Then, finally on Lycos, she got a hit. It was a man, who claimed he was hallucinating, and eventually checked into a psychiatric ward. He felt he had a nervous breakdown, and wanted all of it to stop. He had a blog on a very minor-traffic site, "The Corral Hoster". He went on for years about his dreams and hallucinations very sporadically. They matched Gena's dreams and hallucinations.
"Why me?" She began ranting and pacing in her den.
"It's too much of a coincidence." Her tone and thoughts betrayed her blank face.
"There has to be something to this."
She stopped as if realizing something horrible. Her face reflected the fright.
"What if it's the beginning of an epidemic?"
Just then, the dream she had turned into a hallucination. Her livid, empty, soulless den seamlessly became the burning field. She shut her eyes, plugged her ears to muffle the screams. All she could think of was water. Water to put the field out, and save these people. The hallucination ended, and it was her basement that was drenched in water, dripping from the ceiling, running down the walls like a waterfall.
She couldn't explain this phenomenon. Maybe she was still asleep. She pinched herself.
"No of course that wouldn't work."
"Okay, I am not crazy."
She sat up straight in her bed just as before. Same labored breathing, her heart beating just as fast. She waited for a moment in the calm and deafening noiseless room. Just waiting for that figure to run back into the room.
Nothing happened.
She ran to the den, and along the way, turned on every light in the house.
"Déjà vu" she thought to herself.
She turned on the light in the den from a hanging cord in the middle of the room. Nothing was dripping wet. All was as dry as could be.
"What the …"
Sare stood in the middle of large field. It was almost pitch black dark. He kept thinking of what he could possibly say to justify this….this intrusion.
A large-nosed older car pulled up behind him. It was too late. He had no more time to think of anything to say.
The man behind the wheel and Sare only stared at each other. They knew who each other were, but neither wanted to be the first to speak. The man because of the fact Sare ran out on him years ago, and Sare too ashamed to even be there.
"I am sorry" Is all Sare could muster, before walking away in the same direction as the car was pointed. His hands in his produce-pitted stained jeans.
The driver door swung open, revealing a slim and dark complexioned man.
"Sare" The man said bluntly.
Sare turned around to face the man.
"Please get in, and say what you came to say." He said almost begging.
The man loved Sare. He was his first student after all. He had such high hopes for Sare. Bending was a long lost forgotten art. Without knowing who would be a bender of any of the 4 elements, or not knowing if they were a non bender, kept the progression of re realizing bending to a halt. Sare was his first and only hope in a dying secret society.
"I think I have found someone special." Sare started before entering the vehicle.
The man's interest was piqued. No one has exhibited specific gifts in quite some time. The last one to do so was Duncan Miller. He refused to listen to the teachings as do most people, and just commit himself, and eventually died around 23 years ago.
"What makes you think this?" The man asked.
"I know you are going to think I am crazy. I mean I think I am crazy. I'm not even in the society anymore, and I can tell – Or at least, I think I can – when someone shows some kind of power. I mean, come on, Jonathan." Sare proclaimed leaning on the car, staring at Jonathan.
"You are a waterbender, Sare. You always will be. You just need to…"Jonathan started
"No, you think I am. Why? Because I have blue eyes? Let's just stick with talking about Gena." Sare interrupted, now in the car.
"So, her name is Gena?"
"Yes. She's a loner. She keeps raving about this oasis she found in the woods directly across from David's food stand. Then she comes and asks David and me about diamonds. Well, having dreams about diamond shapes." At this time, Sare tries to avoid eye contact with Jonathan, as they head away from the field.
"Raava and Vaatu" Jonathan whispered audibly.
"Yeah" Is all Sare could mutter.
They kept driving, and eventually came to a nice housing development, and stopped at a lovely pale brick home. Sare knew it to be Jonathan's house. They went into the house, and the foyer with the gigantic chandelier greeted him. Nostalgia set in, as well as regret, and more grief.
