There was a secret.

And, like all secrets and mysteries, I was intent on solving it and uncovering the truth that would otherwise threaten this world. For me, I was directly affected. The fact remained that I was part of this situation and no matter what I planned to do; the outcome would come at a cost. Did I know what it would be? No. Was I determined to find out? Of course I was.

From the rumours and stories that I had learnt over the past week, I knew that there was something that I was still missing. There was a piece of the puzzle that I had yet to find and without it there would be no final picture.

As silly and strange as it sounded: leaves were the key. Plants and their roots were destroying the temple from the inside-out but what made it suspicious was that it had only been happening recently. There was only one explanation and after hours of deep thought and pacing I had figured it out.

Spirit water.

The properties that the mystical water held consisted of healing and repair. The cells of an organism develop quicker than normal and not only would it repair damage; it would also speed up growth. But knowing this only ignited more questions:

Where was the water? How did it get there?

I had to go and check it out for myself. I was the chosen one here and although I was greeted with honours, there still hadn't been any tasks for me to complete. The leaders here had just left me to my own ways to save the temple and provide them with a future. I had little time to worry about all of that so I focused on my main mission.

Getting up and ready, I finished my breakfast and took a stroll to the gardens in an attempt to find clues involving the spirit water source. From what Skye had told me, the damages had been made on the north side of the church but I chose to check the know areas that thrived in plant live before checking elsewhere.

Seeing nothing unusual, I retreated from the gardens and walked in my normal pace to reach the church which was where my suspicion originated from.

"I'm sorry, but you're a little late for the morning service," Louis greeted without looking up as he collected stray bibles from along the pews. When he saw it was me, he stopped and smiled. "Oh! Sorry, Evelyn, are you just here for a visit?"

I smiled and moved towards the altar on the far end. "I came to admire the decor."

The beauty of the place still astounded me on my fifth visit and I took a great liking towards the strained glass that littered the ground. It may have been quite messy, but the reds and blues cast an array of colours over the entire building.

Louis must have notice what I was looking at and sighed. "Sorry about the mess," he knelt down and carefully picked up a piece of fallen glass. "I haven't had chance to sweep and more of the wall seems to crumble down every day."

"Do you know why?" I asked since this could have been a possible lead.

"I think she's just getting old," he patted the solid wall.

Taking curious steps, I went over to where the large hole was and tried to peer through the vines that had filled the gap.

"Another garden?"

"No. From what I've heard it's the oasis that the building was built around. The thing is- no one goes through since you'll just end up lost."

There it was: the lies that were fed to the people which held the truth within them. The legend of the temple had said that the church was built around the totem so that it was guarded from evil spirits. I didn't understand how these people were so oblivious that they didn't put two and two together and realised that this 'oasis' was the key!

I stepped back, "what do you think it's like?"

"The oasis?"

I nodded.

"There are probably lots of plants and trees with plenty of water," he sighed as he returned to collecting books.

"Do you think there could be food?" I asked. I needed a way to convince Louis that I should go through.

"Probably," he shrugged.

"If this has what you say it has then just imagine the supplies that could be found within!"

He seemed unsure and looked worriedly at the mass of leaves covering some of the wall. "It could be dangerous. I can't let the chosen one be harmed."

I mentally scoffed.

"I'll be fine," I smiled which seemed to do little to comfort him.

"I'm not letting you go. You could get hurt!" He tried to reason.

"Do you think I can't do it?" I said in a quiet yet authoritative tone. He seemed quite taken aback at my sudden change and from his sudden flinch I could see that he was fearful. "I have powers that are unimaginable and yet you do not think I am capable?" My voice increased in volume and I took another step back.

Louis shook his head slowly at first and then did so more rapidly as he mumbled 'no' repeatedly.

I calmed myself down and smoothed my dress. "No where were we?" A sweet chime now replacing my voice, "ah yes, I will be venturing through there if you would excuse me."

Waving my arms a bit, I parted the vines with subtle air bending and stepped through to create my own path. Although the way was clear, I immediately regretted wearing this dress since my legs were limited in movement and I couldn't even move my hands around properly without tearing the arms.

This..stupid..dress! I gave up trying to step over branches and just leant down to tear the bottom of it so that I now had a leg slit. Better.

I continued to wade through the variety of green foliage as I attempted to reach wherever the centre was until I was abruptly stopped.

Water was here. But not just any water: spirit water. The trickle flowed as a miniature stream across from where I was standing and I could already tell that I was getting closer. Deciding to stick with what I knew, I changed path and followed the stream. If I was correct, it would lead me straight to the source which, in my case, was a totem.

