A/N: Heyyy! So a lot of the plot I came up with is revealed in this chapter, so yey things are finally gonna start moving along! I thank you all for leaving me such nice reviews! They really keep me motivated! And I hope that you like this chapter. Think its the longest one yet.

Chapter 4. Murals

"Seven more days," Jinora mumbled against her palm.

"What's that?" Opal asked.

The two of them sat on a balcony, facing the south. Under them was a twenty foot drop into the ocean. Harsh waves were crushing against the island, daring them to fall. It was no more than midday, but a thick layer of dangerously dark clouds were blocking the sun over the horizon. The two of them had been watching it quietly until Jinora spoke.

"Nothing," Jinora mumbled and pulled her legs up against her chest.

Opal scuffed impatiently and turned to face her fully.

"Okay, Jinora, I'm sorry, but you've been in a terrible mood ever since the other's left, and if I'm honest -" she paused when Jinora eyed her tiredly.

The nightmares had not stopped ever since the night before Kai and the others left. They were getting worse as well. She hadn't meditated ever since she tried to lead that meditation session in the temple. She had tried many times, but every time she was faced with images more disturbing than the ones before. For the first time in her life, Jinora was not at peace, and it was driving her mad.

"Ehm," Opal considered her words. "You don't look so good."

"I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately," Jinora said and turned to look at the nearly black ocean.

"Yeah, you've said that already, but I don't think that's the whole story," Opal said, leaning over to try and catch Jinora's eye. "I mean, you look really ill."

It was true. Jinora was spooked by her own reflection at this point. Her skin was pale and her eyes were bloodshot. Dark circles had begun to form around her eyes as well. The latest development was a slight tremble in her fingers, something she was trying very hard to hide from Opal right now.

"Has Pema had a look at you at least?"

"Yeah. She gave me herbal tea and made me take a two hour long, soul cleansing, bath," Jinora said. "I'm supposed to stay in bed, but I just can't."

"Why not? You look like rest is exactly what you need," Opal said.

Jinora felt bad for making her worry about her, but had no energy to act differently. The last thing she wanted was to tell anyone about her grotesque dreams and visions, and in all honesty, there wasn't really anything physically wrong with her.

"Please tell me what's wrong, Jinora," Opal pleaded.

"Well, I keep having these nightmares," Jinora said absentmindedly. In the distance, to the south-east, a lightning struck over a mountain top for the second time since they sat down. Thunder rumbled faintly over the sky.

"About what?" Opal urged her on.

"Horrible things," Jinora said, pulling her eyes away from the mountain top. She sighed heavily. "You really don't want to know the details. But the things is, I'm starting to think they're not just dreams. I see the same things when I try to meditate. They're like visions. As if my subconscious is trying to tell me something."

"Tell you what?"

"I don't know," Jinora groaned quietly. "I can't figure it out."

A third lightning struck over the mountain top. Thunder rumbled a bit louder. Jinora frowned.

"If you tell me about it, maybe I can help you sort it out," Opal suggested.

Jinora blinked and had to force herself to look away from the mountain again. She looked at Opal for a moment, trying to decide whether the grim details were worth spilling. Opal's worried eyes made it hard to refuse.

"Well, I…" Jinora cleared her throat. A mild ache made her reach up and put a hand to her chest. It happened frequently now. "I keep dreaming that I'm dead,» she said, averting her eyes. "I think," she added, rubbing the aching spot on her chest.

"Dead?" Opal repeated breathlessly.

Another lightning struck over the mountain top.

"Yeah. Hey, did you see that lightning there?" Jinora asked hurriedly.

"Yeah. But Jinora, that is really serious stuff," Opal said, thinking that she was avoiding the subject.

"That is the fourth time it's struck in the same place," Jinora said, not paying attention to Opal.

"Lightning never strikes in the same place, Jinora," Opal said, arching her eye brow. "Are you sure you're okay to be out of bed?"

"I know, that's what's bothering me," Jinora said and turned to look at her friend.

Opal looked at her like she was losing it.

"I'm not imagining it," Jinora said slowly.

The ache in her chest grew stronger. She grimaced and gripped her chest tighter.

"What's going on?" Opal asked, grabbing Jinora's shoulder.

"I don't know. It really hurts," Jinora said, leaning forward.

Opal grabbed her, making sure she didn't fall over the edge.

"Common, Jinora. We better get you to bed," Opal said and carefully helped Jinora down from the wall.

On their way back up to the temple, Jinora looked over her shoulder. Just as she did, a fifth lightning struck over the same mountain top. It was closely followed by an ear deafening thunder.

In the Earth Kingdom things were moving slowly.

The old monk had reluctantly agreed to let the group into the temple, but refused to spill any helpful information about the storm. It had led to a very impatient Korra, which meant that it was up to Tenzin to hold her back whenever she was hit by the urge to turn to violence.

Between all the shouting and fighting, Kai found it easy to sneak out of the main hall and down one of the many halls in the temple. The monk had specifically said to only stay in the hall, but Kai had never been one to stay in one place for too long.

