Author's Note: I'm back. :p With an interlude.
雲龍/Yúnlóng: Cloud Dragon
土龍/Tǔlóng: Earth Dragon
海龍/Hǎilóng: Sea Dragon
鳳龍/Fènglóng: Phoenix Dragon
气/Qi: Air
石/Shi: Stone
火/Huo: Fire
水/Shui: Water
陰影
Book One: Shadows
Chapter 1.5: Past Meets Present
Of course, the Clans have existed ever since life touched the land. What many do not know is that there are sub-divisions of the two main groups (which consist of the Fukanaga and the Ishina), each to its own. There is the Qi Clan, who pride themselves upon being masters of the Air. There is the Shi Clan, who are renowned for their control over the Earth. There is the Huo Clan, who are a vicious and fierce as the Fire they command. And there is the Shui Clan, who hold their influence over the vast swathes of Water. Separate, they are formidable foes. Together, they are unstoppable. Alas, there is a long-standing feud between each and every one of them, due to a long-lost conflict, and they will not work with one another as they should.
Unfortunately, their motives, while originally meant for the well-being of the world, have strayed towards unnamed, darkened paths that I shall not speak of here. The Qi and the Huo Clans, especially, seem to be drawing themselves away from the others, becoming reclusive and secretive. Their Primordials, the Yúnlóng and the Fènglóng, may have something to do with this unprecedented change, but all is known completely to only the gods above.
The actions and the whereabouts of the Hǎilóng and the Tǔlóng are unknown, as are their motives.
—Analysis of the Ancient Clans
Guyi
15,174 BSC
Jingsu, Aláphoë
Avatar Korra.
A deep voice resonated in her mind, a voice heavy with fatigue, yet still authoritative and powerful, vibrating deep into her very bones.
"And you are...?" she tentatively asked, her cerulean eyes probing the darkness for the source of the voice.
You will fail in your quest.
"Excuse me?" She scowled.
You heard me, young one. The voice sounded slightly irritated with her shortcoming. The SHADOW will accomplish its task, and the Avatar Spirit shall finally die. There is nothing you can do to stop it.
She quickly swept her tongue across her lips to moisten them. "Who are you to tell me I will fail? I—I don't even know what my objective is—I don't even know what a SHADOW is."
That, you will find out in time. Your current objective, Korra, whether you realize it or not, is to find...and kill that supposed 'abomination of nature'. A faint undertone of scorn entered the voice. I am telling you that you will not succeed. Will you continue on this mad venture?
She grew aggravated. "I will not have some inane, babbling spirit"—for she assumed that whoever was talking to her had to be a spirit—"who will not tell me who they are govern what will happen to myself and my fate."
A deep, throaty growl sounded through the void, and a pair of great blue sapphire eyes blinked into existence in front of her. Do not test me, young one. I know exactly what I speak of. I have seen it, and it shall come to pass. I see that you have chosen to continue along this doomed path.
"Hey, look here, spirit—"
Now, listen to me, the spirit rudely interjected. The SHADOW is not who you think she is. In regards, however, do not underestimate her. Your companion, this Avatar Aang, shall perish. Do not try to stop his demise. It will only mean the worst for your own end. What has happened years ago as vengeance from a bitter man against you and your kind shall finally be completely and totally carried out, for the SHADOW is not one to make careless mistakes. And last of all, remember that sometimes, in your darkest hour, you will find your true strength, and that strength is not what you may expect.
"Can you repeat that, only slower?"
The spirit's voice was solemn. Good-bye, Korra. We shall meet again in at one time or another, I promise you. Never forget who you are, for you shall, eventually, begin the cycle all over again.
And the eyes disappeared, but into her vision were melting tendrils of color, weaving and folding together to form a dream inside a dream.
A voice begins to speak; its timbre is strangely familiar, but it awakens a sense of terror and rage in her.
"Bending will be gone forever. It has to be eradicated for the new age to settle in.
"Avatar Aang was trapped in an iceberg, and like the cycle of the seasons, you will follow his fate into the sea. This is your inevitable demise. The era of bending has only just begun to crumble, but not for the reasons you recognize them to be.
"I'm not your enemy, Korra." Cerulean eyes blink at her apologetically, but Korra is simply horrorstruck as she stares at her reflection. "I only do what I understand is right. But you are making it difficult to do so...They say I am the anti-Avatar, who serves the DARKNESS and only wants to tear down the Archlight. But what is a shadow, Avatar? A shadow is neither black nor white; neither evil or good. It is you, yet it is not. For a shadow is the sum total of the meaning of your existence in this life...as well as the Cosmos and the Void. A shadow is your true name, for you simply cannot exist without one.
"I am a part of you, Korra, as you are to me. Without each other, neither of us can exist. And that will never change."
"But..." Korra stammered. "Who are you, really?"
Her reflection flashed her a feral grin. "You know who I am. You don't like me. I am the being who they call the SHADOW." She clucked something out in a language that Korra did not understand, and the great shadow beast from before winks into existence behind the apparition, still snarling at her and as disgusting as ever.
Korra tripped over her feet in trying to get away from her double. "You!"
The SHADOW merely takes a step towards the cursing Avatar. "I told you, Korra," she patiently admonished, brilliant blue eyes locking onto the Avatar's own pair. "I am not your enemy."
"You killed my friend. You invaded my dreams. You tortured me and you liked it. You sounded like a crazy kleptomaniac."
