I have finished Chapter 5 and it is ready for your reading pleasure!
The sky looked like it had a perpetually bleeding open wound. The red bled through the sky and spanned out as far as Korra could see. She and Katara ran as fast as they could to reach the Spirit Oasis in time. Korra sped past the elderly woman. She turned towards her trailing friend. Katara called out to her, "Go ahead Korra! Time is of the essence."
Korra sprinted as fast as she could. The higher she climbed, the more urgent the situation felt. Her presence seemed to be a bother to something at the oasis. Adrenaline pulsed through Korra's veins. She had never felt more needed in here than right now.
The moon sunk into a deeper and deeper shade of red, then it would glow bright red. It was strange. Like something was trying to heal the moon, but the moon was too hurt. It was bleeding, hemorrhaging.
Korra reached the Spirit Oasis and the aura was completely different than it had been night before. The full moon phase created such negative energy in a place of such spirituality, which made no sense to Korra. She tried to catch her breath. Korra, over here a woman's voice said, in pain. Korra turned her head towards the pond where the two fish swam.
She sat along the edge of the pond and watched the fish dance. It looked off. The two fish were not swimming in a single circular motion, dancing with one another. Rather, the two were swimming in two separate circles, in completely opposite directions.
Katara had reached the oasis, and Korra signaled her over to the pond. Katara walked over and looked down into the water. Katara bent her knees and peered closer into the pool. "This is not good Korra." She stated sternly.
Korra looked up at her mentor helplessly, "What do we do Katara?"
"It's not what we can do-it's what you have to do."
Korra's eyes bulged open shock. She went into a state of panic. It was the first spiritual task Korra was presented as the Avatar, and she had no clue on how to handle the situation.
Korra folded her legs, shut her eyes, and tried to briefly meditate, to think of something. Okay Korra, she thought, you're the Avatar. You can figure this out. Why are the fish swimming in opposite directions tonight, on the night of the full moon? Is it something in the physical realm or spiritual? I have no clue on how to get into the Spirit World. I really hope that this is a problem I can deal with here. Korra's eyes lit up. She had an idea.
Tahno had run home as fast as he could. There were screams echoing throughout the city. It was horrifying, and to make matters worse, he had no idea what was going on. He was defenseless and frightened. He looked up at the blood red moon, and it pierced his soul; it pained him to look at it. He felt strange, like he wasn't alone in his own head. He shook his head, his hair swaying quickly, and sprinted home. He needed to be home.
He climbed up the stairs and kicked the door down. "Mom? Dad?" he called out urgently.
Zhang had walked into the main room, "Tahno! Good you're home. Wouldn't want you out on the streets tonight," he said nonchalant.
"What do you mean?"
"Strange things happen to people here during the full moon. You've been away from home so long, but it started a few years after you moved to Republic City."
"What strange things?"
Crash. Another door in apartment had been kicked down. Tahno looked at his father, and from the expression on Zhang's face, that door was supposed to stay closed.
Out walked Kaya. "Hey Mom!" Tahno sang. He walked over to his mother to give her a hug when he was pulled back quickly by his father.
"Tahno, no!" Then Zhang began to make gargling sounds, and his body was flailing around uncontrollably.
Tahno watched his father writhing in pain in horror. He turned towards his mother to see that her eyes were not the usual waterbender blue that he had grown up to. Her eyes were red, like the color of the moon. She was grinning nefariously and moving her hands like a puppeteer; she was bloodbending.
Zhang's body convulsed and then he was thrown to the ground. He lay on the floor unconscious, blood beginning to spill out from his mouth.
Tahno froze. He didn't know whether to run away, or run to his fathers' aid. He chose to flee. As he sprinted towards the doorway, he had stopped against his own will. "Where do you think you're going, son?" Kaya asked evilly. There was a strange tone to her voice; it was deeper, but more than that. It sounded as if there were two people speaking at once; Kaya's feminine voice, and a deeper more brooding male voice.
Against his own control, Tahno's body stiffened. His legs snapped together, his arms slapped his thighs; he stood at attention. He could feel the bruises form on his legs. "Look at daddy's little soldier boy," Kaya seethed, "But you're not his little soldier boy, are you? Oh no no no, you're his little pro-bending failure."
Tahno tried to ignore the words spewing out of his mother's mouth; it stung. He shook his head. This wasn't his mother, she was different. Kaya looked inherently evil, she barely seemed human. Tahno took one step forward towards his mother; his head darted down to look at his feet. They had a mind of their own, or Tahno figured that the infamy of bloodbending was not a myth, but inherently true. His own mother who bore him, and raised him with tender loving care, was now manipulating his limbs.
He cringed in pain. She wasn't just controlling him, he felt his insides being twisted and torn at the will of her hands. "Come give mommy a hug sweetie," she called out sinisterly. Tahno kept stepping forward though he had wanted to run away.
The pain was gruesome, it didn't hurt this much to have his bending removed by Amon. This was far worse. He stood in front of Kaya, and looked down at his mother. "Why mom?" he whimpered.
"Just because," she retorted curtly.
She flicked her hand and Tahno had fallen unconscious on the floor, by the hand of his own mother.
Korra carefully examined the white fish Tui and noticed that it was swimming in a sporadic pattern. It swam in a circular motion, but it wasn't fluid. Rather, the fish made waves within a circle. It wasn't a continuous line that was smooth; it was uncomfortable and awkward.