His footsteps were the only sound as he made his way down the dimly lit hallways.

He blinked curiously as he found a mural around the next corner. It was hard to make out the details in the dark, but he could see a figure that looked like a dark spirit. Only it was enormous. A blue glowing person, probably the avatar, was depicted under it.

Kai followed the paintings, squinting his eyes to try and see better. In the next picture, the spirit was put in a cage by the glowing person.

Next, the cage was surrounded by people, and it was opened. The spirit was flying free, but with white lines cutting through its form. Kai shrugged and moved on to the next picture, where the glowing person was meditating, while the spirit was hovering over him or her.

Kai put a hand to his chin. He had a nagging feeling that there was something about this mural. There was something he wasn't seeing.

"Kai?"

Kai jumped and nearly stumbled in his own feet at the sound of Bolin calling out to him.

"Ey, why are you so jumpy?" Bolin asked, holding his hands up.

"Gah... I was just in deep thought," Kai said. "Don't tell Korra you caught me off guard, please," he added, a hint of fear striking his features. "She'll make me do more avatar training."

"You're secret is safe with me," Bolin said. "But what are you doing here? We're supposed to stay in the hall."

"Uhm, I got bored," Kai said and chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I totally get that," Bolin said and tilted his head to the side. "But this is exactly why Mako didn't want me to keep you when we first found you."

"Keep me?" Kai repeated with a chuckle.

Bolin completely ignored it and put his arms around Kai's shoulders.

"You gotta fight your old impulses more, little bro," Bolin continued and walked Kai all the way back to the main hall. They slipped in discreetly in the middle of one of Korra's louder counter arguments.

"What do you mean I can't take this thing back to the spirit world? I am the avatar! I am more than strong enough!"

The monk was sitting with his robes around him like a birds nest. He was in a wooden chair that squeaked every time he moved, behind a desk that was covered in old scrolls and empty ink pots. Korra was leaning dangerously over the desk, staring him down with her famous avatar death glare.

"You are hosting the spirit of Raava, already, avatar. Your vessel is occupied," the monk said and smiled weakly.

Korra pointed her finger at him, squinting her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't you give me that smug little smirk, you little -"

"Korra," Tenzin said strictly. "Take a few deep breaths before you continue speaking."

In the other end of the hall, Asami and Mako were both sitting in a sofa. Asami looked like she was about to fall asleep, and Mako had resorted to looking up other villages where they might find more helpful people.

"Wait, so if the avatar can't host it, what was that glowy person in the murals doing with that huge spirit?" Kai asked before he or Bolin could stop him.

An awkward silence followed.

"The murals don't depict the avatar," the monks said slowly. His wrinkles changed into a sour grimace. "And it seems your youngest member has abused my hospitality."

"Kai," Tenzin said under his breath, sending him a stern look. Kai averted his eyes.

"Wait. What are you talking about?" Korra asked looking at Kai.

Kai sent a uncertain glance towards the old monk, but it seemed the damage had already been done. Might as well keep damaging.

"I found this mural about a huge spirit that was caged by a glowing person. I figured that it had to be the avatar, because, you know, it looked kinda avatar state-ish. And then some people freed the spirit, and it looked like it was broken. Then it went back to the avatar," Kai said gesturing wildly as he tried to make sense of his observations.

"A fine assessment," Tenzin muttered under his breath.

The monk sighed and sunk down in his robes. Without warning, Mako jumped up like a police dog catching the scent of a bad guy.

"He didn't want us to see that mural," he said, pointing at the monk with his pencil.

The monk's eyebrows twitched. His wrinkles seemed to grow deeper as his grimace turned even sourer.

Korra rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Alright, old man. You have three seconds to start talking, or I'm gonna start flipping things in here," she said, cracking her knuckles.

The monk sighed.

"And you better start from the beginning," Korra continued.

The monk eyed her defiantly.

"Is this precious to you?" Korra asked and picked up one of the gold bound scrolls on his desk.

"Don't touch that!" the monk croaked.

Korra arched her eye brows and started unrolling it.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything. Just put it down," the monk said, muttering something about holy items and reckless avatars.

Korra happily put it down and placed her hands on her hips instead.

"There is a dark spirit on the lose," he started.

His voice dropped even quieter, as if he was afraid to talk about it.

«It has been trapped in the physical world for centuries, caged by ignorant people. But now it is finally free. The problem is that it's imprisonment has made it weak. It has been in the wrong world for so long it's energy has split into several pieces and are now roaming the Earth Kingdom, searching for a host, strong enough to bind all the pieces together and take it back to the Spirit World.»

"That's a lot to process," Bolin said.

"Why was it trapped?" Asami asked.

"Who freed it?" Tenzin asked?

"What does any of this have to do with the weather?" Mako asked,

"WHO THE HELL IS THE HOST?" Korra shouted over everyone else.

"Legend has it that when it first entered our world, it disturbed the peace," the monk said.

"Tenzin, it is a legend. How do you not know about this?" Korra asked, interrupting the monk.

