Okay everyone. I have not seen a rules post on this specific board, so I will say that this story is of Avatar the Last Airbender, and I have given it a rating of T, possibly M, depending if killing with very little gore can be considered for a T rating. I currently have 14 chapters written, and I will post them on here. I welcome all criticisms, suggestions, and questions. I am not easily offended, so critique away.
Summary: A story that would represent today's American culture but all in the avatar world. The last avatar had died while in the avatar state, and all hope for the balance of Earth was gone. Now, hundreds of years later, it would seem that there could be another Avatar.
His eyes glowed pure white. He created a tsunami. The other man, the very threat of the world’s balance, dealt a lethal blow from behind with a mountain of boulders, each double the Avatar’s size. The last Avatar died in the avatar state. All hope for the world, lost. Avatar Senka, the waterbender was mourned, and forgotten. The bending populace dwindled. That too, eventually forgotten, chopped up as myth, folklore, and fables.
Governments erected over the now 6 nations. Religions popped up to replace what was truth with pure fiction. Each deity modeled after famous benders of time past, and each scripture giving enough information to pique interest in each follower without gifting the truth. This enticed each follower to have his/her own interpretation, and none right. The governments kept its people naïve and controlled, satiated yet hungry for more; usurping human rights, powers, and creation ability.
Technology became stagnant, and in some ways reversed. Only now does it move at a crawl, compared to before.
This is how the world is now. No knowledge of bending, creation, or an individual’s chakras. Houses, televisions, computers, telephone, cellular phones, and satellites are part of today’s slow-moving technology. Only 1% of the world’s population has riches, only 35% live comfortably, and the other 64%, live frugally. The various complexions of humans are separated into races. The world really is in dire need of another Avatar.
Slaena, a continent to the far west of the clump of old nations, was once uninhabited, but now is home to the religion of the avatar. The followers of this non-conforming religion were eventually excommunicated from the main populace, and over time gained trade permissions. Over time, this too, was forgotten, and the religion was more of an underground secret society. The members were always considered eccentric by the general population, and ignored. The rest of the small continent was eventually filled with the children and grandchildren of the society, and without proof of the existence of bending and the Avatar, the society numbers nearly stopped growing, and the knowledge forgotten.
Few people actually kept to themselves. One girl in particular named, Gena, was such a person, and did not get mixed up in anything, but also was not goal-oriented. She was of pale complexion, short blonde hair, and lanky. When she stood up to her full, 5 foot 11 inch height, she was not at all intimidating, but her demeanor made her appear to not be a pushover. Bright yet dark green eyes always heavily contrasted her skin tone, and always first to capture people’s attention. Her beauty was unparallel on the continent. No one could understand why she was a loner, and always treated her as special, because she lived alone at such a young age, with no family to speak of.
Gena could always be found at a pristine oasis at any given time, as she practically lived there. She always felt at home with the pond teeming with aquatic life, the slender waterfall, and the multitude of foliage that enveloped and hid the two. She would often just stare into the pond, oftentimes not seeing anything other than her reflection.
“Another quiet warm day†she spoke aloud since no one could hear her.
The warm day was almost unnatural, as it was always warm in the oasis, like the tall trees, and numerous bushes soaked up any adverse weather. No rain, sleet, snow, hail, nothing came into the oasis that was not organic.
Strange lights that were tiny orbs would float around the oasis. This particular day was no exception.
“I wish I knew what you were little one†She said, again aloud.
The orb would dance, seemingly at the sound of her voice. None of it felt odd to her. She assumed they were nothing but a different type of firefly.
Through the woods, her tan high-top boots carried her, and onto pavement with very little traffic. She still looked both ways, then made her way across the street to the old bazaar, which only held one food stand then.
“Gena, so good to see you. What can I get you today?†As if the tall burly man dressed in normal street clothes, and garnished with a produce-stained plastic apron needed to ask.
“Oh, just the usual, David. Just heading home from the oasis†She replied, with a sing-song voice.
A boy working with David froze and drew a perplexed expression on his face. He said nothing, but intently continued to listen, and slowed his task to do so.
