The Dragon Riders and The Avatar

The Avatar and the Spirit world

       The sounds of nature filled the boys ears as he focused on his breathing. He began to move with elegance and flow, the water from the stream began to lift its way into the air and followed his movements. It danced around him as if it was his partner—both dancing together in a slow yet enchanting way. A bird- like spirit burst its way onto the scene throwing his focus allowing the water to fall into the grass. An annoyed sigh leaves his mouth as the bird-like spirit drank from the lake, bright purple and blue wings tucked to its side. The young man who goes by the name of Liang looked towards the bird.
"Hovo...." he says calmly catching the spirits attention, "How many times have I told you to wait in the tree? I need quiet to practice," he finishes while kneeling in front of the spirit as it cocks its head side to side as he spoke. The bird-like spirit simply lifted its head then flew off to the forest behind Liang. Obviously more annoyed the boy picks up his belongings mainly a wool bags inside of a weaved wooden crate built to carry objects. Grabbing a staff he had made to help him clear paths and possibly fight some not so peaceful spirits. Of course he could use his bending but he did not want to hurt the spirits and ruin the land.
He journeyed to a place where he could stop and make his camp site. Taking out the wood he had collected to use to stoke his fire the boy noticed a light blinding his eyes as he went to put the wood down. Walking towards while trying to protect his eyes the light only grew taller. Once he reached it he saw it was truly a pillar of a strange energy. Reaching out his hand to touch it a force took a hold of him then dragged him in.
"Gah! Nnnnnooooo!" He screams as his body felt as if it was being pulled into all sorts of directions. Memories of his life flashed before his eyes.
"The Avatar is a relic from a bygone era of a time where the world needed a savior..." A voice said as they spoke to his parents who had come forward with his identity as the Avatar. That memory passes by soon before more voices crowd his head.

' No longer needed in this era....'

' Relic of the past.....no longer important to the nations....'

' We don't need you Avatar, you've done enough...'

' We don't need you.....we don't need you...we don't need you ...we don't need you...' Poor Liang scrunched his face in pain at those words. Those words ripped away his purpose, his basic existence as the Avatar. Did he truly no longer have a purpose in that world? Was he too weak to truly do anything there? He believed so, that's why he allowed himself to be kept as a living relic in Republic City; Taken out and shown off during festivals and events. Lying to himself that all of the training he was receiving throughout his life was for some hidden enemy, all the lessons he learned and memorized over each of his past incarnations all meant for a war they were gearing up to. Just lies to keep a delusional boy happy and obedient. Everything came to a rushing end as he saw darkness at the end of whatever he was being dragged to, soon, everything went dark as he hit something hard.
Blurred. Everything was blurred and his head was pounding against his skull. Something wet and sticky was on the side of his face. Doing a small checklist in his head to see if each limb was working. Forcing his arms to push up his battered body and letting him lean against whatever exterior he was in. Liang's eyes soon regained there focus and looked around where he was.
'A cave...?' He questioned as he looked for any other clues to where this certain portal had lead him to. Allowing his body to rest he finally took notice that his belongings had come with him in one piece and laid two feet down from where he rested; its content still inside.
"Where am I...?" He asked no one until the sound of something flying towards him from the cave entrance gained his focus. Due to how far away he was from the entrance he could not see what was coming in and could barely make out the sounds of voices echoing through the cave. Not wanting to be found and captured without putting up some sort of resistance Liang forced his body to stand up. This effort made him realize the cuts and scratches on his knees from hitting the hard and rough cave floor. Raising a hand he gathered as much water in the area to throw a water ball the size of a Polar Bear dogs head. This seemed to work as he heard the disgruntled sounds and annoyed voices. The voice seemed to stay in place before coming closer again but this time he could hear one of the group members footsteps speeding up. This person is running towards him now. Without a thought he quickly froze the other water in the area around him and created a thin ice wall between him and whoever was coming his way. No sooner was the ice wall created an axe was embedded into it. The fierce cold blue eyes of a girl stared into his frightened ones. Her face went from that of rage to worry.
'Am I in that bad of shape?' Luang asked himself before his vision became dotted and he fell to his knees.
' I used up too much of my remaining energy...' he smiles a bit sadly to himself as the girl kneeled down and attempted to get his attention. She was saying something but his ears had begun to ring. He soon lost consciousness once more.
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"We have to get him out of there!" Astrid yelled towards her fellow dragon riders as they joined her side. Hiccup was soon kneeling beside and saw the condition of the injured male on the other side.
"Fishlegs, do you think Stormfly can melt this ice without hurting the guy inside?" He questions the Grunkle owner but he does not respond, "Fishlegs?" He ask again before getting up and looking around; he spits him studying the ice.
