Chapter One:

Visola's hand reached for me. This was not uncommon. I cringed in fear as it came closer. Her eyes stared at me with an icy cold glare, a twisted grin crossed her face.

Visola was dead, but she lived with me forever. On nights like these, she came to me. Everything came back to me as she loomed over me. The fear, the shame, the pain, it all stabbed at me.

I felt my arms and legs move as she moved her fingers. Each little flick made them flail wildly. I looked around for help, for shelter, for escape. But there was nothing, only Visola. She began to laugh. At first a quiet giggle, then it grew louder. Soon the laughter came from everywhere, echoing throughout the endless void.

I drifted closer towards Visola, and the laughter was cut. She whispered softly into my ear. "You are mine, Avatar Arata."

With that she was gone, replaced by the ceiling of my bedroom. My head soon hit the billow. I felt my blankets above me and the sheets below me stick to my sweat-slick body. I checked my clock and saw what time it was.

There was plenty of time before work, but I decided to get up anyway. I went to the shower and turned on the water. I reached up and warmed the water with bending. We had a normal water heater, but I preferred heating myself.

I let the water sit on my body and wash away the sweat. I breathed deeply, soothed by the warm sensation. Afterwards I ate a quick breakfast and left a note before heading to the gym.

It was not open yet, so I had time to do my personal drills. I walked down a hallway, looking into the empty classrooms. They had ranges set up to teach bending. Tetsu's bending classroom had various stone cubes for Earthbending.

Another room had a series of ramps and bowls. It was Kaze's favorite class, Air scooter riding. She taught her class various tricks and stunts. Watching the way they moved was quite mesmerizing. Even I, could learn from her.

I went to one of the classrooms and grabbed various bending targets. I scanned the room for a place to put down the targets. A few in front of me, and some in the corners. I turned around and put some targets behind me.

I threw a left jab and my fist burst into flame. The blast of fire flew diagonally and into the nearest target. It passed through it, leaving ashes in its wake. A few more punches sent fireblasts towards the other targets.

I then whirled around and reached in my pouch of water. A whip emerged and I swung wide snapping a row of targets in half. I then lifted up a block and split it in half. I sent both of them flying and they smashed into targets beside me.

I looked around, quite impressed by the results, but decided there was more drilling to do. I set up more formations to do various bending tricks. As soon as each setup was arranged it soon went down with a series of blasts.

Listening carefully, I could tell the school was now open. I walked down the hallway and into Sela's classroom. She performed a series of Chi-Blocking punches, and a line of students copied her.

"Like this." she said. "Jab to lower left gut, lower right, upper left."

After performing the combo, she then began to pace back and forth, observing her students. She reached for one of them, grabbed his wrist, and pulled on it for a punch. "Like that." she explained.

After giving a few more demonstrations, she looked over to me. "Arata, don't you have a class to teach?"

"Still got fifteen minutes." I replied.

"Well what are you doing in my class?"

I let out a chuckle. "Well I own the school." I said.

Sela poked my chest. "True, but maybe I could make you a training dummy." she said. "Could be quite educational.

I chuckled. "Nice try there. Anyway I will get to my class now."

I walked down the hall and stepped into my classroom. I looked around and saw the punctual students waiting for me. "Thanks for showing up early." I told them.

"Can we get started now?" a student asked.

"Hold on and wait, we'll start on time."

After the last students filled in, I stepped into the center of the room. "Okay guys, class is starting." I announced. "Get your gear on."

I grabbed my protective vests and helmet. I lifted the heavy vest over my head and slipped it on. I reached around and felt for the velcro straps. As I pulled them tight, it fit just right. I looked around and saw my students in vests.

Each one had the color and the element logo on it. I turned around and looked at mine in the mirror. It had all four because I was the Avatar. I turned back to my class and slipped on the helmet. "Any volunteers?" I asked. "Ready to show me your moves."
The first student with an earth vest stepped up. "You ready?"

He stomped down and three blocks flew up. He threw punches and the blocks flew right at me. I waited as they flew at me and swung my hands together. The blocks exploded and the pieces of rocks flew past me.

He paused. "Not bad, not bad." I gestured at him. "Keep going, show me what you got."

He began hurling more blocks at me. I dropped into a stance and began throwing punches. The first blocks crumbled on impact. I opened up my palms and the rubble formed into a shield.

I braced and the rest of the blocks slammed into the shield. With each impact I pulled back to absorb the blow. Each block crumbled and made the shield bigger. "Brace yourself!" I called out.

Through his visor I could see the student's eyes widen. The big rock knocked him off his feet and into the air. Quickly an airbender student pushed his palms forward and the earthbender was caught midair.