“Remind me again, where this oasis is at. I haven’t seen anything in those woods other than trees†David asked in a tone almost mock-sounding.
It was a well known fact that absolutely nothing was in those woods except trees, and various wildlife.
The boy’s posture stiffened, and the knife he was holding slammed down onto the cutting board with a clank. Gena noticed this and stared at the boy who seemed to be around the same height as her, his complexion only slightly darker, and figure only slightly muscular as if waiting for him to say something.
David simply cut his eyes towards the boy’s direction, and looked back towards Gena.
“Not even an eighth of a mile behind us. You can’t miss it. The waterfall feeding the pond of koi fish surrounded by a thicket of trees†she proclaimed.
“Well, I’ll keep that in mind next time I fancy a walk in the woods. That is, if you don’t mind†The man continued in the same almost mocking tone.
Gena smiled, and shook her head. “No, of course not, it’s such a peaceful place, I believe everyone would benefit from it.â€
“And it’s always warm there.†She continued, tugging at her navy blue coat.
The boy froze again, but kept working at his normal pace. He knew nothing was in the woods either, but this oasis always sounded odd, yet feasible. He couldn’t even rationalize that thought to himself.
“Three of these, a bag of these, and a canister of worms please.†Gena said with the same smile on her face grabbing up three apples and a bag of dried pineapple.
She paid David, and thanked them both. She never met the boy, but she was always a polite girl. Three cars pulled up as she left walking along the side of the road leading into town.
“Still going on about the oasis, David?†One of the customers asked after getting out of his car.
“As always. She’s odd, but beautiful. So I continue to let her shop here†David replied.
“I think Sare here likes her. He’s always tensing up when she comes around.†David Continued.
Sare just blushed, and continued to work.
The customers and David chuckled.
Gena was walking with her small bag of groceries, the occasional car whizzing past her. She saw one of the fireflies from the oasis fly in front of her. She held out her hand for it to perch.
“Oh, you followed me this time. I’ll take you back tomorrow.â€
It flew from her hand and landed on her shoulder, and there it stayed until they came to a quite lengthy and old ranch style home. To her, it was enough for just her. She checked the mail, and proceeded inside. The firefly flew ahead of her and went its own way.
“Don’t get lost now, I need to find you in the morning before leaving.†Gena proclaimed.
The firefly did a little dance, and continued to the left into her room. Gena continued straight on into the kitchen where she put up two of the apples, left out the pineapple, and stored the worms in the fridge. She proceeded to wash the other apple, and sat on her bar stool, and began to eat.
Thoughts of the oasis, and its warmth still puzzled her. Then she thought about the boy, Sare, and decided to take a quick nap in her bed.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
The nap was disturbed by a vivid dream of empty space with only an illuminated path visible all around her. She walked and walked with no clue where she was. She knew she was dreaming, but why was she dreaming this?
“Hello?†She shouted.
She thought she might as well say something, hopefully someone would come into the dream and help her out. She then came to a small flight of stairs with a blue and a red diamond shape off in the distance on either side of her. They quickly disappeared as soon as she seen them. Then she saw a figure at the top of the stairs. The figure started to turn around, and she woke up.
<><><><><><><><><><>
It was morning. Had she really slept that long? She started to be thankful she was on vacation from her job, as mishaps such as these, could get her into trouble. She got up, and looked around for the firefly. She spotted it on an old green ornate comb she found right outside of the oasis. It looked peaceful, and it looked as though it was breathing. She decided to get ready for the day, and let it sleep. If that was in fact what it was doing.
She was feeling lazy this particular morning, but still found a way to do her normal routine of fixing breakfast, exercise a little, eat the breakfast, and grab a shower. She liked her food a little cold, and always liked to be sweaty before a shower as it made her feel clean afterwards.
She slid a shower door over, and right in front of her face, was a huge red diamond. She yelped, and quickly slid the shower door back. She was panicking a little.
“Alright Gena, it was just a dream. You’re just a little sleepy.†She tried to talk herself down.
“But wait, I don’t feel sleepy at all. Is that dream on my mind that bad?â€
Talking aloud to herself was something she often did. No doubt from watching a ton of anime as a child. She slowly slid open the door again, and saw her bathroom as normal. She didn’t know what to think at this point. Seeing dreams outside of sleep? She’s never experienced that before.