I battled through more stems and had to leap over tangles of roots to stay on track. The further I moved, the thicker the air became and the taller the plants grew. Soon enough, I was surrounded by trees that were easily the same size as the building behind me and I wondered why no one had been curious enough to take a look for themselves. But I was already about to be proven wrong.

A footprint was lodged into the mud that followed the stream and taking a closer look it appeared to be a woman's shoe. As I looked up again I also saw that the wall of leaves and branches were removed and a path had already been formed here.

Weird. Someone must have already been out here.

I crept quietly along the trail of prints and listened intently for any sounds or sudden noises.

The trail was about half a mile long and I soon found myself back at the same point but now there were even more of the prints.

'They're yours, idiot.'

Very mature, I huffed mentally to Aang. He was right though and the stream must've just been circular and acted like more of a moat around something. But what was it surrounding?

I changed tactics and cut through the leaves that were filling the middle only to find a giant rock.

Reaching out, I touched the dark grey stone and was genuinely shocked when the entire surface glowed white. I pulled away and crouched down in the shrubbery.

Someone was bound to have seen that .I stayed as still as I possibly could and tried to hear if anyone else was nearby. After ten minutes of patiently waiting, I emerged and padded around the rock to try and see if there was anything else of interest here.

Sure enough, the large boulder had actually turned out to be a cave of sorts. From where I stood, the entire inside was pitch black and from the dripping sounds that I could hear inside, I wouldn't be able to firebend.

It didn't really matter what I did to light up the place. Either way, anyone inside would see me and I cared little for ripping my dress. If I was attacked, then I would be fighting back.

I stepped inside and touched the wall which made the walls glow in a gentle white light that wasn't nearly as harsh as the previous times that I had came in contact with spirit water.

Now with the cave alight, I could clearly see that this was what I had been searching for.

Two large puddles were on either side of the cave with waterfalls connecting them to slightly smaller ones above them. In total, there were about five puddles in one trail that curved to meet the other set in the middle of the room. Flowers adorned the ground and the entire base was made out of a carpet of daisies and tulips that thrived with the magical water. But that wasn't even the start.

In the middle of the room was a huge cylinder that touched the ceiling with intricate markings carved all along its sides. It pulsed a bright blue and the miniature moat surrounding it was copying the motions.

I was curious and shuffled closer to the totem that was emitting spiritual energy in vast amounts and I felt my own body being filled with tremendous power. As I stepped closer, I dipped my finger in one of the various puddles and watched as some of the water droplets turned white and flowed down the waterfall and into the next small lake.

To me, it looked like paradise. This much colour and vibrancy reminded me of a home from home and the need to see more just increased the longer I was here.

I hopped over the moat and leaned forward with my arm stretched out. I extended my fingers, ready to touch the surface when I stopped.

Should I do this? Am I ready?

Of course I was. Who else was more capable of doing this than I was? I ignored my conscience and closed the little distance between the stone and my fingertips.

I was blinded.

I thought that when you went blind it would be nothing but darkness.

But white was all that I could see.

Was 'seeing' the word to use? I don't know.

The flash faded and the aftermath left me with white dots clouding my vision as I had to fight back the urge to throw up right there and then. I blinked furiously in an attempt to clear my sight and after falling to my knees I could finally see the grass by my legs becoming focused.

"So you are the chosen one?" A deep rumble was heard from up above and I snapped my head up and leapt up onto my feet.

I prepared a heavy defensive stance and looked around for where the sound had come from.

"There is no need for such precautions," the voice appeared again from right behind me and I swiftly spun around to meet face to face with it. By the time I had managed to turn around, the person behind it was gone.

"Who are you?" I yelled out into thin air as I twisted around again.

"I am Raiden. What is your name, child?" A whoosh of air stroked my back and I whirled around to try and see my company.

"My name has little importance," I snapped irritably at my constant need to turn. "Where are you?"

"My physique also has little importance," he copied my tone as I felt another rush of wind circle near me. "You make an interesting human," he murmured, "though you are not human, are you?"

My breath was caught in my throat and I rose into an offensive stance instead. "What do you know of me?" I demanded.

A deep chuckle resonated around me in all directions and filled the eerie silence. "You carry many names," he stated. " I wish to know which one is yours."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I stuttered as I lowered my arms and crossed them.

"Which is it? Are you Yangchen?" The air grew cold as the voice drifted off before returning a moment later. "No."

I tilted my head in confusion and back up against the totem in fear of whoever was in the cave with me. How did he know so much?

"Are you Roku? Certainly not." Something brushed up against my cheek and I kept my face still as the voice spoke by my side. "I will ask again. Who. Are. You?"

"E-Eveyln. My name is Evelyn." I blurted since that was still my alias name anyway.

"I see. Your name means 'desired.' How interesting…"

"Like I asked earlier: where and who are you?" I pressed myself further onto the totem as I prepared to come face to face with them.

