AUTHOR'S NOTES: And now we get to see Korra acquire one of her favourite abilities to abuse in this fic, as well as deal with a psychotic firebender, some menacing past lives, and see perhaps some inspiration and foreshadowing of the Red Lotus later down the line. Also, a slew of Interregnum past lives once again. After this chapter, there's only one more Korra will need to discover, and that one will inevitably pop up in the next chapter. Also a side note, Avatar Zakura and the associated story surrounding her was actually inspired by a story I wrote over a decade ago. Maybe someday I'll write that as a fanfic.
Hpapy Reading!

BOOK ONE: POWER

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE AVATAR STATE

As Korra continued to hone and use her combustion bending skills, it suddenly clicked with her why the lessons in meditation and focus had been important. Even the archery lessons made sense as well, because Korra's aim turned out to be remarkably accurate due to her ability to fixate herself so firmly on her target. Despite these advancements, however, there was much to learn and she knew it. Eventually, a promise that Kwan made to the young Avatar slightly over a year earlier, was finally fulfilled, much to Korra's delight.

Day 444: Okay, so for all the other entries I've made about how cool combustion bending is? Lavabending is the shit. Ghazan is a pretty cool dude, and the times Ming-Hua comes with him are always interesting. Her little water-limb trick seemed so simple, but there are 1001 things she can do with it that leave my head spinning. Here I thought I was getting good with waterbending, but not that. She's hinted that she knows bloodbending, but I can understand why Unalaq would rather I not learn that one… for now anyways.

Of course, Kwan, who was much friendlier to Korra than her elder sister, was always down for sparring with Korra. After a rather harsh lecture from Unalaq about them nearly destroying the campus surrounding their little compound, they had to take their lava spars a bit farther out. When it was just raw earthbending against earthbending, Kwan still reigned superior, but when Korra brought in her other elemental disciplines, she held her own solidly against the little woman, and even won a few.

"You're way too trigger-happy with that damn combustion beam," Kwan laughed after a glorious defeat where Korra had almost blown the earthbender's arm off, "but I mean, you're good… but it makes me wanna flick your forehead."

She actually did so without warning, causing Korra to flinch.

"Ouch!" She recoiled, shaking her head to regain her focus. She wasn't about to try and launch another attack, since Korra quite liked having her skull and its contents intact. Still, this brief period of disfocus was short-lived, and so Korra didn't hold it against Kwan.

As much as Korra and Naga enjoyed it out in the wilds though, Korra did start to get a little homesick—or at least wanting for more social interaction. At different times, Unalaq, Kwan, Nakkoa, Zaheer, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and P'Li would disappear for days at a time. Unbeknownst to Korra, they would visit Republic City or one of the other (fairly) nearby locales for their own reasons, but there were always at least two or three of them there at the compound to make sure Korra didn't wander off. Zaheer had learned rather quickly that Korra's sense of direction was nothing to brag about, and that she had a penchant for getting lost. Fortunately for everyone there (Korra included), Naga was a much better tracker, and so in the event that Korra got lost, one of two things would occur: either Naga would help lead Korra home, or if Korra had ventured off alone, Naga could lead one of the Red Lotus members to her by following her scent.

While most of the others were indifferent to Korra's plight, Kwan brought it to Unalaq's attention.

"We can't just keep her here forever if she wants a break to go and paint the town red," Kwan reasoned, "otherwise we're no better than the White Lotus keeping her in her prison compound—and I get this lasting feeling that sooner or later she'd blow her top if we tried to contain her against her will."

"And where do you suspect she'll go?" Unalaq countered.

"Republic City!" Kwan spread her arms, "Doy! You should have seen her face light up when we first got there! She didn't even make it off the boat before diving right into the water and swimming to shore. You could keep her entertained for weeks there."

"And those are weeks that go by that she's wasting time," Unalaq looked Kwan right in the eyes, "Harmonic Convergence is on a schedule, in case you have forgotten," Unalaq argued, "if she cannot tap into the Avatar State by then, it will be another 10,000 years."

"That's still near three years away though!" Kwan reasoned, "She'll be able to access it way before that. I'd bet you on it, but you're not a betting man."

"I will think about it," Unalaq promised, "but if she does not start tapping into the Avatar State soon we will have to use force."

"Don't tell my sister that," Kwan warned, "she'll get ideas."

And yet, it was Nakkoa that finally helped Korra reach that point.

