Fire
Air
Water
Earth
In this world divided by nations and elements, there is one person who can bend all four elements. That person is called the Avatar. In all their lifetimes, the Avatar can produce drastic changes to the world, but none changed it as much as Avatar Korra. Even after the Earth Empire's defeat, Korra left her mark in the world as one of the most powerful Avatars.
However, 60 years after Republic City's battle, Avatar Korra's era has come to an end... The people of all nations have been waiting for the new Avatar to make an appearance, however, 20 years after Korra's death, the Avatar still hasn't made an appearance. There are some people who believe that the cycle is broken, however the hopeful, eagerly await the Avatar's return.
In Republic Capital…
"Ms President! We have a problem…" a man says. "There seems to be some trouble in the Spirit Wilds in the old part of the City!" – he hurriedly continues.
The President gets up immediately and leaves the room. She is the president of the United Republic of Nations in the Republic Capital. After Kuvira's invasion and the destruction of the old Republic City's downtown, former president Zhu Li declared that those Spirit Wilds and the new spirit portal, opened by Avatar Korra, to be handled by the Air Nation.
For that precise reason, she contacts the Air Nation as she advances towards the Spirit Wilds in the old downtown. The president is from the Fire Nation, so she looks like the traditional Fire citizen, dark hair with a ponytail, yellow eyes with a little scar on her left cheek.
When she arrives, it looks to be empty… The crater with an open spirit portal in the middle and some trees surrounding it is eerily quiet, too quiet…
After some time, two Airbenders arrive. They look for the president and her aide, "Have they gone to the Spirit World?" one of them asks.
"I don't know… I hope not, but I can't see them anywhere." The other one answers. "Let's look a bit more for them."
After 2 minutes of looking without success, the pair look towards the portal and prepare to enter the Spirit World to look. As they are communicating their actions through the earpiece, they are feeling a presence from the Spirit World, as they take a combat stance, preparing for the worst. However, the ones that leave the portal are the President and her aide. They seemed to be thrown out of the Spirit World, as they are unconscious.
"Mrs President! Wake up!" one says. "Take them to the hospital, I'll go check what happened!" he continues.
The young Airbender takes the two injured and takes them to the hospital, transporting them within an air gust created by his airbending. They arrive in the hospital and the doctors and nurses take them immediately, to treat them.
The young Airbender that brought them in takes the opportunity to attempt to contact his partner but he's unable to. Then, he contacts the Air Nation and explains the situation. Everything seems calm, until the young Airbender feels a shift in the city's spiritual energy, "Sir, sorry to interrupt the orders, however, I'm feeling a change in the energy of the Spirit Wilds. What should I do?" he worriedly asks.
He hears the answer through his earpiece, "Ruen, make sure you see what's happening in that portal!" he hears. He acknowledges the order and rushes to the Spirit Portal. As he arrives, a pulse of energy exits the portal as he sees his partner being expelled through that portal, getting launched through the air. He gets closer to his partner, finding him weakened vomiting blood.
"Ruen… Run, run for your life and tell them that he…" the airbender starts seizuring and is unable to finish what he is saying.
Ruen is shocked and is trying to calm the seizures of his partner, however he is seeing that his skin is starting to turn purple, it seems his body is staring to decay, little by little. He doesn't really get why is his skin getting purple but even if he understood, it's too late… His partner is gone… The young airbender starts to audibly cry as he grabs his partner's lifeless hand.
Suddenly, there is an ominuous pulsation coming from the portal and Ruen notices that it starts to lose power, the light that reaches the sky is starting to fade, until it's completely gone… In that moment, Ruen realises what that means, the lack of spiritual energy in that area and he reports, "Sir, I have bad news… Lonzahn is dead, and the Spirit Portal is closed…"
After 10 seconds of silence, he hears from his earpiece, "Ruen, bring his body back to the temple, we'll hold his ceremony here and then we'll deal with the portal… I'm sure Grand Master Jinora will want to see his grandson…" the voice in his earpiece answers.
