Chapter 8: The Spirit World
"Yori?"
Yori didn't recognize the voice, but it comforted her and, somehow, she felt as though she had heard it before.
"Yori, its good to finally see you."
Yori became confused and looked around but only saw black,
"Who are you? Why cant I see anything? Where am I?"
She felt around her, but , couldn't feel anything.
"It would help you see if you opened your eyes…"
She felt like jumping off the cliffs of the northern tribe she was so embarrassed, but when she opened her eyes, she noticed she was not in the northern tribe, but instead she was surrounded by a giant black earth with the red sky of the setting sun above her.
"I am avatar Aang, your previous life…This place that you are in, is the land of the burning earth. It was created in the last stretches of the war against the fire nation. When sozin's comet passed, their armies barraged the earth with fire decemation everything in their path, the result, is this place…"
Yori looked around her and almost started crying at what she was seeing, she noticed then that her body was completely blue, and she was floating in mid air, she screamed loudly and felt as though she was going to fall, but she didn't.
"Yori, you are in the spirit world, or at least, the part of it that lies on an alternate level of reality that the other people of this world live in. I brought you to this place because there is something you need to see…Do you see far of in the distance that large building?"
She peered out on the giant black plain, until she spotted it, next thing she knew they were dragged straight to the spot, there was a young boy about 18 bending electricity in front of him, the lightning he created went straight through Yori as she screamed even louder than before.
"Its alright, they cant see, or touch you while we are like this…"
"Who is that down there, how is it possible to bend lightning like that?"
Yori looked at the elder avatar who stared down at the boy and another old woman near him.
"That is Zai, and his mother Azula is the one over there. Powerful firebenders are tought to bend lightning and few can do it. It is extremely deadly and requires perfection to execute currectly…"
He continued staring down and looked at the old woman he called Azula,
"She is particularly evil…im sure she has raised her son the same way, these people, they are after you, they wish to restart the war and take down the avatar and the other nations. You must do your best to avoid them, they are much to powerful for you to face right now…"
Yori looked on in awe as the boy continued shooting lightning in every which way,
"Ill try, but, I don't know…these people look like they mean buissiness…where am I suppose to go?"
The old man remained as serious as he was when they started and explained everything,
"To Ba Sing Se, the city of great walls and powerful benders…The earth king is sure to take you in and there you will train in earthbending until you must learn fire, however, it seems you already have a teacher…"
Yori came to a realization as the avatar spoke,
"No way!! How could I be so stupid!! That's why the master always made me spend so much time with him, that's why he told me all that stuff about firebending!! I feel so stupid!!"
she smacked her head and stared at the ground,
"Even an avatar feels stupid once in a while…I know that from my own experience…If you ever need me again, you can always contact me…You will find a way…"
Yori tried to grab at the avatars shoulder but missed desperately,
"Avatar Aang, from all the stories I heard, you were a fun loving, crazy, funny, ecstatic little guy, why are you so much different than I have heard?"
The avatar stopped in his tracks and looked back at Yori,
"There comes a time, when everyone needs to grow up…"
Yori was disappointed by his answer and was almost fearful of when this time would come for her.
The avatar faded off into the distance and Yori was left alone in the land of the burning earth.
"Geez, isn't the avatar suppose to help people? And he just left me heeaaaaahhh!!"
Her body turned to a streak of blue light and flew towards the northern tribe, she smashed into her body which lay on a small bed in a smaller room with a book shelf and Katara sitting down reading a book. Ryou was sitting next to the bed hold ing the avatars hand as she hit her body violently, her eyes glowed and she took a deep breath,
"Yori!! Your okay!!"
He lifted her up and hugged her as he face filled red with blood as he squeezed her hard, her head pointed towards Katara who smiled and put down the book she was reading, "The legend of the spirit stones", she wondered what it was about as the master also came close and hugged Yori.
"Gaaahh!! You guys are chocking me!!"
They both let go and Katara smiled in relief,
"After you launched that fireball, the priests accepted the fact that you were the avatar, they ran off to the temple however and are hiding in shame, they'll never admit they were wrong again, typical."
Yori laughed as Ryou embraced her again and let go quickly,
"Im just..just really glad your okay, that kid was taken care of, youll never have to worry about him again!"
