Tenzin would have been proud. All those lessons and lectures and meditation sessions that he had coerced her into during her rebellious years actually paid off. Just before the blazing heel came crashing down on her skull, Korra exhaled a breath of such magnitude that it sent her body flying back. With her throat and nostrils burning from the sudden use of such forceful airbending, she staggered to her feet. What greeted her was the sight of an unbruised, unbroken and ever so youthful Azula, who despite her knotted and unwashed hair, remained utterly picturesque. All except for an unwavering smile that coldly resembled that of a serpent.
Her eyes darted around her person, peering over her new appearance like she were a living work of art. Her smile widened, followed by a laugh that was unburdened by age.
"Marvellous," she grinned.
With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a deep blue flame in the palm of her hand, one whose colour and ferocity was ten times greater than when she was an old woman. The fire danced in her eyes, gazing over it like it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
"What an illustrious gift you have given me, Avatar."
The impact of Korra's fist was staggering, but was hardly as frightening as Azula's reaction. With a single motion her arm had blocked the punch and was easily keeping it in place, her eyes not once drifting from the fire in her hand.
Puffing and grunting, Korra tried to force it further, but to no avail.
"I suppose I should show you my gratitude," she replied before letting loose a single swing that knocked Korra's arm back, leaving plenty of room for her leg to reach its mark by smashing into her side.
Spluttering, Korra had barely any time to react before the escaped convict began a feral assault with her fists. With speed and reflexes beyond anything she had seen before, the Avatar soon found herself on the receiving end of a plethora of heavy blows that managed to slip her guard. It was a deadly dance built on such relentless precision that she had no time to repel it her with bending. As she felt her jaw shake from the impact of a rather nasty uppercut, she mustered whatever strength was left and forced both her arms forward to try and push her attacker off balance, only for Azula to beat her to the punch and grab onto her wrists, holding her in place. Their eyes finally meeting, the two could not look more opposite. Porcelain skin reflected against a battered and slightly bloody face.
"You're so slow Avatar, must get annoying being reincarnated into such a sluggish body," Azula chuckled.
"What did you do?!" Korra bit back.
"I think you'll find it's what we did, after all you did steady my aim," she said. "You allowed that old hunk of wood to burn, and gave me exactly what I wanted. As you can see, I was tad spryer in my youth," her words drenched in mockery, just as she brought her knee into Korra's sternum. "This is the face of the Fire Nation, its true heir, the one who struck down Avatar Aang and brought the Earth Kingdom to the brink of ruin."
Korra could barely breathe but was still just about managing to hold on.
"Whatever you're planning...whatever is lurking inside that twisted head of yours...I am going to stop you," she growled, teeth clenched and veins pulsing.
"Look, you're the new girl so I'll let you down gently," Azula retorted, just before following it up with a strike to the breastbone. "I am beyond anything you have ever faced. In my prime, I burnt whole cities to the ground and stepped on their ashes, but now..." she grinned as her hands suddenly became alight with blue fire. "I will burn this rotten world to its core."
Korra's agonising screams echoed across the Spirit World. Her flesh charring as Azula's enflamed fingers held on tightly. A few more minutes of this and there was little doubt that she would melt through to the bone. As the pain circulated through her body, she forced her tear-stained eyes to focus. Her cries of pain slowly began to shift towards the growls you would hear from a corned animal.
"I...won't...LET YOU!"
Light filled her eyes as the Avatar State surged into being. Not wasting a single moment she slammed her foot into the earth below, causing a torrent of rock and stone to rise up between them. As the wall shot out from the ground and forced the two apart, Korra drove her palm forward, unleashing a burst of airbending that cracked through it like a hammer. The resulting shockwave hitting its mark as Azula was pushed back. Though devoid of breath, she still managed to hold her footing.
"Filthy Water Tribe spawn! Was that supposed to-"
Her insult was drowned out by the sea of fire that followed as Korra let loose with both hands, scorching the already broken ground. The flames flowed like the tide over the horizon. Time ironically enough seemed to slow as the fire churned and weaved, all the while Korra held out the vain hope that it would be enough.
A hope was soon dashed when the heart of the inferno was pierced by a staggering bolt of lightning, one that rose to strike the heavens above. The thunderous streak was beyond any that Korra had any seen, its magnificence only matched by the horror of watching Azula emerge practically unscathed. As the crackling light flowed from her fingertips, a serpentine smile had spread from ear to ear. With a final swing, Azula brought the lightning down like a sword.
Korra could only watch in horror as the flames were cleaved in two, leading to them dissipating in a beautiful rain of orange sparks, flickering out of existence one by one. Of course, she didn't have time admire the clash of elements, given how the bolt came crashing down towards her.
Perhaps it was another case of fate saving her backside or just dumb luck, because the attack landed just a hair away from her. She wasn't as lucky with the shockwave that came after. The burning fury of such powerful bending sent her flailing into the dirt, skin singed and bones creaking. As her vision turned hazy, she could only make out the blurry feet before her, and the echoes of a voice dripping with the joy of conquest.
"Looks like you lose, Avatar."
The heat once again smeared itself across Korra's face. The blue fire gathering before her. She couldn't even hold on to consciousness long enough to stare into the face of certain death.
How many times had she been here? The edge of oblivion. The fringe of failure. In these dismal moments her mind could not help but springboard back to her other ordeals. Having her bending sealed by Amon, tasting the venom of the Red Lotus, suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Kuvira. At each threshold she felt her body at the border of failing her, and cascading into the abyss. Yet she did not fall.
