Avatar Downfall Part 4
Disclaimer: I own it all, but not really.
BOOK TWO: POWER
Fire Sages Capital Temple, Fire Nation
271 A.G.
Generation, redirection. All formulatively simple learnings as the Avatar. For over a century, the Fire Nation royal lineage were the only users of these techniques. But as humanity evolved, now mostly all could use these firebending skills. For the longest time throughout history we used it on each other. I chose to go beyond. I choose to become the first Avatar to fully master the elements of this age even if that meant the risks only became steeper. I must now master combustion.
Jorru: My name is Jorru and I'm the Avatar. I'm here to speak to the chief fire sage.
A fire sage emerged from the shadows.
Chief Fire Sage: Welcome, Avatar Jorru. We've been waiting for you.
Jorru: You were expecting me?
Chief Fire Sage: Of course, for some time we've been able to sense a firebender of your strength.
Jorru: Then you know why I'm here. I need to open the light chakra, so I can learn combustion bending from the true masters.
Chief Fire Sage: Come with me.
He lead me down a hallway with with flaming lamps that flickered as I passed. At the end of the hall stood two enormous doors with dragon carvings, one white and one black with the opposite color on each of their foreheads, encircling each other. Almost as if they wanted to eat each other's tail.
Chief Fire Sage: One door closes, another opens.
The doors opened slowly, showing a small a dark room with a pagoda in the center. Behind the pagoda, the same door except the dragons were reversed.
Chief Fire Sage: The true masters are at the end of the catacombs. Once you have completed your journey, you will receive your Ajna tattoo. Are you ready, young Avatar?
I let the gravity of his words sink before I answered. This wouldn't be an easy task.
Jorru: ...I was born ready.
Chief Fire Sage: Let's begin.
We stepped onto the pagoda and assumed the lotus position.
Chief Fire Sage: The light chakra is the sixth chakra, also called the Ajna chakra, or third eye. It is located at the center of the forehead and deals with insight, but blocked by illusion.
Jorru: What is the illusion?
Chief Fire Sage: The greatest illusions are everything the eyes can see. Laws like gravity, death, and time. To know the truth, you must truly look within the dimensions and parameters of your own self to see what is beyond. Past lives are not limited to only the Avatar spirit. For until reaching nirvana, all things reincarnate because of worldly attachment. Nothing is separate, but true separation, is freedom.
Jorru: Even though things may be different or opposite...Everything is connected. One door closes-
Chief Fire Sage: Another opens. You have now opened your light chakra. You may enter the the Dragon Catacombs. But beware, now that you have opened your third eye, you will experience the most vivid of visions upon entering the catacombs. The first to attempt this technique combusted himself because he could not comprehend his visions, and therefore the power itself. Many of those who have have learned this have come to their own end. It is a double-edged sword.
Jorru: I'll face the catacombs and the masters. I've done this before, remember?
Chief Fire Sage: Very well. May the spirits guide you, Avatar Jorru.
I turned and walked away from the sage to open the massive doors. Before me was a dark cave with a single torch lit, several feet into the entrance. After that, darkness.
I venture into the shadows.
(to be continued)