The airbender lowered his hands and the earthbender slid to the ground. I approached the airbender. "Nice work." I dropped into an airbending stance. "Want to demonstrate more."

The airbender chucked an airball up into the air and thrust his hands forward. The airball came flying at me at high speed. I tiled to the side and let the ball fly by. As it did, I pivoted around, redirecting the ball's speed. It curved around me and back at the airbender.

Repeating my motion, he dodged the airball and sent it straight towards me. I shoved my hands down and the air pushed me up into the air. I flew up a few feet and the airball zoomed between my legs.

I reached downwards and a cushion of air broke my fall. Quickly I hurled a group of airballs up into the air. As they fell I threw punches sending them towards the airbender. He ducked and weaved, keeping them away.

I let one fall past me and kicked up at it. It hurled towards the airbender and hit him in the stomach. He fell down and smacked into the ground. I walked towards him and extended my hand. "Need help up?"

The student looked up to me. "I'm good," he said with a grunt.

He pushed his arms down and a gust of air pushed him upwards. He stumbled a few steps forward before standing upright. He then looked around at me and the students. "Not bad?"

"Alright guys, move to your corners." I announced.

All of the students moved corners by element and began to spar back and forth. I walked around the floor, watching them all carefully. I stopped by the earthbending corner and pointed to a student. "Kneel down lower." I said. "Makes you more stable."

As the brick came at the student, he caught it in his hands. "See that, good job."

I moved on the firebender. "Breathe in, breathe out." I said as I made the firebending motions.

I observed the students throwing fire blasts. "Impressive." I said. "You there, push your hands as you breathe out."

I watched as his blasts of fire grew bigger. "Yes that's it."

I continued my rounds, watching and correcting my students through there drills. Each time they seemed to be mastering a technique, I moved them on to another one. I watched the earthbenders.

Left stomp, right stomp, left stomp, then a wall came up chest high. "Keep going, keep going." I told them. "You are doing an excellent job."

After the class I stepped into my office. I plopped down on my chair and stared at the ceiling. It was a plain white ceiling with only a simple lamp. As I starred up it blurred out of focus as I tried to clear my mind.

Bang bang bang, went the door. I sighed and opened it and saw Kaze. She was wearing a broad grin. "What's up?" I asked.

"My class went great!" she replied with enthusiasm. "I am teaching lots of Air Scooter tricks."

I took a deep breath. "Great job, I am happy for you." I said. "I'm sure I'll have more students for you."

"That's great!" Kaze exclaimed. "I can't wait for that."

I looked over to my desk. "I've got paperwork to do." I told Kaze. "Maybe you can go talk to Tetsu. He is between classes."

As Kaze stepped out, I opened a drawer and pulled out a catalogue. I flipped through the pages and found bending targets. It was almost time to buy more and they were not cheap. Of course that was not the real problem.

I pulled out a bill and saw the next mortgage payment. "Just great." I thought.

After I looked at the budget I wrote out a couple of checks. The mail went out a few hours ago, so I had to wait for the next morning.

Genji led the old man down the road. "Do you need help?" he asked.

"Oh you thing," the old man replied. "I can walk, you know."

Genji watched the old man walk in a doddering gait. "Oh oh oh." he said as he stumbled.

From the pavement rock covered his feet and legs up the mid knee. It held the old man steady. "Uh, maybe I do need help," he admitted meekly.

Genji let out a little sigh and let the old man put his arm around him. The two walked together. "It really means alot that you are helping me out." the old man said.

"You don't have anyone else?"

The old man sighed. "No family, haven't seen them in years."

"That's really too bad." Genji remarked. "I only have my sister Sela."

"Oh yes, the bending gym. With the Avatar." the old man commented. "Sounds like a good job."

Genji laughed. "Yeah I really like working for the Avatar, Arata is a great guy." he said. "Sela feels that way, not like she would admit so."

After walking for a bit the old man let Genji go. "Let me sit."

The old man spread out his arms and rock lifted up from the pavement. He placed his arms on a couple of arms rests and sat on the seat. A backrest slid up for the old man to recline on. "I'm just so tired," he said. "I used to be young and strong," he sighed.

I woke up and reached my hands upwards, feeling the stone tent above me. Crude but effective, it gave me shelter through the night. I crawled out of it and felt it from the outside. It's time was done.

I pressed my hands against the tent and it collapsed. It was time to head off, but first some eating. I felt up the rest of my game. Pretty good but raw, I had to get cooking. With a few strikes of flint and steel the logs were soon blazing.

I listened closely to the sound of the flames as they seared the meat, then wafted the air towards my nose. The cooked meat scent grew stronger in my nose. As I waited I reached into my bag of berries.

