Jinora awoke with a pounding between her ears, as her eyes opened to reveal blurred images that slowly filtered into focus. When her vision cleared, she realized she was lying in bed, in a small Water Tribe hut. Initial instinct pushed her to sit upright, but a sharp pain in her ribs dropped her flat against the mattress. With a deep breath, she fought the pain and rolled over onto her front, using her elbows to push herself up. One of her arms gave out. She hit the mattress and rolled off the side of the bed, promptly crumpling to the floor below. Pain seared through her body. She cringed, body seizing, as the lancing flares gradually subsided. Not a great way to wake up.

The door to the room swung open. Jinora's mind churned, muddled and slow, struggling to recognize the person who entered the room and came to help her up. What was his name again? Hari? Yes, that was it. The young man gently eased her upright and assisted her back into bed, taking care to tuck her beneath the blankets.

"Easy, I got you," Hari said. "You still need to recover from your injuries, so please rest."

"Right, thank you," Jinora replied, with a tired sigh. She set her head back against the pillow and stared straight up at the ceiling. Her thoughts drifted into the last moments she remembered before passing out. Memories of the attack, of her friends falling to Sen. A shudder tingled down her spine, and a sickness bubbled in her gut. "What happened? How did we get away?"

"Well, that was through a combined effort between myself and…" Hari glanced towards the open door, where another figure stood watching them. "Her."

The woman was tall, her head nearly touching the ceiling. Jinora recognized this giant of a woman immediately. A former enemy now turned ally, but still as dangerous as ever. "P'Li?"

"I gave us some cover, kept them at bay long enough for Hari here to get us away with his sand," P'Li said. "Managed to grab you on the way by, since you were the only other one that freak hadn't given the kiss of death to yet."

Jinora's throat turned numb. "The others… Did anyone else get away? Are they alright?"

P'Li shook her head. "I'm afraid not. After he was done with us, Sen plowed straight through the entire city."

"Everyone. Men, women, children, the entire population." Hari's eyes darkened, and glazed over. "Sen got to them all."

"When he was done, he left," P'Li added. "We did manage to move everyone's bodies out of the cold, for those who were caught outside, but without any healers…"

Jinora didn't need P'Li to finish the sentence. She knew. Healers were the ones keeping the victims alive, extending the time their empty bodies could survive without a spirit. Now that the healers were gone too, there was no way to help them. With a distraught shudder, she lowered her gaze, staring down at the sheets. "This can't be happening. Everything is falling apart and we can't stop it."

"We still might," Hari said, in a desperate attempt to sound optimistic. "There's still Korra and the others. I'm sure they've found a way to help by now."

Jinora went quiet, her thoughts drifting back to the fight. Her mind focused on the new puppets Sen had called back to serve him. That shouldn't have been possible, even for him, and yet…

Perhaps they were already doomed.

"I have to find her," she said. "I have to find Korra."

Hari raised an eyebrow. "How? You're in no shape to be walking around, let alone traveling."

"I'm a lot tougher than I look, believe me. Besides, I don't even have to leave my bed. If I focus on Korra's energy and meditate, I should be able to find her by projecting my spirit, no matter where she is." Jinora inhaled a deep breath and pressed her fists together, eyes closed. Depending on how far away Korra was, this could take a while, but she had to focus regardless. She had to know what was going on. She had to know if Korra and the others had found something.

"Be careful," Hari said, holding a hand to her shoulder.

"I'll be fine," she insisted. With another deep breath, she let her mind slip away. "Please, Korra, let me find you."


Wan Shi Tong led the way into the deepest depths of the Spirit Library. Thick layers of dust caked the shelves, as though they hadn't seen any use in centuries. There were fewer writings here than in the rest of the library. Unlike the previous library wings, which had been packed full of various tomes and scrolls, bookcases fit to bursting with knowledge, here only a few sparse scrolls scattered the shelves. This particular wing had been sealed when they first arrived, by an ancient barrier with spiritual markings. Only when Wan Shi Tong had touched the face of the door did it open.