"Look, kid," she confronted Korra about it a few weeks later, "I'm just saying that it's about high time for you to figure out how to trigger that Avatar State of yours, because none of us can teach it to you—and there's only so many times I can say it nicely before it warrants force."

"It's not from my lack of trying," Korra reasoned, "trying to get this whole spirituality thing down was hard enough. I've been telling you for weeks that I'll get it in time."

"Except that we don't have time," Nakkoa stepped back, swirling her arms. "Boss' orders."

Without warning, Nakkoa aimed a skillful blast of lightning right at Korra's chest. It struck her with almost deadly accuracy, but instead of knocking her unconscious or blasting out one of her feet; her body went into shock and absorbed the energy completely. In an effort to preserve itself and its host, the Avatar Spirit came to life in Korra, and her eyes flashed menacingly.

"I bloody knew it!" Nakkoa pumped her fist as Korra hovered above her. Suddenly though, she was on the run as Korra began firing off combustion blasts at a terrifyingly rapid pace, trying to blow Nakkoa to smithereens. Korra's episode in the Avatar State did not last long, but before she managed to escape its grip, she had surrounded herself with ice, rock, wind, and fire and charged headlong into Nakkoa, also destroying a good chunk of the compound where they collided. Needless to say, this drew the attention of everyone else in the area, and within moments, a dizzy Nakkoa was surrounded by the other five Red Lotus members at the compound, as well as Naga, and Korra, who, while scraped up a bit, otherwise looked unhurt. Korra looked visibly dazed to the point where her eyes were slightly crossed, and she didn't even appear to quite know what had just happened.

"So this is just a taste of her Avatar State…" Zaheer muttered, before turning to Korra. "Child, you are much stronger than I had previously imagined."

"And believe it or not," Nakkoa pulled herself up with her left arm; "I'm fully convinced my arm is broken, since it definitely shouldn't be bending there, and I'm fairly certain my shoulder shouldn't be moving like that." her breath was also very sharp and laboured.

"You deserved it," Kwan frowned, "I saw what you did to her. It was provocation."

"But it worked…" Zaheer pointed out.

"I… guess?" Korra's mind was still trying to process what had happened, "I mean… I really don't want to have to get electrocuted in the chest every time I want to enter the Avatar State…"

"You took a bolt of lightning to the chest and shrugged it off?" Ming-Hua made two of her water tendrils come together like the clapping of hands, "That's impressive even by my standards, Avatar Korra. You should give yourself a pat on the back."

"With how hard she is to impress," Ghazan chimed in with a laugh, "that's two accomplishments for you in one day, kid. Nice job... Avatar Korra."

Unalaq healed what he could of Nakkoa's wound after the group had dispersed, and helped her bind it up, but he also gave her a talking to for the ages about why electrocuting the Avatar in a potentially fatal blow was exactly what none of them wanted.

"Her being alive is one of the most important aspects of this entire objective," he did not hesitate to get right in her face, "and while this incident proved that she much more difficult to kill than you expected, I do NOT want to see it happen again. Are we clear?"

"Then come up with a better way to get her back into that state," Nakkoa spat, "You wanted results? I got you results! But she is starting to wear my patience down, and I've made it no mystery about it. Her time in this compound is nearing an end."

"I will be the judge of that," Unalaq asserted. "You know your role in this operation. I would advise you to adhere more properly to it rather than let your fears dictate you."

In contrast, Korra actually felt something of an adrenaline rush and a thrill from it, and not just because of the damage she had caused. She raced back out, launching herself into the sky with a mixture of firebending and airbending, celebrating her new achievement by launching combustion beams and lightning bolts at otherwise inert rocks. She crashed down and surrounded herself with a field of molten lava, swinging her arms around and extracting both the water from the snow-capped rocks, as well as metallic ore from the mountain itself. All in all, these moves were little more than a vulgar display of power, but that had been one of the Red Lotus' goals in training her: to get her so hooked on her power trip that she would retain absolute loyalty to them. So far, they had been successful. The Avatar did not flinch; the Avatar did not cry; the Avatar did not express emotions beyond ruthless confidence. Those were the 'mantras' drilled into her head, and against cooperative teachers and the inert landscape, it was easy to be brave and relentless. Someone more compassionate, however, would have noted that it was the setup of an extremely dangerous precedent—but not even Kwan, realized this, nor did Unalaq bother to point it out.

Korra was still oblivious to this notion, and that evening she had a lot to express.

