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Following in the trend of many other authors, From a Dusty Attic is a series of could-have-been & just-might-be stories. Some will be epic in sheer length and might be moved to their own one-shot, others just short enough to be called a chapter. All are open for adoption on the condition of asking first and if some garnish enough popularity, I may flesh them out into longer stories or at least add an additional scene or two. In any case, the dust and cobwebs have been wiped away so without further ado, I hope that you all enjoy:
From a Dusty Attic
By Corvus no Genmu
"Rage of the Avatars"
For a hundred years, the war has continued to rage in a constant state of teetering Balance of three sides while a fourth lay dead in the ashen remains of their once impenetrable mountain havens. For a century that injustice has remained free of vengeance, the crime unpunished and the original perpetrators paying only in the Spirit Realm while the seeds of their evil continued to grow and choke the once proud nation of flames and turn its people against everything it had stood for. The essence of the World, that which had given life to the lifeless, the elements to their respected denizens, and powers unrivaled to its Chosen, has grown angrier by the day to a point where She has grown to hate the youngest of Her children. Mankind has done a great evil by breaking the Balance but hope remains in the last of the Air Nomads, the current Chosen of the World who holds a thousand and one generation's worth of knowledge and power.
He whom the humans call the Avatar.
He has mastered the Air, the Water, and the Earth, but remains unbalanced from his hesitation in mastering the Fire. He who is supposed to be the very representative of the Balance in physical form. He is not eager to learn and those who could teach him cannot by their own choice or otherwise. The Essence of the World thought the childish Chosen a fool but had become proud that he had begun to master his true potential, to achieve the truest connection into Her Heart and wield Her Power at its fullest. He was moments away from achieving it, moments away from becoming a True Chosen when he was taken from her, the connection shattered like twine and his life forfeit to Death.
Fury made the molten blood of the World burn hotter, hatred made the earth tremble, despair churned the oceans into a froth, and vengeance was given voice by the howls of the wind. Seals ancient as the World itself began to slowly began to shine as locks came undone one piece at a time as those that lay within the impenetrable cages began to stir to life, awakened from their slumber by the will of the World, their jailer who in turn opened the gates to their freedom. The Four Scions of the World, all abominations of power unrivaled yet equaled to each other and whom had, from the moment of birth, unleashed naught but destruction upon everything that stood in their path, alive again and collared only by a shared purpose, the one solitary price for their freedom.
The Fangs of the Air.
The Claws of the Earth.
The Spires of the Water.
The Fury of the Flame.
The Four Great Avatars of Old are arising to their Mother's cries, Her fury intertwining with their own and strengthening it to cataclysmic altitudes. Let the fires of hell run rampant, the abysmal water churn into a frothing torrent, the earth quake in a continental upheaval, and the winds whip forth the full fury of heaven. The war to end all wars has begun so before you continue on, reading this last and final Book of the Avatar ask yourself one question…
Are you ready?
Azure and Crimson, Yang and Yin, Darkness and Light. The two dragons entwined around him in his fevered dreams of the numerable futures that could await him. One, azure as the deepest blue, represented words of false delights, of great tales of honor reestablished, of fatherly love and respect given to him, and a scar-less visage sitting rightfully upon the throne. The other, crimson as the flames he bent to his will, represented harsh truths, of the pure form of honor, of following his own destiny and the familial love of an uncle for his nephew. The throne room cracked and soon shattered like glass as his soul was being driven in two by the circling dragons. The azure spoke of rest, of sleeping in the grave. The crimson spoke of awakening, of realizing his true self.
The light destroyed them both and left Zuko alone with the heavenly woman standing before him in the garbs of a princess but unlike any the prince had ever seen before. For one thing, she was far too beautiful to be a mortal woman and though her hair was stark white, she appeared no older than he yet she seemed to possess a wisdom greater than his uncle all at once. At her brow was a trio of jeweled orbs arranged like a triangle and thrumming to the beat of a heart.
His false image gone, Zuko felt almost naked before the heavenly girl. Prince though he was, he felt every bit the fugitive that he had become. "Who… are you…?" Her smile brought an embarrassed flush to his face and he started to turn away from her when she spoke.
"Who I am does not matter. It is who you are that does. You are marked by fate, Zuko." His hand rose to his scar but was stopped by her own. "No. this mark is not one that mortal eyes can see. It's somewhere here…" She touched his chest, just above his heart. "Fate has marked you as someone of great importance to the World, Zuko. You and those farthest yet closest to you must together unite against what comes."
"What? What's coming?"
