Avatar: The Legend of Anzen Hyriu, Book 1: The Legend of Beifen

Prologue

Prologue: The Spirits Message

Avatar Roku sat quietly on the summer solstice trying to enter the Spirit World. He always liked traveling through the Spirit's realm on the solstice since it made it easier to enter the Spirit World and he could travel deeper into it. This time he was walking along a mountain surrounded in mist.

Then a voice, or rather several voices spoke to him all at once in sync, "Avatar Roku, we have something very important to tell you."

Roku looked around to see who was speaking but all he could see was the mist and vague shadows of creatures walking around in it.

"Who are you?" Roku asked.

"We are many different spirits hidden by this mist we created," the spirits answered calmly.

"Why do you hide yourselves?" Roku asked the mist.

"Because," they answered, "many of us have not been seen by any human in a very long time and we wish to keep it that way. But we do not have time to talk about why we hide ourselves we have-"

"Something very important to tell me. Yes, yes. What is it?" Roku said.

"A great darkness will threaten your world long after your time," they said.

"Um . . . Then why are you telling me this?" Roku asked in confusion.

"Because you can help prevent it," the spirits answered.

"Okay. Tell me what to do," Roku said seeing the mist had completely surrounded him.

"This Darkness will come in the life of the next Avatar when this Avatar is still young and untrained. This darkness will take the child and raise him into evil and corruption," the spirits explained.

"The world has faced and defeated corrupt Avatars before but with much difficulty, so how do you expect the world to survive a corrupt Avatar and this Darkness?" Roku said.

"That is why we are putting the plan in motion now, and not late. So that the world will be ready to take on this threat. This plan will take many decades to complete," the spirits said.

"But, you said the Darkness will come when the next Avatar is still young. I know I will not live much longer, I can feel it inside my self, my strength is waning and then I will die .... And then the next Avatar will be born and that's when this Darkness will come. I'd say 20 years at the most. We don't have many decades!" Roku started yelling towards the end.

"Yes, you will soon die, but for unclear reasons the Darkness will not come for decades, and the Avatar will still be a child when it finally does arrive. So our plan is to create another Avatar, so to speak."

"Another Avatar?! That is impossible!" Roku shouted.

"This person will not be an Avatar in whole; their spirit will not be reincarnated. Our plan is for you to strip off part of the Avatar Spirit and then contain it in a jar along with us. You would then take the jar to the Northern Water Tribe and present it to the Royal Court and tell them everything we have told you. Then when the right child is born, the jar must be opened in front of him and the spirits will go into the child."

"That is your plan? It might actually work, but how would I strip off part of the Avatar Spirit and how would the people of the Northern Water Tribe know which child is right, and why the Northern Tribe why not the Southern Tribe or the Earth Kingdom or-" Roku was over flowing with questions.

"We will answer all of your questions if you agree to this plan," the spirits interrupted him.

"I agree to your plan," Roku said calmly.

"Then to answer your first question, sit and meditate on all of your past lives, including yourself," the spirits instructed.

Roku did as they said.

"Now look at all of their triumphs... their mistakes...their lives as whole. Now imagine part of them fading away, disappearing, like part of them is no longer there. Then bring the part of the Spirit that faded away before yourself and combine it with us."

Roku did that and when he opened his eyes he felt like part of him was missing and he saw that the mist looked thicker and more powerful.

"Now," when the spirits spoke all of the voices of the previous avatars along with Roku's voice, "to answer your other questions. We chose the Northern Water Tribe because we will follow the Avatar Cycle and since the Avatar after you will be an air bender, we chose the nation after that, the Water Tribes.

"But why the Northern Tribe?" Roku asked.

"Another threat will greatly damage this world before the Darkness arrives and the Southern Tribe will be very weak and broken." the spirits spoke with a great sadness in their voices. "You are to tell no one of that information."

"I, I won't..." Roku took a breath and held back tears for he had many friends in the Southern Tribe, "I won't tell any one that information."

"However, you will tell the Court this. How they will be able to tell which child is the right one. When a child is born on the Winter Solstice, the full moon will have fully risen and the setting sun will have not yet touched the horizon. Both the full moon and the sun must and we mean must not be touching the horizon and it must be a full moon. The child born at that time is the child. The jar with us in it must be opened in front of the child with in 24 hours after its birth.

"Okay, that is a lot to take in," Roku said.

"And you had better remember every word of it," the spirits said. "Now here is the jar we spoke of that you will contain us in," the spirits said.

In a bright flash, a golden jar fell into Roku's lap. He picked it up to examine it and gasped when he touched it. Everything he could touch in the Spirit World never felt quite real, but this jar was very real. It was cold and a little heavy. He looked and saw that had a number of jewels on it, but primarily emeralds.

"When we say you will open the jar and point it to us and will us to go in. Then you will take it to the Tribe as we said before and you will tell them everything we have said and what we are about to say. With us there are a great number of spirits with a great deal of knowledge about bending and fighting and many other subjects. There are also spirits of dead humans who have knowledge from sword fighting to medical care. There are benders of every sort, librarians, any one who could offer any amount of knowledge the child could use in a variety of situations. The child must start training as soon as possible so that he will be more than ready for the Darkness."

Roku was very impressed with this plan and he could see it working.

"Oh, and one more thing, if the next Avatar is to talk to you, you are not to tell him anything of this plan, do you understand? The same goes for the Northern Water Tribe, they are not to tell anyone of this plan who is not in their Tribe. The less people they tell the better."

"I understand," Roku said.

"Good now point the jar at us and do as we have said," The spirits said.

Roku did and all the mist went into the jar and he put the lid on it and came out of the Spirit World. He saw he was holding the jar. With a quick expiation to his family he went off the Northern Water Tribe and presented the jar. He told them everything, except the part about the Southern Tribe, and left. Two weeks later, the two volcanoes on Roku's home island erupted, resulting in his death. Twelve years later a comet fell from the sky and the fire benders attacked. In the hundred years the war has gone on the day Roku described to the Court came three times. Where the full moon and the setting solstice sun were both completely above the horizon. The first time, three children were born, but none at the correct time. The second time, no children were born. The third time however, two children were born, one just after sunset, his name was Koluk. He lived in a city called Hydronia. The other was born in the Lok Wa Isles, the islands of the Northern Tribe. He was born at the correct time. He was the child the spirits spoke about. He was to stop the Avatar and the Darkness. His name, Hyriu.