"No one has entered this area of my library in thousands of years," the great owl said. "It contains some of the rarest and most dangerous sources of knowledge the world has ever known, and as such I made sure that not a soul could access it. Not even my knowledge seekers have been inside."

"And you're saying that what we need to stop Sen is in there?" Korra asked.

"I'm saying that if such knowledge exists, this is where it will be."

Korra sighed, glancing around the musty old bookshelves. "Better than nothing."

Wan Shi Tong took a few steps forward and reached out with one of his wings, taking one scroll after another to examine them. "Hmm, let's see here. No. No. That won't do. No." He tossed each of the scrolls to the side as he read them. "Ha, as if I'd ever let anyone read that. No. That won't help. Hmm, I don't think so. No. No." After several minutes, he stopped at one scroll in particular, scanning the writing with his eyes. "Ah, here we go." He turned to Korra and passed the scroll to her. "This should help."

Korra squinted at the scroll, studying the words and pictures drawn across it. The images were of a person in multiple different stances, a series of movements. "This is a bending form?"

"Not just one bending form," Kuvira said, as she urged her wife to further unroll the scroll. "Look, there's one for each element."

Kuvira was right. There were four different forms depicted in this scroll, and each seemed to be one of the four elements. Korra looked closely at it, narrowing her eyes. "What does this mean, exactly?"

"Thousands of years ago, you humans as a people were far more enlightened," Wan Shi Tong explained. "Your bending was not just a tool to entertain the masses in an arena. It was a way of life, a part of your being."

"It still is," Korra shot back, raising a glare at the owl. "We may have advanced as a society, but bending is every bit a part of us now as it always has been. Some people might have forgotten that, but not all of us."

Wan Shi Tong returned the glare. "Your rebuttal is riveting, but are you going to let me finish?"

"Right, sorry," she muttered, with a wave of her hand. "Go ahead."

"Anyway, even though the physical and spiritual worlds had been separated for thousands of years by this time, the Avatars, over those centuries, kept alive the spiritual focus of bending. They passed it on to others, generation to generation, never wishing the spiritual arts to be forgotten. You Avatars were the bridge between worlds, after all. However, over time, these practices were eventually forgotten. The records of that time, I keep here."

Katara stared intently at the scroll. "What practices are they, exactly?"

"They are a way for control," said the great owl. "A way to harness and manipulate the very essence of a spirit."

"Essences?" Korra's brow lifted. "Just like Sen."

Wan Shi Tong nodded. "Exactly. I believe these forms may be the key to stopping him. One of them, you should recognize already."

"Now that you mention it…" Korra focused on the waterbending form. The bender drawn on the scroll stood in a firm stance with his arms spread out, and each new picture in the sequence showed his arms rotating in a distinct pattern. "That looks just like spiritbending."

"Yes, spiritbending, the spiritual form of waterbending meant to guide spirits back to the Spirit World. Or destroy them. The form in that scroll is similar to this, but still very much unique." Wan Shi Tong began collecting the scrolls he had tossed aside, so he could replace them back on the shelves. "Each of these four different styles, one for each element, accomplishes similar things in different ways, able to purify or annihilate a spiritual essence as the user desires. These ancient methods were once commonplace, a way for humans to match themselves against the powerful spirits that occasionally slipped through between worlds, without the Avatar's help. Now, they are little more than records on parchment."

"So, you're saying that any of these styles should work against Sen?" Korra asked, with a raised eyebrow. "I can just spiritbend him, and he'll lose his essence and free the souls of his victims?"

The owl scoffed. "If only it were that easy. No, I'm afraid that for someone of Sen's power, a single one of these forms would be insufficient. All four together, though? That, I believe, may have a chance."

Korra's gaze drifted downward again. "All four together…"

"Well, you're a waterbender, and I'm an earthbender," Kuvira said, turning a glance to her wife. "And we have a firebender. We'd just need an airbender."

"And there are more of them now than there's been in a long time," Katara added.

"Yes, then you should be fine," Wan Shi Tong said. "Just be sure to study well before you attempt to utilize these methods, for they are not easy to grasp. And remember, this is not something that any of you can do alone. It must be done together, and even then I am uncertain if it will be enough."