With a heavy heart, Ruen answers affirmately to the order and starts to go back to the temple…
6 months have passed since the closing of the portal, and no one knows what happened…
In the Spirit World, there is a man meditating in the Tree of Time. He is checking the Tree's memories to a certain event. He hears a man calling him from inside the tree, causing the memories to fade and disperse like mist. The man inside the tree is named Philuan and has a grey long-sleeved shirt on, combined with dark blue pants with black stripes on the side. He also has a golden leaf pendant around his neck, which symbols that he is an airbender.
When he opens his eyes and leaves his meditation state, he sees a man with a red and black hood.
"Philuan… What are you doing here?" the hooded man asks. "Just seeing some of the world's memories, no big deal." The man inside the tree answers.
"How come?" the hooded man insists. "I'm not going to answer that to you, even if you are my cousin." Philuan answers.
"You know, you should stop being so mistrusting…" the hood man advises.
"Why? Because I'm an airbender? You know exactly why I don't trust anyone…" Philuan angrily responds.
"I'm not saying this because you're an airbender, you know I was also an airbender when I was alive. However, you know that I regret not trusting anyone. If I did, maybe things would have been different…" the hooded man explains.
"Yeah, maybe you wouldn't have just killed the Earth Queen. If you trusted people other than your girlfriend, maybe you could've taken out the other world leaders and maybe even the Avatar, right (after a bit of a pause), Zaheer?" he answers.
The hooded man, who we know now it's the former Red Lotus leader, takes off his hood. He has long gray hair, with a scar on his right eyebrow and he his wrinkly, like he is 80 years old. The Order of the White Lotus knows that Zaheer supposedly died when he was between 75 and 80 years old in prison, however, his spirit now resides in the Spirit World.
"I may have not been the best person in the world, but I truly wanted people to thrive and be free…" Zaheer sadly explains.
"Sorry to break it to you, Zaheer, but now it's too late to regret your actions. It's too late now." His cousin answers.
Philuan realises that Zaheer got a bit sadder after he said that. Despite Zaheer's actions, the young airbender knows how much he regrets, not the objective, but how he tried to accomplish his objective.
During his journeys through the Spirit World when he found Zaheer in a certain man's spirit tea shop, the Red Lotus' leader described how he accomplished nothing through violence and maybe that the Red Lotus lost his true purpose and that the only good thing that he was able to accomplish in life was how he was able to merge the Order of the White Lotus and the Order of the Red Lotus in order to create a new Order.
Although nobody knows what new Order is up to, it is known that the new organization is no longer "the guard dogs of the Avatar" and wanting anarchy, but an Order that ensures people's freedom and protection.
It is also known that its members are usually undercover and patrolling of towns of all nations, the new Order can only be called by the official request of the government.
Philuan meant what he said, however, acknowledging Zaheer's last efforts in the creation of the new Order he adds, "Despite your actions, if it wasn't for you, the White and Red Lotus would still be lost." He then turns around, says goodbye to his cousin and disappears into the material world.
Zaheer grins and he leaves the Tree of Time.
In the material world…
Philuan leaves a house in the mountains, somewhere in the Fire Nation. Then he takes out a communication device, puts a ear comm inside his right ear and he hears a voice saying that he needs to relocate to a town in the Earth Kingdom, near the Western Air Temple, as he immediately moves towards his objective.
He takes out a hooded cape that covers him from his shoulders to his shins from inside his backpack, he puts it on, and he starts his travels on foot.
Despite being an airbender, it doesn't look like that Philuan has an air suit, air glider or a Sky Bison, so it takes him three days to reach a port to catch a boat, and five days to reach the Earth Kingdom.
Philuan arrives at Nozu Town. He reports his arrival to someone and starts to make his rounds, getting to know the town. He realises that Nozu had an amazing growth since he went there last. It's now a big town with technology in his markets, hospital, school, and all services present in town.
During his mental map of the town, he notices the presence of Air Nation members. He feels relieved when he realises that it's no one he knows. Since he is an airbender he learned almost everything he knows about airbending from his instructors and masters back at the Eastern Air Temple.
After the Harmonic Convergence and the revival of the Air Nation, with the passing of generations of airbenders, there are enough numbers to repopulate the Air Temples (except the Northern, since the Red Lotus destroyed it completely with Lavabending). However, nowadays, the Air Temples aren't populated by monks, but by teachers and masters, so the South, Western and Eastern Air Temples are now schools for benders and non benders.