"Do you even believe in Bending?" Jonathan asked, laying his keys on a small stand next to the door out of habit.
Sare had to think for a moment. Something he had never seen, and never heard of before meeting Jonathan or any of the other society members.
"Do you believe in the stories of the Avatar?" Jonathan asked, not waiting on the response.
"No on both counts." Sare admitted, keeping his head down, as if he knew Jonathan would be disappointed.
"I mean, I think I believe something now. I mean, Gena has some kind of power." Sare looked up a little hopeful, and said to Jonathan.
They were still standing in the foyer, but Jonathan then retreated to the kitchen. Jonathan knew why Sare left, and it just wasn't because he couldn't bend, or had no belief in the teachings. Jonathan knew Sare believed, but over time, he stopped due to hatred.
"You used to believe. You were keen on sharing the knowledge with the world when you were with the society."
"The society wouldn't. So I thought to myself, why should something so powerful be kept secret, and why would this society want it to be kept secret."
"And, what did I say to you?"
Jonathan waited a moment while Sare racked his brain for the answer.
"Not everyone can or will accept the truth. The ones that would, would be outcasts just like us. So we give everyone a chance to hear the truth in secret. Those who have the curiosity of a child, do come with us. Some stay, but some go, and some get mad, and take revenge in one way or another. It truly is a gamble with all the nations."
By this time, Jonathan was on his telephone, asking various people to come over to his house for some important news. Sare just stayed still, lost in his in thoughts, on a bar stool, elbows on the accompanying table, and head in his hands. Jonathan hung up the phone as he finished his last call.
"I'm sorry, Jonathan, I do not remember that."
Gena was standing, completely still, staring at a wall in her den, perplexed at how the water just vanished. She had forgotten it was only a dream; probably because it felt so real. No water stains from damage, no wet floor, nothing. Everything was completely dry.
She slowly turned around, and moved towards the door; turning off the light in the process.
She felt like she was escaping reality somehow. Like this was some kind of calling. She turned off the rest of the lights while heading to her room. Eventually laying down once again, and closing her eyes.
She was back in the field. This time it was drenched, and no bodies in sight. She looked around, and eventually a bright white light engulfed everything she could see. She felt warmth and love enveloping her, just like in the oasis. The blue diamond then showed up. This time, there was a dot in the center like some kind of eye.
"Gena" The diamond spoke.
"My name is Raava. It's so nice to meet and talk with you." It continued.
After introducing itself, the feminine-sounding voice took shape. Somewhat like an arrow, and somewhat like a squid. They were back in the field. The light that was Raava was still bright, but the arrow-shaped form now had tentacle-looking strands of the same light forming from its head, and what Gena would perceive as an eye, now had more decorations surrounding it.
"I have no doubt you have had a rough few days."
"Yeah, the horrid dreams and even more horrid hallucinations does tend to make one have a rough day." Gena rebutted, almost in an angry and violent tone.
"I apologize for such. I was only trying to get in contact with you, and so was Vaatu."
"Vaatu?" Gena asked quizzically.
"Vaatu is the same shape as me, but represents chaos and destruction; whereas I represent light, peace, and balance."
Gena said nothing, and just listened intently, hoping to solve these problematic dreams and hallucinations.
"Centuries ago, people were able to use the elements at will, for any purpose. Some good and some bad."
"Wait. Use the elements?"
"Yes, the use of the elements. When they manipulated the elements, that person was considered a bender."
Another light source formed next to Raava, and demonstrated firebending, airbending, waterbending, and finally, earthbending. Gena focused intently on the figure, trying to discern if that figure was the same figure she had dreams about. Because of the figure moving effortlessly and smoothly, it was almost hypnotic, and difficult to follow, like some sort of martial arts.
"Each bender would only be able to manipulate one element. That is, except for the Avatar, a bender that could manipulate each of the four elements, either separate or in tandem."
The other light figure demonstrated this, by being encased by water, and flying through hoops made of earth and set ablaze.
Gena woke up.