The firefly was awake, buzzing around her vanity mirror in her room. She caught her reflection in the mirror, and as if she were talking to another person, continued the conversation to herself.
“Next thing you know, I will be cleaning up sheep shit from having to count them to go to sleep.â€
The firefly only stopped buzzing around, landed on the comb, and stared at her.
“Sorry little one. I just had a really vivid dream, and can’t get it out of my head.â€
The firefly stayed motionless.
“Ready to go back to the oasis?â€
The firefly buzzed around again, as if it could understand Gena, and was happy.
Together they both left the house. It was awfully cold outside, so Gena was suited up for the occasion, but made sure to dress for warm weather for the oasis. Walking up the same low traffic highway for miles gave her time to think to herself.
The red diamond? Why not the blue diamond? And what does dreaming of diamonds mean?
She explained the dream to the firefly knowing it couldn’t understand, but maybe it could somehow help her makes sense of it all.
<><><><><><><><><>
They both got to the food stand at the bazaar, where David and Sare were setting everything back up. Sare began picking through the fruit as a freshness check, and David was counting money to load the register up for an accurate profit count at the end of the day. The firefly hid within the long golden hair of an unaware Gena.
Sare caught a glimpse of her. He stopped what he was doing, and just stared for a moment, and finally waved.
“Hey David.†She began.
“Hey, yourself Girlie.†David greeted back.
“Do you or he know what a dream of diamond shapes mean?†She continued, not knowing Sare’s name.
He fumbled a few black plums that landed in the dirt, and David rolled his eyes as Gena helped pick them up from the ground.
“Just tell her you like her already.†David said in a boisterous voice.
They both turned beet red at David’s blunt comment.
“I…I..I†Sare stuttered.
David bellowed a deep laugh.
“No Gena, I have no idea. Dreaming about diamonds lately?†David asked.
“Some tribes speak of diamond shapes dealing with spirits.†Sare cut in, his cheeks still a little burnt.
David looked at Sare quizzically.
“The original people of Slaena grouped themselves as tribes.†Sare answered again.
“Oh. Maybe I should go the archives and read up on these diamond shapes then.†Gena mentioned.
Gena thanked them, and headed onto the oasis.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Sare watched Gena as she crossed the road, and disappeared into the woods.
“You shouldn’t get attached to that type, boy†David offered as irrelevant advice.
“I’m not. The diamonds she mentioned in her dream, the oasis she claims to go to all the time. Just piques my interest is all.†Sare defended, as he went back to his freshness count.
Sare took a second to notice that David was just staring at him as if he were a dangerous wasp or a hungry animal come to take some fruit.
“You’re not one of them quiet types, those odd-thinkers, are you?†David asked in a condescending tone still just staring at him.
Sare stopped with the freshness check again.
“No sir.â€
“Good. I don’t need no unstable freak, or one of those society nuts working for me. The real world is the real world. It’s hectic, unpredictable, and the only truth is hustling and having dollar signs in your eyes if you want to make anything of yourself.†David continued in a self righteous rant.
Sare finished his freshness check without any more words with David other than business talk. He knew what the diamonds meant, at least from pictures, but why would a simple girl of no real appeal be dreaming of them? Why would she also be talking about an oasis that couldn’t possibly exist in the mind of a girl like that? He had to know more information, and he knew where to get it.
Sare saw Gena leaving the woods, but didn’t stop for anything. This told Sare it was near quitting time for the day. Sare stacked empty crates from all the fruit they sold today onto the back of David’s truck. It was a good day, and David was in a particularly good mood. Maybe he wouldn’t give him any lip about dropping him off somewhere different today as opposed to his house.
Sare arrived at his destination at a plain field of grass and sand. David took off as if he thought Sare would change his mind. Sare ran a tan finger through his jet black hair. He knew not how he would be greeted here, as he left the society as an impatient runt. He was in the society of the Avatar. He had a hard time grasping waterbending. Even the basics eluded him. He grew impatient, and spouted off something about, “if you cannot bend anything at all. What reason do I have to believe it even exists?†to the leaders of the society. He left, and never returned. His teachings prior to waterbending, however, stuck out as he found out more about Gena.
