Book 1: Fearless
Chapter 8: Falling Inside the Black
The dream did not come this time. Aang did not see Kayo. In fact he didn't see anything. There was nothing but total darkness. As he reached out in front of him, he saw his hand, but beyond that there was nothing. It was like standing on the ribbon road while trying to unlock his last chakra. The only difference was that there were no stars, there was no road, and there was no giant version of himself. He stood there for a long time not knowing what to think about this place in his dreams. It was odd because he knew that he was dreaming. At first he thought he was just having some very strange dream with no meaning. But as time went by and he didn't wake up, he began to question his first interpretation. He began to try to wake himself, but to no avail. Nothing he did would wake him.
Suddenly a bright light shone around him. He took a fighting stance and looked around. But there was no one.
"You don't need to do that," said a voice. It was like the voice of a young child, innocent and yet somehow filled with age and wisdom.
Aang spun around, looking for the source of the voice. He saw nothing.
"You can't see me," the voice said again. "I'm not going to reveal myself to you. You aren't ready."
"Who are you? WHAT are you?" said Aang, repeating the words he had spoken to Kayo, no more than two days ago.
The voice laughed. It was a laugh filled with joy and peace. "Your not ready for that either," it said. "But don't worry, I'll tell you in time."
"Well, can you tell me what I'm doing here? I've been stuck in this place for a long time and I can't wake up."
The voice laughed again. It said in a voice full of laughter, "You can't wake up because I'm not letting you. I have something important to tell you." The voice suddenly became serious. "It is very important for you to understand that you died in the Crystal Catacombs. Because Katara had water from the spirit oasis, the spirits were able to heal your body by focusing their energy through it. However, they were not able to heal your Avatar Spirit. Because of this, you are not able enter the Avatar State without your body being drained of most of its energy. That is why you were in such pain when you woke after the battle with Kayo."
"Okay. How do I fix this," said Aang.
"You can't. It is now a permanent part of who you are. But thats not what I kept you here to talk about. While fighting Kayo, you entered the Avatar State, but then you went one step further. And that one step further is why you are here."
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Aang interrupted. "How do you know so much about me? I've never met you before, but you seem to know my entire life."
The voice giggled a little. "That will be explained when you are ready to know who and what I am," it said. "But at the moment you aren't ready for this knowledge."
"Come on. I'm not just going to sit here and listen to you if aren't going to tell me how you know so much about me," said Aang.
For a moment, there was complete silence. Then the voice sighed. "Very well. I will give a kind of explanation of what I am, though I can't give a good one in words you would understand. I am sort of like a spirit, though not exactly. And I am the 'spirit' who watches over the Avatar."
Aang just stood there, mulling over the explanation the 'spirit' had given him. After a short time he said, "Fine. I'll listen to you for a while. But I expect you to give a better explanation later."
The voiced giggled again.
"Okay. Now that we have that behind us, I suspect that you are ready to learn how you held Kayo off," said the voice. Aang nodded. "Lets begin."
"When you engaged Kayo in the Avatar State, you triggered an effect that only one in a hundred Avatars ever discover. You entered the second stage of the Avatar State. You entered the Time Bending State."
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought I should give an explanation of what happened to Aang's Avatar Spirit, so heres my version of what happens. Leave me a reply.