"Zuko… You have been out from your father's shadow for years, have you not seen the damage for yourself? The Balance of Nature is all but destroyed and the one remaining chance of restoring it lies in the hands of the very being you've sought to capture."
"The Avatar." Zuko whispered.
"The Last Airbender. The genocide of his people was a crime that can go unpunished no longer Zuko. She has grown tired of waiting. She demands justice but She waits to see what the human Avatar may do."
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "The human Avatar?" He repeated.
"You know that humans are not the masters of the elements, Zuko." She gently chided him. "They learned from their teachers and those teachers from the Avatars, the true and living embodiments of the four elements. The Essence of the World, that which humans have come to calling "God"." Zuko's eyes widened at that but she wasn't finished. "She is angry, Zuko. She is tired of waiting for peace, for the restoration of the Balance, for the humans to stop this senseless war of destruction and conquest. The comet comes soon Zuko and what Ozai plans to do… She will sooner see the destruction of all life by Her will than to let it fall to the whims of a madman.
"She will break the bonds that hold the Avatars and unleash them upon the planet once more. I cannot stop them alone and if events should lead to their release… I don't think that I'll want to either."
Zuko stared at the woman finding himself at a loss for words save for one all-encompassing question. "Who are you?"
She smiled sadly and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss upon his brow. "A friend, Zuko… and, a messenger." She vanished away into a haze of butterflies and Zuko awoke to an all-too familiar ceiling feeling strangely refreshed yet empty at the same time as his lips unconsciously moved to a name.
"Mosura…"
With Zuko, Iroh, and Katara distracted by the Dai Li, Azula did the one thing that she would forever regret for the rest of her life…
She struck the Avatar and severed his connection to the elements… and thus damned every living human all in one blow.
The Avatar fell to the earth, dying if not already dead, Katara screaming in horror while the two firebenders could only stare in shock, one in revulsion and another in growing horror. Zuko turned to face his sister, daggers of flame at hand, but stopped at the sight of the ethereal princess from his fever dreams standing before Azula.
"Do you have any idea as to what you've done?" she asked the younger girl. "What disaster you've brought upon this world?"
"I've done the impossible!" exclaimed Azula, a cruel smile on her face. "I've killed the Avatar!"
"No… you've merely condemned us all."
The island of Avatar Kyoshi, which was so named by its creator, was being torn apart from the inside. Ancient trees fell dead to the ground and great stone mountains began to crumble as great monstrous claws dug through the earth before a golden horn pierced through the thick skin of the World and a fanged maw breathed fresh air once again and screamed in exhalation of it. Finned ears shook themselves clear of dirt and debris, scales the color of freshly red clay shining in the light of the sun. Large enough to swallow an elephant koi whole, the terrific beast rose slowly to its hind legs as the horn atop its forehead shined with golden light. The beast sniffed the air before turning blood red eyes to the northeast. Lips curled in a vicious growl, the beast fell to all-fours with earth-trembling force. Those few people still left alive to be aware of the cause of the disaster that had befallen their island home could only watch in mounting horror as Baragon the Earth's Claws roared his fury to the heavens before digging down into the ground and disappearing once more into the earth.
Off the shores of the South Pole, the waters were frothing into a thick boil as massive chunks of ice fell away and exploded upwards into the air from the heat of the water. Thousands of marine life swam for their lives only to die as the arctic waters boiled them alive. From the middle of this massive boil rose a solitary iceberg that bore no smooth crystalline surface but a cruel field of spikes larger than any icicle had right to be. The waters suddenly cooled as a head bearing a crown of horns cleared the waters. A snort from nostrils large enough for a man to walk through unleashed a thick fog upon the cooling sea. A thick tail rose up from the waves, sporting a thick club of spikes upon its tip that came crashing down as the monster's head turned to the north, great tusked mouth opening in a baleful cry. Those of the southern village of the Water Tribe, the women and children left behind, could only watch as Anguirus the Water's Spires dove back down into the waves and disappeared beneath the ice.
Atop the mountain of the northern Air Temple, the skies were dark as night though the sun was only just now beginning to set upon the horizon. Great bolts of lightning shot through the air like jagged javelins as the roaring wind ripped the stonework of the ancient temple upwards into the sky before shooting them back down at unparalleled speeds. The darkening clouds slowly started to circle but no twister came slinking down, no, something much worse emerged as the air was rent by a terrible roar that echoed down the entire mountain range. A massively lithe form landed atop the temple's rooftops, crushing it with weight and claw. A reptilian that bore the features of a bat yet colored like fresh dawn gazed hatefully down the mountain and, seeing the bleached bones of the dead still remaining, screamed its fury once more as a lizard's tail opened up into a massive fan that crashed down and brought forth another gale. The spiked head turned to the south and a serpent's tongue tasted the wind. No one left alive to witness his return, Varan the Wind's Fangs leapt from the mountain temple glided upwards into the dark storm that followed in his wake.