Summary: A story that would represent today's American culture but all in the avatar world. The last avatar had died while in the avatar state, and all hope for the balance of Earth was gone. Now, hundreds of years later, it would seem that there could be another Avatar.
Chapter One: Avatar’s End & Gena
His eyes glowed pure white. He created a tsunami. The other man, the very threat of the world’s balance, dealt a lethal blow from behind with a mountain of boulders, each double the Avatar’s size. The last Avatar died in the avatar state. All hope for the world, lost. Avatar Senka, the waterbender was mourned, and forgotten. The bending populace dwindled. That too, eventually forgotten, chopped up as myth, folklore, and fables.
Governments erected over the now 6 nations. Religions popped up to replace what was truth with pure fiction. Each deity modeled after famous benders of time past, and each scripture giving enough information to pique interest in each follower without gifting the truth. This enticed each follower to have his/her own interpretation, and none right. The governments kept its people naïve and controlled, satiated yet hungry for more; usurping human rights, powers, and creation ability.
Technology became stagnant, and in some ways reversed. Only now does it move at a crawl, compared to before.
This is how the world is now. No knowledge of bending, creation, or an individual’s chakras. Houses, televisions, computers, telephone, cellular phones, and satellites are part of today’s slow-moving technology. Only 1% of the world’s population has riches, only 35% live comfortably, and the other 64%, live frugally. The various complexions of humans are separated into races. The world really is in dire need of another Avatar.
Slaena, a continent to the far west of the clump of old nations, was once uninhabited, but now is home to the religion of the avatar. The followers of this non-conforming religion were eventually excommunicated from the main populace, and over time gained trade permissions. Over time, this too, was forgotten, and the religion was more of an underground secret society. The members were always considered eccentric by the general population, and ignored. The rest of the small continent was eventually filled with the children and grandchildren of the society, and without proof of the existence of bending and the Avatar, the society numbers nearly stopped growing, and the knowledge forgotten.
Few people actually kept to themselves. One girl in particular named, Gena, was such a person, and did not get mixed up in anything, but also was not goal-oriented. She was of pale complexion, short blonde hair, and lanky. When she stood up to her full, 5 foot 11 inch height, she was not at all intimidating, but her demeanor made her appear to not be a pushover. Bright yet dark green eyes always heavily contrasted her skin tone, and always first to capture people’s attention. Her beauty was unparallel on the continent. No one could understand why she was a loner, and always treated her as special, because she lived alone at such a young age, with no family to speak of.
Gena could always be found at a pristine oasis at any given time, as she practically lived there. She always felt at home with the pond teeming with aquatic life, the slender waterfall, and the multitude of foliage that enveloped and hid the two. She would often just stare into the pond, oftentimes not seeing anything other than her reflection.
“Another quiet warm day†she spoke aloud since no one could hear her.
The warm day was almost unnatural, as it was always warm in the oasis, like the tall trees, and numerous bushes soaked up any adverse weather. No rain, sleet, snow, hail, nothing came into the oasis that was not organic.
Strange lights that were tiny orbs would float around the oasis. This particular day was no exception.
“I wish I knew what you were little one†She said, again aloud.
The orb would dance, seemingly at the sound of her voice. None of it felt odd to her. She assumed they were nothing but a different type of firefly.
Through the woods, her tan high-top boots carried her, and onto pavement with very little traffic. She still looked both ways, then made her way across the street to the old bazaar, which only held one food stand then.
“Gena, so good to see you. What can I get you today?†As if the tall burly man dressed in normal street clothes, and garnished with a produce-stained plastic apron needed to ask.
“Oh, just the usual, David. Just heading home from the oasis†She replied, with a sing-song voice.
A boy working with David froze and drew a perplexed expression on his face. He said nothing, but intently continued to listen, and slowed his task to do so.
“Remind me again, where this oasis is at. I haven’t seen anything in those woods other than trees†David asked in a tone almost mock-sounding.
It was a well known fact that absolutely nothing was in those woods except trees, and various wildlife.
