General:

This is my first fanfiction that I've ever written, and I shall try to pour my heart and soul into this story as much as I can! I'll be as dedicated as all of you have been! In saying this, I must also mention, I don't need reviews to continue (since I have a ton of ideas going on in that head of mine), but it would be much appreciated if you leave some. Actually it would EXTREMELY appreciated! More that you can imagine! More than the power of the SUN! Well, that's a lot of power...

Also I'm not one for swearing (though it 'might' make an appearance (eg. If Zuko is going to have a fireball run into him, "Oh gosh" wouldn't really cut it, plus it'd make him look like a pansy)) , and blood and gore is fine and all, but that's not what I'll concentrate on. This will be a story, and the primary importance will go to the story. You'll see what I mean!

I had originally wanted this story to be an Action/Adventure/Romance fiction, but with the way it turned out, its actually firstly a Suspense/Tragedy story, as stated by the genre classifications. However, almost equally, suspense, tragedy, action, adventure, romance, humor, mystery, supernatural, drama and even a bit of horror is in this story. The story is not too dangerous, so its at a T rated level. Don't take it lightly, though. But remember, above all, it is a suspenseful tragedy, a suspense/tragic story.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Avatar: The Last Airbender"...that was easy, but I do own the storyline for this story and all elements that are not within the official realm of the funded story done by Nickelodean. I also don't own the first article about the desert, nor the line "For when the world needed him the most he vanished," you all know where that's from (the intro for Avatar: TLA (well almost)).

Pre - - A/N 1: Now I fore warn you, that this first chapter is pretty heavy, but extremely important! The following chapters may or may not be this long, but all in all, there will a lot of 'story' stuffed in each chapter. You'll notice that his first chapter is pretty impersonal but that's because it gives an overview of something very important. Also the library documents, and articles as well as the content within that you read here, they are just fiction that I made up to help with the story, with a great influence, obviously, coming from the series.

Pre - - A/N 2: You might also notice that a lot of emphasis is placed on the Fire Nation. Well that's because their the ones that started the 100 year war, so they're really important in this chapter, (Refer to Post - - A/N 3). By the way this is like the 6th repost of this chapter. To note, the beginning has been changed such that the story is more "inviting"...hopefully.

Pre - - A/N 3: I sincerely hope you all enjoy!

"Powerful Benders"

--I--

"We must have no illusions.
We shall not walk on roses.
People will not throng to hear us and applaud;
we shall not always be aware of divine protection.
If we are to be pilgrims for justice and peace,
we mush expect the desert."

-Dom Helder Camara, Me Ilaman el obispo rojo

--Chapter 1: The Causes of Chaos--

'Okay!' The ten-year old proclaimed in his head. After spending countless hours reading and trying to pursue the answers that eluded many of the greatest genius' before him, the young prince felt confident in the fact that he could figure out the one thing that many could not and those were the answers to those questions. Unfortunately it was his ten-year old thinking that took over first in trying to solve the questions. His rational side came after.

'Now that I have read everything...it should be easy to figure out the answer.' Concentrating, he began to relay the question in his mind. 'Why were the mountain tops the only things that were affected? Well, that's simple! The first avatar blew everything up, and...everyone died and went to heaven. And the mountains...they...blew up after because...they were sad...Exactly!'

Zuko was now more than confident. He figured out that mystery in a single minute. Next one! 'Why did they cancel the investigation of the Will of Fire Lord Solzen? Because it was boring!'

'Why did my great great grandma disappear? Because...she went walking and bumped into a tree and got lost. This is so easy! I wonder why no could figure it out?'

Zuko may have been far from the truth, but for a child his age, he was doing fine in trying to figure out the dark secrets of the 94 year war. His skill further grew when he realized his mistakes in the theories.

'But, why would great great granny wander away so far to get lost? She disappeared, right? And that was after great great grandpa left...she was looking for him, I think. But great great grandpa died...then why would she search for him. Wait, this one is too hard. I'll try the other ones.'

'The investigation of the Will was canceled because...nah, it couldn't be because it was boring. Everyone was forced to follow the Will. Even now. So if its so important, why cancel trying to find it? Also, to remake the Will took more money than trying to find it. So why cancel it?'

'And if the mountains were destroyed because they were sad, then why didn't the beach blow up too? No, I forgot something. They said only war tools were destroyed, not living things. So was the mountain a war tool? Landslides don't count, because they were caused by bombs...bombs were war tools.'

"AGH!"Zuko slowly raised his hands to his scalp with the full intention of tearing his hair out. 'How can this be SO hard!'

His head then popped up as he thought about an idea. 'Okay the mountains were destroyed because the first avatar didn't like mountains. So she, or was it a he? Well, she was a water bender, or was it an earth bender...? Maybe she was both. Oh yeah, she was all four. But she came from...where though? Either the water tribe or earth tribe. Okay, avatar cycle, avatar cycle. Remember the avatar cycle. First...which one is first?'

"I forgot everything...," he thought unbelievingly. "How could I forget everything single thing?" he exasperated. Looking down Zuko realized that to figure out everything, he would have to start from the beginning. Slowly he started to read and try and remember the entire history of the Fire Nation, and how the war actually began.

In actuality, the questions that Fire Prince Zuko was asking were related to topics that were beyond dire. They were the most monumental questions of the history of the Fire Nation and their answers were its darkest secrets. Amazingly enough it was the ten-year old child of the Royal Family of the Fire Nation that was asking them.

With determination engraved into him, he restudied the history...

Avatar Roku was a man of great integrity whose pure purpose was to ensure the harmony of entire world. He was a powerful bender with the soul of mother earth incarnated into the form of its ruling creatures, the single beings assigned to watch over and protect that which she supported and he, a lone man with the elements under his own rule, was to accomplish the paramount of that task, which was to watch over the planet ensuring, between the 4 empires, peace so that the world would never suffer, and he was to do it with utmost care and complete devotion. He was to watch over the entire world just as his predecessors had accomplished.

