The First Avatar: Legend of the Star

Book 3: Heaven

Chapter 2: Kirok and Tarrlok

OXOXOXO

14th Day of Autumn 194ACS

OXOXOXO

"Do you know who I am boy?" the man asked.

"Yes I do." Kirok choked out.

"And who am I?"

"Tarrlok."

Even as Kirok said the word, his stomach churned at the meaning behind that name. Tarrlok was notorious as a powerful and demented bloodbender and rumours surrounding him and his disappearance, as well as his actions as a thrall during the Necros Incident had caused him to become an almost mythical monster. Something that horror stories were made of.

And yet, here he was, the ghost of the most deadly bloodbender of the last fifty years. He looked exactly as he had at his moment of death, wearing the same jacket and his hair was styled in the same three ponytails, a hairstyle that fell out of fashion after the councilman's actions became known.

"How? How are you here!? Did Tensa bring you back too!?" Kirok demanded, pointing the ice knife at his opponent.

"No no, it was your little friend, the new Avatar, that has allowed me to come back, don't fear me boy, I am only a spirit and cannot harm anyone or do anything." Tarrlok said, grinning creepily.

"Kyora? Why would Kyo let you come back to the Mortal World?" Kirok asked.

"She didn't do it on purpose…the end of the world is near, the Kami have gathered, Ragnarok is close to reviving and the world is in turmoil. Her misery only serves to further weaken the already thin boundary between worlds and I was able to slip through. I've been following my brother for over a month now, trying to figure out a way to get back at him for this whole mess." Tarrlok said, angrily pointing down at his ghostly form.

"So why are you here? Why talk to me?" Kirok asked, suspicious of the spirit.

"Simple. We can each help the other. You feel it don't you? The bottomless pit of sorrow that your little friend has fallen into. You've said and done everything you could but now, you realise she will never be whole again. She has been destroyed…and you want revenge on those responsible. You want to hurt the people who've hurt your friend."

Kirok once again felt a chill wash over him at the truth in Tarrlok's words but he tried to hide it. "The one responsible is already dead. Killed when Susanoo took control of Kyo."

"Oh but it still wouldn't have happened if there was no war going on…Tekari, Akuan and Tensa are all to blame too, plus she may have taken the death of your friend better if her original parents had been better. Now Azaia lives unpunished while her daughter suffers." Tarrlok said, grinning madly.

"I can help you. I will give you the power you need to destroy the ones who hurt Kyora."

Kirok's fear vanished in an instant and was replaced by dark ambition. "You…you can help me get back at the ones who hurt her? To defeat Tekari, Akuan and that bastard, Tensa?"

"Oh yes, it will be easy. Allow me to teach you the true power of blood and no one can stop you. Once an enemy is captured in your blood grip, only a powerful waterbender could resist and with my help, not even Tensa or Korra could resist your power!" Tarrlok said, offering Kirok his spirit hand.

"Bloodbending? To use something like that is forbidden and evil in all cases but healing!" the boy yelled.

"So? I am not asking you to go off and destroy the world or even hurt an innocent. The only thing I get out of this deal is the promise that you will pass on my legacy. Think of Kyora…think of how much this war has made her suffer. It effectively killed the person she used to be and robbed you of someone you care about…is it so wrong to want the people responsible to suffer?"

The waterbender stared darkly at the former councilman and thought of Kyo…it was true what Tarrlok said, and Kirok couldn't deny it. This war had killed Yanos, ruined a girl's life and greatly hurt a lot of people that Kirok cared about. Forgiveness wasn't an option and if he couldn't fix the problem, he'll make the people who caused it hurt.

"Fine. We have a deal. Make me strong enough to destroy those three bastards and I will pass your legacy onto someone else." Kirok said, a new darkness appearing in his eyes. Tarrlok did not say another word, but simply vanished with a dark, insane grin on his face. He would return when he was ready to train his new pupil, and in the meantime, Kirok would prepare for his vengeance.

Team Avatar convened in the dining hall to eat and, as usual, they kindly acknowledged Kyora before going on with their on conversations. It was their way of saying they still cared, but they were willing to wait for Kyo to come to them. As usual, Kyo sat in silence and ate a tiny amount of her food, even though very little was on her plate to begin with, forcing Jinora to coax her into eating more. At the sight of this, Kye put a hand on Jinora's arm.

"Come now, let the girl feed herself. I know you are still hungry Kyo, so eat. You won't help anyone by wasting away. We were all understanding when you wanted to quit your Avatar Training but you have to be considerate and at least try to take care of yourself." Kye said. Despite the soft spoken way in which she had said the words, the others present thought it sounded far too harsh a thing to say to Kyora…but surprisingly it worked.

Kyo whispered a small apology and actually finished her meal, even having a small bit of cake for dessert, something she hadn't done since before Yanos died. After the meal, Maka took Kyo and Joewe away, leaving Kye to talk with the others.

"I think we've been taking the wrong approach. As bad as it sounds, we may have to be selfish if we want to save this girl." Kye said.

"How does being selfish help? And your stunt was dangerous Kye! What if you made her feel even more guilty? She has enough to deal with!" Virgo yelled.