"This is such bull crap. Why am I entertaining these dreams? The Avatar? All of that nonsense that those wackos believe and preach."
Gena got out of bed, got dressed, and stormed out of her home, to walk along the deserted highway, heading to the oasis in the dark. Not sure if she would actually walk through the woods at night, but was still heading in that direction.
The house welcomed 3 more members of the Avatar society. Sare, Jonathan, and three others, sat in Jonathan's living room. They had talked about the reasons Sare thought he left, why he really left, discussed him coming back, and now continuing his and Jonathan's previous discussion.
"Governments and religions have lied to us all. Kept us naïve, and fed us half truths so we would believe and accept it all as the whole truth. Religions turned all famous benders into deities. That's why there are so many. Zeus? He was actually a firebender who excelled in lightning. Hermes was an airbender. I could go all night naming them all. History forgot about all this, and the new leaders of the world stepped up, and removed it all from books, which led to future generations not believing or forgetting. We spread the knowledge as much as we could in the past, but people could not accept it, since we are unable to bend ourselves, we couldn't prove it." The woman in the group taught.
"Okay, look, this is a lot to take in at a moment's notice. I want to rejoin the society, and I have. I believe that Gena is a very powerful bender." Sare replied.
"From what you tell us about these diamond shapes. It sounds like she is the new Avatar." One of the new men butted in.
They all sat in a circle. Jonathan at the head, the woman to his right, another man to his left, the other man at the bottom of the circle, and Sare in the middle.
"We must meet this Gena to find out. There are ways to test her." The woman spoke again.
"This should be good. Hi Gena. My friends and I believe you are the new Avatar. Come and get tested." Sare spoke heavily with disdain.
The other man finally spoke up, "You must use finesse. She already asked you about the diamonds in her dreams. Take it further. Tell her about the spirits, Raava and Vaatu. If we are correct in assuming, she will already have made some kind of contact. She may even be contemplating getting help from a psych ward like the avatar before her. We need to intercept, and try to explain things before that happens again."
Sare and Jonathan left the other three society members at Jonathan's home, to take Sare home.
"I do not know how I am going to do this Jonathan. I mean, I have trouble believing all of this. How am I going to convince her of it all?" Sare questioned, staring out the window.
Jonathan started to talk some more to Sare, but Sare was focused on a person he sees walking the side of the road.
"Wait, wait, slow down next to this person." Sare demanded.
"Gena, it's me, Sare, from the food stand."
"Uhm, okay, Sare from the food stand" Gena had no idea how to reply to any of this. She just went through hell and back with the nightmares, entertaining foolish ideas of bending and Avatars, to this boy, who she never talked to before just showing up in the middle of the night.
Sare got out of the car, and Gena immediately got on the defensive by grabbing her can of mace from a jacket pocket.
"Sorry, sorry, I am not trying to scare you."
"You're not scaring me, just putting me in a predicament I do not wish to be in."
"I was thinking about you earlier, and I was with my friend here, and I told him about your dreams of the diamonds."
She lowered her guard a little. Odd, she thought. She just had the nightmare, the dream, and now he wants to talk about this? Maybe he'll have a better explanation.
"Well, other than the actual rock, diamonds have been known to represent spirits, named Raava and Vaatu."
Gena froze. Could there be any truth to all of this craziness? Why does this boy's grown friend in the car know about all of this? These and more questions popped up in Gena's head simultaneously.
Author's Note: Wow, I just wrote this chapter in a few hours. Up until the last 2 sections of this chapter, it was practically still writing itself. I will start on Chapter 3 tomorrow, but I will not post right away, until I get some sort of feedback. Besides, I want to toy around with making Duncan's blog on my site. Duncan was the guy that was the last Avatar, but never embraced it, and committed himself, and died in a hospital, and then Gena was born. I also want to read more fanfics, to see how others have described bending in their stories. As always, please leave comments and/or constructive criticism. I'm not a perfect writer, but I do want to make this fic the best I can make it.