Roku was the son of the Fire Nation, a society whose pillars of determination and endurance supported the concepts of honor and courage, with devotion and integrity as its founding features. These principles had made his life easier. As a born leader the requirements of the Avatar were no doubt placed upon him at birth. As he grew he saw how the world suffered from the tyranny of feudal lords that dominated the vacuum of power that ensued when the previous Avatar had passed away. During his 16 years as a child, the feudal lords had taken advantage of the missing authority, however when he came of age, his task was set to motion. Within decades he had finished that which mother earth had instructed him to accomplish, and for the rest of his life tried to convince the great leaders of the world to never allow such pain to wash over the planet.

The world had achieved that state. It took many years and several councils had to be formed, but peace ensued the world. Even without the Avatar's presence, with the military might and capabilities of the 4 empires and their great and honorable leaders, the world would never again suffer.

Peace, in the minds of all the peoples, would be an everlasting field that the world had stumbled upon and the end would never be in view. Or so they assumed. The horizon of this field never looked more brighter and more beautiful in the many years that dawned upon the earth before this amazing event of perfect unity until a specific day had arose. Years to come would explain the reason why the horizon was illuminated by the glorious and furious sun to a degree that was never imagined on that day. It seemed that fate had a different outlook on the path of life. This day, when the sun burnt the ever beautiful horizon, was the day when one man wanted more than just harmony.

The Fire Lord of that time, the Great Lion of the East, Fire Lord Solzen, wished only for the best of entire world and had proposed an idea that he thought could achieve that same state of peace but at the same time raise the prosperity of all peoples.

The only solution in view would be to have one rule for the world, and in doing so, effectively coordinate the use of resources of each empire so as to bring it to a higher, more prosperous state of living. But for mutual recognition of each other's services and equal input from each of the empires, a council of people from the 4 empires would be required. They alone would act as the single rule to bring about the final aspiration. The beauty in the unity of the 4 empires would be trait recognized for thousands of years. The peace of the world would never come to an end.

Of course having a single council comprised of influential members would warrant some form of disagreement. In response to this recognition, there would be a formal leader of that ruling, a leader that would act as the judge and jury of each proposed idea. This leader would be the Avatar himself, and though the Avatar's presence was, at first, merely a deterrent of war, their presence also insinuated authority.

Historical Document Library 14: Section 42
- Account of the Avatar: The history of the first war
Part 1

The Avatar cycle began when the Great War, a conflict amassing the full power of three different empires, was at its climax. This was around 10000 years ago when the ruling peoples started to perfect the form that allowed them to gracefully bend their mother element.

When the first peoples resided side by side, conflicts, though minor in a nature, started to develop as those that were recognized for their elements and customs were separated socially. At first disputes occurred over farming lands, and hunted species which soon lead to conflicts in trespassing and land ownership as well as land deformation. With the many people forming the mainland, and the several cultures engaging each other head on daily, the defiling of many sacred relics and monuments became common place, but by no means acceptable. However these were natural occurrences that happened to play upon the forming of society.

What brought this usual engagement out of proportion was the use of elements for the purposes other than helping. At first the bending of the elements was used to ease the stress of everyday life. Water bending along with earth bending skills helped to irrigate the lands and crops grew much more efficiently. Earth benders alone would help in the creation of giant monuments and temples. The use of fire was important in the forming of new metals, while the usage of air was to shift clouds from natural positions to that of providing an advantage to the benders. Water bending alone would allow for healing. Needless to say, when the first bending practices were formalized, progression was not a problem.

But the use of bending caused the people to be dependent on the other elements. So when differing elemental users fought with each other, it was easy to play on the emotions of others. The bending practices alone caused the people to segregate into clans that would engage each other often.

The fire clans were as personable as the elements they represented. Their path to anger and violence was nothing short of what they're element was known for. When angered, they would sometimes use their own element against the others, showing them to be very volatile, and like fire, when left without supervision, were able to cause extreme damage. Earth clans were nothing better. At first they were like the dirt paths that provided the sure footing of travelers to walk over, but when pushed they would act like quick sand, betraying those that trusted them, or were like the mud slides that voluntarily hurt many people. Conflicts between these two clans were regular occurrences.

When the first sages came about, the practices of bending became more of a deadlier or helpful force, depending in whose eyes the practices were seen through. Constantly engaging in battle the fire clans were forced to reside on the islands off to the East of the mainland. Pushed over their borders, the earth clans declared victory over their lands, to the displeasure of the peace loving water and air peoples. The fire clans were fused to form the first empire, the Fire Nation.

The other elemental clans resided together on the mainland, with the other islands as of undiscovered at the time. The lands of the Fire Nation provided rich fertile grounds, and it was apparent that the lands they were forced onto were the one of their dreams. Their islands were massive and were dominated by the presence of the land forming volcanoes. The soil there had enough nutrients and minerals to support agriculture without the assistance of the other benders. However, many of their main requirements like clothing material, were still inaccessible in the area they resided now. In order to allow for trade, which was seen as a plausible solution, since the conflict died down, the Fire Nation had engaged the eastern shoreline of the mainland in an attempt to assure themselves a piece of earth allowing safe travel between the waters.

This was taken as a signal for war and though the Fire Nation tried to convince otherwise the earth clans refused to change their stance, they were as adamant as the stones that they could hurl. The only clan to fight were the earth clan peoples with the air and water clans deciding best to stay neutral and away from danger. The earth clans engaged the opponent with such ferocity that the Fire Nation was taken by surprise, driving many of the traders and assistant soldiers to death. This single action of brutality caused the air and water clans to form together for each others safety and in an attempt to escape the ensuing battle, they were forced to the northern regions of the central area they once lived in.