Korra frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Sen is one of the oldest and strongest spirits to have ever existed, and he only grows more powerful with each essence he consumes. You may be too late for even this to stop him."

"Then we'd better hurry." Korra rolled up the scroll and slipped it underneath her shirt. Turning to Wan Shi Tong, she placed her hands together and gave a respectful bow. "Thank you for your help."

"Yes, well, I cannot have Sen coming here to destroy this world, now can I?" the owl muttered. "Not me, and not my library. Knowledge must be protected at all costs."

Korra managed a half smirk at his response. "Right. Still, thanks."

"Is there anything else you require before you leave? Or can I be rid of you humans now?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Korra thought a moment, holding a hand to her chin. "Sen brought back some of our friends in new bodies and forced them to serve him. When I was still bonded with Raava, I could use her energy to free them from his control, but now… Well, is there any other way to sever his connection with them?"

"Hmm…" Wan Shi Tong stared at the former Avatar a long while, as if debating whether or not to help further. Eventually, he grabbed one of the scrolls he had placed back on the shelf and passed it to her. "Here. I think this may be what you're looking for."

Korra unrolled the scroll and gave it a quick look. Her eyes immediately lit up. "This is perfect! Thank you!"

"Yes, well, you have what you need now, so I expect you'll be leaving. Goodbye, Avatar." Wan Shi Tong flipped up one of his wings in a partial wave, and shuffled out of the room. Korra, Kuvira, and Katara followed. When they were safely outside, he sealed the door once again and left them to find their own way out.

When the library exit came into view, Korra made sure both scrolls were secure and waved the other two along. "Come on, we have to get this information back to the physical world as soon as possible."

As she turned to leave, an image began to flicker in thin air directly in front of her. She blinked at it, taking a sudden step backwards and bringing her arms up to defend herself. As the image took a more solid shape, she relaxed and instead stared with confusion. "Jinora?"

"Korra! Thank goodness I found you!" The young airbender's hovering spirit form paused a moment, looking around in curiosity at the library. "Are you in Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library?"

"Yeah," Korra said. "Things in Forgetful Valley didn't go as planned, so we came here for information to help us stop Sen. But why are you here? Is everything alright?"

Jinora returned a dire look. "No, everything is not alright. Everything is falling apart! Sen returned to the South Pole while you were away and he—Korra, everyone's gone. He took their essences and they're just gone."

"What?" A cold jolt surged through Korra's chest. Sen had already decided to act, and they were running out of time.

"Everyone?" Katara uttered, with raised eyebrows. "You don't mean…"

Jinora's demeanor sank even further, barely able to look Katara in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Gran-gran."

Katara took a shaky step backwards, legs buckling. "No…"

"Are you okay?" Kuvira asked, focusing on Jinora.

"I'm fine. A little banged up, but I was able to get away with Hari and P'Li. We're the only three left here, and I think Sen moved on to find more victims." Jinora paused, and held her arms around herself, a sinking look of distress creeping across her face. "Korra, I'm scared. So many people, and we're running out of time."

"We have to move," Korra said, breaking into a run. "Now!"

"Korra, wait! There's one more thing. Sen, he brought—don't know how—seem okay but—" Jinora's words cut in and out, as did she herself. In the middle of her statement, her spirit began to flicker, fading and reappearing, so much that they couldn't understand the last of what she said. Within seconds, she vanished completely and did not return.

Kuvira blinked at the spot where Jinora had been. "What just happened?"

"Her connection to the Spirit World must have been cut off," Korra said, with a lingering hesitance in her tone.

Katara shot a worried look. "But why? That shouldn't just happen."

"I don't know, but we can't sit around wondering." Korra turned away and broke into a dead sprint. "We have to move, now. We got what we came for: a way to defeat Sen. Now we have to get back to the physical world, find him, and stop him. Let's go!"


