Kyle walked into the school with a job to do.
His girlfriend Kate was with him, but she didn't know anything about the 4 elements... so he'd have to keep that secret as well.
He hated secrets.
But he had to find out what Avatar was. And why it seemed to pertain to him... who's avatar? What's Avatar?
He considered that maybe it was some kind of experiment that his parents had gotten involved in which is what got them sent away from him... but it doesn't explain what the code-name could mean.
Brandon was sitting alone in the library trying to finish homework to be due 1st hour.
"Bro, I've got a problem." Kyle said, sitting down at the table.
"What's up?" Brandon asked, his eyes not waivering from his Algebra.
"What do you know about Avatar?"
Brandon looked up. "What's Avatar?"
"That's what I said."
"Where'd you get the name...? Sensei?"
"No... I was meditating last night and I ended up in the Spirit World." Kyle explained.
"Woah woah woah. Is that even possible?" Brandon asked.
"With long and powerful meditation yes... Only the greatest Air Nomads ever actually went into that version of Earth through meditation. I don't know how I did it."
"Maybe you dreamt it." Brandon suggested.
"I don't know... but the person I met said he was General Iroh 'The Dragon of the West'"
Brandon's eyes lit up, having been a firebender all his life he knew major names like Iroh. "The General Iroh? He freed the Earth Kingdom from Fire Nation rule in the 100 year war. He studied firebending from its most ancient source... the dragons... and that's where he got the nickname, 'The Dragon of the West.'"
"I wonder if Sensei would tell us anything about Avatar... and why I keep hearing it every time I meditate?"
"I don't know but we'll ask him tonight during dueling." Brandon decided.
"Sounds good to me, catch ya later."
...
"Hey Kate, I can't come over tonight..." Kyle told her frowning.
"Its okay I've got stuff I need to do anyway..."
Kyle frowned more... it had been the 4th time in a week he cancelled on her and he felt horrible but the Academy was strict about attendance.
He had only been with her since the end of October but it felt like so much longer... they had been friends since High School began and really went through it all as the best of friends. Then one night... they were hanging out and she asked him if he was as scared as she was... and then he knew she felt the same way he had for years. So he kissed her.
Kyle walked away, brushing off a tear that had broken free of his eye.
That night Kyle stood before an air nomad knighting ceremony.
His friend, Quinn, was being embroidered as the next airbending master. She had all ready chosen that she would leave the Academy and find the other benders ready for a change.
When Quinn rose from the ceremony, Kyle cheered with his air nomadic brothers and sisters... but he had a strange impending feeling of darkness lurking in his gut.
That night Kyle skipped meditation and slept, hoping for a brief respite from his mind's endless questions.
In the dream he was a firebender.
He threw several fireballs at the men who were pressuring him backwards, forcing him towards a large beam of light emerging from the ground.
"I need help over here!" Kyle yelled, stomping his foot and feeling the Earth rumble beneath his feet... wait now he's an earthbender?
The troops that attacked relentlessly fell to the ground and were swallowed up by pits of quick sand that had been created by Kyle's own mind.
A dozen more came forward but he was ready for them as well, he waved his arms in a seemingly random pattern, or at least, random until he saw the stream of water tracing his actions... Now he's a waterbender?
Finally, one stood above the others armed with a crossbow... he locked his sight at Kyle's chest and fired as Kyle sent a familiar blast of air that spiraled around the arrow and collided with the attacker.
But what was done was set... The arrow pierced his body just a hair off his heart.
Kyle dropped to his knees and coughed a fireball.
He ripped the arrow from its resting place and set it to burn as if it would aid the healing of the wound.
"Kozu!" A girl ran from nowhere and held his head as he gasped, trying to catch his breath.
"Polis... I haven't much time..." Kyle/Kozu muttered.
"No, you're gonna be okay." Polis promised.
"I have to end the dispute... this war has lasted 3 of my lifetimes... 3 long lives... if the Avatar can't bring peace between the benders and non-benders... then perhaps the Avatar should be lost to the ages..."
Kyle jolted out of bed, blasting his door with a useless gust of air...
"What was that?" Kyle wondered aloud.
He decided he'd have to talk to Sensei, and rather than waiting for morning he crept to the master's room.
Kyle knocked politely and was thrilled to see the door creak open, revealing the aging master of fire behind its veil.
"Good evening young airbender. Please come in... I've just put on a pot of tea." Sensei led him to the kitchen area of his room and closed the door behind him with a fireball. "Amazing that even at my age, the simplest uses of bending astounds."
Kyle took the cup of tea gratefully and sat cross-legged on the floor as per tradition..
"So, young Kyle... to what do I owe the pleasure of your company at this late hour?" Sensei inquired.
"Master, as you know my people hold meditation in high regards." Kyle explained, as sophisticated as he could muster. When the old master nodded he continued, "And in rare instances it has been proven that they are able to leave their bodies through astral projection and actually see the other dimensions without truly leaving the place of rest."
"And do you believe you have experienced this occurrence? I assure you the rarity of this phenomenon is so infinitesimal that there is but one every thousand years."
"I understand Sensei. But I claim nothing of the sort. I do, however, note that while in meditation I have envisioned myself in exotic places such as the Spirit World." Sensei's old eyes awoke with interest. "And even thought of a conversation that took place between myself and the Dragon of the West."
"General Iroh." Sensei sighed.
"Whilst in meditation, I consistently understood but one word muttered repetitively..." Kyle slowed to make sure he still had the master's attention.
It was really an art to talk to Sensei. He existed on formalities and wisdom... but he hadn't been in the outside world in over 40 years so he has a hard time with lingo and even language most people would consider mainstream. It was almost as hard as airbending.
Plus, if you didn't show yourself to be respectful and respectable, Sensei reasons why should he respect you enough to be of assistance to your work?
"And this word was what young airbender?" Sensei asked, at last.
"Avatar." Even as he said it, chills went down his spine.
Sensei nodded as if he understood.
"It came to me first in meditation, then again in my dreams... I've never heard of Avatar before... but it seems just sooo familiar. Like it's a part of me that I've forgotten."
"Interesting... explain further." Sensei requested.
"Is it a program? Or an ID? Maybe an ancient rank in old militaries, which would explain why I don't know it because the air nomads have never had a formal military..."
"Kyle." Sensei interrupted. "You are losing sight of what you seek... ask what you must, or return to your dormitory." Sensei ordered.
"What is Avatar?"
Sensei stood up and closed the door to his private library.
After several minutes of silence he answered,
"In the old days before the separation of benders and nonbenders the Avatar held it upon himself to keep balance in the world... they existed to protect the world from all that is evil."
"They?"
"Legend has it, that the Avatar was reborn into the next nation of the cycle as the predecessor passed on to the next life... therefore keeping the Avatar alive in legacy. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth... all of them, like the cycle of the season, in an endless circle of eternity."
"Why doesn't he exist anymore?" Kyle asked.
"His last life was spent separating our world from the mortal world... bringing peace to the warring ones and making those who seek to do wrong forget the existence of the 4 elements and those that control them."
"So he was never reborn?" Kyle questioned.
"If he was, his identity remains unknown to this day." Sensei admitted. "Without the entire world, the 4 nations, guessing where he'd appear in the next life he would have been lost to the ages... just a memory of a better time."
"How would we find him, if he still exists?" Kyle asked, intrigued by the prospect of finding the Avatar and bringing peace back to the world... it excited him... the idea of sharing his bending with Kate... so they could roam the skies together on his flying bison... Bonzu.
"He would be the most powerful bender anyone in this world has ever seen."