The Eternal Flame (ATLA) (FIRST PERSON POV)

Chapter 1: Dragon Child

Years ago, the great genocide of the dragons, caused by the Fire Nation itself triggered something miraculous. Babies born ill, destined to die during infancy, were suddenly alive and breathing -with fire in their lungs.

They were called Dragon Children, blessed by the sprit of a dragon to live a long, eternal life. While the folk tales paint a picture of heroism and strength, where Dragon Children existed to help the people of the Fire Nation, the world, and to befriend the Avatar, many understood this phenomena as a curse. Simply dragons taking revenge on Fire Nation for causing the extinction of their species.

Fire Lord after Fire Lord did they set precautions with the Dragon Children, yielding them as agents of the state to which they would be loyal to, until their dying breath. Yet, during the reign of Fire Lord Sozin, he declared all Dragon Children a threat to society and sentenced them all to death. Perhaps it was paranoia that suddenly fueled him, or a sudden need to become superior to the agents of dragons that served him, but Sozin carried out his orders to every corner of the Fire Nation. Avatar Roku pleaded with his friend, to cease the bloodshed, but it carried on for years and years.

It wasn't easy to kill a Dragon Child. Wounds healed quickly, and they could withstand most extreme weather conditions. They were aided by the Dragon Spirit inside of them. To ensure complete death, Dragon Children were sent to camps. Death camps. They were blindfolded and thrown into cages. Many as small children, still unaware of how to control their powers.

They were given no food, and no water. Kept in small cramped places, left to die; trapped in their own insanity, until the spirit inside them could no longer provide life. Their vessel had grown weak, feeble, and uninhabitable. And so the dragon spirit would leave the body, and find yet another vessel.

This was the dragon's greatest revenge, ravaging through the children of the Fire Nation for years, until Avatar Roku died, and Sozin met his last years as Fire Lord.

The Dragon Child crisis, as it was now remembered as, faded away to a mere legend, a whisper through the streets of the Fire Nation. The dragon spirits seemed to have faded to nothing with no reason, no explanation. Perhaps they were satisfied, or perhaps they were mourning.

Years and years passed. The Fire Nation continued to grow stronger, waging war against all nations. It wouldn't be long until they conquered more of the Earth Kingdom, silencing the Southern Water Tribe, and attempting to take the North. All the chaos would continue, leaving one dragon to finally rise from it's slumber.

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Dragon Children had disappeared for years upon years. Extinct, creatures of myth and mystery, a tragic tale of terror. So what would my place be in such an unwelcoming world?

My name is Kira, daughter of Ukano and Michi. Younger sister to Mai. We were a family of noble lineage who worked closely with the Fire Lord and his family.

I was born incredibly sick. My heart was small, barely beating and I could not open my eyes. I was silent when I came into the world, wheezing perhaps my last few hundred breaths. My parents were devastated. They sent word for all the best doctors in the city, but there could be nothing done to save my feeble heart.

After two days of frantic struggle to keep me alive, my parents rushed to my crib one early morning after hearing the murmurs of a baby. I was alive.

My eyes were large and golden, sparkling, with a joyous smile on my face. My parents were overjoyed. They were ready to love and care for a new daughter, bathing me with jasmine and clothing me in the finest red silks robes. And yet, when I accidentally burned my blanket in a fit of giggles, my world flipped on it's side.