A few decades after this mass conflict, casualties were rising heavily, and in the eyes of the air clans, unnecessarily. A group of benders whose manipulation skill lied with the air had taken the initiative to interject in between the warring peoples, and so being deployed in a vast number of squadrons, they were sent over the great valleys of the mainlands to reach the eastern shoreline of the capital continent, in an effort to establish negotiations between the peoples. Their efforts were in vain, as both the Fire Nation and the earth empire viewed them as a common enemy, and as a third party engaging in hostile activity. This could not have been farther from the truth and though their intentions were brushed aside and were not even considered, their ideals stayed strong. Not once during the engagements had a single air bender ever been accused of selfishly taking a life. Their POW (prisoner of war) camps were massive, and well kept, unlike those of their fighting counter parts.

Their efforts however, did not go unnoticed, and the remainder of the air clans had decided best to assist their brethren in battle. Vast armies, in the name of peace, were sent to try and settle down the earth clans, for the earth clans were the peoples with the larger space and resources. The Fire Nation was dwindling when compared to their former size and negotiations on their part were rather smooth if not cumbersome in trying to settle their terse tempers. When the earth clans were approached from the rear, their forces had but two options. The first being to give in to a peace treaty or to push themselves over the waters of shoreline, for during the battle their forces were concentrated and isolated in that region.

Needless to say, the air clans had found themselves an enemy, for where their actions were in the name of unity, they're opposer's saw otherwise. The earth clans had began to engage the air clans, and their armies were being decimated. In a desperate attempt to save their fellow fighters, the benders of air from the other side of the border engaged the Fire Nation in a treaty that allowed the force to be fused into a single unit, that together countered the earth clans.

What took place was not in the good favor of the people of water, and the actions seen as honorable between air clan members was seen as a disgusting act of betrayal by the water whereby their reasoning was that their own fellow neighbors now sided with those that supposedly initiated the war. Several air clan warriors were shot back to the region of where they initially resided in an endeavor to mass conscript their former friends. That notion however failed and the water peoples soon disbanded their alliance with the air.

In effect, the battles were now declared a full scale war. This was the Great War, in which the powers of Air, Fire and Earth collided and throughout this time ignited the anger of the spirits. The otherworld, the world of the spirits, were dominated by creatures and beings of vast sizes and abilities. In ages past, they assigned their mystical abilities to those of the humans. Now looking upon the beaten world, they noticed how mistaken they were to grant such abilities to such peoples. In the first time in millions of years, all were in agreement, all were angered by the actions taken place upon the poor and beaten soil of mother earth. It would take a single day for their powers to finally intervene.

By now, the air clans were well acquainted with the Fire Nation, and had decided that forming their own empire would allow for more efficient communication and trade support, so the air peoples had together formed the Air Nomads. The earth clans by now had already become large in size, and their land dominance was measured in the forms of hundreds of fields. They were no longer small, and the name soon became applied to their clans, the Earth Kingdom. Being isolated to themselves far off to the northeast of the mainland, the water had declared themselves the final empire, the Water Tribe.

Decades later, the war was on the threshold of wiping out the entirety of all the engaging empires. When the Air Nomad and Fire Nation sages discovered the effective use of explosives, and the Earth Kingdom found out about blasting jelly, casualties rose to thousands. Add to that, the technical genius of the Fire Nation had brought about the existence of catapults.There was one day, when all this force was applied together, and in a single moment the eastern shoreline was completely wiped out, with the thousands of stationed troops finally disappearing in the blazing inferno that soon corrupted the lands. This was the Black Day, in which the sun was blotted out by the moon encasing the world in a total eclipse.

In anguish of the pain of receiving so many spirits within a single millennium, spirits that belonged to those who deserved to die and those that didn't, a number that reached close to several, several thousands, the watchers of the spirit world had finally seen enough. This was the day in which the spirit world, unable to take back its power from those that never should have received it, had decided upon the common idea of selecting an animal to help stop the war. But for this creature spirit to actually take on any physical dominance in the real world its soul would have to be unified with a single being, trustworthy and capable enough to bring the war to its knees.

A single child was born in the far north, her parents were benders of their mother element, water. The Water Tribe was the only empire to effectively stay neutral during the entire conflict, and the day this child was born was the Black Day. The watchers of the spirit world had assigned the role of diluting the war to this single child. She inherited the spirit of the Wolf of Heaven Above, and with its shear destructive force and highly docile and friendly nature, along with the soul of a blessed and peace loving child, the first Avatar had came into being.

It was said that at her birth the lights of the northern skies had illuminated to a frightening degree, to a point that it terrified the peoples that saw the inferno above their heads. The night sky had shimmered under the sun's intensive stare, as its upper limits were beaten by the solar flares that thrust itself upon the earth, and the rays of the spectrum filled sheets of lights had flashed dangerously back and forth. It was a spectacle, to say the least, and was the first time when the fury of the spirit world was perfectly visible to the people. It was also said that during that week, the sun had many dark spots on its surface and the predictors, of that era, had taken to the idea that for the first time in the decades of the war that had drenched the world in blood, that the sun's fury would finally settle down.

The first Avatar was, indeed, a powerful bender that had learned, at the tender age of five, that she mastered all four elements, and upon discovering this, had taken it as her responsibility to master the elements as soon as she could. She was born on the day of of the first eclipse, when the moon overpowered the sun, and was foretold by the predictors that she had the single most important fate of stopping the war.

