Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Korra. It belongs to its creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, as well as Nickelodeon.
A lone figure, young, feminine and dressed in a Southern Water Tribe garb, groaned as she stirred from unconsciousness. Her entire body racked with pain the moment she woke. She never felt so weak before in her life. Not like this. Slowly, wincing with every cracking joint and aching muscle moving, she raised herself upon shaking arms and gazed up.
Her eyes widen with horror at the sight of Air Temple Island's tower scorched with ashen smoke.
Quickly, the women turned away, looking all over. Around her, fire consumed Air Temple Island. Every leaf and flower on a tree was consumed by flame while chunks of rock that supported the island crumbled. In the distance, she noticed a bright orange hue burning against an ashen-covered sky, a color emanating from the coast of Republic City's waters.
The woman gazed around some more and she found she wasn't alone. Sprawled across the training grounds of Air Temple Island were several persons. One wore a red scarf, another in a green jacket, and another in a long, dark overcoat. There were even three children, siblings, lying with a man dressed in the now-tattered robes of an Air Nomad and a woman in the uniform of the Metalbending police.
She quickly realized who they were. They were her friends, her mentor, and her family… all of them laid around her, unmoving and with no sign of life in them.
"N-no. This can't be happening…" the woman's voice quivered as tears ran down her face.
She couldn't deny it. She and all she loved gathered together to face a foe unlike anything they had seen. For what felt like an eternity ago, they fought against the enemy hard and long.
And they lost. All their efforts and sacrifices had been for naught as they were pushed back. And now, there was nothing left.
"NO!" The woman slammed a fist on the cracked ground. She choked on a sob. "It can't end like this. I-it just can't!"
A voice, deep and graveling, called out to her, "Oh, but it is."
She turned and she saw him. The long cape billowed against the deathly wind, its owner striding through ruined training grounds. The man cared little for the fallen as his fine boots took calm and careful steps over them.
The woman watched with anger welling inside of her. He dared to walk over her fallen friends? After all that happened, he could not leave her friends' corpses in peace?! The woman lifted to her right arm to attack, ready to unleash a blast of fire or wind–anything at him…
But it fell back onto the ground. There was not anything she could do. She used up all her strength in the fight. She was powerless to do anything.
With what little strength, the woman raised her head. She met her opponent to see the unrelenting fury in his gaze.
"What do you want?" she spat at him. "You've won, everything's yours. Just leave me alone!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that. Not yet, anyway," the man replied. "The people still remain at your side, but soon, they will come to me for help. They will see the true nature of the Spirits, as my people and I do. Soon, you vision will only be a bygone dream for this world and the Spirits will be no more."
"But you can't just remove the Spirits! They're part of our world as much as you and me!" the woman argued.
He showed no sign of anger or annoyance. Only the same, cold demeanor he bore. He replied, "The Spirits are an abomination. They have dirtied this world with their filthy hands. My people and I shall rectify that."
The woman slightly jerked in fear as the man took a step closer. "But first," he began as stretched his hands to the woman, "the bridge must be burned."
Teary eyes widen as one hand touched her shoulder. "No, please," she pleaded, but her voice was only a whisper.
"With you gone, the end of the Spirits will begin…" he continued, placing the other hand on the woman's forehead.
"Please, I beg you. Don't…"
"… and my empire shall be reborn." The man's eyes glowed, and then, everything was drowned in a flash of white light…
Avatar Korra let out a gasp of fright as she shot up from her bed, panting and gasping for air. She felt her own hands trembling, her cold sweat perspiring, and her mind raking with unease. And all in fear of what she saw, what she remembered.
She quickly reached for her hair and felt the dark tails. Her hair was still the same, not cut short like in the dream. Just to be sure, Korra gazed all around her: right, left, and even out of the window. She was in her room at Air Temple Island, safe and not in flames.
With a sigh of relief, Korra wiped the sweat from her face. She swung her legs over her bed and let out calming breaths. She was still in fear from that dream… that nightmare. It had been so clear, so vivid that she could remember every horrifying detail.
A whimper caught Korra's attention of her waking Polar bear dog, who worryingly gazed at the avatar. Korra smiled as she petted Naga's muzzle. "I'm okay, girl. It was just a bad dream," she said soothingly.
Another whimper from Naga, and the Polar bear dog went back to sleep. Korra lied back in bed, but she did not sleep immediately. The image of her fallen friends, of that caped man, was still fresh in her mind, and it left an unsettling feeling inside of her.
Korra inhaled and exhaled, using one of Tenzin's airbender calming techniques for several minutes. "It's just a dream. Just a dream," she muttered to herself.
Soon, she fell up asleep once more. Though there were no fire and strangers, the dream would remain with her to the morning.
AN: Alright, let me say this: I'm not a fan of TOK. I started watching the show with high hopes and I still love the first few episodes. It does have it's good moments, but there are some parts of the show I don't like (e.g. the endings to each season) and I just don't think it's as good as its predecessor.
That being said, I feel TOK had a lot of potential and I felt it could have been fully used if given a good direction. That's why I wanted to put this out: to give the JJ Abrams treatment and let the story start fresh from book 1.
Pretty much the old Korra gang (from canon) gets killed off by energybenders, and Raava reverses time, via forbidden technique, to give Korra's past self a chance to stop the energybenders, causing the ATLA sequel I've wanted to see. In this, the energybenders would be the overarching villains, while each "book" will still their own respective villains (Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer, and Kuvira). The restart in TOK will make changes to different characters, heroes and villains, from the show and any OCs introduced, having them form their own relationships and alliances, bringing some new spins on the show.
Now, my ideas aren't better than the show's creators-not by a long shot, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how it turns out. Until the day I might post it, the story's going to stay here.
Raika out.