The boy’s posture stiffened, and the knife he was holding slammed down onto the cutting board with a clank. Gena noticed this and stared at the boy who seemed to be around the same height as her, his complexion only slightly darker, and figure only slightly muscular as if waiting for him to say something.
David simply cut his eyes towards the boy’s direction, and looked back towards Gena.
“Not even an eighth of a mile behind us. You can’t miss it. The waterfall feeding the pond of koi fish surrounded by a thicket of trees†she proclaimed.
“Well, I’ll keep that in mind next time I fancy a walk in the woods. That is, if you don’t mind†The man continued in the same almost mocking tone.
Gena smiled, and shook her head. “No, of course not, it’s such a peaceful place, I believe everyone would benefit from it.â€
“And it’s always warm there.†She continued, tugging at her navy blue coat.
The boy froze again, but kept working at his normal pace. He knew nothing was in the woods either, but this oasis always sounded odd, yet feasible. He couldn’t even rationalize that thought to himself.
“Three of these, a bag of these, and a canister of worms please.†Gena said with the same smile on her face grabbing up three apples and a bag of dried pineapple.
She paid David, and thanked them both. She never met the boy, but she was always a polite girl. Three cars pulled up as she left walking along the side of the road leading into town.
“Still going on about the oasis, David?†One of the customers asked after getting out of his car.
“As always. She’s odd, but beautiful. So I continue to let her shop here†David replied.
“I think Sare here likes her. He’s always tensing up when she comes around.†David Continued.
Sare just blushed, and continued to work.
The customers and David chuckled.
Gena was walking with her small bag of groceries, the occasional car whizzing past her. She saw one of the fireflies from the oasis fly in front of her. She held out her hand for it to perch.
“Oh, you followed me this time. I’ll take you back tomorrow.â€
It flew from her hand and landed on her shoulder, and there it stayed until they came to a quite lengthy and old ranch style home. To her, it was enough for just her. She checked the mail, and proceeded inside. The firefly flew ahead of her and went its own way.
“Don’t get lost now, I need to find you in the morning before leaving.†Gena proclaimed.
The firefly did a little dance, and continued to the left into her room. Gena continued straight on into the kitchen where she put up two of the apples, left out the pineapple, and stored the worms in the fridge. She proceeded to wash the other apple, and sat on her bar stool, and began to eat.
Thoughts of the oasis, and its warmth still puzzled her. Then she thought about the boy, Sare, and decided to take a quick nap in her bed.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
The nap was disturbed by a vivid dream of empty space with only an illuminated path visible all around her. She walked and walked with no clue where she was. She knew she was dreaming, but why was she dreaming this?
“Hello?†She shouted.
She thought she might as well say something, hopefully someone would come into the dream and help her out. She then came to a small flight of stairs with a blue and a red diamond shape off in the distance on either side of her. They quickly disappeared as soon as she seen them. Then she saw a figure at the top of the stairs. The figure started to turn around, and she woke up.
<><><><><><><><><><>
It was morning. Had she really slept that long? She started to be thankful she was on vacation from her job, as mishaps such as these, could get her into trouble. She got up, and looked around for the firefly. She spotted it on an old green ornate comb she found right outside of the oasis. It looked peaceful, and it looked as though it was breathing. She decided to get ready for the day, and let it sleep. If that was in fact what it was doing.
She was feeling lazy this particular morning, but still found a way to do her normal routine of fixing breakfast, exercise a little, eat the breakfast, and grab a shower. She liked her food a little cold, and always liked to be sweaty before a shower as it made her feel clean afterwards.
She slid a shower door over, and right in front of her face, was a huge red diamond. She yelped, and quickly slid the shower door back. She was panicking a little.
“Alright Gena, it was just a dream. You’re just a little sleepy.†She tried to talk herself down.
“But wait, I don’t feel sleepy at all. Is that dream on my mind that bad?â€
Talking aloud to herself was something she often did. No doubt from watching a ton of anime as a child. She slowly slid open the door again, and saw her bathroom as normal. She didn’t know what to think at this point. Seeing dreams outside of sleep? She’s never experienced that before.