Jinora screamed when she came out of her meditation, in a way she never had before. Normally, coming out of meditation was simple and calm, and under her own willpower. This time had been different. Something or someone had physically yanked her away, as though a wild animal reaching out to grapple her. Her heart fluttered and pulsed, shooting ice through her veins with each rapid beat. She sat upright in bed, her chest heaving with deep, frantic breaths, while a cold sweat poured down her face.

"Are you alright?" Hari asked, coming to her side. "What happened?"

P'Li stepped closer with a more pointed question. "Did you find the Avatar?"

"Yes," Jinora uttered, as she struggled to regain her breath. "She was in the Spirit World looking for help. I told her everything, but something strange happened."

"What do you mean?" Hari said.

"My connection to the Spirit World broke. It was like I was forced out." She swallowed, forcing the knot in her throat back down into her gut. "Almost like it didn't want my spirit there."

P'Li frowned. "And that doesn't usually happen?"

Jinora shook her head. "No, it's never happened before. I have no idea why, but I think something about the Spirit World is changing. It must have something to do with Sen's return."

"Well, we can't just sit around here wondering about it," P'Li said, as she made her way towards the door. "We have to move."

"Move where?" Jinora asked.

"There's no one left here, and Sen is on his way to find more victims. We need to warn people. Or something, I don't know."

Hari looked to the combustionbender with an insistent stare. "Jinora should be resting right now, not traveling."

P'Li shot a glare back over her shoulder. "She can rest on the way."

"I can't just leave," Jinora said, with a quick shake of her head. "My family is here. My friends. They're all—"

"As good as dead, if you don't do something about it," P'Li countered. The giant of a woman took a step back towards the bed, looming at her full height as she stared down at Jinora. "We can't help them here, you know that. The only way to save them is by stopping Sen, and to do that we need to act. So, are you going to sit there, or are you going to do something about it?"

Jinora relented with a long sigh. Cutting straight to the heart of the matter, it seemed. P'Li was right. No getting around that. Fighting through her pain, she forced herself out of bed. "Come on, there should be an airship available at the airfield."


Korra led the way back to the spirit portal. The way back wasn't a long one, but still she worried. Sen had already begun to make his move, and time in the Spirit World was sometimes different than time in the material world. No telling how long it had really been since they came here, especially without some kind of clock to tell them. What felt like only a couple of hours might actually be far more. Please, let there be enough time left. They still needed to meet up with Azula or another firebender and find an airbender before confronting Sen.

As they made their way through the Spirit World, Korra's senses flared. She focused on their surroundings, watching closely with increasing caution. She'd been through this forest several times before and remembered exactly how it looked. Or how it was supposed to look. Things were changing. The trail ahead of her seemed to lengthen, the exit growing farther away. Trees clustered closer together, branches extending to greet each other and darken the world below. What little sky Korra could see now began to swirl with strengthening shadow, as though storm clouds had rolled in overhead. She had known the Spirit World to react this way before, but only in response to her own extreme emotions. As things were right now, these changes didn't make sense.

"Hold on," Korra said, slowing herself to a stop. She glanced back the way they had come, and then forward again. Each time she looked, their destination seemed farther and farther away. "Something's not right."

Kuvira glared back over her shoulder. Somewhere in the distance, a shrill, spiritual shriek rang out and echoed through the trees. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Korra replied, with a shake of her head. "It's like the entire Spirit World is changing somehow. I can feel it. It feels… not right."

"Almost like some kind of disturbance is changing the balance of things?"

She managed a simple nod, as the revelation hit her. "Sen. He must be growing stronger, and causing some kind of spiritual distortion in this world."

Kuvira's brow lifted. "Is that even possible? Just how powerful is he?"

"Uhh, guys?" Katara called out to them, focusing on the trees above. Dozens of spirits had gathered in the sky, swirling overhead. Not the normal, docile spirits that normally inhabited this forest. They had darkened, looking more like vile, twisted aberrations. Several began to lower into the branches of the trees, their attention shifting down towards the three travelers below. "I think they see us."

Korra glared at the dark spirits above them. She hadn't seen any spirits like this since Harmonic Convergence, when Vaatu's presence had twisted them into monsters. Could Sen's presence—his power—be having a similar effect all the way from the physical world? "Forget about them. We need to move. Let's go!"