Rumors had spread that there was a powerful beast that walked the lands far to the north and was encased in a child. She was able to crush mountains, evaporate and freeze water in a single instant, and combine the elements of fire and air to create massive and directed explosions. Many pacifists had taken the responsibility of finding this girl with the soul purpose of training her in the arts of their own elements in case the rumors were true. But of course, they would only train her if her ideals were strong and if her morals were firmly established in the roots of peace and love, which happened to be the case. Many powerful benders traversed the harsh northern landscapes to train her, and her skills exceeded that of even the lords that fought in the war.

At the age of eighteen, she was sent off into the heat of battle, after many years of both her and all the sages and predictors, of the Water Tribe, trying to convince the leaders to try and end the war. By now the war was at a stalemate, each side effectively knowing the others strengths and weaknesses and utilizing them for their own advantage, which resulted in a no gain, no loss situation that lasted 3 years. This was not to say that the war was still not furious. Contrary to that, the battles now used much more sophisticated devices, brought about by the tides of war, that had continuously caused the conflicts to hike to a newer level of intensity everyday.

The Avatar had actually crossed the Great Ravine, taking an excessively long route around the battle field in an attempt to avoid any unnecessary conflicts of her own. By now she had had many pursuers after her that came through a path that gouged through the northern lands. Her trait of being able to bend the four elements were seen as an invaluable asset to the war effort by every eye that propagated the war. She was traveling with a large contingent of Water Tribe soldiers, that had routed their path to along the southern lands. Scouts were sent in frog leap progression tactics and used guerrilla style combat to steal the command posts that lead up to the battered eastern shoreline.

Upon reaching their destinations, the division was split into two large squadrons that would try and form a negotiation with the opposing parties. However before the first scout was even sent, the Water Tribe had come under attack by the warring empires. They were ignorant as to the side the Water Tribe took and had mistook them as an enemy siding with the counterpart fighter. But even before the first ship launched the catapults, or the first mountain slope detonated, the spirit of the Avatar had taken its stance within the young girl.

All that was said about that event was that there was a very bright light that encased the world in a blinding glare. Actually not even this description does justice for what happened. Every mountain top within a few lands distance was leveled flat, and every ships main body had their steel panels ripped off. The catapults and surrounding fortresses were mutilated in every form imaginable, rivets were blown fields away, and all the weapons melted. It would have been the most horrific sight one could ever lay their eyes upon if what had just transpired was followed by what most thought would transpire. The Avatar had utterly decimated the forces of the 3 empires. But strangely enough, and more accurately, it was not the forces, exactly, that she decimated, but the instruments used by those forces.

"In her quest to finally end the war, she had not taken even one single life." It was as if every living being on the planet was spared the harsh treatment that was dealt to the tools of war. In effect, every thing that had a life of its own, and a spirit within, were not affected by her wrath. The only things that were destroyed were those that were specifically designed to kill other people, it was, accurately put, those inanimate devices that had the pure intention, and that were engineered with the only thought of annihilating more innocents. Everyone of these devices were gone. But when everyone opened their eyes, they saw that their bodies were unscathed, except by the previous battles, and that their armor lay shredded beside them leaving them unharmed and only in their tunics. The fact that everyone should have been killed was the same fact that never transpired, which made the horizon view the most beautiful sight one could bare.

All the tools of war were mere shadows of what they originally were, and yet all the plants and animals, stood upright. All the soldiers just stared upwards in awe, their eyes burning from the after effect of the glare. Their attention turned to the woman that had illuminated the sky. Her beauty was beyond imaginable, as every soldier had their eyes locked on her, their stare unmoving, their entire mind and body awe-struck. Her usual brown silken hair being wound up into a bun with a small pony tail transcending down her back hitting her midsection, was now floating around her, along with her bangs. The tips of her hair had the bright tinge of glowing blue light, and her eyes were drowned out by the magnificent white luminescence that came from it. Her hands held together in a sign of prayer, her feet together standing upon the air. Her combat and winter clothing swayed back and forth from the the torrent that surrounded her. She was several cubits off the ground. But though her posture and immediate demeanor would have fooled anyone into thinking that she was angry, one could see from her face, that she radiated the peace loving child that still made her who she was. Her brows were not furrowed, and her expression was not taut, she had a gentle atmosphere surrounding her.

"In her quest to finally end the war, she did not take even one single life." Her energy and aura of peace resonated through every soul on the planet, and the fighting finally ceased completely. With all the weapons in disrepair and almost unrecoverable, the soldiers looked to one another. What they saw surprised them. There were their own brothers and sisters standing beside them, ready to risk their lives to save one another. They put their own securities behind their family's safety, and for what purpose? To regain the honor they once lost? To seek revenge for the loss of their loved ones? What was the purpose of this war? The Avatar looked upon them all, and her radiance diminished. What she said would change the face of the world forever, in that what people chose as their own priorities for war would eternally be indifferent on small matters, such as the one she then stated.

"Why do you fight? Why do you kill those that are different? Why do you put the safety of your family in the inferno of war if it isn't necessary? Must I tell you what you all are fighting for? The motivation for this war stems nothing from courage or honor! This war has spawned from a misunderstanding! You are fighting for pride and nothing else! Love is worth fighting for, but not even love has rooted its seeds in your hearts. The battle has ended, live in peace..."

Everyone realized this immediately. The feudal lords, all located on the eastern shoreline approached one another on the battlefield. They converged on the Avatar, and upon reaching her location, they cast down their own flags. She too cast down the flag tied to her back. The feudal lords looked to one another and bowed before her, apologizing for their actions, when realization of what started the war dawned on them. The remaining soldiers also bowed. By some miracle, still unexplained today, the battlefield was actually upon the eastern shoreline. Every soldier and every battle asset was concentrated at this point. No where else in the world were there conflicts being engaged. This was the only land, and so every single soul that ever participated in this war, that was still alive, had bowed before the beauty called upon from the heavens above.