Nor would she fall now.
Once again her eyes became emblazoned with the light of the Avatar State. She reached out, arms raised, fingers stretching into the flames. No sense of pain followed thereafter, only silence.
"Korra?"
The voice was aged yet sweet, like a fine wine. It spurned the Avatar's eyelids open as the haze slowly faded.
"My, my. You sure know how to make a commotion. I don't think there's a soul for miles that didn't hear all that racket."
"That voice..." Korra found herself pushing herself up off the scorched ground, the numbness in her muscles still lingering. When she looked up she found herself greeted by the tender smile of an old man, the greyness of his beard only contrasted by the vitality of his eyes.
"Iroh?"
"It is good to see you again, child" he said softly as he reached down and helped her to her knees. Just from a single touch Korra could feel warmth flowing through her body, though the chips in her bones were still hard to ignore.
"What are you doing here? Where did you..." before she could even begin questioning the older man she cut herself off, eyes ripe with alarm as she whirled around in panic. "Azula!"
"Yes."
"She was just here! I...I fought her, and..."
"She is no longer here," Iroh said as his eyes graced the destruction around them, a cold expression on his face. "Though I have no doubt, my niece shall return from the shadows to strike anew."
"...Oh no," Korra turned to see the ruins of what had once been the Tree of Time. Only a large stump remained, its former splendour shattered, several of its branches and groves missing from sight. "It's destroyed."
"It has certainly seen better days."
Korra clenched her fists, too exhausted to summon the energy needed to scream out in anger, but the weight of her failings still stung.
Iroh cast a glance to her shaking figure before his smile returned.
"Peace, Korra. Do not drag yourself further into despair."
"Peace?!" she snapped back. "The Tree of Time is gone! All because I couldn't stop that maniac!" she felt a lump form in her throat. Defeat had never tasted so bitter. "I promised that I would stop her but all I did was make things worse! She...she's different now! After the tree was blown apart she - "
"Reclaimed her youth" Iroh interjected, his voice slightly sterner.
"You saw?"
"By the time I arrived I only caught a glimpse of your battle. After her last attack, she fled. Unless my eyesight has withered further since I entered the Spirit World, she looked no younger than she had been during the time of Avatar Aang."
"How is that possible?"
"Time is a fickle thing," he said as he began to walk towards the tree. As he arrived at the wreckage of wood, he brushed against its smoking exterior, his face contorting like he were looking over a fresh carcass. "Perhaps it was divine will or the greatest of misfortunes, but it seems she has harnessed the tree's essence and reverted back to her prime" he sighed. "Decades on and I had hoped the poison in her mind would have faded, but it seems age has only fermented it."
"Is she still in the Spirit World?" Korra asked, holding onto an arm that looked a little worse for wear.
"No, I can longer sense her malice among us" he responded as he turned to face her. "She did not leave this fight unscathed, but it would be foolish to think she will not return. Her appetite for death is bottomless, and too many of her enemies still walk among the living."
"Then we have to find her," Korra said, renewed vigour burning inside her. "She's already killed dozens of innocents, I can't let her hurt anyone else!"
"Azula must be dealt with, on that we agree," he nodded. "However, I am afraid to say that she is not your most pressing concern."
"What?" Korra replied. "A psycho firebender with a grudge is on the loose! I have to warn Lord Zuko and the others before the worst happens!"
His hand rested on her shoulder. No hint of annoyance in his eyes, but rather one of understanding.
"As always, your heart rules your judgement. It's the quality I most admire about you, Korra. But you must listen to what I have to say. I am afraid that Azula's actions here have had far greater consequences than even she is aware of," he said, fingers tightening slightly. "As you know, the Tree of Time is no mere perennial plant. It is sacred ground, every root laced with ancient knowledge and power immeasurable," he explained. "It served as the prison for the dark spirit Vaatu for millennia."
"You don't have to remind me, it was Avatar Wan's last resort" she replied, the memories of her predecessor still fresh in her head.
"Famously so, but not even he ever truly understood its innermost secrets," he replied.
"What do you mean?" Korra asked.
"Time, space and the power to slip through them both is what one might call the ultimate bending technique. However, balance demands that the flow of time remain fluid, never to be altered by the hands of mortals. To manipulate the threads that stitch the cosmos together could mean the total collapse of all things. Of course, no mere bender could perform such a feat. It even extends beyond the reach of the Avatar," he explained.
Korra tried to follow his train of thought, his expression sagely yet disturbed all at once.
"However, it is not beyond the Tree of Time, for within its branches lies the potential to achieve this power. To walk along the binding thread and step onto the shores of worlds beyond our own. Thankfully, the tree does not possess the desires of man that would tempt such foolish acts...at least when it was whole."
"Iroh, what are you saying?" Korra asked.
From out of nowhere, thunder began to resonate above them, No, it was beyond thunder. It was like a chorus of explosions the size of continents all overlapping together. The noise was almost otherworldly, cutting through Korra's ears relentlessly. She barely had time to register what was going on before the fluorescent sky above them began to darken. These were not the shadow of clouds, rather what could only be described as wounds of light, peeling open to reveal unnatural images. It was a spectacle that took the Avatar's breath away.
Iroh, however, simply stood and watched the event unfold with melancholy.
"The tree has not been destroyed, it has been shattered. It's branches broken off and scattered through time and space. Because of Azula, it is now unable to hold its form, and thus the power locked inside is spilling out. What I am saying, Korra," the worry in his eye coming to life, "is that we on the edge of catastrophe."