Yori smiled and pretty much ignored Ryou's completely un-normal babbling, as she stared at Katara,
"Master, I have some questions for you.."
She left the room with Katara and Ryou was left alone as he continued talking on to some invisible person in the room.
"The…the spirit world, I think, I think I was there just now when I fainted…"
"Its very likely you were in the spirit world, Aang first entered the spirit world completely by accident when he found a statue of a spirit in the wilderness…Avatar Roku warned him about Sozins Comet that day and was able to contact Avatar Roku, and enter the spirit world ever since it happened."
Yori looked confused,
"Avtar Roku, he was the avatar before Aang then? I think I saw him there, Aang I mean, he told me about this Azula lady, and her son…"
Katara looked surprised and shook Yori,
"Where are they? Azula has a son?"
Yori got extremely scared as the master went crazy right in front of her,
"I, I, I think so, I saw him, and uh, he was lightning bending or something, they were, they were in a giant building, that was…was in the middle of a bunch of ashes, the burning earth or something like that.."
The master ran back to the room and Yori followed,
"Ryou, we must be on our way, we need to get to Ba Sing Se quickly and we must make sure not to travel by ground for very long. The priests set up a large ship and supplies for our journey to Ba Sing Se, they wont even know we are gone, they want us out of here anyways…come on then."
She rushed the kids out of the room and Ryou smiled very creepily at Yori, so much that she jumped backwards when she saw him, They ran on to the docks and reached that old man again that was waiting when they came.
"Sokka, Aang contacted Yori and warned her about Azula and told her she had a son, I fear we have less time than we thought…You need to go to Firelord Zuko and warn him about this, perhaps he can help us…"
Katara hurried onto the ship and the man was obviously shaken just as much as Yori and Ryou were,
"Ill be sure to do that, you know where to find SUki right? She should still be in the city helping out…Go straight to the city, don't take any detours, we don't wanna play around with this…Be careful."
The ship suddenly got moving and they reached the outer wall before to long, They saw the man off in the distance getting onto a ship with a few more men as the walls opened up in front of them and the ship sailed off into the sea.
"We JUST got there, why did we have to leave so soon?! I wanted to spend more time there, what was the point in going there if we weren't even going to be there for very long!! NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE!! EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO FAST!! STOOOPP!! I CANT HANDLE THIS ANYMORE!!"
Ryou stepped over to Yori who was now crumpled up on the floor crying, he put an arm around her and shushed her,
"Im sure all of this is for good reason, their just trying to protect us…don't worry about it, you should go down below deck and rest, ill talk to the master…"
Yori stopped her crying and slowly went down below deck and Ryou stood up and walked towards Katara.
"You know, she cant take much more of this, I wouldn't be able to..neither would you…we need to slow things down, everything is happening much to fast for her to handle, she JUST found out she's the avatar and we throw all of this stuff on her? We really need to slow things down for her.."
Katara looked up at Ryou,
"You know, they say theres a time when everyone needs to grow up…but you need a chance to be a kid, I appreciate your input but all of this is necessary. Azula is one of, if not the most dangerous person in the world, she is ruthless, and will stop at nothing to kill anyone in her path. She can track us down without even lifting a finger or striaininga muscle in her brain at all, we cant remain in anyone place for long, we cannot risk Yori's life, she may not know it, but her life as the avatar…may just be one of the most important ever…Ending a war is one thing, preventing a war is completely different…"
………………………………
"AZULA!! The avatar and her group have left the northern tribe, they are headed for Ba Sing Se…"
A runner scrambled into the room where Azula sat high on an imaginary throne, Zai at her side. Another runner came flying through the door,
"The earth and water benders are at the very edge of the region, they are moving very slowly however and just set up camp."
Azula smiled and Zai looked up at her,
"Thank you both very much, go on ahead and moniter both of their movements, you, tell me when they have reached Ba Sing Se, and you, tell me when the group of benders reaches the inner area of the burning lands. GO!!"
They ran off outside and mounted giant lizards that ran off quickly in opposite directions.
"Zai, go to Ba Sing Se, get the earth kingdom clothes out of your room and leave with one of the ostrich horses, they'll never know who you are.."
"Yes master, be careful"
She smiled as Zai ran off to his room and secretly wished in her mind for his safety as well.