All the soldiers that were in the middle of an engagement, helped their opponents off the ground in a sign of sincere respect, and the soldiers departed from the lands. The Fire Nation returned to the islands determined to make a pact with the Earth Kingdom allowing them free travel across the water. The Earth Kingdom returned eastward determined to give lands to the Fire Nation. The Air Nomads returned with the Earth Kingdom, and bypassed them to the northern lands happy that their endeavor was met, and finally the Water Tribe soldiers traveled up across the eastern shoreline to try and stop any conflicts that may have escaped their Avatar's grasp. Upon seeing none they traversed the frigid northern lands back to their home.

The Avatar's duty was still not complete. Over the years, she became a very influential leader that everyone looked up to and she proposed and propagated ideas that she knew would further deter war. The Air Nomads lived close to the Water Tribe, and by the request of the Avatar, were again separated. As the only peoples to ever undertake the task to try and end the war with no regard to their safety, she had asked a powerful part of the Air Nomads to reside in the eastern vicinity in case an event of this nature occurred again. Taking up harbor on the northeastern islands were the Eastern Air Nomads.

The Fire Nation resided on more than just the few islands that they had found and were pleased with their own land masses. They were granted diplomatic immunity to certain and very helpful regions of the mainland, granted to them by both the Avatar and the Earth Kingdom. A temple was erected in one of the islands, which would be used as a beacon if ever the Avatar's help was necessary.

The Earth Kingdom truly did build on their empirical name of Kingdom, occupying almost the entirety of the mainland as a result of the war, and many of the islands to the south as well. They became experts on agriculture and usual exports were sent to each of the empires. The Earth Kingdom no longer reflected the quicksand with which they were once associated with. They were now, strong and powerful mountains used only to protect those that they loved.

By now the Avatar had moved back with the Water Tribe peoples and settled into the northern glacier islands. But a few of the Air Nomad members had disagreements with them and were granted the permission to occupy a certain island in the south. These Air Nomad members departed and became the peace loving, Southern Air Nomads.

The Avatar's spirit dwindled when she had fulfilled her destiny, and she had brought about peace at 30 years old. She passed away over the waters between the Fire Nation and the, then ruling, Earth Kingdom lands, where her spirit slowly ascended back to the spirit world. A form of her spirit had, however, taken up stance in two worlds now, her strength, the glowing duo fish that swam back to the Northern Water Tribe people, and her life, the bright and beautiful glow of the moon.

However one thing remained unexplained, and still is to this day. Why were the mountain tops leveled if the only things affected were the tools of war?

-Fire Sage Ozurai

Historical Document Library 14: Section 42
- Account of the Avatar
Part 2

But this was all 10000 years ago. 125 Avatars had been granted to the world by the spirits, to further strengthen relationships between the now established 4 empires. The cycle corresponded to the seasons. Since the first Avatar came during the time of the cold and bitter hearts that reigned over the world, she was to be the guiding spirit to take care of those during the winter season.

The following Avatar's destiny was to make sure the entire world would remain in harmony with each other. The largest of all the empires was the Earth Kingdom and so the next Avatar was born, with the spirit of the Badger Mole, in the Earth Kingdom. It was because of the fact that the Earth Kingdom had so much influence over the world, that they were chosen to be mother empire of the next Avatar, so that the Avatar could extend his reach over the entirety of the 4 empires. This was a season of growth and peaceful living, reaching through the spring season.

However when this was all done, the world was becoming more laborious to live in, the world was undergoing strife once again, and the fury of the high rising sun of summer was of no help. The next Avatar was the Avatar of the summer season, the time of hardships, with the spirit of the Dragon, and he was from the Fire Nation. Thought of with an iron jaw, and a soft heart he kindled the worlds flame once again through determination and courage, traits of the Fire Nation.

However, the greatest honor was given to the Air Nomads. Because of their concern for others over themselves they were granted the season before the the Water Tribe Avatar. The 4th Avatar was an Air Nomad, with the spirit of the Bison, born for the Autumn season. In Autumn the leaves had turned gold and red, a result of the scorching flames caught on by the fires of war, and those same leaves fell off of their humble attachments in hopes of finding refuge through death. But the Air Nomads were not like that, for during that time of lost hope they went searching for it, forcing themselves into the Great War. They were the people to fight for peace before the bitterness and cold of winter ate their hearts as well, as war consumed them.

But hope was not lost because then the cycle began again, where the Water Tribe Avatar would once again bring the world out of its cold and bitter pain of winter. If one were to notice, the cycle of the Avatar matched exactly that of the cycle of the seasons of a normal year. Many of the mediators of that time, had realized, that to predict which empire the next Avatar would come from, just required a single look at the birth empire of the previous Avatar, and by remembering the cycle of seasons, the next Avatar's empire was determined.

A confusing and yet un-paradoxical conclusion was brought about by one of the mediators of that time. "The seasons that circle the year match perfectly with the cycle of the Avatars. However, Avatars are never forced to be born during their mother season, it is just that the 4 elements, and appropriate empires, correspond well with the 4 seasons of the year, and so the cycle of the Avatars mother elements will be in tune with the cycle of the seasons."

-Fire Sage Zaboa

The Avatar would be the perfect leader of the world. Fire Lord Solzen took to the idea.Upon raising the idea with Avatar Roku, who joyfully was in agreement with the proposition, the Avatar called upon the most influential of all leaders together. The meeting was held in the Fire Nation's Temple dedicated to the Avatar. Formalities were addressed, and the structure and influence of this group, discussed. The meetings traversed several hours a day, and continued for several months. And since the Avatar would always change their birthplace, issues of biasness were never going to be a problem. It wasn't even considered a problem before hand since all the Avatar's since the first, were the most honest beings on the planet.