"First he threw a ball of water at us then created this thin ice wall ...How did he do it?" He questions softly to himself until Hiccup's sudden touch breaks him out of his thoughts as he then repeats the question.
"Oh umm yes! One blast from Stormfly or Toothless could do the trick," he answers which Hiccup takes in.
"Toothless will do it. Stormfly's fire is quite hot and we don't want to risk burning him," He mutters to himself until Snoutlout waves his hand in front of the thinking leader.
"Hello? Hiccup? You there? The lovely Astrid is begging you to hurry since this is kind of a...Life or death situation!" He yelled the last part causing Hiccup to step back a bit. Without anoword that would either reassure Astrid or to reem Snoutlout on his behavior. He raced to the front of the cave and quickly jumped onto Toothless who was prepared.
Leading the dragon inside and getting the rest of the riders to step back; Hiccup whispers to Toothless on what they are trying to do. Toothless makes a noise if ressurrance to his one legged brother as he gets ready to shoot the ice. As soon has the fire blast left the dragon's mouth and hit the ice wall it was over. Smoke filled the air but dissipated. The ice wall had been melted and the boy behind it did not earn any extra injuries. Astrid picked him up and Snoutlout made a snide comment on how he would carry her like that one day which earned him a hard step on his foot. As he withered in pain, Astrid got the injured boy onto Toothless with Hiccups help on securing him. Fishlegs picked up the wooden box that he had concluded to belong to the strange boy and decided to bring it with him. No sooner than that the Dragon Riders flew back to there part of the island. Fishlegs helped out Hiccup and Astrid on patching up the boys wounds. The clothing he wore was hard to maneuver through so they removed his perceived top so they could reach more of his wounds. After this they left him to rest as Snoutlout kept watch. The others went to there usual meet up and talk about what just happened.
"Where did this guy even come from? I-I mean his clothing, that box of his belongings, an-and that white light we saw!? I don't think he's human!" Fishlegs was now fifteen minutes into rambling about what they had found.
"Fishlegs Fishlegs calm down," Hiccup said to his friend with calmness in his voice, "We can all of those questions once he wakes up. Right now let's just see what is in his belongings." Hiccup attempts to persuade the rambling male which works. Fishlegs nods as he walks to the corner and picks up the mysterious males box. Resting it in front of everyone he carefully opens. The twins push each other aside until Tuffnut goes flying into the wall and gets a mace fallen on top of him. Ruffnut gives a bountiful laugh at her brother. The others ignore them as Hiccup pulls out the first item which was clothing. Passing that there was a wool bag, he opened it to reveal a few scrolls. Fishlegs takes one and unravels it, his face scrunched up in confusion.
"What type of writing is this?" He questions while running his fingers over the text, It was all in strange characters. They continued to rummage through the belongings.
"Wow! Look at this!" Ruffnut shouts as she swings around a pair of chained wooden swords which inadvertently or purposely smack her brother in the face.
"Ouch! My nose!" He cries out cradling the injured nose and stumbling back.
"That's your fault numbnut!" She yells at him turning to her brother who then jumps and grabs one of the swords. There begins a tug of war until Tuffnut let's go allowing the half he was holding to smack his sister in the face. He laughs triumphantly as she copies what he had done earlier.
"Guys stop it!" Astrid snaps at them causing the twins to freeze mind tug. Fishlegs snatches the weapon and glares at the twins before looking at.
"It looks like two swords tied together. An interesting weapon but seriously ineffective in battle,"Fishlegs says while examining the weapon.
"I have a lot of questions to ask that guy once he wakes up..." Hiccup states while looking at the bag. Many questions flowed through his head but one seemed to force its way into his central thoughts.
'What is this guy...?'
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Everything felt heavy. His arms, his legs, even his head. Liang did feel something missing though, he didn't feel the great amount of pain he was in earlier. A groan left his mouth which felt dry and only made it feel worse to be honest. Peeling open his eyelids he saw the wooden interior of a cabin of sorts. He half expected the group of teens to fail to get him out of the ice wall.
'That was a dumb move on my part' he silently cursed to himself as he took in his surroundings. Quickly noticing the lack of clothing on his body. This realization caused him to sit up and search for them. The jolt of pain in his head and arm stopped him. He cries out scrunching his eyes shut as his other arm reached over gripping the one in pain.
"Oh you're up!" Someone shouts quite loudly and in shock. Forcing an eye open he saw a teen around his age; muscular, strange armor, and a funny looking hat. This man glared at him then pointed an accusatory finger and said.
"I'm going to go get the others but if you leave, I! Snoutlout the Great will have your head outside my hut! Are we clear on that freak?" Liang simply nods wide eyed at the threat. The man known as Snoutlout nodded still glaring at him and then turned rushing out of the room. While watching him leave Liang realized something.
