Sorry it's late :(
Hunter-Portishead
I walked through a thick tropical jungle. The sounds of strange creatures invaded my ears as the moonlight peeked through the viney treetops.
I had no clue where I was going but it felt as if some unknown force was pulling me forward.
I walked for hours, or it could have been minutes, I had no way of knowing, until the line of skyscraping trees abruptly halted and a shore of white sand appeared. The sound of waves crashing joined the symphony of jungle creatures.
I knew where I was, the spirit world. I've only been there once before.
I was ten years old, and lonely. I walked around the wilderness of the swamp everyday, it soothed me from my gloomy thoughts. One day in particular, I found myself at the base of a giant tree, taller than I had ever seen in my life before. This tree, I would find out later, was the legendary heart of the swamp. Grandmother told me stories about it before, legends and myths I thought. It never crossed my mind that I would ever stumble upon the tree.
The tree, being so big, was a challenge for me, see, I was a very experienced tree climber and this hidden treasure was my ultimate find.
Everyday after that, I went to the tree and climbed a little higher, until one blindingly hot day near the end of August, when I climbed all the way to the top. It took me about five hours and countless rests to achieve it but I did, and it was and will be the most amazing thing I will ever see.
The endless green ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky, a watercolor masterpiece of orange and pink, complimented the green hues of the swamp.
The most beautiful thing, however, was not the picturesque view. It was the feeling I gained. It felt like the end of an era for me, my lonely days were now over, I could finally move on from the death of my father and live my live. It felt like the loss of my naivety of the world, I know knew how beautiful it could be and all I ever wanted to do was see more of it.
I stared out from the hearty branch I stood upon for an eternity, until the sun fell beyond the horizon and I realized that I would have to climb down.
I made the painstaking trek down the tree. I was doing fine until I found a rather difficult step, the branch below was about a foot beyond my reach. The only way I would be able to get to it was if I let myself fall and the trust myself to catch it in time. Me, of coarse, being fearless went ahead and fell, even though I probably could have waited for someone to come out and find me. I made a grave mistake, I let myself fall and caught the branch at the last second with one hand. I would have been able to pull myself up, but by doing this I dislocated my wrist.
Struck by the pain in my wrist, my reflexes made me let go of the branch and I fell to my awaiting death.
I fell and fell and fell until I landed softly on a bed of sand. I whipped my head around and yelped, I was far from my swamp, in a foreign land, on a beautiful white sand beach overlooking a thick jungle.
"Hana, I see you have finally arrived."
I turned around and gasped, a giant mass of vines and rocks towered over me. It spoke to me. But how? Vines cannot speak.
"Don't be frightened, Hana, I know my appearance must be a shock but I am probably the most gentle spirit you will ever meet." it boomed.
As it spoke again, I could make out his face and his arms, the size of tree trunks. Then it hit me, he said spirit. I was in the spirit world!
"Umm, I am in the spirit world, yes?" I asked tentatively.
"You are correct young one." The spirit replied.
"So if you are a spirit, what are you the spirit of?" I wondered.
"Well I figured my appearance should have revealed that." he chuckled, "I am the spirit of the swamp, the guardian of the trees. My name is Hiroki. I have carried you over to the spirit world, and I have saved your life."
"But why? I am just a village girl, there's no reason for you to go out of your way for me." I stated narrowing my eyes, something felt suspicious.
"You are correct again, clever girl. I would not go out of my way to save a lowly villager, I am thousands of years old and I have better things to do. However, you are certainly not just a village girl." Hiroki declared with a smirk.
"What do you mean? I think I know who I am." I placed my hands on my hips and tilted my head.
The swamp spirit chuckled once more. "At the moment, you are a simple village girl, but in the future you are much more than that. You have a, well, lets just say eventful destiny."
"What? What's my destiny?"
"Now I can't tell you or you might try and change the future which would cause chaos."
"Ugh then why would you tell me anything in the first place. Now I'm curious." I huffed.
"I have brought you here for a reason child, and that is to tell you this: On the 20th sunrise you will realize your destiny and on the 50th sunset you will meet your destiny. That is all I will tell you as of now. W will meet again soon Hana."
As he said his last words I awoke at the base of the tree, unharmed and healed. I walked back to the village and I never told anyone about my trip to the spirit world.
A familiar chuckle broke my reminiscing and I turned around and grinned.
"Hello, again Hiroki. What mind numbing riddle do you have for me this time?" I asked, making the spirit chuckle more.
"Well, Hana, only advice this time."
"Alright then, get on with it."