"Benders found a way to lock it away under ground, to make sure that it wouldn't cause any more damage to the earth. This is nothing but a cover up story of course. The way the Seishin sees it, the spirit turned dark because it was lost, confused. And instead of helping it, humans doomed their own world by keeping it locked up. Unfortunately, no one knows the exact events that occurred."

"I knew we should have brought Jinora. I bet she's read about this somewhere," Korra said, crossing her arms.

Kai felt a soft sting in his guts at the mention of Jinora's name.

"Don't believe everything he says, Korra. This man is a Seishin, a fanatic. He was raised on the fear of the apocalypse," Tenzin hissed back at Korra.

"We are not fanatics," the monk said coldly. "The spirit is real. It's destructive powers are upon us as we speak. It came to this world by mistake and instead of guiding it home we punished it. We trapped it for hundreds of years until it shattered into hundreds of pieces. But all of that is about to be made right."

"What are you saying?" Korra asked, her left eye lid twitching impatiently.

"As long as the spirit is in our world it will use its energy to try and summon all its pieces. That energy is what's causing this storm. It won't stop until it is in the vessel, and maybe even then the energy might keep disturbing our nature."

"Get to the point," Korra urged.

"If it doesn't get to the vessel soon, the world as we know it may end. The Seishin has known this time would come for years. We have found a way to correct the injustice and maybe, a way for the spirit to go home, and for our world to live on," he said, his voice getting hoarser by the minute.

Korra buried her face in her palms. Kai felt the sting in his guts grow more painful. There was something he was not seeing here.

"You mean to tell me you freed it?" Tenzin nearly shouted.

"We did," the monk said, swallowing hard. "But not before finding the vessel."

"Well, that's fine then, right?" Bolin chipped in happily. "I mean that is how we solve this right? Get the spirit home, the earth lives on? Right?"

"What'll happen to the vessel?" Korra asked skeptically.

"She will die," the monk said.

"Die?" Korra exclaimed.

"What do you mean 'she'?" Kai asked from the back of the room. No one seemed to hear him.

"It's a small sacrifice for the survival of the entire mankind," the monk tried.

"Oh, no, you. No one is dying on my watch. There has to be another way," Korra said.

"Well, who is the vessel, then?" Tenzin shot in.

The monk hesitated. He looked up at Tenzin for a long time, as if he needed to plan his words carefully.

"She is the only one who could carry out the task. Our only hope."

"Who?" Tenzin demanded.

"It's Jinora," Kai nearly whispered. He could feel his heart beating frantically in his chest. "They've sent it after Jinora."

Everyone stared at him at first, but then they turned to look at the monk. He was reaching for his staff when Korra slammed her fists onto the table. The bang was so loud the monk jumped back into his seat.

"Are you not even gonna deny it?" she demanded.

Tenzin was white as a sheet. His eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out of his skull at any time.

"She is of Avatar Aang's blood. She -"

"You sent a dark spirit to possess my fifteen year old daughter's body?!" Tenzin's voice made the very walls seem like they were trembling.

"She is an airbending master," the monk tried to explain. "She has a connection with the spirit world unlike any other."

"Who gave you the right to sacrifice her? She is my girl!" Tenzin cried out.

"She'll be doing what's right."

A gush of wind rushed through the hall, sending scrolls and furniture, and the monk himself flying backwards. When everyone looked up again, Kai was on the other side of the desk, pinning the monk to the wall behind him. His usually kind eyes were burning with rage.

"You hav to stop it now," Kai said through gritted teeth.

"It's too late. There is no way to call it back," the man said, his voice strained by Kai's grip on his robes.

"BUT SHE'LL DIE," Kai screamed.

Everyone moved at the same time, but Mako was the first to reach Kai's side. He pulled Kai away from the monk, fighting his wild protest like only a cop could do. The monk fell to the floor, gasping hoarsely for air.

"Kai, cool it!" Mako had to shout to get through to him. He gripped the younger boy's shoulders tightly, trying his best to hold him still.

"But didn't you -" Kai started, but gave up in despair when words failed him.

"I know, Kai, but losing your head isn't helping her," Mako said, eying him carefully.

"What are we gonna do?" Bolin asked, jogging in one place as if he was standing on hot coal.

"Asami, ready the airship," Tenzin said.

"What are you thinking?" Korra asked as she pulled the monk up to his feet.

"We're going to Republic city. That spirit isn't touching my daughter," Tenzin said, his voice dark with anger. "And we're taking him with us."

"Gotcha," Korra said.

She followed Asami out of the door, with a death grip around the old man's arm. In her other hand she held his staff.

"But you can't stop it," the monk said desperately, before Korra dragged him out of earshot.

"Are you okay, bro?» Bolin asked softly, walking up to Kai and Mako. Bolin was about to pull Kai into a massive hug, but Kai moved too quickly.

"Get off me," he said and pulled away from Mako's grip.

Kai stormed out of the temple, trying his best to keep the tears from falling from his eyes.

A/N: Thank you for making it all the way down here! As usual I appreciate any feedback. And in other news I hope you have a lovely day. Thank you! xx