'How did I understand him?' He questions with still wide eyes.
'Did the the portal do something to me?' He continues as he stares down at his lap, his mind elsewhere. Searching for a secret that was not there. Deciding to look into that later he walked around in search for his clothes, finding them on a chair and quickly throwing them on. Liang paced around his room remembering how he got to this world. Question the effects it possibly had on his body.
'From what I know Spirit portals don't exactly drag a person in then throw them out into the other side. Something is up with that one' he continues with his thoughts when the door is opened quite harshly. Turing to face who enters, noticing the girl who had thrown the ax at his ice wall and the boy who had threatened his life.
"See he's awake!" Snoutlout-which had called himself amidst the threatening.
"Snoutlout stop yelling," the girl punches the back of his head and glares down at his hunched form. As he was grumbling to himself another male walked towards Liang. He had some sort of aura of a leader around him which lead to Liang's tense body to relax.
"My name is Hiccup Haddock the third, my friends and I brought you here after you fainted in the cave." He explains to the other as he got closer reaching out a hand. Liang shakes Hiccup's hand and smiles slightly.
"My name is Liang, thank you for bringing me here." He says calmly, Hiccup pulls away then smiles warmly at the stranger. He noticed his features were greatly different from any other traveler that he had met throughout his life on Berk. Liang's skin was rather pale, eyes slightly slanted with unnatural colors; then his face in general had more soft features some would say more feminine features. Fishlegs pushes by Hiccup with notepad and the males belongings soon beginning his bombardment of questions. The poor avatar had no idea how to answer until Hiccup stepped in calming Fishlegs down from his excitement.
"Sorry about that, I was just so fascinated by what you did in the cave and and your stuff!" Fishlegs says still full with excitement in his eyes,
"It's ok, I did appear out of nowhere..." Liang drifts off as he remembers that he had revealed his bending abilities to a group who has never seen or even heard of them before.
"So how did you do it?" Fishlegs questions him curiously.
"It was a simple trick," he quickly replied with a nervous snicker.
"And how exactly did you create a wall of ice by a simple trick?" The girl steps up looking at him suspiciously.
"A good trickster never reveals how they do there tricks." He factually stated as they all look at him suspiciously.
"I want to learn how to make an ice wall!" Tuffnut yelled then crossed his arms.
"Me too! Weird guy, you better tell us how." Ruffnut points an accusing finger towards the man.
"One day I will but at tell me if I'm going to even still been on this island," Liang says.
"Well you still need to heal from your wounds so to answer your question you'll be here for awhile." Hiccup replies with a dorky smile; Liang relaxes from the kindness as he walks over to a chair and sits down.
"Well...I believe you had some more questions to ask." He looks towards Fishlegs who nods then looks down at his notepad.
"Well can you tell us about some of the items we found with you?" Fishlegs puts down the carrier box that Liang had brought with him. Liang pulls the box close and opens it, pulling out a scroll. This scroll should presented some water bending moves.
"This, this is a painting of an ancient being using their powers." He explains to them as he shows it off.
"I thought it was an instruction manual..." Fishlegs dates in confusion, Liang gulps slightly as he thinks of ways on how he must continue to hide the truth from them.
"It is in a way but it's not possible for a human to control the elements." Liang chuckles as he puts the scroll away.
"Well there could be weird things; I mean we live in a world with dragons." Astrid shrugs while stating the fact. This grabs Liang's attention has he stands up.
"This world has dragons...? In my world dragons had nearly gone extinct." He days while looking down going into thoughts on what world this portal had brought him to.
"Would you want to see our dragons?" Hiccup ask the male as he was lost in thought. Liang slowly came out of his thoughts then looked up at the Dragon Riders.
"That would be nice to meet your worlds dragons," Liang smiles as Hiccup nods.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Short Timeskip~~~~~~~~~~~~
It did not take long for Liang to get a glimpse of the dragon world. The first dragon he was introduced to was a Terrible Terror as it had popped out of a bush that the group were passing by. The young avatar was amazed by the small fierce dragon, picking it up and allowing it to rest on his arm. Hiccup noticed how good Liang was with dragon and considered that maybe one day he could join his team. Once they reached where most of the dragon riders dragons rested Liang was introduced to the many types of dragons that existed in this world.
"And last but not least is my best friend. Toothless!" Hiccup calls out as the black body of his dragon came from the shadows, his green eyes piercing through the strange man who's sent he did not recognize. Hiccup took his place beside the dragon and smiled proudly.