Korra broke into a run, with Kuvira and Katara close behind. They only made it a few steps before the ground in front of them ripped apart. A gaping fissure ruptured across the forest path, forcing Korra to slide to a stop in front of the sheer drop into a dark abyss. She spun around, watching as a mass of dark spirits flew straight at them. Instinct guided her arms forward. Water burst from the flask at her hip and whipped out at the front line of spirits. Katara joined her, and together they held the assaulting spirits at bay.

"Kuvira, give us a bridge!" Korra called.

"I'm on it!" Kuvira planted her feet at the edge of the chasm and raised her fists. The earth below her began to extend, creating a rocky bridge across the gap.

Both Korra and Katara defended her while she created the bridge, lashing out with sweeping strikes of water to keep the spirits back. So many spirits. For every one they pushed back, three more took its place. Korra's heart raced more with each attack she made. If she and Raava were still bonded, she'd be able to bend more than just water. She'd have more options, more power. She'd have the Avatar State. She'd have more ways to defend against dark spirits. If she were still the Avatar, she wouldn't be as quickly overwhelmed as they were right now.

But she wasn't the Avatar, not anymore. No matter how much it hurt, Raava was gone. She was just another waterbender now, one with a small supply of water trying to defend against a growing army of dark spirits. A master waterbender she might still be, but she was only one person. Even with Katara to aid her, the two of them together couldn't hold back these spirits forever.

"How's that bridge coming!" She didn't chance a look back over her shoulder to find out. The spirits seemed to be multiplying, getting closer by the second.

"Almost there!" Kuvira replied, over the sound of shifting earth and shrieking wails of angry spirits.

"Katara, be ready to run! We have to—!"

Korra's words cut out with a sharp gasp, as a cold grip tightened around her ankle and yanked her legs out from underneath her. She fell flat on her backside, head slamming into the ground. Bright colors sparked into her vision, and the world shifted as the spirit that grabbed her raised her into the air. The spirit shrieked in triumph, jaws opening wide. That same shriek silenced with an explosion of earth against the spirit's chest. Korra fell free. She flailed, unable to right herself as the ground raced up to meet her.

Before she could slam face-first into the earth, a pair of strong arms caught her. Kuvira smiled, and set her upright on her feet. "I got you. The bridge is ready, so let's—"

"Look out!" Katara called, lashing out a slicing razor of ice at a group of spirits. They were too fast. The spirits ran full force into both Korra and Kuvira, shoving the pair over the edge of the chasm.

Instinct drove Korra into a desperate attempt at bending the earth along the side of the cliff. A simple reflex, built up after a lifetime of being the Avatar. Nothing happened, of course. She wasn't the Avatar anymore. She reached out again to bend water, but it was too late. She was too far from the ledge now to maintain control over the water she'd been using. She flailed again, desperate to grab onto something to save herself. Anything.

The sound of unraveling metal split the air, as a cable wrapped around her ankle. Her body jerked and swung back against the side of the chasm wall, but she managed to steady herself to a stop moments later. Tilting her head towards her chest, she looked up to see Kuvira dangling with her legs pressed against the cliff, one arm raised with a metal cable latched against one of the rocks near the top ledge, and her other arm pointed down with the cable attached to Korra's ankle.

"Just hang on!" Kuvira called. "I'll reel you in!"

As the cables began to retract, pulling them both up towards the ledge, Korra felt a rustling beneath her shirt. When the rolled pieces of parchment fell into the open, her eyes flared in panic. The scrolls they'd received from the Spirit Library! She made a desperate grab for them, but her mind and body warped under the odd position, hanging upside down as she was. Her fingers scraped against the edges of the parchment, and she could only watch as they disappeared into the dark abyss below.

"No!" she shouted, her mouth falling open in horror. If they lost those scrolls, it didn't matter whether or not they survived! Without so much as a second thought, she reached up to her ankle, gripped one end of the metal cable wrapped around it, and tugged. The cable loosened just enough to slip free. Shifting her attention back into the abyss below her, she fell into open air and disappeared into darkness.