Avatar: Rebirth

Chapter 3: Since That Day

If I can remember correctly, I woke up with a few burns on my back and arms, a massive headache, and, surprisingly, covered in bandages and ointment. I found myself lying on the riverbed of the river that ran through my village and acted as a water supply. The bridge across the river was reduced to a pile of ashes, but there was no more fire. Everything was silent. I didn't know who had saved me from my death or who had bandaged me up, and all that was left of him or her was a small leather-bound journal with a single word written in it. Live. To this day I still don't know who wrote that word.

But no matter.

The dark spirits would soon close in on the remnants of my home, so I acted fast. Heeding my father's words, I prepared to leave. I searched through the debris and managed to find a few pots and pans, some silverware, a few metal plates, bowls, and cups, eight kitchen knives, three daggers, and my father's sword. After gathering what food I could from the remainder of the forest, I fled.

Mulan never did come with her help, and I never managed to find her carcass, nor those of my other friends. The bodies of two other boys were missing too: the body of Shu Jianyu and Hang Tao, both waterbenders. The night I had left, Yi found me, a note on his horn. It was from Ai saying that she and my other friends, along with the two waterbending boys, were alive and well. She bid me to come to the closest town from our village.

But I never did go there.

Nor did I go to any civilization, for that matter.

I rode Yi for days, flying as far away from the town as I could go, and eventually stopped at the Eastern Air temple. It too was abandoned long, long ago, but lies untouched and intact. It is there that I have made my home.

I still continued my studies on the Avatar. There is a room full of stone statues for each and everyone, even the first, although that one is made out of wood. I learned much though, but I'm still searching for any information that I can find.

It's been eight years since that day, and I have not once returned.

Except for now.

Except for this one time.

Today is the day of my nineteenth birthday, exactly eight years ago that this village burned down.

That my parents died.

That I killed a man.

Eight long years I've lived in solitude, save my sky bison, Yi, and the dark spirits that wander the forest, although a few of them proved to be light spirits, rarely seen, and helped me collect food.

And now, dear reader, I leave this notebook here, on the remnants of my home, so you may never forget the village that believed in an Avatar of Light.

And maybe you will believe, too.