After the final signing of the group, formally know as the Confederate Empire, the Avatar was to be inaugurated in just two months from that day. However in the extreme bitterness that fate played upon the world the Avatar's health was failing. Within a month, the destiny of the Avatar was completed and his spirit passed on. The dragon and himself would be the guardian gatekeepers of spirit world till the next Avatar had died. Till then Avatar Roku's spirit was to be the guiding light of the next Avatar.

In a town far off to the north, were the Air Nomads, living peacefully with their brethren counterparts, the Water Tribes, in the instant the Avatar died, a bison was sent across the passage of the spirit world to transcend into the body of the new born child, born that day. His name was Aang, and he was born of a beautiful mother with the most loving heart, and a father with the most courageous soul. Indeed these traits would be fully embedded into his own design. The monks of the Southern Air Temple had called upon the mediator bison herd to follow the path with which they were inclined to follow, since their own spirits yearned to see the new Avatar's spirit, the Bison. When reaching the town, they were drawn to the cries of a child with arrows surrounding his body. Opening several thick, white-lined mats, they presented the child with a set of toys.

The child was calm for a very long time and surveyed the toys presented before him. As he would, 12 years from now, he picked up one of them, raised it high above him and drew the wire out sending the tiny chopper whizzing through the air. He further looked around and spotted a tiny wolf figurine with its legs connected on hinges. With one last sweep of his selection he picked up the tortoise doll, and an odd toy, that had a spiral design in its center. He placed the last toy in his mouth, and the child looked with glee as the tortoise and the wolf hopped off to meet the first toy. The child giggled at his antics and was proud of his selection.

The monks were astonished. The child had chosen the 4 Avatar relics, and though one could argue that he just randomly picked them, the case was that he recognized them, and this recognition came from the spirits of the previous Avatar's before him, which undoubtedly were part of his soul. This was what usually happened, but every time it did, it surprised them. Upon choosing the toys that determined him to be the Avatar, Aang's parents were happy for him and had agreed to allow the child to travel with them to the Southern Air Temple to train him as a monk, with strong peace loving ideals.

When this happened the end of that beautiful horizon of peace started to burn brightly with the sun's glare. The time of harmony would be coming to an end. When Avatar Roku died, the world mourned the loss of a great and powerful hero, one in which who was summoned by the watchful spirits above to dutifully carry out the will of granting perfect justice and eternal peace while his title held strong. Not once did the Avatar ever think selfishly, always placing his life after those of even the meekest of souls.

Ceremoniously, the Avatar's body was dressed in the most perfect of silken clothes, that which represented the best that the Fire Nation could ever offer. His clothes were of the finest crimson red, and of the most beautiful and most refined gold. His burial would have been more extravagant had he not requested that the resources be directed to training the next Avatar, instead of tending to his mortal body.

His body was placed in a giant wooden coffin, lined with the most powerful of steels, and the entire form was shelled inside a powerful mineral enriched rock, that not even magma could ever eat up. Avatar Roku's body was laid to rest within the confines of the volcano on the island where the temple was located. This form of burial was done just as how the many other Avatar's of fire had previously been buried. The crowds of mourners counted were thousands and were from all 4 empires, enough to fill up the shore line with boats, and the lands with travel animals.

The Confederate Empire motion was still to be set. Not even the death of the Avatar could relinquish the duty of this new party. This was the will of the Avatar, and Solzen kept his word strong. The party consisted of 32 members and there were 8 representatives for each empire. However now was when and where the problem occurred. Since the duty as the invigilator of the Confederate Empire was now an open occupation, the position, by agreement, was to be handed over to the descending Avatar. This, indeed, raised a problem that was not accounted for in the early stages of the development, since Avatar Roku's participation was believed to be ensured. Aang was but a child and was not disciplined in the ways of the proper monk. He could not speak, nor write, nor could he perform any basic requirement that would be necessary to survive by himself with one's own knowledge. Aang was just a child and due to this, he did not know anything about politics, nor did he develop his own morally influenced ideals. Aang was just not ready.

Aside from this Solzen had his other reasons as well. A sense of pride had swelled up in himself, and that of the Fire Nation, when Avatar Roku complimented him on his idea of the united empire. Roku was extremely pleased with the idea, and when many of the leaders, of the many empires, agreed to the formation of this conglomerate faction, Solzen was held in high-esteem, both by his own peoples, and those of the other empires. This feeling within him further increased when he realized that it would be one of his own brethren that was to take the position of the leader of the Confederate Empire. Since the idea originated from the mind born of fire, it would be rightly so that the first true leader of this unity would be of the Fire Nation. Sadly, Roku had passed on, and this inflammation that overtook Solzen's heart lead to his next proposition to overcome the developed situation. He granted the idea for himself to take position of the leader of the Confederate Empire, till such time that Avatar Aang was ready to be placed into the position.

All the empirical representatives had agreed that a problem did arise when Avatar Roku had died. However, they were split in the decision on electing Solzen as the lead invigilator. Some saw Solzen's facts and held him to be the perfect leader, one in which who would represent the honor of the empire that spawned the idea. This group also agreed that Solzen would be perfect regardless, because of this peace loving ideals and strict disciplinary attitude. Others saw the facts but opposed the concept before the idea even came into being, disregarding prestige and replacing it with fairness. Many others saw themselves as better leaders. Needless to say, after months of debating, a vote was cast, in which none of the elected party heads had won and in a stunning act of revolution, the first anger propagated disunion took place before the world. The Confederate Empire was disbanded and was no more, its lifespan being only a few months.

In effect, this caused agitation between the empires. Before this it was a very simple matter, and one that did not cause any turbulence, to ask for help, or to discuss possible trade scenarios. But since the empires had disbanded, the sense of unity that once mingled in their thoughts were disturbed, some more so than others to a dangerous degree. The Confederate Empire was viewed as a proud signal, a milestone, in the development of the perfect world. The decision to break that unity was a very unfortunate decision by which many were split on the idea of just destroying such an endeavor that cost so much, and yet produced no fruit. There were signs in the air that a conflict could arise at any time. One only needed to allow the breeze to touch the hairs on the back of their necks to see how cold it truly was.

