The Dragon and the Avatar

Chapter 26: Finding the Answers

Toph took me back to her small cave where I found Korra sleeping on a rocky bed. I quickly rushed to her side checking to see if she was alright.

Me: "What happened to Korra?" Toph just shrugged her shoulders plopping down against a rock.

Toph: "Beats me I found her passed out in the swamp but my guess would be she had a vision like you speaking of what exactly did you see that would make you burn my swamp." I looked down feeling guilty.

Me: "Sorry about that I just lost myself, as for my vision three years ago I fought two men named Zeref and Acnologia, Zeref was the one who took my arm and hurt Korra while Acnologia was a Dragon Slayer like me who wanted to destroy the world with the help of Vaatu the dark spirit, so in the swamp they suddenly appeared right in front of me saying they marked me and that I could never escape them." Toph grunted a little.

Toph: "The swamp shows you many things sometimes it's your greatest failures or your greatest fears." I looked up at her confused I mean yeah I was afraid back then but I had accepted what happened and healed from it.

Me: "That doesn't make any sense I accepted what happened back then and they haven't haunted me since I last saw them."

Toph: "You may have done that mentally yes but when was the last time you let your body heal instead of your mind." She had me there when I woke up from Acnologia I did nothing but train myself to become stronger and with Zeref I trained non stop once I could use my arm again. "Sometimes you just need to take a break kid I understand that you want to grow stronger but you need to pace yourself or else your old wounds will catch up to you like with what happened today."

Me: "So what should I do then just stop training?" Toph shrugged and pushed herself up off the ground.

Toph: "Beats me kid but if I were you I'd try and find what's eating you from the inside just like Korra she needs to accept what happened to her if she's ever going to get out of this slump of hers." I nodded and stood up making my way out of the cave.

Me: "I'm going back in there something just not adding up inside me maybe they know the reason, when Korra wakes up tell her I'll be back and if you can please help her." She grunted in agreement and I set off deeper into the swamp.

I walked around for a few hours jumping over vines and trudging through lots of muck. I stopped in my tracks when I sensed something familiar and looked to see that it was coming from a much darker part of the swamp. I pushed through the vines until I came across a stone clearing with Acnologia and Zeref waiting my arrival.

Zeref: "So you've come to seek us out this time, have you finally accepted your failures." I shook my head and slightly glared at him.

Me: "No you're wrong I didn't fail at anything you're the ones that failed." Zeref laughed a little while Acnologia smiled wickedly.

Zeref: "Oh but you did fail you're just looking at the bigger picture, yes you did succeed in stopping us but at what cost?" My eyes went wide, I never thought of that I guess when I fought Acnologia Livi got hurt and with Zeref it was Korra the two people in my life that I care about most.

Me: "Even if that's true then why are you still here today I've accepted what happened in the past you no longer fear me." They just shook their heads at me.

Zeref: "If that's so then will you be able to strike us down once more?" He vanished from sight giving me very little time to block his attack.

I slid backwards a bit leaning back as Acnologia's foot swept just above my face. I dropped low sweeping his feet from under him and pushing off the ground with my hands avoiding Zeref's fire. I reeled back breathing a wall of fire out towards them knocking them off their feet. Zeref recovered quickly rushing to engage me in close quarters. I blocked several of his attacks sensing Acnologia behind me as I turned to block his attacks as well. I was struggling a bit as I blocked and dodged both of their attacks at once until they both kicked me in the gut sending me sliding across the ground. I stood up breathing heavily. What the hell is wrong with me I'm better than this especially with all my training. I activated my Dragon Force but an image of my old nightmare flashed before my eyes making me fall to the ground as my flames diminished around me.