He makes eye contact with a female airbender in that group and with a natural charm, he smiles at her, and she reciprocates. He remembers thinking that she was cute, small height, long dark hair, dressed in the Air Nation air suit.
In that moment, he takes out his leaf pendant and hides it in his backpack.
"I don't need them finding out that I'm an airbender" he mumbles to himself.
After scoping out the entire town, Philuan arrives at his designated hotel and checks in, "Ah, Master Philuan, arrived on time just as it was promised. Here is your room for the next three nights. Please enjoy your stay here." The receptionist politely says.
Philuan smiles and thanks the person and immediately moves to his room. He sighs as he comments "So much people interaction, drains me". Suddenly he hears a very high-pitched voice saying, "Your introverted butt cannot deal with so much human interaction? Your airbending can be strong, but your social skills suck." A small fairy like spirit appears next to him, clearly mocking him for his poor social skills.
"Ah, KeiYi, you grace me with your presence once again." He says with an ironic tone. "I thought you would've left me alone by now." The airbender continues.
"You know, somebody has to teach how to act around with other people." The spirit mocks. "Besides, you don't have a Sky Bison, so you need a companion. Have you ever heard of an airbender that doesn't have a companion?" it continues.
Philuan laughs and says, "I certainly haven't."
He and the spirit spent a little bit talking until the young airbender realises he has a job to do. Before he leaves his room, Philuan takes a shower and gets dressed in a new shirt and with his pendant under his clothes, hidden, just in case he crosses paths with the other airbenders.
After strolling around downtown, Philuan is starting to feel hungry. When looking at the time, he realises that it is around dinner time, so he looks for a restaurant. He finds a little cheap diner and he enter, sits down, and orders some food. When it arrives, he starts drooling due to looking so good.
While eating his meal, Philuan notices that suddenly three people with a menacing posture enter the diner. As he feared, they start wreaking havoc by talking loudly, harassing the workers, and messing with anyone that looks at them. The young airbender is a bit uncomfortable but not as much as the workers.
Suddenly…
"Hey girl! You should smile more! Especially to me. If you do, I can show you a good time." The man says while grabbing her wrist. The woman is visually terrified, her face shows it all, as the man slowly gets up and tries to get closer to her. It's obvious what he wants, and she is absolutely frozen in place.
At some point, Philuan gets up, grabs the guy's hand, squeezes it tightly and says, "Hey buster, is this how you pick up women? You terrify them? That's not nice…"
The guy looks at him, look at his friends and they all laugh, "Hey boy, why don't you get out of out business. It has nothing to do with you!"
"I don't care about your business, but I do care what you're doing to this person. Can't you see she's terrified?" Philuan responds.
"This is called respect, maybe I should teach you some!" he confidently spouts.
Philuan can't handle it. He lets go of his hand and he starts laughing. Right in their face. The guy starts to get angry, however he suddenly notices that the girl that he was grabbing, was suddenly behind Philuan. Not only did he just notice, but he didn't hear, see, or feel anything when it happened. The frustration gets to the guy's face, and he signals his crew as they all get up.
One of the guys in the back, opens his hand and creates a flame in his palm and he his starting to threaten not only Philuan but everyone in the diner. Seeing that happening, Philuan blows some air with his airbending to put out the flame. The three guys are surprised and the young airbender says, "Why don't we do this outside like gentlemen, and leave these innocent people out of this?"
The three guys start feeling pressured by his charisma. By some reason, Philuan put up a much more serious expression on his face and they were intimidated. It felt like his aura changed completely, making them feel insecure about their power. Somehow, he looked like a nobody, an average person, with no bending powers, but after he put out the flame, they got a feeling of his power. That made them curse him out and starting to leave.
"Don't forget to pay and tip, gentlemen!" Philuan says. They felt a chill, payed the diner and tipped the worker.
"Thank you for helping me!" the woman says. "I don't know what would've happened without you." She continues. Philuan smiles and nods to her and says that she's welcome. After that event, the airbender just proceeds to pay the bill and leave.
As he leaves, he is sensing a shift in the wind. He knows he is being watched and followed. He starts walking towards his hotel and five minutes later, on an empty street, he finally calls them out. "You know, you can just show yourselves and talk about what's troubling us all."
