VOID - The Fifth Element (Zuko)

3. Void benders?

"Uncle, what is a void bender?" I asked, turning around to face my uncle.

He froze for a couple of seconds and just started rummaging through the books again. "It's just a legend prince Zuko, nothing serious."

"Looks serious enough to pin to a wall in a secret study." I said watching my uncle growing more and more nervous before continuing "And I never read anything about this topic in the whole library."

"I did some research about it but never found anything valid, only some people who claimed to have seen or met one. Can we drop it now? We don't have much time until someone walks into the library."

"Why were you researching these void benders?"

"Zuko, drop it"

"Why can't you just answer the question." I said getting impatient

"I wanted to find one... to see my son again." he said turning around. The frustration fell off his face and was replaced with pure sadness. My face fell seeing how hurt he was.

"They are known for being able to bend time and space. The legend says that they're able to see 'memories' in specific places. They bend the time in a room and they can show you what happened on a random date. I just wanted to see my son one last time, but that was a long time ago. I moved on and let it go, something you should do too. It's for your own good."

"Is that the only thing they can do, bend memories? I asked confused. "No wonder you couldn't find one" I added. Uncle looked at me with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"Well do these 'void benders' even know that they have such an ability? It could be anyone!"

"Don't lose any sleep over it, Prince Zuko. They are, like I previously said, just a legend. A fairytale." He said with a sad smile before returning to the scrolls he has been rummaging through for some minutes. "AHA!" he exclaimed while taking out an old scroll that shows a whole different map. There are places on here that I've never seen before.

"Uncle, what are these places? I've never seen them before." I said while taking the map away from uncle. He grabbed it right back and said that we will continue this conversation in his room.

We close the secret study again and quickly exited the library to his room. I had so many questions for him. Once we reached his room I immediately started asking questions.

"Have you been to any of those places before? Why do you keep it locked away? What else do you have in that secret study?" Before I could ask any further questions, my uncle cut me off.

"ZUKO! Be quiet!" I flinched. I tried to calm myself down and accepted the tea that my uncle gave me. We stayed quiet for a couple of minutes while we were drinking our cup of tea.

"Soooo...the map." I said trying to start the conversation. My uncle spoke up.

"There are 4 unexplored nations that you can see on the map." He said while showing me the four unexplored pieces of land. "Every nation has its benders, just like the 4 nations that we know."

"What elements can the other benders bend?"

"There is Light, Darkness, and Spirit."

"What about Void benders?"

"They can bend everything." I stared at my uncle in shock. "A void bender is the most powerful bender ever known ... if they existed."

I wanted to ask uncle a hundred more questions. I thought the Avatar was the most powerful bender? Why aren't these nations on our maps? And most importantly, why does nobody seem to know about their existence?

Before I could ask more questions my uncle started speaking again.

"I wanted to show you this map because you asked if there was any other place your mother could be. Here you have the answer."