Something rough yet feathery brushed up against the back of my legs and neck and I jumped forward in surprise at the feeling. I slowly turned around to see what it was and gasped in awe at what I saw.

Holding itself up on the totem was a huge serpent creature covered in blue scales with white fur lining across its body. Large claws gripped onto the totem's designs to stay upright and wings sprouted out from the body that easily touched both sides of the cave. I dragged my gaze all the way up to the top of the artefact and was met by two ice blue eyes that studied me curiously.

"You're a dragon," I stated simply in disbelief as though it wasn't real.

"And you are part spirit," he said in the same way. "Am I correct in assuming that you have found what you were looking for?"

I nodded dumbly as I was still looking over his form but soon snapped out of it when I realised that I still had plenty to do here. "Tell me, Raiden, why have the plants suddenly taken over the temple?"

I saw how his large eyes squinted and his long tail stopped swaying behind him. "There have been intruders. They have violated this oasis and disrupted the balance of good and evil in these lands. I have made sure that the dark spirits remain dormant but to do so I have needed to release more energy into the streams. As long as the people are safe then I see no worry."

I nodded in agreement and also saw that the plants weren't actually causing any serious problems. They may have destroyed the church wall and cut off a few pipes, but even with these faults, the temple could still run as usual.

"Who are these intruders?"

"Men I cannot battle. My soul is here yet my body is attached to the Spirit World. They are unable to see me and so I have little effect on them. You, however, are the opposite."

New voices could be heard by the cave's mouth and I rushed behind the totem to hide and took my hand off of any surface to make the white glow dim down so that it was dark again.

"-it's just because it's the last batch," a woman said to whoever was with her as the room suddenly gained a faint red glow.

So the girl is a firebender. I took note.

"But I don't see why they need this many of us to do it," the man beside her answered.

I couldn't see either of them and it gave me a horrible disadvantage. Because of this, I switched to earthbending and pressed my hand down to the grass by my feet. I could only sense the two of them and they each had their arms out in front of them as though they were holding something that I couldn't see.

"Just get on with it!" The woman finally snapped at him. I tried to sense them again and found that they had moved to one of the puddles to my right. I shuffled around the totem so that I would be out of their line of sight and continued to silently wait for them to go.

I heard splashes and dripping from where the people stood so I presumed that they must have been collecting the water for some reason. Whatever it was, one of them had said that it was one batch out of many which meant that they had been here earlier today.

"Can't you bend it quicker? I want to go home sometime today," the lady scolded the man who I now knew to be a waterbender.

"Well it's not like you or Ray are doing anything useful!"

Ray? But I only sensed two people… I stiffened when I realised that there was a third person somewhere nearby and I still had no clue where he was.

"Useful! Well try doing this without me then!" The boy groaned but managed to continue his job through her tantrum. "Ray, I'm outta here, you coming?" She sighed.

The only source of light went out and I a loud splash of water from where the pair of benders stood.

Ray? Where had I heard that name before?

I didn't hear anything from the third person in response to her question so I presumed that the man must've just signalled a yes or no to her instead.

"Okay, well just make sure that bird-brain over there doesn't drop any of the goods on your way back to base."

I sighed quietly in relief and tried to peer around the corner to find the third person now that I knew that there were only two people and one of them was occupied.

I shuffled my feet and stayed pressed to the rock as I leered around the cylinder totem to try and see who or what was happening on the other side.

I didn't get far though before my foot slipped and touched the moat surrounding the totem. The white glow started off small until it managed to spread down the streams and into the puddles that the boy was collecting from, causing him to look up abruptly.

"Ray? Ray!" He hushed, "Someone's here."

Footsteps approached and I shuffled back over so that he wouldn't be able to see me. I continued to circle around the obstacle until something hard was bumped into my side.

"There you are," a monstrous man bellowed as he tightened his arms around me and crushed my arms to my body. He would easily have beaten Shóu in size and yet I did little to give up.

Kicking and wriggling around, I tried to pry myself away but he kept a strong hold on me."Let go of me!"

The other man came over with a water whip armed and a nervous stare. Out of the two he was the weaker and I could use that to my advantage.

"Please! I am just lost!" I pleaded to the smaller man in an attempt to sway his emotions.

"No! Don't try and use that 'damsel in distress' crap on me!" He yelled.

"Fine," I relaxed in the man's grip and flattened my palms out to lift up two boulders on either side of the cave. Before they could react, I threw one at my capture's head which made him let go of me instantly and I used the other to crush the other man's right hand.

The younger man let out an ungodly screech at the pain in his hand and I dashed over to where the totem stood strong. Raiden materialised beside me in a slightly smaller form and nodded his huge head at me.

"Destroy them."


New characters have appeared!

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