To relinquish this feeling, and to further strengthen the courage of his people, Fire Lord Solzen declared a will, in which he ensured, that unless someone or some empire had intentionally attacked the lands he was meant to protect, he would not lay siege to any other empire. He would continue to promote peace and prosperity. In doing so, it seemed that danger was not so much of an issue anymore, and further, it did calm down that torrent of tense feeling that stretched taut the faces of the influential leaders that could, at any point, initiate a so called defensive preemptive strike.

Fire Lord Solzen's Will became more than just a written proposal that concerned his own people, it was a prominent declaration among many of the empires. With many of the empires noticing the benefits of such a will, many had initiated their own, in accordance with the Fire Lord, thus agitations among the opposing empires were slim, however not entirely gone. With the driven ideal of harmony, peace was still a prospect that many of the leaders valued, and any conflicts that did arise were more to do with discrimination and trade disputes, but these were only the lesser of the problems yet to come.

The Southern Air Nomadic temple, the housing of Avatar Aang's training regime, had on one occasion, necessitated the help of the extremely powerful forces employed by the Fire Lord. They were an amazing asset to the world, consisting of archers, engineers, architects, infantrymen, battle equipment pilots, and further military personnel. The Southern Air Nomads required the assistance of Fire Lord Solzen to help ward off an impending battle between the Earth Kingdom and Air Nomads, and to help detract the now invading Earth Kingdom military fleet, whose influence for the attack was based on the fact that the Nomads would not allow a bison colony to help a group of Earth Kingdom rescue workers over the mountains, rather than going around. As a result, the ship load of travelers, with which the rescue workers tried to help, had been lost in the sea storm, and the Nomads were to pay the consequences. However, the Air Nomads had their own reasons, that were valid as well in not helping. The Air Nomads had the top priority of training Aang, and the temple and all its assets were solely dedicated to the training of junior monks. Any outside influence was forbidden, as declared by the central capital of the Air Nomads, where their residence was beside the Northern Water Tribe, in the Northern Air Temple.

As an obligation in fulfillment of his will to promote peace, which included protecting the very ideals composing the Air Nomads, and since the Avatar resided there, he coupled his forces with ground assault division of the Air Nomads. They were trained monks, that came from the Eastern Air temple, and as such were very powerful warriors. Also Solzen respected their wishes and kept the main assault to the base of the mountain. Solzen however was reluctant in attacking his own ally, and had sent several warnings to the Earth Kingdom King, to detract the impending fleet. However, to his dismay, they did not regress, and so proceeding forward, the fleet was decimated. Fire Lord Solzen, and the representative of the Air Nomads, Monk Gyatso, had personally apologized for the attack, and presented their case, to which it was well accepted, or so they thought.

Avatar Aang was allowed into every country in the world, due to the fact that he was the Avatar. Since no stranger was allowed into of the premises of the Southern Air temple, it was seen as best that he go throughout the world to learn the bending arts. Further, his training to master the 4 elements depended on the fact that he had to go to the country that had the training platforms, to effectively maximize his skills. This was how Aang had known the infamous Bumi of the Earth Kingdom, the nonchalant Kuzon of the Fire Nation, and Bunbun, the funniest Water Tribe member in history. Unfortunately, these ties were somewhat strained due to the rising tension that now circulated the various ambassador halls. He was 10 years old now. Aang had seen Kuzon a lot during these times, though, since he was taken with the Air Nomad representatives to the Fire Nation Meeting Halls. Pulling pranks and massively exhausting their energy in figuring out countless ways of both throwing cake at the monks, and shaving the generals faces, their friendship was truly strong.

A few months into the delegations, the unexpected happened. Fire Lord Solzen was in a meeting with the Earth Kingdom leader to discuss probable methods of transportation and repayment of their lost fleet and at the time the meetings ran smoothly. Well that was until one drastic occurrence had changed the face of the planet.

"Armageddon began to rain down on the sky, and blew down onto the earth. It harassed, with unwieldy power, one of the most beautiful and most plentiful lands of the Fire Nation, the island where the temple was erected. Casting down its wrath on the land, the dirt and soil turned into ash and air. The valley of the land disappeared, eternally burying the lives of those that lived there, in flames. The basin lost its integrity and pummeled underneath its own weight, sinking to the bottom of the sea. That island, fully populated with thousands of citizens, that island, so plentiful in harvests, that island, so integral to the survival of the empire, was battered, beaten and killed before the very eyes of the Fire Lord. The lives of the nation were taken before his very eyes..."

-Fire Sage Zaboa

Many of the people that did witness the hailstorm, were living behind the Mountain of Fire, the temple's foundation. Since the volcano of that island, whose constant outflow of magma were being cooled by the seas to create newer land masses, was, in essence, the very source of the island, its elevation was extremely high. All other land sites were lower than it, and since its original outflow was curved like a moon, with the predominance of the magma flowing into the inner edge of the moon shape, the mountainous inner edge of the volcano, the side that looked towards the center of the island, was a natural barrier that protected the people there.

However, what they saw scared them to their very bones, and even though the foundation, upon which the Fire Nation was built, had protected them, they would have rather died, than actually seeing the carnage wrought from the onslaught brought from the heavens above. From the distance past the horizon, were a multitude of giant 'beasts', their smoke trail hidden behind the edges of the ocean, and they were transcending the ever lasting body of water, flying high over its surface to finally bury themselves into the lands. The island, had changed its form completely. Once upon a time being one of the largest islands in existence, it had a bite taken out of its design, its form crumbled to nothing more than a hole. The island took on the form of the crescent moon, and this image was further strengthened when the inflow of flood waters ate up the lands behind the mountain, and was thus named as it is known today, "Crescent Moon Isle."