Within the volcano of the nearby Fire Temple, lava was spewing upwards in great plumes as ash and smoke alike rose to the heavens and blackened the sky. Thick cracks issued out thin clouds of sulfurous gas that ignited into towers of fire. Anything remotely flammable had already been burnt into ash from the rising heat of the suddenly rejuvenated volcano and those few sage that had let the evil of their lord touch their hearts were the first amongst the mounting dead though the temple and its sacred relics remained untouched despite the increasing onslaught. A roar echoed outwards from the depths of the volcano before the fires suddenly died down into embers and molten rock became hardened stone in an instant. As the thick smoke began to thrift into the air, a gigantic form could be seen walking out from the volcano's center. The monster was massive and black as fresh obsidian with thick spikes and horns the color of liquid silver. Entirely draconic but thicker built like an ancient thunder lizard rather than a young serpent, the monster stood on four great legs and a large tail followed along behind it. The monster glared downwards at the fire temple and snorted, turning gleaming molten eyes towards the east. A blast of white flames ripped through the air from the beast's mouth. The one sage still left alive watched in his final minutes as Garuga the Flame's Fury flew upwards into the sky on wings of freshly spilled blood.
"Condemned?" hissed Azula.
The unearthly beauty merely shook her head before stiffening and looking about herself in obvious fear. "They are coming… Quickly!" She appeared instantly by Zuko's side. "You must get out of the city as fast as you can!"
"What?" A groaning roar echoed from above the cavern's waterfall and one could just see the silhouette of a flying-bison through the rushing waters. Katara glanced upwards before looking down at the comatose Avatar within her arms.
"Come on, we're getting out of here." She shot a look towards Iroh and Zuko. "All of us."
"I think not!" Azula shot a blast of blue-fire only for it to bounce away from the glowing orb of light surrounding the group. "What?"
"Go!" ordered the ethereal girl, her arms spread and her glimmering wings fully extended from her back. "I'll keep them back as long as I can."
Baragon was drawing closer to the source of his sudden reawakening. He could almost taste it in the dirt surrounding him as he tunneled beneath the ground with nary a sign of his passing presence.
Anguirus could sense Mother's frustration and the waters surrounding him began to boil as he sped onwards.
Varan grinned and dove downwards, grazing the land and reveling in the destruction that followed him.
Garuga flew forward, his eyes only towards where his brethren would eventually meet for the first time in several millennia as the trees below him ignited with every flap of his wings.
"We should go back!" growled Zuko, his good eye narrowed and his teeth clenching tightly. "We've got to evacuate the city!"
"Hey, even if your monsters are real," said Toph. "What makes you think anyone else will believe you? You're Fire-Nation remember?" Zuko clenched his fists tightly and glared at the blind girl.
"Now, now…" murmured the Earth King. "We mustn't fight that we should not…"
"How can we not?" grumbled Toph. "Twinkletoes is out of commission, the Earth Kingdom has fallen, we're on the run from that psycho and the Dai Li, and we've supposedly got a bunch of monsters coming to destroy the world."
Zuko was about to retort when a golden butterfly landed atop his nose. "What?"
"Land," whispered the butterfly, loud enough for all of them to hear. "Quickly. Get into the caves."
Katara glanced downwards and saw a large cave imbedded deep in one of the Earth Kingdom's numerous mountains. Appa quickly flew downwards and landed at the cave's entrance and growled at the darkness but shuffled forward regardless of his fears. His partner was in danger and he too could sense the approaching presences of the Old Ones as well as any of the elemental wielders could though the humans knew not this feeling for what it was. To them, this was the fear of loss, the dismay of another failure, and the revulsion of a victory so close only to be taken afar. These thoughts and others like them were swiftly silenced by a horrendous shriek coming from above the mountain.
Eyes turned upwards into the sky as a large form glided downwards and shrieked again as the massive body of Varan came crashing down at the mountain's base. Serpent's tongue tasted the air and his spiked head turned every which way in confusion. Batty nostrils flared for added depth but no good. Perhaps it was a mistake in the wind, but whatever the case it was time to move onward. The Fangs of the Wind leapt into the air and let the air carry him onwards towards Ba Sing Se as more roars echoed in the remaining three corners.
"Was that… one of your monsters Sparky?" whispered Toph, shaken to the core just from the sound of the creature's roars.