"Your time is coming soon, and you must be wary. You are the key to saving the world Hana."
I gasped, I figured that my "destiny" would be something important, I mean why else would a spirit take me to the spirit world, but I had no idea it would be that important.
"The world, but that's like, the avatar's duty right? Why me?"
"You are very special Hana, see you are not just human, you have spirit blood running through your veins. See you are not who you think you are-"
"Wait, wait. What? Are you saying that I'm a spirit?" I interrupted.
"No, you are not a spirit, but your father was."
"WHAT? No how? How do I know this isn't just a big load of B.S." I questioned. My father a spirit? Hell no.
"If you would would be patient and listen to me, you would understand. All will be clear once I am done speaking."
"fine" I grumbled.
"When your father was a small boy, he was gravely injured in an animal attack. Being the shaman's son, she was able to call upon the spirits to help restore health to him. I did, on one condition, when the time came, your father must sacrifice himself to protect the swamp. Before your father died, an unknown power was harming the swamp and his death helped protect it and he turned into a spirit, he is the guardian of the swamp. He uses his powers to restore life to the swamp. Now when the time came, for your father to sacrifice himself, he requested one thing, for half of his powers to be bestowed upon one of his children."
"Me." I stated.
"Yes, I chose to bestow the powers on you."
"Why? Why me?"
"You are smart and you are powerful. Do not underestimate yourself Hana."
"So I'm like half spirit?"
"Yes"
"You said I have half of my fathers powers right? So why haven't I been able to use them?"
"I have yet to awaken them, this however, is why I have brought you here."
"To awaken my powers, yeah." I said with a breathy laugh, all this information was making my brain hurt. It was hard to believe this crazy story, but I really had no other choice. "So what kind of powers will I have?"
"Well, your natural waterbending abilities will become much stronger, you will be able to enter the spirit world as you please, and you will be able bring people to the spirit world."
"So thats why Grandmother wanted me to come. To bring Avatar Korra to the-Wait. She must have known about me then!"
"Well naturally Hana, she called upon the spirits in the first place."
"Oh yeah." I looked down feeling rather ridiculous that I hadn't pieced it together.
The sun was now rising over the horizon. The world seemed much more mysterious now that the truth had come out. If I, a simple village girl, was half spiritthen what else was out there?
"It is time for you to awaken. I have specific instructions for you. You must follow them exactly. It is at the utmost importance that you do what I say. Understand?" Hiroki demanded.
"Yes. I will do whatever you say." I responded
"Good girl, alright, as soon as you wake you must speak with the inhabitants of the island. Tell them everything, make them understand who you are and what you must do, then you will live on Air Temple Island, make friends and teach the Avatar about the spirit world. Many enemies will present themselves. Most will be spirits, so beware. Now this," His tree-like hand stretched out revealing an emerald green pendant on a silver chain, "This will allow you to control your powers. Keep it on at all times. If you are not wearing it you will be powerless. That is all you need to know."
I reached out and grasped the beautiful jewel and strapped it around my neck
"Alright, will do. Umm, may I ask one more question?" Something had been boggling my mind ever since the beginning of Hiroki's tale.
"Yes child."
"If my father is a spirit, and we are in the spirit world. Why didn't he tell me all of these things?" I asked
"You remember, I said that your father gave you half of his spirit abilities, yes?"
"Yeah."
"What are your abilities child?" Hiroki's deep voice boomed.
"You said I would have strong waterbending abilities, be able to travel into the spirit world and bring people with me...wait that can't mean that my father can't..." I trailed off
"Enter the spirit world, and yes it does mean that." Hiroki finished for me.
"Then why wouldn't he just talk to me in the real world?"
"What is the center of the swamp, the heart, the place of ultimate spirituality in the swamp?"
"T-The tree? You turned my dad into a tree!?" I raged
"No he didn't turn into the tree, he gave the tree his spirit, now the tree has his essence."
"Oh spirits, I can't believe this." I breathed
"Hana it is time. You must leave now." Hiroki declared.
I snapped back into reality, this is really happening, I had to remind myself. I have a duty to the world now, to teach the Avatar the ways of the spirits.
"Okay. I'm ready." I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.
"Remember Hana, you are the key." A voice in my head whispered and my eyes drifted open.
Whoa, what the hell did I just write? Okay lots of questions answered in this chapter. Hiroki means tree in Japanese too :) I'm going on a trip this week, so there will be a number of plane rides and car trips so expect some more updates.
Next chapter will include meeting everyone and a trip around the city hosted by a certain earthbender. ;)
Until next update - October