"Because, we've all spent three years putting her above everything else. Did you already forget that the entire reason she started training again in the first place, back when she was still in earth training, was because she cared more about her friends that herself? We need to start making sure she knows that we need her to at least make some recovery! She needs us to tell her that it hurts us to see her like this." Kye said back, her voice as even as always.

"So we make her take care of herself by telling her that it would help us? Sounds a little underhanded but we have to try it. At this rate, she won't be able to function at all." Korra said. "And I'm worried that if Kyo falls any lower, Maka will fall with her…"

The others could see the look of sadness and vulnerability in Korra's face…now that she was a mother, she had matured greatly but she was also very cautious with her child after Yanos' death, fearing she could be next…heck since she always follows Kyora, the chance of her being killed by an attacker with their eyes on the Avatar was pretty high.

"Then it's settled. We'll get a little tougher on her, for her own good." Kye said. Lyrae and Regulus, both of whom were sixteen now, looked at each other with worried glances.

"What about her Avatar training? Should we try to get her to start it again?" Lyrae asked. Part of the reason Kyo had stopped training was because of the element she would be learning next; Air. Air was his element…

"Not yet. We will get her strength up and after that, we'll try. If she learns to control her bending, she'll be able to control herself if another tragedy happens." Silver suggested.

Kirok looked up at them all and scoffed to himself, annoyed that they were trying to push Kyo forward faster than he thought was needed. He was pessimistic and believed Kyo was too far gone already, but the others still had hope. He wasn't sure if he thought they were foolish for deluding themselves or cruel for pushing Kyo. Shoving the thoughts to a corner of his warped mind, he sensed Tarrlok's presence once again and excused himself from the table. The presence urged him towards a disused courtyard, where he came face to face with the ghost of the bloodbender.

"Nice to see you again my pupil." He greeted creepily. Tarrlok relished in the fear and discomfort he caused the boy.

"Stop talking like that. Why are we meeting here? The guards patrol these areas a lot at night." Kirok said, shrugging off Tarrlok's words.

"It is simply a place where we can meet. You took longer than I thought to eat…you're so slow. We will be training in the Spirit World anyway, so I don't have to worry about you being caught." The ex-councilman stated.

"And how will I do that? Normal people can't go to the Spirit World and even if they could, I heard not even normal Avatar's can bend there." Kirok retorted, looking angry.

"I already have a work around for that, and it was Will and Silver who gave me the inspiration!" Tarrlok laughed. His time in the Spirit World must have been hard for him as he was very clearly mad. "To enter the Spirit World, you need to make a contract with an Anima Aes and to bend there, you must become a spirit."

Kirok's eyes widened. "And how do I do that? Silver and the others clearly said that only Avatars and Immortals can become Elemental Spirits. Not to mention that I have no way of contracting an Anima of any kind!"

"Don't be so stupid! Will created an artificial Anima Aes and an Artificial Water Spirit! Simply steal his plans on how he did it!" the crazed-bloodbender said. "Do it quickly too. I'll be back in three days to see how you've done." And with that, the spirit vanished like mist.

"Crazy fool…" Kirok muttered to himself as he returned to his room. To think his entire plan for revenge would be stopped so soon! He would never be able to sneak into Will's makeshift lab (partly because he had no idea where it was) and even if he could, how would he find the plans, escape with them and then use them? As he racked his brain, looking for answers, a stroke of genius hit him.

'I could convince him that I'm interested in his work and would like to read some of his old research journals! Maybe I'll say that I want to go into work in the Crystal Tech business.' Kirok thought.

As he smiled and laid back on his bed, planning what to say, a ghostly voice disturbed him.

"Turn back now…" it whispered. The voice was foreign, unrecognisable, yet somehow familiar.

"Who's there?" Kirok demanded, creating an ice dagger.

"It is not too late…turn back…" the voice said again.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Kirok screamed.

"Turn back…before you lose everything…"

"I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" Kirok roared, slashing at the air. At all the commotion, Tahno and Zaia burst into the room.

"Kirok! Are you okay? What's going on?" Zaia asked, checking her son for wounds.

"I'm fine…I dosed off and had a nightmare…" Kirok muttered. Tahno gave his son a questioning look before relaxing.

"You've had a tough time of it recently, take a break from your reading for a day or two, and play with the other kids. If Kye's plan works, you may have Kyo back soon!" Tahno said before giving his son a pat on the head and leaving.

Zaia followed after, saying good night to her son. Kirok was not bothered by the voice again, but the memory wouldn't leave him.

"Turn back? I haven't even started yet." He said, before slipping into an uneasy sleep.

OXOXOXO

Avatar Trivia:

Book 3 Chapter 2

OXOXOXO

Tarrlok and Kirok have a kind of Orochimaru and Sasuke feel to them!

Kyo may seem really sad now, but she will grow as a character in this book. Especially during the finale of this book.

Maruka is the most popular character besides Kyora, at least out of people I've introduced in this story.

If my math is right, LOS will still be going by the time season 2 comes out!

Tarrlok is a tricky one, the voice is a new person we'll meet later.