It had been darker than usual. The moon could not provide its usual luminescence. Korra tried to be as resourceful as she could; she was in a high pressure situation. She was clueless as to what was happening and why, but it was most certainly a stressful time and place.
Korra was a walking torch. She held up her palm and ignited a small flame that was bright enough to help her see in the near-blinding darkness. Korra continued to look at Tui. Korra ruled out that the redness of the moon was caused by the ocean spirit; the relation made little sense. The only other reasonable explanation was the moon spirit.
It was either hurt, or going crazy, but Korra had to figure out which and fast. The fish wove its way through the water, and Korra was vigil. She hadn't blinked, and her breathing was soft. Every little motion she made mattered.
Then she saw it. The split second the fish swam by her, it revealed something on its belly. Korra waterbended the fish out of the water, but kept a bubble around the head to keep it alive. It looked like a large bruise, but it was bright red. Korra gently placed her fingertips on the fish's scaly surface. "Ow!" she cried, pulling her hand away quickly.
Whatever this bruise was it was extremely hot to the touch. "Katara, what do you think this is?" Korra questioned bringing the fish closer for Katara to see.
The elder carefully examined the strange mark on the fish and answered, "I have never seen anything like this in my life. But I know it's not natural."
"What should I do?"
"I'll try healing it." Katara lifted her hands, and pulled some water out of the surrounding ice while Korra held the fish steady within the bubble. The ice water glowed bright blue as the water attempted to heal the moon spirit's mysterious mark. Nothing happened. "Peculiar," Katara added.
All of a sudden, the fish jumped out of Korra's hands and the tail slapped her in the face. It dove back into the pond, and kept making the sporadic uneven circles.
Korra rubbed the spot where the fish had rudely slapped her. "Why you little…" Korra grunted. She huffed, and laid back on the grass trying to think of something. She began to hear strange noises from afar.
Curious, Korra walked to the edge of the oasis that overlooked the entire city, and saw a sea of people running away from another sea of people. Korra left the oasis to get a better look at the happenings. She began to run down the road until she could hear individual screams of pain. She stopped mid-stride. The people who were running were contorting their bodies in unnatural fashions. They were puppets.
Each person fell as fast as a bumble-fly, and the clean, white snow became stained with the blood of the runners. "Bloodbending," Korra whispered to herself, "It is real!"
She turned and ran back to the oasis. "Katara we have a huge problem! There are bloodbenders! Lots of them, coming right this way!" Korra shouted.
"Bloodbenders are only waterbenders…" Katara replied.
"Well these waterbenders aren't acting normal. They're not acting like people at all. They're like…they're like…BLOODBENDING ZOMBIES! They're hurting innocent people just because they can!"
Katara scoffed. "Korra, do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?"
Korra groaned, and pulled Katara to the edge of the oasis. Katara's eyes widened in shock. She watched the trail of blood extend down the main street of the city, and a mob quickly climbed the mountainside towards the Spirit Oasis. "Korra, we're running out of time." Katara said urgently.
"I know that!" Korra retorted.
She scurried back to the fish and tried to figure out something. Korra, the mysterious voice called out.
"What do you want from me?" Korra declared, talking to thin air. Katara shot her a confused glance, but said nothing of it.
I need your help.
"I know you do strange person, but I don't know how!"
Spirit water. Katara knows. Hurry, before he wins!
"Wait, before who wins? Gah!" Korra turned to Katara, "Katara, this strange voice keeps talking to me, and she told me something about spirit water. Do you know what that means?"
Katara gasped, and rushed to a small fountain at the oasis. "I don't know why I didn't use this first," she stated. She walked back to Korra, and handed Korra small, blue porcelain vile with an intricate design painted on it.
Korra took the vile and looked at it strangely, "What do I do with this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Heal the fish with the water inside it," Katara declared.
"But we tried healing it already…it didn't work."
"Try again. This water has special properties; it may be our last option. I'll get the fish out, and you heal it Korra."
Katara waved her arms with grace and fluidity, and the fish rose out of the water once again. Korra took a deep breath, and corked the vile. With the flick of her fingertips, a small blue orb emerged out of the water. Korra held her palm open, and the small orb began spinning in circles, glowing brighter and brighter the faster it spun.
She placed the water on the strangely warm bruise of Tui, and tried to heal the fish. The red mark slowly dissipated. A wide grin came over Korra's face until she saw something truly awful. The apparently gone abrasion had covered the whole fish. Tui had lost its white silky glow and looked blood red, like moon.
Korra heard a loud masculine roar, and the fish was thrown back in the water. The second the fish touched the water, the pond began to glow with blinding light. Korra and Katara looked away from the light. When the light seemed to fade away, the two waterbenders saw a man hovering over the pond.
He was tall and muscular, skin pale, eyes blood red. He wore silk red pants, shirtless, with fire tattoos adorning his chest. In his right hand, he held a long sword, blade black as night.
"Who are you?" Korra asked softly, trying to hold back tears of defeat. She had no idea what a spirit was supposed to look like, but the one in front of her was obviously evil.
The spirit furrowed his eyebrows. "I am Zheng Fu the Conqueror. You are the Avatar, I presume?" he bellowed.
Korra nodded slowly, clearly frightened.
He laughed heavily, "Well then…prepare to meet your end."
Exciting right? Who is Zheng Fu you might ask? Well all will be explained in the next chapter which should finished in a few days. Reviews are always appreciated! -Fire Bender