I picked a few out, feeling the ripeness, and placed them in my mouth. What a good feeling as the juices drained into my mouth. I focused back on the meat and turned it over. The other side began to seer.

I munched a few more berries, getting eager to try out the meat. The bottom began to seer nicely. Once it smelled right, I suffocated the flames with dirt. I tore into the meat, enjoying each bite. I had cooked it quite well. In fact, I have never tasted better outside of firebending.

I enjoyed my breakfast, but when I was done I moved on. I walked through the forest, poking ahead with my staff. With each prod, I got feedback of the ground ahead. I weaved around trees and bushes, over streams and roots. It was like a map I could feel.

After walking through the woods for a while, I came across a small village. I figured there was a place for me to stay for a while. I hoped they would be hospitable. As I walked the streets I noticed very few people around.

In fact, the streets felt rather empty. Villages like this did not have many people around, but few were this empty. "Hey look at this guy!" someone barked out.

I stiffened up, noting the confrontational attitude. More people joined the man. "What are you doing?"

It was clear that the men were surrounding me, and they were dropping into fighting stances. I reached forward with my staff, getting ready for an attack. One of them sent a water shot towards me, and I dodged to the side.

The men charged at me, and I scrapped my staff across the ground, sending out a cloud of dust into the air. I felt as the men stumble blindly, knowing exactly how I felt. I swung my staff at the nearest man, and struck his knee. I swung again, and smacked him again across the back of the head.

The man fell straight onto his face, and I turned to feel another man coming at me. He was twirling a water whip. I jumped the side and struck him in the gut. I quickly followed up by kicking across the ground. The earth grabbed his foot and dragged him away.

I ducked as a burst of ice shards came at me, and then lifted up a rock. I squeezed my staff and it flew at the man. Two more men came at me from behind. With two swift strikes I hit them on the head.

I whipped around and struck the men again. My strikes slammed the men in the ribs and they keeled over. The men began to run away. I stopped attacking, but remained alert. The footsteps began to feel softer.

With the men gone I resumed checking out the village. Someone approached me. "Thanks for helping out," he said.

"You're welcome." I replied. "Could I stay for a while?"

"Sure."

The man walked me towards his home. "Why do you wear that thing over your eyes?" he asked, pointing to my headband. "Can't you see?"

"Nope."

The man chuckled. "You're like Toph."

I groaned at such a comparison. "C'mon man." he added.

I decided to switch the topic. "So who were those people?"

"Southern Water Tribe." he said. "Former soldiers," he added.

"And they are doing what here?"

"Living as bandits, stealing whatever they can," said the man. "They have been extorting our village."

"I'm glad I helped, but they might be back." I remarked. "That's why it's best I might stick around for a bit. I have some food to share."

With all of that walking and fighting my appetite had grown. I handed him the rest of the meat I had gathered and we cooked up a stew together. "So how long has this been going on for?"

"Rather recently," he noted. "Probably around a month ago at most. I have heard about Gang extortion in Republic City but never around here."

I whiffed the boiling stew, enjoying it's scent. "Really now?" I noted. "What could have caused such a thing?"

"It could have something to do with what happened up in Republic City." The man lifted a spoon to his mouth and took a small bite of stew. "I think the Avatar and his friends were involved"

I had briefly traveled with a group of people claiming to have known the Avatar. I helped them out of Omashu before we parted ways. I had never gone back to the city, not since my friend died. Not feeling comfortable talking about the last part, I stood in silence.

The man looked at the stew, and I think it's ready. He made us bowls and we went to the table. I took my first bite and chewed into it. As my teeth ground into the texture I could feel the flavor leak out.

All of the various vegetables were mixed together perfectly and complimented the meat. He wolfed down each bite "You like it?" the man asked.

I simply nodded and continued to eat. "That's really good meat you found," he added.

"Been living off the land for quite some time." I replied.

The man let out a chuckle. "Kind of like that old man who lives around here?" he said. "Yeah he comes around from time to time. Mostly keeps to himself."

"You know anything about him?"

"Not really. He just showed up one day. Didn't see him for a while so we all thought he left. Then he comes back."

"So where is he?"

"Probably somewhere around here."

Nao stared at a group of his men. "You guys are serious?" he asked in disbelief.

One of them looked up at him. "Yes," he said weakly.

Nao grunted in frustration. "Well then I'm not happy with you." he said. "You all lost to a blind man!"

Nao formed a water whip and swung at one of his men. The whip cracked across his shoulders and head, and the man let out a pitiful whimper. "You are all so useless." he said. "Find him, prove me wrong." he snarled.

As the men ran away Nao stared up and thought. Things were different without Visola. He could never get back to the Southern Water Tribe. Fortunately the Earth Kingdom was familiar to him, at least in the south.