The firefly was awake, buzzing around her vanity mirror in her room. She caught her reflection in the mirror, and as if she were talking to another person, continued the conversation to herself.
“Next thing you know, I will be cleaning up sheep shit from having to count them to go to sleep.â€
The firefly only stopped buzzing around, landed on the comb, and stared at her.
“Sorry little one. I just had a really vivid dream, and can’t get it out of my head.â€
The firefly stayed motionless.
“Ready to go back to the oasis?â€
The firefly buzzed around again, as if it could understand Gena, and was happy.
Together they both left the house. It was awfully cold outside, so Gena was suited up for the occasion, but made sure to dress for warm weather for the oasis. Walking up the same low traffic highway for miles gave her time to think to herself.
The red diamond? Why not the blue diamond? And what does dreaming of diamonds mean?
She explained the dream to the firefly knowing it couldn’t understand, but maybe it could somehow help her makes sense of it all.
<><><><><><><><><>
They both got to the food stand at the bazaar, where David and Sare were setting everything back up. Sare began picking through the fruit as a freshness check, and David was counting money to load the register up for an accurate profit count at the end of the day. The firefly hid within the long golden hair of an unaware Gena.
Sare caught a glimpse of her. He stopped what he was doing, and just stared for a moment, and finally waved.
“Hey David.†She began.
“Hey, yourself Girlie.†David greeted back.
“Do you or he know what a dream of diamond shapes mean?†She continued, not knowing Sare’s name.
He fumbled a few black plums that landed in the dirt, and David rolled his eyes as Gena helped pick them up from the ground.
“Just tell her you like her already.†David said in a boisterous voice.
They both turned beet red at David’s blunt comment.
“I…I..I†Sare stuttered.
David bellowed a deep laugh.
“No Gena, I have no idea. Dreaming about diamonds lately?†David asked.
“Some tribes speak of diamond shapes dealing with spirits.†Sare cut in, his cheeks still a little burnt.
David looked at Sare quizzically.
“The original people of Slaena grouped themselves as tribes.†Sare answered again.
“Oh. Maybe I should go the archives and read up on these diamond shapes then.†Gena mentioned.
Gena thanked them, and headed onto the oasis.
<><><><><><><><><><>
Sare watched Gena as she crossed the road, and disappeared into the woods.
“You shouldn’t get attached to that type, boy†David offered as irrelevant advice.
“I’m not. The diamonds she mentioned in her dream, the oasis she claims to go to all the time. Just piques my interest is all.†Sare defended, as he went back to his freshness count.
Sare took a second to notice that David was just staring at him as if he were a dangerous wasp or a hungry animal come to take some fruit.
“You’re not one of them quiet types, those odd-thinkers, are you?†David asked in a condescending tone still just staring at him.
Sare stopped with the freshness check again.
“No sir.â€
“Good. I don’t need no unstable freak, or one of those society nuts working for me. The real world is the real world. It’s hectic, unpredictable, and the only truth is hustling and having dollar signs in your eyes if you want to make anything of yourself.†David continued in a self righteous rant.
Sare finished his freshness check without any more words with David other than business talk. He knew what the diamonds meant, at least from pictures, but why would a simple girl of no real appeal be dreaming of them? Why would she also be talking about an oasis that couldn’t possibly exist in the mind of a girl like that? He had to know more information, and he knew where to get it.
Sare saw Gena leaving the woods, but didn’t stop for anything. This told Sare it was near quitting time for the day. Sare stacked empty crates from all the fruit they sold today onto the back of David’s truck. It was a good day, and David was in a particularly good mood. Maybe he wouldn’t give him any lip about dropping him off somewhere different today as opposed to his house.
Sare arrived at his destination at a plain field of grass and sand. David took off as if he thought Sare would change his mind. Sare ran a tan finger through his jet black hair. He knew not how he would be greeted here, as he left the society as an impatient runt. He was in the society of the Avatar. He had a hard time grasping waterbending. Even the basics eluded him. He grew impatient, and spouted off something about, “if you cannot bend anything at all. What reason do I have to believe it even exists?†to the leaders of the society. He left, and never returned. His teachings prior to waterbending, however, stuck out as he found out more about Gena.