To no surprise, the ones that are following him are the same guys of the diner. He is not surprised, not even one bit. "Ah, friends, are we here to talk about the weather or about our romantic lives?" Philuan asks.
"No, we're here to teach you about respect." Says the person in the front. The person in the front is making rocks levitate in his hands, and the two in the back are making fire in both their hands. They are ready to fight, so Philuan takes a deep breath, adopts a fighting stance. His stance does not resemble that of an airbender, feels much more complex.
The three guys launch the rocks and the fire towards the airbender. Philuan makes a big jump and avoids the attack. He lands between the two firebenders, crosses his hands and then extends them towards the side, hands out. The two fire users feel an intense strike of air and are sent flying towards the walls of the street and immediately fall unconscious.
The air pressure makes the earthbender falter to his front, creating some distance between the earthbender and the airbender
The earthbender stomps on the ground, making a huge boulder rise from the ground and then launches it towards Philuan. Unlike an airbender, Philuan firms his stance, extends his arms forward and then to the side. He swirls, creating an air current, and suddenly, the boulder follows the air current and is launched towards the earthbender.
As a reflex, the earthbender breaks the boulder to defend himself, creating a big curtain of dirt. He realises that he can't see where Philuan is, until, suddenly, he leaps out of the dirt with his right hand chambered to a punch. He extends two fingers and thrusts them into the air, creating a strike that hits the earthbender right in the solar plexus, taking away his breath.
Two benders unconscious and one gasping for air. Philuan makes the dirt settle with his airbending and then goes back to his hotel. At the end of the street, he meets with the airbending girl he met earlier. She is surprised as she saw his airbending skills.
"You're an airbender, but I've never seen at any of the temples. And the technique you used; it doesn't seem like anything I've seen from an airbender. What's going on? Who are you?" She asks.
"It's better for you, if you don't know…" He answers.
She adopts a more traditional stance as she is starting to understand who he is. "I don't know my name, but the masters have spoken about an airbender that refused to follow their teachings and was expelled with the condition of not airbending again. Is that you?"
"Well, who knows if that's me. The masters kick out anyone who refuses to follow their traditions, even if they are good benders." He says. "Did they kick out someone after me?" He continues.
He starts to walk away; however, she leaps in front of him and stops him. "I saw you airbending in a public place, even after the masters said that you couldn't. That is a clear violation of the Air Nation law. You're coming with me, and I'll present you in the Grand Masters' chamber to judge your punishment." She is dead serious when she is saying this.
"You know, there is no need for us to do this violently, as it is against airbender nature to choose violence in order to solve things, so you can drop the fighting stance." Philuan responds.
"Yeah, that didn't stop you from using your bending against those people…" the female airbender says. As quickly as she said it, Philuan arguments, "Yeah, they attacked me…"
"It doesn't matter, you're forbidden to use your bending and you still used it. There is no excuse, so, you're coming with me." She says.
"Well, I am one, to follow the rules, so why not? A visit to Air Temple Island sounds like a good nostalgia trip…" Philuan jokes. "Where to, ma'am?"
She points the way, and they start going towards the Air Nation local camp.
When they arrive, she explains to them what happened, and they immediately recognize the story. Philuan, the rogue airbender that refused to follow Grand Master Jinora's teachings. They are glaring at him, while he is sitting in a meditation posture. After spending the night in Nozu Town, they leave in the morning and it's as if he didn't move an inch, ever since he got to the Air Scouts' camp and more impressive is that he doesn't leave that posture for the whole trip as they are flying in a Sky Bison.
It took half a day to reach Air Temple Island in the Republic Capital. As they arrived they are waking Philuan, rather aggressively, and when they succeed they go straight to the Grand Master's chamber.
When they enter the chamber, there are four Grand Masters waiting, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Rohan. Also known as Avatar Aang's grandchildren and Grand Master Tenzin's (the one who brought back the Air Nation from extinction) children. They are having tea and when they see Philuan, Jinora says, "Ah, look who's decided to rejoin us. If it isn't my dear student. Thank you for bringing him back, Seraa. You can go back to your day job now, thank you!"
Seraa bows, receiving a bow back from the Grand Masters and exits the room.
With both irony and respect, Philuan bows and says "Hello Grand Master councils, how it's good to see you in good health."