Day 487: I finally entered the Avatar State for the first time, and sweet merciful Raava, what a trip! Would that I knew how to actually do it without having to take a potentially fatal blast of lightning to my vitals… but I'm sure I'll figure out what I did to unlock that mechanism sooner or later. Any doubts I had about my abilities were thrown behind me today, and this confidence feels amazing. At this point I've unlocked almost every major bending ability, which means now comes the time when I hone my skills. If I can properly manage the Avatar State, maybe I could contact the rest of the Interregnum Avatars directly. To rehash: Lu-Xing was the Fire Avatar before Imalek, Ryuka was the Air Nomad who came after the Culmination and had to fix her mess, Wen was the man who came after Himoto… there are only four more to go: Two more randoms, the Culmination, and that Earth Kingdom Avatar that took the real heat from the Culmination's fallout. I'm getting so close to obtaining all the pieces of this puzzle I can almost taste it…"

Although the only thing she was actually tasting at the moment was a little blood from a cut on her lip. She often repeated herself with her mentions of the Interregnums to help her better remember them, and unlike the venomous philosophies of the Red Lotus, there was a benefit to remembering her past lives.

Either way, Korra rode on that high from unlocking the Avatar State for the first time, even if it was only a one-time thing. Despite this, her training in other fields continued. Korra was very little if not persistent, refusing to give up just as she had flat-out refused to die from Nakkoa's would-be fatal attack.

Day 514: Still no more Avatar State, but I got two of the last pieces to the puzzle! Kiera of the Water Tribes and Royota of the Earth Kingdom are the bridges between Wen and Lu-Xing. None of them will ever speak to me about who this "Culmination of the Interregnum" is though. Whoever she is, she can't hide from me forever, dammit!

It was another month before Korra got any further information on them. So far, most of her conversations about these ancient Avatars had been from some of the most recent incarnations: Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, & Aang. The Avatar she was looking at this time was an Earth Kingdom woman barely taller than Korra, but just as muscular.

"You're a new face," Korra spoke to the incarnation.

"I'm a very old face," the woman replied, "I am one of the missing links you seek."

"So you're an Interregnum then?" Korra tilted her head.

"Aye," the woman replied, "My name is Zakura, and I am the one who had to deal with the largest fallout of the Interregnum Cycle: the Order of the Avatar Slayer."

"That's a very unpleasant name," Korra's visage twisted uncomfortably. The idea that there had once been an entire faction dedicated to killing the Avatar made the teen shudder to think about.

And what they tried to do to me was unpleasant, if you wish to put it lightly," Zakura explained, "They attempted to poison me. They actually succeeded in fact. It was a highly pure metallic substance that they essentially forced into my system through metalbending."

"How exactly did they do that?" Korra narrowed her eyes in a confused pout as she tried to fathom this as well.

"They couldn't force my mouth open," Zakura explained, "nor did they try any other orifices. Instead, they forced it right through my skin—and through my pores."

"Metalbending?" Korra gawked, trying to fathom how metal could go through a woman's pores, "but metalbending didn't even exist back then."

"Oh, it did," Zakura shook her head, "but after the atrocity committed against the Avatar—that is, against me—it became a sort of loathsome byword, and metalbenders were scorned to the point where the art was lost. While my successor Ryuka helped right the wrongs of me and my 19 other past lives, he did not restore the good name to metalbending. He didn't want to nearly end the cycle forever either."

"End the Avatar Cycle forever!?" Korra's eyes shot open, "But how?"

"Pump enough poison inside an Avatar and it will force them into the Avatar State," Zakura warned, "and it did exactly that. They tried to kill me then and there, but I overpowered them. They did not give me a strong enough dose, and they greatly underestimated my metalbending abilities. In the final throes of my life, shortly before I would have died in the Avatar State, I essentially willed it out of me. The combined might of a thousand lifetimes before mine all came together to force the metal out of my body, and I survived. My life was still shortened overall from this event, but as Ryuka's existence, as well as every Avatar between him and you proves… I did not die in the Avatar State."

"Why are you telling me this?" Korra immediately thought of Nakkoa, and feared that that woman would try to get her hands on some of this metal if she knew it would force an Avatar into the Avatar State. "That's the last thing that anyone needs to discover again."

"I told you it because you called for me and asked," Zakura reminded her, "and I'm warning you now because you recently unlocked the Avatar State and do not understand the risks of such power. You are nearly invincible, and the Avatar Spirit will go to great lengths to preserve your body and save your life. For some of us, the Avatar State was little more than a panic mode that our bodies would go into whenever we felt threatened. You see, Korra… the Avatar State is a fickle creature all on its own, and few of us can use it with deadly efficiency."