The SHADOW furrowed her brow in denial of Korra's wild accusations. "I did not kill your friend. I took his firebending away."
Korra choked before managing to regain some control over her uncooperative tongue. "You took his bending away?! I thought I'd already gone over this!"
"And as for the dream..."
If spirits could look sheepish, Korra's apparition was certainly doing a good job of it. "I apologize." She shrugged. "What else can I say? Xénus was watching."
"Your pet nearly killed me!" Korra protested, crooking a stiff finger at the shadow beast, who was still growling. "That could not have been an accident!"
"What? What is this 'pet' you speak of?"
Korra rolled her eyes in frustration and sheer impatience before jabbing a finger at the shadow beast once more. "That! That mutt right there!"
For the first time they had encountered each other, the SHADOW frowned in irritation. "Who, Shini? Shini wouldn't have hurt you. He's a Shûrdunal, one of the great protectors of the Primordials. A guardian against both the DARKNESS and the LIGHT." She nodded at the shadow beast, the one she referred to as "Shini", and the monstrous abomination of nature promptly padded over to Korra, who was frankly terrified of the thing and wanted nothing to do with a guardian that tried to kill her. Who could blame her for not trusting this clone of herself, anyways?
Shûrdunal sounded awfully similar to part of the word that Korra had almost blurted out in her disastrous speech anyways.
"Get—get that thing away from me!"
"He is not a thing and he will help you." The SHADOW rolled her eyes in exasperation. "The Shûrdunal are powerful creatures, Korra. There were only ever twelve in all of the Cosmos. They were formed from the same mass that carved the Primordials from the first Nebula. Somewhere, some time, somehow, you will learn to channel their power to augment your own respective bending type...for the time being. Shini here is a Water Elementalist, and thus, subordinate to the Hǎilóng."
"...The Sea Dragon?" Korra frowned, absently tracing the characters on her palm: 海龍. "What do dragons have to do with anything, much less one that's the sea?"
The SHADOW scowled. "Do not throw around the Primordials' names like you do with water," she warned. "Names have power. The Hǎilóng is not a 'dragon that is the sea', as you so crudely put it. No, the Sea Dragon—"
"If this Sea Dragon creature isn't a dragon that's the sea, what is it?" Korra snapped back, her patience beginning to wear thin with all this talk about history, which was her worst subject back at the White Lotus compound in the South Pole. She wasn't the least bit eager to relive any of those lectures before she passed on into the Spirit World.
"...Please refrain from interrupting my lesson. I'm trying to teach you something that is essential to your survival in the second age."
"Oh, so you suddenly became my teacher? In what? When did this happen? And what the hell is the second age?!"
"As I was saying," the SHADOW loudly overrode Korra, "the Hǎilóng was one of the Primordials who created this Cosmos that you currently reside in. The Void that contain the Cosmos, in turn, were created by the Ancient Ones, who are the oldest beings, sentient or not, to have existed."
Korra's blood ran cold as she recalled the great pair of icy eyes that had stared at her before the SHADOW came bustling into her dream. "...Are they still alive? The Ancient Ones?"
"Not a hide nor hair of them has been seen for millennia," the SHADOW coolly said, a hint of bitterness in her tone that caused Korra to wonder what she knew about them. "But they don't really matter at the moment. What matters is that you"—she poked a ghostly finger towards Korra's chest—"will die in approximately six months."
"...What." Korra's response came out flat and emotionless.
"Well, not really die," the SHADOW amended. "More like...get pushed to the brink of death, because your identity will be stolen—as with your bending—before you drown." She grinned at Korra's horrified expression. "I did say that you'd be following the footsteps of that little boy...what's his name? Avatar Aang. And afterwards...who knows where your destiny will take you?" She chuckled, seemingly at a joke that Korra didn't see nor understand. "After all, they've taken to calling you 'The Last One'. And it is never a good thing for them to be interested in one specific ren, Avatar or not...oh, and I also wasn't joking about finding the SHADOW and the INFINITY and the DESTINY."
"You are the SHADOW," Korra pointed out, extremely confused.
"I am but a mere representation of it. The true SHADOW is where I stem from and hell, it doesn't look like you in the slightest." She smiled mischievously. "But in any case, it's time to go."
"Wait! You mentioned something about a last one?" Korra lunged forwards desperately, trying to reach the SHADOW, but she merely stumbled through air instead. Her counterpart was completely intangible. "Tell me what that means!"
The SHADOW grinned again and mockingly gave the Avatar the finger. "Well, you see, it's a motherfucking surprise. Don't ask questions. Anyhow, I will leave Shini with you. When you wake up, I believe...you will be in Aláphoë."
"...Alá-what?"
"Really? It's not that hard to say. Al-ah-phoe-ee. The First Land."
"Um...oookay. And how is that supposed to help me in any way?"
"It won't," the SHADOW off-handedly replied. "Although, I have sent three of the Qi Clan looking for you. That is to say, the original Air Elementalists. Sorry about that. You might want to avoid them unless you desire for your head to be lopped off. Go to the Souna Docks, and my messenger from yesterday will be there with an important, ah, memo."
"Aang told me to avoid docks and bodies of water in general."
The SHADOW began to fade. "Who do you trust more?" she asked softly. "Avatar Aang or yourself?"
The sad part was that Korra didn't know how to answer that.
End Notes: *sighs* I really need to finish editing chapter two...it's been done for over a month. What is wrong with me...xD