"Liang meet Toothless, Toothless met Liang." Toothless huffed when suddenly Liang kneeled down slightly to the dragons level and reached out his hand, he began moving it in a way that left the dragon entranced before he rested his hand on Toothless' snout. The riders had watched him, he seemed to have moved like a dragon while doing it. The one most shocked of all was Hiccup.
"How did you...?" He drifted off before finishing his question. Without looking up Liang answered.
"I've met dragons before, I used to own one before I set him free and left home." He moves his hand off of Toothless before sighing guiltily.
"I'm pretty sure he still waits for me..." he finishes as he stood up then turned to face the team.
"I knew there was something about you. You were a dragon rider!" Fishlegs says joyfully pointing at the man.
"So...why did you let your dragon go?" Astried questioned while resting her hand on Stormfly.
"I could not allow him to follow me to where I was headed...It was too much of a risk." Liang answered as he went to leave before being stopped by Hiccup.
"Look...I know you feel bad about having to let your dragon go but maybe...just maybe...he'll return to you." Hiccup says while Liang looked down. Slowly letting go of his arm Hiccup watched him stand there before he looked up and stared out the door.
"There are many secrets I still can't reveal to you all, one day I might but I'm still a stranger here." Liang states before quickly leaving not allowing to here anyone's reply.
"I told you he's still hiding something from us." Snoutlout grumbles while crossing his arms.
"This will sound weird but I agree with Snoulout." Astrid says while looking at Hiccup who was giving her a shocked and confused look.
"Astrid...what in Thor are you saying?" He says.
"Yeah! Our Astrid would never agree with Snoutlout!" Tuffnut proclaims before pointing an accusing finger towards her,
"Where is she you imposter!" He yells while Astrid pinched the bridge her nose before glaring at him causing the twins to jump back.
"That's definitely Astrid. No imposter could copy that glare." Ruffnut fearfully says while hiding behind her brother.
"Look, I know I sound completely weird by agreeing with knuckle head over her but he's right. I'm sure you don't believe his whole 'trickster' thing right?" She looks towards Hiccup as he thinks to himself and ignoring the offended grumbles of Snoutlout.
"...You're right Astrid. He's lying about how he pulled off what he did in the cave but we can't just ask him for the truth. There's a reason he's lying so we have to watch him." Hiccup walks towards the exit followed by Astrid.
"So basically you want us to spy on him and see what he does?" She questions him.
"Exactly. I'll go see where he ran off, the rest of you tail behind me so in case we can all trap him together if he attacks." He answers her before calling upon Toothless who quickly comes to his side; getting onto the dragon and then taking off. Watching the direction he flew off to soon the others grabbed there dragons and followed.
Hiccup spotted Liang on a cliff sitting down. He landed in the forest then kindly ordered Toothless to stay hidden. Reluctantly the dragon followed his orders as he approached Liang.
"Maybe next time you should land a few more feet away." Liang says which sort of freaks out Hiccup but then realizes he possibly heard them land.
"Have you come to ask more questions?" Liang ask as Hiccup stood beside him.
"Yes...We know what you told us about what happened at the cave was a cover up," Hiccup states confidently. The young Avatar knows that he couldn't keep up the lie forever, he had never been the best at lying so then not believing what he said had always been a possibility.
"Hiccup...you're a reasonable fellow right? How do you think I pulled off what I did?" He challenged the young leader.
"To be honest I'm trying to figure that out myself. I can't think of a single way you could have pulled that off." Hiccup replies truthfully still looking down at male.
"In time I will tell you all the truth...just have some trust in me that's all I ask...of all of you." Liang quietly request as he looks out towards the ocean. Hiccup could tell there were many things still going on in Liang's head.
'He did just arrive here so maybe giving him some time to get used to here would let him loosen up and open up to us.' He thought to himself as he sat down next to Liang.
"I know I'm suspicious to you all but ...From where I was, this has been my first human contact in months..." he states softly but still audible for Hiccup to hear, a surprised look crossed his face as turned his head to look at him.
"Where were you before you came here?" He asked cautiously with a worried look for why this strange teen had not seen or heard from another person in months.
"....I needed to get away...from them," Liang curls up as his eyes downcasted.
'Where ever he came from, who ever "them" are, they did something to him' Hiccup thinks to himself as he huffed. Liang stands up after taking in a deep breath to calm his thoughts; helping up Hiccup as he noticed him standing up.
"To be honest with you Hiccup-," Liang begins to say before his growling stomach cut in. Soft chuckle left Hiccup's mouth as Liang shyly looked down.
"I'm quite hungry." He finishes as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head then looked up towards the dragon rider.
"Then let's head back to the huts. We'll cook something up for you." Hiccup smiles kindly while waving for him to follow. The young avatar smiled as he followed him.