"I don't imagine I'm one of those that can," Korra sighed, "I triggered it a month ago by nearly getting killed, but haven't even been able to come close to activating it since then."

"You are young, Avatar Korra." Zakura shook her head. She looked young too, which gave merit to her claim that the poison had shortened her life even if she had expelled it. "You will learn and master it in time. In the meantime, do not fret over the fact that there are going to be times when you don't have control over it. This is normal. The only time you need to be afraid is if you are ever forced into the Avatar State. Of course… if that happens, your body as well as the Avatar Spirit are likely going to be in full panic mode anyways, so I suppose that's moot."

"Zakura," Korra spoke up, "Tell me something."

"Hmm?" The earthbender crossed her arms as she turned back to Korra.

"Who was the Avatar before Ryuka?" Korra asked, "The one no one wants to even say the name of? All of these dreams… all of these connections I have with you and the others in your Interregnum Cycle… I feel like everything leads back to her."

"As much as I hate to say it…" Zakura sighed, lowering her head, "you deserve to know, and she deserves a voice. The Culmination of the Interregnum Cycle is something that in my opinion deserves to be known and remembered as a life lesson, rather than buried in history and the hopes that ignoring it will make it go away."

"So you know who it is!?" Korra's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I do," Zakura nodded, "listen closely, Avatar Korra, I will tell you the tale of the life that nearly ruined MY life, even centuries after she was dead and gone. As the Avatar, I feel it is particularly important for us to remember it—for whether we like it or not, that was both you and me in a past life, and short of destroying the connection with every past life, it is a bond that can't be severed. Heed my words, Korra; for I am about to tell you the story of the infamous Avatar Zeruda."

PAST LIVES DISCOVERED:

Lu-Xing (Fire Nation, Male): The 13th Avatar in the Interregnum Cycle. A gung-ho Fire Nation admiral who took ruthless discipline to a higher level, he was one of the several Interregnums that helped solidify the Avatar's reputation as an individual who got things done. While not exactly a shoulder of comfort to lean on, no one who knew the man could deny his ability to solve problems and resolve tension, and thus his reign was remembered as mostly peaceful.

Ryuka (Air Nomad, Male): The 18th Avatar of the Interregnum Cycle. A fairly humble, albeit contrarian Air Nomad who began the reparation of the Avatar's reputation after the fallout caused by his predecessor, "The Culmination of the Interregnums". While his reign was fraught with tension because of the Culmination's aftermath, his efforts towards repairing the damage she caused were overall positive.

Wen (Air Nomad, Male): The 10th Avatar of the Interregnum Cycle. Like many of the Interregnum Avatars, he lacked some morals and ethics, but while his methods were questionable, no one could deny the powerful results they produced. His subtle but relentless approach to conflict resolution helped maintain peace, although whether from fear or genuine adherence is still under debate. Not to be confused with Avatar Wan.

Royota (Earth Kingdom, Male): The 12th Avatar of the Interregnum Cycle. A disciplined but friendly Earth Kingdom general, his militaristic approach to problems would directly inspire his successor, and while he took particular interest in the politics surrounding his own nation, he also made sure to do the same with the other nations as to help maintain balance and neutrality. Both of these efforts were overall successful, and thus he had a fairly positive reputation.

Kiera (Water Tribe, Female): The 11th Avatar of the Interregnum Cycle. A charismatic schemer who was much more subtle than her predecessor, she was one of the main sources of inspiration for Imalek centuries later. It was rumoured that she was a bloodbender, and that this was one of her secrets to success. However, the idea that someone could manipulate the liquids in another person was dismissed as ridiculous at the time, and as such no evidence was brought against her., which in turn meant no one could actually prove whether these claims were true or not.

Zakura (Earth Kingdom, Female): The 20th Avatar of the Interregnum Cycle. A brash and headstrong young Earth Kingdom woman with enough tales in her short life to fill a library, Zakura was subjected to the harshest fallout from the Culmination, to the point where the radical "Order of the Avatar Slayer" faction rose to full power during her reign. She proved to have remarkable resilience and resistance to poison, and after many failed attempts, this group resorted to metallic poison, forcing her into the Avatar State and nearly permanently destroying the cycle. However, they underestimated her strength and willpower, and as such the Avatar survived, and the cycle continued.

TOTAL PAST LIVES MET: 25