Solzen, when finally the situation sunk into his torn soul, and when his thought process was as stable as possible, had sent out a patrol fleet to follow the trail. It was a large trail, and it seemed that instead of the trails shooting through the clouds to look like it came from the gates of heaven, it seemed to traverse the waters continuously, which was odd to the coastal patrol deployment. At first one could tell it transversed the waters, but would conclude that ultimately it came from above the clouds. Instead, the ship traveled for 3 days, following the trail that never seemed to end. However, when it did end, they were astonished.

Instead of just turning back the ship and relaying their discovery to the Fire Lord personally, the sense of emergency that tensed the air with its strong presence showed the patrolling fleet that time was of the essence. Immediately, a messenger hawk was thrown into the air and had flown back to the Fire Lord. The message within, would begin the day when the Sun burnt up that beautiful and peaceful paradise that the world thought they had stumbled upon, all those years ago.

Message (DT HQ)
Urgent Report - Patrol

"Trail of beast lies over ocean!
Deduction from girth of path.
Smoke came from 'behind'
or 'from' mountain tops of Eastern Shoreline.
The Cave of Badger Moles is burning!

SEND WORD!
The Earth Kingdom has attacked the Fire Nation!"

Devastated and distraught, he did not know that the Earth Kingdom would pull out such a drastic measure as a result of the defensive purposes of the Fire Nation. Even though there was no right for the Fire Lord to interfere with the disputes of the Air Nomads and Earth Kingdom, it was his duty and the duty of all leaders to protect the Avatar at all costs, and so his help was of an obligation, and one that warranted his right to help the Air Nomads. At this time, Solzen became very unstable. Thousands of his citizens were killed, and he thought it was his own fault.

For so long the Earth Kingdom had set up a front acting like the entire situation was alright, and even despite their feelings of apparent forgiveness and forgetfulness, the Fire Lord, and Air Nomadic representatives insisted on helping them. But because of their front, the Fire Nation became a vulnerable target. Solzen was convinced, by his advisers, that the attack was not one of revenge, but of an action that targeted his peace loving ideals.

The Fire Lord, driven by his passion to avenge those deaths, and of protecting the will that he created, had declared war on the Earth Kingdom, yet the fighting was far from happening. It was strange though. When the Fire Lord's anger had risen to above a controllable state, it seemed the spirits above had heard his cries. There were several visions of a dragon that circled the space beyond the skies, one of which that had an immensely dangerous power that radiated from every one of its scales, and one of so much pure energy that those that could bend the raw energy of fire would then be strengthened, and could harness the power given off by the beast. It always jumped through many of the constellations and weaved around many of the stars. The sages, convinced that it was a signal from the heavens, a saving grace against their opposer's, convinced the Fire Lord to wait for its pass.

The day it did make its pass, the Fire Lord had summoned a preemptive strike, a blitzkrieg or sorts, and then deployed the vast navy of the Fire Nation. On board the thousands of ships, were the soldiers that carried the white skull face plates, and within their minds, were the images of women, and children, of men, and the old, screaming in pain from the fierce heat that consumed and killed them, the fierce heat, that at once upon a time, they were able to bare. The Earth Kingdom had gone too far...

Unfortunately, nothing could stop this. "For when the world needed him the most he vanished." Avatar Aang had dissappeared at the young and joyous age of 12...

Peace had come to an end, and justice, or the perversion of its form, took its place. That beautiful land of peace that the world had once upon a time stumbled upon, was now completely burnt, transformed into a barren desert. The 100 year war had begun...

No one knew, exactly, the reason why the island was targeted, nor would anyone know about the inner workings of what was really going on. Everything was based on assumptions and unlike the Great War, there would be no Avatar to prevent the ensuing destruction. Prince Zuko was not one to question history, but something just didn't sit right with him. However, he would have to ponder on his questions later. Right now, he had two things to accomplish. One was to hide the library documents he stole from the Sage's Library before his mother caught him, and two, not let his mother catch him. After all, being wide awake, in the middle of the night, the night before training was not a good idea, and his mother would make sure of that if she found out that he was still under the candlelight, immersed in history.
Post - - A/N 1: There are a few things you should notice. For one, the dragon is Solzen's comet, and the beasts with the trails are actually asteroids (or are they...?). Now I know that maybe some of the details here can cause some confusion, but remember that where ever this story does not match a certain detail that's in the series, it was made so intentionally. However, even though I say this, please, if there is some thing wrong, just say it, and I'll address it. The mistake may be what I wanted to do, or maybe it was really a mistake.

Post - - A/N 2: By the way, Elenea mentioned that there was a spelling mistake in 'Prince' and 'Gyatso', in this chapter...GREAT CATCH, seriously (!), I missed that, even reading through that 3 times! So, I edited and replaced the chapter. By the way, if there is any odd formatting that seems out of place with what I'm using, don't blame me. I've posted this chapter up 6 times, and I'm tired of doing it again. Hopefully this is the last time it goes up.

Post - - A/N 3: I originally had a music idea. Well it goes like this. Every chapter has a song for it. That song is usually a movie theme or trailer theme. So that's the deal, and I'll tell you what it is whenever I think its appropriate. For now, the best song for most of the chapter is, "11 – Corynorhinus" by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard for the Batman Begins Soundtrack. But most importantly, its not the fact that you listen to these songs while you read the story, that make it amazing, but that you read the story with the songs that you think that fit, and that you like.

Post - - A/N 4: Most importantly how was the story so far? I put a lot (A LOT) of hours into writing the first chapter and was hoping that many of you would be happy with it.