Two Avatars? | Aang

Chapter two: Waking up

I woke up gasping for air, instantly feeling weak. My arms had slumped by my side, and I then noticed I was sitting crossed legged on a dusty mattress, beside me sat a bottle of water and a plate of what I could only assume was an extremely rotten and dried out piece of unidentifiable food. Feeling overwhelmingly thirsty, I was quick to grab and chug the water, as quick as I was to avoid touching the crust that sat on the plate. After indulging my thirst, I suddenly came to, I was not where I last remember being. I stood up from my position, my joints felt like I was ripping them apart, as though I had not moved in a while. My eyes began to focus on my surroundings, was I in the locked room of the southern air temple?

My eyes wandered, my staff! I bent to pick it up, instantly pain soared through my legs. I should probably stretch.

Nothing else seemed to be around me, I saw statues in the distance in the dark, but I knew they were previous avatars, and I knew I was not allowed to be in here as much as my curiosity was provoking me. I had to leave before someone found me in here. I did not want to be in trouble.

How did I even get in here? My only thought is that perhaps Aang had played a trick on me and had taken me here during the night so he could scare me. But how would he have gotten into the western air temple without anyone hearing him? how did he get me here without me waking up? I am sure there is an explanation as to why I'm here, and my suspicions are pointing to Aang.

I walked to the doors dragging my staff, I pushed my way through the stern door, and I saw.. nothing.

The terrace in front of me was completely different to when I saw it a few weeks ago. The floor, columns and railing cracked, rubble scattered left right and centre. Parts of the floor had crumbled away and much of the ceiling had fallen.

What happened here?

I did not know what to think, surely this was a dream, maybe that would be a better explanation as to why I was here, and why it looked this way.

Yeah. I must be dreaming.

I walked down the crumbling path to the heart of the temple, where normally all the children play, the journey was so quiet, the stairs are in the same condition as the rest of the temple I had seen. I had a strange feeling that this all felt too real. I reached the heart, and the life it once radiated was dull and dreary. No one could be seen; it was as though I had just stepped foot into a ghost town.

Turning around my eye caught a brightly coloured helmet. I approached the object slowly as I hadn't seen it before, unsure of where it had come from. Once I had reached it I noticed it was upside down, I used my foot to flip it over and my stomach churned. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. Is that... a skull? Inside of the helmet was a human skull, I started to back away and could not even bare to look at it any longer. I turned around and fear really started to take over. I decided to find Gyatso.

I started off by walking, but it soon turned into sprinting, each step I took was a risk as I was no longer being careful and stepping over the cracks in the path. Every now and then I ran past more helmets, more bones, other armour, and weaponry. I could feel my chest heaving, my stomach had dropped into my guts and my mind was racing. Please be a dream.

Suddenly my legs caught on something poking out in the path, I fell onto my knees, grazing my skin. I winced as I fell flat onto my side, holding in tears from both the pain of falling and the emotional torment I was being put through. I opened my eyes to check my knees, but instead they fell upon something else. It was another helmet, and now looking at this one I realised I must not have paid much attention to the other one as I was too distracted by someone's corpse.